I think Chelsea will eventually slip away, although right now it seems like City may run away with it, which would be a shame. The knock out stages of the CL are very, very stale. You get the odd shock here or there when a big team is going through a crisis of sorts (in past years usually Man Utd, this year it's been Barcelona), but really the CL is only worth watching from February onwards when the knockouts start. Still, the CL and the PL both feel pretty soulless to me nowadays, so I have much more focus on the Championship and the lower leagues. Obviously if Rovers got promoted I'd put more focus on the Prem, but I know it wouldn't feel like it did when we were last there.

Newcastle have won 1 (one) match in 19 and are 2 points from safety. Burnley also with a single win from 15 games and also only 2 points from safety. Norwich have lost 12/18 and are only 3 points from safety (technically 4 if you take GD into account, but still). A David Moyes managed West Ham are one of the best teams in the division. Manchester United are supposedly having one of their worst ever seasons but are only a point off 5th. Brighton have won 5/17 and are 9th. Arsenal somehow 4th despite a horrific start to the season and a total rookie in charge. But then Man United finished 2nd last season with Solksjaer in charge, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is it a sign of a good quality competition if teams can finish in the Champions League places with rookie managers? I suppose I'd maybe revise my statement to say the bottom five teams in particular (Leeds, Watford, Burnley, Newcastle, Norwich) are dire. Everyone between Arsenal and Everton extremely average. Top three teams far ahead of everybody else. Once again it's becoming City Vs Liverpool at the top, as it has been for the last 3/4 seasons. Exciting.

The quality of the PL is just dire below the top 5/6 teams in all honesty. A lot of money being tossed around with little to show for it.

As Mike mentioned in his reply, editing other users posts is something we are strictly against. It's important from a legal and (imo anyway) moral standpoint not to do that. The only time we would edit a post would be to change a thread title - eg. the match day threads, to add date, location, etc. The content of the post itself will never be changed by us. I think your advice is solid as far as general posting goes though. Look over your post after you've written it and, if it contains insults, ask yourself if it's really necessary to make your point?

Rovers without a doubt. The 2022 WC is massively tainted for obvious reasons.

Just watched the highlights again and there is something really great in pretty much every goal we scored yesterday. 1st goal - Superb long pass from Van Hecke to Nyambe, then fantastic chested control by Nyambe and an awesome burst of pace past the defender to get into a dangerous position for a cross. A bit of luck with where the keeper pushed it out, but Buckley was still in the perfect position to capitalise, a trait that Dack has which we missed last season when he was out. 2nd goal - Perfect throw out from Kaminski, beautifully weighted ball from Lenihan and an excellent run and composed finish from Khadra. The ball goes from Kaminski to the back of their net in roughly 12 seconds! 3rd goal - Brilliant closing down in the opponent's half to win the ball back, great slotted pass from Rothwell to set BBD away. I then couldn't help but laugh as this is typical Brereton, taking a player on in the clumsiest way possible and still somehow managing to get past him - then doing well to get the ball under control, luring the keeper into bringing him down. Calm and collected penalty. 4th goal - An exquisitively chipped ball by Johnson into the path of Butterworth, who does well to escape his man and put in a dangerous ball. Some fortune with the way it went in, but who cares. We're a joy to watch at the moment.

I totally appreciate your viewpoint and completely agree that we got some luck with the goalkeeper parrying it out in the way he did - not the first or last time yesterday that their keeper helped us out! I just don't think Nyambe could have done anything else in the circumstances and his decision to drive it towards BBD low and hard ultimately led to the goalkeeper having to parry it out - as luck would have it into Buckley's path. But to a degree Nyambe 'made our own luck' so to speak with his initial run into the box and the decision to put the ball in as he did, rather than pick another option.

I agree that the keeper is primarily at fault as he has definitely pushed it out into a bad area, however, Nyambe really played the only ball he could. If you check the highlights on YouTube and pause around the 12/13 second mark, as Nyambe plays the ball, there's a defender directly in the space where he could slide it into Buckley (who is just about to enter the box). The only open space available near Bucko would have seen the ball played behind him rather than in front of him, ending the attacking momentum. Nyambe's ball is being played towards Brereton who is just running past the penalty spot - which is literally the only effective ball Nyambe can play. He could have tried a lifted cross but the goalie probably would have dealt with that better than across the ground, so I think Nyambe made the right decision there. Ultimately poor goalkeeping, no doubt, but I don't think Nyambe did anything wrong and actually made the correct call to play the ball low towards BBD rather than attempting to cut it back or cross in at a higher angle.

Whenever I listen to Mowbray's interviews now it carries the air of a man who is aware his contract is expiring, therefore lacking the passion of somebody who would otherwise be fully committed. I might just be projecting that onto Mowbray's words knowing that he currently only has six months or so left, but it's the impression I get when I hear him recently.

