Kaminski Lenihan Ayala/JPvH. Wharton Nyambe. Travis. Rothwell. Pickering Buckley Dolan BBD Kaminski would be a huge loss…fingers crossed. id play Ayala if he’s fit. His experience will be really valuable against this lot. I really hope we can beat these and get a point from Bournemouth. Start of another pivotal week for this group. Beat Preston, avoid injuries and we roll into the Bournemouth game full of confidence! The opposite is not worth thinking of!

Erm, not technically true. There was a bid on the table for him of around £15m from West Brom when he suffered the first injury.

Just opinions. I think our position in the league is due to many factors, one of which is player form…in our case the form of Ayala, Buckley, Dolan, Rothwell, BBD and Pickering. But in spite of the form of Nyambe. If I’m honest, I don’t think it’s form with RN. I think he’s just not a great footballer. His game intelligence and technique are poor! He’s bailed out a lot by his physical attributes which are AWESOME! I think he’d make a good right side CB in a 3.

Based on how good I think Nyambe is I reckon with an hour or so free to research I could probably identify 1 or 2 so our full time scouting department must have a hat full. Ill bet Joe Harvey and his team could rattle off a few. Nyambe isn’t great.

Nyambe could be replaced with a couple of hundred grand spent in League One. The end.

The secret (controllable) is recruitment. You can’t make people sign contracts and those on here suggesting we should simply break our wage structure for any of the three mentioned, thus opening the floodgates for every bog standard player to ask for improved terms is ludicrous. The losses extrapolated over contract periods would far outweigh any potential value of the likes of RN, JR and DL. RN can be replaced for a few hundred grand (think Harry Pickering) or a good pre contract. DL is pretty much in the same boat imo. Maybe a million!to replace him. Then there’s Rothwell, who is undoubtedly talented if a little (very) inconsistent. He’s the one with potential to be worth the most…but I wouldn’t smash my wage structure for him….Buckley will end up in that role for Rovers and is already a superior footballer minus Rothwell physical attributes. Dack and Butterworth will fight it out for the advanced role the Buckley currently fills. BBD is the conundrum now. His form and potential value means it may be worth offering an exceptional deal. The possibility of promotion also applies pressure on the situation. Ideal world, they all put pen to paper on new deals. We freshen up in Jan with a winger on loan (for Poveda) plus maybe Josh Maia (loan with option to buy) in the summer. If non re-sign I’d push like mad to sell RN and DL, who are easily replaceable RB (£500k from league 1), John Souttar (small fee). Then let JR run his contract down and try to get promoted. If someone turns up with £25m for BBD we HAVE to take it imo. The guy has played 15-20 good games in 3yrs. If we sell him then I’d make some more signings - Hedges (small fee) and Rhys Healy (7m) prob sort the whole lot for £10m. The key is to have the deals lined up. Fingers crossed we have!

Bloody brilliant win that. Could be pivotal in terms of psychology. Buckley the best player on the park, AAGAIN

I agree! Have been thinking how much of a milestone it would be to win, at Stoke and not go out with a little whimper following three good results. The fact that we always bottle it in these games also playing on my mind…on the flip side IF we win today, it could be a huge psychological boost heading towards the half way point. Heart says a narrow win, form guide says a draw, head says our expectations get dampened with a narrow defeat. I'm prepared to go with my heart!! Kaminski Lenihan JPvH. Wharton Nyambe. Travis. Rothwell. Pickering Buckley Dolan. BBD Subs….Pears, Carter, Edun, Johnson, Clarkson, Butterworth, Khadra

This a hunch or a bit of inside knowledge Neo?

John Souttar has announced he will be leaving Hearts 👀

Buckley has a lot to learn but in its purest sense, is the best footballer at the club.

You had me until you said we can’t place Nyambe for a few 100 grand. Because we can. My feeling is that we absolutely will not get into the playoffs with Mowbray and so I’m not cutting my nose off to spite my face. If I was in charge, I’d be working out right now if these deals were getting signed and if they weren’t then I’d be offering them out to anyone who’d take them. No way can we let players walk out of here who’ve had contracts sat on the table in front of them for months, leave for free and January is last chance saloon. Rothwell is the only one we’d struggle to replace imo. Our success following any such sales are dependent of course on replacing them but with the signings of Pickering and Edun I’m fairly relaxed that we could replace DL and RN. BBD is a different prospect. BUT he’s basically played 15 good games in 3yrs. So IF someone wants to pay £25m for him in January then I’d snap their hands off too!! I’m hoping they all sign new contracts and no one bid for BBD.

As things stand I think we’re a striker and now a winger short following Poveda’s injury. But that wish list will likely increase to cover any further sales or serious injuries. FWIW I can see two of RN, DL, JR & BBD being sold this January. Dependant on which combination will decide our budget. I also like the 343. JRC (rwb) and Dack (false 9 where Buckley started last night) are perfect for it. Buckley could then drop deeper next to Trav if Rothwell went?

Lots of positives last night. Dolan, Wharton and Rothwell the standouts and BBD put another couple of million on his price tag! Buckley the best footballer on the pitch for the umpteenth time this season. I was also impressed with Lenihan on that right hand side of a three and Trav was Trav! 🙌🏽 January looking more and more important, especially if we can be in and around the top 6.

Interesting - SW suggested that RN and JR were happy to stay and it was agents trying to get more money and that it was DL who wanted a PL move. If they won’t sign I’d honestly push all three out into the ressy’s and sell in January to anyone who’ll have them. Nyambe could be replaced for a few of hundred grand in League 1 (See Pickering signing), Rothwell fluctuates between genius and awful and I think Buckley will have more and more consistent impact in there and you could argue that Ayala and maybe Wharton at full fitness are better than Lenihan. Interesting that we’re talking about interest in BBD though. He’d be hard to replace now…even with a £10m budget!