arbitro

Chris Sutton eulogised about Adam in the first half particularly his eye for a pass. The snapshot you saw was when Chelsea were going all out for the win and were pinning Palace back. Even then Adam was diligent in his defensive responsibilities by tracking runners and closing down players.

I really don't understand this obsession with pace in modern football. Of course it's an asset but for me pace has to be aligned with other things like good decision making or a final pass. See Kargbo for evidence of this. Everton had a lad playing last night and on his first run my thoughts were he's exceptionally quick. However he kept running down blind alleys and didn't look like he could pass water. He got the hook after offering no threat.

I was thinking the very same thing on the drive home.

He certainly didn't stand out for me.

There have always been midweek games, long before Sky came along. We play Millwall at Ewood in a 12.30 kick off soon - do you really think it's fair on their supporters setting off at some ungodly hour?

A really good performance from the under 21's in what was a really enjoyable game although I, along with some other people almost didn't get in. A simple process of paying to watch a match was so difficult and frustrating. The was no Batty in the squad which surprised me. We were the better team in the first half and although the game did ebb and flow we created three good chances and had a Leonard goal disallowed for offside. I spoke to a couple of old refereeing colleagues at half time and they were really impressed with Rovers. The second half was more even with Everton probably shading it and Goddard making some smart saves. He was desperately unlucky with the goal which rebounded off his back/head after hitting the post. We were unlucky to lose particularly in those circumstances. Defensively we were solid and although sometimes sloppy in possession by and large did well in the midfield area. Leonard worked extremely hard up front and looked strong although it was obvious his touch is lacking after his injuries. I don't get the reasoning behind having Mullarkey-Matthews on the bench for the first team (in a similar way to Montgomery). He was arguably Rovers least impressive performer last night and has never really showed me enough to warrant such an elevation.

Rovers Women lost 2-0 to Cheadle Town Stingers in their opening league match. I haven't seen anything mentioned about this from Rovers.

Brilliant - watching four games at once, that is a deal clincher. 😂

What about a neutral who has paid to watch live games but two are on simultaneously? Advertising a minimum of 215 live matches but you can't watch them all because some are televised at the same time. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/13019562/sky-sports-to-show-215-premier-league-games-a-season-from-2025-26

If I remember correctly one of the games that were shown simultaneously in recent times was on the red button. Yesterday there were two full teams of outside broadcast crew, producers and all the other associated staff plus two commentators, co commentators and studio experts. No wonder Sky subscriptions are going up.

Yesterday and for the next few weeks Sky are simultaneously showing two Premier League matches at 2 pm on Sunday afternoons. I haven't looked further afield but I did wonder when, all summer they have boasted about covering more games when they would be shown. Similarly on Friday evening they are showing a Premier League and Championship game at the same time. It appears that boast was misleading unless some have the capability to watch two games at once.

The Brentford owner will be pointing soon - to the exit door. 😂

Keith Andrews Brentford are three down at half time against Forest. It seemed a really strange appointment and although it's early days it could backfire massively.

With an under 21 game tomorrow I would like to see some of the fringe players or the ones that need game time playing some part. However based on previous managers I don't expect it to happen.

I saw a comment yesterday about the team news being out early. I spoke to a friend and he told me that from this season the exchange of team sheets has changed to one and a quarter hours before kick off.

I agree completely but would add that I thought Tavares was decent yesterday.

I would have gone and I guess many others too but the 1 pm put me off. Lots of supporters have their own pre match routine and I guess getting to the ground two hours before kick off isn't included.

I noticed Alebiosu was on the pitch at full time which was a good sign. I saw they sent the spinal board with the neck brace back so hopefully the injury isn't too serious. In the two league games so far I like the look of him.

Good point. In truth Birminghams substitutes were more impactful than ours. As for being tired I agree but I would argue that several of their players looked like they too were fatigued. It was a high energy game on a hot day and we have a couple of players still off the pace in terms of general fitness.

Going to West Brom last week we spoke about the lack of creativity and as a consequence the lack of goals in the squad. And in the three games so far it is glaringly obvious that this is an area which will see us at best in mid table. I have been reasonably content with us defensively in the two league games so far. Yesterday we started the game well and it looked like the plan was to out number Birmingham in midfield with Ohashi and Cantwell playing quite deep when Birmingham had the ball. This slowed down the intensity they like to play at. Cantwell's goal was excellent, a skill which not many other Championship players could execute. We knew that soon after going ahead Ismael would go to a five at the back and play on the break. Some poor defending allowed Laird to beat three of our players and win a penalty. I haven't seen it back yet but from my seat in the JW Upper it looked so similar to the challenge on Ohashi last week when we didn't get a penalty. Toth guessed the right way but was beaten by the well struck shot. The winning goal was calamitous from our point of view. There were so many things wrong with it I don't know where to start but sometimes players have to take responsibilities. It's not like we were chasing the game or anything. My point about responsibility was hit home earlier when we had a throw in over by the Riverside. Despite the prodigious throw of Miller (which he did use most of the time) Tronstad went over for a short one perhaps I thought to pull a player out. Miller actually gave it him and then tried to dribble last an opponent and was extremely lucky to get another throw in. Silly in game decisions are sometimes on the players. Overall I thought we were worth a draw and the players worked really hard as they did at West Brom. But hard work, whilst being an assett will not win games on its own. We need some quality and that comes at a price. Over to you Venky's..................

Cantwell skippers the team.

Hyam looking fit and ready to play to squash the conspiracy theory that he was injured.

To be fair Duru was at Barrow then injured after Ismael came in February. I think he was still doing some rehab for the early part of pre season. In my opinion Duru is an infinitely better right back than Montgomery.

Hopefully he is.

Harvey Higgins isn't involved.