Dreams of 1995

Burnley have turned their backs on what made them competitive and that betrayal is why they will sink without a trace this year Dyche had them playing with pragmatism. Sacrificing flowing, passing football for a style that won points and ensured the Prem cash kept rolling in In come the Americans and pragmatism is thrown out of the window. They want entertainment and a "brand". They haven't signed players good enough to do that and imo have tried to do it too quickly. Brighton play some real good football now, but when they first came up it was survival first, performance second They have the backing of some American business men but even this whole JJ Watt thing is just odd. Okay, he's a fairly big sportsman in America, but he's no Lebron James. His net worth is less than $100m so really JJ Watt is poor relative to the Premier League money I thought Burnley were in trouble when they last got relegated and was proved wrong, or so I thought at the time. But they have splashed the cash this year and got nowhere and off the pitch isn't this Yankee revolution it was sold as. The parachute money is their safety net but if football was as cut throat as competitive sport should be, they could be in real trouble. The system will prop them up for a while but unless they go back to what made them good, then they need to be looking more at Norwich for their future instead of Brighton

Haha, yeah you are probably right Tyrone I remember a few players chipping in with some purple patches that season. One being Dom Samuel. Games come thick and fast these days, so what feels like 5 weeks was probably 2... I always liked Antonsson. He held wide well and was a willing runner. Not up to the task at League 1 really and so his move out of English football was a good one

It is bloody difficult to get a striker with the finances we have I reckon Leonard is the man to replace Gallagher, and our money - wage - will go on an "attacker" instead of a striker like Gally. Someone who can play wide or centrally, a Szmodic type of player

Marcus Antonsson was fantastic for us........for about 5 weeks But what a great 5 weeks it was

The time we gave Mowbray was always bizarre, both considering our history of hiring / firing and the average time managers have in football these days It is a cut throat business really. Time will tell with us whether it was a one off, or whether we do have owners who are patient (or disinterested) Sunderland fans and their board crave success. He was never going to last. In all of Mowbray's jobs he has had terrible runs of defeats. For me, it speaks to his inability to rouse a dressing room When you compare him to the likes of JDT, it is chalk and cheese. The positivity and general spirit of JDT shines in every moment you see him. Whilst you can imagine he "lets the boys know", such as after Sheff Weds, I bet the next day in training was like a new start. Mowbray on the other hand...not exactly inspiring

Our bowling attack just is not there. Poor is an understatement Curran and Carse going for nearly 10 an over. You’ll never win a game with those numbers

At least they are showing a willing to change approach and we should react positively to it

Reasoned and considered is the nature of a QS J*B............ Nah, if you have access to BCIS as I do for work, things like that take about 10 minutes But in all seriousness, I really don't think the redevelopment of this stand is an out of the ordinary undertaking. Tell the Issa brothers they can put a Subway and a Costa in it and they'd chip in a few quid I don't think anything like that will ever happen under Venkys though. The operation is survive and appease. The addition of a few safe standing seats can't even garner their support- they are asking for crowd funding. It's madness. Anybody serious would see the Riverside as an opportunity. Instead, it is something they want to hide and forget about, hence the switch of camera angles

I just went through BCIS to analyse stadia development and adjusted the location / date to Q4 2024 The best benchmark would be the Torquay redevelopment of their stand, with a fitness suite, to accomodate 1,800 people A cost per m2 for this would be £3,691 A cost per person would be £1,611.81 Say we have a stand that seats 4,000 people, a broad benchmark would be £6.5m Or, assuming the Riverside stand is about 2000m2 @ £3691m2 = £7.4m I have too much time on my hands Waggot could employ me to manage it for him. I'd do it for expenses only. That would save em a few bob £7.4m to the Venkys is chicken feed I should add. They waste that each year just by owning us. AnalysesDetail_cb9b30b096d97f65cdf11a3b11302da0.pdf

Could this be a case of unhealthy perfectionism Phillip? 🤣 It didn't help Leo that Dembele had a practically free strike at the ball from less than 10 yards in front of him, and managed to bend it around Hill For the 3rd goal it came off Wharton which caused a wicked dip but I do think he should have got a hand to it. Goalkeepers practice these type of reactions all the time. I'd chalk that one down as a mistake

Surely the best option for the Club in the long term is to develop the entire Riverside area into a safe standing, single tier stand In the short term, a portion of the BBE lower, probably around N01 I am gobsmacked that a company the size of Blackburn Rovers continues to allow the Riverside to dilapidate with no business plan to improve this area. It has great potential in my opinion

John Eustace is a top bloke and his sacking was a disgrace. The board deserve everything they are getting. The Blues fans don't like it either, and they aren't the most patient

