That is the best post I have ever read.

FFS he has the knife and fork in the wrong hands too. I'm losing my shit over here.

If I'm not mistaken, it's also upside down. Get Walton back.

What kind of mentalist eats a bagel with a knife and fork?

Bell justifiably gets a lot of stick. But he had a decent half there against a good winger.

It's from the Daily Star Sunday. Didn't buy it, just Googled it (yes that did need clarifying)... https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-star-sunday/20200830/282587380365654

https://www.rovers.co.uk/matches/fixtures-results/first-team/202021/august/blackburn-rovers-vs-doncaster-rovers-on-05-sep-20//

But we offered one of them a new deal. Unless he also predicted that Downing would turn it down...

Not trying to be an ass, but their contracts had expired. It's not exactly privileged info.

Both got less than Phil Neville.

I have those stats as slightly different. Probably just down to the way the minutes on the pitch are collected, but I have it as slightly under 2 points per game and a 98 ish mins per goal against. Either way that's automatic promotion standard. Mentioned this pairing (along with Bell and Bennett as the full backs) in the transfer window thread about a month ago as being by far and away our best defensive setup last year. Also the fact that we were good defensively at home last year (I think we were 5th best at home off the top of my head). Our biggest problems that needed addressing were our defence away from home and our goal scoring record - particularly at home. I think the success of the window will be determined by how our front players gel in the coming weeks and months - given goals get you out of this league and the money we've spent to get them. Let's not forget that of the front 4 yesterday, only Dack and Armstrong had started more than 3 competitive games together.

Succession planing is about promoting from within. Or more specifically, hiring people for the future, developing them and promoting them when the time comes that a higher up moves on. Your point makes no sense. No idea if it's a good appointment or not and I'd guess everyone else on here is in the same position if they're honest about it.

To be fair the "evidence" shows we conceded less goals per game and won more points per game with Bennett at right back than Nyambe. I'd still pick Nyambe mind.

Ok, I take it back. You are a reasoned and sensible poster who clearly has great insight into the workings of Charlie Mulgrew's brain. In fact, you should be a pundit. Nay, a clairvoyant. I think you've got what it takes.

You talk as if you know for a fact when you don't. Mulgrew could just as easily be thinking he's got 30 more years to make money and only 3 to play professional football, so knowing he is going to sit on the bench held absolutely no appeal to him and would be even less appealing in 12 month's time. Who knows? Probably only Mulgrew and his family. Talking like you know what someone thinks and how they make decisions does you no favours and makes you come across as a bit of a tool to be honest.

Having let the beer wear off and let the result sink in, my thoughts; the good the bad and the ugly: Good: Johnson looked the part, the polar opposite to all the dross we've had in CM since N'Zonzi left. He won balls in the air, he can pass, he was commanding. A professional CM at last. We dominated the ball well and played with pace. In the first half we got the ball forward quickly, on the deck and got into good positions consistently. Last season (and basically every season since Bowyer) we've either been able to control the game slowly around the back four without ever looking threatening or hoofed it up to someone and got a break of the ball occasionally. This was different and much more accomplished football. I didn't feel anywhere near as nervous when Walton had the ball at his feet compared to when Raya did. Downing decent, Walton ok, Gallagher was a handful. Bad We can't defend balls into the box. It's either Mulgrew is that bad or they just aren't being coached properly. If the players are out of position when the ball is about to come into the box, then it's poor play. If they're in place and still can't defend it then it's just bad coaching. We know what players we have, we know what players they have, there are a finite amount of places you can cross from, we have to have a plan for what our defence needs to be doing to defend it. If that isn't working (and it hasn't for 2 seasons) then the plan, the coaching, is wrong. Ugly What was that formation we switched to when Graham and Rothwell came on? We went from dominating, looking like we were the only team remotely likely to win the game - to 10 mins later being behind and not looking like equalising. We created absolutely nothing after going behind. As soon as they scored their second, we'd lost. I forgot Dack was on the pitch after the 80th minute. Couldn't tell you where he was playing, had to check the BBC site to see if it was him that went off for Buckey.

That reaction to factual information based on data, is one of the reasons I love data science. Perception of the real world is so prone to biases, data isn't. It surprised me too BTW.

You can easily spin the stats the other way though, looked through some stuff myself and this is what stood out to me... We had the 5th best home defence (better than Norwich, West Brom, Villa, the same as Leeds and 1 worse than Derby) We had the 24th best (i.e. worst) away defence We had the 20th best overall defence (just shows how bad our defensive record was away from home) We conceded 2/3 of our goals in the second half of games All the teams in last season's top 6 came within the top 14 in terms of overall defence (least goals conceded) We've let Downing go who played 3 games and Rodwell who played 13 times. Mowbray has clearly decided that the keeper and the lack of experience around the side has been the cause of that disparity between goals conceded home and away, first half and second. Still probably need 1 more CB to my mind though. We scored the 14th most goals at home We scored the 7th most goals away We scored the 12th most overall All the teams in last season's top 6 were in the top 7 in terms of goals scored overall (Brentford are the outlier, scoring the 6th most). So we lack goals at home and leak them away (mostly in the second half). Attack trumped defence when it came to finishing in the top 6 last season (just ask Middlesbrough; 1st defensively, 19th offensively). Those stats put our transfer window into a bit more perspective for me. --- Also of note, Nyambe and Mulgrew come out by far as our worst defenders in both goals conceded and points won (and Williams when played as a full back)... Worth noting though that Nyambe and Mulgrew played most of their games together, so either could be dragging the other's stats down (most likely Mulgrew doing the pulling I'd wager). Bennett - Lenihan - Williams - Bell come out as the clear best, both home and away, in terms of points won and goals conceded.

Like so

What a strange thing to argue about when you can find out the facts in literally 30 seconds by opening up a new tab and typing it into Google.

Did Mowbray have an impassioned evening with you mother by any chance?

Covering the costs of his us for relegation bets.

If that's really what you think then I'm afraid there isn't much hope for you. Those aren't opinions, they're disprovable nonsense.

Black Lives Matter means that black people's lives matter just as much as any other. It means "all lives matter", and points out that black people's lives have been undervalued. And that extends to the courts. Come on. Either try to understand it, or don't complain about it. Also, it's pretty ridiculous to say that younger generations are the reason we have Brexit when there is a distinct correlation between areas with a younger demographic and voting remain.

Can we please stop referring to those stats, they are wrong. In fact, they are IMPOSSIBLE: If Raya had made 2.9 saves per match and 3.5 saves per goal, we would HAVE to have conceded less than 1 goal per match. Which we did not. Unless Raya let a hell of a lot of crosses go straight past him anyway. I didn't want us to sell Raya, but it's well documented that we wanted to bring in a new 1st choice keeper, and if he didn't want to sit on the bench every week (which is fair enough) then it simply is what it is. Not making a comment on how long it's taken to get a GK, how I think we'll perform this season or whether we should have focused on CB over a new GK. Just trying to stop the spread of false "fact". Also not meaning to pick on you @pick32, I've seen posts referencing those stats a lot, yours was just the straw that broke the camel's back.