23 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Not having a pop but a decent striker would have made a successful window.  Also ur point about technicalities.  It's only a technicalitiy if it's some minor blip not some major clusterfuck

I didn't mean to minimise the error,this would have been a fantastic signing,to lose it on a clerical cock up is a real shame for the recruitment team. 

I wasn't as hung up on signing a forward, I could have seen OBrien and Thomas getting the team ticking. They scored plenty last season, and with Dack firing again, I doubt we could have improved on what we have with no money to spend. 

It's Tomasson's remit to work with what we have and we've at least 5 forwards on the books. 

Would have been a bit of a coup if they'd managed to pull the O'brien transfer off,and would have made it a successful transfer window.

The recruitment team did it's job, I'll bet there were a few looking on with envy. 

Real shame for it to fall down on technicalities, we probably won't get the chance again. 

Here's hoping the appeal is a success. 

1 hour ago, booth said:

According to someone who posted earlier, it's the coaches job to get them scoring.

It's that simple, so let's just find the best goalscoring coach and give them millions. Going up going up going up!!!!!

That was me.

Tomasson's remit is largely to work with the players coming through at the club and those already involved in the first team. Whether you or i like it or not is irrelevant. 

Which goalscoring sensation would you have us sign for no money in this window? 

5 minutes ago, J*B said:

Posted directly after a professional journalist summarises exactly what has happened and predicts what will happen 🤝 

Fair enough, I hadn't read it, that's assuming he's correct. 

That doesn't explain the 20 hours of posts  before it though, does it? 

Considering nobody has a clue what has happened, or what will happen, there's an awful lot of opinion on here. Just page after page of people making stuff up, and then getting mad about it. 

Why not wait for the outcome first? 

5 minutes ago, neophox said:

Sometimes a competent midfelder could lift the likes of Brereton Diaz and Gallagher so getting OBrien in along with Thomas is essential.

My thoughts exactly, we've got plenty forwards, it's up to the coaching staff to get them scoring. It isn't as if we've been linked with Callum Wilson is it? 

If we get O'brien, I'll be happy. 

18 minutes ago, roverandout said:

How so? We signed a number of players in the summer to fill crucial positions.  We've signed 2 short term loans for areas that weren't our biggest concern.  Midfield could be improved yes. These won't be our players in the summer. We haven't addressed fullback or striker. I think it's been a very poor window 

 Just my opinion, but i'd rather go for quality than quantity,and O'brien is as good as we could possibly have signed. 

We may yet get a forward, but we already have plenty, Tomasson was brought here to improve what we have, rather than buy his way out of problems. 

I'd be happy to go with what we have up top. 

23 minutes ago, Realistic Rover said:

We’ve signed the best midfielder in the league from last season, agreed packages on our end with clubs for 2 strikers, and he doesn’t run the clubs social media. Can we give GB 5 minutes off the hurling abuse!

Even if we got just O'brien over the line, it would be a better window than summer, despite signing 4 less. 

Hats off if we've got him. 

13 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Yep, JG would be our best player by a mile if we had him here on loan.

I'd be seriously impressed if we sign him. 

53 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

 “ Club management don’t expect promotion this year “ . Tell them to let me know when they do - I might start watching them a bit more.

I don't expect it either, but I expect them to give it their all. 

This could be the best chance we have for many years. 

6 hours ago, AspRover said:

Honestly I think back to before JDT and Broughton arrived, no manager, no clear hierarchy behind the scenes and half the squad seemingly gone (with BIG question marks over whether we would lose more of them, and the fitness of some of them) and I was genuinely afraid that we'd start the season unable to put out an 11 that wasn't completely padded with panic freebees and youngsters who weren't ready yet. I had no faith in any ability at the club to sort it out and genuinely expected, not feared, expected relegation.

The fact that we ended up with something approaching a balanced first team with mostly adequate cover in all positions and with half the season gone could relatively realistically end up in the playoffs is something I would have bitten your hand off for. Only two teams in the last 8 or 9 seasons got relegated with more than the 42 points we're on right now (by far and away the highest of course being us, when we somehow managed it on 51).

