Only on open sale tomorrow too. Not sure if a complete sell out is realistic, but a nice win at the weekend a week before pay day should hopefully take us close!

It's been spoken about a few times over the last 18 months, but this is a really important point which in a way has been playing out on most of the threads on this board. Maybe this is the same at all clubs to a certain extent, but I think the chaos at Rovers over recent years, as well as some of the managerial appointments has made it really easy for fans to get grouped in the 'optimistic' or 'pessimistic' categories (see happy clappers or doom-mongers, if things get pejorative). Consequence of this is that fans get into the habit very easily of looking at any, often almost unrelated issue as a slight against their position, and therefore have a tendency to get very defensive to the point that we have two large groups who are constantly talking past each other. This was happening even under Bowyer. Refusal to recognise poor signings/soft underbelly because of the great work that he did, or indeed vice versa. Might be a bit of a tangent, but it makes points like your last one all the more important. I personally think the sun shines out of TM's backside, but I think amongst his best achievements is that because of what he has done & how much of a step up he is (as a manager and a bloke) than Coyle, it means that we now should be able to talk about things like players costing too much money or if we have a late goals issue without it descending into 'which of the two camps do you belong to' squabbles that we've been having for the last 5 years or more.

Not really a comment on BB, but Antonsson's biggest issue for me was that he was possibly the most frail footballer I've ever seen play for Rovers. Apart from possibly Carlos Villanueva. Worked hard & had a nice finish, but I think that was probably it and he struggled to even make a yard for himself because of his lack of strength and any real pace. Brereton has got the physique to be a real handful, so hopefully we'll be seeing him make the most of that sooner rather than later.

Couldn't agree more about the Championship, fabulous league. Just an ironic shame that winning it means having (probably) less fun in the top flight. Even by normal standards, this year looks extremely hard to predict. We're in November now, and to my mind there's not a single team that stands out as emerging from a pack of 7 or 8 as favourites for automatic promotion. Maybe Derby in recent weeks. Sheffield United are a funny one. For me, they were the best team I've seen at Ewood this year and by a fair distance, but going off that performance you'd never have guessed that they would be leaking goals or dropping points as much as they have in some recent games.

They are horrible in fairness, but the flip side of it is that we'll have 4 and a bit months of the season left having already played West Brom, Sheffield United & Leeds twice. In fact, if we to get enough points to keep us within anywhere near touching distance of the top 6, let's say 4 points from Norwich, Sheff U, Leeds & West Brom, then I'm happy with that. In terms of expectations, I'm not yet in the state of mind when I really believe that we'll finish in the top 6, but I'm increasingly convinced that we're going to get close. At the start of the season I would've taken mid table safety of any description but having seen us against most teams by now, we should be finishing in the top half imo.

Think the Brentford game was the best example of that. I don't think Bennett's the best player in any single position on the pitch, but he's extremely well rounded as a footballer and that with his energy means he's next to guaranteed to get in somewhere.

Wouldn't disagree with this, but there are some pretty big caveats imo. 1. There's a pretty strong chance that (not unreasonably) we can only be spending sums of money like that on players that we have to see as investments. I'd be surprised if we would've been able to spend a similar fee on a couple of players in their late 20s/early 30s. 2. The lad has been here a month. At the moment, Reed is playing out wide and Conway is getting a game. Let's see what we're saying over Christmas/come thing spring/at the end of the season. As I say, this could be another of those £7million plus transfers that Rovers have got badly wrong. But at the same time I don't think that it's a big deal that he isn't being seen as a starter in a certain position yet either.

Game of opinions, but I thought he looked very assured in his spell there against Leeds. Go as far as saying mature beyond his years. Some smart runs, holding the ball up and winning free kicks in good areas. It's obviously fair enough that people should be able to criticise things without being accused of being doom-mongers or anti-Mowbray, but I'm a little surprised at how quickly some are getting a real downer on this. 19 is a baby in footballing terms, he's being eased into the side when everyone else is playing well. Maybe this will turn out to be a shocking investment, but surely we're still as much in the 'wait and see' period as we were when we first signed him?

