arbitro

What a shambolic, chaotic defensive display that I witnessed today. There has been lots of fans asking to bring experience in but today we had an experienced back four who couldn't do the simplest, easiest and most basic aspects of defending. I can't remember when I last saw an experienced defender like Hyam pulled around like he was by Thomas-Asante. He was in front of him, behind him, pulling him into the other half whilst Hyams head was on a swivel looking for him. I don't think I've seen a marder pair than Brittain and Sigurdsson for a long time. I think back to Jim Branagan, a really limited player with a big heart. Those two are the opposite - give me a Branagan anytime. So disappointed with us today and this is going to take some fixing as the body language of too many players didn't give me too much hope going forward. My real doubt is that too many won't be up for a scrap and we are certainly in one after today. There has to be scrutiny about the managers position when you are losing games particularly the manner of some of those defeats. Personally I still think he is the right man but I am seriously questioning too many players right now. For their first goal we had four players in a position to defend the throw and not one accepted responsibility. I still don't know what Hyam was trying for the second and the third was comic cuts. I didn't really see the fourth but I was told Hyam was culpable in that one too. I expect more from a captain. We stayed right to the end as I wanted to see the players reaction and that was generally feeble apart from Tronstadt who held his hands up and said sorry. The others who bothered just gave a little clap and then scarpered.

And the fee we get for Gallagher would be eaten up in a loan fee and contribution to his wages so ultimately we gain absolutely nothing but instead lose an experienced player. We are in a mess and right now there just doesn't seem to be a way out of it. And all roads lead to Pune.

1300 tickets sold and pay on the day could see 1500 Rovers fans at the Hawthorns today. Once again it's a great effort and I wonder how many we would sell if we we were in the top six.

The ridiculous scheduling of the Wrexham match really takes the edge of a draw which excited many of us. 7.30 pm on a Monday night will almost certainly mean a much smaller crowd than we could have expected. And if we get through the fifth round is once again scheduled for mid-week. There is already a heap of criticism over the times and days of some fourth round matches as once again the TV companies and football authorities show scant disregard for the fans. Hopefully the new Football Regulator (whenever he is appointed and if he/she isn't a yes man/woman) considers the most important people in the game - the fans.

It's a foul on Trafford for me as the Luton player deliberately glances over his shoulder to see where he is. It's clear impeding of an opponent and if that went against us today we'd all be seething. But because it's them I couldn't give a flying fart about justice. I thought Komapany was going to cry in his interview. Seeing things like that make our current results a tad more bearable 😂😂.

That's exactly my point - ours should have been £16 for the game at Huddersfield and each category matched by both clubs. That is my interpretation of a reciprocal agreement.

I paid £4 more for a ticket than Huddersfield fans will - how is that fair? I also paid £15 for a twelve year old when Huddersfield will be charged £7. If you think that is fair then that's up to you but when this has been sold as a reciprocal agreement then the differential is far too much in my view. Had the club said this upfront I could have accepted it but it was a Waggott boast that isn't quite true.

With two under 21 matches (Sunday and Wednesday) maybe there will be an opportunity for some of the returnees to get some game time.

There is a live match tomorrow at 5.15 so you can have a dummy run 😂.

This is for Sky Q. I'm not sure about anything else but a quick Google search should help. Scroll to Set Up and press the centre button to select it. Scroll to Preferences and select Go to Audio Language press the centre button and change it from English to Welsh, also make sure Audio Description is set to off. This will ensure you have English language commentary on S4C when it is available automatically.

It is in Welsh but you can adjust your settings to get English. I have watched several LoW matches and FA Cup matches on S4C with English commentary.

Further to my post above I now have the full pricing categories and apart from the adult one they are all different with the Huddersfield ones being more expensive. I have written to Waggott asking him to explain how this has happened. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23934491.blackburn-rovers-confirm-huddersfield-town-ticket-agreement/

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/january/11/ticket-news--rovers-v-huddersfield-town/ So the reciprocal deal that Swag boasted he had done with Huddersfield wasn't exactly reciprocal. As a senior I paid £20 for the Boxing Day game but any senior from Huddersfield coming to Ewood next week will pay £16. I can't find the other categories apart from adult to compare with. It appears to be another of his 'I am wonderful looking after our fans' moments.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67417862 This is a good report although Premier League specific. I wonder if the pitches are partly to blame as the modern ones have very little 'give' in them. The harder pitches and training grounds are what the modern game demands but I have a theory that the extra pounding on a firmer surface contributes to more of the soft tissue injuries.

Livermore played against us for Watford a few weeks ago. Did you not see him.

Monday evening?

Both Ennis and Markanday were disappointing overall particularly in the first half. Ennis missed two easy chances although I suppose you could argue he got in the right positions to miss them. Markanday just flatters to deceive although he took his goal well. In normal circumstances neither would be anywhere near the first team and personally I would loan/sell both of them if our squad was stronger.

Last nights match was the proverbial game of two halves from our perspective. Poor in the first half and should really have been more than two. In the second half we got on the front foot and poured forward and although the two goal winning margin probably flattered us we deserved to win I thought. Batty summed up the general Rovers performance, poor in the first half, awful body language and looking disinterested. He was the antithesis of this in the second half and showed why he was so highly regarded up to recently. Contrary to some posts on another thread Pears wasn't at fault for their goals - it was rank bad defending. He dealt with pretty much everything particularly late on when they had a flurry of corners and his long ball distribution was really good. Ayari was taken off at half time but didn't really do anything of note albeit no Rovers player did during the first half. Finneran looks a real prospect and whilst he is clearly learning he showed some really good things and coped physically. Nobody saw the second half performance coming but credit to Mike Sheron and the players for a great comeback.

Aynsley Pears starts for Rovers under 21's tonight against Reading. Ayari, Markanday and Ennis also start.

Brighton are in the upper echelons of the Premier League for me. They play in a way that suits Moran, have a really good manager and coaching staff. His goal has to be playing regularly for them and then who knows. To my knowledge Brighton have never stood in the way of any player recently so if his potential is reached then the rest will follow.

He can become a regular player for Brighton in the Premier League as well as a regular for the ROI. His style is suited to how Brighton play and once he goes back next season I can see him kicking on again.

Far too many players have been in poor form recently so it's difficult to single any individual out. I saw enough of Moran before we tanked to see his qualities.

A few days before an important Championship match and no match thread so I thought I'd start one. The Hawthorns has been a decent ground for us in recent years with a mixed bag of results. We will be looking for our first double of the season having beaten them at Ewood of in the first game of the season. With three wins, two draws and a defeat in their last six games it will be a real test although goalscoring has been a problem for them. They will be missing arguably their most creative player in Diangana who is away with DR Congo in the ACN. Maja and Phillips are also out but Dike made a goalscoring return from injury recently and will be a real threat. Hopefully at least one of our injured players can return to strengthen us.

We got that money last season along with a few hundred thousand for numerous TV appearances. We didn't see any of it. According to Swag at a Fans Forum it went back to the owners to help service the debt.