rovers11

Fantastic. Evans having a blinder.

Johnson out, Evans in is the eye catching part of that starting 11. Perhaps not surprising given that Johnson was hooked at HT in our previous away match. Maybe feels Evans deserves a chance.

Interesting match this one, hard to call what the result will be. They have a couple of good strikers in Joao and Puscas so they are a dangerous opponent. Still think we’ll sneak a win though.

A real coup to get him signed. Very pleasantly surprised he’s come here.

His representatives were at the game on Saturday and Holtby himself posted a picture of him catching a flight yesterday. Even Rich Sharpe of the LT says he's 'increasingly confident' the deal will get done and he's usually very cautious with rumours. All the signs seem to point towards him signing for us but it's never done until it's announced on the club website.

Holtby will be a real coup. His technical ability is very good, he prob would be the most technically gifted player at the club behind Dack. He’ll play in the middle alongside Johnson or Travis I’d imagine. Mowbray clearly wants a more technical player in central midfield to help us keep the ball better, hence why he played Buckley at the weekend. Holtby could well be the answer.

Just to clarify, TM is interested in bringing Holtby to Rovers now that he’s been released by Hamburg. Story was in The Sun today.

The Sun I believe. Think it was in Nixon’s transfer column.

Lewis Holtby on a free according to today’s papers.

4 clean sheets out of 5, ten points from the last five games, and Dack scores in back to back games. That’s excellent when you consider we’ve had tough fixtures and we haven’t hit top form yet. Promising signs. Having a solid defence makes such a difference, it gives us a chance to win games even when we’re not playing that well.

This is the type of game that I dread. A fixture that we should win but you just know it’s one we could end up losing. The most disappointing result so far this season has been against charlton, and that’s because we have better players than them and should have won the game on paper. I expect the same team that beat Boro at Ewood a few weeks ago. I also expect the same result: a 1-0 victory.

Sadly not. Gallagher is a handful and I think he can become a player who links up play well and brings others into play. Brereton has yet to show us anything, but he is still very young.

I think the difficulty is the wages that a top class striker would want to come here. We can’t afford the break our wage structure, the wages to turnover ratio is already too high. You therefore have to invest money in younger strikers on low-ish wages who have the potential to develop into top strikers. That’s what we’ve done with Gallagher and Brereton. I think both will be good players at this level and we’ll see the fruits of that given time.

I think we’re a top quality striker away from being a top 6 side. If we had someone like Assombolomba who guarantees 15-20 goals a season then we’d be up there. It’s clear TM hasn’t found the right formula for his attacking positions yet. Dack and Downing are probably the only two certain starters up there right now as they both have quality you can’t leave out, but the other positions are up for grabs. Time to drop Armstrong and give Buckley an extended spell in the team (which I think he will); and forget the idea of playing Gallagher out wide (although he has worked hard out there). I do think we need to keep things in perspective as we were at rock bottom 3 years ago with the worst Rovers side in my lifetime. We’ve come along way since then and are slowly progressing. The likes of Buckley, JRC, Travis, Nyambe, Butterworth means I think we have a good chance of promotion over the next couple of years.

Not bothered about a spirited second half display, conceding three goals in 45 mins after going a goal up is absolutely shocking. We deserved to lose and were outclassed at times. Sadly another lower mid half finish beckons from what I have seen so far, albeit in some tough fixtures.

WBA don't have as good a team as last year but I still expect the Hawthorns to be one of the toughest away grounds to visit as the season unfolds. I would take a draw but fear we may lose this one. I expect the same team that beat Hull a couple of weeks ago. Can Gally go on a goalscoring run now that he's off the mark?

I don't see anything wrong with what Mowbray has said to the press about Chapman. The fans have a right to know why he's not playing Chapman and he's been honest and done that. Clearly he's spoke to Chapman directly so those quotes will come as no surprise to him. Reading between the lines, TM does not think Chapman is showing the passion, energy or desire to be in the squad at the moment. A fully firing Chapman is probably our most talented winger, but TM has shown he will prefer players who give 100%, such as Bennett, over more talented players who do not have the same drive and motivation. You can't blame him for that as that's what our upward trajectory has been built on since TM arrived.

An excellent week for us with 7 points and three clean sheets. I’d certainly have taken that a week ago and it’s taken us from a shocking start to the season to a solid/good start. We seem to have found the solution to stop conceding goals which is a huge plus. We were going to do nothing if we kept up our record of conceding two goals a game. We haven’t found the right formula up top yet but we’ve got too many good attacking players for that to continue.

It’s interesting how a win has swayed perceptions on the “F off Derrick” comment by TM, with the majority finding it amusing and endearing. If we had lost the game, I suspect the overwhelming reaction would have been “he’s lost the players”, “how can the players respect a manager who tells them to F off”, and “another example why Mowbray should be fired”. A win really does make such a difference.

For all the criticism about our transfer window, the early signs are that Downing, Cunningham, and Johnson have taken us up a level. Gallagher has shown promising signs too and Walton looks like he commands the box better than Raya. Shifting out Mulgrew and moving Del to CB on a permanent basis could be the surprise masterstroke of the summer. Looks a class act in the centre.

Second half was as good as Ive seen Rovers in possession for quite some time. Downing was a class apart from everyone on the pitch, and Johnson/Cunningham have also added some real quality to that team. Williams was superb at CB. Mowbray out!

Downing masterclass in that first half. Sadly for us Grosicki has been outstanding for them. Could go either way.

Think we’ll win tonight. Hull are no great shakes and have had a new manager bounce at the start of the season. We tend to do well away at Hull so I’m going for 2-1. We need more pace in the side tonight than on Saturday as we need a more counter attacking game here.

Cup games are not streamed on ifollow

Yes, but Dyche is one of the best managers in the country!