Tosin and Williams I thought we’re pretty impressive, and when Cunningham, Lenihan and (hopefully) Nyambe, I think TM will stick with Bennett ?, come back in our back 4 will look alright. However thanks to some really poor management an injury or two, as we already have with Lenihan, could leave us extremely vulnerable. Aswell as this Walton has looked poor and unconfident, after selling Raya in order to get a better keeper it seems we have really messed up. One of my biggest concerns is that not only do we have defensive issues, we seem unable to create any chances in attack. Over the past 2 games we have looked so so predictable. And that is an issue when we have players such as Armstrong, Rothwell and dack, all creative players who can run with the ball, to me that points to the way the manager sets us up. On top of that I think we lack natural wide players who give us width and creativity, we have players who have got that but they are naturally central players who drift inside. It leaves us unbalanced, especially as our fullback are awful and don’t provide us with any extra quality out wide. We made massive mistakes in this window, we had a squad ready to challenge, it just needed some plugs to be filled by some high quality additions. We should of cleared the dead wood who are on high wages to help finance this and used our excelling academy players such as Butterworth, Chapman, JRC, Magloire and Buckley in order that we didn’t need to spend money on old squad utility players such as downing so that we had more of a budget to spend on the key areas that needed strengthening. I would much rather see the academy lads on the bench than Bennett, downing and Evans. Of course I’m not saying we should get rid of all experience, I’m just pointing out that we are not making use of our promising youngsters as we seem to scared to give them a chance. And I reckon we might regret that as they could easily end up moving on and excelling else where. I appreciate what TM has done for the club I really do, but we need someone who can take us to the next level. In many ways having the tough run of fixtures might work to our favour if it ends up with us getting a new gaffer. Though that’s risky as u never know what the venkys are gonna do with appointments. Next month or so will be important for our season, and for the future of TM and strangely it may be in our best interests if it goes badly.

Haha was watching a video of a stream so everything was flipped round, cheers

Was it me or was Bennett playing leftback and bell at right back?

What’s even more worrying that looking at our back 4 is looking at Fulham’s attack, there wingers are exceptional, have a striker who can finish off the chances and a midfield well and truly capable of feeding them the ball.

Midfield and attack is the probably the best we have. Happy with that. Really hope Gallagher can get a goal. Massive relief that Rothwell starts. Defence will no doubt let us down today tho. There is only one player I am happy to see in the back 4 and that’s a player who I’m only happy to see because I haven’t seen him play yet, so there’s a chance he might be decent. Overall that back 4 is weak even for league 1. Gonna need a miracle today. Can see a 3 nil/ 4 nil Fulham win. Because as we all know, Blackburn don’t do miracles. And problem is only a win would make up for the disappointment of last weekend. Also, having your 2nd worst player in Bennett as captain is a joke. I would of rather have started JRC than him even be in the team. all in all. Come on Rovers!

I think most would agree this is our strongest team. Walton nyambe Lenihan Tosin cunningham Johnson travis armstrong dack rothwell BB/SG/DG bench: Canadian, Williams, Buckley, Bennett, Chapman, the other two strikers. Literally don’t think we have a preferred striker atm think BB deservers it tho, had the best pre season. One thing I will say is that we won’t have much of the ball today, counter attack is going to be our best chance. Rothwell simply must play. Same for Nyambe.

Awful team. If Nyambe and Rothwell don’t start it’s a joke.

If he ain’t good enough for qpr he ain’t good enough for us. We needed a big cb not a freebie not wanted by anyone else

Is it a loan?

Isnt it his wedding today ?

Would be v happy with Cunningham. However that won’t match my unhappiness if we don’t sign a cb, losing mulgrew is the right thing to do but not without a replacement!

