smiller14

The issue when Ayala plays is his lack of pace seems to lead to us sitting too deep. That increases the gaps between our defence and midfield and contributes to our inability to play it out from the back.

Burnley seem to find a way to win. A few fortuitous decisions - the red card seemed a bit harsh to me, and never a Burnley throw in for the 3rd goal - although they still had a lot to do from there and the defending by the Rotherham full back was schoolboy. It shows their title credentials again, but at the same time gives me hope that we have a chance next week. Rotherham scored twice and apparently looked threatening, which might hint at us getting some joy on the counter. We'll have to be miles better than we were at Coventry, though. Can see any score in this one. We could get thumped, could finally break the draw barren spell or we could do something special. One thing's for certain, I won't be resting easily until the final whistle is blown. I wish we had the same 'never say die' attitude as them.

It might be 3.5-4 hours in the car to Cardiff, but it's longer on a coach. But that's me indulging your belief that 7am on New Years Day is an appropriate time to set off. I would wager most coaches are leaving between 5 and 6am. I live in Cardiff and it's an extremely long journey up to Blackburn - I've endured the 5.5 hours of Megabus hell from Cardiff to Manchester far too many times. Chaddy, I don't want to labour the point, but this isn't about you. Yes, public transport might be getting worse. But for some people it's their only way of getting to the game. Yes, they could snap up one of the limited official travel spots, but what if they don't live close to the Cardiff City Stadium? And, again - this might not apply to you - but some people enjoy a drink or 2 on New Years Eve. Even after a couple you wouldn't really be fit/legal to drive until well into the morning, ruling out any chance of those people driving at 7am for the midday kick off. Obviously, they could choose not to have a beer at 12 bells, but I'm just trying to labour the point about how a midday kick off on that day particularly is an absolute nightmare for fans. It's going round and round in circles. Thankfully, I'm not too affected. I'm away on New Years Day and on Boxing Day I'll swallow the early get up and jump on a coach to Sunderland. However, that doesn't mean I don't feel sympathy for people who are affected. Honestly, they could move the Burnley v Rovers match so it's played on the moon next weekend and you'd defend it because you're not going anyway. Sometimes it's nice to think of other people - I'm actually startled at your total lack of awareness and self-absorbed responses to every post.

As long as when you do attend more away games you don't grumble for one second when there's a kick off time that doesn't suit you. After all, it's just how it is isn't it? And people complained in the past about our games being moved for Sky, this isn't a new complaint. I accept that games can be moved, but expecting Cardiff fans to set off at 5am on New Year's Day is grossly unfair. If the shoes on the other foot next year I'll be grumbling. And noon on Boxing Day is also a pain. I don't think I've ever seen a more self-indulgent set of posts in my entire life. So dismissive of fans who travel the length and breadth of the country to support their team. Given your love for Rovers and presumably football in general, I thought you'd give even a small concern for the supporters. Seems not - as long as it doesn't bother you! As for 'firstly, don't use public transport' - IT ISN'T ALL ABOUT YOU. Some people don't/can't drive. Some people like a beer. Just because you don't use public transport doesn't mean you can't show empathy for other people. It's actually scary how you can't see it in multiple posts.

As long as it doesn't inconvenience you Chaddy, that's all that matters.

I agree - the inability to adapt and swallow pride is frustrating. We saw the same at Luton, Reading, Sheffield United, Wigan and Cardiff. That's 6 games now where we've struggled away and done nothing to try and fix it, at least not until too late. If we play like that next week we get thumped. There has to be more intensity. And whilst fans have been patient, it won't be easily forgiven in that game. As an aside, heard from a few people our fans were shocking last night. I know the game went bad but usually pretty vocal on the road.

The strangest comment, when asked about why he left subs so late, was because 'the subs could see the gaps'. Why couldn't they see the gaps 20 minutes earlier? Maybe the Lancs Live text update paraphrased poorly, but to give Dack and co 8 minutes was criminal given how little we created.

