Still riding on a high after last night. Brilliant game, so many players stepped up. Mola and Vale did particularly well. Impressed with Garrett as well. Buckley got better as the game went on. 

Wharton really struggled. Outmuscled and  gave the ball away more than most.

Stadium is completely unsuited to football. Acoustics are terrible. Great to see so many Rovers fans and fair play to Wham for ticket prices.

13 minutes ago, benhben said:

Hoping this is the game where Dack has a blinder and works his way back into the starting 11. Also keen to see if Markanday gets a game upfront and what he can offer. 

The article on Lancs live sounds like JDT has been getting into Buckley lately to up his game so interesting to see if he plays with a point to prove.

West Ham likely to make a lot of changes so I dont think it will be a walkover in their favour.

Great chance for some fringe players.

 

                    Kaminski

          Carter   Ayala  Phillips

Brittain                                 Mola

       Buckley  Garrett Dack

           Markanday Vale

Don’t want to see Ayala or Brittain anywhere near a London post code tonight. I’d rather have Benson in goal than risk Kaminski.

Happy with that. Not a must win by any means but we couldn’t afford going into the derby after two defeats. Brittain and Hedges are such good footballers. Hedges in particular, so impressive on the ball. 

Puzzling switch to hold on from 20 mins out and against better teams it won’t work, but our home record speaks for itself. 

Biggest concern is the lack of depth up front. Vale put in a ‘Butterworth-esque’ performance and Hirst has shown nothing so far. We are so reliant on BBD and Gally staying fit. A serious injury to either and we’re stuck. 

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

I really think there was doubt in the officials minds as to whether or not Wharton actually touched the ball. There was an instruction several years ago where they were told to give the benefit of any doubt to the attacking team.

If he didn’t touch it, he’s clearly close enough to be impacting the play. Think it would have gone in either way but it’s still offside.

Definitely a pen to Sunderland as well. Surprised it wasn’t given in real time and even more so when looking at the replays. Fine margins etc.

Got away with the big decisions, Sunderland looked dangerous without creating big chances. BBD was unreal. Impressed with  Szmodics. Hyam and Brittain are a step up from what we had. If JDT doesn’t fancy Dack, I trust his judgement. 

1 minute ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

well whatever the final result you can guarantee Tony titbag will be taking credit for BBD and the youngsters that are now coming through(even though he likely had zero input into the youth players progression)

Well he did bring BBD to the club..

Brittain has been immense. Massive improvement on Nyambe who was hardly a weak link. Sami disc has done reasonably well, good movement and high energy. Can see what he brings over Dack although Dack is better with the ball at his feet.

5 hours ago, Dan said:

He’ll probably be snoozing by the last 20 minutes, it’s a long journey for him to get to Ewood. 
 

He doesn’t deserve any applause, he long outstayed his welcome and lied when he said he’d leave before he became a burden; which was after the first of several death spirals. I still can’t believe many still think he was a nice bloke, he wasn’t. I hope we batter them, of course it won’t be his fault if we do, it never is. 

So a remark he gave at a press conference overrides several years of stability and promotion from L1 at the first attempt? He outstayed his welcome but that’s as much on the owners for not having the guts to press the trigger.

He was far from faultless but did a decent enough job (compare him to the clowns who came before..) and deserves a decent reception. 

17 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

Don't agree with this but me and my ST mates all got 1875 membership with our STs purely for this game. Knew they'd pull something like this.

They said from the start that the 1875 membership with a ST would give you priority for all away games. Not saying I agree with it but the club haven’t sprung this on fans at the last minute. 

What on earth was that. Abysmal. 

Genuinely feel for Cardiff fans that they’re not ahead. We don’t deserve to be on the same pitch. 

4 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Very true there Matty. Its a utter pointless competition and another mess from UEFA

Surely the main back up striker will be Tammy Abraham now. 

You’ve missed the point. The nations league isn’t intended to compete with the World Cup, it’s designed to produce games that have more significance than friendlies, which it does.

1 hour ago, Miller11 said:

You might be happy to shrug your shoulders about the whole situation and absolve anyone currently employed by Rovers of any responsibility for it, but Broughton doesn’t seem to share your view. That’s blindingly evident from his words and actions.

They have acknowledged there is an issue with retaining our assets and I’m delighted to see they appear to be learning from their mistakes and prevent a similar situation happening again.

You'd never have seen Waggott going back to offer Wharton a new deal less than 6 months after his initial one was signed. Broughton has an entirely different remit. Waggott’s priority is cost cutting, Broughton is concerned with what happens on the pitch. That’s the real positive about this new structure. I had some initial concerns about the whole set up but it looks as though Broughton has been given plenty of autonomy (thankfully!), which was essential to make it work.