Now in hindsight Hirst and Mola didn't pan out, but we aren't going to lose much on them. I kind of think that by managing Dack back into fitness Szmodics has been made to look like an unnecessary signing. If Dack's knees had completely gone and he'd been sent to the glue factory Szmodics would have played more of a role, and might have looked a bit more effective.

It was no way near as bad a window as some people are making out. Jury's still out though - don't mistake me for a 'happy clapper', we need to improve a fair bit. We don't deserve to be as high as third, but seeing as we are this is an opportunity to build on what we've got and improve into the second half of the season. If they can do that rather than the inevitable Mowbray death spiral I'll call it a pretty successful first season. 

We supposedly lost 12 players at the end of last season, we've replaced them with 6,only 2 of which have played a full part. 

Far from being left in the lurch, Tomasson has been left with almost the perfect blend for what he wants to achieve. 

Room to add his own choice of player, a current squad which is 3rd in the league, and no older fringe players needing game time meaning he can give the academy lads more game time in the cups than they could have imagined. 

He inherited an ideal situation,if GB can pull out a couple of rabbits, we should be well set for a play off place. 

Massive game to set the tone for the rest of the season. Being the early game, a win would not only give us a 6 point gap over the next 3 teams, it would also close the gap to Sheff Utd to 6 points, then sit back and see what happens. 

Have to win this one. 

The squad balance is looking perfect for what Tomasson was brought in for. 

The cull of last season has enabled him to give our own youngsters game time in the cup games, rather than having to give older squad players the game time. There's no doubt this has resulted in better Cup performances, I'm struggling to think of even 1 older player who has been left out of either league squad or cup squad,yet the Cup teams have been largely made up of academy players. 

Far from leaving us light on numbers, that cull has been the  perfect situation for Tomasson, leaving him a young, hungry squad whilst still leaving him room to add his own signings( with very mixed results). 

If JDT and GB can pull out a couple of rabbits, we'll be in a great position to continue a play off push during the second half of the season. 

The performances over the last three games have definitely improved, helped by playing the better players and a consistent line up. 

As for results, the main difference between earlier in the season and now is the finishing, or lack of it. Morton has to score at Sunderland, if he does, we're probably 3 points better off. 

Off the pitch we need a rallying call, not a white flag 

52 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Then grow a pair and let the Burnley defeat go for now as the one consolation is we get another go at them this season.

The Burnley defeat has naff to do with playing Boro tonight.

No, I know, that's why I replied how I did to the original comment. 

You've replied to the follow up. 

I'm absolutely sick of reading how every decision Tomasson makes is compared to what Mowbray did or what he might have done, it's completely irrelevant and what's more, it's pathetic. 

On tonight, it's about time the club woke up to the fact that this might be the best chance in ages to reach the play offs. They need to wake up and smell it. One poster has already said he can't be arsed going tonight because of what's being served up. 

When the management are coming out with defeatist interviews like the ones yesterday, is it any wonder Waggott struggles selling tickets? 

24 minutes ago, tomphil said:

One of the most insipid home games iv'e ever seen v that lot came in the cup under Mowbray so let's not pretend it would have been guaranteed any different.

Bowyers teams put up a better effort.

I'm not bothered whether it was Mowbray or not, just pointing out that the Burnley line up this season was a lot worse than the two decisions mentioned. 

It's Tomasson's team, that line up was nothing to do with Mowbray, let him manage Sunderland. 

8 minutes ago, Hasta said:

We’re no worse off Gav, and at least were not complaining about putting Johnson up front and Gally at right back anymore. Plus I’d forgotten what it was like to concede in injury time until the last game.

Those playing decisions pale into insignificance compared to the disaster that was the Burnley line up. 

Doesn't matter which team plays, it's gonna take 3 windows before we've any chance of doing anything. 