Austin has gone for 4 million. Bargain, great signing for West Brom

Cunningham is a very decent signing, hopefully with an option to buy. Hanley is not really what I was hoping for but at this point I’ll take anything. That said knowing us we will get no one

As I’ve mentioned I’m strongly against TM as our manager, esp after this summers business. He doesn’t put enough faith in our youngsters, get team selections all wrong, and aside from Dack has a shocking transfer record. Along with that feel like he is far too defensive, yet can’t actually organise a defence, or pick out a good defender. I understand the market is difficult, but there have been some real bargains available and we’ve missed them. Pontus Janson for under 5m is something we should of been all over. A left field option but one I had hoped we would go for for quite while is Reece Oxford, he went to some German club (who couldn’t afford big wages) for 4m this summer. He would of been an excellent cm to partner travis, and an option to play CB, along with massive potential resale value and someone for us fans to be excited about. He’s been mentioned a couple of times on here but Maddison would of been a cheap wide player option would give us some genuine width and delivery. A more expensive option would be Kent who is going for a similar fee to what we paid for gallagher. The Gallagher signing irks me a lot, I think he’s decent but not needed. And let’s be honest he’s gonna be played out wide. Would of had graham and Brereton challeneging for that position along with Armstrong, could stick chapman up there aswell if we wanted to play counterattack. We play 1 up top we didn’t need to splash our budget on another striker, and I believe Brereton derserves a chance there. He should of got a better one last season. Would of never have sold Raya despite his fralaties, a good defence infront of him would of made a huge difference. It’s a difficult market but I genuinely think I could of done a better job in terms of transfers. I also feel he’s far to nice, he should get the players who u don’t want to play out of the club, and the ones u want make them central to your plans, and leave the gaps in the squad for our academy players who are excelling atm. I’ve never felt so down at the begging of of a season, because we could of genuinely challenged with the right business.

I was a big TM supporter even after the collapse in form last season. But this summer he has absolutely blown it. A new defence and GK was needed and if anything it’s gone backwards. We don’t play our best RB, we’re starting with the defender who was purposely dropped, and let’s not get started on bell. Then to the GK, we sell Raya a keeper with massive potential along with the pull of coming through our own academy, and replaced him with a worse/same ability keeper (hope he proves me wrong) and most importantly a player who isn’t even ours. We spend 5m on a striker who is 6’4, which gives his 7million signing of BB very little chance of any impact this season. Furthermore 6,4 strikers are not wide players. Crucially for me, TM has gone back on his word with the famous line ‘defenders are coming’. The only signing who has made sense is Johnson, and fair play to him he is exactly what we need, but it isn’t enough. Also, cannot see one out and out wide player in our entire squad aside from chapman, and let’s be real TM isn’t gonna regularly start him. Our squad is incredibly unbalanced. And if we were starting the summer now I would think there was a lot of work to be done to get it ready to even challenge the top 10, let alone get promoted. I’m telling u now this season is nothing but midtable for us. We’ve blown it before it’s already begun. It genuinely pains me to say because he has done a lot for this club and he clearly has the club in his best interests but i want him gone, I just cannot understand his thinking. Our transfer business has been awful. We’ve got a great crop of players who are at a really good age, with the right gaps being filled we could really challenge and I hope he proves me wrong but I just can’t see it. Furthermore the venkys seem to really trust him so can’t see him going anywhere Ok rant over. Apologies for the negativity, still don’t think I’m over the disappointment of Saturday.

Well seems like things are starting to pick up. Wasn’t the biggest fan of the downing signing and reckon he’ll end up just being a waste of wages but I can see the reasoning behind that move in bringing in experience. I think the Bradley Johnson’s signing is a coup for us, no doubt he is on the older side but having just turned 32 he still hasn’t some ears in him, over the past 4/5 seasons he’s been one of the best midfielders in the league. As I have previously stated I am disappointed about Raya, think he will grow to be a really good keeper with so many years ahead of him. However if we’re to sell him and bring in Darlow them that flips the situation a touch, Darlow is at the moment a much better all round keeper and has prem and championship experience, aswell as being at the age of 28 he is entering his prime. Would significantly strengthen that area for us from last year. I think Gallagher is a risk, and far too much of one at 5million, wouldn’t payback anything more than 3million imo. Hasn’t lit the place up at any place he’s be been and even during his best season (with us) he had man doubters. Think we could do better for that money. starting to pick up tho!

