I wouldn't but I imagine Tony will.

Strange definition of "nothing to do." He kept us in the game with one absolutely outstanding save and one very good one. I'd have given him MOM but you couldn't argue with Bennett getting it either, he was terrific 2nd half and is so much better in the middle than out wide.

Much better second half, we scored with probably our only serious effort of the game but who cares, we battled ferociously second half and showed great character. Absolutely massive 3 points that which for the first time this season affords us a bit of wiggle room and the longer we can stay unbeaten the more confidence will build. The turning point of the game came seconds before the goal. Raya produced an absolutely outstanding save to tip a long range effort onto the post. The ball broke up the other end and Rothwell produced a moment of real inspiration to produce a fantastic crossfield ball round the corner to put (Nyambe?) away. The keeper made a save but the ball broke to Palmer for a simple tap in from the middle of the area. We've done really well to grind out nine points with both the obvious deficiencies in the squad exacerbated by injuries to Dack and Armstrong. Be interesting to see what we can so if Brereton comes in and is half decent, we can keep Dack fit and we could bring in a skilful Wideman. Well to to TM and the team for a very hard fought 3 points today.

Poor half. Without Dack we lack any sort of spark or creativity going forward. We could still do with Chapman badly imo.

They have been playing exceptionally well and if Villa hadn't managed an injury time equaliser they'd have had ten points from four games. Much depends upon whether Dack and Palmer are available and fully fit for me. If not I would expect to be given a bit of a run around.

"Waiting for Waggott" ? Bravo Sir! Post of the year. Hope that isn't the epitaph for this window in a week's time If nothing much happens.

Wonder who the Premier League player who was out of contract that unsall thought might be in before weekend was? Looks like that hasn't happened either.

Bizarre isn't it Stuart. Its ok if he's crap and we completely waste our money on him (and he potentially upsets the dressing room) because we aren't wasting a lot on him.

Come off it. What list must he be off? We must be some way past the Z list by now and back on AAand BB etc. After the generally positive reaction to the signing of RodwellI I think if we were linked with Bradley Orr and Leon Best someone would come on here trying to defend it and saying "Trust Tony" and if it was good enough for him it's good enough for them.

Cheers. Strange. Don't have any recollection of their first season at all.

Sorry I was a bit slow off the mark there! Is my mind playing tricks on me re Villa? This season coming up will only be their second in the Championship won't it? How can they be in year 3 of FFP?

They didn't. They drew 2-2.

Doesn't have a low opinion of himself then - surely given his recent past a bit of humility and contrition would have been slightly more advisable and the better line would have been to say that he Didn't expect to walk straight into a team that did so well last season and he would have to fight for his place etc. On a general note I don't really understand why many people don't want to take a relatively cheap punt on Chapman because he's had a couple of injuries, yet because we have actually signed Rodwell it's apparently now ok to completely disregard his injury record and if it Doesn't come off That's ok as well because it is supposedly a similarly cheap punt.

You're probably right that the Brereton deal is dead in the water TM spoke roughly a week ago about moving on from certain deals because they were too expensive, I took him to mean Brereton by that. There's still nothing to contradict the assertion we haven't got a lot to piss in is there? We still haven't signed anyone for a decent fee with just a week of the loan window to go, it's looking increasingly likely that We're not going to get the players in the positions we need, at best we're only going to end up with someone fairly dreadful on loan and now it transpires that quite possibly we Didn't even make a bid for Brereton at all on deadline day. (Not that it particularly matters whether we did or we didn't as there wasn't physically time to complete the deal anyway.) Can't help thinking that as fans We've completely been led up the garden path this summer. If there wasn't any money available they should have just said so from the off. Can't imagine TM is very happy with the way things have transpired, I'm sure he genuinely believed players would be coming in and was only passing on what he'd been told by the "recruitment department" when he made his weekly predictions about varying numbers of players coming in and big money still to be spent etc.

Horrendous signing for me, whatever the sound of the bottom of an extremely deep barrel being scraped sounds like, I think We've just heard it with this deal. Maybe the deal has to be put into context in a week's time when all our other business has been done. However at the moment it smacks of sheer desperation and trying to get a body in through the door for the sake of it having missed out on all our legitimate targets. I don't buy all this "it's a cheap low risk option" nonsense. What he is being paid is largely irrelevant. If players are brought in who don't perform that can send you down and that's a massive risk. Some players come in with a proven track record and /or massive potential and you are excited when they sign. The majority you don't really know too much about and they come with a clean slate. This lad unfortunately has it all to prove both in terms of fitness and character.

Rothwell and Rodwell in. Only Roswell and Rockwell to go.

Knowing our luck it will be the one time he is right.

Tend to agree with Neal on this. Not sure how Smallwood and Evans have flipfiopped between being public enemy number one and the greatest midfielder in the history of the world in such a small space of time. Irrespective of that though the squad is horrendously imbalanced. Even without Rodwell/Trapp/anyone else I think I worked out the other week we have around 13 players for the midfield berths whereas we are particularly short up front, in the wide positions and at CB.

There's no comparison whatsoever between those two and Rodwell. Both were substantial permanent deals not cheap short term pay as you play type arrangements. The only slight similarity is that Bellamy had had a chequered injury record but he was still a top player at the time and highly sought after. We had to pay a big fee for him at the time by our standards. Jeffers is actually the perfect comparison. A history of injuries and a cheap short term loan option. Predictably an absolute waste of time and money. Edit: On a cheap deal strictly as cover for CM and CB AFTER all our other main business has been done Roswell might not be a disaster. As a central strand of the business with no-one else coming in it would be an absolute joke.

Exactly. Why not indeed? Even more galling that one of our own promising young lads (Wharton) has been loaned out to potentially make way for a joker like Rodwell. Guess we Didn't learn much from the experience of bringing in Wes Brown on loan.

Trouble is we aren't going to go unbeaten all season, We're likely to lose almost as many as we draw as the season goes on so we will have to be looking to improve our win ratio.

Not even sure why TM was wasting his time even giving Rodwell the time of day. Anecdotally listening to the fans of other Clubs he is one to avoid like the plague. If he does come in it will be completely at odds with TM's oft quoted mantra this summer of the main thing being how important it is to get players with the right character in. Probably a sign of how desperate we are to get anyone in by this stage.

Christ on a bike he's 30 years old and hasn't even beaten his age in goals! (29) As you said earlier if his presence at Ewood tonight was anything other than purely coincidental it's the sound of an extremely deep barrel being scraped. How can we go from allegedly being prepared to spend £8m on a striker on £4m on a mdfielder to signing that injury riddled talentless lummox? Something doesn't quite stack up there.

People will no doubt shout at me for labelling this as a "must win" game tonight but we need to start getting into the habit of winning our home games and I also think we need to be looking at a minimum of four points from the next 2 home games. Brentford are flying at the moment and that will be an exceptionally tough test. This looks by far the more likely proposition. Six points and eleven points from five games would of course be dreamland.

Once again, couldn't agree more. Taking advantage of a cheap punt due to his injury record on a player with his exceptional talent seems an absolute no brainer to me. Just don't think he is a TM type of player or that he particularly rates him.