DE.

O'Brien seems a bit pointless as a loan if we don't sign a decent striker? I mean, very good player for this level, but what's the point if Vale and Gallagher are up top. Feels like we might as well not have bothered and saved whatever money is being spent on wages. Still, Venky's can rest assured that potential £10m isn't going out.

As others have said, if playoffs aren't the ambition this season then what are they asking the fans to pay significant money to watch? A developmental team? They can do that for much less with the U23's and U18's. It really is disgusting sometimes how they take what's left of the fanbase for granted, treating the fans' hard-earned money like it's essentially worthless - all whilst the lot of them get paid far more than they ever have or ever will deserve.

The only other logical place to go with this would be to have Sami & Kevin defeat the Usos for the tag belts. It'd still be huge in its own right as the Usos have held those belts for a super long time now. You'd need Jey to turn on Sami at Elimination Chamber, cost him the match against Roman and basically transfer the Roman/Sami heat all onto the Usos. It can be done, but WWE really have to nail that story and basically make Sami beating the Usos as desireable as Sami beating Roman. Then pray that the smarky crowd at WM still accepts Cody as the man to defeat Roman. I think they probably will, as Cody is really well liked by the fans at the moment, but it's one of those situations where you have to tread carefully.

I can remember when JRC first broke into the team, he looked like he was going to become a big part of our future. Then repeated injuries meant he never got any kind of rhythm going, and when he came back at the start of this season he genuinely appeared to have regressed to the point where he could barely control a football anymore. He was absolutely that bad. Seems to have put in some real effort since then, though, and seems to be getting himself back up to speed again. Just have to hope these recurring injuries stop, as if anything is going to derail JRC's career it will be that.

I get the feeling WWE wasn't really expecting the groundswell of support that's built up for Sami over the past few months. He's gone from being a mildly entertaining heel to arguably the most over person in the entire promotion. The obvious choice here is to have Sami take the title from Roman at WrestleMania, but the plan is clearly for Cody to play that role. It's tricky as Cody has no storyline with Roman at this juncture, and it's going to be impossible to get close to Roman/Sami's level within a couple of months. There's a very real danger that the fans could turn on Cody at WM as he simply isn't the person they want to see dethrone Roman. The only way I can really think of getting out of the situation would be to have a three-way match between Roman/Sami/Cody where there are two falls - one for the Universal title and one for the WWE title. Once Roman loses his first title (to Cody) he becomes increasingly desperate not to lose the other one and goes to every conceivable length to retain, but somehow Sami is still able to pin him and take the other belt off Roman. Possibly with help from Jey. Idk, there's drawbacks to that too, but it's a tough one to call.

