I feel like we had a good start against USA. If we got a goal in that first 20 mins where we had control of the game, the game would have been very different. But once USA was allowed to be comfortable with the game and had more of the ball, it was always difficult to get in front. Call it the hindsight bias if you want but I even mentioned this as a possibility to my mates at the time during the game.

I wonder if Messi has been watching Mowbray with all the shrugging and the nonchalant body language.

I can see Preston being resilient for this one and will be aiming for a clean sheet. Enough to bore the crowd and kill the atmosphere as Rovers run out of ideas early on. I see this going one of two ways. 0-0 or 0-1

The 'bought the league label' is just a metaphor these days. Not to be taken literally.

Tbh I've never looked at the money spent on that squad. Probably should have done more research but on face value, no one expected that squad to be challenging for the title. Much less Champions League. I think the 'bought the league' label is just a metaphor these days for just saying they won the league after spending a lot on money. Not to be taken literally.

I do think Leicester was the first team in a long time to not buy the league. They just survived the season before, and I think they were expecting more of the same, but all the stars aligned. A manger that knew how to get the most out of his players and had an overachieving season while the big clubs all flopped simultaneously. I remember watching Leicester that season. There were a lot of wins that were by the skin of their teeth but they all count.

I agree with a lot of what you said there. As a whole I respect your opinions on here as your evidently a fan of football as a whole and not just Burnley. The thing is though, the year we won the PL, we weren't the only team spending money. Man U fans still say we bought the league, but they spent a lot of money at the time too. So, if they beat West Ham on the final day, they would be saying they bought the league instead perhaps?

It was about 30 mins into the game, and I tuned to my mate and said, "This reminds me too much of the Reading away game where we lost 3-0 and I'd say that's the worst performance of the season so far". Well looking at the game as a whole days later I'd got as far to say that the performance at Burnley eclipsed the Reading performance it for how bad it was.

It was interesting what the pundits said after the game. They said the teams who were more direct like Birmingham and Cardiff were the ones that have caused Burnley the most trouble. Just makes you think that if the team was set up to be more direct, we may have actually stood a chance. Thing is, we defend for 90 mins and lose 3-0. Would have been better to lose 3-0 after giving it a go. At least if we did that, they wouldn't have got in their stride as much and may have even had some chances ourselves.

Yeah, I'd say that's a fair point. I have met people from Blackburn and lower Darwen say similar things in the past. Me personally, being born and bred in Accrington, I have had the misfortune to be around Burnley fans in every job or education I've been in. With Accrington being right in the middle of the two towns, that's to be expected. I find it interesting when some Rovers fans say they hate Preston as much or more than Burnley. Especially when I could count the number of Preston fans I've encountered with my fingers.

The red card is the obvious one but did we sustain any more suspensions due to this game?

Yeah I agree that it’s part and parcel of being in a crowd. He was rock bottom in terms of confidence though and those groans would have affected him more than most. He definitely didn’t hear the groans during lockdown anyway. I work with your mate Elliot and he agreed with what I said.

I know it's been a couple of days since the Dingles V Norwich game but I thought it was top notch banter for the home fans to sing "Burnley's a $h1thole, you should go home!"

If that's what you saw from the fans then fair enough. my own personal experiance was that of many fans shouting "He's $h!t, get him off!" Which I thought was out of order. I agree that he definitely needed encouragement. Someone else also responded that he gained strength in that the time that coincided with lockdown which could very well have been what helped him improve tbf. That and playing international football. Just going off what I saw for myself. That's all.

There were times where I was wondering if he was even a professional football player. Tripping over the ball etc. Personally, I saw the improvement during lockdown when he was playing in empty stadiums. Didn't have the Rovers fans putting the pressure on him at home and he gained his confidence back.

It’s gotten to a point now as a Rovers fan where I would prefer to be 1-0 up rather than 2-0 up. We just seem more likely to concede which shifts the momentum massively.

Have Rotherham recently appointed a new manager? Would be typical for Rovers to be playing a team with a new manager bounce. Either way, I think this one will end in a draw. Can see us scoring first early on in the 2nd half, don't kill the game off, then Rotherham score from a corner in the final 10 mins. 1-1.

Personally, as someone from Accrington, I wouldn't even give a third of Hyndburn to Accrington. Although the crowds have improved, most people see Stanley as a 2nd team. Look at the friendly we had with them this pre-season. It was practically a home match. I bet a lot of Rovers fans there lived in Accy. From my experience, the main clubs supported are Rovers, Burnley, Man United, Liverpool and there's even been some more Citeh fan around lately. Unfortunately for them, they are most people's 2nd club in Hyndburn.

Thank you, I might have to wait for the short sleeve version of it if that's the case. Never been fond of the long sleeve footy shirts.

Is there there possibility of a short sleeve option?

Prefer BB end personally. Maybe that view is a little unfair as I've never once been in the Riverside. Sat in pretty much every other section of the ground at some point or another though.

I think the name of this thread should be 'Dingles.....'

What was this "catchy new chant" for Pickerin?

Not checked the fixtures since reading this post but if we want to catch them in a death spiral we need to play them after the new year. February would be optimal.

Very nice tribute to Uncle Jack at the Reading match. Lots of respect to that club for doing that for us.