I think Dack will come in for either Rothwell or Holtby and we will be left with an almost 4-2-4.

A midfield "three" of Dack, Johnson and Travis could work with Trav and Johnson sitting whilst Dack joins in with the front 3.

We have an abundance of talent there now. There's absolutely no reason that, when all fit, we shouldn't run every game in the midfield department. We can switch between players of equal quality.

A bargain!

Half a million for a top quality goalkeeper, with top European experience. You can tell with his communication he has played at a high level. You don't get away with being quiet in front of top defenders. If he's training with the Belgian squad he'll be looking at the likes of Curtois and seeing how elite goalkeepers act and behave.

Thought he was unlucky for the penalty but was a great save in the first instance. 

He is establishing himself this year. He's almost a guarantee start at the moment.

Something has happened in coaching during the last 6 months. I want to be able to credit Johnson for it but can't say for certain. What points it towards DJ is that Brereton's starting positing when receiving the ball is much better. He is in between the lines of the full back and the centre half, picking on the half turn and playing a pass infield. He's even holding the ball up much better. He can turn a defender now too, as shown on Saturday with a couple of touches from a high ball and he brought it down, turned his man and created opportunities.

Over the course of the last few seasons it almost feels like Brereton was taken apart to put back together again. He has real confidence at the moment. My only hope is that he isn't a streaky player, and what we are seeing now is his "purple patch" only for him to eventually become the Brereton we saw this time last year.

Super Ben Brereton!!!

Johnson won the ball back a handful of times in the last few minutes. Had a good game. 

7 minutes ago, Joar said:

Tbh, both Evans and Lenihan looks like they are running on their heels. Looks like they're stomping, and not at all light on the feet. Someone should look at their running technique

Said the exact same thing myself. Lenihan is flat footed. That’s why he turns like milk!!

He gets beat far too often and his running technique is probably why. 

Probably the worst I’ve seen us play to be honest. All season we’ve at least looked lively on the ball. Terrible in all departments. 
 

Has to be a big half here. We are on a shocking spell. So disappointing. The let downs are all too common as a Rovers fan these days. Think we’ve been on the same rollercoaster for a few years now. 

5 foot 9 Ayew beating Lenihan in the air every time. 
 

Fuck off. 

Lenihan AGAIN.

You think Mowbray is making up false positives for Rothwell now? 
 

Dude, you need to get out a bit more. This lockdown is having pretty bad effects on people’s minds, but wrapping it in tin foil won’t help 

2 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

What evidence is there (either on his record in recent times or his record with us in the Championship) that he is?

Coyle got a team promoted to the top flight once as well.

There’s more evidence on his than Barton’s. 
 

Which was the point of the post. You just deleted the rest of it. 

20 hours ago, tomphil said:

David Hayes selling job on the Usyk v Chisora fight has hit almost hysterical levels of delusion now.  Still at least it gives Hearn and his crew a day off their hype train.

Interesting fight but it's all about Usyk and how he handles a genuine big mauling brawling hw lump.  Would love Delboy to pull it off but can only see him being clinically taken apart as long as Usyk avoids those big overhand rights.

In other news lineal pretender Fury about to take the piss gain in between title fights with a hand picked opponent and all the usual done to death bollocks that goes with it and him.

Sooner they create a Super HW div for the handful of giants and let the rest get a decent competitive HW divison back like it used to be the better. 

Where have we heard that before ?

Same with all walks of life now. Power concentrated in too few hands. Joshua could lose 4 in a row and he'd still be the most advertised boxer in the division.

UFC is going the same way now as well. Gets a bit like WWE at times with the ridiculous storylines they try and peddle. 

6 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

At least you can imagine him getting 15 goals in a season, as it appears you've dreamt about him scoring 17 in a season. Did you even watch our relegation season? ?

12, my bad. 

8 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Ah, so Coyle is the only manager Gally could do well under? Even though we score more goals now, are just as attacking,  and have people out wide (Douglas, Elliot, JRC) who can cross a ball? I'm not sure your assumptions stand up to scrutiny.

Gallagher did have Conway to be fair. 

But he also had Feeney if I remember correctly, with Jason Lowe and...who was the left back that year? Williams? He isn't known for his crossing. 

