What a really good game of football we've seen today. Perhaps not the result we wanted but there were plenty of positives for me against a good Sunderland team. We started the game excellently and the pace we played with was something that took me by surprise. We could have, with a bit more composure scored another couple but when we didn't there was a nagging feeling that they could come back. I was pleased for Ohashi who, apart from his goal looked good. It was a role reversal at the beginning of the second half as they pretty much dominated and did what we couldn't do namely score two goals. The difference was Roberts who tore Beck apart in this period although Beck looked like he was struggling with an injury. And we showed some character to come back when I think nearly everyone had conceded defeat. I thought Brittain had one of his best games in a Rovers shirt today particularly in the first half. It also proved that Cantwell should be more central. Although he tired late on his creativity and ability to hurt teams was evident. Baker proved to be an adequate replacement for Travis and Baath is quickly becoming our best centre half. And we are indebted to Pears for his save at the death. His composure was terrific. And for me Leonard should be ahead of Gueye.

https://x.com/Rovers/status/1871843340464935127?t=zopMfwJPhrC22i3vk4bhRQ&s=19

And thanks to you Ian and the other moderators who keep this site going enabling us all to argue, bicker, agree and disagree. Rovers is in our DNA and ultimately I think we all want the same thing - a successful club and new owners. Merry Christmas one and all and here's hoping for another six wins on the spin.

I look at the Sunderland team from their last match and really don't see anything to justify what seems a majority view that they will beat us. One of our tormentors in chief from recent seasons (Clarke) is no longer there and in our last game against them we scored five. Our recent strength has been our organisation and despite losing Travis that will still be there on Thursday. Having read reports from Sunderland's recent matches it seems they too are well organised so it could be another and of attrition with one goal either way.

Based on this seasons from Travis is irreplaceable by any of the current squad but out of the candidates (Baker, Buckley and JRC) I would favour Baker. He did fine at Hull and I think he has more of Travis' attributes than the other two. Buckley isn't anywhere near for me albeit based on limited appearances this season and JRC doesn't appear to have the stamina for such a demanding role. Irrespective losing Travis is a body blow and it could even signal a change in tactics or shape to overcome his absence.

My impression was that Eustace was shoehorning Cantwell in yesterday. Pickering was left exposed several times as Cantwell showed very little defensive awareness. I could grudgingly accept that if he was creative but he offered very little. In games of attrition like yesterday was he is missing in action.

All good things have to end and whilst being disappointed about today the bigger picture is the one I am looking at and one defeat in seven is a great record. However today was somewhat self inflicted and the manager and his staff have to accept some responsibility for their use of substitutes and taking up the three available windows whilst only using four substitutes. Of course we will never know for certain but I believe had we had eleven players on the pitch we could have prevented the ball coming in for the winning goal. Making the two single substitutions within a short space of time certainly came back to bite us when Travis went off injured. Overall a point would have been a really good one as I felt Millwall were better than us on the day and several of our players were below par. Hopefully the injuries to Travis and Pickering aren't as bad as they appeared because they will both be big players for us in the busy end to the year and through January.I I like Eustace but his use of superlatives in his post match interview made me chuckle. Words like magnificent and amazing weren't applicable to the performance I watched today.

In some instances uncollected away tickets are sent to the home club and I noticed that Millwall tickets went off sale at Ewood yesterday afternoon. Ring Rovers tomorrow and ask if this is the case with yours. The ticket office staff are helpful and obliging.

I was pleased to see that Jake Cooper is injured. He is a real threat at set pieces for Millwall and very good defensively too.

Managers will always be criticised when things aren't going well (see Guardiola) and whilst Eustace ultimately succeeded in what he was brought in to do he made mistakes. But there absolutely was no dissent towards him at any game. I love it how some posters take the moral high ground by looking back at old posts and latching onto them to try and discredit others.

And we also beat them 2-1 in 2023 at the New Den.

I went to Bamber Bridge last night to see them play Macclesfield and I can't remember having seen a game like it for years. The chances (easy ones at that) missed by both teams was incredible and had the game finished 7-4 to Macclesfield it wouldn't have been a surprise. Macclesfield had ex Rover Tre Pemberton, loanee James Edmondson and of course Robbie Savage as manager. Savage was clearly exasperated at the number of chances they spurned but I was impressed with Edmondson who played as a defensive midfielder in almost a Tronstad role. He was tidy in possession and screened his centre backs with some intelligent positional play.