Huge barometer of progress tonight. Hopeful we can continue our good form. Until recently we had issues delivering good performances away from home, and especially struggled to follow up a weekend win with a midweek performance. I am hopeful things have changed for the better. COYB!

Feel for Cardiff fans - 12pm on New Years Day for what is already a mammoth drive.

I've purchased from them before and the quality is great. The range of selections is also really impressive.

Buckley was a bit unlucky playing in CM when we only had 2 in there and were often getting overrun. That being said, he didn't do enough (QPR aside). I'm confident he will get his chance again and hope he takes it, but at the moment he can't grumble as we're winning games. He just needs to knuckle down.

Based on what? One thing about Venky's is they don't seem to put any pressure on the sale of assets. Phil Jones is one I can think of, but pretty sure they activated his release clause. They're often ridiculously stubborn - see Rhodes, Brereton, Rothwell etc.

Think this one will be a tough game. No reason we can't go there and win, but Coventry have always seemed a pretty well organised side. They aren't looking too good league table wise, but they have games in hand and have had to deal with some tough extenuating circumstances - games in hand, lobsided split in home/away games and even a sickness bug on the weekend. If we play our game as we can, we'll win. But it's a funny old league!

Yep, people making out they're a poor side etc are totally ignorant of their league position and all available stats. Can we win? Yes. But anyone pretending it will be anything other than a very tough game (and that's ignoring the derby element) are in for a shock. We have the playing style to potentially hurt them, if we get the press right and stay organised defensively. Cliche I know, but 1st goal is massive. Can we finally come back from a losing position? Will they go for the jugular or sit back? Either way it would be tough - we seem disorientated whenever we concede, but then when a team sits back it's the type of style we seem to struggle against.

They've had some poor games, but their 'floor' is higher than ours - they've not really thrown in any stinkers, their sole defeat being a 1-0 defeat at Watford. Guessing you don't mean they've generally been poor, but of course they've been poor on occasion. On the flipside, our ceiling is very high and if we're on it then we have a very good chance of winning. I wasn't forgetting they've been poor at all, but if we play like we did at some of those grounds we'll get thumped. Thankfully those performances seem to be few and far between now we've settled into a better system. I don't think we'll return to those no-show days as we appear to have turned a corner, but we have to be at our best to get anything from Turf Moor - they're unbeaten in 15 and we can't pretend they're anything other than a very good side at this level. I think this will be one of our sternest tests so far this season, perhaps behind Sheffield United given their form at the time. I am confident we can get something but we'll need to be at our best.

They did in 2010 but was bottlenecked and a nightmare to get a beer - led to fans bringing them to their seats (caused a storm at the time). In 2016 they had a lovely (ish!) outdoor gazebo area with plenty of beer easily purchased. Obviously wasn't anything to write home about from a choice perspective but had no issue having a beer that time.

Cheers! Might just head inside the ground. Being able to have a quick pint before the game gives a small sense of 'normality' to proceedings, as well as a focal point to be dropped off at. I won't chance my arm at The Turf or Royal Dyche 😁 I am bricking it for the game. If we show up, it will be a good game between good sides. If the Rovers who went to Wigan/Luton/Reading/Sheff Utd show up (or don't show up), we could get whacked. Any score is possible in this one and just hope it favours us. Funnily enough, since we dropped the long unbeaten record (albeit with few games) the derby games have been less stressful for me. Maybe it's me moving to Cardiff - I am absolutely desperate to beat them and hope they lose every week but I don't get the same 'all to lose' attitude I used to have. Just hope we give a good account of ourselves.

Guessing you mean 'it hasn't stopped' us? He isn't saying that they shouldn't play and I'm sure he knows that experience is gained by playing games, but he's just worried that in a one-off derby game that their experience in midfield may benefit them. On the flipside, our youthful midfield may help us - less shackled down by past disappointments etc.