Whilst he had a good game Mike, compared to his recent performances it was below par. Gave the ball away a couple of times. The standard he has set is high though. I gave him a 7/10 Football is a funny old game. At 3-0 I put a video of me and the mrs opening up a bottle of Prosecco in our football chat. Full of “bluenoses”. I had to try and make a joke of it at 3-2 with my head in my hands… We started both halves superbly. Unfortunately, in the 1st half we couldn’t make it count but well and truly made up for it. I think Blues are a poor side. They take far too many shots outside of the box for me. Part of me was wondering today if that comes from Rooney or if he just has a squad who thinks they can pull off the miracle every time Szmodics has been a revelation this season. What a player. The runs he makes frighten defenders. Let me tell you, when you have a player running like that for 90 mins, it’s your worst nightmare. You want to defend against a Jutkiewic (however it’s spelt). It’s easier. Sammie gives everybody a hard time and with the quality of Whartons passing it is really starting to show Moran and Leonard were good today too. Moran occasionally sloppy, but given we win you can forget I must be part of the few not overly enthused about Sigurdson. Again I look back at who I’d rather defend against. Give me a choice of him or Dolan and I’d take Sigurdson any day of the week. Dolan isn’t the best I have seen at this level but feel he offers more. I think Anor has a lot to prove in this team imo Carter and Hill superb again. Love them two. Especially Carter as he’s “one of our own”. Hill is every bit the premiership defender imo, and will have a successful career in the top divisions. Pickering solid again. Brittain is definitely a winger over a defender - once again he was sold through his legs. You notice these things when you’re playing to someone like that. A player who gets megged regularly is “diving in”. He’s a liability defensively, but his energy and his work rate as a winger shines through We move to within 2 pts of the play offs. Not bad with a “dud DOF”, “kids” on loan and freebies eh Maybe the footballing team down Ewood know a bit more than some are willing to let on

I quite like Garett too. Like others I don’t think he’s technical enough to sit deeper. The assist for Szmodics actually came from a mistake by Garrett. His second touch was a tackle, which he won, but on another day he might not have. The pass to Szmodics was weighted brilliantly though, although he did have an entire half to aim at!! I see him as a bit of a ball winner, make the easy pass and keep the game ticking. In a high press he could be very effective. I just hope he has more pace than Travis, who at times finds himself a yard or two behind play With Wharton ruled out I would go with Trav at RB and Hill centre half. The rest of the team unchanged.

Tronstad was the 'glue' today Didn't give the ball away, harried the opposition and just looked a tidy midfield player. Type of man you'd want besides you when you're in the trenches, as we were for the majority of todays game actually As I said in the match thread - he is every bit the player that Travis should have been

I can't lie, that was a really difficult watch. The goals being at the very beginning and the very end is a perfect away performance in many ways, but the 90 minutes in between them were tough... We sat very deep for most of the second half and I had this horrible feeling we'd concede again. It's strange to say after a 3-0 away but we have definitely played better and lost before Sammie is great on the ball and on another day could have had a hat-trick. I think Dolan had a poor game but pressed relentlessly. Our defence were superb throughout and James Hill really is a diamond player. Woe on those who begrudged us loaning "another kid" Moran played well, if not a little clumsy at times. Tronstad really is the glue that holds the midfield together and is everything Travis should have been. I thought Brittain was quiet too, but his defensive work was what today was about for him. Brilliant effort Personally I'd have liked to have seen us be a bit more adventurous in the 2nd half. We sat very deep and on another day might have lived to regret it. As it stands it was executed with perfection and we come away with another away win. Great turnaround after the disappointment of the Preston game

Blokes they have gifted us that… I’ll take it. JDT masterclass 👀

This is ha hard watch. We need some fresh legs up top. They are knackered. Stoke have used all of their subs - we used one due to injuries. Does JDT really have that little faith with our bench?

Why are we not making any changes?

It has been sloppy from both sides really. Not a great advertisement for technical football It's been a good watch though. First 15 were end to end and really, with a bit of quality, five or six goals could have been scored We need to improve going forward. I'd take Dolan off - he isn't up to it today. Bring Leonard on, who I think is going to get bags of chances today and might be a game he can get some serious confidence from

Bloody hell it's been all Stoke since the goal Trav at right back should have made an easy cross to Szmodics and then Stoke nearly score by Trav being beaten in the air... Don't think he's a right back myself

https://www.englandfootball.com/articles/2023/Jul/08/england-mu21s-spain-uefa-u21-euro-final-match-report-20230807 Our trough is bloody good though

I always liked Bellamy. He would get kicked and chopped but rode the tackles, beat his man and put the ball where it needed to be Riding challenges like that all game is a lot harder than giving them out Steven Reid hasn’t had many mentions either. He enjoyed a tackle here and there… I get what people are saying about Todd. He was a thug but he was good at what he did…. Wouldn’t survive a game in this era though. That’s probably what loses his hard man award for me. He played a little too hard I think for me I always loved Ryan Nelsen. He was hard. He wouldn’t go out to deliberately hurt you, but if you tried to get in the way of him and the ball then that was your bad luck Brad Friedel smashing through Egiogu (spelling?) and breaking his ribs deserves a mention too I also think Dickov could handle himself. Another who could take a kick like a champ

Ezri Konsa finally getting what he has been owed for some time It will be interesting to see if Tomori gets a chance. He's got to be wondering what else he has to do

A captain can make or break the team though Matty Sometimes you have it where there is a club captain and a match day captain. I'd say the club captain is the most important part, especially in pro football as you say, because they are the go between for the squad to the management