DE.

Speaking of Shane, apparently he's been released 😂 he produced the shitty men's rumble and apparently had major heat over it. He was originally pencilled in to face Rollins at Mania, but now gone!

Snodgrass has been on pretty high wages wherever he's been, hasn't he? I don't know if we'd be able to come close on terms. He has also left clubs more than once for supposedly being a disruptive influence, and with our current team spirit I'd rather avoid something like that.

I'm quite happy that we've kept the current squad together. Never had any expectations of us getting anybody exciting in as we rarely if ever do in January. So, about Waggott reportedly telling all and sundry that those who won't sign a new contract would be sold in Jan...

To go from "the most I've enjoyed my football in my career" to "I want to leave immediately" from Jan 17 to now is quite a turnaround.

Rothwell can't force us to sell him if the owners aren't interested in selling and the club can't line up the replacements necessary. I'd rather pay him to sit at home doing nothing for the next five months than sell him to Bournemouth of all teams for £3m. Regardless of what happens it seems that Rothwell is done here and we've seen the last of him in a Rovers shirt. It's hard to see a way back for him even if he stays, especially with team mates liking social media posts critical of him. Although we also had the likes of Dack and Butterworth liking posts about us getting beat 7-0 by Fulham on social media, so not sure how much weight that stuff really carries.

Well, I pretty much called all the results, but predictability isn't always bad as long as the product is presented in an entertaining way. Miz & Maryse Vs Edge & Beth Phoenix - This one was actually fine. Maryse was... distracting 👀 Match itself was solid enough. Edge & Beth winning suggests this was a one and done and Edge will have someone else to feud with going into WM. Becky Vs Doudrop - Crowd didn't really give a shit about this one. It was OK. Not really RR calibre though. Becky winning was never in doubt. Reigns Vs Rollins - I thought the match told a good story. Rollins coming out to the Shield theme, through the crowd in Shield gear was a nice touch. The ending would have been fine if they hadn't done the same type of ending multiple times recently. Reigns' beat down of Rollins at the end was suitably vicious, despite the shitty match finish. Problem is that it's hard to feel sympathy for Rollins when he has been a total heel up until this point, and hadn't changed his mannerisms or ring work at all to account for a babyface turn. The motivations for this match were largely predicated on the Shield break up, which was a decisively heel move by Rollins. The fact the Shield reunited more than once after the initial break up was ignored because I guess that wouldn't suit the story being told, but the point is that Roman had a genuine reason to feel aggrieved and angry kayface-wise - so why was he supposed to be the heel here? Baffling booking. Lashley Vs Lesnar - These two did a good job of telling the story of two powerhouses coming to blows. Not a five-star classic by any stretch but decent enough. The interference and match finish was pretty obvious to anybody who knew the plan was still Roman/Lesnar at WM. Women's Rumble - I thought they did a good job with the women's rumble. Some good stories told, some nice surprise returns from the past, and an obvious but crowd-pleasing winner. It seems that every year since the women's rumble matches have started I've preferred them to the men's rumble matches. This year was no different. Men's Rumble - Has to go down as one of the most boring men's rumble matches in history. What a snoozefest. Boring characters, a distinct lack of proper star power, no surprise non-regular roster returns, the stupid Jackass stuff, Madcap Moss randomly eliminating AJ Styles, Shane McMahon entering for no good reason and blowing up literally in the first minute or so, and then Lesnar coming in at the end and making everyone else look like embarrassing nobodies. Good job. This fucking sucked and is probably the most creatively bankrupt rumble match ever told. Overall I thought the PPV was decent with the exception of the finish to Reigns/Rollins and the Men's Rumble, but considering the Men's Rumble is the selling point of this PPV it's obviously a problem when it completely sucks.

It certainly doesn't seem like Triple H will be the heir apparent anymore, after his version of NXT was ruthlessly dismantled.I don't think I've watched NXT since it rebranded (although in fairness I'd stopped watching NXT some time ago anyway).

Yeah... a shame they had to saddle her with a stupid name, but that's WWE for you. Viper & Piper Niven are both great names, but no, she's big so let's call her something that sounds funny. Hurr hurr.

