Exactly. Players on thousands per week sat at home because they 'might' have been in contact with someone who might have it. Not that I'm saying it's the case here but the piss will be being taken by some. Test them then test them again a few days later. If clear get back to work sharpish. We've enough backroom staff now. Drag one away from his video screen or drone control and send them round the country PPE'd up testing our players.

I agree top 2 is a fantasy top 6 is the realistic aim. Even that is a fair jump from 12 th so personally I don't see us quite making it. Just want to have a proper go at it not just hide behind the slight improvement line. He's just got 4 from 6 in a difficult situation so the platform is still there. He's good at that kind of thing though but when it comes to putting the foot on the gas and keeping it there less so. This is I feel is very much his defining season.

If you're getting a 12th placed budget year on year and finishing around there fair enough. If teams with 15 th placed budgets are finishing above you year on year though then maybe it's time to look at what they are doing. Or even their managers. Significant progress needed this season over a marginal gain. At some point soon there'll be a strong squad to pick from. In truth the first 11 should more or less pick itself. It won't though and that's where we'll fall down if we do and that's why all eyes are on him now.

But he has to get the best 11 and some consistency. That's were people get concerned but he deserves credit for putting it together. Time will come he has to get a tune out of it and cut with the rambling and romancing.

Great to have players like Buckley on the back up coming through and being able to ease them into games like that. Personally i'd never expect an academy player cutting his teeth to be a game changer what you see from him is what he is, a raw novice finding his feet. When a manager pays a big fee for a player and puts him on a big contract then quite rightly the expectations are there. They are there to be shot at sadly for them and the manager but everyone knows the script it goes with the turf, always has. However it getting put about on social media that lads like Buckley are being talked about behind the scenes as 10 million pound players also raises unreasonable expectation levels. A bit silly and can do more harm than good imo as we see reading some comments. For the record that isn't a dig at anyone in particular. Just seeing these 10 mill and highly rated comments but so many in the past have been talked about similar only to turn out to be far far away from it. Acts as more of a red flag than anything.

That Gallagher one is a wild comparison though and maybe world class would've been a better term for the previous point. Definitely not that but as far as English strikers go Cole had proven himself top class for a number of years. You might not end up at little old Blackburn post Jack if you're a worldie but you wouldn't have been one of Man Us main strikers for a number of years if you weren't Top Class either. You pay for what you get if you know what you are doing. We got what we paid for. Fergie was a ruthless manager not much of the sentimental stuff there. When they were around 30 ish he usually moved them on.

Cole was a class striker Souness played a blinder getting him here and we paid 8 million for him and probably about 30 grand per week, massive fee and money back then. So to say he wouldn't have ended up at Blackburn if he was class is a bit wide of the mark. It obviously made sense to him beyond football reasons as well. The competition in terms of good English strikers was quite high then and he was an out and out poacher type. As we know you have to tailor your game to them.

Because he's more mature and settled that leads to being able to read the game better. He must also have a very cool character considering he's switched country as well as club.

Credit where it's due he got a tune out of them today but that's his job and this is his squad and it's a decent size now. Yet again Kaminsky looks the part very good signing. Pears as number 2 less so i hope the number 1 stays fit now.

To be fair to Pears he's still a novice but the experience of Kaminski really shows and that's what we've been missing for years. Doesn't matter he might not be a worldy but being calm and mentally solid will go a hell of a long way between the sticks.

Never the same after that Gwyneth chucked him though, busted flush as they say.

Great result and shows this squad can still provide a team good enough to match and better others. That what it is there for and why the excuses don't always wash. Pleased for Brereton he's stepped up today, very welcome win in typical TM back to the wall fashion. The wall being on here he obviously keeps an eye on it ?

35 year old Downing offered more last season than Evans usually does in 2 or 3. So yes really is time to get rid.

He should be sacked instantly if he pulled a stroke like that.

Evans international

Well he didn't tear up trees at top level but he wasn't really a disaster either, he certainly isn't Coyle standard and he hasn't had a team bottom of league one or two after ten games. If the dice was rolled just for the sake of it as a few would like then we could certainly do worse that's the best way to look at it. He fits Venky's remit in such a way as he's been sacked / resigned recently and out of a job so no compen ! He might not turn out to be a massive improvement but i doubt he'd ruin what TM has built overnight either.

He might be a twohat but wouldn't wish that on him and it won't do his head any favours, even he is only human.

Agree i think i'd take the hit on any of those that are touch and go for this match, give them time from now till after the break. We should still have enough to get something tomorrow although nothing is guaranteed it's still a game you'd expect a point or three from. If Evans plays though i expect another shithouse effort whilst he keeps himself safe for the Internationals !

A run of games won't do him any harm a bit of rough and tough stuff will be just the ticket. These kids come through academies playing against similar yet teams used to sign youngsters from the likes of Hartlepool. It's just reverse order these days you have to send them out to toughen them up and give them a bit of a culture shock. Character building if nothing else, the more they send out like this the better they can always take a step up with their next loan if needed. They need to experience life on the other side if we want to breed leaders and battlers again who appreciate the plush surroundings of billionaire funded Rovers.

Got to love it on here at times it's no wonder there are accusations of over expectation and on the opposite side lack of ambition. 'Who can we get' better, 'Who'll come ?' 'Nobody out there' er..... Hughes ? - Busted flush Bilic ? - Nah overated Pearson ? - Turned it down, won't come. It's no frigging wonder they get the likes of Coyle through the door, we should be literally banging on it demanding any one of those. A fresh approach is needed with a manager who can build his team from the back and knows what a good striker actually is at this level. It really is as straightforwards as that, TM would confuse a game of pass the parcel. ,

If you have a policy of signing injury prone players because you might get them a bit cheaper wages wise then it can be no surprise when you have a glut missing. Couple that with the heavy workload recently and anybody who sneezes or was stood near someone when they did being told to stay away it's no wonder. Good job they'll filled the squad out a bit and there are still enough to put together a team capable of getting some results in the meantime. It isn't covids fault 12 million pounds worth of forwards who remain available are way below the mark !

Yes it was Lambert who tweaked things here to make the opposition go over the top a bit more rather than walk through our midfield. That made him and Hanley look decent very briefly and made them worth a few quid. Like Hanley he's basically a big dolloper that needs the right manager and system but he should be able to cut it in the pub league up there. It's odd that he isn't but he's an arsehole who maybe is getting karma served now.

We know how it pans out we'll get a few back and have a decent run i'm sure then probably a dismal winter before dead rubber season is upon us again. Add in the odd scalp from upper table and a mostly fit squad all talk will turn to next season and this will be written off again as one of those things. Always thought that any play off place achieved in this era would just come from a late run where we just crash in at the last min. Got to stay handily placed for that though.

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see him flop. However he did quite ok for Brighton and in the Prem. The money we got for him was about right at the time I'd say. Something tells me his heads gone rather his ability.

I dread to think what Jack would have made of all the agents and their ridiculous influence in the game now. I'd like to think anyone who took the piss wouldn't have lasted long and would have had to take legal action for their 'payoff'. Knowing Jack it would have been here's a month in hand now #### off !