Evans and Smallwood and Bennett means dropping Rothwell, Travis and Palmer. Before the Carlisle game people were calling for a strong selection to get some momentum, and because a win is a win. After winning that game it seems momentum isn’t important and that the win wasn’t really much of a win after all because Carlisle aren’t all that. (Even though they beat us 2-0 in a cup match only two seasons ago). You say “fully expect” as in that’s what you think will probably happen but what are your own thoughts on that? Is it a good idea? Based on Mowbray’s comments I fully expect Armstrong to be dropped for Graham as well. Which would basically mean none of our Summer signings are considered good enough in Mowbray’s eyes. Some say it is cautious, I say it is needlessly negative. Especially in an away game following two draws and needing that first league win.

Agreed. What a special player. I did mention that when I was drafting the post but I felt it took away from the point I was making. In the modern game he wouldn’t have been the Ronaldo or Shearer equivalent, more like the Wayne Rooney or even Jermain Defoe. That is a little unkind though and he was certainly at the top of his game and a giant amongst his peers. A shame he didn’t play in the WC Final. (Unless you are Geoff Hurst of course!)

The goals are the same size. The only changes I would make would be to shore up our defence because Carlisle had too many chances for my liking. I’ve picked Bennett and Travis because of their energy but I could see the merits of Smallwood or Evans - not sure I’d play both though. Don’t see why Graham should automatically start though and he could well come on to hold the ball up later in the game as we are tiring. The alternative is to use Armstrong’s pace late in the game but I feel that is such a negative tactic as it means we would be chasing a result towards the end rather than seeing out a lead. Hit them hard, hit them early.

Well before my time I’m afraid @Tyrone Shoelaces. Is it fair to say that getting on the scoresheet was easier in the 50s and early 60s? I have this vision of teams with lots of attacking positions (inside forward, outside forward, etc) and regularly high scoring matches because of the tactics of the time. For instance, in 63/64 we had 8 hat tricks - 5 of which were by McEvoy. More latterly the likes of Shearer, Sutton, Jansen, Cole, Bellamy, McCarthy, Santa Cruz, dare I say Rhodes in the same breath, scored in the era of 4-4-2 and more recently 4-5-1. Granted, all strikers have to take their chances but chances would have been gradually reducing as the game changed over the last 60 years or so? Happy to be corrected but that’s my perception. ... Before posting I’ve done a bit of research on the back of that perception. The list below shows that during the 50s and 60s there was a definite change in approach to matches - although I can’t think of any rule changes in that time, so probably more tactical. Whilst it initially increased between 1955 and 1957, goals per game (only top flight stats to give a view) went steadily from 3.5 per game to 2.5 per game and stayed that way for the most part through the 90s and 00s. That’s a reduction of almost a third. So any goal records could (very roughly speaking) be reduced by a similar number compared to later years. By inference, the number of chances must have also been higher. It does beg the question then: are PL-era strikers better than their mid-20th century counterparts due to the game becoming more defensively-minded and chances being less frequent? These rough stats suggest so. (Obviously there are lots of flaws in this for instance players may not have played every game but being top scorer it is assumed they did). First Division - 22 teams 55/56 = 1529 (3.31) [Lofthouse, 32] ~21 56/57 = 1612 (3.49) [Charles 38] ~25 57/58 = 1721 (3.73) [Smith 36] ~23 58/59 = 1692 (3.66) [Greaves 33] ~21 59/60 = 1618 (3.5) [Viollet 32] ~21 60/61 = 1724 (3.73) [Greaves 41] ~26 61/62 = 1582 (3.42) [Crawford/Kevan 33] ~21 62/63 = G1536 (3.32) [Greaves 37] ~24 63/64 = 1571 (3.4) [Greaves 35] ~23 64/65 = 1543 (3.34) [McEvoy/Greaves 29] ~19 65/66 = 1457 (3.15) [Irvine/Hunt 29] ~19 66/67 = 1387 (3) [Davies 37] ~24 67/68 = 1398 (3.03) [Best/Davies 28] ~18 68/69 = 1213 (2.13) [Greaves 27] ~17 PL - 22 teams 92/93 = 1222 (2.65) [Sheringham 22] 31* 93/94 = 1195 (2.59) [Cole 34] 48* 94/95 = 1195 (2.59) [Shearer 34] 48* PL - 20 teams 95/96 = 988 (2.6) [Shearer 31] 48** 96/97 = 970 (2.55) [Shearer 25] 39** 97/98 = 1019 (2.68) [Dublin/Owen/Sutton 18] 28** 98/99 = 959 (2.52) [Hasselbaink/Yorke/Owen 18] 28** 99/00 = 1060 (2.79) [Phillips 30] 46** 00/01 = 992 (2.61) [Hasselbaink 23] 36** 01/02 = 1001 (2.63) [Henry 24] 37** 02/03 = 1000 (2.63) [Van Nistelrooy 25] 39** 03/04 = 1012 (2.66) [Henry 30] 46** 04/05 = 975 (2.57) [Henry 25] 39** 05/06 = 944 (2.48) [Henry 27] 42** 06/07 = 931 (2.45) [Drogba 20] 31** 07/08 = 1002 (2.64) [Ronaldo 31] 48** 08/09 = 942 (2.48) [Anelka 19] 29** 09/10 = 1053 (2.77) [Drogba 29] 45** ~ downgraded goals based on 38 game PL season at overall modern rate * escalated to 1955-1969 scoring rate (comparing 3.5 overall goals per game and 2.5 PL overall goals per game) ** escalated rate plus 38 to 42 game adjustment (assumes all players played every game)

