Dreams of 1995

The stats may belie reality on the Wharton vs Anderson debate but statistics just spit out facts. Your interpretation of those is what makes it subjective Objectively, he’s the best rated midfielder in the league, if you are judging a midfielder on whichever statistics he tops. Which to be fair, is pretty much all of them - forward passes, dribbles, touches in the box etc. A lot of those stats are pointing towards a possession based team. Wharton plays in a team that counters. And he tops three important categories - through balls, chances created and interceptions. As the stats go, Anderson is head and shoulders above every English midfielder in terms of an all rounder type player. That said, despite him having more passes and touches than Wharton he creates less chances. That part has been missed in this debate. So has the positioning of the players - Anderson plays wider, whereas Adam Wharton is a very archetypal defensive midfielder who plays as though either side of the 18 yard box is a no go zone. You are taught this at an early age as a DM - you only need to cross into those wide areas when you’re covering your full back. It shows in Adam’s play imo

Very true regarding Stones. The change at half-time had a good effect on the flow of the game. Stones coming into midfield made things worse on this occasion It was just too crowded for Wharton to demonstrate his abilities yesterday. That can happen with any player though. The most famous example when Park Ji-Sung marked Pirlo out of the game. Special players can have bad games purely because of the oppositions system or just the general flow of the game. I don't think Wharton is going to be a starter for Tuchel's England at present. I do think he will be taken to the World Cup though

I don't think Wharton had the best game. He was crowded out and not given much time on the ball. There were some tidy forward passes though. It was a real tough game for him to start against a team who defended so deep. As we know, Wharton's biggest skillset is that very quick thinking through ball behind the defence. Albania didn't give an opportunity for that I believe Tuchel prefers Anderson in that role and it will likely be that Anderson will start for the World Cup, season pending of course. Adam Wharton provides good competition. We are in a position where we have two current arguments through the spine of the squad: Rogers or Bellingham, Wharton or Anderson. We need to see that for what it is - a huge success of English youth football. Wharton has a long time ahead of him and has a lot of tournament football ahead of him. His time will come.

At least Broughton had with him a record of success at some levels of senior management roles. Broughton also did not disrupt the applecart to the point several long-standing staff members, from all disciplines, have left. Gestede has been a disaster for this club.

Blimey, Chaddy's opinion is the most valued one on here isn't it. Maybe Herbie should give him a 15 minute Q&A session every Sunday so we can avoid the endless posts. What we need - new owners, new director of football, new CEO, new head coach, new centre half, new central midfielder(s), new right winger, new left winger, a third choice striker. In that order.

I haven’t bought the book but is it true that Jack Walkers name does not feature but the Venkys name does?

Losing Toth is a tragic blow. It looked innocuous. They’re always the worst

It's not me that keeps mentioning it. The record books do It is not true about Jason Lowe either. We came bottom half in our first season in the Championship; then we came close under Bowyer. The following seasons he did not feature much. Then he became captain and that season we got relegated

We can sit and argue about the subjectiveness of this but here's some facts: in 3 full seasons we have challenged for the play off positions twice (missing out narrowly). In those 2 seasons Hedges played 40+ games. In the season we came bottom half, Hedges barely played. They are facts. So the suggestion he is not a top half player is wrong. I can see you are keen to make sure any praise for Hedges is met with (what do you term it?) "justified criticism". We all know. You have spent 4 years telling us Hedges is crap. He isn't. And btw, it is disingenuous to suggest that I am making out like missing Hedges caused the struggles that season. I started the debate with Rev by saying it is not the root cause. Don't spin it to suit yourself

Sounds like it is a ligament injury if he is requiring surgery.

I can't say I would put Hedges in that list of players. Evans and Lowe in particular were part of poor Rovers squads. Hedges is not a shocker though. In this 3 full seasons we challenged for play offs twice. In the season we didn't, he was injured for the most part. Generally Hedges puts in very good performances. The reason he is at this level is because he struggles to turn those good performances in to goals and assists We look a better side with Hedges in it. I think you are being very harsh and perhaps you are judging Hedges as though we are a top level side now. Relative to the Championship, Hedges is a top table player who is ever present and has a fantastic level of fitness and work rate.

The first goal is important in this game. Not because we can hold on to it but because we KNOW JE can. We have hit good form and we will be up for it. You can guarantee Derby will. My only hope is that John doesn’t get peppered with abuse. He doesn’t deserve it. What happened to him whilst at this club is a disgrace. I think any boos will be entirely undeserved but you can just see them coming

You have hit the nail on the head with Hedges. The criticism has always been unfair. I’ve seen him be called useless and worthless to have on a pitch. Couldn’t be any further from the truth. You can tell he’s the type of player you would love to have on your side - he isn’t obnoxious, he’s not a trouble maker, he works hard and he’s a tidy player too One bad injury spell aside, he’s been ever present. Must be approaching his 150 apps for us now - all for less than £200k. In his time at the club he’s been ever present under 4 different coaches. In that time, we’ve been a top half club every season except for 23/24, which coincidentally he was injured most of that season. In no way saying that was the root cause of our issues that season but it does show his importance to this squad.

Crying shame for Scotty. Bloke just can’t stay fit. He’s had a great game too

I have never been to the fans forum but what is stopping somebody from recording and then placing that transcript through Copilot to produce the minutes?