I've enjoyed the silly rumours that Cody Rhodes may show up. He's technically working AEW without a contract at the moment, so it's possible even if the chance is realistically something like 0.00000001%. I watched the 2005 rumble recently and it was a reminder of how, even in the mid-2000s when WWE's popularity was starting to wane, the product was still a lot of fun. The current era is so far behind in comparison. As far as the 2022 RR card is concerned... Miz & Maryse Vs Edge & Beth Phoenix - If this feud is going to extend beyond the Rumble, it would make sense for the heels to pick up the win here in the opening salvo. If it's a one and done, however, then Edge & Beth will obviously go over. Becky Vs Doudrop - Becky, obviously. Reigns Vs Rollins - I don't see them taking the strap off Reigns now. Rollins was basically drafted in as a big name stop-gap before WM. It works because there's plenty of history there to chew over, and the rivalry can go from 0-100 extremely quickly as a result. It's been a weird build in that both men are heels, and the crowd doesn't really know who to cheer for. I imagine it'll be the same during the match. Reigns to win, probably with some kind of outside interference from Heyman, but he's been built strongly enough to go over clean without hurting Seth. Lashley Vs Lesnar - Brock was never supposed to win the Universal title. The plan was always for it to be Roman Vs Brock at WrestleMania, so I expect Lashley will win here to set Brock back on his original path. A high probability of outside interference from the Bloodline and/or Paul Heyman costing Lesnar the match. Women's Rumble - If Rousey returns, there's a good chance she wins it for sure. If not, it wouldn't surprise me if they give Charlotte the win just for the novelty of the champion winning the Rumble. Men's Rumble - Assuming Brock loses the title, I think he'll enter the Rumble and win it to set up an encounter with Reigns at WM, as per the original timeline.

Tbf we've only really got the workhorses left at the moment. Buckley is the only creative player still fit and it took him until the second half to get into the game, at which point Mowbray decided to replace him with Ayala.

The bottom five - with the exception of Derby - are all way, way below the division standard tbh. The fact Derby are within 8 points of safety is remarkable really. One look at their GD compared to those around them (0 compared to -19, -22, -30, -25) shows that they shouldn't really be in the same bracket.

Have to take that in the circumstances. As the old saying goes, if you can't win make sure you don't lose. That's why these clean sheets are so important. Gallagher back to normal today and Butterworth not Championship standard. I hope Hedges can step up immediately because it looks like we're going to need him. Worrying times as far as injuries are concerned. This is worse than pretty much anyone could have predicted.

If this cascade of injuries was happening in Football manager you'd be posting it as a bug that needs fixing on the SI forums.

Pleased to get in at 0-0. We look completely toothless going forward, which is to be expected given the injuries, "injuries" and absences, but at the same time... they've got Amari'i Bell at left back. Come on. Hopefully we can nick a scrappy goal off a set piece and hold on for a 1-0.

Christian Walton has signed on a permanent for Ipswich. https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/christian-walton-on-his-itfc-move-8648174

Presumably the player agrees to contract terms before heading out on loan. That or the club the player is being loaned to are obliged to put in an agreed offer no matter what, but the player can still reject contract terms and cause the transfer to fall through.

Needs to play in the middle. Has a decent header on him and can hit the target given the opportunity. He doesn't often naturally drift into dangerous positions from out wide in the same way BBD does, and he doesn't really possess any attributes which make him useful in a wider position. When he's having a bad day, like at Hull, it is literally like having ten men on the pitch - as the stats showed. I don't think he'll ever have been worth what we paid for him, but he can be useful in the centre and that's where he needs to play if he's in the team.

I mean, this thread is fine for promotion discussion, but it'd be OK if somebody wanted to set up a thread to specifically discuss the promotion chase as well. We've had relegation threads in the past after all.

Some people just can't bring themselves to stop working, particularly if it's a job they enjoy. Roy is probably a lot like Sir Bobby - his life is the game and he'll likely be involved in it until he literally can't be anymore.

Wrong time and the wrong type of club. Roy works best with underdogs, which we weren't at the time. Shrewd appointment by Watford, albeit one of very few they could have made to appoint a manager older than their previous one. All eyes on Everton now. They could very easily end up sucked into the relegation zone with Newcastle spending money and Watford appointing a good manager.

Definitely not based on tonight's performance. It's like they've been specifically ordered not to shoot.

I think the commentator said Swansea have the highest average possession in the league with something like 66% - but they're 17th. Meanwhile according to Transfermarkt we have the lowest overall average possession in the league at just 41% - and we're 2nd.

Watching QPR Vs Swansea. Swansea remind me of us last season - tons of possession with little to show for it at the end.

Was a superb shot from SG. Spun and hit that absolutely perfectly, from an awkward position as well. That's why he needs to be played down the middle, not on the bloody wing!