Blueandwhitemike

Good game, only preseason but encouraging all the same. I was a bit puzzled Wharton was out and Magloire was in but thinking about it Magloire is a right sided CB and maybe Mowbray sees him, for now, as Lenihan's backup. Williams in to add some experience perhaps. Williams played quite well for the most part but he did make a few mistakes including a couple of terrible passes which could have led to Leicester goals if they'd been more on it. Personally I do think he's a much better CB than left back. He had a good period of games partnering Lenihan pre Preston away I think but looked poorer with Adarabiyo and I think TM lost a little faith in him. Not sure what's going on with DW and TM still wouldn't be surprised to see him leave if we get one or two in but he can play well though I don't think he's quite the quality we need and I think he rates himself higher than backup. Interesting to see Bennett not appear much in preseason and today come on in midfield, hopefully means Nyambe will be signing a new contract soon as I rate him highly as quite a few here do.

You may be right about the wages but to me part of the perception of Hanley is due to the fact he was a young player coming through that did make mistakes however by the time he left us I felt he had matured into an excellent centre back and one of the best in the Championship. More concerning is his injury record but I would hope if we do try and get him that we would have investigated that. If he's on 25k a week he might be amenable to lower wages with a longer contract or possibly Norwich might loan him and make a 5-10k contribution to his wage rather than have to pay all of it when he is not in their first team plans. All speculation of course but we do need a couple of top quality defenders.

I haven't seen Hanley play that much since he left and he made some mistakes in his time here but in that 2015-16 season he was head and shoulders above as our best player and if he could replicate that form then he'd be a great signing. I don't know if he's a heavy drinker and that would be a bad thing but he was captain here and is captain at Norwich so presumably he does have some leadership qualities. If we could sign him and a quality left back I think that would huge boost for this season. Personally I'd rather go for quality over quantity in this window and use more of the young players as backup.

The ifollow guy said the EFL decided video is for UK only, I'm in Shanghai

Been told it's audio only

Being in China iFollow can be very frustrating because I too often have streaming issues despite high speed internet but then what is the alternative? It's iFollow or nothing so I will renew. Does anyone know if the game is available overseas for season subscribers or do we have to pay the £10 match fee?

Apart from a couple of state lotteries gambling is illegal on mainland China so I don't think it's anything to do with that. Are 10bet a Chinese company? I don't think there are any.

Quite possibly but I've only seen him linked to West Ham a few weeks back so you never know.

Watched Harry Souttar play for Fleetwood, had half an eye on him as I remembered the name being mentioned a while ago, I wasn't too impressed, in fact I'd say he was poor and even given his age didn't show much promise. Would be much happier with Kipre as I remember him playing quite well against us and when I've seen a few limited highlights, so although I don't believe we have been linked with him I hope we at least inquire.

Of course Dack’s injury affected is, so did Evans’ (surprising or not), Lenihan’s did last season and so on and so on. I believe the short term signings of Downing, Adarabiyo, Johnson, Holtby plus the longer term one of Gallagher, all one relatively big wages were done with the plan that they’d get us into the play offs, not to get us 3 extra points and a few more goals and this means that this season and last summer’s recruitment were failures. Losing Ada plus Downing (possibly and if he does re sign there’s a good chance of him being less useful) and Johnson being another year older counts against any progress. We need to do a lot better this summer.

I'm in with no problems from 15 minutes ago, currently adverts playing very smoothly, hope the match will be the same

overseas ifollower finally in, ten minutes in to game

It's a good article but great audio, almost 40 minutes and Sd talks about Rovers a lot, very high praise of Mowbray and DJ. I think it gives a really good insight into behind the scenes.

Regarding the question and the answer at the end it's interesting to note you picked the top two teams. It's no coincidence that the teams with the best keepers got automatic promotion. It's a no to Walton from me. I'd prefer us to get the very best keeper we can as I think it's a crucial position. I hope we allocate a large chunk of the summer budget to get someone much better.

Couldn't that be viewed as a positive? We are still mot far off despite that and it would be easier to fix than the opposite problem.

Didn't City go 442 on Sunday with Aguero and Jesus upfront? Won 6-1 away and all.

Should be ahead and Gallagher on the wing apart we've played quite well. PNE have been awful, goal part, 57% passing accuracy! We need to keep on them, don't let them into the game second half.

I do worry that in trying to make him more positionally responsible Mowbray has taken something out of his game. I remember TM saying Travis wants to get up and down like a traditional box to box but he wants to hold a lot more, make him more of a defensive midfielder. I'm paraphrasing and perhaps being unfair to TM but his first few games last season I thought he was great and he has rarely hit those heights since, though overall I think he's been decent and occasionally very good.

The thing is Preston aren't very good, we saw that in the first half at Deepdale. Also we aren't very good, we saw that in the second half at Deepdale. Both teams are in poor form and we have as much if not more chance of winning than they do, it depends on which Rovers turn up.

For me Dack has been our player of the season for the first half of the year, he can't be brilliant every game but he's been responsible more than anyone else for our good games and generally I think his effort has been good. Downing has been quite good but I think a little overated as I don't think he's been great. I think it's more that he's exceeded expectations and those around have not been very good. Evans and Tosin were both great during our good run but Tosin came back jittery after a few games out just as he was starting to look Premier league class. If Evans could play like that consistently for the rest of the season he'd probably be in there as I thought he was crucial during the team's purple patch but he's been here years and has only ever managed to play well for a few games at a time.

Smallwood doesn't need replacing, he was already replaced and hasn't played, he should have gone in the summer it's just been delayed.

There's definitely something in this game for us now, Forest looked really nervy after conceding, how are they 5th? Rothwell was awful until a brilliant pass for Armstrong to set up Downing for the goal and then an excellent effort that 100% hit the defender's arm (though it was close to his body it was on target). Stats give us almost 60% possession and better passing accuracy. Walton and Bell were poor for both goals. There's hope as there is potential in this formation just hope it isn't false.

For anyone in China (is there anybody else?) it's not on follow but it is on ssport.com though you may need help navigating through the Chinese unless you can read it. I believe it's free with local commentary and about 65p if you want English (6rmb) http://ssports.iqiyi.com/live/876579392.html?defRoom=en_room_2

I made it to the game thanks to a kind fellow Rover. Hoping Brum try to play a bit and Gallagher and co can force some mistakes. It’ll be really interesting to see how Buckley does if he’s playing as a ten, big responsibility but a big chance to show us what all the staff see in him, could potentially be the start of something really good. That said I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a bit deeper in a central three with Johnson and Bennett. praying we can pass a bit better than on Monday otherwise it’ll be a long ninety minutes. Personally a bit disappointed not to see Rothwell but I’d have been telling him to stay a lot wider at least half the time, too frequently he’s in poor positions without much space in the middle.

Hi all, I'm on a flying visit over Christmas week back from Shanghai to take in a couple of games and see my parents/family. I'll be going to the Wigan game and have a ticket for the Birmingham game on Boxing Day. I have a problem though, I'm staying with my ageing parents near Eccles and Boxing Day transport means there is no way to get back after the game. I was wondering if any of the good folk here would be travelling back in that direction on that day and might be able to help me out (I'll be on my own). Anywhere in the vicinity of Manchester central or north, Salford, Eccles, Swinton, Worsley would be great, even Bolton would be a lot better than trying to get back from Blackburn. Or if anyone knows of any coaches or whatever that would also be great. Thanks