I haven't seen Garrett play yet, but they rate him highly. Wharton was the business on Saturday and Morton looks a player too. It's difficult to bring in a good player to sit on the bench most weeks.

I've always taken the stance that we needed another CB - the fact that we've brought in Hyam means that we've solved that problem. I think Carter has earned his chance at playing time after his loan stint last season and obviously Phillips hasn't let us down either. Ayala has been our standout player this year - he's a PL talent when he's fit. SVDB was an option for me as he can play RB. That's my only concern at the back now - starting LB and backup RB (I thought Travis was very good there on Saturday for what it's worth). I'm not too concerned about Van Hecke as if he wanted to be here he would be - and evidently Brighton want a fortune for him.

Unless Broughton pulls a rabbit out of the hat I think we're well short of even our minimum expectations for this transfer window. JDT will not be happy, he's playing with half a deck against some pretty stacked ones.

Zaha summed himself up against Man U. Scored a wonderful breakaway goal with a classy finish - then missed a tap in to win the game. He's at the right level - mercurial talent I think is the polite way of putting it.

Bloody farmer's league. They can sod off.

I think we've withdrawn from it in as much as he's chosen Schalke and we've sulked and said "yeah, well, we didn't want him anyway". Obviously we've been shafted late on that deal.

Was he their #17? Lanky pos that was upfront taking our players out late? He'll have been disappointed with what he saw if so.

He can't get up and down the flank like the 4-2-3-1 formation requires - heaven forbid they played him as a Wingback with 3 at the back. We need someone who can mirror what Brittain does on the other flank.

Could become? He already is a very good Championship midfielder.

Sounds like a no-nonsense mercenary, which we've been in need of tbf.

That'd be a strange one, he's hardly what you'd call prolific.

Wait, sell Brereton for £12-15m and only reinvest £5m? Yikes.

They haven't shown the incidents with Szmodics and Brereton on any of the highlights - were they both penalties? I felt the one on Brereton definitely was.

More than likely he was the backup plan if we couldn't get the Hyam deal sorted.

We played 5'5" Dolan upfront for most of the match yesterday - was it any wonder their CBs had an easy time on crosses? We need a big body.

They know Vale isn't up to it at this point. Bet they're looking to move him on.

We're not asking them to perform at a high standard twice a week.

He scored 22 goals last season playing out wide. It suits his skillset - allows him to carry the ball, come short, attack the back post (against the FB rather than a CB). He's been proven to be much less effective played as a central striker.

Nvm

The one where Clarke dived and JRC was booked?

They're not being asked to constantly boss a midfield - we're 6 games in and this is Wharton's first appearance. Garrett has yet to play in the league. They're rightly being drip-fed in. We genuinely have much bigger problems than the 5 (6 if you include Edun, but realistically he should be sold) CMs we have on the books.

I wanted him sacked - I was about to give up my season ticket as going to Ewood had become a turgid chore. I didn't want him replaced by an unqualified cretin. The two things aren't linked.

With all due respect, Rothwell has never played a better pass than Wharton did multiple times today.

Buckley cannot play as a #10 in this league - he was awful today.

I take it you didn't watch Wharton boss Stoke for 45 minutes today then? And Garrett has apparently outplayed him during the Carabao Cup games. The midfield options are absolutely fine. We need a LB, a CB, a CF and a wide player. More if Brereton leaves.