This just isn’t true A few misplaced passes aside, his link up play, touch offs, head downs, are all good

It isn't about going after the Rovers. It is about dependable, local journalism. The LT have to make sure they aren't seen to fight a war but there could still be a better form of journalism on offer now that their ability to report and enter the home facilities has been taken from them. Can the LT begin to highlight the facility management? I bet they could. Look at Ewood now and think back to 2005. I bet you will struggle to notice any betterment. The general state of Ewood's grounds has been unappreciated If I was in the LT circles I would begin to compose items of Club promises which have been broken - fan engagement being one. A good article could be now holding Madam to account. On our 150th anniversary we can celebrate the life of the greatest owner the Club ever had - the Venkys, upon acquisition, promised honour his legacy. It would not be a difficult write up to suggest the legacy has not only not been honoured, it has been trodden on. That would be such an easy article to write. From the top of my head - we have had to sell the training ground, we attempted to sell the training ground land in order to build houses, we have suffered relegation, SEM, Kentaro, the state of Ewood, the dwindling fan base, the condition of Brockhall, community cohesion & staff relationships broken, Shebby Singh, Steve Kean, the Coyle appointment....the list goes on Overall I think the LT have done a terrible job in holding the Venkys to account. This is what it should be about - accountability. It may mean absolutely nothing to the Venkys themselves, they obviously don't care, but to supporters of Rovers some honest and well-researched journalism would go a long way to maintaining engagement with the Club

Our entire game plan is very dependant on players having marathon engines. We are left so exposed out wide that unless they have legs like Alebiouso they are sitting ducks The manager has form for this. During his time at Baggies he came unstuck because he often just circumvents the need for a midfield. Some of the games, particularly during the later moments, become tennis like. I don't think he will ever get to the solid state Eustace had us; mainly because he doesn't look like he has a clue on how to restrict teams. We can be passed through with ease. We can be countered even easier. Ismael's defensive coaching seems to be to rely on the ability of the defenders to simply defend. I very much doubt there is a plan in place on how to not leave Wharton, McLoughlin or Miller as exposed as we have seen them this season

I agree with most of this. I do think Gudjohnsen is getting a bit of disservice at present. The service to our strikers has not been the best. The chances we have are good, but usually that final ball is less than perfect, which has meant we have missed out

Luck or judgement - who cares. That’s a really important 3 pts Will Still came to England with a very good reputation following his time in France. Can’t see that myself. I was shocked to see Stephen’s coming on in defensive midfield Overall thought we looked good value for the points. We have a couple of players who aren’t good enough - Miller being one. I don’t feel confident with him on the ball. We were told he was a real athlete as well but we aren’t seeing that Gudjohnson is a really good player. When he receives the ball with his back to goal his link up play to hold it and knock it back is always very good. What he has to learn is to then make the run after. Too often he takes a fraction too long admiring the pass. This will come with better attacking coaching. If we can feed him and Ohashi with better chances we can get goals Still think Ismael is too limited. We are fortunate to have met Southampton in this form. Their defence is shocking and we managed to take advantage A big 3 pts in what will be a long, tough season Gardner-Hickman had a good game for me. De Neve anonymous but worked hard I have seen a couple of posts talk about Armstrongs misses. Can we call them what they are please? Toth saves. He saved us the 3 pts today and for me he’s got man of the match

There will be zero interest in Ismael, and he will want every penny of his 3.5 year contract. Which makes that contract even more ridiculous. We had no money to pay for Travis, or Hyam, or Brittain, but we clearly have money for Ismael. The only conclusion could be that they did not intend to have to sack him. Which is probably why they will now carry on regardless of how we perform

It is three games. What's more, is that we looked good in all of those 3 games until we concede. Upon conceding, it seems that the next plan is to bypass the midfield and go long. Turn the game into a game of tennis, push the full backs up so high they may as well be wingers. Then we get caught out. Time & time again the next plan is our undoing. He's not good enough. If Val is in charge by Christmas then I think we are nailed on to go down

It is but it isn't being used often enough. I've seen enough from him now to know there's a player in there. He can hold it up, he can turn a man and he has an eye for a pass. He is also decent enough in the air. All of this is a work in progress but he will get there with the right coaching.

Hopeless is as good a word as any to use. When we make changes, it seems to completely derail any sort of tactical plan or momentum we have. For around 10 minutes yesterday we had long balls being sent over to Agustus Kargbo and Morishta. I mean, how careless can you get? If you are going to pump it long, at least put the bloke on who is 6 foot 5. At this point int he game he only needs to get his head onto it to make a chance. This isn't the first time it has happened We have no Plan B. Starting to think we don't really have a Plan A. I actually look at Gudjohnson and see a real striker there. He is being used criminally. His hold up play and his switching is fantastic but we see it too few and far between; instead, the aim of the game is to hit it long over the centre half and try and run onto the ball. It suited De Neve yesterday, but then he was ran into the ground and not taken off. Overall I think Val is just a poor manager. He doesn't come across as charismatic, he doesn't come across as though he's a mate of players and this is so far removed from our previous two coaches. It's been a total 180 on the progress made - we are now back to pre-Mowbray in terms of the board, the squad and the connection with the fan base.

I woke up this morning expecting him to be sacked. Then I realised this is dependant on Suhail and Rudy admitting they made a mistake. Everything we hear about those pair tells us that won’t happen Gestede doing as much damage to this club as any gone before him. What a disgrace. He can’t be putting himself in good standing for another job in club football The best thing he can do now is show decisiveness and get a grip of this situation. Val out.