Exiled_Rover

Savage couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag - hard lad. 🤣

They won't be state-of-the-art anymore, not compared to what a lot of the Premier League / Champions League clubs are rocking, but they're very good. I heard that it's because JDT likes to train on grass... which then obviously defeats the point of having indoor training pitches I guess.

I think he's been brilliant, but it's what he (and Broughton) does in the transfer window that will make or break his time here. We can finish in the Playoffs this year with 2 or 3 shrewd signings - I'm hoping Broughton has the contacts to make that happen.

It's slightly unfair to judge Travis right now as, like S. Wharton and Brereton-Diaz, he's completely out of form - but he doesn't have the skillset to play in this system, so I do think he'll be moved on in the summer if JDT is as ruthless as I hope he is.

The 4-2-3-1 system JDT wants to run doesn't demand that his CMs get into a scrap. They're meant to dictate play and intercept passes. Part of the problem we have with playing out from the back, with cries that "the CBs aren't good enough to do it" - well the CMs aren't acting as pivot points enough at the moment. Travis can't do it and Morton goes hiding far too often (or he sits inbetween the two CBs which isn't helpful). Wharton and Buckley look for the ball - and so does Garrett it seems.

I think there must be a clause in Morton's loan contract that he has to play when available. Buckley, A. Wharton and Garrett have all put in more impressive performances than him during the first half of the season - they've not been able to capitalise on it because Morton's name seems to be inked into the teamsheet and obviously the club captain has only recently been dropped.

He's was everything today I hoped Travis would be in this formation - neat and tidy on the ball, able to play in tight spaces, covered a lot of ground and put in a good tackle or two. Considering the circumstances that was comparable with the performance Wharton put in against Blackpool - he bossed the midfield today.

The pitch has been crap for years - I don't know what's going on with the drainage, but it can't handle any significant amount of water anymore. The Preston game last year was a disaster.

Last season Brereton-Diaz was converting chances at a ridiculous rate - that's why we were successful. A solid, physically imposing back 3 helping to keep clean sheets and Brereton-Diaz scoring 20 goals in half a season (from like 30 chances!). He got injured and that was all she wrote, it was never sustainable.

Watching the replay on SKY Sports now - how that's not a red card for Simpson I've no idea (they didn't show it on the highlights and I didn't properly catch it at the ground). Disgraceful officiating, again. But they all make mistakes, right? That's why Buckley is banned for 3 games for gently bouncing the ball off a Boro player's head and Simpson can try to castrate Garrett and only pick up a yellow. Lovely stuff, EFL.

You'd see a massive difference if we had a big, goal-scoring #9. Having Gallagher as an option to come off the bench on 70 minutes would be amazing. A goal-scoring CF puts us 2-0 up against Boro at half time and allows us to win the Cardiff game 3-0. We missed some golden chances in both games.

I'd love them to ship Brereton-Diaz out for £8m and bring in 2 with the money.

I suspect Leicester will be recalling him - he's not getting a game here.

If you asked a neutral which of the midfield pair was the Liverpool loanee they wouldn't have said Morton. I feel that way when Wharton plays too - Morton must have a clause in his loan contract that states he plays when fit.

It was a very heavy pitch - was cutting up in the warm ups, which is never a good sign. That and two games in four days (with very few subs used) meant we simply ran out of steam at the end.

Ignoring the rest of the game for a moment - that last 20 minutes was a massive statement of intent from JDT to Broughton. He simply refused to put Markanday or Vale on for Brereton-Diaz or Gallagher, despite both being knackered. There can be no clearer statement that we simply NEED a striker in January as he does not trust what we have on the bench - and neither do I. As for the game itself, we bossed it until we ran out of energy. If we had that aforementioned striker that's a comfortable 3-0 win. As it is a woefully out of form Brereton-Diaz and Gallagher conspired to miss golden chances. Garrett had an absolute stormer.

Predictably Ewood is empty.

EFL predictably closing ranks.

Depends if your manager requires you to defend or not - I probably wouldn't bother tracking Nyambe back, for example, but yes I'd struggle to get past him in attack.

They can't rescind it because that's tantamount to admitting that the referee handed Boro 3 points last night. It's an old boys club, they'll rally round their mate.

So he won't be sacked then? And people question why the standard of officiating is so low in this country. Beggars belief that a guy can 'make a decision' that's so unbelievably wrong, ruining the game for 14k+ supporters, and simply turn up for work the next day without a care in the world.

I agree, red cards for all of the offenses above. Will be lovely finishing with 8 men a side for the forseeable.

I'm not happy that he was sent off and the game ruined.

The referee has to be sacked for that decision I'm afraid.

Just read the post-match comments from JDT - I'm incredibly disappointed he's not taken the fine on the chin and given the referee both barrels for deciding the game.