Bellamy’s finishing was also so clinical. Jeez, we’ve had some great players at this club! Not many in the last 8 years though.

Yeah. Momentum is overrated. Let’s put that forward line that got 5 last time out (and could have had more) back in its box and go for a 1-0-and-shut-up-shop approach which has resulted in two draws. He’d better get that 1-0 then because he is opening himself up for criticism if he changes a winning team and then doesn’t.

AIK Athens are probably third in the pecking order in Athens and they just knocked out the best team in Scotland - although the SPL seems to have one first team club playing against Championship U23 sides so not much to be best of. Olympiakos just need to do their homework on Bumley and it should be all she wrote. If they don’t then Dyche may well pull of another scalp. Really can’t believe he is still there. He must know his own limitations and have very little ambition. He may well view the Europa as the next step but it really isn’t. After 6 years at Bumley the next step is to steer a Newcastle or an Everton - or even an Arsenal - back to the top 4. Clubs where there is a weight of expectation on the manager rather than a club just happy to be in the PL, let alone getting into the top half. If he stays too long, his stock will fall along with Bumley. I guess money and being a big fish in a small pond is enough for him. Fair play but he will never be classed as a great manager until he succeeds at an established top flight club where there is pressure on him to do so.

Hull will have had this one on their winnable games list. Take Dack out of the equation and they will believe they can beat us. That said, they’ve got off to a relatively poor start and we need to take advantage of this. An early goal could get the crowd on their back. It’s the kind of game I’d like to see Mowbray be a little less cautious in and ask us to get forward and cause them problems. Having Bell rather than Williams might help with this. Mostly the same team that put Carlisle to the sword would be interesting. Replacing Conway with Bennett...

This loan window idea is a farce. Loan players on 6 month deal and then pay a fee to make it permanent in January. Makes a mockery of the early permanent signing deadline. And still the important deals are left until the last minute with the potential to ‘miss out due to timing’. Meanwhile the season is well under way.

It’s all a big con that. City Group own loads of clubs and send players all over the place. Probably a work permit thing.

Lol. Your non-participation didn’t last long.

Publicans can refuse anyone to enter their pub. However, it will ironically be them that suffer most of their weekly footfall vanishes. “Football fans” can be idiots at times though - especially in groups drinking.

I know there have been NFL games played at Wembley but is this football’s Pandora out of the box? Scudamore will be gutted that La Liga got there first. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45209407

This kind of idiotic comment makes me wonder about some fans. “We need to be positive”. Being positive about this apppointment is basically being grateful to someone for @#/? in your garden because it’ll fertilise your rose bush. And you don’t even have a rose bush!

Certainly hope you’re right! We can afford to write off £200k as a bad job!

Source?

Lol. Brilliant. You need to change your name to @bigdogstraw

Maybe try to get the ‘jokes’ in a little less frequently... And ‘attack’ is your word, mine was ‘dig’ so please don’t use speech marks. You do understand what is meant by a straw man, right?

We were going to sell them for £5-£6m plus? When you count wages that’s what you’d be looking at to get any value out of them. Maybe you had more foresight/optimism than me!

