Really pleased with today. We started well I thought, neat in possession & good approach play without creating much. Then they hit the post, a stroke of luck to be fair, but we went straight back at them & the long pass from JRC to BB was perfection, as was his touch to get himself between defender & ball, clear penalty for a rash push in the back, correct sending off for no attempt at playing the ball. Thankfully Arma put the pen away, then after that they just could not live with us. Our fluency, transitioning, recycling of possession, dribbling, passing, chance creation (if not finishing) was top notch. No word of a lie, we could have had a VVV Venlo v Ajax score today. We were superb. Brereton was MOTM for me, what a handful he is proving to be. His decision making seems much improved too, and his direct running is hated by defenders who have to commit, drawing fouls or leaving runners. He was pretty unplayable today. Holtby excellent too; a few months ago I likened him to Tugay , someone on here replied he wasn't fit to place Tugay's boots; whilst I would have Tugay in his prime over Holtby any day, I do feel that my comparison is valid, as he ran midfield. Good debut for Douglas & full debut for Trybull, they both more than played their part. Elliot looks v impressive too; he seems to want to be here,I feared he might have a bit of a "I'm too good for Blackburn Rovers" attitude about him, but not so far, he's slotted right in to the shape & style we have morphed into. Solid enough overall defensively, not tested too much. Am slightly concerned about Kaminski's injury, hope that's not serious. It was only Coventry, and mostly with 10 men, but good intelligent play made it that way and we cspitslised; what more can we do? Big test on Tuesday as Reading are flying, but we should have absolutely no reason to fear them. We could really send out a signal to the rest of this division that we mean business this season.

Like that team, some good ambition there, let's just hope the back 5 work well together & get support defensively from the midfield 3; the signs with Trybull are good...

I think we all know this is the defining season for Mowbray. If he gets top 6, whether or not we get promoted, he will definitely be kept on unless he chooses to leave, and deservedly so. If we miss out on the top 6, then I think it will be time to try something different, especially if here is little or no improvement on last season's performance. So far this season, there are strong signs of progress in terms of style of play, but also still some of the same weaknesses. The key here is that we have strong players yet to come into the fold, who should improve our options & bring with them a winning mentality. We've had 6 league games, which have seen 4 strong performances overall, but only brought 2 wins. Thankfully 2 if those were away at probably the strongest teams in the division. I'm pretty sure we've enough about us to win those types of games against weaker opposition. The Cardiff & Forest games were disappointing, no doubt. But I can see Douglas, Trybull & Harvey (and in a month or so, Dack) being the difference in those games and thus helping unlock 2 banks of 4. There's cause to be hopeful I think. Nothing is won or lost after 6 games in any season, least of a this one.

Decent line up I'd say, glad Holtby us back, hopefully he splits up the Johnson / Evans partnership & they each link well with him. Some decent pace up front, solid (of late) back 4. We've another game on Sat, sure we'll see Douglas & Trybull then. Good options. COYB

Superb stuff!

To pin any kind of blame on Kaminski for that goal would be extremely harsh. He was completely wrong footed by the deflection which took it in by the post; had he saved it,it would have been akin to Gordon Banks' v Brazil!

Just for a bit of context, whilst accepting that Rovers didn't play especially well today, below are the stats from Forest v Bristol, Lamouche's last match. I don't think that their performance today was that far removed from their performance last time out. I suspect they're in a false position and will be up there or thereabouts come May. So let's not be too despondent, we'll have better days. I thought we deserved a draw today, certainly not a cruel defeat in that manner, but then we were the authors of our own downfall too.

Sigh.

Fair enough. Save him to terrorise in midweek then! ?

All true but that probably applies as much,if not moreso, to our rivals. Teams need luck as well as ability, hard work & good tactical nous. We certainly missed out on the first of those last season due to long term injuries, hopefully we get dealt a better hand this season but if not we're as prepared as we could be to cope. The best form of defence is attack, as the saying goes...

