Just now, JohnD said:

It's about time people left Pickering alone FFS, especially those that don't even watch!

Thought he was excellent tonight. 

12 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I think if Tomasson goes owing to lack of backing (quite possible) then we would be quite lucky to see another Mowbray. More likely to get a Coyle.

I think with Broughton we're very unlikely to get either. Say what you like about him, but Broughton has imagination and whilst I'd be surprised if we could get someone in as good as Tomasson, I can't see us going for an obvious out-of-work name. 

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

Poor old Burnley, couldn't happen to a nicer mob. Sticking my neck out here and it's based on a hunch more than anything else but I expect Kompany to turn their fortunes around and I don't think they'll go down. There's some poor sides at the bottom of the Prem and there's always 1 or 2 teams that fall away from mid-table in the latter half of the season. Tin hat is on.....

I wouldn't say I expect them to turn it round, but there's definitely a way to spin their poor home form. Their first five included Man City, Man United, Spurs, Chelsea and Villa (who are sitting 4th). They'll be scratching their heads how they managed to lose the other two against Palace and West Ham, who themselves are still decent teams. 

I can definitely see them finishing above Sheffield United and Luton over the course of the season, but there's a real chance of the gaps to other sides will become too big in the near future. They have loads of games coming up in December, and you'd make them big outsiders in almost all of them. They might be betting the farm on Everton not being able to respond to their points deduction, because if you take them out of the equation they already look like being cut adrift. 

19 minutes ago, white boy said:

Less of an issue for a Rovers fan but again my thinking has always been to support all other local and northern teams bar when they play against us.... jealousy and hatred is a bad thought pattern, and if smallish Lancashire teams can compete in the prem its show hope is there for us all .... it also usually allows myself and my grandson to pop along to watch prem football at a cost that is affordable!

True, but at the same the game is built on schadenfreude! I don't think I'm as bitter and twisted as some, but if I were a PNE fan I don't think I'd have been able to be as generous as you seeing Blackpool having their day in the sun. 

21 minutes ago, Feed the Yak said:

I hope Scott comes good for us, he did very well before but as part of a back 5. I don't have confidence in his ability on the ball and in picking out passes, which has become an important part of our game for each player on the pitch. It's a tough one for Scott, I feel he would come good in a more direct team but that is not us. 

I know that he's given away loads of chances under JDT by giving the ball away, but I don't agree that he doesn't have ability on the ball. His passing out from the back was a really strong part of his game under Mowbray. Granted they were usually to start a counter attack instead of trying to keep the ball, but I think the ability is there. 

I think you're right about our style of play not suiting him though. Where Mowbray's back three was a centre back's dream (something which arguably made JPvH look slightly better than he was), JDT is the polar opposite in terms of how demanding he makes it for centre halves. I think Wharton's lack of pace is probably exposes him more than his passing does, but either way it's definitely really challenging for defenders.

As much as he deserved to get dropped last year, I think there was an element of that coming when the team was still adjusting to our new way of playing. Lots of examples of forcing passes when nobody was really looking to receive the ball. Hopefully he'll be different when he gets a run this season where everyone has adapted to how we trying to play. 

3 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Rovers v PNE has always been a big Lancs derby, same as Rovers v Bolton. Maybe it's a generational thing but the 'Burnley is the the only match that matters' thing has become a bit of a Millennial's meme!

I think a lot of this is generational. The fixture has been competitive for the last 8 years or so, but before then you're talking plural decades since you could last say the same. There's a whole swathe of Rovers fans approaching middle age (arguably already there!) who had gone their whole life without having to give a second's thought to PNE, whereas our younger fans probably take a very different view. 

2 hours ago, Tugayisgod said:

If nothing changes I would go

Brittain, Hill, Pickering, Batty.

I would also bring Travis in alongside Tronstadt in  place of Adam Wharton to give more protection to the back 4 . They will need it

I can see the temptation, but if that ends up being our back four then I think we need to lean into our strengths rather than try and beat them at their own game.

Our best chance of winning comes from dominating the ball and having more quality through our creative players, so there's no way that I'd be dropping Wharton. 

26 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Wharton or Hill then for the foreseeable future.

Really hope Wharton takes his chance if he gets it. Even though dodgy passing out from the back got him and us into trouble far too much last season, it's not as though he can't cope with that side of the game. He showed under Mowbray that he can play, and he should benefit from having more options now the rest of the team has gotten used to how JDT wants to play.

His lack of pace might end up being the bigger problem, but I still think he has the tools to be a success at Rovers.

14 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Pickering used to captain Crewe - maybe JDT would choose him?

The obvious choice. Szmodics is great and he obviously has the drive that you want from a captain, but I'd be wary of giving him more responsibility outside of concentrating on his own game. 

