The ferocious return of our club captain, Travis and goals for BBD, Gally and Dack as Rovers romp away with a 3-0 win. Mark my words!!

               TK

JRC Ayala Hyam HP

       Morton Trav

 Hedges Dack BBD

            Gally

6 hours ago, Upside Down said:

That signing seems sus to me. Not even like he was a young sensation that we took a gamble on. Signed him, loaned out straight away. Doesn't make much sense to me. 

It was a weird signing. But I guess we don’t have all the information 🤷🏽‍♂️

6 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I think its incredibly generous to imply that a couple of million on a League 1 standard player and an underwhelming loanee who wasnt what we needed in that position are good signings. Average at best. Brittain has been decent enough at right back but its little use when he is made of glass but even when he hasnt, he has often been used out of position and for a bit of context, a player we had all written off has put in the best 3 performances that we have seen from a Rovers right back this season.

Hirst and Mola have been beyond poor too.

FYI - I’m not saying that Morton and Szmodics are world beaters but I do believe that they have both improved the group and played a positive part in the position we find ourselves as the third best team in the league over 24 games.

Brittain, for me is the best RB we’ve had for a decade. In the games I’ve seen him play he’s been our best player. But for injuries, he’d be rated higher than Hyam as a new signing. Great to see JRC re-emerge…I always rated him as better than Nyambe. Hope his form continues. 

For context we could also add the likes of Hedges, A.Wharton and Phillips into the ‘new signing’ mix because they have been given their opportunity by the regime and contributed positively to our current position. Fair to say, none of them would have played much, if at all this season under Mowbray.

All of the above leads me back to the opinion that there’s only two players - Hirst and Mola, who have failed. They’re the only two that haven’t made a positive impact on the group.

It’s a simple enough process if we just focus on the squad list last summer. at the point where JPvH, Khadra, Rothwell, Lenihan, Nyambe and Bradley Johnson walked out of the door. Fixate on that point, then look at the additions and consider our current position.

Honestly, considering they came in late, the current regime have done a bloody good job in my eyes. Many of us were fearing a season at the bottom of the division knowing all those players were leaving. 

11 hours ago, DE. said:

Based on the summer I'm not expecting much. 

Brittain - always injured
Szmodics - lower end of the Champ standard, at best
Morton - inconsistent
Hirst - awful, a younger Chris Brown
Mola - out of his depth

Hyam is the only signing who has had any kind of positive, sustained impact.

So yeah, after a pretty dire summer window the Broughton and JDT duo have a lot to prove.

Nah,

1x top signing - Hyam

3x good signings - Brittain (would be with Hyam but for injuries), Morton & Szmodics 

2x poor signings - Hirst and Mola

So 4 out of the 6 have / will improve us. I’d say that’s pretty good all being told.

I reckon we need another 6 and some dead wood out over Jan and the summer.

RB cover, LB cover, Top CM, LF to replace BBD, ST to challenge Gally and RF. So basically 4 players to improve 1st eleven and two to cover 👍🏼

59 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

There will have been an agents fee for the signing though.....

Wasn’t it reported earlier this season the we spent the least in the league on agents fees in the last 12 months? 

2 minutes ago, den said:

Buckley shouldn’t have done what he did. That’s not the discussion.

But honestly, do we want games ruined for spectators for something as trivial as that? - no.

was it really violent conduct? - no.

Did the referee have any other option? - Of course he did.

What Buckley did does form a part of the discussion though. Because it was he who set the chain of events off. If he doesn’t have a brain fart then there’s no decision to make.

That decision won’t set off a chain reaction of ‘similar’ decisions, will it? No chance…we see weird, wonderful and terrible decisions every week. It’ll be forgotten tomorrow, most will have already forgotten it!! It’s a game run by human beings who are flawed and bound to see situations differently.

The clamour to focus on third parties in this situation is, in my opinion an insight to modern day culture. Focus only on what we can control. The rest will happen in spite of this, sometimes it will fall on your side and other times it won’t. 

The Buckley debate is a nonsense. His act sits in a grey area of interpretation, which was interpreted by the officials as a red card.

I’m sure Bucko has done exactly as he should do and accepted responsibility for honestly, a thoroughly stupid act that has cost his team.

The more worrying thing for me is that we never lay a fucking glove on anyone in these situations. No one snaps into any tackles, we don’t EVER bang at the door….I literally would’ve put my house on us not scoring once we went 2-1 down, with or without the sending off. Which pisses me off even more because you see this type of drive and hunger in loads of teams.

