I would go with the team that finished at Rotherham but Adam Wharton for Tronstad. Keep the same shape with Hedges and Szmodics as wide players and JRC in midfield.

Out of the games I have watched so far it has been noticeable that fewer players are having treatment on the pitch and not having to go off and return for 30 seconds.

It was incompetence. I guess from the tone of your post that you think otherwise but in the 25 years I refereed, around 15 of them in professional football I never, ever suspected that any referee had deliberately cheated. Mistakes are made (I know because I made many) but cheating? Never.

Hull have shifted about 1000 tickets so far and their supporters can pay on the day. https://www.wearehullcity.co.uk/news/2023/august/16/pay-on-the-day-at-blackburn/

I'm as sure as sure can be it's just incompetence.

I have always said that you don't need to be an active or recently retired referee to be a VAR. The laws of the game can be learned in a few days which obviously is a prerequisite and then knowledge of the game and you have the credentials. Sadly I don't think it will ever happen but for me it's a way forward.

Tell me one that is worse.

From its inception I always said that VAR was too much of a comfort blanket for some officials in this country. In tournaments and most other countries there isn't the level of error we see over here. As I said that is solely down to the operators. A fortune been spent on VAR but the most basic element of it is sorely lacking. https://www.premierleague.com/video/single/3625210#!

The decision has certainly added fuel to that particular fire but I honestly believe it was incompetence rather than any subconscious bias. It happens too often and at most grounds for it to be anything else in my view.

I think the non award of a penalty to Wolves last night was the worst VAR decision since it's inception and there is a lot to go at. Firstly it should be seen in real time but the officials safety net of VAR should absolutely see it. I'm told that Salisbury (the VAR on the night who has lots of previous in this regard) was it as normal contact and not a 'clear and obvious error' by the on field referee. The fact it was the Rags at home and in the last minute just adds to the conspiracy theories but I don't think for one minute it is done with malice. It's simply incompetence. It once again highlights the real weakness in VAR which isn't the system itself but the match officials who use it. Gary O'Neil has already had an apology from Jon Moss who told him it should have been a penalty. Will the yellow card he received for complaining be rescinded now? There was also an identical incident to the one at Rotherham on Saturday when the lad got the first of his two yellow cards. Varane stood a couple of yards away from the fans whilst celebrating and his teammates pushed him towards the crowd. He wasn't cautioned. Personally I think the caution on Saturday was harsh but I have seen some comments from Rotherham fans asking for consistency. It will be interesting when Howard Webb goes to watch Rotherham the next time and he is challenged about it.

Due to a delayed start and eleven minutes of stoppage time the second half of Brentford v Spurs kicked off at 3.18. Now if their is a similar amount of added time in the second half the game won't finish until around 4.15. With the Chelsea v Liverpool game due to start at 4.30 Sky will be panicking. They have highly paid pundits sat around twiddling their thumbs and have to get their adverts in. They might have to reschedule kick off times soon and inconvenience supporters even more 😉😉.

That's why I simply don't but the notion of some posters that we took a short corner in the dying seconds to hold out for a draw. It was absolutely clear we were hell bent on winning that game when, even at 2-2 players were bombing forward.

They have. https://www.wolves.co.uk/news/mens-first-team/20230809-gary-o-neil-appointed-new-head-coach/

That's exactly why I said mix it up. The issue for me, is that two corners aside at Fleetwood every corner we have taken has been short.

We only had one yellow card today and it wasn't Adam Wharton. Szmodics was booked for an arm offence in the first half.

How do we defend corners then if we are so small? I don't for one minute think that is the reason. A lucky break or winning a second ball is possible when the ball is out in the box. Today several ended up back on the half way line and any threat went with it.

Two games in and my main gripe is these bloody short corners which are so unproductive, in fact sometimes handing the initiative to the opponents. As we approached the end of stoppage time in the second half we won a corner. All around me fans were shouting to Hedges to get it in the mixer and a chance to win the game. No, we went short and two of three passes later it was full time. Come on JDT, at the very least mix them up a bit.

Today could have been a snapshot of last season as for an hour we had very little intensity in our play, the passing was careless, far too many individual mistakes and too passive. The last half hour was what I remember from many games in the second half of the season when we were the polar opposite. Credit to Tomasson for his bold changes (there might be a valid point that he had no choice) and suddenly we were on top and the feeling amongst many Rovers fans was that if we could score we would get something. It's strange really because the shape didn't really change after the three substitutes came on but suddenly our side players were getting in behind and looking dangerous. And that's a criticism of Dolan and Markanday who I thought were poor with them both making too many wrong decisions and just didn't look threatening. Of course the sending off helped us too. I said yesterday that Rotherham are almost one dimensional and Hugill won nearly every header today against Carter and Hyam who I thought were both below par. Szmodics had a nightmare first hour. He simply couldn't do anything right but he didn't let it affect him and got his reward with a brace. His attitude is first class and why he has endeared himself to us. Ennis and Gallagher could both have scored as we created chance after chance. Pleasingly Adam Wharton looked more like himself in the second half as he started to thread his passes through. All in all it was another performance that put us Rovers fans through the wringer and after being two down I'm certain the vast majority of us would have taken a draw but at the final whistle I personally felt a little disappointed not to have won.

As a traditionalist I fully understand that mate but in this commercially driven world we live in money talks. My granddaughter had her home kit ready for today as I really thought (perhaps naively) that we would be in it today. She is now wearing yellow but isn't happy because it's the only one she has without a name or number on it 😂😂.

Looking at this tweet I think we might be in yellow today. Ironically this is one of the games in which could have with any of our three kits.

Hopefully mate things take a turn for the better for you and your dad. A Rovers win will bring you some comfort in this tough time.

How on earth have I said they are an incredible team by simply highlighting their strengths? A touch of misguided hyperbole there. Last season our whole team weren't capable of competing with them essentially because, as I mentioned we didn't do the basics and at the very least equal their strengths. We have played one game so far this season which was promising so I'm not sure how you can use that as a yardsick. I also said I think we will win by matching their strengths.

I can see it being 1875, season ticket and a number of away games from last season. Although it doesn't happen too often now where there is a scarcity of away tickets it would be better if the club had a scheme like loyalty points whereby points are obtained from having a season ticket and attendance at away games.

This is Rotherham we are playing. They play with intensity, aggression and get the ball into the penalty area as quickly as possible. Last season they knocked spots off us in nearly every aspect of the game so if we match their assets they simply don't have the wherewithal to match ours. Starting the game well normally sets the tone and last season we tanked from about thirty seconds in. I don't often do predictions given the variables involved but tomorrow I'm going for a win.