Maybe a little harsh - Brereton was in the path of Nyambe's initial ball, so it left the goalkeeper with no choice but to parry it out into danger. Granted he could and probably should have pushed it out somewhere other than right in the middle of the box, but Nyambe put the ball in at a decent pace which didn't leave the keeper much time to think about where he was pushing the ball out. If you watch the highlights there is no way Nyambe could have pulled it back to Buckley, there were defenders blocking him and Buckley had only just arrived in the box.

A fair post, although I'd still say 'proven wrong' is debateable as we simply don't know what would have happened if Mowbray had been given the boot. Based on Venky's tenure you'd initially assume things would get worse, however they are the same owners who appointed Mowbray and financed the current squad in the first place, so, who's to say we wouldn't have gotten somebody in who would have delivered the same or better results than Mowbray? It seems unlikely but it can't be ruled out. A lot also depends on where we are by the end of the season. It's nice to be 3rd in mid-December, far above where any of us realistically expected to be, but if by the end of the season we're back in mid-table - particularly if we have a sell off in January which ruins our momentum - then ultimately not much will have changed. We could then have a very difficult summer in terms of players leaving, and in the seasons following we could see the real legacy of the fabled journey. As it stands the humble pie is in the oven, but I won't be eating it until we have a better idea of where we stand at the end of the season.

I'm highlighting your post here but it goes out as a general point - if you genuinely believe somebody is on the wind up then the best thing to do is both ignore and report it. Genuine WUMs are posting for attention - by receiving replies their craving for attention is satisfied. The best thing anyone can do in that situation is to completely ignore the post, no matter how provocative it is, and report it so that we can deal with it. There's little point spending time writing a long rebuttal to troll posts as we will inevitably have to remove the responses too, meaning the poster has essentially wasted their time responding. Sometimes there are posts that straddle the line and are difficult to conclusively say are wind up posts or not, so we may leave them up, however in these instances I'd still advise ignoring if you wouldn't be able to respond without throwing in a personal attack on said poster. I've seen far too many very solid debate posts ruined by a line or two of personal attack which not only weakens the argument the person is making, but also means it'll probably end up hidden anyway.

I think Mowbray has actually been quite pragmatic for much of his time here as far as style of play is concerned, particularly during long stretches of our League 1 and 18/19 Championship campaign. I think we were either 1st or 2nd for long balls played. Still, it's not a bad thing to be able to switch up styles when needed, and there's no question the current side has some real swagger about it.

It would be such a Venky moment. TM finally comes good and they decide to let his contract expire.

Southampton didn't sack him until January though. I'm not sure any promoted team has ever sacked their manager before the new season started?

Sometimes you get a small group of players who just click at the right time. The maturation of Wharton, Buckley and Brereton alongside Khada and Van Hecke improving has given us a massive boost alongside our fairly solid regulars. I honestly never thought I'd see Mowbray's 3 at the back system working, but here we are.

Apologies to posters whose posts were caught up in the collateral damage of cleaning the last couple of pages of arguments based on vaccination conspiracy theories. I would suggest the Coronavirus thread in ICBINF for discussion on vaccination that goes beyond talking specifically about how it affects Rovers and the match tomorrow. Thanks.

A bold appointment from Ipswich. I don't know anything about McKenna so no comment to make on his suitability beyond the obvious fact he has no first-team management experience which could make for a bumpy ride. Particularly with a squad critically low on confidence who were just comfortably knocked out of the FA Cup by Barrow, 19th in League 2. It'll be interesting if nothing else.

Pears has done far better in his recent appearances than I would have predicted. Fully expect Kaminski to be back in goal as and when he's fit though.

This is definitely our biggest issue at the moment. Both our RB and potentially our best backup RB are very injury prone. Travis can play there but we don't really want to be taking him out of midfield. If there's one area of the squad that desperately needs looking at it's that position.

Bournemouth were poor but at the same time in previous seasons this is a game we would have conspired to lose. 16 points from the last 18 now, is it? The 7-0 seems to have caused a seismic shift in space-time which has propelled us into a parallel universe where we can defend and the manager is consistent and sensible. Good times!

Not for long based on their current form!

Absolutely crazy how our form has turned around since the 7-0. Incomprehensible.

Robbo was still a titan compared to the dross we got between the sticks after him. Kean, Eastwood, Steele, Walton... some dark years for us goalkeeping-wise until Raya emerged and then Kaminski was signed later.

Regardless of the fee we receive, replacing 50% of our scoring output is going to be a hell of a task. Our signings (BBD included) tend to be bought with the longer-term in mind. Development to eventually sell on at a decent profit. It's not a bad model for a club in our position, but it doesn't leave me hopeful that we'd sign somebody who would come in and have an instant impact to replace what we'd lose with Brereton. Selling him in January has a high chance of derailing the first genuine playoff push we've had since the club was relegated. As a fan I can't help but be downhearted at that, regardless of what is put forward in regards to FFP, balance sheets and assumptions that the BBD money would be used to strengthen the squad for the future.