arbitro

It really is becoming one of my pet hates in football. Swindon are trying to play out from the back against City and have conceded two goals in no time at all by doing so. When the players just aren't good enough why do they try it?

It's amazing that some posters are happy with a Dutch player to replace Nyambe who, up until a few hours ago had never heard of. We are in our strongest position for years and could be on the verge of losing several key players and replacing them with players nobody knows. Besides that will Zeefuik even qualify for a work permit? Only in the world of Venkys.

In my view it's about giving players who haven't played too much recently a game along with a couple of under 23's.

There has to be a result on the day and if necessary extra time and penalties. For anybody booking the train this should be factored in.

Burke signed for Sheffield United when they were in the Premier League and will be on a wage which will eclipse our newly acquired 'wage structure' I guess. But for me the most damning statistic is that he is 24 and has had seven clubs already. There is a reason for that usually.

I don't get the Rankin-Costello is a better fit than Nyambe for our system and the way we play. Personally I need some convincing that JRC is good enough in any position. He has only played 26 games at this level and without stating the obvious is hugely injury prone.

I have watched the first two episodes of Anne on ITV. It's about Anne Williams who wouldn't accept the Coroner's verdict after her 14 year old son died at Hillsborough. It's powerful and the cast is headed by the excellent Maxine Peake.

City could be in the same boat as they are at Swindon on Friday night.

Had the referee been consistent he should have done. Van Hecke's body language indicated to me he thought he was off.

I would absolutely accept that as a penalty against us. It wasn't too dissimilar to the one not given for a push by a Spurs player on Jota recently. That was almost universally accepted as wrong. The main thing a referee can offer in any one game is consistency then everyone knows where they stand. Yesterday the only consistency was his inconsistency as some free kicks were allowed to be taken yards from the incident and on others he insisted on the blade of grass where the incident occurred. Similarly what was a foul one minute wasn't the next. And this was for both teams.

The second challenge is a penalty. How is it acceptable to shoulder an opponent in the back? If that happened anywhere outside the penalty area it's a free kick don't you agree?

With a wilting red rose and three red kisses. It's probably some bored 12 year old Dingle having a break from a family night of fun and games.

The referee interpreted this as reckless and cautioned for it. Not only that he passed the buck by holding his earpiece and looking at the AR in an effort to tell everyone he was advised by the AR to caution. Shockingly poor.

That sounds like a summation of not rating somebody.

In reply to your post I was specifically referring to the lack of end product (as you alluded to) by the vast majority of our players. We didn't concede and surely Nyambe takes some credit here as he is part of a five man defence when the opponents attack. It's clear from previous posts that you don't rate Nyambe but he was no worse than anybody else today.

It looked like a calf injury to me which is what kept him out earlier in the season.

You could argue Rothwell and Lenihan and the rest of the team didn't have an end product today as numerous passes went astray and crosses over or under hit. Personally I thought the pitch didn't help any of our players today.

The two things that Rovers couldn't control, the weather and the referee, were the major influences on the game which I thought we just shaded. The intensity and quality of passing was a few levels below where it's been but the pitch played a big part in that. I thought several players looked tired on the heavy pitch today notably Buckley, Travis, Brereton and Khadra who will all benefit from a few days off. What has become our real strength, our defence was generally solid and it was only when we were chasing the game that Huddersfield created a couple of chances from breakaways. The referee was out there with Pluto today and his lack of consistency infuriated pretty much everyone. I sometimes think referees like this are seeking attention as they continually draw unnecessary attention to themselves. I was always trained as a referee to keep a low profile wherever possible by trying to stay in the background. Given the nature of the job it's not always possible to do this but generally this current crop of Select Group 2 referees appear to thrive on the attention they get. There certainly seems to be some big egos amongst them which simply shouldn't be in the DNA of any referee.

It's incredible to think that BBD was arguably our biggest liability and is now our biggest asset. His confidence has gone from zero to massive in a few months and even considering selling him now would scupper any chance of success this season in my view. Clearly strengthening the squad is important but I really believe that the best signings we could make are the soon to be out of contract players. Anything else would be a bonus to me.

Buckleys terrific balance makes up for any perceived lack of strength when he is riding challenges. I don't know the stats but he is probably the 'cleanest' tackler we have at the club. The number of times he gets a foot in to nick the ball without fouling is a real asset, particularly in the final third.

Happy New Year to Rovers all over the world. Strap yourselves in - 2022 is going to be a bumpy ride.

They are just another lip service organisation who decided to come up with their Supporters Charter which essentially means you can write in with justification but we will patronise you and not answer your complaints. I suggest everyone who gets the copy and paste reply writes again and again until they answer our questions.

Owen Coyle? 😁😁😁

I got exactly the same. I have written back asking for a timeline of events amongst other things. It's incredible to think when the patronising comments about supporters being the lifeblood of the game the alleged guardians of standards come out with deal like this.

It's quite poignant seeing all the Rovers fan's who passed away during the year on the big screen. However I would like to see the tribute going on for a couple of minutes though as it seems a bit rushed.