Mate of mine, a Bristol City fan, said Forest were excellent against them a couple of games back, should've won. We can't take this game lightly, they've a strong squad & a manager who knows how to get results in this league. That said, we've got to be confident & be on the front foot from the off. Assuming there's no Holtby or Rothwell, I like Rev's team. A little concerned about Ayala & Douglas being new to the back 4, but worth giving it a go with Bell benches. Options off the bench are v promising, with Elliot likely to get a 25 minute run out whether we're struggling or cruising.

Well that was a fun day deadline wise, made even better because I woke up this morning and it wasn't a dream! Some excellent looking additions have been made across this window offering a real mix of competition, depth, creativity potential & winning experience, all done at relatively low cost. Equally significantly, we've kept hold of our main men whilst having moved on some of those who no longer offered enough value. I'm really pleased, though of course the proof will be in the pudding & TM has given himself some real positive selection headaches. I think he views this season, rightly, as the one to go for it. Certainly subject to luck with injuries, he's got to be achieving top 6 now minimum as he's assembled the tool to do it.

Kaminski Nyambe, Lenihan, Ayala, Douglas Johnson, Holtby, Rothwell Dolan, Arma, Brereton Stergiakis / Pears JRC, Williams, Wharton / Magloire, Bell Travis, Buckley, Davenport / Trybull Chapman, Gallagher, Dack Plus potentially Downing, with Vale, McBride, Brennan, Butterworth and a few others looking good behind them in the U23s I've probably missed some, and there's a couple of assumptions and a couple of square pegs in there too, but overall I'd say any combination of the above two 11s has a chance of matching anything else in this division this season. Reasons to be hopeful I think.

Karlan Grant set to move to W Brom from Huddersfield for £15m. 23 year old Englishman who scored 19 goals last season. We should be looking for at least that for Armstrong should anyone come sniffing. Hopefully they don't...

I'm sure the January transfer window thread will be up n running by Saturday...

He's still last sadly, with just 2% of the vote...

Four nil to Rovers then Mercer?! ?

Brandon Lonsdale nominated for LFE goal of the month for September https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2020/october/lonsdale-goal-up-for-monthly-award/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54496129 West Ham seemingly losing interest in Josh King & moving onto Benrahma. I can't see us getting anything useful out of King this window, whether for transfers or to plug covid-related gaps in income.

Speedie did absolutely nothing wrong there! A good, strong full blooded shoulder charge between both players, but then Bennett's response was completely one sided, Speedie didn't retaliate one little bit! Don't get me wrong, he was a spikey character & I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of a back story to the incident in the game previously, but he was entirely innocent of anything in that clip! The same can't be said of Lee or Hunter though...

I just checked, he scored 23 goals in 36 apps, a tremendous record, the most prolific spell of his career (albeit most of it having been spent in the top tier). Like you say he played like every game was his last, a real terrier of a striker who I bet most CBs hated playing against. I was sad when he left, it felt unfair and too soon, but that decision really can't be criticised & the plus side is he can now be considered an untarnished Rovers hero.

Speedie leapt like a salmon there & hung around for an age, fantastic technique! He really was superb for us in that 1 season, perhaps amongst the best players we've had who only spent one season here? Bellamy another.

Got to say he's had an excellent start to this season. The games come thick & fast from next weekend so there will have to be a certain amount of squad rotation to avoid burnout; I therefore doubt he will feature from the start in all of them, but then his style is more suited to certain types of opposition than others so hopefully TM can select wisely & utilise Davenport or a loanee in his place for the so-called easier games.

Looking at that programme & the league table, Rovers were 3rd after 11 games but with only 14 goals scored & 10 conceded. Blackpool a place below us with a similar record. That's a bit boring & perhaps not too impressive, but look at Brum, the entertainers in the division with 24 scored and 27 conceded, in 11 games!!

Shame I can only like this once. His engine was most definitely world class, but then I would say that...