That's a huge statement. I'm not even saying you're wrong, but the seeming disarray that has come from yesterday's squad and result has be a bit perplexed to be honest. Selling a lot of players was always on the cards with your massive squad from last year and things seemed to be ticking along nicely until yesterday with big profits on the players going out of the door and two big wins alongside them. I take what you say about those scorelines being flattering, but surely it's not enough to make you second favourites against us in a home fixture, given where we've been recently and that Szmodics is now out of the door?

As much as Bennett was never a world beater, if he actually played in that season under Coyle then I don't think we go down. Feeney was so poor and the margin of our relegation was so small. Bennett playing in front of him would have probably been enough for us to stay up. I definitely wouldn't call him anything of the sort, but I don't find it particularly cringeworthy either. Fans of a certain vintage still seem to remember the likes of Sellars or Speedie more fondly than some of our 95 team. Same with Bellamy and MGP for those in their 30s. We all know that we had some absolute whoppers at the club in the years before Bennett, so I get why a player like Bennett struck a cord with some fans, even if he was pretty average.

Pretty much exactly how I see it. Their game yesterday would have well and truly banished any complacency that they would otherwise have, but if their team next week looks like the one that turned out at Sunderland, then there's much less to fear than there was last time around. Whether we'll take advantage or not is another question.

Same team for me. Not usually an advocate for wholesale changes but this is all about getting some players sharper and keeping the first XI fresh for Saturday. And in fairness that's a team that should be good enough to beat a L1 team, albeit there are a massive issues with the defence. I'd only be giving Trav a maximum of 60 minutes too. Same with Weimann and Gueye.

As @KentExile says, he's a centre back. He can play, and so if you play full backs like you did under Pulis he could do a job there. But he's built like a defender, and doesn't have the skill set to do everything you want from a full back in the modern game. Seeing as you're back, I thought I'd add my voice to those a while back saying that Moran has some talent and could be useful for you. When he first arrived he was bright (apart from his first appearance from the bench where he looked totally lost). He didn't really respect possession as much as you need to, but he travelled with the ball very nicely and had a decent touch on him. The trouble was that it was his first proper season of men's football and we had to flog him a bit up until Christmas when we had loads of injuries elsewhere. Either physically or mentally (probably both) he hit a brick wall and his form absolutely nosedived, and didn't recover. If you've brought him in to be a squaddie, he could go well for you.

The lad's only just turned 19 and is a centre half getting games in the Championship. I don't think he realistically expected anything different at this stage football-wise, whether he stayed here or not.

Personally I thought even in that initial spell he was scoring without really doing anything else. Obviously if you score enough then you can make allowances for that, but on last season's evidence I don't think you could say that he was good at anything apart from finishing. He isn't quick or strong enough to be an effective out ball. He doesn't take defenders on with the ball at his feet. He isn't able to cut in from the left and shoot with his right often enough. In one way moving him inside so he gets more shooting opportunities makes sense, but even there he'll get even less space and time on the ball than he does when playing out wide. I hope I'm wrong of course, but judging off last year he lacks either the desire or ability to play out wide, and just goes missing far far too often.

He just can't get in games when he's on the left. He can finish when he gets in a decent position, but he offers nothing else apart from that. I'm happy to give him a chance centrally now Szmodics has gone, but even there I doubt he's got everything you need to do well as a 10.

Years ago when I was young enough to have the time for such frivolities, Rovers on my FM save signed a young Andi Weimann who ended up becoming our all time record scorer. Suffice to say his clever poacher's finish on Friday came as no surprise to me whatsoever.

Agree, and he's not even that limited in terms of ability. He's a classic box to box type whose running game is a big part of what he has to offer, so he was always going to suffer under JDT who wanted something very different from his midfielders. He can definitely play though, as yesterday's performance showed. Suits how we set up yesterday down to a tee.

This is pretty much how I saw it on the night, but I don't think we saw enough from Gueye's build up play to know if it's going to be a big weakness or not. He obviously knows how to use his body better than Gally (not difficult) but he kept it really simple with the ball at his feet. That's not a criticism at all, but it remains to be seen whether he's able to hold the ball up like Graham, who was a master at it. Ohashi impressed me. Clever runs in behind, looks a bit bigger than I was expecting. Still too early to say one way or another but I can see him going well.