In his wisdom Waggott thought that having £23 season tickets under 12's would naturally encourage more adults to buy them. The numbers prove his theory wrong (I know of a few adults who bought under 12 tickets for themselves though) so now he has to really focus on the adult price and pitch them reasonably otherwise the numbers will stay similar (unless we are promoted of course). Quoting an average price is a red herring.

£55.10 for me (with a senior railcard) and my 13 year old granddaughter which includes two day travel cards for any TfL journeys which is worth around £18. However this is from Crewe and on West Midlands trains as opposed to the ridiculously expensive Avanti.

There is so much snobbery now in football that managers like Eustace, Allardyce and Pulis wouldn't be popular with lots of fans because of their reputations for not playing the 'right way'. We had it here when we appointed Ince ahead of Allardyce and the story goes that lots of fans objected to the potential appointment of Allardyce. Lots of them changed their tune when he saved us from relegation (as he did at several other clubs) and had us tenth in the Premier League. And sacking him and appointing an upcoming young manager worked out well didn't it.

I thought he got slightly ahead of the ball. Yuki's ball across was excellent but Gueye got a bit excited and misread the weight of the pass for me.

Millwall are in a bit of turmoil right now. Their popular manager left on Saturday, they have an extensive injury list and their is growing disenchantment with their owners. We are in great shape and have a great record down there. Ordinarily these things would point to a Rovers win but this is the Championship. Complacency might be a problem for us but I think Eustace will have the players grounded for Saturday. It's simple for me - another clean sheet and I'm confident of another three points.

I have to question anybody's knowledge of football if they can't see what Tronstad brings to the team. He is fundamental to the way we play and his defensive diligence cannot be understated in the last five games when we haven't conceded a goal. Unless the poster is trying to wind others up.

Another professional performance today when, once again the whole was better than the sum of its parts. Getting the two goal cushion in the first half was great and gave Eustace an opportunity to sit in a bit deeper and play more on the break in the second half as Luton were always going to come out all guns blazing in the second half. It really pleased me that we didn't allow ourselves to be bullied by Luton which has happened too often against them in the recent past. Another pleasing aspect was that we didn't suffer from the changes made to the team which augers well for the future and gives us real competition for places. But to reiterate we have won six games back to back and the last five we have kept clean sheets. Clearly winning is the priority but I get massive satisfaction from the clean sheets. It's not going to last forever but I'm delighted right now with the players and staff.

It was summed up when Waggott did a pre season interview at the Academy when Tomasson was manager. He talked about survival in the Championship for the forthcoming season. He has blighted our club.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/december/13/rovers-stars-spread-christmas-cheer-/ Some excellent work here from Rovers staff and players.

That's fair enough but your earlier posts read like you were trying to justify it.

Some excellent photographs there Ian - they should really appeal to some of the older posters. Thanks for posting.

There have been some great pictures of Rovers supporters queuing outside Ewood (I'm sure it was a Sunday morning) for tickets for the cup match against City. I remember going down with some friends and thinking it would be great if most of these turned up for more home games. I also remember that Rovers put out a plea in the local media for people to go down and help clear the snow off the pitch. I think (although I can't be certain) that there were braziers around the pitch to try and thaw the frost which was well set into the pitch. A local referee came and said the pitch wasn't playable but by way of a thank you to the volunteers the first team had a training session on the pitch which we were allowed to watch. Being in such a big crowd at.Ewood of was exhilarating and Jim Fryatt's goal sparked wild scenes in the Blackburn End. Strangely one abiding memory I have is of one poor Rovers fan who had a heart attack and sadly died. I remember we had to pass the stretcher with his body on over our heads as we were packed into the corner of the Blackburn End (by the Riverside) like sardines in a tin.

It's irrelevant to the shop opening or closing who does the deliveries. Your assumption about numbers of staff picking orders might be right, we don't know but if there are two staff picking orders why not put them behind the counter and serve customers? They still have to heat the place and turn the lights on so there is no energy cost savings. As is usually the case it makes no sense apart from moving to an online ordering service and effectively closing the shop to the general public.