riverholmes

As much as a surprise as the famous 7-1 beating of the Hammers at Ewood? I had very low expectations of the game and the penalty shoot-out. West Ham had something like 15 corners, apparently.

Charity shop window, unfortunately, due to his contract winding down. The stats suggest West Ham peppered the Rovers box but somehow we held out. Would be momentous to win, but not sure we have the takers out there. Maybe, JRC, Szmodics, Brereton-Diaz, Carter, Hyam?

I wonder whether management must take some responsibility for Buckley's regression too (albeit, don't know how well he's done today). Whether you rate him or not, he has always contributed something to the team, even though, he may not have been consistent. Last season, his 7 assists was second highest at the club, behind Rothwell's 10 assists.

Have a feeling that this will be a thrashing by West Ham. Might be some light relief from the strain of the Prem. Will have to see.

He’d revive the Super League, with newly engorged Rovers the lead member, whilst advocating fairness and redistribution across the game. That’s the rank hypocrisy I see in advocating freedom of speech and summarily removing half his new workforce without consultations.

Burns did make an impact, albeit at FC United and in one of those ridiculous one month or so loans, which if they are suitable for anyone, perhaps 17/18 year olds for work experience. However, after a bright moment (scoring two on Burns Night) at Scunthorpe, in League 2, he didn't score after that, I believe. He's surely heading out but a passing mention in match previews for U23s would be welcome just to say if he's injured. Just as there is one currently with a quote stating that Barnes is still a long-term absentee in the first team match preview. Incidentally, Ash Phillips is out with an injury. The number of niggling injuries he gets is to me a concern, albeit, without me having any expertise or knowledge of details. Simply his age and frequency of injuries over the past year have me concerned that there might be an issue there. The idea that he is ready to be a regular back-up to the first team is surely misguided.

I think you might be right. I recall that at the end of last season, Buckley was impressing in the AM role, including scoring a couple of belters. He also was Rovers Young Player of the Year. However, I do wonder whether JDT's playing style, which we are told is a quick, short-passing, two touch possession game is something Buckley has found hard to adapt to. He does tend to hold possession and play longer passes. Not on the same level, of course. but I would say his game is akin to that of Harvey Elliot in style, who got a lot of assists with raking passes for Armstrong.

Some very fair points regarding the Buckley 5 year contract, the form of other midfielders, the fact we don't know what his personal situation is and the likelihood that he will get further chances before to long. For me, there are worrying signs that Tomasson has dropped him right down the pecking order, like Edun. Whilst the latter has rarely performed to the level required, Buckley has been one of our star performers at times, over his career, and, at the end of last season, was showing signs of adding long-range goals to his game. Certainly, he has not been consistent and this season poor and has deficiencies which, as a guess, might be partly related to mentality and confidence, though, I say this without any sort of certainty, but I feel there's no doubting his natural ability. My concern would be that a prolonged exclusion and lack of support from the management, might send his career in the wrong direction. Let's face it, there's a high possibility that Morton will go back to Liverpool come the end of the season (if not before) and if A. Wharton keeps his form, I feel there's a high likelihood that without promotion, he will be bought. We need to do everything possible to get Buckley back on form and, if it fails, at least we tried. However, I agree we have to wait and see how Tomasson treats him. If I was the manager, assuming Buckley's health etc. were all good, I would have him on the bench as much as possible and be seeking to give him minutes to recover confidence and form. With the form of others, it is tricky to fit him in, I admit.

Dan Pike and Sam Burns were established U23/21 players awarded short-term deals, so you would think that the club might say something about their long-term absences but, apparently, not, unless I've missed some news.

Buckley not involved again today. Unless he’s injured or it is part of some plan to revive his career, this strikes me as scapegoating of the player. He absolutely deserved to be considered for being dropped and by no means is entitled to games but he is one of our most naturally gifted players and by no means the only one who has been poor at times this season. Moreover, he strikes me as a confidence player and, without knowing what is going on behind closed doors, I see this treatment as potentially blocking his return to form. If he’s injured, then, fair enough. But I don’t think this club can afford to not support someone with the potential of Buckley. He needs minutes to re-find his form and grow as a player.

