The first time I saw Lowe play I couldn’t believe how bad he was. All the things you look for in a pro footballer - he had none of them.

I think Szmodic might be on the bench tomorrow. That’s what managers do these days.

You’d think they’d have Ayala locked in a bank vault only to be brought out on match days.

Chief Drone Pilot.

If it was the old Dack he might. However we still await the return of the old Dack.

Correct decision making at speed under pressure is what separates the average players from the top class ones. Khadra’s decision making wasn’t that of a top player. He got more wrong than he got right. I remember watching New Zealand v Australia at Rugby League. Australia were losing by about 2 points with 10 seconds of the game to go. They mounted an attack were about 6 players all handled the ball. Each player had to decide when and where to pass, which player to pass to. Pass inside or pass outside etc. This was all done at amazing speed and every player in the move got the critical decisions right. If any one of those players had made a mistake the move would have broken down. Result - a match winning try in the corner.

I agree he’s not normally a finisher but he’ll get his share and he’ll make goals for other people. A massive up grade on Gally.

They used to excuse Scholes when he committed a bad foul. “ He doesn’t know how to tackle “. Bollocks - he knew exactly what he was doing.

He blew hot and cold too much for me. Nothing changed there.

I’d have been a lot more put out if Buckley had have gone to Bournemouth instead of Rothwell. If Buckley can sort out his ability to attract needless cards he could easily play at the top level in the future.

You are talking about Rothwell here aren’t you ?

Buckley is set up to have his best season this time. He just needs to cut out the silly, pointless bookings he picks up all the time. Tripping somebody up from behind on the half way line doesn’t make you a hard man.

With plenty of end product. Players who can carry the ball from the middle third to the last third can kill you but they need to be able to use the ball when they get there.

When we discover the new Bryan Douglas I may change my mind. Ton Finney, who was in the Dougie league as a dribbler, used to tell a story about his time as an apprentice. He was getting a reputation even then as a great dribbler. One day the trainer took him to one side. He said “ I’ll have a bet with you Tom. You see young George stood thirty yards away ? I’ll bet I can get the ball to him before you can “. Tom said “ You’re on.” The trainer said “ At the count of three. One, two, three, go “. Tom set off with ball but before he’d gone 5 yards the trainer had just passed the ball to the other player. He said “ I win Tom. “ Finney said he never forgot that lesson.

He’s still not returned from a serious injury. Avoid.

Correct. If the runner loses the ball he’s usually on the wrong side of the ball defensively. If the passer has a pass intercepted he’s always still on the right side of the ball defensively.

Good.

The only problem with that is as soon as they are anything like good enough to star in the Champ some club further up the food chain comes along to take them off our hands. Sometimes they are taken before they even get that far.

We need to be playing Ayala in a bubble wrap kit.

And Magloire. At least he was a centre half.

Possibly as good as it gets. I expect Hedges to play in place ofDolan though.

Maybe he wanted to see how they’d react in that situation. To see if they’d work it out for themselves. Now he knows.

Big, big problems at the Red Rats. I’m not sure even Klopp or Guardiola could sort them out any more. It’s gone beyond any one man. They need to fire the lot and start from scratch, which isn’t going to happen.

Yeah that’s what I really miss. When games used to be stopped when a dog ran on the pitch. I remember Jimmy Greaves was a bit of a dog whisperer. He tamed one at Ewood years ago. He met his match with the one during the Brazil v England game in Chile. He managed pick it up and then it pissed on him.

A guy in a Spanish village - “ You see all those houses ? I built all those with my own hands. Do they call me Pedro the house builder ? No. Go down to the harbour, you see all those fishing boats ? They are all mine. Boats that I built with my own hands. Do they call me Pedro the boatbuilder ? No Go out into the fields and look at the olive groves. I planted those one by one. Do they call me Pedro the farmer ? No. But I fuck one pig ……. “