3-3 draw today. Can only conclude the player of the month curse must have struck...

Apparently yes and yes. Got 60 minutes after 45 minutes in the previous game.

I am certain Bristol City went to Rotherham expecting 3 points and came back with a 2-0 defeat on Saturday. Rotherham are big mobile and vulnerable. Continue failing to get even a third of attempts on target and we will be vulnerable too, especially if our central defenders are as mentally fragile as they indicated in the late second half against Norwich. Not winning this shouldn't even be contemplated but I am sure Mowbray will have bigged them up come Tuesday teatime.

I would let Trybull go back to Norwich (we saw yesterday why he doesn't fit there) and bring in Kipre on loan. If we could find a better left back, I'd let Douglas go but left backs in January will be rarer than hen's teeth.

Enjoy seeing Rovers top of the pile in Premier League 2. Better be quick because anything other than a Man U win intoday's Manchester derby sees us toppled.. https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0TIk3N7K0MDAyYPTiK8gxUkjJLMsszszPUzAEAIFGCKs&q=pl2+division+1&oq=pl2&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j46j0l5.3699j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#sie=lg;/g/11hnxc2_hq;2;/g/11d_729802;st;fp;1;;

Profoundly disappointing result. Affectations to automatic promotion are over. We are not making up 12 points. Affectations we can carry on going into key games with our length of injuries and not be affected also destroyed. Williams and Lenihan very wobbly. Douglas not good enough. The defensive gamble won't work out for Mowbray. Replacing the entire midfield with a single substitution didn't work out either. Armstrong hitting target with conviction twice in 12 attempts in two games doesn't suddenly make him a poor striker but Pukki showed him today what a good striker looks like. Norwich good but not that good. Hanley was commanding and some of their midfield link up play was crisp in a way our more spacious midfield cannot be. Harvey Elliiott; just wow. Challenge now is to hang onto the top 6 coat tails to give the injury returnees something to fight for.

That linesman missed at least two offsides. Hopefully remains as blinkered for the second half.

Douglas weak apart from his set pieces. Midfield not making an impact. Just not happening it for us up front in the same way it didn't at Bristol City. Things might happen in the second half- we get it together or they run away with it. Would like to see Davenport get a run.

I have video plus commentary.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18937468.dack-travis-among-rovers-quartet-set-new-year-returns/?ref=ar Injuries update

Sounds like he could be ready a week tomorrow.

Johnson had a word with Arma during the game and he seemed to react by attempting to shoot on sight even more. Ordinarily, he would beat the keeper at least once but his power and accuracy were totally awry. Hope this isn't the start of a trend.

Crazy to say this about the League's joint top scorer but he has to get his head sorted for the Norwich game after that weird show against Bristol City.

We are really missing Ben.

I don't see a need for dramatic change to personnel, strategy or tactics. Bristol City saw far too many players having an off night. The crucial one for me was Ayala. 80% of the time that header from the corner goes in the net and he doesn't swing at fresh air when the deflection which reached their goal scorer comes to him. Two injury ravaged sides so it is a bit pot luck. Brentford level performance we win. Bristol City level performance and we will lose. This is going to be about being clinical. The players we are able to field are capable individually and collectively of winning this one so let's do it.

Not making any predictions but Chorley certainly have a realistic chance of winning this cup tie.

Agreed this is must win. They are good but not unbeatable. Two injury hit squads going head-to-head. Surely we are not going to be as profligate with chances as we were at Ashton Gate. Equally we cannot assume Puki and co won't find row Z with the unerring regularity of Nakki Wells. Based on last night, strong cases for starts for Bell and Davenport.

22 shots 7 on target 60% possession Once out of my chair for Ayala's header wide from the corner Did Bentley make any save of note. Some games it is hard to find a cow with a banjo and this was one of them. The way we play requires full backs with more pace and presence than Douglas has. And the subs made little sense. Norwich becomes must win.

Bristol City playing dramatically better than in any of the bits of games I have seen of them this season. Rovers not flowing the way we can. Not been Armstrong's best half by a long way. A lot of room for Rovers to improve. We can't keep on letting them have chances- they won't always miss the target. At the same time we need to accelerate our play when in dangerous positions.

Part of the negotiations.

Steve Kean. He's the only one bad enough to have picked me.

I am saying there is a limit to what can be spent before FFP cuts in. In your scenario, I'd sack Mowbray and look for a new Manager hamstrung by having to sell players and reduce the wage bill.

You will get asked to produce evidence of the air charter... I believe you.

https://offthepitch.com/a/blackburn-ceo-says-club-are-operating-around-threshold-ffp

There was a pot with a ceiling beyond which league points get deducted. As with any budget you decide your priorities. We saw our priorities which was to bolster the squad size and with the two games a week and injuries that has proven 100% correct. Contracts are an emergency now but at least we have a promotion campaign to worry about protecting which we wouldn't have had we jollied up all the existing players' wages in the summer as a price for three year new contracts and not been able to call on the five new signings. This is revealing. Sparks Rover is out of touch obviously. (or perhaps an agent setting wage expectations for his cut to come from) For several years, overall spending on player and staff wages in the Championship has exceeded revenue, and the questionnaire, reported by the Daily Mail on Tuesday, showed that of the 18 Championship clubs who responded, the average basic monthly pay for their highest earner is 1.51 million pounds ($1.9 million) a year, which makes a monthly salary of 125,797 pounds. The best paid player in the report earned an annual salary of 3.54 million pounds, or 294,666 pounds a month. The figures from the 2019-20 season do not include win bonuses or other payments. In League One, where 15 of the 24 clubs responded, the average highest earner is on 247,188 pounds a year and in League Two, where 14 responded, it is 114,020 pounds. However, one player is paid 13,000 pounds for a year in the Championship, and two in Leagues One and Two received just 7,800 pounds. The highest-paid Championship manager was reportedly paid 3.46 million pounds a year, with an average across the division of 878,000 pounds a year. In League Two, the average manager’s annual income is 79,462 pounds, with the lowest-paid manager in the Football League receiving 45,000. One physiotherapist at a Championship side in the Midlands was earning 191,000 pounds a year, although that was almost three times the league average. At one Championship club, the kitman earned 56,000 pounds a year. The average salary for a chief executive or managing director in the Championship was 295,179 pounds, with one CEO picking up 740,000. In League One, that average fell to 89,566 pounds. ($1 = 0.8017 pounds) (Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Hugh Lawson) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.