Does that put Armstrong’s move to bed?

Joe has his own thread now it’s confirmed.

Signed apparently https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/june/rothwell-is-a-rover/

We’d better hope that he’s building a dynasty then because that’s a long term strategy that requires survival on a shoestring year after year after year.

Portugal may be a one man team but Argentina are a no man team. So glad to see them get a battering. It’s been 32 years in coming.

The problem with VAR is that it still involves people.

Comparing all players at their peak (for Rovers) and you’d have to pick Robinson (close one though), Dunn, Dann, Givet, Olsson, MGP, CKR. So that leaves Mulgrew, Lenihan (pushed into midfield), Bennett (out wide), and Graham alongside CKR. Bench: Raya, Smallwood, Nyambe, Bell, Hanley, Evans,, Travis You could argue that some current players are younger and fitter than those players (at that time) but not the quality. Both teams light on decent strikers. Struggled to promote Nuttall or Samuel to the bench ahead of Travis’ versatility.

‘Effectively’ but yeah. Thanks again Venkys.

Effectively occupying our PL spot. Playing top flight football against all expectations. Success is 17th. Can afford to throw away £1.5m on a reserve keeper. Yeah, my sympathy is a little low if I’m honest.

But it will expose bias. The officials last night conspired to cheat. Almost certainly because it was England.

You seem to have got the point and then dismissed it @JHRover. Clubs are able to put their youngsters in as U21s by arguing that the competition is beneath their first team to take part. We all think ours is but the league will look at it that there are other clubs who have a better argument. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with how well our U23s are doing or what they are capable of. This grey area has come about because higher clubs will have threatened to play inferior sides and the organisers and sponsors won’t want the bad press. We should do the same. Play our U23s in it (as the first team) and if the league don’t like it, we blame the fixture pile up, and take the fine. Sadly, we are too scared or too skint to do so.

It’s certainly a slap in the face for the club but maybe the case that our U23s have earned the right to play in the competition but our first team haven’t earned the right not to. Yet.

Lost in translation and probably tired. He qualified it by saying he’d rather talk about the goal.

...being set up by the national-team-hating media. His greed and ego over 30 years got him the job in the first place.

I don’t get all the bellyaching over VAR. I’ve been quite impressed so far. We’ve stopped seeing soft penalties and diving in the box (with any intent to deceive) appears to have gone entirely. Swiss goal analysis? In the words of the inimitable Slaven Bilic: “to be fair, I don’t really care”. He’s the new Souness. Even made Roy Keane crack a brief smirk!

Linekar and Shearer couldn’t have been more delighted at the Germany defeat. They could barely contain their excitement. Like kids on Christmas Day!

Funny that people who hold the club to their word are the ones mocked. If we can’t (or don’t know if we can) “do our business early” then we shouldn’t say it. Maybe it was for Venkys’ benefit or to pique interest ahead of the early bird deadline but having only ended up re-signing two old stalwarts we are going to have to make some very imaginative signings to tempt fans to pay the now higher price. It’s another example though of saying one thing and doing... nothing. Of course, there is plenty of time to get recruits in and the only one we “appear” to have missed out in is Oztumer - if he was ever a target - but a fresh face or two would help to reduce concerns about our squad depth. As it stands we look as though we are “on our way back” down rather than the implied up. Team spirit, ‘avin’ a larf, is one thing but if I was a 24yo Dack, after two L1 player of the season awards in three years, I’d want to know that Rovers shared my ambition as much as the other clubs my agent keeps telling me do.

A poor Barca side? ?

Messi has just done the exact opposite of his La Liga antagonist from last night. Missed a pen and then fluffed a free kick at the death. I do think that Ronaldo is a true pro who works exceptionally hard and feels he has earned the plaudits, relishing the pressure that success brings, and believing he will succeed, whereas Messi is a supremely naturally gifted footballer who looks uncomfortable when the pressure and spotlight is on him. Could he carry Argentina in the way Ronaldo carries Portugal? I doubt it. Totally different psyche.

Ronaldo has certainly shown he has the nerve for the big moments.

I thought they checked and dismissed it. I can’t understand why Umtiti’s deliberate handball wasn’t a yellow - and nobody even mentioned it!

If you can’t get to the ball without bringing the player down the the tackle isn’t on, sorry. I know you are a referee but this isn’t the game anymore. It’s actually more concerning that there are referees who still feel this is acceptable because it will lead to inconsistencies on the pitch.

We are never going to agree, but even by your own admission there is apparently a subtle touch from one angle which in your opinion justifies the defender going through the back of a player and bringing him down when the shot was still on - despite said nick. As Gary Neville said though, the defender has gone to ground and loses control. He’s giving the referee a decision to make. If there was no VAR and the penalty was given I don’t think there would have been many complaints- for all of the reasons given. It seems the controversy is more about the use of VAR at all rather than actual incidents. For me, the use and speed of it is improving. If it continues to get most decisions correct then it’ll be here to stay. The problem is that there is very little objectivity’s in football so you will always get strong opinions from people with an affiliation or preference towards or against a particular team. You could put replays on a big screen and you would never get 100% consensus. There will be some Argentinians who still swear blind that Maradona didn’t handle the ball, didn’t do it deliberately or didn’t deserve any sanctions.

On the first showing it looked a penalty. The fact that we are now debating potentially one angle on super slo-mo showing a slight nick before what everyone agrees was the player [also] being brought down by the follow through, surely puts it into the “advantage to attacker” bracket. By the way, it’s the second contact that I’m talking about which ultimately brought him down.