Tyrone Shoelaces

If he's getting paid by the goal we won't be doing too bad at the moment.

He's got pace and he's got athleticism. Two things you can't train into players. Positional play you can learn, crossing the ball can be worked on. I'm not surprised clubs further up the food chain are taking an interest.

You can't throw people to the ground like that. He did well to stay down. He could have jumped up and squared up to the lad and the ref would probably have sent both players off. What was Dack trying to do for the Pen ? That was suicidal. That sort of thing is why we keep letting the opposition back into games. .

Well we needed that. Great win, I'll be smiling tonight. !2 points and a better goal difference off the drop zone. We can breathe a bit easier now.

If we played as well as people thought we did in the first half at Sheffield I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar line up. However we may also have a completely different line up. It's never good when you don't know your best 11.

I see Peter Thompson the old Preston, Liverpool and England winger has died. I remember him and John " The Tank " Bray having some terrific battles in the early 1960's. Thompson was a real handful with terrific dribbling skills. We don't seem to breed players like him anymore. RIP.

The thing is we're exactly where we where a few years back, looking over our shoulders at the bottom three and hoping we can scramble enough points to avoid the drop

It doesn't matter how you set up if all your 10 outfield players are in the last third of the pitch. Normally there is only one outcome unless you get very lucky. The best defence is playing in your opponents half.

Yeah having only 18 touches when you're playing up front is not necessarily a bad thing. It's what you do with those touches that matters.

Yeah, when I was a young player and we got a penalty I'd always volunteer to take it. I'd be letting someone else grab the ball now.

That's the root of the issue. The Chemo might be working for now but the Cancer is still in our body.

Yeah but where is he now and when will he be fit to play again ?

Last time I saw him he looked in great shape. Looked like he could still be playing. He'd get the buggers fit. He's done a good job in running the second stream. It's a bloody tough task at any club. Your best players are constantly being loaned out or selected for the first team squad.

You forgot to add Conway to the list of controversial new contracts.

Thanks for that, we've had some garbage wearing the famous old shirt.

We should be making enquiries there if that's correct.

I'd say his value has gone down during our poor run. A potentially top class player would still have had more of an impact during this spell.

I think our unexpected team selection threw Utd off track in the first half. When they had time to get their heads together at half time they soon got all their ducks in a row.

I'm a post '61 fan, I suppose my age rules out my opinion also.

I don't think Mulgrew would be quick enough for full back anymore. I'm not sure he's got the ability to get up and down the flank as much as a good full back should do.

I was only thinking about this the other day. When did we last score a goal with a shot from distance ie 20 yards plus ?

Headline in my paper today quoting Pochettino at Spurs- " It's Not Enough To Play For 60 or 70 Minutes. You Need To Play For 95 ". I'd be happy with an improvement on our usual 45.

You mean Mowbray needs to be on the same wavelength as Johnno. We need a new voice and a new approach behind the scenes.

The game in this country is fast becoming a tackle free zone. I was surprised to see foreign referees in the recent World Cup letting a lot more go. How many Red Cards were there in a competition of such intensity ? This isn't for one minute excusing Smallwood diving in yesterday. When you have an advantage over the opposition you do your level best to maintain it. The lack of spirit and determination in adversity has been a problem since the Kean days. Last season only papered over the cracks. We didn't need to put our bodies on the line very often, our superior ability usually got us over the line. At the moment we have a massive problem with morale. We look like a team that make excuses to each other and feel sorry for our selves when things go wrong. Team spirit doesn't consist solely of going out on the piss with each other and group selfies ! In my opinion this attitude comes from the lack of interest right at the top. At most Clubs the Chairman would have told Mowbray after this latest debacle - " We need to have a talk about this Tony, I'll see you in my office on Monday morning ". I used to know the Chairman of my Rugby League club pretty well and he defined his duties as " Moving heaven and earth so the buggers don't have an excuse for losing ". Best kit, best physio, best coach for long journeys, good hotel for over night stays etc. At Rovers nothing will happen tomorrow morning and everything will carry on as thought this Christmas never happened. This policy of signing 19 year old Yoof is all well and good but they won't get us out of this mess. We need some experienced guys who aren't used to losing without a fight and we desperately need some leaders on the field.