I thought last night it was said we played 4-3-3. If TM meant two up front why would he say nobody through the middle? TM has mentioned Liverpool before and also tried Dack in the false 9 position before (to little effect). It's hardly a mad formation or wild conclusion and more like than 4-4-2 unless you count Dack as a striker. It's quite possible we will have Downing Johnson Travis in the midfield and Armstrong Gallagher wide forwards a Dack a la Firminho. Given we looked poor when Dack was played there before and mostly only good as a 10 or second striker then it's understandable people might be concerned. If we do try it I hope we've really thought it out as we don't really have the full backs but we aren't necessarily trying to exactly replicate Liverpool's so hopefully they have found a way to make it work.

Can't help thinking TM wants us to play like Liverpool and have Dack/Brereton like Firminho, not sure we're up to that. Graham has been shifted out to the right a couple of times over the last two seasons, would be better as a plan B for when DG is off the pitch in my opinion.

It's one way of reading it. Another is that Mowbray would have liked him but he's planning on signing another CB anyway and one that is hopefully better. I imagine that without giving guarantees he's given Downing the impression he will, depending on form, play quite a bit but wasn't quite positive with Bauer. That makes more sense to me, I don't think it is quite as black and white. Of course Preston may have valued him more highly and offered him a little more money.

I think if Downing played a lot for Boro last season he will be expecting to start a lot here too and TM must have given him the impression he would. It seems a decent signing on the whole, he did well enough last season to expect he can still do it this even though there is a risk he will lose a la Murphy. The interesting thing is to see where he will play, perhaps not so much wide of an attacking 3 but more centrally. If so can he play as part of a 2 in midfield or are we going to see a change of formation Downing will be on the left side of a middle 3?

wrong thread

I'd be very happy if we got Hanley. He was head and shoulders above everyone in the team in his last season and as @roversfan99 pointed he was excellent in his first season at Norwich. With him and Lenihan we'd be much improved at the back. I haven't seen much of Bauer but wasn't particularly impressed. I'd put centre back as my number one priority and would prefer GH as a permanent signing.

I thought Bennett had some of his best games when he played there a few times in 2017, it might even be his best position. For sure he’s very different to Dack and wouldn’t provide the same kind of creativity but his energy and pressing also can create opportunities for others. If Nyambe has been in the bench I’d have put him on for Dack last Saturday.

Regarding negativity, I think you see what you want. Personally, I see a wide variety of views as per usual.

The big question about Gallagher is whether he has improved or not, he was ok the last time but there was potential in him to make big strides. I haven't really seen him play since he left more than 18 months ago but I presume TM has so if he reckons SG is the answer we will have to hope he is right.

Like others have said Travis looks good, he's quite similar to Reed, nicking balls off others' toes but also knows how to pass forward more than Evans or Smallwood. Armstrong hasn't done much this season but did use his pace well a couple of times, I think Rothwell offers more. West Brom have threatened occasionally and will score if we don't, need a bit more urgency and a bit more quality second half.

Better mobility and passing today, still could go either way but Travis Palmer doing well, good and bad from Rothwell and Brereton.

Last game before heading back to China and what a game. First ten minutes were very good and Rothwell had a great shot hit the bar, Armstrong forced the keeper into a good save and it looked like we weren't going to miss Dack too much. Then disaster, Lenihan was messed up and Raya didn't save him. Darragh had an absolute mare first half and was making Bodvarsson look a star. Reading looked pretty decent all over and we looked shellshocked particularly after the second goal. Second half we got back into it more on effort and desire than skill or tactics, though Reading helped us by going onto their shell and we played the last 20 minutes or more with 3 at the back and really went for it. Of course, Dack and Palmer's absence plus the injuries hampered us but we lost this game more by poor defending. Great to see that passion and hard work in the second half, Nyambe and Evans did well, as others have mentioned Rothwell looked the only one with real quality so well done TM for bringing him in. Good to see Lenihan do so much better in the second half too rather than be affected by his really poor heading in the first. Overall we should have won as we created a lot more chances than them but feels like a good result after that first half shocker.

I'm not sure if we can get Brereton or not and I've not seen enough of him to say he is better than Jerome this season. I don't think that there are that many out there that have had 2 high scoring seasons in the championship in the past 4, so I don't think we should be too quick to dismiss him, that's all.