8 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I know its an option I would really hesitate to move Hill from RB - his influence in stabilising the defence has been absolutely huge. Take him away and I think it could be really damaging. And Brittain and JRC have been brilliant in their roles last couple of games, so I wouldn't touch them either.

Agree, and I think the route that JTD goes down will be revealing about how much he trusts S. Wharton. Playing him and keeping Hill at RB is the least disruptive option, but if he really doesn't rate Wharton then he has the players to reshuffle to keep him on the bench. 

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

Usually I'm a big proponent of never change a winning team but injury to Hyam, Sigurdsson looking shattered means some changes.

Reckon with Moran taking a knock also means a switch to 433 is on the cards, moving Szmodics wide left. Prefer Szmodics at 10 but  an obvious move with the injuries etc.

                       Leo

Hill.     Carter.  S Wharton.  Pickering

       JRC.   Tronstad.   A Wharton 

   Brittain.   Dolan.   Szmodics 

That's the team I'd go for. Dolan's recent upturn probably takes the pressure off throwing Ennis in too early. There's a chance that Szmodics might be moved deeper and either JRC/Brittain moved to full back, with Hill coming in for Hyam instead of S. Wharton. 

6 minutes ago, JohnD said:

With regard to the comments on Vale, I'm not opposing them but find criticism difficult after looking at Hirst at Ipswich.

I know what you mean - but I think the criticism of Vale and (in the main) Hirst was warranted at the time. It's the writing off of them prematurely which can come back to bite us, as we saw with Brereton before them. 

Having said that I'd be very surprised if Vale ever reaches the standard needed to make it at Rovers, but with a decent run at a lower level like Hirst, who knows?

8 minutes ago, M_B said:

Went up to Hull last season, the game where Travis played right back. Vale came on and played a good chunk of the second half on the right wing. 

He was on our side of the pitch, and it was noticeable the work he put in to help protect the lead,he really put himself about and played well. 

I expected him to kick on from there, but as many before him, he failed to take the chance. 

I never saw the laziness thing with Vale. He wasn't exactly Paul Dickov either, but the problem was that he wasn't nearly threatening enough. That's the top and tail of it for me. 

1 minute ago, roversfan99 said:

Did Rooney do a good job at Derby? It is such a difficult period to judge, Derby were in such a strange situation that it felt like any points won were considered above expectation. They did have terrible off the field issues even though they had some talented players, and he had Rosenior behind him who is a good Championship manager in his own right.

His win record at both clubs he has managed is in the 20s in terms of %. He will get this job for no other reason than being Wayne Rooney.

The way I remember it was he took a crisis club and kept them up when they were staring down the barrel. Down the season after, granted, but only after huge points deductions and administration. The results were as good as you could hope for given the circumstances.

Good point about Rosenior though. He wouldn't be the first manager who is made to look good by having good staff underneath him. The way that Sparky's career has panned out recently, I wonder how much of that success can be put down to Bowen and others. 

18 minutes ago, rigger said:

And that is you being optimistic !

Ha! Fine, the optimistic spin is that we're more than fine if we carry on as we are, and if we become slightly more clinical then the sky is the limit! 

Or Leicester. Leicester are probably the limit. 

7 minutes ago, Ricky said:

Birmingham have sacked Eustace. Madness but he was favourite for the Rangers job so wonder if it was a result of asking to speak to them or something. Can’t be on form this season as they are doing well.

Rooney being linked.

It'll be interesting to see how Rooney gets on with a half decent team. Did a good job at Derby and seems to have something about him as a coach beyond just relying on his playing career.

Still absolute madness to get rid of Eustace, unless there's more to it. He's got a far better tune out of them than anyone seems to have done for a long, long time. 

5 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

This time last year Coventry and Boro were in the bottom 3. Milwall was 17th. QPR and Reading were in the playoffs and Norwich 2nd

I am still calm about the situation. We will probably end up mid table-ish in my mind 

You obviously don't deserve to win just by creating more chances than the opposition - it's our fault for not taking our chances and giving away soft goals.

Having said that, if we keep on creating the number of chances that we have been doing, then there's no way that we're going to carry on slumming it at the wrong end of the table. Giving a team a battering like we did to QPR has been on the cards for a bit, and we'll do it again before the season's done. 

Whether we can become clinical enough to make a genuine challenge to the top six is another question, but there's no way we can carry on playing as we are doing and not at least find ourselves stable in midtable. 

Hell of a selection headache for JDT assuming we don't pick up any injuries over the international break. I'd say there are five players which are pretty certain to keep their places from QPR - Leo, the centre backs, Szmodics and Sigurdsson. 

Nobody else is a shoe in as far as I can see, especially with Wharton hopefully coming back and Ennis having another two weeks on the training ground. 

