As I was saying in the Brereton thread, Big Ben is the key. If he can run at them from an attacking midfield position like he did at Coventry he'll be asking questions of their defence they might not have the answers to. A few free kicks for Douglas to have a go at would be handy. More than in most games whoever scores first will be crucial.

Let's see if he can reproduce that performance when it matters on Tuesday night. The key to unlocking ultra defensive teams who park the bus is players running at them with the ball, not lumping it into the box from distance. Committing defenders and making them go to places they don't want to go. Either breaking through or drawing free kicks in dangerous areas. If he can do that against a very well organised team who will no doubt have been made aware of his way of playing then and already have a plan to deal with him, then I'll start to believe.

I was looking at the stats from yesterdays Reading v Rotherham game. Reading had 37% of the possession, Rotherham 63% yet Reading had 5 shots on target and Rotherham 1 I get the feeling that Tuesdays game will be a repeat of the Cardiff and Forest games. A well organised team defensively, quite happy to let us have most of the ball, just waiting for the inevitable Rovers mistake at the back, knowing that one goal will be enough. We need to be ready for them.

I see one of the Bournemouth players gave Sarr a " quietener " in the second minute of the game yesterday. He got a yellow card when later on in the game it would have been a red.

You've got to have the football intelligence and vision to see that the pass was on and the football ability to deliver the ball exactly where it's needed.

No, me neither. I don't think he's got much heading ability to be honest but then he's not had the likes of Conway and Marshall crossing the ball regularly

Yes that long ball, right to left , was a great pass. Keith Newton would of been proud of that one. If you're a striker you dream about getting passes like that. They get the back four turning when they're not expecting to have to.

I don't know what Gallagher's position is but I know what it isn't - right wing.

Don't forget who those goals were against. The likes of Rochdale etc etc.

The first time I saw him play in the flesh I thought " he must be carrying an injury ". He set off after a pass out on the wing and it looked like he was running in treacle. Later on I realised that was his normal running speed.

He was only average for a guy who was 6' 0". I've seen him miss a few that Rudy would have put through the back of the net.

I agree with you there. If you were a winger who would you rather play against ? I don't think it would be Nyambe. It'll be interesting to see who plays against Reading. Given that they've only conceded one goal so far we may need JRC's attacking skills.

Brererton's not playing out wide left as far as I can see. As I said a few weeks ago he seems to occupy what back in the day was the old inside left position. I can't see a reason why Dack couldn't play there. What's Brererton got that Dack hasn't ? Maybe he's a bit quicker over the ground once he gets into his stride but Dack is a lot smarter and he knows where the goals are.

Two really good corners there, obviously planned moves.

I hated playing as a defensive midfield player when the opposition had a player who could carry the ball like that. You were always in two minds - should I stay with the guy I was supposed to be marking or try and get to the ball carrier and block the threat. Of course the smart ones knew that and I soon as you left your man to block their run they passed it to the guy you had just left.

They've only conceded 1 goal so far, that's some statistic !

Only 3 home wins today.

He'd replace Brererton if you're really desperate to get him back in the side. It sounds like he's weeks away from even getting a place in the bench, he hasn't even played in a semi competitive game in training yet.

We could have put an outfield player in goal and played on, it would have still been 10 v 10 and we were streets in front. Normally Keepers aren't rushing to come off unless they think it's needed.

Running with the ball from around half way in centre field is his strength. Nobody likes defending against players who can do that. It asks the back four questions they don't always have the answers to. Playing with his back to goal or out on the touchline isn't his strong point. If the goals are coming I'm not overly bothered who's scoring them. Having said that it's always advantageous to have the goals spread around the team. If he can reproduce that performance against an 11 man Reading I'll start believing.

Yeah, I liked Pricey a lot. When I first saw Alan Judge I thought Johnny Price Mk 2. Blacklaw and Connelly had both seen better days and Walt Joyce was only really a squad filler standard player.

Is Gallagher still injured ?

The problem with having Armstrong as a No 9 is his game is not naturally suited to leading the line. Look at Speedie leading the line in the nostalgia thread, that's how you do it if you lack size. Paul Dickov was a lesser version. The thing with Armstrong is If he's not scoring goals his contribution is negligible. Then we have Gallagher who should be a natural No 9, he's got the physique, he's relatively quick once he gets going, got a reasonable shot in his right foot, but for some reason he's a lightweight up front. After that there's Brererton, who doesn't want to go anywhere near the six yard box if he can help it. He should look at videos of Dack to see where he gets most of his goals from, late runs right into the heart of the defence. How hard is it to just run into the box a stride behind everybody else ? What do they do in training ?

It was a bad injury, that time out and the time spent recuperating should tell us that. I'd say it's 50/50 wether he gets back to his previous high standards.

I've just checked Kevin Moran's stats. He was born in April 1956 and joined Rovers in January 1990 So he was at an age when most players were hanging up their boots when he first pulled on the blue and white ! 89-90 season- played 19 leagues games out of 20. 90-91 season- played 32 league games out of 46. 91-92 season- played 37 ( 4 more as sub ) league games out of 46 in our promotion season. 92-93 season- played 36 league games out of 42 in the Prem. 93-94 season- played 19 league games out of 42 in the Prem at a ripe old age. It doesn't look like he had too many absences to me.