Even though we're 3rd and have as much chance of a play off place as at least 10 more teams, the white flag has been hoisted for this season. 

I'm not keen on all this 3 transfer window talk. For a start, it isn't Tomasson's remit to buy success, even if there was any money to spend, supposedly he's here to maximise the academy and improve the players we have. 

Obviously, there will be transfers in, but to say any future success hinges on it contradicts the picture painted by himself and Broughton. 

We're in a great league position, the management should not be writing off this season already, they should be gearing up for a big push, not laying out the excuses. 

Quite looking forward to it. 

It's always the same at these matches, if it's close you forget how many/few are on and just concentrate on the game. 

Their fans won't know the ins and outs at Ewood, they'll just see that we're 3rd and they're low down in the Prem. 

From the outside, it's a potential upset. 

All he had to do was play the settled 10/11 at Burnley. It imploded from the point that he made that ridiculous selection. 

It was all bobbing along nicely until Tomasson experimented in the one game you don't experiment. Football suicide. 

Get back to a settled defence with players in their proper position, rather than this  vanity, and we may get some consistency going. 

43 minutes ago, JHRover said:

I don't mind dull boring football if it gets results. I don't mind getting a goal up and then protecting the lead if it works. I've no problem hanging on at home against Birmingham and Huddersfield if we see it through and win.

I've lost count the number of sides that have got out of this league playing that way - Burnley under Dyche the prime example - never won plaudits for their play but ground out results doing just enough each week to get them over the line. 

For all the talk about nice football and playing your way out of this league the reality is that the route to getting out of it is to be pragmatic, give nothing away and ensure you protect a lead when you get it. 

That is why I have been so pleased this season with our results when we have got our noses in front. Because it is not to be sniffed at that we never let a lead slip and had won 6 on the bounce at home. I don't accept that is a fluke. This league is too inconsistent for that.

But the flip side is there in black and white. To never recover so much as a single point, and rarely even look like scoring, when we go behind in games is very worrying and has to change one way or the other. It cannot be the case that we lose EVERY game we go behind in

Sad to see but there are a significant number of Mowbrayites out there who seem to be hoping this goes wrong so they can say it was a mistake to let him go. People who were happy to sit back and relax when he was taking us on annual runs of relegation form and sitting on his arse sulking like a child during games but now want JDT out after 20 games presumably partly because he won't make tea and biscuits and reminisce about the good old days in interviews.

I hope he lives and dies by results. Currently after the last 2 games there are problems and he needs to earn his corn by addressing them. We might well slide down the table - let's see, hopefully we don't and we get out of this rut. There are clearly issues he needs to sort and if he can't then the pressure will rightfully grow

Wanting the manager out yet wanting your team to win aren't conducive, you don't get both at once. That's the situation a lot of fans who wanted Mowbray out found themselves in, getting satisfaction from a Rovers defeat. 

Perversely, as you say, there seems to be a similar situation growing against Tomasson.

I don't quite get the"told you so" brigade on either side of the argument. I'd happily be wrong every day of the week if it meant we'd won. 

On 19/11/2022 at 20:15, bazza said:

You mentioned that you would be happy to lose every game from now on to PNE as long as Rovers beat Burnley in March.

Well I'm Preston born and bred but Rovers have been my club since I was 7 or 8 and that comment is incredulous to me. Imagine if I said we can lose every game to Burnley from now on as long as we beat North End the next game. Meh!

We really MUST beat the nobbers, just for my sake. But if JDT keeps us playing the same way I'm afraid we'll lose.

JDT has to change the style for this game.

Or at least start with a proper defence, I ask you, who experiments at Burnley???? 

The back 5 should have picked itself today. Playing Brittain on the left was never going to work. It blunts his own attacking threat and Brereton's who always plays better with Pickering behind him. 

Throw into the mix giving Mola a start, and you've got an unbalanced, experimental defence on the one day you DON'T experiment. 

Can't believe he did that today.