Dreams of 1995

Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Douglas Holtby Trybull Rothwell Elliott Armstrong Dolan Team picks itself for me personally. I'd bring Downing on for Holtby later on in the game. Gally for Armstrong and not out wide. Your irrational dislike of Buckley is now lending itself towards the realms of weird. Barely a thread goes by without you mentioning him.

I can't for the life of me justify the sacking of a manager on the back of 2 losses in 10 games, regardless of what some desktop managers think can be done better. Last night we ground a win out of a truly terrible performance (they happen) and it is now time "we look at the performance, not the result". We play exceptionally well against Watford and Bournemouth and we "have to look beyond the performance and at the result". Contradictory. Simple as that. Take a position and stick with it. If you don't like Mowbray and want him gone then fine, but say that instead of trying to make it out like it is those that want him to stay are the ones overlooking the facts. In reality it is just difficult to keep up with the everchanging measuring stick. Call me a disciple if it makes you feel better about my disagreement. Could not care less. The catchphrases that come out of this thread are plain silly.

Yesterday all I could do was laugh, but today I might be able to muster up a bit of a summary. The worst performance of the season for me. Our passing was tragic, there was no movement up front or in midfield. We passed the ball out of play a handful of times which only added to my ever growing frustration. The length of time it takes to make a throw in tells me they simply are not worked on in training. We should be zipping around when our player has the ball in his hands because it is a potentially very easy accurate pass that can be put on to a stronger foot, allowing for a first time pass forwards. It is basic football. A throw in is an opportunity to attack. I thought Johnson held together a poor midfield. Was disappointed to see Rothwell come off for Downing but in hindsight it worked. Buckley had a poor game again - I think he is better suited to the bench and seeing the last 20 mins. Nyambe was by far our best player on the day and we need to sign him up immediately. He has to be the best right back in this division. Ayala's passing is terrible. Lenihan was average. I can't say a single player actually caught my attention yesterday. Armstrong flatters to deceive in my opinion. He turns and shoots far too often when there is an easier pass to be made. I would be absolutely lambasting the bloke if I was on the pitch but nobody seems to say anything to him. I admire the confidence, I really do, but please start to get some of these wild shots with your weaker foot on target!!!!! All that said and done we got 3 pts so I will forget the performance by Saturday morning. Absolute robbery but who gives a monkeys - 4pts from play offs and we go again.

All I have to say on the matter is Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Theopane was static. Easy win for Eggington. Nathanial Fredericks won in Cage Warriors last night with a brutal left hook. UFC on the cards for him? Brum holding it down in the fighting world at the moment.

Social media is a really good way of keeping up to date with new or upcoming releases too. You have musicians announcing new albums or developers announce new games / hardware etc all through social media. I follow a lot of musicians through social media, and it means we can keep in track of where they will play, events upcoming or little gigs they have done that wouldn't otherwise be released on album or whatever. There are a lot of people who can get lost in it but you have that with most things. Addiction is not consigned to social media or alcohol or gambling or whatever. Personally I think a life without some form of social media would be strange now. It would be very difficult to keep in touch with some of your friends. We are spread around the globe at the moment, and without social media I'd not speak to some people for months at a time. If you treat social media as your news source you are probably setting yourself up to fail. It is unreliable as it is almost unregulated - anyone can put anything on there - so in that respect you have to treat it with caution and use it for what it is good at.

I don't feel too disheartened after yesterdays performance. I thought we played very well and had Armstrong not decided to try and score wonder goal after wonder goal felt we should have scored. A 1-0 narrow loss at home to a play off contender hurts but isn't the sign of a demise. We are playing good stuff, this squad has a lot of spirit. It is what it is though. This league has games come thick and fast. We play in 2 more days against top of the league so we have to be ready to fight back. We are still contenders. I don't care what others say I don't see this Rovers team as mid table. On to Saturday!

I have to begrudgingly agree to most of this. It makes those contracts handed out to other players last year all a bit more weird. Why did we give Hart and Smallwood extensions, albeit limited, when such important players were nearly out themselves? Makes no sense at all.

That is basically the spine of our team right there. Lewis Holtby, Nyambe and Rothwell are some of our best players. I think we will activate that Dack clause to get another year out of him but even then his fee is substantially reduced. January must be about getting these lads tied into new deals immediately. I'm pretty apprehensive about this window, and think baring any real miracle we are going to lose 1, if not all, of them.

I would say Mowbray definitely inherited a worse squad. Pretty certain our defence back then had Greer, Brown. Although his back four vs Burton isn't that dissimilar to our back four now. We had Williams Mulgrew Lenihan and Nyambe. What I would say is Nyambe has come on leaps and bounds, although I'm starting to think we are going to lose this boy for a free. Seriously would be criminal. He's the best right back in this league imo. Our midfield was an ageing Conway Lowe Gurthrie and Feeney. Front two of Joao and Emnes. It wasn't comparable to the likes of Rhodes, Gestede, a better Conway etc. Still, the proof is in the pudding, we are looking good and as Phillipl said in another topic this is the the season we were told he'd have a squad capable of getting top 6 with his "slow build" project. It is looking promising but hope we can keep it up.

On another note, for the UFC fans amongst us, Ferguson is in a fight this weekend vs Oliveria which will be a classic. On at silly o'clock as usual though.

