AspRover

I had a bit of a 'if I was playing FM how would I make a tactic' moment looking at the players we have left (I'm assuming Dolan has gone) and the best I could come up with if everyone is fit was something like Toth Carter Batth Wharton Brittain Tronstadt Ribeiro Travis Cantwell Ohashi Gueye All the width comes from the fullbacks, but we don't really have any proven wide players. It would be better if we could get the Liverpool kid back for another season - Pickering doesn't have the pace to play there (He'd be left footed cover for Wharton if anything) Cantwell gets isolated and is too easy to muscle off the ball, maybe he'd play better a bit deeper with Travis to cover for him Savage and Tugay style? IDK, i'm not happy with it, but it was the best I could come up with. Dire situation really, we need at least four more players than we are realistically going to sign.

I went into this season expecting to be relegated. Our form last season was terrible, Eustace hadn't looked convincing at all and I thought we had in all likelihood weakened the team significantly, particularly with the loss of the player who kept us in the division. From that perspective, just barely missing the playoffs on the final day of the season seems amazing. However, considering the position that we found ourselves in at the start of January, we blew it. Both the lack of investment in January, but also the shocking management of the Eustace situation and the manner in which it played out absolutely cost us a play off place. To echo the sentiments of many here, I think that the playing staff and both managers did a phenomenal job. As ever, the club was hamstrung from the word go by the incompetent chancers at boardroom level. I am increasingly hopeful that Ismael is a competent manager - projected over a whole season his results are slightly worse than Eustace, but he also I think increasingly clearly inherited a squad absolutely reeling. Special shoutouts to Ohashi, Gueye, Brittain, Tronstad and Batth, all of whom have been genuine highlights and provided moments of great joy. From a personal perspective, this was also the season my dad died. I have never lived in Blackburn, or Lancashire for that matter. Neither did dad - my grandad was from the town - but he was my connection to this football club. When it came to Rovers he was a relentless optimist, to the extent that he didn't really want to believe that anyone connected to the club really and truly didn't have the clubs best interests at heart, and strongly believed that the club would rise again. I kept him away from this forum for his own safety. He loved the club. It has been very difficult through his illness to reconcile that he was never going to see the club become the thing he loved again, his last memories were of the club as it is now, the Rovers of Venkys and Waggot and the con artists and scumbags and disinterested millionaire chicken chasers. Towards the end he came to realise it too. It's increasingly hard not to resent the club for it. This summer will probably involve a fair bit of soul searching as to whether I can continue to support Rovers more meaningfully than checking the results every week, when I remember to.

My old grandad always supported Lancs teams against anyone else... Rovers first, of course

Take Cantwell off and 442 it with Ohashi off Gueye? Do we dare? We need the ball to stick up front

west brom get a 3rd, Luton surely down

Problem is everyone who could start on the left ahead of Hedges isn't fit or is just returning from injury, and we don't want to change formation on a winning run. If Kargbo only has 30 mins in him then you want him running at a tired defence, because if he's got half a yard on the fullback he can run riot. I've no idea how fit Kargbo, Dennis or Gueye are, but I have to admit it's bloody heartening to look at the bench and see a whole competent replacement front line there, I can't really remember the last time we could say that.

It looks increasingly like the way that Eustace left and the atmosphere at the club afterwards must have been an absolute rug pull for some of the players, they completely lost their heads. A lot of us, myself included, blamed Ismael for it. I'm not saying that he is blameless, a better manager would have got a handle on it sooner and might have prevented that slump from being as bad as it was. He does seem to have turned it around one way or the other though. Maybe too little too late, we shall see. Five wins, five defeats, two draws isn't far off par for the season - six wins would be slightly kinder, more wins than losses always looks good. If the results had been spread out a bit more evenly I think the atmosphere on this message board would be more along the lines of 'going to fall short' pessimism rather than the 'we might make the playoffs' optimism of a winning streak. Jury's out. He'll be here next season and he'll have to do it all again, probably with a weaker squad.

Also, might be a shiniest dog egg competition but Toth is the better keeper. I'm just not as scared of him chucking one into the back of the net or whatever in the way I am even when pears is playing 'well'

Kind of had the opposite effect of the new manager bounce, the disruption killed off the season. I'm still not convinced by Ismael, but four wins on the bounce including against teams immediately around us does buy a little breathing room.

He'll be an important player next season

Watford won't want to see Dennis, old player curse and all that

yo which player should I slag off next?

Cantwell is fantastic as long as there isn't an opposition player within 10 yards, free kicks are perfect for him

It's the hope that kills you

Generally I am very happy to see the youngsters get minutes, at the moment it seems more ominous than anything else. 'Better see if the kids are any good, they're squad players next season once everyone else walks...'

On loan but yes, Mowbray didn't fancy him - rap music, tattoos and ripped jeans...

I do woodwork for a job, what am I supposed to do for a hobby? Accountancy?

The very stoppable force Vs the decidedly moveable object.

Rankin Costello will be RB, I'd guess Dolan on the right, Dennis on the left, Yuki at 10, play pretty narrow

Not much of a new manager bounce - but then we weren't really in an old manager slump to be lifted out of, unusual set of circumstances. I'm willing to give this one a pass - we largely stuck with the formation/lineup from before he came in - but it will be interesting to see if/how we change in the next few games now he's seen the players in a game.

West brom losing puts us back 6th

We only need a few months of good vibes to be fair, if he gives us a playoff tilt before it goes sour then I'll take it

In hindsight I think that Mowbray was running into exactly the same issues that JDT and Eustace did, but rather than agitating and then getting out ASAP he just accepted it, put out the soundbites and picked up his pay packet every month. I don't think that the slow build stuff was coming from him, he just went along with it and didn't try and fight against it in the same way as his successors - imagine if Eustace had put out the 'significant investment' line. At the time TM left I thought he was the problem, now I'm not sure that there is much he could have done differently. I'm pissed off at Eustace jumping ship so early, but until something major changes behind the scenes I think that Mowbray's tenure is ultimately what a manager sticking with us long term under these conditions looks like. I might be wrong, it could be that the current model of spend nowt is directly a result of TM demonstrating that we can do that and stay in the league, but I think it's more likely the other way around.

We're going to lose, but we could really do with Dennis or Kargbo to get a goal, just to underline that they should be starting ahead of hedges etc.

All the collective luck in Wales is currently going on the Rugby - empty the bench second half and we can take the points here no probs