Us getting a last minute equaliser last night having been down to 10 men would’ve felt like a big win! But it was never on the cards, it was the same with Mowbray which is why we need this overhaul.

15 minutes ago, tomphil said:

He needs a couple of soldiers in his squad it's as simple as that, not foot soldiers but dogs of war.

English football neither produces nor allows for those types anymore though sadly but maybe they could dig one from abroad somewhere. Van Hecke certainly had it in his locker so a midfield version of him would be nice.

He needs loads mate…I accept the ones you’ve mentioned and I’d get those as a minimum in Jan, but for my my money, excluding loans and current form we need to overhaul the midfield and forward line as well as fullback cover.

Its a big job for any manager.

26 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I watched Norwich a few times late in Smith's time there. It looked like he had lost the players so the forthcoming improvement will be due to changing manager.

They will finish top 6. We will not.

Just being realistic.

I’m not saying the manager appointment is irrelevant. My point was that the sacking of Smith is not the ONLY reason they’re likely to finish above us and that the extra £50m p/a spend probably contributes the most to the situation.

Smith still had them in the playoffs too and based on his managerial career it probably would’ve turned for him there.

So JDT’s Rovers are currently sat in 3rd with a mid to lower table budget, a squad full of u23’s and he’s what, four months into his tenure?

In my opinion, there’s only one reason he should be sacked and that is if GB, the players and SW are seeing something massively wrong in his character. There’s not a single one of us who can know that.

Other than the above they MUST back him to overhaul what is ultimately a pretty poor squad. 

14 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Looking at it purely from the outside and the demeanour of the players in recent games I'd say it's a valid concern. Possibly they're not having the way they're being asked to play than JDT personally. Or maybe both? Who knows

I hope I’m overthinking it…

My ‘non football loving’ wife sat next to me on Boxing Day watching the Sunderland game and just blurted out…

”Paul, why on EARTH do you watch this? It’s awful. It’s like watching a kids game, no one knows what they’re doing”

She went on to say that because I always have football on the tv she’d actually began to watch it (it’s taken 20yrs) and she could see now the excitement and enjoyment it brings. But watching Rovers was “nothing like that” 🙈

”Paul, why don’t you just support someone else? You’d be miles happier!!”

Me….”If only I could…”

Shes got a point though…😩

9 hours ago, Ianrally said:

Norwich are four points behind us with a game in hand. They were quick enough with a decisive move to get rid of Dean Smith. It will be interesting to see whether us or them finish the higher at the end of the season. 

If they do finish above us (which they should) , then it’s probably more likely to do with the £50m difference in annual budget, rather than the point they changed manager.

We played well first half and probably should’ve had a couple more but for bad decision making in the final third. Typical of us to concede so quickly after the break and the Buckley thing was just bizarre! What was he even thinking!? 

We’re just not good enough. Far too reliant on a few players, all of whom are clearly out of form at the minute. S.Wharton, Trav, BBD, Gally.

My worry is that the lads just aren’t having JDT very odd that so many are not playing well at the same time. I’m probably overthinking it. 

Crazy that we’re still third considering we’ve lost 4 of the last 5 games. Had we picked up another 2 wins in that cluster we’d be sat 5 points off automatic and 9 points clear of 7th…what a waste! 🙈

40 minutes ago, briansol said:

Not sure if it's a style issue. He looked good in the first matches, but has not reached his heights for couple of seasons. Had form issues under Mowbray as well.

This. People protecting Trav are dreaming. JDT’s plan is RIGHT up his street. It’s based on energy, athleticism and NOT taking too many touches….please see the signing of Szmodics and the lack of Dack. Travis should be revelling in this system, with the backing of the manager who made him club captain! Anyone who has been watching the games live can see the problem…he just isn’t on it. Not sure why but it’s the same with S Wharton. He is the best on the ball of all the cb’s which is the only additional pressure JDT has put on them. He’s just having a bad time, it happens!

I was gonna say, anyone born in Bolton is technically born in Farnworth because the hospital is located in that area…not many of those players would thank us for saying they were ‘from Farnworth’ though…🤣

32 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

I see what you did there....🤣🤣

Where's the 10m man?  

I tell ya one lad who is buzzing toneet….the resident Preston fan!! 🤣🤣

tbf Whiteman played well. Best I’ve seen him play because he’s (literally) a mid table plodder, Championship midfielder. For the first time ever today I thought, “he’d get in our team” but honestly that’s more because of how poor Travis is at the mo.

Buckley needs a re-start. But he should be playing in our team now and (even though I personally never said I thought Buckley was worth 8 figs) I still think he’s considerably better than Whiteman! 

