The Doors - Hello I Love You

Exactly. Games are coming really thick and fast at the moment. Not everybody can afford the financial costs involved.

Sending him out on loan to Aberdeen was a massive mistake. He’s barely kicked a ball for them. At the least he could have been down here helping the U-21’s stay in their league.

The Beatles - Things We Said Today

The Band - The Shape I’m In

Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign

Billy “ The Kid “ Emerson - Red Hot

Derek Martin - Daddy Rolling Stone

Orange Juice - Rip It Up

Peter Frampton - Show Me The Way

This was the season to do it if we were going to do it. Torpedoed by managerial incompetence in the transfer window.

The Sensations - Let Me In

It’s as plain as the nose on your face that a formation consisting of any two of our regular midfield players is not enough. That probably applies to most team in this league. Playing three in there is a must for me at the moment, but you and I agree on that point I think.

Arthur Conley - Sweet Soul Music

Chris Montez - Let’s Dance

Anybody else see one of their centre halves just push Szmodics over in the second half ? They were on their own just inside the Hull half and Szmodics turned the centre half and was about to set off running after a long ball that was on the way. Their guy just shoved him over with both hands in the middle of his back ! The Lino was on the Riverside but his eyes must have been painted on. Could easily have been a red card.

Jerry Butler - Only The Strong Survive

And when they do pass the ball into midfield the receiver inevitably is moving back towards our goal with an opponent pressing them. One slip and possession is lost in a really dangerous area of the pitch. Everything about it is wrong. The passes are always played directly to feet so the receiver has to stop and wait for the ball to arrive and then control it. The guy pressing has all the advantages, he’s on the move and he doesn’t have to control the ball, he just needs to get a foot in. I was on the Rochdale site earlier and their fans were saying the same things - they lost an early goal in their crucial relegation game yesterday because they were pissing around at the back. Imagine trying to play passing the ball out from the back when you’re bottom of the old 4th division ! Madness. Centre halves are centre halves for a reason. If they were brilliant with the ball at their feet they’d be running midfield or banging in the goals up front. Even Mike England, who the best centre half I ever saw, was only half the player playing up front.

Like I said - going out of my head. I’m still pissed off about last night ! Anyway - David Cassidy - How Can I Be Sure

Little Anthony And The Imperials - Going Out Of My Head

Barker was a nice footballer with the un teachable ability to always turn into space and away from trouble. As you say he was a bit one paced but he made the most of his other abilities.

Watching that last night I don’t expect us to improve. He’s had all season and we still don’t really have a coherent pattern of play. It’s as you say all a bit hit and miss, we never look in control of games for any length of time. The biggest mistake you can make as a manager is shoe horning players into a way of playing that doesn’t suit their individual and collective skill sets. I think he’s made that mistake and it’s a fundamental error.

I got back home at midnight so too late to post. Here goes today. I’ve always said with Rovers that you can tell after ten minutes what sort of performances you are going to get. After ten minutes of walking football were Hyam ,Carter, and Pears had a little kick about of their own I feared the worst. Was I wrong ? That was a truly dreadful performance. Nobody came out of it with any credit at all. Did their goalkeeper actually have a save to make all game ? This was a weakened Hull team who are roughly mid table at best and we needed a win desperately. Yet the keeper can wear the same kit for the next match un washed. Play like that again and we won’t win another game. Play-offs, we’re having a laugh. Like 99% of people I was scratching my head at the starting line up. Why change the 4-3-3 that served us well at Hudds ? I don’t get it. Travis and Morton haven’t got what it takes to run a game but a three with Wharton in there have. The subs were WAY too late, especially Wharton. A brave manager would have made changes at half time, not with ten minutes to go. Another thing that worried me was when Hull had a go in the second half how easily they broke away. Indeed right from the 2nd half kick off they had a well worked move that cut us wide open. If they had a striker playing they must have scored at some point, they got into some good positions second half. Fair play to them, they didn’t rollover and die like some other mid table teams might have done. The dingles have the players to take advantage of opportunities like that. I could on and on about how bad we were, I can’t think of one real plus on show last night. We didn’t look a well coached, well set up team last night, it was pretty much a shambles. We wouldn’t have scored if we’d played whilst midnight. Scores Pears 6, Nothing much to do. Part of a real mix up in communication that nearly led to a disaster. JRC 6, Not his normal self, maybe he was tired after playing Hudds on his own in midweek. Carter 6, OK, not great. Has too much to do when JRC goes down field. Hyam 5, Looked shaky, as though he doesn’t enjoy the tip tappy keep ball game. Pickering 6, OK, every team targets him with the high ball. Travis 6, Tried hard as usual but not really effective going forward. Morton 5, Not mobile enough for me and no real presence in centre field. Dolan 6, Put in the effort as usual but missed a real sitter. At the least he should have worked the keeper. Szmodics 5, Works hard but for me he’s playing above his ability level. Too many poor first touches. Gallagher 4, A truly awful performance. He’s gone backwards to the point he’s no longer capable of playing at this level or possibly the one below. Brererton 4, Another really poor performance. Has he got a brain ? Their right back was running back towards his own corner flag with absolutely nowhere to go. What does BBD do - push him in the back ! ! Problem solved for the right back instantly. Subs Hedges 6, Look bright for me and I like to see his left foot on the left. Put in a good cross that just eluded Leonard, who incidentally, was the only Rovers player in the box at that shit or bust moment ! Thomas 4, Every cross was easily dealt with apart from that greedy shot into the side netting. Wharton and Leonard - hard to score off 10 minutes but both did good things in that time.

Nothing new there. Only Jack thought big.

He was beyond poor last night. Best summed up by that shot that went out for a throw in. If I was the Villareal scout I’d be looking for another job.