Should be an entertaining game at the least, maybe quite a high scoring one as well. Like a few others that have commented, I would also like to see Gilsenan get a chance in this game. He looked very comfortable against lower league opposition in the League Cup, and seems quite decent at set pieces as well. Shame the new lad from Crewe can't play. Lets hope Hyam and Scott Wharton come through it unscathed! Paul Mullin will give them something to think about. Would also like to see JRC get a start, and hopefully Dolan back in as a sub.

Ah, didn't realise. Thanks for the info :). In that case if Palace can come up with a bigger offer as is being reported then the sale may happen this month anyway.

January is not the time to sell Adam IMO. Unless the club get relegated or he gets a serious long term injury, then Rovers can likely get a larger fee in the summer. Only way I'd sell this month is if he comes back on loan for the rest of the season. Particularly as I'm doubtful that we'd get any of the money to reinvest in the squad.

I don't think he's a waster at all. Might not be the prolific striker we needed him to be but to say he's a waster implies he doesn't put a shift in, which he does the vast majority of the time. Mowbray saying he needs to get between the posts more often....oh well then that's alright then, as long as he said that. Nothing to do with playing him continuously out wide in a position he isn't a natural in, where he then has to fulfil the role of tracking back a lot more and supporting his full back.

I do have some sympathy for Gallagher and how his career has panned out. After that season with us on loan he ended up at Birmingham, who were just as much of a train wreck at the time and he had a poor season. The season after that I think he stayed at Southampton, probably mostly playing in the reserves, before the season Mowbray signed him permanently for Rovers where he has spent most of his time playing out wide. I think a manager like Warnock would've got way more out of him as a striker.

Imagine we'll switch back to a back 4 for this one. Low on confidence and in free fall down the league....this has a cup upset written all over it unfortunately. That being said, we have more than enough quality to put Wrexham to the sword. My predicted team: Pears JRC Hyam S. Wharton Chrisene Tronstad A. Wharton Gallagher Szmodics Sigurdsson Telalovic

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/vicky-kiankaulua/profil/spieler/796893 Plays for the team currently 2nd in the Belgian third tier. Good grief. 3 goals in 18 games.

I don't think we have much other choice. Attempting 3 at the back with Pickering and Carter now both injured would lead to more square pegs in round holes. My worry is that playing 4-2-3-1 has led to us shipping so many goals, it needs a tweak for sure.

Does this include agent fees, wages, signing on fees, bonuses, etc? Genuine question.

Well you can guarantee Rovers will do exactly that then 😂😭

They probably have their hands full with other aspects of day-to-day coaching. Benson is probably the most experienced at coaching in that field, which is quite frankly terrifying.

Full of Covid at the moment so unfortunately didn't see the game yesterday....or perhaps that should be fortunately. Had a feeling we wouldn't win. Huddersfield come across a much more physical side than Rovers and this season we have certainly struggled against other sides that possess a lot more physicality. Sounds like as usual we started relatively well but faded badly once Huddersfield got their goal, and with Pickering and Carter going off injured we now need at least two more defensive recruits on top of the two that JDT seemed to want beforehand. It's all just so grim at the moment, and has a feeling of when Lambert seeing out his time at the club. The club needs open heart surgery and it will do for as long as Venkys own it. Refreshing that our goalkeeper didn't have a calamity at any point, and sounds like he actually played reasonably well. Correct decision to put Pears back into the team.

Rovers have such a brutal run in of fixtures that if they fail to pick up a couple of wins in the next 3 against relegation rivals then I can't see anything other than relegation. It feels like the club is sleepwalking into oblivion here, apathy ruling supreme across the board. I fear we won't come back to easily from League One next time, especially if the Venkys financial situation continues. I just want these rats gone. QPR vs Huddersfield next Sunday while we are playing in the FA Cup. Fancy QPR in that one, so the gap could be down to 6 points after that 😬.

Ennis to Bolton on loan is a good move for all parties right now. Gives him a chance to play regularly at the top end of League One, and hopefully he can come back in the summer and kick on at Rovers.

Good that we've decided to judge a player before they've even started a game for the first team. I know we're screwed right now, but this kind of take over a player that has only just arrived can get in the sea. Give the lad a chance.

If it is true that JDT has lost the players then I see nothing but a loss in this. Huddersfield, despite smashing us 3 nil on Boxing Day are rumoured to be losing patience with Darren Moore. Can't see anything better than a draw. 2-2 maybe? We can score goals....but we concede for fun and I worry that Huddersfield will bully our defence. Really hard to call this one. My predicted team: Pears JRC S. Wharton Hyam Pickering Tronstad Garrett A. Wharton Gallagher Szmodics Sigurdsson Play Wharton higher up the pitch, relieve him of some defensive duties. Play Szmodics as the striker because he's the only one that we can consistently rely on to score, and he's often the furthest up the pitch anyway. Gallagher is hopefully fit enough to start, not a fan of playing him wide left but Moran needs taking out and Markanday always flatters to deceive. JRC hopefully also fit enough to start over Brittain. Carter and Wahlstedt need removing from the team as well, the former needs a breather whereas Wahlstedt needs to learn how to catch a ball before he comes back into the side.

It felt like Henry Winter and Nick Harris where the only ones in the National press that understood our situation back in the Kean days.

I really hope it is the latter and that we're in the endgame now. With each passing year it becomes less and less viable for Venkys to own Blackburn Rovers. It was time for them to go after 12 months, never mind 12 years. SURELY at some point they will get out of our club and we can look to rebuild. I'm so thankful that I got to witness 1994/95, promotion with Jansen, Dunn, Duff, etc. and then a League Cup win, because Venkys have ensured that any moments like that are a distant memory.

If Rovers sold Szmodics this month then we'd be hard pushed to win another game all season. He's been the difference in pretty much every game we've won this season. No idea what Rovers value him at.

The next 4 league games will determine whether we end up in a relegation scrap or not. A run of bad results from those and we might find that 10 point cushion has halved or maybe more.

Agree with this. No doubting his ability on the ball but a combo of Tronstad and Garrett seems to me like a much better combo at the moment. If Wharton is to play then it must be further up the pitch. Relieve him of some of those defensive duties. Given Sammie plays pretty much as our furthest forward player 90% of the time, we may as well stick him up top with Adam in an ACM role.

Yep, you hear a lot of ex-players talk about Big Sam's management style when he was at the top of his game, particularly his man-management ability. A lot of them speak about how they'd want to run through brick walls for him. Coaching isn't just tactics after all, you've got to bring a bunch of individuals together and turn them into a team that would run through brick walls for the coach and each other. The players have to do their part as well but I tend to feel like individual errors often seep into a team when the players have lost sight of what the gameplan is and as such their confidence in the head coach / manager starts to dwindle.

If JDT was to leave, it'll either be a promotion from within or some unknown fella from overseas. The identify of this club is in the mud. Nothing but apathy from the top down.

You're absolutely right, I should've included that in my post. It's so difficult to not feel frustrated at the way things are going right now. We can all see what is needed, but sadly those in charge of the club seem determined to run it into the ground.

Next 4 league games define the rest of the season for Rovers. Huddersfield (home) QPR (home) Stoke (home) Birmingham (away) Feeling very grateful for the 10 point cushion between us and the bottom three right now!