And was Coventry's best defender when they finished in the play offs I believe. He needs to improve dramatically on last year, but I really don't get the clamour to see him leave.

Similarly to McFadz, I don't hate the idea of resigning him if he's on a very low risk contract. But I do hate the idea of him being signed as a likely starter.

I think he looked better when playing alongside better forwards. He was genuinely a handful for spells when playing with Brereton and Khadra. When defenders were more preoccupied with our other forwards his weaknesses didn't seem as bad. When he was the main focal point though, he was just too easy to deal with. Likeable and not without his good points, but his movement is as bad as I've seen from a Rovers number 9.

Of course it would be, but why would we think that keeping Gally as our main forward is more likely to see us stay up, not less? Keeping him is the gamble. He misses too many games, doesn't score enough when he plays.

In one sense you're obviously right, but at the same time it's a bigger gamble to keep things as they are when we were a hair's breadth from going down. Obviously it would be nice to keep Gally and Sigurdsson as ressies in case our 'upgrades' aren't up to it, but if it's a choice of sticking or twisting, I don't think keeping what we have is the safer bet to be honest.

The only way I can see him being a success here is playing more centrally. He obviously can finish, but he looks completely ineffective out on the left. He isn't that orthodox winger who would beat a man and/or cross it for Gueye either so I think it's a cse of move him inside or move him on.

Don't think there's too much giddiness on show. Most on here have been slating Gallagher as not good enough for years, and whilst I'm sorry to see Gent go, a few good months at Motherwell doesn't mean that he's got it in him to perform at the level we want to be.

But he is a very good Championship defender. A few shockers last year, but the year previous we were bigging him up as one of the best in the league. He needs supporting with better players, not replacing.

That's probably right. I'd try and see it more as an opportunity though. One frustrating thing about Gallagher is that there isn't an obvious way to play to his strengths. He can't be a target man because his first touch isn't good enough. His movement isn't good enough to be an out and out goal scorer. He always seems like a square peg in a round hole. In the last few years under various managers we've tried to be a full possession team, a counter attack team, then JDT and Eustace. At no point did we feel like we had a set of players who complemented each other and suited a particular way - arguably apart from Mowbray's last year. Gally going at least means we can start again and recruit attackers who suit each other. Albeit without a decent budget.

Gallagher's problem was and is a lack of instinct and awareness of being in the right position. If it was down to work rate then he wouldn't have a problem. He lacks aggression to be sure unless someone winds him up. He should be able to use his body much better, but none of that is to do with effort for me.

I'd genuinely be interested to hear what they would say. Because he doesn't do a particularly good job of holding the ball up like Danny Graham did. He certainly didn't directly set them up for many goals with the ball at his feet. He is hard working and powerful (even though he lacks aggression) and seems pretty unselfish, but he hardly seems like a dream strike partner. I'm not one of those who thinks he's useless either. I'd be sorry to see him go in some ways, but he's always played his better football when he wasn't the main man. If we don't replace him then he'll go into next year as needing to be our main man assuming Szmodics leaves, so now seems like a good time to cut our losses.

I know you can read too much into these sorts of stats, but his end product per minute under JDT was way up on where it had been. Admittedly a big part of that was that he was very rarely on the pitch for 90 mins, which maybe tells its own story! There are times where he really can't get into games, but I think they tend to when the team is struggling and he lacks the physicality to impose himself. I think when we have a decent platform, he's more effective than he was a few years ago when he was exciting but a one-trick pony.

A function of his size, unfortunately. Very rare that you get a player as small as Dolan who has decent pace over 30 or 40 yards. It's not a view everyone shares, but I think Dolan is actually doing a decent job of developing as a player given how much of a physical disadvantage he faces.

Hyam really struggled for a few games last season, but I expect that to be a blip. His first season wasn't a fluke, and to be honest we were unlikely to see the best of any of our centre backs after 18 months of JDT. I rated Tomasson hugely, but he was a defender's nightmare in terms of what he asked them to do and the lack of protection they were given. Pears is a different kettle of fish and I agree needs replacing. I can't pretend I'm overly happy with McFadzean but it makes sense if i) he's on buttons and ii) he's been brought in as depth for when we defend deep with three at the back. In those situations he still has a lot to contribute, but if not he's not up to playing with less protection these days.