Gladwin price. Although to be fair, most media outlets say undisclosed. http://www.transferleague.co.uk/blackburn-rovers/english-football-teams/blackburn-rovers-transfers Scratch that from the list if it makes people feel better about Venkys spending. Or if you are @Bigdoggsteel then keep only that one. It’s a great way to miss the point completely and help you in your mission to look for any opportunity to get a personal dig in.

On the face of it, it seems to be picking up L1 players and available loans. Then going in during the last few days of the window with unacceptable offers - presumably loaded with low risk additional payments which take these towards the asking price. E.g. promotion.

Well over the odds with no resale value... Best £3.4m Petrovic £3m Formica £3m Etuhu £1.7m Arguable resale value at the time... Dann £6m (arguably seduced by the Phil Jones sake - sold for far less) Goodwillie £3m Gladwin £1.5m Slew £1m We haven’t half chucked some money at failure. And I’m not even sure Venkys have a model. They are so unpredictable. We spent nothing for years (post-parachutes) and now seem to have money?

Wouldn’t be surprised if the Brereton offer was a deadline day panic and now the moment has passed the urgency is gone. The fact we left it so late does suggest our budget is minimal and we are trying to make the best use of it. Still not convinced we offered £6m but if we did it must have been another one with add-ons and sell-ons. We could well be in the same position until 31st August. Just hope that we aren’t all let down (again) by the club getting their negotiating strategy wrong. It’s all well and good people saying “trust Mowbray” but if it is Waggott who is negotiating these deals and is being as tight-fisted and penny-pinching with other clubs as he is with Rovers fans then Mowbray may well have been just as disappointed as us.

Always a critic. ? Best footballers ever to play for England was the link... and the earlier Dack comparison. Hardly a serious thread so I don’t think it’s worth creating a random Gazza thread. This one can surely meander a little. #mattmod

Spot on that. He was a magician and had such amazing awareness because of how he kept his head up. If you look at Ronaldo, Messi, even Maradona they are very much looking at the ball. Gazza saw the ball as part of the whole picture. Better football player than Maradona imho. He could and should have won a World Cup. However, Gazza was mentally fragile and a purist, almost childlike, who only ever wanted to play for England. Maradona was one of the most gifted players ever seen but had a strong mentality if a nasty cynical arrogant side. He seems to have lost it now, mind. No surprise both players had/have addiction issues. Nothing will give them back the feeling they had of being worshipped by thousands and thousands of fans whilst doing what they were born to do. Those who God wants to destroy he first makes mad. I can’t think of many English midfielders since Gazza who would be fit to lace his boots. You’d probably need two of the best ones since to match him. He had speed of movement, reading of the game, time on the ball, pace and clinical finishing ability. The only thing he didn’t have was maybe tackling. He was rash and eager and it cost him on occasion. But when you are that good you get somebody else to do the dirty work for him. Crucially, he also had fitness in his early years - probably as a result of how much he wanted to fulfil his dreams. And that lad could travel with the ball at his feet. Any comparisons with Dack are well wide of the mark just yet, of course. Gascoigne was 21 when he first pulled on an England shirt, and by the time he was as old as Dack is now had played in a WC semi. If Dack has been more focussed on his fitness and football than... well the other things he has previously focussed on... he could well have been an England regular by now - particularly with Southgate’s penchant for growing a young side. He may have missed the boat but could still get there... if he wants it enough. He needs to get his game head on for the next 10 months and hope for a good run without injury - because he will be a target for fouls. Maybe Tony Mowbray can be the “Bobby Robson figure” in Dack’s life and mentor him about the game. Ironically though, at club level, Gazza was brought in at 18 years old by a then young, Northern Irishman Willie McFaul (42) who built the team around him. So something more akin to Damien Johnson being brought in and building a team around Rankin-Costello! It ultimately didn’t work out well for Newcastle but it made Gazza a household name. If Dack does perform and we don’t go up this season his agent will be on the blower to get his client there without us. I would envisage a move to somewhere like West Ham, with all of the bright lights of London being the ending of his career rather than the making of him. Maybe talking him through a potted history of David Bentley’s short football career would be in order. Gazza ended up underachieving in the scheme of things from a club perspective with ‘only’ a single FA Cup in England (although a rake of trophies during Rangers hay days) but for his country no less than any other England player but whilst he was playing, he was something special. His list of individual achievements was a long one. He could also teach Southgate’s young charges what it means to play for England.