I agree if badly weakened means players who otherwise wouldn't get anywhere near the first team. I think playing the 5-6 fringe players that are near enough certain to be needed in the league at some point is sensible - gives them game-time and they should still have enough to see off a L1 team. I wouldn't be in favour of playing kids who aren't already knocking down the door. I think the circumstances of our season calls for us to be pragmatic, but I don't think that means we need to throw the game.

I was thinking along the same lines, but the cheap tickets will stop this making much of a difference I think. Say average tickets are around £12 considering concessions, a crowd of 10k will get us around £60k. Plus the prize money it's welcome, but I can't see it making any difference to the budget. A win on Saturday, then an away draw against a United/Spurs/Arsenal, then maybe that could make a difference.

Been very up and down even within games. Thought he was great in the first half against Coventry, but then faded badly in the second, giving the ball away in some really poor areas. He looks like he has the raw materials to be a decent player though. I suspect the change in system will help him too, with the three centre backs giving him more room to get forward.

Fair enough. Rovers twitter is saying 4-6, so fingers crossed it's closer to the lower end of that. Four weeks from last weekend wouldn't be the end of the world with bearing in mind one of the games he'll be missing is in the cup, but if it gets towards the end of February then he'll be missing a concerning number of games.

Thought TM said 4-6? Still a massive blow though. Need Edun to step up!

100%. We might now find ourselves in the incredible position of Ayala being our 4th choice centre back, but we'll almost certainly need him at some point before the season's done. Won't do us or him any good if he hasn't played in months.

I get that approach, even if there are one or two more changes than my liking. Even so, Edun starting at left back is a no-brainer. He needs to get more time on the pitch even if Pickering is out for a while. I also seriously doubt that we'll see JRC as being able to start, but then again it's a dilemma because nobody else can really slot in there apart from Nyambe, and he is arguably the player who needs protecting the most. I think the best compromises would either be: i) Play Nyambe from the start but take him off for JRC after an hour, irrespective of how the game's going, or ii) Play Magloire on the right, and play one of the senior centre backs. Van Hecke in particular hasn't really played that much recently once you factor in his ban, and we don't play for a week anyway, so I don't see that a being a massive issue for him.

That should make a difference. With >3000 already sold it should be a decent turn out.

I don't really take a view one way or another about how much of this is down to the coaching, but I agree that this is an important point with Nyambe. We often talk about how he isn't good enough going forward, when what we actually mean that his final ball isn't good enough. He travels with the ball very well, and is decent enough at keeping the ball in possession and providing an out=ball going forward. He wouldn't do at all for teams who are relying on their full backs to rack up a decent number of goals/assists, but he can still contribute plenty in an attacking sense for teams who don't see their full backs as one of their main sources for creating chances.

When he was fit? Really not that many. Most of the games that he hasn't started since the L1 season have been down to injury. When he's been fit, he has generally played. I know the spell when Bennett played there got a lot of people's back up, and I didn't agree with it either, but in the greater scheme of things it was barely more than a handful of games when he was still establishing himself at this level. The idea that Nyambe is leaving because he has the hump about not playing for a few games over a year ago just doesn't seem to stack up for me I'm afraid.

Not doubting the truthfulness of this exactly, but Nyambe doesn't seem to me to be a Bielsa style player at all.

Only 8 quid for juniors too. Thought that alone would turn this into a bumper crowd. There's still time for it to be decent I suppose, but it doesn't seem like pay-on-the-day will be available, which would probably make a big difference.

You're probably right. I hope Wharton get's rested though - all three of our centre halves have been excellent but I've been so impressed with how well he's come back from a serious injury. The fact that he's the only left footed centre-back would lead me to wrap him in cotton wool, but on balance I think you'll be right and he'll play.

Amazingly, it is. Couple of draws, but we haven't won there since Sparky was in charge. We've had away wins at United, Arsenal and Spurs more recently!

That is a nasty looking run. Watford have games against Norwich and Newcastle over the same period too, so easy to see them getting a few points there. The thing I'd be clinging onto in your position is that there have been three teams around you that, in the main, have been very poor in the first half of the season. If that stays the same for the next half, it's not that hard to see Burnley finishing 17th without a ridiculous change in form, especially with the experience you've got. Having said that, if Newcastle splash the cash and it translates into results (no guarantee of that), I struggle to see you chasing down anyone above Watford bar one of those teams absolutely nosediving.

Assuming that we're just throwing names around with Chris Wood, and there's no chance that it will actually happen, but personally I'd be against. He's obviously easily good enough for a top-end Championship team, and I'm not really bothered that he's a Burnley player, but the one thing that he lacks is pace and agility. I know we're a bit more direct now, but so much of what we're good at relies on our forwards having pace to burn and hit teams on the counter attack, and there's no way we would sign a player on prem wages like him to be plan B off the bench.