He scored 16 goals in the Championship season before last, unless you've seen him recently you can't say his pace is on the wane, Jason Roberts, a similar player, was 34 when he went to Reading and played a big part in their promotion to the PL. If it is just a loan and we're not paying too much out on wages he'd be decent backup. Not saying I'm a big fan but we shouldn't dismiss him so quickly.

Please tell Tony next time You could be our Lorient/Ligue1 scout.

After listening to TM's post-match interview on Tuesday he mentioned going with 2 and a 1/2 attackers and a Bennett or Conway on the other side. I don't think he wants to play Bennett in a 2 in the middle, not saying he will never do it but it isn't his preference. Given his other comments, like Parsonblue, I'd expect Smallwood, Evans, Bennett, and Graham all back. I have my doubts about Smallwood and I think TM wants to replace him but doesn't think Travis is trustworthy enough yet. I also don't think that with Evans and Smallwood in midfield that there is enough passing ability to play Armstrong down the middle on his own, I know we have Dack but he can't do it all on his own and although I didn't see the game it seemed like Rothwell and Travis allowed Dack to stay further forward against Carlisle. I don't think the dropping of Palmer means he's a bad signing just yet, rather it's just that he's not adapted to how TM wants us to play just yet. I do hope he cottons on quickly though.

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/05/11/tenorio-columbus-crew-sc-captain-wil-trapp-acquires-greek-passport This seems to say his contract runs until the end of 2020.

It all seems a bit strange this £5-8M for a young prospect. As many others have stated, are we in a position to gamble so much on potential? Has Balaji told TM that if he finds a youngster for 'investment' on relatively low wages that he will fund it? It does seem like TM is aiming a lot higher than most of us would have thought, or hoped even the more optimistic of us. IF the rumours about McGinn/Freeman were also true it would suggest had we signed them we would have been aiming for playoffs or close. The more TM spends (if the loans are to buy) the higher the expectations, the more pressure.

I've no idea but doesn't the MLS season finish in Nov-Jan time? If so wouldn't it be strange if his contract ended in June/July?

This £8M story is in the Sun, right? Is it Nicko? Is it true? Find it hard to believe we would want to bid that much on one player even if we could.

To be fair onTM he didn't say only 3, but rather that 3 deals are moving. I'd be surprised if we got both Brereton and Gallagher, that would be an awful lot of our budget on a position where we have Graham and Armstrong. It would also indicate that Samuel and Nuttall are not rated by TM. I know BB, SG, and AA can all play on the wing but not at the same time. TM indicated he'd only play two with a more traditional wide man like Bennett likely to play most games. It would also be a big gamble as both players might increase in value there's a good chance at least one and perhaps both wouldn't. Despite both seemingly being available not heard much about anyone else being interested. Personally, I think another centre midfielder is likely if rumours about bids for Freeman, McGinn and the American Trapp (that bid was confirmed by his club) were true, especially as I don't think we can play Smallwood and Evans when we have a smaller guy up front.

Sharpe's article is almost word for word the same as the interview TM did on Radio Lancs. https://twitter.com/BBCLancsSport it's on their twitter, easy to access on a desktop (don't need the app or to have a twitter account), just scroll down to the one that starts "football is about a balance... He's very clear not to promise a player in before the weekend, 'probably but might not'. It's quite an illuminating interview. Listening to it you can see why Sharpe used the word admitted. If I remember correctly Gladwin came in very cheap but with add-ons like promotion bonuses so it's hard to say how much those add-ons were. Dack wouldn't have ended as just 750k as I think his add-ons might have been quite significant maybe even doubling the initial price but who knows.

@AW17Yes, I did, it's a strange practice as it only allowed me to buy in the N7 block and I only bought a single ticket.

Is that right? When I bought my ticket yesterday I couldn't buy one in all but one area.

Stoke will only get offered so much, I don't think the big budget teams will be in for him and the teams with smaller budgets won't offer too much. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think he will be in high demand and therefore his market value won't be that high and he's only worth what people will pay for him (salary percentage wise). Same for a few that people say are on massive wages. Not saying we should sign him as I haven't seen enough of him recently but he's only 32 and never been fast or particularly mobile.