True. The last one of those is against Crawley in the cup though. It wouldn't surprise me if you make wholesale changes for that one and get the full week of prep in for the game against us. I just hope we do the same!

Miles stronger than then - I was thinking more about the league games when we were both in the Championship. I'm not sure if Burnley are necessarily that much stronger than they were then (maybe they are in some aspects but lack the solidity they had). But we had some good individuals throughout the Bowyer years, so arguably we've gone backwards. Then again I don't think we had anyone as good as Brereton, and least Hyam and Kaminski get into Bowyer/Lambert's teams, so maybe I'm overdoing the difference.

Mixed signals on that front. We're consistently playing out from the back in every game, and one or two of our worst performances (Wigan away especially) involved us having a lot of the ball and doing nothing with it. That said, he has talked about avoiding the Dutch disease of having the ball for its own sake, and lots of the players have spoken about how he is encouraging them to take as few touches as possible before getting the ball forward. Some evidence of the message getting through on that score. We've also been happy to let some teams have more of the ball and set traps for them. The 3-0 win away at Swansea was probably the best example of that. We press reasonably high - but not as much as some teams. Basically at Turf Moor, there isn't a cat in hell's chance that we'll try and go toe-to-toe with a possession game. We'll not just be long ball either, but we'll look for Brereton to exploit space on the break. I think you're completely right about the unpredictability element though. Either side could easily win by a couple of goals and it wouldn't shock me in the slightest. Our schedule isn't quite as bad as some given that we've already played an game extra. Personally I'd play the full second string in the cup away at West Ham. That leaves just one more midweek game for us before the derby, so hopefully not too bad.

The way he was limping off against Sunderland, I'd be amazed if we saw Szmodics at the weekend.

That was a horrible one. Made worse for Rovers fans of a certain generation who were starved of genuine Lancashire derbies growing up and had to make do with treating Bolton as our rivals as a result. It was amazing how our fortunes seemed to mirror each other for about 10 years. Fortunately we had a decent run against them after that. Not long later we came back to beat them 2-1 after Kevin Nolan - who always hated us for some reason - scored as good a goal as you'll ever see. Cue a Samba header and Jason Roberts scoring from a massive deflection in the last minute. There was still chance for them to still have an Ivan Campo equaliser wrongly disallowed, so that went some way to make up for it!

I agree that their style suits us, all things being equal. Equally I worry about our ability to respond to conceding the first goal against a team like that. I wouldn't say I'm more confident than our last fixtures against them (cup game aside) purely because I think the gap between the squads is arguably quite a lot bigger now, but the clash of styles is definitely intriguing.

Just the one game for 5 yellows wasn't it? I assumed he would be back for this one anyway. Hopefully with an extra days rest and with a full week coming up, there's no need for much rotation. Equally, there are first teamers who will be coming back into contention, so you'd expect a couple of changes on that basis. I'd have the same team as @Paul Mani only with Pickering coming in, although I'm sure if that leaves Hedges on the bench or playing elsewhere. They've been much better than I expected this year, but I still think we'll beat them at home. 2-0 Rovers.

I was saying the same before kick off yesterday when talking about Mowbray. Last season was the most frustrating considering how well we had done before Christmas, but the season before was the one where we really should've expected to get in the top six with the squad we had. We were a bit unlucky with injuries, especially in defence, but it was still a badly missed opportunity. We also should've took the opportunity to extend Brereton's contract when he started looking like a player that year, but there's an element of hindsight there!

Not sure if we were ever looking to appoint Beale as manager in the summer, but looks like we dodged a bullet if so. Leaving QPR to join Wolves apparently.

I think it's telling so far that no team has really got near the 2 points per game benchmark for promotion. I think your lot look by some distance the most likely to get to that point - all of the other clubs with parachute payments look more fragile for various reasons. Taking into account our extra games I don't think we're in a meaningfully better position than the rest of the top half in reality, but then again there's nobody in this league (again, with the possible exception of Burnley on their day) who we should feel inferior to based on this season's evidence - even though we've not exactly been setting the world alight ourselves. I would've put Sheff U there too, but they've lacked consistency too & seem to be missing some big players until after the world cup at least.

You knocked it about well at times, so having a decent recognised striker could've made a big difference. I was surprised about how comfortable on the ball most of your team looked. Think you're right about finishing comfortably in Mid-table. Mowbray will likely start to annoy sections of your support in time, but he has enough about him to keep you well clear of danger. Kicking on might be a slightly different question! Even though plenty of refs would've given a pen, I'm still not at all convinced so I don't agree that he gifted us two. I think we should've made a lot more of some of the breaks that we made in the second half too, but I accept that it was a pretty tight game overall.