I feel the need to express just how amazing that final segment at the Royal Rumble was. Not even exaggerating when I say it may be the best segment WWE have ever produced, in any era. I never thought I'd say that about something from the modern product, but I was blown away by how well they executed Sami Zayn's excommunication from the Bloodline. The initial beatdown of Owens was brutal enough, with Sami clearly becoming more and more conflicted as it went on. Sami has been a heel for some time, but he's never been a truly vicious heel. Sneaky and willing to cheat, but never truly violent. When Roman goes to use the chair Sami isn't able to stand by anymore and gets between Owens, cuffed helplessly on the ropes, and Reigns - telling Roman that enough is enough, and there's no need to go any further. Roman then hands Sami the chair and his final test has arrived - to truly integrate himself into the Bloodline, he has to shed his integrity and fully submit to the tribal chief. Sami protests, but Roman says he's come too far now and there's no turning back. He tells Sami that Owens is an anchor holding him down, and that Roman is one who really loves him and has given him everything. Reigns wants to break Sami's spirit and resistance in the same way he did with Jey. Sami can't bring himself to do it, as Roman screams at him that he was nothing before the Bloodline, doing "Jackass shit" and that without the Bloodline he'll go back to irrelevance. Reigns plays the gaslighting manipulator to perfection, a nasty, evil bully who toys with the emotions of those beneath him. There's a brief moment where Sami is behind Roman with the chair, and it appears like he might hit him with it. The crowd are audibly anticipating this, but Roman turns around and Sami looks away, lowering the chair and saying he can't do it (he could be talking about Roman or Owens here). Roman mockingly yells at Sami for crying, shoving him in the face until Sami very briefly goes nose-to-nose with Roman, then after a couple of seconds averts his gaze as he realises how close to the precipice he is. Sami appears to have been bullied into compliance, nodding his acceptance of what he has to do. Roman turns his back to Sami and there's a clear callback to The Shield breakup. Reigns knows there's a possibility Sami will strike him, but this is the ultimate test as to whether Sami will pledge his total allegiance or, in Roman's mind, prove himself to be a traitor. The pop when Sami strikes Roman with the chair is unbelievable, so loud it distorts the sound on the feed. There hasn't been a pop like that in WWE for years. Roman collapses to his knees, his face contorted in pain - some physical, but partially emotional as well, as to him this is another betrayal from somebody he feels owes him everything. Sami stares down at Reigns with a combination of defiance and fear, knowing that he's just gone past the point of no return, and that he's going to suffer some serious consequences. At this point he could have started attacking the rest of the Bloodline, but it's Roman he has the problem with, not the others. He does consider himself a part of the family, and he doesn't want to attack them. Nor does he have it in him to go further with his attack on Roman. Heyman stands on the apron in shock, with Jimmy wearing a stunned expression as well. Zayn throws down the chair and turns to Jey - the one person who stood up for him when nobody else would - and apologises. Jey's body is rigid with fear and shock, as he screams at Sami in disbelief, looking like he's on the verge of tears. Jimmy, enraged, superkicks Sami and knocks him down. Roman is shown with his hands over his face, trembling with anger and vulnerability. Jimmy mounts Sami and hammers him across the head repeatedly. Solo shoves Jimmy off and for a moment there's a possibility that Solo will come to Sami's aid, but instead he drops Sami with the Samoan Spike. Reigns, overcome with rage, yells for them to "kill him". Jimmy and Solo comply as Roman screams furiously in Sami's face. Heyman, previously very animated, flinches uncomfortably on the apron as he watches. Jey meanwhile shrinks into the corner, frozen in position, perfectly encapsulating how a person who has been abused themselves would feel upon watching the same thing happening to somebody they consider family. The crowd begins to chant for Jey, and Roman glances over at him with a confused expression, wondering why Jey is refusing to join in. Jimmy asks his brother what he's doing, yelling at him that Sami isn't his brother, the Bloodline are. As Roman slowly stalks over towards Jey, he drops his head and then rolls out of the ring, causing the crowd to collectively gasp. Jey gives Roman a look of unfiltered hatred and resentment as he leaves the ring, and then breaks down in tears as he walks away - the crowd cheer loudly in approval. Roman's face is now twitching with anger, and he becomes incandescent with absolute rage as he sees that his family, the Bloodline he's built, is falling apart - all thanks to Sami. Roman picks the chair back up, snarling "you broke my family" at Sami before repeatedly smashing him with the chair. Even Heyman struggles to look as Roman destroys Sami with a chair, looking terrified as Roman pounds Sami across the face with his forearms and tears Sami's Honorary Uce shirt from his body. There's a moment of reflection on Roman's face as it dawns on him that he has completely lost control of everything. He stares out at the crowd in shock as a "fuck you Roman" chant rings out. Jimmy tosses what remains of Sami's shirt on top of him as the Bloodline leaves the ring to a chorus of boos. Just a masterfully produced segment with every person involved doing an incredible job. Wrestling at its finest.

Doesn't say much for the rest of our attackers, does it? Feels like we need to bin most of them and start again. Even BBD has been stuck on nine since bagging against Hudds on 5th November. Hasn't scored in seven matches now, although he at least has three assists to his name during that period. Then there's Sam Gallagher. A paltry three league goals to his name (although some sites say four, either way rubbish), hasn't scored in nine matches and no assists to show for during that time either. In fact, he only has one assist to his name so far this season. Think we can put to bed the myth that Gallagher as centre forward will be a relevation that bangs in twenty goals a season. The lad is poor, get him sold and accept whatever loss we incur from the ridiculous £5m we paid.

Think he's mixing up unsall and unleaded.

I mean, 3 draws and 6 defeats isn't a great start, but oof... right at the end of the transfer window, too, so giving the new manager an immediate handicap.

lmao, hadn't Toure only been there a couple of months? Brutal.

Yep, the unfortunate truth is that BBD is the only remotely decent striker we have at the club, and not only is he hugely off form at the moment but may also be gone by the end of the month. The rest are well below the required standard, so we had better hope this Undav fella, if we are signing him, can hit the ground running and stay injury free.

