arbitro

Today's team to play Crystal Palace.

I've just driven through Ewood and the TTL's are still there and a sign about match day delays.. Personally I think it will be chaotic as we approach kick off and envisage people who are driving to Ewood missing the kick off. I haven't seen anything on Rovers social media giving warnings.

It was chaotic around Ewood yesterday as a three way temporary traffic light system at the Cravens Brow/Branch Road/Bolton Road junction really snarled up the flow of traffic. As I drove last there were some big boulders that had been dug up on the road and it gave me the impression that there was no way the road would be back to normal for today. To compound this there are roadworks on Branch Road and although there were no traffic controls in place there was barely enough room for two cars to pass at the same time. If anybody is around the Ewood area this morning could they please post an update on the Cravens Brow situation?

The referee is Andre Marriner.

Entitled Lampard gets another top gig. It seems like a lazy appointment by the new Chelsea owners who haven't exactly covered themselves in glory to date. I think Southampton could drop into League One in a reversal of their rapid rise a few years ago. Big wages, poor ownership and disenchantment amongst the fans is never a good combination to regroup and challenge for promotion.

Good call 😄😄 2336 all sold.

The game isn't listed on the Sky schedule while all other Championship games are either on the red button or more extensive coverage. https://www.skysports.com/watch/football-on-sky

The no favourites comment comes from a close relation to a player who, believe me had cause to be critical of the club. He said Tomasson wasn't close to any players but they all respected him because they know where they stand and he is honest with them all. As I wrote earlier I saw Adam in the under 21's recently and he was miles off the first team in my opinion. At the moment Garrett is ahead of Adam and if O'Brien had signed he would have been further down the list. The only way he is going to get back in is to follow the example of Travis and knuckle down,, listen and put into practice what the manager wants and let his undoubted talent do the rest.

Good point but I'll give you one name - Paul Ince 😂😂

Confirmation that Reading have now been deducted six points which leaves them precariously close to the bottom three. I hope they go down. It's a horrible, soulless stadium with few amenities in the surrounding area and awful car parking. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65175863

I'm saying what I saw with my own eyes so no conspiracy. Tomasson has been far from perfect but his handling of players has been an area where I believe he has excelled. No favourites with everyone treated the same, do the business in training and in the pitch and you get picked.

Spurs were embarrassing last night and showed what an entitled bunch they are. Don Goodman, a commentator I really admire was pretty scathing of them and I agreed with his condemnation. They have huge problems there and it's not just with the ownership.

I saw him in a recent under 21 game and he was distinctly average, at times lethargic. He gave a goal away (which can happen) but his body language didn't inspire me to think that he is ready for Championship football. He is without doubt the most talented youngster I have seen at Rovers for a long time but in professional sport talent isn't enough.

This number nine looks handy.

The jury is still out for me on Thomas. He runs down too many cul-de-sacs and his crossing and set pieces haven't yielded much.

And the big clubs can take advantage of the loan system the other way. The Rags who have the second highest income in world football have Weghorst* on loan from Burnley. I don't think it's right that mega rich clubs take players on loan. * Before anybody says it I know he is crap 😂😂

Morton joined us on August 1st.

The loan market has been an epic fail this season. Morton, Hirst, Mola and Thomas have not really improved the squad certainly not compared to what we already had whereas Burnley, Sheffield United and Middlesbrough have hugely improved their squad with loans. I don't believe ours have scored a goal between them and single digit assists. A meagre return from Broughton and his recruitment team. They simply have to do better.

Southampton are playing like they have already been relegated. They should be fighting like crazy for the PL life but they have shown absolutely nothing. West Ham aren't much better though.

I don't think he is as bad as some of his critics suggest but fundamentally I'm against this type of loan where in truth they aren't really better than what we have. There are exceptions of course (Harvey Elliot) but essentially they are impeding the progress of our own. Mowbray loved the name dropping of a top six loanee and their club but hopefully Tomasson will realise that the grass isn't always greener.

My understanding is that both Adam and Ash Phillips were given bit of time off after a heavy schedule with England the week before. Neither of them were in the senior or under 21 squads yesterday

I think it might become the norm for high risk fixtures. The remaining Old Firm games won't have and away supporters this season after a steady reduction in allocation. With the high cost of security for such games I think clubs will be happy to reduce away numbers.

And surprisingly still a 3 o'clock kick off.

I would be tempted to play Dolan simply because he has the energy to press high up the pitch as Norwich will try and play out from the back. He did this successfully in both wins at Carrow Road this season.

And that is the story of our inconsistency for me. Pressing high, high tempo, low possession football is when we are getting results by invariably playing forward. If opponents sit in and let us have the ball in our half we simply don't have anybody capable of picking the killer pass so most of our play is safe play, keeping the ball but going nowhere. The evidence is there in that when we have the bulk of possession we lose.