Couple of misplaced passes aside, I was pleased that he was getting involved in the build up more today. He was good against Rotherham but he seemed to be playing much further up, so didn't really get on the ball all that much. Still forming my opinion on him, but I'm happy to say that he was good today.

Very impressed with young Garrett tonight. Very assured debut. Dom Hyam though, what a signing he's turning out to be. We've really had Coventry's pants down there. The thing I don't understand is how other teams didn't also go for him at that fee. Elite defender at this level.

That Oldham game gets glossed over slightly because our upturn in form came just after it. That and the next local away against Bury was much, much better. It was a shocker though, to be sure.

No argument with him being on the bench if we start with a front two. But most games we have played with either a number 10 or a false 9, and yet we've only started Dack once. Incidentally in that game he split the defence to set up the winning goal, which would suggest that his talent hasn't gone away! I wouldn't care quite as much if he was even being used as an impact sub, but he struggles to get more than 5-10 minutes at present even when we're not playing well and need a goal.

My point is that JDT needn't adapt his tactics to accommodate Dack. If we were asking our players to press like mad - as it seemed we might when he first arrived - then fine. But we're not! And we frequently set up with players in the areas of the pitch where Dack is strongest, so I don't see how we would need to drastically change things to get him into the side.

This makes more sense, I think. Even then though, surely we can strike a better balance in the meantime. As well as providing us with more of a goal threat, we'll surely have a better chance of offloading him (if that's what we've chosen to do) with him playing more games and scoring a few goals.

I could accept this a lot more if we actually saw evidence of our attackers pressing high aggressively. There's been the odd hint of it, but we've often been happy for the opposition to have the ball in their own third, and only really started pressing once they approach the halfway line, even at Ewood. Not exactly gegenpressing! How many performances -good or bad - have we seen this season and thought we're playing in a way which is physically beyond what Dack is capable of, even post-injury? Hardly any, but we have seen quite a few cases where the game was screaming for a better link between the midfield and attack. Getting less than ten minutes away at a poor Wigan side was a joke. Overall I like JDT and I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll go well for us, but I really don't like the lack of time that he's giving Dack on the pitch.

He definitely can though - he might've been holding the parcel when the music stopped, but our results after he took over were not far off playoff form. With probably the worst squad in many of our lifetimes. Yes we were still relegated, but there's a world of difference between the two scenarios and the amount of credit/blame he gets for them.

Must admit, I really struggle to get wound up by much that he's said in the press, either when he was here or since he left. He'll get cricket applause from me based on the job that he did. I suspect that'll be the same for most others inside Ewood, but we'll see.

And the one to make it 4-3 was a mile offside! I'd be more than happy putting that game in the worst ever match thread.

It's a tricky one. He might also be calculating that getting a job where we has i) a good squad, ii) resources to strengthen and iii) sensible people working above him all at once is going to be pretty unlikely, even with his track record. He can't afford to be as choosy as his achievements deserve, and he could be looking at a squad including Jed Wallace and John Swift and be thinking he's a decent striker away from really kicking on. Equally, a bad six months and his hard earned reputation will take a serious knock.

It's not quite as appalling as that - we got a couple of extra draws to go with all the losses! Still an absolutely disgraceful record though. Things never seem to go our way in that fixture. Red cards, either deserved (Hanley punching McLean) or not (Emerton & Bennett). Individual shockers that simply can't be accounted for (Pears), last minute goals, them seeming to score from every chance they get. Like you, I fancy us tonight despite the record. We've got the better side on paper. Score first and I can see us winning by a couple. 1-3 Rovers.

Bit of a mixed picture on that score. There really aren't that many managers that have come into a club in the summer like JDT has and then gone on to take a club up first season. Those that do tend to have the advantage of parachute payments too. Of the last 21 clubs that have been promoted since 2016: 7 were clubs bouncing straight back from relegation 7 had managers that were in at least their second full season at that level 1 was a manager that took charge part way through a previous campaign and the last 6 were managers which went up straight after joining in the summer BUT they also included Villa, WBA and Bournemouth who still had parachute payments coming in. For clubs in our position, it looks like there's a good case for being patient in year one provided that we can see some improvement and the potential to kick on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15-16: B*rnley relegated prem Boro - Second full season Hull - relegated prem 16-17: Newcastle - relegated prem Brighton - Second full season Huddersfield - First season 17-18: Wolves - First Season Cardiff - First full season Fulham - Second Full Season 18-19: Norwich - Second season Sheffield United - Second season Villa - First season 19-20 Leeds - Second season West Brom - First season Fulham - relegated prem club 20-21 Norwich - Relegated prem club Watford - Relegated prem club Brentford - second full season 21-22 Fulham - Relegated prem club Bournemouth - First season Forest - First season

Or to send a signal to the players. Trying to get more out of training than just incentivising work rate.