28 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

can`t really blame the three at the back,they were constantley under pressure from us losing the ball in midfield,this system makes travis and morton look terrible tbh,both of them are limited so expecting them to take the ball from so deep and pass it through any team like xavi and iniesta did is`nt ever going to work,we need to play our football in the others team box not in or near our own

Agree. The game was 100% lost in midfield. But the cb’s made fundamental errors too…poor positioning, not winning headers, getting tight when they needed to give space and then sitting off when they should be tight…the midfield in particular Travis were ghastly. If he isn’t dropped after a performance like that he’ll never get dropped.

Just now, Exiled_Rover said:

They've literally crafted one chance from a free kick in 45 mins... how much better do you want the plan to work?!

‘The plan’ has worked perfectly. We just need to relax on the ball. I’d take Garrett off for Buckley 👍🏼

Tactically bang on the money…we just need to be better when get on the ball. 

13 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

And that we already have players who can pass the ball.

Thought Buckley and Wharton did really well against West Ham. Dont think really we missed Travis. Garrett came on and was good.

I think we have more than enough CMs personally and they have more than shown they have the quality. Im not keen to find the next experienced Bradley Johnson or Corey Evans to keep Wharton, Garrett and Buckley out of the team

I agree…Next season we have Travis, Buckley, Wharton and Garrett. I’m more than happy with that (unless we go up 🤞🏽)

CB’s the same…Hyam, Phillips, Carter, S.Wharton and Barnes is sufficient. Get Ayala to sign another year and we’ve cracked it.

For me we’ll need more WB / FB cover in the summer to add to Brittain, Pickering and Hedges.

In January, for me it’s about forwards and replacing anyone who leaves (BBD and Dack) I’m thinking of. We need to swap Hirst for someone else by the looks and then be ready to replace one or both of the above should things move. 

Burnley play with two inverted wingers, with Benson their main threat. He’s a left footed, Right winger so I reckon we’ll line up similar to Sunderland at home with inverted wing backs to counter.

                 Kaminski

         Hyam  Ayala. S.Wharton

Hedges. Travis. Morton.     Brittain

                 Szmodics

  Gallagher.             Brereton-Diaz

Subs - Pears, Carter, Pickering, A.Wharton, Dack, Dolan, Vale

15 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Ignoring his stellar playing career for a moment, JDT is a guy that has won back-to-back Allsvenskan titles - Malmo finished 7th this year, btw - he knows how to win.  

He also works with these players every day. He's (and Remy Reijnierse) quickly worked out what they can and can't do. Yes, we're 2nd in the league, but we've got there by putting in professional performances i.e. nicking a goal then shutting up shop. I'm sure he'd love to play a more cavalier style of football and blow teams away... but we simply don't have those players at the moment. 

Barring an amazing January transfer window, this is how we win games this season - at the moment it's enough to have us in the automatic places, long may it continue. If it doesn't, well we've been told since JDT arrived that this is a project so we shouldn't be too disappointed. 

I lost faith in Mowbray around 15 months before he left. Not because he’s a bad manager, but because I realised that we needed a guy who could help us to overachieve on a mid table budget. An Eddie Howe, Chris Wilder type who have been able punch above their weight…the type that Mowbray never has been or ever will be. Mowbray’s greatest achievement was automatic promotion at the first attempt in League one with the biggest budget…he’s a safe pair of hands who does most of the right things, most of the time!

Step forward JDT, whom I have little doubt will get us up in the next two seasons if we back him and can keep him. My feeling is that he’ll be gone, sharpish if we don’t.

Solid win, 2nd in the league and a chance to go top in the Derby before the World Cup.

Dont think any of us could’ve hoped for any better than this when the fixtures were released. If GB & JDT can get this group in this position, wait until they’ve had a couple of transfer windows.

38 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Worryingly I don't think so.

Shoe horning Travis in when Carter is an actual defender. His form has been very poor and he picked up a suspension but seems he is gonna play no matter what.

If we take notice of JDT’s picks at wing back I think he prefers midfielders over defenders. The focus is on inverting them when we’re in possession and overloading the midfield.

I think he’d have picked Hedges if he were fit, which explains why he won’t start with Carter there but may end with him there…if we’re trying to see the match out? 

Think we might approach Cov in a similar way to Hull.

                   kaminski

Brittain.  Hyam.  Wharton. Pickering 

      Morton.   Travis.   Wharton

                   Szmodics      
           Gallly     Brereton-Diaz

Will likely come down to who is fit and how he wants to play. I personally like the three cb’s with Ayala in there meaning SS or AW may drop out…but let’s see 👍🏼