I don't get Yarde's camp. He has to move away from them trainer if he is going to progress. Arthur jabbed his brains out and Yarde had absolutely no come back to it. You seen the interview after the fight? He talks about how he has to knock an opponent out to win but maybe try adapting your methods to the fight first. He asked his trainers at the end of one round how to get past Arthur's jab and his trainer responded with: "LIONS IN THE CAMP" or some crap. Absolutely zero technical input. Yarde is a good fighter and has a good chin, even if his face does mark up, but there's no way he will progress to world level with trainers like that. Two good weekends of boxing coming up with the obvious Joshua fight this and Golovkin next. Friday this week sees a Brum local fight in Sam Eggington. Fresh out of losing the light-middleweight title. He should have enough to see Theopane off.

I’m sorry Sparks but you keep saying that. At this level what 17/18/19 years old are there that are passing like he is? He wasn’t spectacular when he came on but he had a better time of it than you’re making out. You told us Mols was better. He’s mincing it in the Spanish lower leagues now. I think Buckley has a a better player than you make out.

I am anxious about tomorrow too DE, but usually that's when we play our better football. It is the games we should win comfortably that we struggle with. This is actually a very interesting game on paper. I still think Raya is one of the best goalkeepers in the league and he will be up against Kaminski. We also have Ivan Toney vs Adam Armstrong so it really is a battle of the big boys really. I like Brentford. I liked their old ground. Like us they try to play football and we won't see the dross we were served up by Milwall. Barnsley came and played some real good stuff and it caught us out early doors. Brentford won't be nearly as wasteful. I am going for a 3-2 Rovers win. Trybull in for Johnson (he finishes games better) whilst Rothwell comes in for Brereton. If Douglas is fit he plays because Amari'i Bell will be torn to shreds. Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Douglas Holtby Trybull Rothwell Elliot Armstrong Gallagher Our team picks itself these days and we have been fairly consistent with our "spine" when fit. The b/s "Tony Tombola" - which was rubbish when it was first brought about - can now be put to bed once and for all. Time for a new catchphrase.

Anyone notice how many times he puts his weaker foot through it too? There was definitely one occasion he had time to shift his body and use his stronger foot. I don't mind that as it shows confidence but I hope he puts the hours in on the training field for it. All it takes is one mistake for a keeper and it is remembered for months. Anyway, he's the best keeper I have seen at Rovers since Friedel and we have him in the Championship!! Let's hope we keep him and don't get him poached next year. He is probably worth a crack in the Premier League imo and I hope that it is with us.

I think Wharton is a very good defender but Ayala gives you that bit more Championship nous. He dealt with the crosses in very well last night. Would always opt for the experience of Ayala in games like last night, whereas Wharton can grind his teeth at Championship level against the lesser teams. History tells us that Ayala and Lenihan will have a spell out injured so I think Wharton will get plenty of game time this season

I quite enjoy the feeling of having gained something we didn’t deserve. 6 pts from the last two games against tough opposition really. It was the opposite to Barnsley who came and played some decent football. It was almost as if Milwall didn’t want to win and were more interested in trying to copy Wilders formation. Their centre halves weren’t ball players and looked entirely uncomfortable when asked to play the game and not simply spoil it. I don’t understand how their centre half got away without a yellow card for that tackle on Brereton. Likewise that little tubby boy in midfield, Woods, he made a rather cynical lunge on Armstrong at the end of the first half that could have done some damage had he not had such little legs. With that in mind I think the ref forgot his specs because how he missed them handballs I’ll never know! Two real hard taught games and 6 pts to show for it. We’ve come through this relatively unscathed and luckily Gally is showing some promise as Brereton gets injured. Strength in depth and all that. Big test on Saturday against another London team, albeit a far cry from the style of play Milwall brought. This will be a good game of football and one I suspect will be won or lost in midfield. Must start Rothwell and Holtby together because Holtby is the only one in there who can find Rothwells runs from deep. Did you see his lung bursting run only for our player to completely miss him and go back last night? I was screaming at the tele

One of them called us "virus ridden, tier 3 wankers" ??? Bloody hell, I did not expect to hear that insult at the football. Ironic really, given Milwall's real position in the leagues is about Tier 3. They are punching above their weight

We have been terrible but here we are 1-0 up. Great timing for the goal too.

Was gonna back it, saw Mercer had backed it and pulled out. Saved myself a tenner. Rule numero uno of betting: If Mercer has it on avoid it.

Foals - The Runner

Gallagher can consider himself unfortunate but at the same time outside of the lightning quick run he didn't offer much. Elliott was a far better player for us when he came on vs Preston, albeit against 10 men. Either way that is our best squad on paper so credit to Tony for sticking with it Nice to see Chapman on the bench and hope he can be afforded a few minutes when we are 2-0 up on the 60th minute

Henry's goal vs Ireland was better Three blokes took pictures of Maradonna in his coffin. Yesterday Boca Junior ultras found them, killed two and the other is in critical care. Hooliganism - "The English Disease".

Loving his name. Exactly the team for me as well. Wharton has been solid for us since he came in. Genuinely would be considering dropping Lenihan for Ayala myself but I know that won't happen. Imagine Mowbray dropping two of his captains in two successive seasons??? Sheesh.

Anybody going to be staying up and watching the Tyson vs Jones fight? Seriously considering it. One of my earliest memories of fighting when I was younger was the Tyson vs Lewis fight. I'd have been 9 years old but my old man let me stay awake with him to watch. It's the only time I have ever seen Tyson. Can't help but feel this fight will be a bit of a farce though, and the thought of watching 50+ year old men fight is a bit weird. I'll be honest it was that Tyson vs Lewis night - everything included, staying up late, the fight itself - that helped to make me fall in love with the art of boxing. For that reason I will probably find myself getting a crate of beers in and watching it.