Fantastic first half. Everyone is performing to the best of their abilities. Stoke look very poor and slow. Their defence is big but not very mobile, if we play through them and use our pace we can make this a big win. Feels like a perfect game for the likes of Armstrong and Palmer, even Rothwell. Their central midfielder that was supposed to be man marking Dack got a yellow very early on, so I think that will continue to work to our advantage. Dack should be afforded more space. Both finishes were superbly taken by Dack and Graham. Smallwood has really turned my opinion around in the last few games. He struggled early on but he’s back to being the King again.

5-3-2 or is Reed playing out wide?

Have only seen BB play in the Villa game so far, but thought his performance was dreadful. For most of the time he was on he was running around like a headless chicken contributing nothing in either attack or defence. The few times he tried to take on some Villa players he was easily dispossessed. The only thing I saw him do okay with was win a couple of aerial challenges and hold up the ball fairly well. Given the above, surely he needs to be played and given a chance in the centre in place of Graham. I just can’t see him as a decent option out of wide. Looking at his his history at Forest, he seemed to have the better performances when played up front rather than on the wing as well. I was expecting more from him so I hope it’s just early days (lack of fitness, lack of confidence). You would hope that TM plans on giving him a chance up front sometime soon though, otherwise what was the point of spending so much money on a makeshift wide man?

I was predicting a high scoring draw, but we actually have a pretty good record at home against Villa, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we knicked the win. Either way, I’m expecting an exciting game. Hoping to see more of our new signings tonight... in particular Reed and Brereton.

They’ve been comparing him to Cafu

I thought Graham was past it at the start of last season, but he went on to prove me very wrong with 12 goals in 35 league starts!

Tbf it was our first choice team last season minus Dack and Armstrong. It was the bench that was scary. This season is all about securing a comfortable finish in the Championship, but you can’t help dream of a push for a play off spot. Looking at our team, we have a combination of highly rated young players (Rothwell, Palmer, Armstrong, Davenport), Rovers academy graduates who look like they can make it at the top level (Raya, Nyambe, Lenihan), recently capped internationals (Mulgrew, Williams, Evans) and experienced leaders (Bennett, Graham, Conway, even Smallwood). Not to mention the best left back in League One last season (Bell) and the best player in League One last season (Dack). On top of that we have decent cover in Downing, Rodwell and Samuel and some decent young players coming through the academy (although I expect players like Nuttall and Travis to go out on loan. Looks like we are bringing in 2 more highly rated young players in Brereton and Reed. That looks like a really promising and exciting team to me... especially given our start.

Opened up my regular football app to check the lineup and saw this. Obviously a mistake but gave me a heart attack for a second! I thought we truly have reached list Z for transfer targets.

Not sure how to feel about this one. Back when he was at Everton he had such a bright future ahead and was an incredible player at a very young age. He’s won the Premier League with Manchester City and has tons of experience at the top level. But obviously he has gone astray in recent years due to injuries and big money. Reminds me of a certain David Bentley, who went for his big money move to Spurs and then saw it all fall apart. We took a punt on bringing him back for half a season as well, but it didn’t quite work out for him and he retired not long after that. That said, I think Bentley came back at what was probably the worst period of the club and I’m sure it didn’t help him regain his confidence or passion for the game. You feel that Rodwell may have a bit more luck in that, being part of a side full of confidence and ambition, and being managed by Mowbray. Good luck to him anyway! If he does manage to regain even a fraction of the quality he had at Everton and Man City, we have a tremendous signing on our hands.

Brereton and Reed would make us firm playoff contenders, assuming we don’t have days like today where half the team gets injured.

Nuttall has tried hard tonight, but he’s not ready for the Championship.

Cmon Rovers!! 1 more please... Modou Barrow on for Reading

Samuel down now...

Our midfield 3 of Bennett, Evans and Rothwell has been fantastic. They’re all over the pitch and controlling the game. Our attacks are breaking down with Samuel and Conway unfortunately.

Penalty!! Come on!!

Have to say, despite being 2-0 down, most of our players have looked really good and you feel we will be okay this season. But certainly today has shown our lack of depth.

Jesus. I was late switching on the game and just saw our bench. Lacking depth is an understatement...

Horrendous. 2 shots, 2 goals for Reading. Lenihan having a shocker today and Raya was awful for that first goal. Heads have dropped after that first goal.

Looking at Reading’s squad, they seem strongest in the middle of the park. So it’s going to be a big contest there I feel and I hope Evans and Smallwood are up to the task. Their attacking players and defence look rather weak to me. I can’t look past a win for us, but our record against out of form teams is pretty miserable, so I’m not expecting too much. If we did win, would this be the best start to a season we’ve had in a while? Can’t remember the last time we started the season with 5 games unbeaten (including the League Cup game).

Really good summary. I’ve thought that Mulgrew has looked our weakest player defensively this season, which is saying something, considering he was immense for us last season. Bell and Nyambe were excellent and both players look like they have the whole package to be a success in their position. I really like Williams, but I think he might find it hard to dislodge Bell now with his recent performances. Evans has continued to put in solid performances since the latter end of last season and for me deserves his place in the squad for now. Smallwood improved towards the end of the game, but he definitely looks like the weakest link at the moment. Rothwell has looked like an amazing signing so far. He was running at defenders and making things happen when he came on, but he was tracking back and defending well as well. This is a really exciting team to be watching right now. Long may it continue! On another note, Jackson Irvine is one of my favourite players from the new crop of Australian players. Would have loved to have him in our team, would be a great fit.

I’ve seen a lot of comments about Brereton being inexperienced, but he’s been playing in the Championship on a fairly regular basis with Forest for a season and a half now. The season before last he played against us at just 17. How many players are given regular game time at Championship level at such a young age? While his goal scoring record hasn’t been stellar, his general contributions have earned him rave reviews. I’m confident that he will score his share of goals for us and develop into a star player. I honestly think that Karanka is crazy for considering selling him, but I guess they have gone for broke and signed proven goal scorers to try and get out of this league and don’t have the luxury of helping a young player develop.

As great as he’s been for us, I often find Mulgrew is the one having brain fart moments in defence. That’s probably true of all our defenders though... I like them all as players but they are all a bit error prone, except for Lenihan.

Highly unlikely he will sign for us now and feel really sorry for the guy. Seems like he is going to have trouble getting over that hamstring injury.

Chapman has gone off injured for Boro..

I would drop Smallwood and Samuel for tonight’s game and bring in Armstrong and Davenport in their place. A bit harsh to drop Williams considering he provided an assist for the second goal and (kind of) provided the assist for the first as well. Other than the crap shot in the second half, Evans looked quite good and probably deserves to keep his place for now.