Happy that we’ve been got Johnson’s, didn’t expect that! On the other hand gutted about Raya, I have no doubt that we will regret that decision

Johnson would be a class signing, would be an improvement on the quality we have and is also the kind of central midfielder we are currently lacking. I find the lack of movement/progress on signing a defender concerning. I’m not bothered in the slightest by missing out on Bauer, we need someone with more quality to come in in that area to help solve our defensive issues. But I had hoped we would go in for someone along the lines of jake cooper but there hasn’t seemed to be any movement on that one. We need someone of real quality to come in. I don’t think we need a number of centre half’s, just the one who can come in and be first choice next to Lenihan and do the job needed. Mulgrew/williams/Magloire can cover. Another fear of mine is that TM is gonna pursue with Bennet at RB this season, not only do I think he is extremely vulnerable but it could seriously stunt the progress of Nyambe. Who I think could be a top player. As things stand I believe we are weaker than when we started last season (no reed) so we’re gonna need some real progress on the transfer front in the next couple of weeks if were gonna get anywhere close to the Playoffs

Who actually is O’Neil ?

Hugill would be a great addition in my eyes. Played a lot for Boro last season and does the hard work aswell as get goals. Would be a class replacement for DG or someone to share that target man role. I am abit concerned however that it has been mentioned that Bauer might be our only CB signing this summer as the LT mentioned recently. This is our weakest area and one which needs investment, if we are really looking at a free agent who doesnt have championship experience to solve our defensive fratalities then we won’t even get close to the playoffs imo.

Seen that Mo Diame has been released by Newcastle, would love to see him here, the kind of player we’ve lacked for years. Proper box to box Cm. On a free would be a good signing. Imagine he’ll have more attractive offers tho.

100% agree. Perfect replacement for DG and could imo do a better job along with a fairly reasonable transfer fee as Southampton are trying to get rid, only issues I can see would be wages, which I imagine would be out of our budget. Sadly I could see him ending up at a Cardiff or Sheffield United. In terms of the priority signing of a CB I think we need abit more quality to fix our defensive issues than a Bauer if I’m honest, hoping we go for Lindsay or Cooper.

5m would be too much for Gallagher imo, we need to be abit smarter in the window than that. Reckon anything around 2m would be good business but wouldn’t stretch beyond that. Would much rather us try and get Austin whose allowed to leave this summer although I can imagine wages might be an issue. No doubt that reed was the best midfielder at the club last season, and I like many would love to see him back, but I also wonder if he is too much of a similar player to Travis to fork out 5m+ on. We really do need to a cm who can do the defensive side of the game while also set the tempo and dictate play, and I’m not sure that is reeds game, which is why I think TM is after a technical midfielder.

Of course it’s possible, but it’s not something I expect to happen like a Leeds or a WBA would as their squads are streets ahead of ours currently. TM isn’t gonna come out and say we’re aiming for mid table, esp as thats where we have been for majority of last season. He’s not going to be able to attract better players if he’s saying he wants to aim for midtable. Ofc course plays offs are the aim otherwise what would we be playing for. But it still shouldn’t be expected and he can’t be classed as a bad manager if we miss out on top 6, especially if we’re up there and close. I agree with you that he defo has his flaws as a manager and he may not be the right manager to take us up, but I wouldn’t expect any championship level manager to get us into the playoffs with our current squad when you compare it to others in this league, which is why It would be a great achievement if we could get there.

Our squad is quite abit behind many teams in this league so wouldn’t say it’s only the manager that we’re lacking. I’m not TM biggest fan but i don’t think it can be expected of him to get us into the playoffs with our current team. I also don’t think there’s many better managers who we could attract. Sheffield United are an example that there is hope for teams for like us who can’t quite compete financially, but for every Sheffield United there is a stoke who spend a lot last season and really struggled, showing how hard this league is.