bluebruce

Armstrong could do to watch that. I'm not one of those who slam him whenever he has an off game, and he does create sometimes, but the other night he let his self interest take to the fore. That video shows you how even the greatest goalscorers have to weigh up the options and know when to pass instead.

I don't think we need to replace Brereton's direct goal threat. He only has 3, which is the same as SG who hasn't played as much. It's the way BB helps us stretch defences and can find that ball through to the likes of Arma. That's what we need back.

I agree, so far he is showing he is a good backs to the wall centre half, but the jury remains out on dealing with counter attacks. I think he should improve as he sharpens up with more games though, if he can get a run without injury anyway.

He's not always like that. Most shots from distance I can remember him trying in a game for a while. I think he was a bit too obsessed with regaining his top scorer mantle. Plus he is probably aware he hasn't scored a worldie from outside the box this season. Manager should have been telling him to cut that shit out well before we got to the hour mark, it was obvious he wasn't wearing his super goal boots.

Well you were right about that last bit.

Phil, the game has moved on a lot in recent years financially. £4,700 a week for a RB of Nyambe's quality is not a lot of money, even in the Covid climate. https://www.888sport.com/blog/football/championship/how-much-do-championship-football-players-get-paid That wage doesn't even price out some League One clubs. According to this article, the average in League One (mean of course, with some high earners from relegated clubs stretching it) is a little under 5k. The average in the Championship is 29k per week, which is probably more than we pay any of our players. So no, it isn't pricing out all except the types of sides you mention. That's before considering the new riches in the game over in the Middle East and China. The average Eredevisie wage is also in the ballpark of Nyambe's current deal. No fee involved either. Any foreign side can also agree a deal as soon as January starts. I'd be surprised if he doesn't expect an extra 3k per week or more to sign a new deal here, especially given his inconsistent treatment regarding starting games.

If he does, I'll forever consider him a legend. Even if next week he has to buy a stair lift.

Ok come on, finish this up now. I know you're all having a whale of a time but I can't sea the point.

Fantastic! Almost like he saw my posts the other day and said 'fuck you Bruce I'm fine'. Hopefully he holds up well, been horrendously unfortunate and it must be so frustrating for him. Probably be a first team regular or semi regular by now without the injuries.

Well, that graph was posted before yesterday's game, at which point Arma had 14 goals in 15 games. Which I make 0.9333 goals per game. The graph says he has had about 0.8 expected goals per game. Not a fan of this newfangled expected goals per game stat though. Feck knows what or who decides if it is 'expected'.

At your age? Fair play.

He made himself feel nervous at RB. You could tell from his body language. He was poor there. He tried but he was very rocky indeed. Even several misplaced passes, which isn't really like him usually. I try to avoid saying this kind of thing normally, but if you think he was outstanding as anything other than a very generous kindness on account of him being out of position, I don't know what game you were watching. Or at the very least you weren't paying him much attention (I'm guilty of this sometimes with some players, as I focus more on the way we are working as a team, but I was specifically watching out for what Buckley did because it had me very worried that he was even tried there). But, opinions, I guess. The stats say he made one interception and one tackle. Not 'several ball winning interceptions'. His pass completion rate was only 50%, which is terrible considering how tidy he normally is. May he never play there again as far as I'm concerned. Hell for me the jury is out on how good he is in his actual position, but I've seen enough to think he can develop into a fine technical player there. But almost nothing about his game suits him to being a fullback, and it showed.

Wrong thread Phil but Buckley was terrible. Not his fault, not where he plays and he has none of the attributes for the role, but in no way was he outstanding.

It would be harsh if I was telling him. I'm not writing him off per se, anyway, I'm just not holding out a great deal of hope he will be able to beat his injury issues. He looks an exciting player, I'm just not going to expect anything as that looks very likely to lead to disappointment. I think he has had something else minor in between (but you will after a long layoff, see Dack), but the fact it's mostly been his back makes it less likely, not more, that he will move past it. Very troublesome area like Tyrone says. Best of luck to him though and it will be great if I'm wrong.

Millwall goal was a rocket, and not where you would expect him to have aimed it. No fault on TK for me on that one. My concern with him remains his love of punching or clawing the ball when he could just catch it. I think his handling might be a little suspect and he knows it, so he opts for moving it away instead. Good points raised by some about how with his sweeper keeper style he is susceptible to a lobbing from a good technical player who snatches the ball unexpectedly. But overall he has been great and a terrific calming influence for our defence. His distribution may have been affected for the same reasons even the likes of Holtby were - those bastard green and white shirts! Even more difficult to pick your man over long distances (although more time to look in his position). You're right, total disgrace to have suffered poor keepers since coming down (Raya apart, for me, though I'd have liked a reliable experienced competition for his more eccentric spells). Especially when it tends to be the cheapest, most underrated position on the pitch. Always thought the market values them totally wrong. Friedel was worth his weight in gold.

I'd stop worrying yourself about Butterworth. Sadly I suspect he simply isn't going to make it here. Not through any fault of his or lack of talent, just because his injury problems unfortunately seem to be endless. Best of luck to him and I very much hope I'm wrong, but to have had as many injury woes as he has, at his age, it doesn't look good.

I recently started playing again, 7 a side. Played a couple of times before lockdown, the lads just come in whatever shirts they want and we randomly pick sides. Both times, nearly everyone has come wearing black (not me, I sport my Rovers shirt). First time we got away with it because we got bibs from the sports centre. Idiotically, everyone came in black again the second time but this time no bibs. Every time I got the ball I just felt like I was surrounded. I don't even know most of the lads that well yet so it was nearly impossible for me to pick a pass quickly enough. The first game with bibs, I played well and my passing and reading of the game was a big part of it. Without the bibs I was fucking awful (some other factors too but definitely exacerbated by not knowing at a glance who and where my teammates and the opposition were). I was so pissed off I went and bought some bibs for next time we play. Watching Rovers last night quickly reminded me of that game. I can imagine that even our professionals had a similar experience. It's fucking hard work in a game that relies on reading everybody's position and movement quickly. Not sure it can have helped Millwall either tbf.

' The manager again fucked us tonight with his negative defensive bollox! ' I'm confused. Haven't they played like that for, oh, about 20 years?

I don't understand your sarcasm. I thought it was superb, personally, when Mowbray's shot deflected massively off that Millwall guy into the net.

How do you get 4 minutes of injury time from 45 minutes of football, where you actually have a guy down injured for a while who gets walked off, then in the next 4 minutes of football, with no injuries, you build up another 2? FUCK OFF REF! Delighted to nab it though. And fuck Millwall and their penalty appeal 2 minutes after the game should have been over. (Even if they probably should have had two penalties earlier in the game)

He almost seems surprised to find himself in so much space and not quite sure what to do with it.

If it helps, which it won't, it's just under 3 years. Across 4 seasons though.

Only just seen that Tony Parkes cutout in the ground

Bell needs to stop leaving Romeo in acres of space unattended. No idea why the commentator just said he has done a good job on him.

More open than I expected tbh.