Guess that just goes to show how rarely you even get the chance to even sell those numbers even when the demand is there. Would be interesting to see how many times Man United do a season now.

Have we not sold over 5k when going to Bolton? We've sold out as recently as the prem relegation season, so if the capacity is enough then we'd have reached it.

Possibly, although I've been surprised about how well Reed's taken to playing there considering he is meant to be a holding player. Main point was just how well our squad has developed. If we're potentially missing our goalkeeper, both starting centre backs, our best midfielder, our starting striker & still put out that team which (to me at least) looks competitive, then it's certainly made a change from recent seasons!

Headline makes grim reading, but the worst case scenario could be something like: Leutweiler Nyambe Rodwell Williams Bell Smallwood Evans Reed Palmer Bennett Armstrong With the likes of Rothwell & Brereton who could start too.

Think Lenihan already tweeted that it wasn't all that bad, so hopefully that sorts itself out. The fact that Raya still has another couple of days left in Spain sounds like he's not even being considered for the weekend, which considering how bad it was, is fair enough.

Didn't get the impression that they were playing all that well when they started picking up points a few weeks ago. Not had any easy games since, but looking at what's in front of them, they have a very big month or so: West Ham (a) Leicester (a) Newcastle (h) Crystal Palace (a) Before a pretty horrible looking December including Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton & Spurs.

Saw a bit of of QPR against Villa. Nothing special, but you can definitely see that Shteve have got them much more resilient and much better drilled than they were a month or two ago. Deceptively tough game, but with an early goal to settle the nerves, 3-1 Rovers.

The large turn outs (including Oxford at home) have tended to be once there's a bit of a buzz about the sales themselves gathering momentum. Prices are reasonable, with good concessions, so hopefully a win vs QPR with brisk early sales could see a bumper crowd for this one. Hope that it turns out to be the case anyway. This team deserve it.

Fair enough, and I certainly wouldn't advocate changing it in the coming weeks, but clearly Tony is still looking at it as an option & I think the additions to the squad make it more viable than last year. When we tried it in league one, typically the ball got as far as our midfield and the move died there. We have more, better players now, so it could easily bear some fruit imo.

Agree that three at the back failed miserably last season, but (on paper at least) we look really well set to make it work now. Raya Lenihan Rodwell Mulgrew Nyambe Bell Evans Reed Smallwood Dack Graham A bit on the conservative side, but that looks a well balanced team for me, and when you think there's the likes of Bennett (who would probably start somewhere anyway) Palmer, Rothwell and Armstrong to bring into the midfield/attack if we wanted to be more threatening then I think we've got the players to make this work.

Good team, but fortunate to get a point at the weekend, and don't look as good (as far as I've seen) as Sheffield United. Also, a horrible, horrible club by anyone's standards. Rovers 2-1

Four weeks for Nyambe is a blow. Luckily there's an international break there, but even so.

Right back should be an interesting one, seeing as we have a few midfielders who can do a job there. Apparently Reed played there a lot for Norwich last term, but do we want to lose what he gives us in midfield? Same with Bennett? Think Evans picked up a minor injury at the weekend, so for this one I think you're right, but hard to say how it'll turn out if Nyambe is out for any length of time.

Not saying he was MoTM given the Bennett/Graham/Dack contributions, but pleased to see Smallwood get recognition. Time will tell if Reed takes his spot, but his performances against the on paper better sides (Brentford, Derby, Stoke - didn't see the Villa game) show that he clearly has the game to contribute to a winning side at this level.

Close to my team. I'd be inclined to play Armstrong in front of Davenport (Armstrong on the wing with Travis in the middle) and possibly carry on with Williams in the middle with Lenihan getting a rest.

One of those rare occasions when resting a few of our top players might even be the best plan of winning the game. Hopefuly start with a front 4 of: Rothwell Palmer Armstrong Brereton. Assume that we'll be looking to hit them on the break, and there are bags and bags of pace in that team.

I do, almost expect us to to be honest. Saying that, flirt is the right word. 7th-10h would be my guess going of what we've seen.