The fates of Sam Burns and Connor McBride, compared to Jack Vale, show how fine the margins are between success and failure, when it comes to securing minutes and new deals - and how luck plays a part. Whilst, I think, Vale has been the most prolific, in terms of goals per game (I'm guessing here), all three were regular goalscorers at U23/21 level - and largely unspectacular during lower league and even, non-league loan spells (though Burns scored some goals during a month at FC United and Vale had injury problems during his loans). Vale, however, has got his break and a new deal and the others are disappearing without trace. I suppose the Welsh U21 caps adds value to Jack Vale and raises both his profile and possible transfer market value, so giving him a new deal (though, I think a 2 year deal might have been more appropriate) has commercial sense - if the club play it wisely. As long as he scores a few goals from sub appearances, you would think that he might grow in confidence and form - or attract a buyer.

Szmodics, I fear, will go down as mistaken signing for the fact that he incurs every injury going, it seems. The latest is, apparently, an 'acute neck injury' which kept him out of the last game. Great credit to him that he has come back from serious injuries, including, I believe, further ankle surgery and a broken leg in the same calendar year at Peterborough. He keeps coming back but you have to wonder for how long and at what cost to his body. I believe he missed out on Ireland international recognition after a call-up as a Peterborough player, due to a shoulder injury. We'll have to wait and see as to whether he can stay healthy for a prolonged period but his record is not good.

Chelsea's website has a report on, from memory, a 3-0 win for them. They had Omari Hutchinson playing, the signing from Arsenal, and it sounds like they walked it, with Rovers having one shot on target. Hopefully, a good learning experience for the team. Gilsenan reportedly came off h-t, which is hopefully, not due to injury after his ACL recovery.

Fantastic to win and score two excellent goals but based on the highlights, the defence had some really poor moments and are susceptible to pace. It looked like reliance on much pure luck and keeper heroics that we won, papering over some significant failings.

Liverpool's struggles makes me wonder whether they'll try to negotiate a return of Tyler Morton come January. Not that another young CM is what they really need but his form for us and the potential for World Cup injuries and fatigue might make it a possibility. I suppose, their priority will to be to make more experienced signings, though.

The contract extensions for Sam Burns and Dan Butterworth haven't really benefited the club. Would probably have been best to have let at least one go in the summer. Burns needed a loan move too, if he wasn't going to be involved but has disappeared without update from the club. I suppose, he could be injured.

Since breaking into the team with Mowbray, this is, I believe, the first time that Buckley has fallen out of the first team squad, albeit, it's only been a couple of games and he will likely be back sooner rather than later. At the moment, it would seem that Tomasson favours Adam Wharton, Morton and Travis ahead of him - and, perhaps, Garrett too - and he's no longer in contention for the No.10 role he took up for a while under Mowbray. It's something of a worry to hear reports that in the last game for the recent U21 league game, he didn't impress greatly, and, in fact, Jake Garrett got the nod after the U21 Wolfsburg clash. Whilst players like Garrett and Wharton deserve chances given their talents and form, I would hope that the management are doing everything possible to try and get Buckley back in form and confidence, for he is, arguably, the most naturally gifted player in the squad, though Adam Wharton is showing signs too. I do believe that CM is Buckley's position and we've seen some majestic performances from him there, albeit, he has been very inconsistent and since Tomasson took charge, he's hardly performed. My suspicion is that as an instinctive and, perhaps, 'confidence-player', the pressure of playing one or two touch and not holding the ball, which he likes to do, may be contributing to his loss in form and confidence. Not to mention the fact that Travis, alongside him, has struggled with form too. He is something of a maverick player but if he can re-find his form, he'll be a huge asset for us. At the back end of last season he scored a couple of brilliant long range goals, which raised the hope that he was going to kick on and become both a creator and scorer but, so far, that hasn't materialised.

Zak Gilsenan back on the bench after a long injury recovery period. No, Hilton, Markanday, Rankin-Costello or Cirino. Sam Burns and Dan Pike continue to be absent - injured? Eastham returns after Rovers had no goalkeeper on the bench in the last game. I'd be curious to know how many Rovers take on a first team matchday nowadays, because one would've thought that Buckely would be a reserve, in case of injury or illness pre-game. However, he's playing today for the U21s. Perhaps, they go with just the 18? Edit: Rovers win 1-3, courtesy of Wood, Leonard and a late Buckley free-kick. City took the lead. Courtesy of @ManCityAcademy

My guess is that Buckley is struggling with Tomasson's two touch style. He's always been an instinctive player who likes to take his time on the ball. Admittedly, he's never consistently performed but at times he has shown a lot of ability and seemed on the verge of cementing his CM role. Again, just my guess, but this may have contributed to a drop in confidence. Without him performing, we are nowhere near the same team. I feel that it should be one of the manager's priority to try to get him performing again.