32 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

City haven't outspent their peers though, they've just spent it more wisely - Chelsea and Manchester United have spent a fortune too. Newcastle and Arsenal are evidently hot on their trail.

Yes, so my issue isn't so much that one club wins everything, and there have always been big clubs and small clubs. My point is that I'd be perfectly happy seeing Haaland play for Real Madrid, Salah play for Bayern Munich and De Bruyne play for Juventus if it made our domestic competition more competitive.  

Thinking also about Rovers in the here and now, Championship clubs are almost universally making huge losses every year (unless they sell a prized asset), mainly because of paying out massive wage bills which have become the going rate because of wage inflation in the top division. If the elite were made to live every so slightly more within their means, I think the wider pyramid would be much healthier. 

Just now, Exiled_Rover said:

I cancelled my season ticket at Wigan Warriors a couple of seasons ago because I was bored every Friday night. The teams of the early 2000s would obliterate the teams on show now. 

I'm a lapsed Wigan fan too. No arguments that the game has been on its backside, but I think there are loads of factors which account for that more than the salary cap. Thursday night games, slower games, the fact the league table basically doesn't mean anything until September. If anything the salary cap has done a good job of making the smaller clubs more competitive. 

It's all academic really because there's no way in hell that it will actually be introduced, but I suppose my point is that I think it would be a good thing that the Man City of 2033 would get handsomely beaten by the 2023 team because they weren't allowed to massively outspend everyone else.

1 hour ago, Exiled_Rover said:

RL has been hurt by the Salary Cap, it's allowed the tail to wag the dog and the overall standard of the league has plummeted. 

As for the Saudi Pro League - I'm not sure what they get out of it. They've already bought multiple clubs around the world, so their name is out there. Artificially pumping up a farmer's league (what are there, 8 teams?) is an odd choice, but they essentially have a bottomless pot of money so they can afford to do it. I think the football governing bodies will shadow-ban anyone that goes to the Saudi Pro League from international football as the traditional super powers in Europe can't compete financially with oil money. 

Much like The Hundred I won't watch a second of it. 

It's certainly harmed the top teams, making it hard for Wigan and a couple of others to be as dominant as they were. I'm not so sure about whether it has harmed the overall state of the game. 

It begs an interesting question though about how much the standard of player really matters for fans. One of the arguments that you always get against a salary cap - or other interventions to ensure competitiveness - is that we can't do it because we'll suddenly see an exodus of talent to other countries. Speaking personally, I'd be perfectly happy for the Prem to be knocked down a peg or two and lose some of its stars if the league was made more competitive on a week to week basis. 

5 minutes ago, TheKitGuy said:

Hedges is the closest thing we have to Diaz, Tall and relatively fast winger. If he learns to put himself about a bit and sharpens up on his final third there's no reason he can't score 10+ and assist 8+.

On last season's evidence, that's a lot of sharpening up. 

19 minutes ago, philipl said:

Daft as It may seem, I would be reasonably OK with playing reasonably similarly to last season provided we convert our chances and cut out the brain dead defending which gifted them their chances and goals.

Anyone looking at the overall match stats without knowing the score would never guess the home side had won 4-0.

What I am hoping for is some real devilment in Rovers play to go with the improvement in moving the ball around at pace. 

Stoke showed how it needs to be done against Rotherham on Saturday but even they gifted the Millers a goal.

 

 

That and the fact that their goals themselves were a bit freakish. Two worldie finishes from players who score one in ten. Another direct from a corner. We were poor - no question - but it was also one of those days where everything went right for one team.

It's impossible to be too confident for any away game in the Championship, but I'm feeling good about this one. They're down on troops already and even with our attacking injuries, we should have comfortably the better team on paper, with a better XI and better options off the bench. 0-2 Rovers. 

I don't think WBA will be doing much more than midtable this year, but it's a good time to be playing the Rovers with our already pretty unimpressive attack being down on troops.

Going for an uninspiring 1-1

6 minutes ago, smiller14 said:

I'm not sure I agree that we could be in a dogfight. 

The only weakening of our squad is the exit of Brereton, which may be offset (at least to an extent) by Sigurdsson and Ennis. Let's not forget how ineffectual Brereton was for the second half of last season. 

Our midfield remains the exact same minus the much maligned Morton and with the new lad Tronstad in.

it would take a colossal fall off for us to fall from 7th to anything approaching a dogfight, and as of yet I don't think we are sufficiently weakened to be suitably concerned. At worst I think we bobble around in mid table. 

Completely agree. If we're in a relegation scrap, that will come from either an injury crisis or an unexpected implosion of form for me. Neither are impossible, but all things being equal there'll be at least a handful of sides which we should comfortably be better than, even without extra reinforcements.