Did anybody see The Footballer, The Wife and The Crash on ITVbe this week? It featured the tangled life of J Lloyd Samuel and was quite an eye opener about the life of a footballer earning riches beyond their wildest dreams.

Why?

Congratulations to you all Mike.

I personally don't believe it's particularly smart to camp in and around your own penalty area inviting pressure. If we were the yards further up field to deny the opposition space it would be far better in my view.

There have been several instances this season when defending a lead Tomasson has brought on a centre half or defensive midfielder for a striker or attacking midfielder and is happy to sit in, absorb pressure and play on the break. In fairness it's difficult to criticise him because from memory we have hung on and won. But it's a risky game.

I can see by your name and location that you have a sense of humour but for clarity the rules here are you CANNOT come on here and rip the piss out of us 😂😂😉. Your fellow banjo strummers who come on here by and large stick to this and know their place 😂😂.

I agree and to an extent therein lies the problem as under Tomasson we haven't seen a defined style of play. He talks about how he wants to play in a progressive, passing style but the truth is we have seen little evidence of this. He himself has targeted the World Cup break as time to work with the players to impose more of his intended way of playing on them.

I have been thinking this for a while now. As good as he is as a defender (probably our best in truth) he is slow and ponderous on the ball and only usually plays the way he is facing. He plays safe and very rarely tries a longer pass. It's a conundrum really when you consider what I think are his strengths and weaknesses.

Burnley did twice in one game what we have failed to do all season ie come from behind not only to draw but win. If Rotherham would have taken one of their two good chances at Ewood I think they would have beaten us

That's some statistic and perhaps tells a story about the dearth of leaders in recent years.

His dip in form has been marked by the high standards he has set and he really needs to sharpen up, play quicker and perhaps try a few of the big diagonals he can play rather than the short passing game. That said those criticisms could apply to a fair few of our players.

I've just watched the highlights on Sky and my God do they do us a favour. How f***ing pitiful was our defending for their goal? From powder puff defending on the edge of our own box to the shocking attempts by Brittain, Hyam and Ayala to defend in our own six yard box.

There was lots of discontent amongst the supporters last night from as early as ten minutes in when it was clear to the majority that the system wasn't working and Coventry had identified this and targeted our full/wing backs. We played without a central striker which allowed the Coventry defenders to play through our midfield at ease. The majority of players were poor on the night but the man responsible for results can't hide behind this (which he seems to be trying to do) as ultimately its his responsibility to set the team up and come up with the tactics to get a result. The worrying trend of being absolutely awful when we have lost continues and Tomasson, as has been said many times has to overcome this. So far it's a stain on his managerial ability.

I've just got back and I need to post my thoughts whilst I am still angry at the ineptitude I witnessed tonight. I thought we were poor pretty much to a man. We have taken a few steps forwards recently and tonight was a giant leap backwards. There was so much wrong with the display I just can't be bothered to write it but my real anger is at the manager. How could be not see what we all could see after ten minutes that the system and shape he picked to play wasn't working and Coventry were tearing us apart. He should have swallowed his pride and brought Pickering on, moved Brittain to the right side and at least given us some balance. Travis, Szmodics or Adam Wharton should have been sacrificed. The manner of defeat replicated all the other defeats namely slow, predictable play with an unerring lack of accuracy in our passing. We simply want too many touches on the ball, touches which are unnecessary and allow opponents to close us down. There was very little movement from our front players which made life for the Coventry defenders so easy. For me this defeat is on Tomasson and I would love him to come out and say he got it wrong but because he kept the same shape for over an hour when it clearly wasn't working tells me he thinks he was right. If he adopts similar tactics at Burnley I think he will feel the wrath of most of us.

Sky have once again disrupted our fixtures. Sunderland away on Boxing Day is now a 12.30 kick off and Cardiff at home on New Years Day is 12 noon. https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2022/november/01/festive-fixtures-selected-by-sky/

The latest statement from Coventry doesn't really help anyone at this stage. Until they know for certain no statement should be issued.

I think Scott Wharton was from the same year as Travis and Nyambe.

Latest from Coventry.

https://www.ccfc.co.uk/news/2022/october/news-coventry-city-make-time-to-pay-agreement-with-hmrc/ Coventry are really in trouble and have agreed with HMRC to defer payments until December primarily because of the five home postponements this season. This further issue with the CBS Arena will only add to these problems.

This situation once again brings the governance of the EFL into question. In the recent past they have awarded a victory to Ipswich when, for reasons I can't remember Bolton couldn't fulfil a fixture. Great we thought, at last the EFL baring their teeth and punishing clubs proportionate to the offence. But the allowing of Coventry to call off three games this season and potentially our game on Tuesday has shown them in their true light.

I have just had an update on this farce and it will be the police who make the final decision around lunchtime tomorrow. Walsall, Coventry and Rovers have agreed to the venue change but the real sticking point for the police is the uncertainty of how many will turn up and in truth I'm not sure how they will know this to justify giving the game the go ahead in a safe environment. After learning this my gut feeling now is that the game will be off. It's farcical to think that just over 24 hours before many Rovers fans will be leaving we won't know if the game will be played.

I can't understand why when the news broke on Friday that the EFL just didn't say play the game at Ewood. There wouldn't be any ticketing issues and whilst not perfect it would have sorted out the biggest issue which is the uncertainty.

I just had a quick peek on one of their fans message boards and a few are saying they won't travel to any other ground. I don't know how they would do it but if they assume that all 13000 to plus 2000 Rovers fans it really narrows it down to Villa, Wolves, Leicester or Forest but I saw that Premier League clubs are loathe to help. They really are in a pickle and Swag reckons it will be tomorrow lunchtime before it's announced. I was told last night though that it is Walsall and my contact was adamant about it.

When they played at Birmingham they only averaged 6000.

Dack was playing a completely different role when he came on to what we have seen in the last few years. He spent most of his time yesterday working in our half closing them down and getting challenges in. In all honesty I was surprised when he came on as Garrett would have been more suitable for what Dack was doing. If he did start I don't think he would be asked to play so deep so judging him on yesterday isn't fair in my opinion.