As others have said, two very poor teams and a draw was probably fair. Would have been happier if our first draw had broken our streak of losing when we go a goal down, rather than winning when we go a goal up, obviously.

Yowie wowie Bristol City are bad, fortunately for us. Scoring the first goal has always a good omen for us so far this season 🤞

Is Gallagher carrying a knock or something? I know he's poor but does JDT seriously believe Vale is a better option?

I like that the "young team" nonsense was challenged as well. A shame that nothing close to this level of questioning was ever given to Mowbray. One can only wonder why.

I mean, our record when going behind is so embarrassing that he'd either have to throw himself or the players under the bus if he was to give any kind of detailed response. So something vague is probably the only sensible option.

Amusingly Pep actually called them out for this in his press conference afterwards. Also had a pop at the team despite the comeback, so yeah, not a happy camper!

It was exactly the same under Mowbray though, so I don't think it can solely be put down to coaching. Probably need to recruit a few real winners, players who genuinely feel angry if they lose a contest, rather than just post 'we go again' on social media.

£8m for Diaz wouldn't really be a vindication of the model considering we'd be breaking even on him at best, and will have gained nothing beyond mid-table Championship finishes. £15m for Armstrong was a better example of where the so-called model actually worked, probably more through luck than conscious effort.

Tbf I never watched anything specific to Burnley whilst they were in the PL. To me it feels very small time to gloat over their defeats in the Premier League whilst we were going nowhere in the Championship.

I can remember watching it sporadically for the first couple of years after we were relegated, more out of habit than anything else. Nowadays I'll maybe catch it if there's a surprising result, but it's not like that happens too often these days. I think the last MOTD I watched was early in the season when Brentford beat Man Utd 4-0.

The fact Ferguson was able to adapt his management style across multiple eras and remain hugely successful has always been extremely impressive to me. No matter how much money you have to play with, that still takes some doing. As far as Rovers are concerned, impossible to be as invested as I was pre-Venky's as I feel that most of the time the club is not interested in matching the passion that the remaining fans have. They take what's left of the fanbase for granted and that makes it difficult to care in the same way I once did. I'm obviously still invested in the club, otherwise I wouldn't be posting here or attending matches when I'm able, but it's more in the hope that one day we'll get the news that Venky's are selling up and everything is being reset. I can say for sure that over the past decade I've completely lost interest in the Premier League though. Ten years ago I could name the first eleven from most PL squads, nowadays I'd barely be able to name two or three from most.

We heard the same nonsense from Mowbray when he was in charge, about how the team was too young to be consistent or reliable. It was bollocks then, too, demonstrably so. Looking at yesterday's starting lineup... Kaminski - 30 JRC - 23 Ayala - 32 Hyam - 27 Pickering - 24 Morton - 20 Garrett - 19 Dack - 29 Hedges - 27 Gallagher - 27 Vale - 21 Literally not a single player under 19. The only players you can call proper youngsters in that team are Morton, Garrett and Vale. Most of those players are what most would consider a prime age of between 23 - 30. Meanwhile Rotherham had a 36 year old in defence. The issue is not age but a decline in quality in the key areas of CM and attack. Even if we had our older CM's available, that leaves us with a choice of Buckley, Szmodics and Travis... all of whom are struggling for any kind of form. Meanwhile without BBD our attacking options are Gallagher, Vale, Markanday and Dolan. Between them they've managed 11 goals in all comps so far this season, compared to BBD's 10. I still maintain that yesterday was more about mentality than quality. I don't think man-for-man Rotherham have better quality in their starting eleven than ours, we just crumble if we concede the first goal. Going one down in the opening minute is an immediate death blow to this team. However, in a more general sense we are crying out for decent, experienced heads in the centre of the park and up top. That's why Greg's comments about not wanting to buy 27 year olds is concerning to me. Players in that age bracket are precisely what we need, not more young players with fragile mindsets and nobody on the pitch to pull them together when things aren't going well. We need some real leaders and that trait is generally boosted by having experience. It may not fit into the ideal goal of 'the project' but sometimes you need to take a step back before taking more steps forward.

People say this after every Everton defeat and for whatever reason it never happens. Only managed 3 wins during the entire season, should have been out on his arse a long time ago, and imagine he would have been if he wasn't Frank Lampard.

Tbf considering we've not seen much of Brittain either thanks to injuries we probably should wait to judge his transfer as well? Feels like most positive judgement on Brittain comes from a couple of decent games at the start of the season and a good reputation from before he joined us.