Marcus Bent is an interesting one for me. He was signed by Souness in November 2000, after a great season for Sheff Utd. This was when we would buy up other clubs' star men. We also signed Barnsley's best forward, in Craig Hignett, at this time. He came in to partner Matt Jansen and oust the struggling Nathan Blake, with other strikers, Ashley Ward and Kaba Diawara being let go. Bent did decent for us that season, though, outshone by Duff, Dunn and Jansen, and helped us to promotion - only to struggle at the start of the following season in the Premier League and getting sold in November 2001. He only lasted a year at the club and was sold for a fee not much more than we bought him for and went on to do quite well for Ipswich in the Prem, though they got relegated and then also scored goals for Leicester in the Premier League. It makes me wonder whether we sold him too quickly. He was never very prolific in the top league but was decent for struggling teams. I don't recall the full circumstances of his departure but I suppose the deal was rushed through to finance the Andy Cole transfer. Seeing as we went on to win the League Cup and would also qualify for Europe, the next year, perhaps, the sale of Bent was arguably the right decision, on balance. Nonetheless, I'm sure, had we been able to keep him, I think he would eventually have done a job for us in the Premier League and a useful back-up. Edit: It's a surprising, in a way, that we only came second that season of 2000-01, considering, in retrospect, the team we had (albeit, Fulham had great players too): Friedel, Curtis, Berg, Short, Bjornebye, Duff, Dunn, Flitcroft, McAteer, Bent, Jansen - Subs: Filan, Gillespie, Berkovic, Hignett, Hughes Competing for the bench would have been Martin Taylor, Damien Johnson, Marlon Broomes, Alan Mahon, Egil Ostenstad, Nathan Blake

Probably mentioned before but the rumour that Adam Wharton was dropped for the previous game due to his England U19 call-up preparations is all but proven false, as he’s with the U21s again today. Clearly, Tomasson can’t fit him onto the bench with Morton and Buckley ahead.

Of course, I meant Martin Andresen, who was on loan and was part of the team that ground out survival in 2003/04 season. In a key win over Fulham, Souness fielded four central midfielders, such was the fragility of the team - Jonathan Douglas, Martin Andresen, Tugay and Garry Flitcroft: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3592783.stm Thanks for the correction, yes, it was Ewood where we got outplayed by Celtic in that UEFA cup second leg. Chris Sutton is on record as saying that part of their tactics was to stop Tugay from playing and he played behind Hartson and Larsson. In an interview on the Open Goal Youtube channel he said: "We were 3-5-2 and, basically, I was given the job of sort of not letting him get his head up... let the other centre halves have the ball - if they're on the ball, fine - but don't let him play. So, I basically just rashed him all game. Every time he got the ball, played it backwards..." None of this is to deny Tugay was an outstanding player for Rovers and key to our achievements under Souness, including the Worthington Cup success, UEFA cup qualification and so on. However, there's no doubt that there came a stage when his ball retention was not so good, though, he was still pulling off great passes and also scoring the odd wonder goal. I suppose it was inevitable, given the fact that he was at the end of his career by this time. It would be inaccurate not to acknowledge this reality. As we struggled in the league and faced relegation, it was not uncommon for fans to complain about Tugay's inconsistent passing and defensive weaknesses.

My impression was that every player in that baggy-shirted, sun-lit era was a deity, even those who could barely run, like Grigoris Georgatos who played football like it was snooker. Wenger's prime Arsenal averaged 6"7 in height. And Eddie Nolan had a solid Rovers career.

A forgotten player is Tugay’s invisible friend who was extremely wasteful in possession but was always played, for obvious reasons. I do feel that it’s forgotten that towards the end, Tugay was an erratic passer who’d frustrate the fans with several poor passes between a worldie. After all, he was in the team that narrowly avoided relegation and needed three central midfielders crammed into the team to help him (Douglas and Flitcroft in the wide positions, Andersen next to him). Moreover, opposition teams sometimes took him out of the game with a more mobile marker, eg Chris Sutton for Celtic in the second leg of that UEFA cup tie, after Tugay ran the show at Ewood. He was brilliant for us but age did catch up and he frustrated many at times.

I'd guess that George Gent might've played ahead of Cirino at LWB. Cirino got a hamstring injury last season, I believe, and missed a lot of games and has fallen down the order, it seems. I hope he can get back as he was a star performer a few seasons back with good pace and technical ability. He came on in a first team friendly last season and did well in the brief showing. If fit in Jan, a loan move would be helpful. As far as I can see, his contract expires June 2023, so the club has a decision to make, as does he.