DE.

A disappointing half, but not unexpected considering the lineup. The midfield is back to that slow, sludgy dynamic we had gotten used to. Unless some of these lads get their arses in gear (Bell, Evans, Buckley, Johnson, Brereton, Dolan especially) they aren't giving Mowbray much of a headache when it comes to replacing them with our new signings/returning players.

It really is a reminder of how many disappointing transfer windows we've suffered since the mid-2000s. There wasn't much to get excited about once the Trust pulled the plug on funding, and the vast majority of transfer windows under Venky's have ranged from average to embarrassing. Bowyer turned up a few really solid players but they weren't necessarily players you'd get that excited about at the time they signed for us. This and our summer transfer window in League 1 are probably the two best we've had under Venky's - partially because the incomings weren't predecated on us selling our better players first.

BBC have obviously done their homework as usual...

It's a small thing but the animal charity I volunteer for are starting to let volunteers return and have offered me a slot 10am-midday on Saturdays. Before the pandemic I used to go there every Saturday and Sunday, usually in the afternoons, and really enjoyed the social aspect alongside working with the animals. It's been roughly 7 months since I was last there, and being given the chance to go back has really boosted my mood after a pretty difficult past couple of months

Works well on Football Manager tbf.

Johnson has had a few periods where his form has been good, unfortunately it's never lasted due to injuries, fitness, or just not being selected for whatever reason. Here's hoping this season will be different. He's off to a great start,

I think we've shown we can still compete without Dack in the team, which is a positive should he get injured again or be sold, but when he's fit he's still our best player and needs to be involved in the first eleven.

As at any club the most important signing is the manager. I don't think Parker is the man to keep them up regardless of the reinforcements they bring in. Judging by his recent barbed comments towards Tony Khan it wouldn't surprise me if he's gone before too long.

Howe could yet be a one club wonder. He didn't pull up any trees at Bumley after all. I'd prefer Hughton.

I guess Hughton has lowered his ambitions a little. Either that or Forest are chucking him a shedload of money.

Elite is really incredible in VR for sure. I don't think it's natively supported with the Quest 2 - you can hook the Q2 up to the PC or stream games from the PC to the Q2 wirelessly using Virtual desktop, but from what I've read there are some latency/lag issues. For that reason when i want to play games like Elite I'll probably still plug in the Rift. It's not a big deal hooking up a single sensor and sitting down. What annoys me is when I need to set up three sensors for room scale games like Robo Recall, Rec Room, Holoball, etc. The sensor setup and being tethered to the PC can be awkward at the best of times. Also having to connect everything up just to use stuff like BigScreen (cinema app) or Beat Saber is frustrating. I'm looking forward to the freedom and ease of use the Q2 will provide.

I may be the only VR connoisseur on here, but regardless I decided to pre-order an Oculus Quest 2. John Lewis doing £20 off with a code... couldn't help myself. I've got a PSVR and the original Rift and love them both, but have to admit it's a pain setting up the Rift. The idea of a wireless headset for under £400 (or under £300 for the 64GB version) was too tempting. Could have gone all out with something like the Index or the G2 Reverb, but I'd probably have to upgrade my PC at that point as well which would make it closer to a £1000 investment. Release date for the Quest 2 is Oct 13 so not long to wait

Norway are a pretty poor international team so I don't think we should get too caught up in that. If he's better than Bell then fine, we're at a point where beggars can't be choosers and it seems like our budget is practically nothing at this point.

The first game of the season is always an outlier and we played well in that one so not too worried about that. Today's performance was far more of a concern for me, particularly with the return of SG on the right wing. Unfortunately we're stuck with the lad as nobody else is paying to take him off our hands - even on a free who'd pay him the wages we have him on here? With that said if Arma has his shooting boots on today we win that match. We can't rely on Brereton or Gallagher to contribute as far as goals are concerned and Rothwell isn't exactly a goal machine either, so if Arma has an off day the chances of us winning reduce pretty drastically. The sooner we have Dack back in the team to help out the better.

I'm not that angry about the result as conditions were poor and we at least kept a clean sheet... but it feels like Mowbray instantly lost a chunk of recently built up goodwill by bringing Gallagher out onto the right flank again. Is he even worth £500k now, let alone £5m? 7 points from 9 not a bad return just before the international break hits, but worrying signs today of normal service resuming. Cardiff going down to 10 was probably the worst thing that could have happened as it put the emphasis on us to attack and unlock them... and without Dack that's something we still seem unable to do.

Was there ever any doubt?

That's for the manager to work out. Dack is adaptable enough to contribute as much as any of the other players across the front right now.

Games like this are exactly why he's needed. We aren't going to be playing defensive disasters like Derby and Wycombe every week. Players who are both clinical and creative at this level are extremely rare, which is why Dack is such an important asset to us.

Yeah Quest should be available on pretty much all TV platforms. You can also watch it online through various sites that stream freeview channels, and the Quest website has past episodes available to watch: https://www.dplay.co.uk/show/efl-on-quest

Man Utd wanted King last season didn't they? Strange transfer for me considering his age, injury proneness and general talent (solid mid-table PL player, not elite class imo). Doesn't strike me as a Mourinho type player either.

He did have his weaknesses but there is evidence in that video of great close control, plenty of runs behind, link up play and winning physical battles so I don't buy that his weaknesses were that pronounced. He was also a consummate professional, an incredibly composed penalty taker and adapted to multiple systems throughout his time here and scored goals in every one. He was a top notch Championship striker and with a better manager the 13/14 and 14/15 teams could easily have gone up. We were undone by unambitious tactics and a piss-poor CM area which Bowyer never addressed. Rhodes was never the problem. As for transfer news... no, there isn't any. Feels like January has come early.

"Just a poacher" ? Not having that. Some brilliant goals in there. It's obviously gone downhill for him since he left Rovers, but he's hardly the first player that's happened to. He was superb for us.

Based on past January windows I would say that's unlikely. More chance of us using it in this window, even if we only had a day or two to do so.

Or drawn/lost. Traditionally we have been the team to play if you're on a losing run - hopefully those days are over.

For me Mowbray simply has to keep this team and this style of play going. It's a million miles ahead of anything we've seen since Venky's darkened Ewood with their presence. Even when we lose games, as will inevitably happen, I want to stick with what we're seeing now. I'm so used to seeing a slow, sluggish Rovers team that run like the pitch is covered in sludge that the past few games have been like watching a brand new club. We've come a long ways from the days of Akpan, Lowe, Guthrie, Williamson, Henley, Feeney, Browny, Koita, etc... long may it continue. I honestly don't see where Gallagher fits into this team. The only role I see for him is as a DG-style battering ram when the ground-game isn't working, but even then he hasn't shown to be particularly good at that either. He can't dribble very well, his ball control is poor and he can't cross so putting him out wide is unacceptable - I don't care how many diagonal headers he supposedly wins. I feel like the team and our playing style has rapidly passed players like Gallagher by, which is unfortunate considering how much we spent on him.