3 losses out of 4 is it now? Our form has to change otherwise we will leave ourselves a lot to do in the later half of the season.

Will be a tough game. Not nearly as excited now after the Reading game. I hope we don't become the flat track bullies we are appearing to be. A good defensive performance will go a long way here. Lenihan has a lot to prove.

A tough 0-2 away win will do for me. 

Sam Gallagher got 17 goals for us up front in that relegation season. So if you can't imagine him getting 15 goals 'from what you have seen' - did you even watch our relegation season?

We have two fine crossers of the ball in JRC and Douglas. Quite why Gallagher isn't central against them I don't know.

I actually quite liked the substitution of Evans for Gallagher against Reading. 4-2-4 is attacking stuff. Then I noticed he put Elliot up top with Armstrong and Gallagher out right and felt myself sinking into the sofa. I think I switched that game off on the 87th minute.

Bloody hell.

People claim Mowbray is not the man to get us out of this league. A statement they claim is 'evidence based'.

Now we have clamour to appoint Joey Barton. Not a single promotion on his record and 1 (2?) good seasons as a manager with one club.

You can't write it.

7 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

My best mate is a Pool fan and he raves about him similar. Says forget the likes of Harvey Barnes who is still a player that will have a top career, this kid is going right to the very top.

Says alot that Barnes was always going to be loaned out but they wanted Elliott in their squad. Kudos to TM for convincing them to send him to us.

Barnes? Don't he play for Leicester?

18 minutes ago, dallydally said:

Rothwell not available. Still self isolating. Why drop JRC for Nyambe? Hopefully the same front 3 continue. Would be disappointed if Gallagher replaced any of them at kick off. Don't want to see Bell back ahead of Douglas or Buckley instead of Johnson. Keep the faith TM. Don't tinker unless you have to!

Jesus Christ. Just beyond stupid. Take a test, if he is negative then he should be allowed to play. Take it he hasn't trained for this self isolation period either? Absolute bobbins.

I went for Nyambe because I was thinking about a bit more of a solid defender. With people claiming they tend to play on the break I thought his pace would be a better fit. But, if they sit back like suggested, there probably is calls for JRC as he's a better crosser. Tricky one.

Douglas has to start. I wouldn't be too bothered if Buckley plays ahead of Johnson but I personally think Johnson's shithousery will be important in breaking up counter attacks and alleviate the pressure on Trybull.

Key is to ensure we don't have a midfield that consists of both Johnson and Evans. Not enough about them two to accommodate on the same pitch. 

Was it any good?

I'm not particularly bothered by it but if it raises Rovers' profile in a positive way then sod it.

I always said that Olivia would do what she can to distract Dack from football though. It's a good little earner for her now, but if she can get in touch with higher profile players (ie a bigger Premier league team) so they can film her and Dacky-wacky "mingling" with them she'll be encouraging it. Make no mistake about that.

I haven't seen Pears play but he's fairly rated, so it feels a lot better knowing we have him behind rather than Leutweiller.

With any luck it's Nyambe in for JRC, same midfield with maybe Johnson dropping out for Rothwell and same front 3. Be probably our best team, keeper / Ayala aside.

Confident about this. Not stopped being excited about a game so far this season. Reading is a big test though and we have come up short against Watford and Bournemouth this year. 3rd time lucky really. I want to be the team that debilitates this Reading squad and puts 5 past a once-solid defence.

Brereton to continue his fantastic form too. How I wish we could be in the stadium and roaring his name right now. He deserves it really. The lad never put the price tag on his head, he's kept quiet amidst the criticism (although I don't think it as vocal as some but was clearly there) and now he is getting his rewards. A truly fantastic performance on Saturday and he seems to have got better when the squad around him has. Coincidence? Definitely not.

7 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Do happy fans try to score points?

I don’t know, you do it more than most, are you happy? 

2 hours ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

 

Understandable giddiness from the usual suspects trying to score points

Or, in the real world, fans happy that their team has won. 

Same team with Nyambe and Rothwell in on Tuesday will do me just nicely. 

Has Tony Mowbray just out Elliot up front and Gallagher on the wing? 
 

WHY