Exiled_Rover

The heart and soul has been ripped out of the club.

How the hell does Pears have 7 clean sheets this season?!

14.

He doesn't read the game well enough to play in defence.

I'd be a slow learner too if I was sent off for something that Saka wasn't sent off for not a week later.

I think they got battered mate, to be honest. Lucky to not be down to 10 for half an hour and not to concede 3 or 4 goals.

Watching the full game again on SKY now - Basham could have had 2 red cards. As I thought, the ref bottled it - hope he gets a retroactive ban. For all the talk of Hyam being a Rolls Royce, just watch Buckley. He's doing exactly what you want out of a CM in this system - it's a joy watching him move the ball on and just linking up play. He's a big reason why we're passing with more purpose now. Also it's hilarious watching Travis on the replay - he winds up the opposition no end.

We need him to run down the history of the club in the press for a full house.

He sprinted back to dispossess a Sheffield United player twice. He also put several really dangerous balls into the box. If we're in this division next year and he can be had cheaply I think we'd be silly not to sign him up long term.

That's simply unfair. Gallagher was excellent today - but a big part of why he's a professional footballer (and why every manager gets excited when they first see him walk through the door) is that he's an exceptional athlete. When he's playing with commitment he's a handful for anyone in this league (albeit he's still not really a threat to score). He put in a tremendous shift today, but so did everyone in blue and white.

That's how he played at Cardiff last season before being loaned to us in January.

What was the link to that Sunderland board again? https://media3.giphy.com/media/Y6yRfR88rvP44/200.gif

The players are simply being braver on the ball and are moving it quicker. We were slow and ponderous because Morton kept on passing it back to the CBs rather than turning and running with it (or at least playing it sideways to a FB). It's no coincidence that since Morton has been dropped and replaced with Buckley we're starting to boss the game in midfield (it also helps that Carter is significantly better on the ball than Ayala too...). When was the last time you saw Travis playing intricate 1-2s? Szmodics allows you to press as a front 4 (with the CMs cleaning up any loose passes) - for all the goodwill Dack has with the crowd, he simply can't press with that kind of intensity for 90 minutes. He's incredibly immobile these days, sadly.

That's miiiiiles away from me in the ground, but I thought from the reaction of the players that it was a red. Said to the guy next to me "I reckon the ref has bottled that - he knows it's a red if he produces a card". I was right.

Depends if they stay up I reckon.

We've got a really difficult run in, but technically that also means it's all in our own hands - and a lot of the harder games are at Ewood.

It's the fact that he's quick, strong and direct that makes the difference. He had the legs on their LWB today and he won things in the air against him too. Both he and Dolan line up wide to really stretch the field. I like Hedges, but he's not running any FB in this league.

He hasn't actually changed the style of play at all, but I'm too tired to have that discussion today.

Gallagher for mine. Lead the line well and put pressure on their back 3 all game. Allowed the 3 behind him to play - sadly he's not a goal scorer, but if he plays like that the rest of the season I'll be delighted.

Give over.

Why are Rovers making such a big deal about getting to the ground early? Rovers store / Blues bar open from 9.30am, BOGOF offers on pies until 12noon etc.

Yep, bad loss that. 5th successive away defeat for them.

Buckley has done nothing to lose his job and Morton has done nothing to win it. The big call is whether he rests Dolan for Brereton-Diaz, or makes the Chilean earn his way back into the starting 11.

He is - there's a skillful player in there. When the ball is at his feet he looks reasonably good. The athletes get worse the lower down the pyramid you get - he probably doesn't get bullied off the ball as much in L2 and looks a decent player.

There's part of me that's hoping Broughton convinced them to pursue the appeal. It's shone a light on the dysfunctional inner workings of the club that were going to be brushed over. It's hard evidence to take to the owners to say "look, these guys above me have got to go - they're incompetent and are costing you millions".