rovers11

Useless player

I knew he'd miss

It had to come. I want to say worst performance of the season but I don't think it is. JDT doesn't recognise the limitations of the players. He's asking them to do things they're not good enough to do

True, but all of those are rookie managers who are yet to prove if they have what it takes to be a good manager. The old school managers who I mentioned have been very successful at what they do over many, many years up until their last couple of jobs.

I feel the ideas of a lot of the old school managers don't work in the modern game. The likes of Wilder and Bruce have outdated ideas. Even the safest pair of hands who would always keep you up - Allardyce and Pulis - no longer get work as their ideas don't work anymore. Mark Hughes has to ply his trade in lge 2 now and he was probably the best manager we had since Kenny Dalglish.

There's a lot to be positive about. Promotion back to the Premier league was always going to built on us bringing through high quality players from the academy and I feel we're on the brink of having a crop of young players who can take us there. Probably not this season but we have the nucleus of a good young squad that are being tied up on long term contracts. I genuinely feel for the first time in 10 years we actually have a plan to get back to the promised land.

I'm very concerned about the performance levels but JDT is getting good results. I'm sure we'd all have taken 6 wins and 6th place at this point. I was expecting a bottom 6 start given all the changes over the summer. I was reading quotes from Gregg B in the LT this morning saying that he's focused on performance levels and high performance levels will generally lead to good results in the long term. I agree with that to a certain extent and I also think poor performances will lead to poor results in the medium-long term which is why I think the jury is very much still out on the manager. I still think that we don't have the quality in attacking positions to play the way JDT wants. The likes of Gally, Dolan, Hirst are not technically gifted and will constantly give the ball away if you ask them to play possession football. I do really like our back 3 though. I think it's up there with the best in the division. Hyam is top class at this level.

Poor performance but a good win and up to 6th

Absolutely woeful and another half where the manager has got it wrong. No shape, organisation or ideas. And square pegs in round holes which is unforgiveable given that we have a fully fit squad. I really want to like JDT as he seems like a great guy but I'm very unimpressed.

No excuses today. We have a fully fit squad and have had 2 weeks on the training field. Not sure why Brittain is not in the team. I thought the Tony tombola days were over.

We've been battered in all but one of the games we've lost.

Obviously disappointing today but with 10 games gone I'm very happy with the points haul so far and our position in the league. And we've unearthed a couple of gems in Wharton and Phillips. Less impressed with the performances but I feel there are flickers of progress on that with good performances against Blackpool and Watford recently. Losing so many players in the summer and changing manager, plus changes at boardroom level, along with slow recruitment meant I expected a very poor start and I wouldn't have been surprised if we were in the bottom 3 at this stage. Still a lot of work to do and much to improve on but after 10 games I'm pretty satisfied.

Our inability to get back into games, or even look like getting back into games, is a real concern. Even if we conceded after 10 seconds, I'd still wouldn't back us to get anything from the game. A complete lack of goals in this team. The front line needs freshening up in January. Morton for me is never going to be a top player. He should be bossing this league if he expects to get anywhere near the Liverpool team. I thought Amari Bell was magnificent for them. I can't believe that was the same person who played at Rovers.

Bullied off the park. If we concede the first goal then we may as well pack up and go home this season. We collapse everytime.

I've given up trying to predict our results. We're far too unpredictable to even hazard a guess how this one will go. Will we see the Bristol City or Watford performance. We shall see.

Awful

If we can keep Wharton, Ayala, and Hyam fit for the majority of the season then I think we're in with a shout this season. I don't see many teams finding it easy to score against a defence with those 3 in it. I do think there are a lack of goals in the team and the outcome of our games depend so much on who scores the first goal. I'm not sure how many times we've come from behind to win since promotion from lge 1. It can't be that many. Also interesting that Edun and Szmodics did not make the squad last night despite being fit. I think we may have seen the last of Edun with Mola taking his place as the utility man. JDT has seen that he's well below the level required.

Excellent result and performance. Everyone was brilliant. Is there a better back 3 in this league than Hyam, Ayala, Wharton? I doubt it.

We are but it's back to basics which is the right thing to do at the moment. We cant keep conceding 3 a game and expect to pick up points.

I'm pleased with the line up. We need to get back to basics and become hard to beat and hard to score against. The team picked tonight suggests JDT agrees with that sentiment.

S Wharton and Ayala return to play alongside Hyam as we switch to a back 3. Sensible decision. That's the formation we should play moving forward.

Can't see anything but a comfortable Watford win with their attacking talents. I can see them scoring 3 or more. We need to go 3 at the back tonight and provide cover in the full back areas. Their strengths lie in wide attacking areas, our weaknesses lie in the full back areas...

I'm not particularly a royalist, although I do respect the Queen and never like to see anyone pass away, but I think it's the correct decision to postpone the football this weekend as a mark of respect for those who are grieving and feel a deep sense of loss, of which there are many. Not to mention the extra pressure on police resources. I think for many the loss of the queen has evoked emotions of loved ones they have lost in the past too. I love football as much as anyone but I think we can cope without football for a weekend or two! Plus, on a selfish note I don't want us to play until we have some key players back from injury 😆

This game almost certainly won't go ahead, and probably not the one next week either. Although I'll miss the football, I don't think it's a bad thing for us. We should have a fully fit squad by the time we next play and it gives JDT a chance to coach the players on how he wants to play football (whatever that is!) after a very poor run of performances. A mini break in the season will help us imo. Obviously get the frustration of fans who have already paid out money for transport though.

It's a tough one with Pickering as you can't fault his commitment or work rate, but sadly he's not got the attributes to be a championship player. He's slow, very poor technically, poor in offensive positions, and not particularly physically strong or good defensively either. The alternative is Edun who is not even at the level of Pickering. Both are lower league players.