philipl

Hull 3 Southampton 1 and Bristol City 1 Oxford 3- both very well deserved results show what a treacherous league this is this season.

Charlton a well organised outfit. We ought to have too much for them but it will be a right scrap. Kaminski has made a good start with them, JRC less so.

Don't know if relevant to yesterday but I believe Pasha relented and we did get the woven pitch installed.

Caddy, you are away with the fairies on this one. That pitch became totally unplayable beyond the 75th minute

Reaching the point in my recovery at which I can tolerate watching some Championship football. Just a bit.. None of the relegated trio look impressive- all seem to have recruited badly but nobody else as badly as Sheffield United have done. 🤑 None of the promoted trio should struggle. Charlton look the best balanced and are good enough for JRC to be absent. Wrexham and Birmingham look good enough to beat anyone but not (yet) gelled into the sort of outfits that grind out promotion winning results week in, week out. Coventry should have won at Leicester and they alongside Bristol City, Preston and Swansea have impressed me the most as carrying a forward line that can really cut through the opposition. Stoke look to be able to ride their luck (except at QPR) while Boro are efficient and competent rather than frightening - a team full of Callum Brittains if that makes any sense! Wide open this year. Interesting to hear what others think now we are 6 (5 for us) games into the season.

Under 18s won 8-3 at Liverpool

Was there that night. The penalty against us was as diabolical as any I have seen. As for the pitch, the drainage now is better than it was in those days but that was our undoing yesterday. After the 75th minute the drains and under soil structure flooded by the rising water table- It was why forking it was pointless and actually counter-productive. I bet the surface looks immaculate when Swansea and Stoke come to Ewood.

No he didn't initially. In fact I got a bit optimistic when the ball was rolling fine but then he dropped it and there was zero bounce. It was after that he went over to where there was standing water on the surface.

Incidentally, we might feel deja vu all over the park against Derby but Ipswich really are Baggies in Drag. 6 ex WBA players enjoying the Ewood splash and fun at one point.

Watching it on Rovers TV, footballers' boots started bringing splashes from the surface about the 70th minute but the ball was still running well and I thought we were going to play the fully allotted. But from 75th minute there was standing water as can be seen in this clip and the ball was neither running nor bouncing. It was getting farcical when a Rovers' cross field ball conveniently stopped dead in a puddle at the ref's feet. Enough of the waterpolo report. I thought Rovers played really well and were the better of the two sides. Taylor Garner Hickman and Lewis Miller both were excellent. Need to keep this good footballing run going with a win at the Valley next.

Good luck to him in the future but was increasingly thinking he was a dinosaur failing to achieve whatever the remit was at his level

Beg to differ. Dolan was slow enough for Championship opposition to cover up if he got past the first man - which he frequently did - but almost never beat the covering player. And yes Barcelona were garbage at St James' Park, Liverpool didn't need a 96th minute dingle lucky moment to beat Atletico and Arsenal weren't given a 70 minute chasing at the San Mames while BBD's alma mater weren't the best side at the Tottenham Stadium for 80 minutes. The Mallorca outfit Dolan's heroics helped to beat looked well capable of dispatching any club in the Championship this season while I am sure you would feel rock solid on a bet that no Liga side would reach the last 4 of any European competition come April 2026...

canned sound? But good luck to Bucko- he will bee far happier (and gazillions wealthier) there than not making the matchday 20 at Ewood.

Dolan speed of feet and natural balance were different level at Rovers and in the Championship. They got him into positions which also required vision and decision making he hadn't developed which made him such a frustrating player. At Espanyol every player will be next level.skillful beyond anything he was alongside at Rovers so: - he will be getting better quality service - he won't need vision and decision making as much because colleagues will be better positioned around him to receive passes from him - when he screws up or gets dispossessed better players will be better positioned to rescue him - he won't be singled out or doubled up on by the opposition because in a league with Yamal, nobody is worrying about Dolan embarrassing them.

He is 23 so plenty of opportunity to iron out his weaknesses and build on his strengths. Liga football could well be more suited to him than the Championship. Brilliant to see his great start - let's hope he can keep this going.

Consistently underwhelmed by the lack of game savvy from Sherron- perhaps a Coach at his level isn't there to win games? It was late 30s against boys and the boys didn't remotely try to run the legs off Rochdale. At the end the veterans looked fresher than our kids did.

I don't know about "all in" but VI has a certain charisma which is more brooding presence than the brilliance and sparkle of JDT. Eustace had the charisma of a flat tire but I will own up to finding that sort of Midlands accent uninspiring. At a guess and being a long way removed from the scene, I would imagine Ismael is more straightforward to work for than either of his predecessors. I loved listening to JDT, admired how JE got Rovers to gel, applauded both for telling the club to F off, but Valerian is growing on me. No certainty in football, of all industries, but there are grounds for optimism in the Franco-Hungarian-Australian-Irish-Portuguese-Norwegian-Belgian-Japaneese-Icelander-Congolese-Sierra Leonean-Polish qualifying-Swedish-Welsh-English melange in blue and white, green and gold.... Valerian's football is pragmatic, willing to be flexible and easier on the eye than much of Eustace's output. JDT definitely would have had us in the Premier League by now, Eustace was in with a possibility, Ismael- the jury (as Jimmy Armfield described Ewood crowds) is in session.

From the tiny bit I saw, Isaac Dunn looks a great prospect

Saturday's bench looked stronger than most benches named last season. I have always been impressed by what little I have seen of Garner Hickman whom I think too many are writing off.

6 Sheffield United assists. Only Szmodics didn't turn his gift into a goal.

We pushed West Brom and Brum so.the least I.expect is for us to be competitive. Nice selection dilemmas for VI - Carter and Wharton surely deserve another start and Carter pace is an asset but hard on McLoughlin and Miller. Up front 5 into 4 doesn't go so one of Yuki, Royo, Cantwell, Hedges and Gudjonsson starts on the bench. If he gets on, Sammy has to fight for his place back so I suspect we will be adding to the Ipswich early season draw tally.

First non-Rovers Championship football I have seen this season. Watched from my sick bed and now feel worse. Couldn't believe how bad it was. Of course both will be inspired playing against us but that was abysmal.

If you'd offered me Rovers sandwiched between Ipswich and Southampton after 5 games at the start of the season...

I will whisper it again but what if these so and sos have got it right? Wages down, age profile down, a smaller squad but genuine competition for places all over the park. In Morishita and Gudjonsson we might have qualities we were sadly lacking last season. A manager who has generated real togetherness knitting the biggest rag bag of pick ups together since Ken Furphy was in the seat.

Wow, not just the win but the performance. Tavaeres is a hell.of a player but his pass success percentage is dire. Needs a lot of work. That's my only negative. Wharton and Carter were immense. This week the subs worked really well including the switch to 3 at the back. The discipline with which we saw out the past ten minutes of playing time was something we haven't seen in a very long time. And yes Gudjonsson looks the real deal. What a lovely goal too