Fair enough, didn't realise Wharton had played so many games. Szmodics I did know but generally at a lower level. Perhaps I've been too quick to swallow some of the talk about how inexperienced we are - easy mistake to make when our team is so young. Hopefully our mix of appearances and youthful enthusiasm stands us in good stead.

Would you really count Scott Wharton and Szmodics as 'experienced'? Not sure on the age/experience of their team, but Rovers are a very young and inexperienced team.

Probably a daft question, but what are people's plans for the day? I'm guessing nowhere in Burnley would welcome Rovers fans @longsiders1882? Was hoping maybe the Cricket Club would to avoid fans arriving en-masse with nowhere to go (bar the ground but depends on timing). I'll probably have a drink or 2 more locally to Blackburn and get a taxi to the ground (hopefully they have the gazebo area they had back in 2016) but dreading a scenario where I'm talking aimlessly around - particularly post-game. With a lack of trains there isn't really a centralised place for Rovers fans to arrive where the police can 'contain' them, so quite interested how it will all be organised. Just fancy a normal day with a few beers, cracking atmosphere and no scrotes trying to kick off or attack people for the crime of attending a football match.

I think there are flaws, particularly where you score first and 'sit in'. Although clubs utilising it would take this into account and wouldn't just lazily parrot the 'expected score' without any context like you see some pundits do. I don't think anyone should rely on it fully, it's just another bit of context to add to all the other analysis that every top team uses nowadays. I don't see our over-performance as luck, I see it in the same way you do - we have a great striker and a great keeper. The best teams overperform their xG because they have players who will do better than expected.

It's a simple business decision. If you lower the price, you do so in the hope you sell enough extra tickets to 'make it up'. I don't understand how people are struggling with this and are talking about transfer budgets? By that logic we might as well charge £1,000 a season ticket - there's a clear link between uptake and price! Obviously, some will renew anyway, and there needs to be a business decision over the correct price to charge that will maximise revenue. My argument is our current pricing does not maximise revenue. If we discounted season tickets by £100, we'd need to make up £870,000 elsewhere (based on 8,700 season ticket holders). So it would need us to sell 2,500-3,000 more season tickets. If it's £50, that number decreases - so on and so forth. That's a simplification as I know we charged different amounts for renewers vs newbies, so that number may well be lower as it was the non-renewers that were shafted last year. As for the problem PNE have with under 18s buying season tickets, that isn't unique to them. People do it at Rovers too. I take the point on us having cheaper matchday pricing, but we don't seem to get too many walk ons. Ignoring prices, could we do more? We used to scream and shout about our offers, now you see the odd Twitter post. Can we encourage a better atmosphere by directing 'singers' to a certain part of the BBE? Lots of creative thinking needed imo. This could generate revenue whilst also creating a better matchday atmosphere - this in turn can impact performances on the pitch whilst still encouraging sales (I've seen certain sections at grounds grow and grow and increase overall attendances. Even Reading have a singing section that gets bigger by the week.). We are doing a lot right as a club, including securing our long-term assets, but we can certainly do more.

A big issue is the lack of fans after COVID. Other clubs saw a spike in attendance - finally back after empty stadiums etc. We never had that bounce at all. And it was compounded by price rises and being uncompetitive price wise with local rivals who have very similar demographics. Unsurprisingly, they are selling much more than us, despite us actually enjoying more on pitch success than them both (PNE, Bolton). 800 new season ticket holders is nothing to write home about; was a great opportunity to really hammer home the 'fresh start', with a new manager and young prospects to be proud of. Just felt like an opportunity missed.

Saw an interesting Scholes interview recently where he (perhaps modestly) said the left-wing element wasn't an excuse for him as he played there frequently with United. He said he struggled being away from home for long periods etc. You're still right though, Scholes would have improved that centre midfield. Could even have considered a change in formation to encompass all 3. No doubt that Lampard and Gerrard underperformed together for England.