Admiral Nelsen

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.

Really? That'd be incredibly disappointing but I really don't see the logic. They've probably started about 15 games between them but are now looking like key players in a potential promotion push. Does the LT say why? I suppose it would make sense if they had an injury crisis, but it's not as though they're anywhere near the bottom 3.

Good to see that they're not just relying on Dack's comeback to fill the attacking-midfield spot. Hopefully a sign that we'll be treating him with kid-gloves until next season.

There's a decent argument for not selling him irrespective of the price now, but if we decide that we do it would need to be that sort of figure at least. I.e. substantially more than we could realistically command in the summer, which even if he tails off a bit should be at least around £20 million.

Apparently was a part of a 10-0 win! Fair to say that he'll have tougher tests in the English second tier. I'm with you on the risk. I'd take him on loan with a (cheap) option but no obligation to buy. It could be a case of getting a good player on the cheap a la Santa-Cruz with his injury record, but I'd want him to have several months with our medical team looking at him before we pay out any significant financial outlay on him.

Certainly getting there, although a bad January on and off the pitch could change expectations very quickly. We'd probably need somewhere between 70-75 points to be confident of securing a top 6 spot. Our 6 fixtures before the end of January are: Hull (a) Barnsley (h), Hudds, Cardiff (a), Middlesbrough (h) Luton (a). If we keep the squad together, and get something like 3 wins and a draw from those 6 games, then really average form until the end of the season should be enough for the top 6.

I thought the same with Boro vs Bournemouth, but for this one I actively wanted Fulham to win. Even with their dodgy form, I think Fulham are still massive favourites to go up (probably as Champions) with their quality and depth. Bournemouth are a different kettle of fish, I think they're there for the taking either for Rovers or another one of the chasing pack. At the same time, we're not secure enough in the top 6 to not worry about teams like Boro & Sheffield United. Sheff. U in particular worry me if they carry on with this run.

It's a gamble, to be sure. I suppose my view is that the club also taking a gamble by barely letting a promising 22 year old play for 12 months. Not saying Carter will be as good as Wharton, but we'd be much poorer if instead of spending his early 20s clocking up regular appearances, he instead was sat on our bench occasionally replacing Lenihan, Mulgrew or Tosin. Not sure which option I think is most sensible, but I'd hate to see Carter go down the same path as Davenport, who doesn't really reach his potential because he doesn't spend enough time on the pitch (alongside injuries in Davenport's case too, obviously).

Ordinarily I'd agree (and I suppose I do in that I'm not advocating throwing the game) but I think we've got too much riding on the league this year. I wouldn't want to see ridiculous changes, but the likes of Carter, Edun, Davenport, Butterworth and Clarkson would all be starters for me, and if he was up to it JRC too. One thing going for us so far is that we don't (yet) need to reschedule any games cancelled through covid, so that'll be a break where other clubs will be getting busier schedules.