Another point which is very clear - EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE PLAYERS REFUSED TO SIGN THE DEALS ON OFFER. ITS PRETTY OBVIOUS CONSIDERING THEY ALL LEFT. What people have an issue with is the manner of negotiations and offers that were made. You can add Tomasson to the list of people not happy with losing these players for nothing too, in case you haven’t listened to him.

You have no idea about what negotiations went on or what offers were made. We know the players left for nothing which is a massive problem, but if they were determined to run down their contracts and not sign with us, what can we do?

I’m not saying that the club couldn’t have done more but equally I can’t say that the club did nothing to try and retain them.

Diaz will likely leave for nothing next year because he will run his contract down, is that the club’s fault? It’s a two way street.

1 hour ago, rigger said:

To me that would be indicative of the poor sales system the Rovers employ.

If there were enough people who wanted to go, they’d have got tickets. Not saying Rovers couldn’t do things better but I don’t believe that 100s of fans didn’t bother because of the sales system.

Great performance. Really impressed with Hedges, turning into a great signing. Hyam, likewise. Nice to see us steal a decent quality player from a championship rival. 

Thought we could have been more proactive with the subs given that Dolan and BBD looked shot with 10 to go. 

2 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

‘Most don’t care’, well that’s certainly  not the impression I’m getting.

 

It’s not as binary as caring or not caring. People can care and still feel that life shouldn’t grind to a halt for several days. 

34 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

If he cared about the club and fans he would have gone to charlton to win the league. Man’s a fraud

That’s your argument? You think the Charlton game was more significant than the fact he had won us promotion?! Keep it in perspective.

1 hour ago, Upside Down said:

I think he deserves total indifference. Nothing more or less.

He did well in the first couple of years but he never gave a toss about the club, the fans or anything other than lining his own pockets. He always thought we were totally beneath him but he didn't have a problem cashing in his payslip every week. 

I think his total lack of desire or ambition makes him a poor manager. As for all this talk about him being humble and down to earth, it is total bollocks. He has a massive ego, nothing is ever his fault and when he tries something that clearly doesn't work he just doubles down on it.

He's a dolloper who wasted years of our time.

Disagree. He outstayed his welcome and ran out of ideas but was a decent enough bloke and to say he never cared about the club is unfair. 

Slightly underwhelming window but overall fairly content. Hyam and Brittain on permanents is particularly decent business.

Don’t think we’re much stronger (if at all) from last season on paper but obviously the young lads stepping up does make a difference. Intrigued to see how Hirst gets on. 

3 minutes ago, JoeH said:

It's not from some top source, key word is apparently. I'm not claiming to have this from some club insider or anything!! Just what's doing the rounds

Thanks for the info.

But do you know what you have just done.

https://avftt.co.uk/index.php?threads/adam-wharton.35283/

Even the opposition fans rated him. Remarkable debut. It’s easy to take our academy for granted at times but last night is a reminder as to how advantageous it is for us. Breeding 17/18 year old championship ready performers.

Think we have to go easy on the expectations for Wharton. Saw talk about England caps last night. Let’s not set him up to fail!

18 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Not quite the same. Wasn't very good first time he was here on loan yet we signed him after a far worse season at Birmingham anyway.

The Hirst deal isn't win win anyway. Either he flops and we don't want him or he does well and we pay top dollar.

More Lose/pay over the odds.

Surely him doing well and us then signing him is a good thing??!

Caulker isn’t inspiring but we need bodies in so not going to complain. I hope 3 players in is a conservative estimate. Possibly tolerable if BBD stays.

10 minutes ago, SuperBrfc said:

A serious Football Club with a proper DoF makes one of Anel, Davies or Van Hecke happen.

A club with a setup like ours wastes £2.5m on an average centre back from Coventry.

If reports are to be believed, that's potentially £5m on Szmodics and Hyam combined. That's £5m down the pan, IMO.

Comments like these are why I sometimes sympathise with the club. Trashing a potential new player before he’s even through the door.

1 minute ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Anel: 23: Malmö: Bosnian international: highly regarded✖️

Ben Davies: 27: Liverpool: well regarded at Champ level.  Good enough to earn a prem move.✖️

JPVH: 22: Brighton: Dutch under 21: previous player of year.✖️

Dominic Hyam: 26: Coventry: played for Aldershot before joining Coventry in League 2.  ✔️✔️✔️

 

Ben Davies got a move to Liverpool but never played a PL game so let’s not overdo it. Sounds like Hyam is highly regarded so no complaints from me.