Looking at some of those comments we could be easily be talking about Josh King in his first few years here, but the thing that worries me the most is his age. Nothing wrong with being a very rough diamond in your early 20s, and raw pace and power would suit us down to a tee. 24 though, for a forward, is a little late to be needing to improve so much, and whilst I'm certain confidence is a factor, I think we're probably being too hopeful to think that a couple of goals and we'll suddenly have that £15 million player on our hands. Let's wait and see, but I hope if it goes ahead it's for the sort of financial outlay that doesn't really hurt us if it doesn't work out.

Agree. Although one thing in his favour is that he's actually made a fairly good number of appearances in most cases, even in top flight football. I suppose plenty of these are probably from the bench though.

I'm definitely in favour of making a decent number of changes, but I hope the changes aren't quite as sweeping as that. I think it'll be prudent to give game time to established squad players who are essentially first teamers who have only been kept out because of how the current XI are performing - i.e. Ayala, Gallagher, Johnson and Dolan. After that there are others you can make a case for, but putting Pears (who admittedly did well a few weeks back) and Magloire in there is going a bit too far for me.

Hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes here, but as one of the surprisingly decent number of Rovers fans with a WN postcode, I thought I'd start the match thread for our (well, not mine obviously) short trip south in the cup this Saturday. As an aside, I've had a fairly complicated relationship with the club of my hometown over recent years. It was simple enough to wish them well when they were miles below the Rovers in English football's pecking order. Even when they found themselves in the same division - almost entirely because of the generosity of wealthy Rovers fan Dave Whelan - it was hard to dislike them too much when they were a source of an easy 6 points and the simplest of local away trips. All this changed after one of the more eventful games in our recent history in 2007, where a Santa-Cruz hattrick wasn't enough to stop a 10-man Rovers going down to a 5-3 defeat. Despite our record at Ewood remaining very strong (that game in 2012 notwithstanding), this fired the starting gun on a truly woeful run of form at their place. We haven't won in 10 attempts at the JJB/DW Stadium, stretching back to a routine 0-3 win almost fifteen years to the week, including a goal from a young Matt Derbyshire. A simply unacceptable record against a jumped up non-league team. Back onto the here and now, whilst we have bigger fish to fry, there are grounds for optimism in finally putting our recent run at Wigan to bed. Rovers are flying, and possibly a mere few months away from returning to our rightful position of at least two divisions above the Latics in the football pyramid. That said, after a year or two off the pitch that I wouldn't wish on the fans of any club, even genuine local rivals like Burnley, Bolton or Morecambe, they too seem to be on the up under new ownership. Callum Lang in particular has been banging them in, and with the form of both teams this has the makings of cracking cup tie. Impossible to predict the XI of cup fixtures, but hopefully we'll get the proper balance with giving some squad players a runout whilst being confident of getting into the next round. Ideally I'd like to see something like this, with Butterworth getting decent time on the pitch too: Kaminski Carter Ayala Van Hecke Nyambe Edun Johnson Davenport Dolan Buckley Gallagher A sold out away end seems unlikely at this point, but the price of tickets are very reasonable so hopefully a decent crowd will see us through to the next round.

Looks like we've got a pretty long run of fixtures which don't look massively intimidating, but equally there aren't too many that you'd put in the Peterborough, Barsnley, arguably Birmingham at home bracket either. Home games against pretty strong teams in Boro and Forest. Aways look easier, but still not straightforward either, especially if we're missing Brereton for a couple. Cardiff might be an exception - not great at the best of times and by far their most creative player has just returned to his parent club. Missing a few through suspension too, but even there they'll be looking to avenge the thumping they took at Ewood.

Rearranged for Wednesday the 19th. Works pretty well for us, this. Hull play on the Sunday, so we have an extra day to prepare. Maybe more importantly, our next game is on the Monday evening against Boro, so we still get the best part of a week before we next play.

I'd say could be, rather than would be. I worry hugely about a 24 year old who still gets criticised for lacking game awareness after playing well over a hundred games. His goal record too is appalling for a forward, although apparently he's played all over in recent years, so I'm not sure how much that has impacted things. It could be that a change of environment is what's needed, and so long as the money involved is small I wouldn't be against signing him. At the same time you'd have to say that it's his early promise which is the anomaly in his career, and the norm seems to be struggling to live up to that brief promise.

Two additions to the squad will probably be enough provided there are no outgoings and we get a fair run of injuries. That said, I know next to nothing about Doyle other than he's highly rated at City but has only managed a handful of appearances at second-tier Hamburg this year. Could be great, but I'd be a little sceptical of his ability to come in and improve the XI, and there's basically no chance of City letting him go permanently. On the fence. Maja, provided it's on the cheap with no obligation to buy, I'd be happy enough with. We already have a pretty good array of options in attacking positions, but an x-factor player to replace Poveda would be very useful and if if the deal doesn't expose to too much risk in terms of his injury, then it could be a shrewd move.

They won't care about the promotion push for us, but good experience for their players to develop & increase their value vs having them sat on the bench. Ridiculously though, I hadn't really factored in Omicron, so you've probably hit the nail on the head there.