RevidgeBlue

We should be all over that if true. While we're at it get Scott Wharton back as well and let's have two actual centre halves playing in those positions as opposed to converted midfielders.

BB did all right imo yesterday. Nothing earth shattering but the midfield and attack looked a far more cohesive unit in the first half yesterday than when we're lumping long balls up to a past it Danny Graham. If for example it was the first game of the season there was certainly nothing to suggest he should be immediately dropped again. But I'm sure he will be.

Don't have a tape measure to hand but Reed at West Brom maybe?

Have we ever gone 0/12 over Christmas before as we are threatning to do? I can't recall it although that period can't have been particularly good under Lambert.

I never get this obsession with if a young player looks the part, "Send him out on loan, we don't want him playing for us, oh no." No way he should be going out on loan for me but he probably will. He's miles better than the old favourites like Evans, Smallwood, Bennett, Conway etc etc

Yes, I think Palmer is potentially a really good player given a free sort of role across the pitch just behind the striker. I fully expect him to go to another Championship Club and excel Shame TM hasn't been brave enough to allow him and Dack to link up more often and form an understanding. My worry we will lose Dack in January and the guy who was a ready made replacement, at least in the short term whilst we consider our options, will already have gone back. if that happens, if you thought we were bad now.............

I felt Smallwood was a little unfortunate, in real time it was a 50-50 challenge, the ball was there to be won, his body wasn't off the ground, I'm not sure he was overly reckless and he was only a split second away from getting to the ball first. 20 years ago that may not have even warranted a yellow. That said, in today's climate I don't think there'd be any mileage whatsoever in appealing it, and more to the point as others have said at 11 v 10 there's absolutely no need to go diving in and give the referee a decision to make. I think TM's comments are merely an attempt to deflect a bit of attention away from himself and the players after another embarrassing collapse. I don't agree with TM either that at 11 v 10 there was only one winner. For some inexplicable reason our intensity levels dropped off completely as soon as they went down to ten. The same thing happened at Boro, we started fannying about and passing the ball sideways and backwards almost as if we were the ones trying to hold out for a point when in both cases we should have been going for the jugular. Very strange.

Based on what I've seen of us under TM in the 2 seasons or so he's been here I wouldn't be desperately upset were he to be replaced. However, my opinion of him hasn't changed one way or the other based on today, I thought he made an uncharacteristicly brave team selection today and for much of the match it looked like it was working a treat. The only thing I would criticise him for would be two very poor substitutions. I only hope he holds his nerve and continues down the route he dabbled with of trying to play with a bit more invention.

One thing that looked apparent today was that if Reed is out best central midfielder by some margin then Travis is the second best by some margin. How he hasn't featured before now is beyond me and he'll probably get dropped for the next game as well.

Yep, our young players need to plait sawdust every single game or they get dropped like Nuttall who scored 4 in 5 last season then who as soon as he didn't score was dropped never to be seen again.

Didn't threaten but I thought they all linked up well first half. If it was the first game of the season and not game 25 everyone would have been saying he did ok.

Weird game. First half I thought was 1000% better than the stale old shite we've been watching since the QPR game. Smallwood was having a great game, Travis and Reed were providing the urgency we usually lack in midfield and Rothwell and Palmer were inventive on either flank. Without unduly threatning Brereton looked a very mobile outlet and at half time I was very happy. Second half the worst thing that could have happened was them going down to ten. We seemed to lose all our urgency and started to knock the ball out aimlessly sideways and backwards as is our wont. Still no major need to panic at that stage though. However I thought the manager got the subs completely wrong. If he was bringing Brereton off, Graham needed to come on and taking Palmer off was really harsh as he'd had a good game I thought. Armstrong came on and started on the right wing then floated about a bit and barely touched the ball. With Dack dropping deep the changes left us a goal down and no-one up front. I'd like to see the sending off again. Smallwood may have gone in slightly studs up but it was a split second thing and the referee who'd been getting the bird off the crowd couldnt seem to wait to pull a red out and even it up. After Smallwood was dismissed we completely fell apart. Goal 2 resulted from Rothwell taking an outrageous dive in their area to try and win a penalty and less than ten seconds later the ball was in the back of our net. The lack of resilience is frightning. Not sure where we go from here. Fear TM will revert to the same old same old which hasnt been working whereas in the first half it looked as though we were on the right lines. Dack looked exceptionally pally with the opposition players at the whistle. Somewhat worrying.

Spot on.

Having dropped Evans, please please perform today Rovers. Lol. Particularly hope Palmer, Travis and Brereton have blinders.

I thought Dack had his best game for a long time at Leeds. Palmer needs to be in his favoured position of number 10 behind the striker. (BB) If we line up with BB on the wing and Palmer up front I'll scream.

Well done TM for shaking it up a bit. Not sure about Dack on the bench but other than that looking forward to it slightly more now.

Lol. On the away travel now about 25 mins away. Beautiful sunny day. What could possibly go wrong? My mates reckon they've cracked it. Leave on 80 mins, go home happy and don't check the results for a week.

I didn't realise until I checked last night that after 24 games, other than Dack, Graham and Mulgrew the rest of the squad have only contributed SIX goals between them. That's absolutely appalling and unless we can sort that out, which will probably require the manager to revamp his philosophy we're bound to struggle. In fact, it's probably surprising we've as many points as we have. Stop Dack (and don't give away any penalties or stupid free kicks on the edge of your box) and essentially you stop Rovers.

For me they're both fairly limited but at least Smallwood is a battler and does his best to get stuck in. Evans has no heart imo and it always seems to me as though his primary aim is to get through the 90 mins expending the minimum effort possible.

He has looked decent in central midfield and I would have no real problem with him being selected in that position but TM never plays him there barring an injury crisis. imo he is hopeless out wide on either flankand not particularly good at RB. Reed shouldn't be playing on the right wing either but if you're choosing between the two there's surely no comparison.

We'll see if TM is genuinely bothered by the recent calamities in his team selection tomorrow. My bet would be not and it's basically "same again lads" with any changes being limited to maybe Smallwood coming back in for Rodwell and no doubt he wont be able to resist bringing the ineffective Bennett back in the second he's fit.

I committed to going a few weeks ago and dearly wish I wasn't. It's getting pretty soul destroying wasting your time and money watching anti football only to see us lose or on the occasions we do manage to crab a lead courtesy of a free kick or penalty carelessly toss it away.

I'm in a minority of two with possibly Neal who think that where Evans and Smallwood are concerned Smallwood is by far the lesser of two evils. For me without Smallwood to back him up we saw how poor Evans is against Leeds, Jason Lowe apart he's the ultimate nothing player and he looked like a little boy lost playing with the adults the other day. I honestly believe we'd look better with any combination of our other midfielders other than Evans . Get Reed if fit (or Travis if not) and Smallwood in the middle to give us a bit of energy and bite. Don't allow Williams anywhere near the starting eleven and bring Palmer and Rothwell in so we've half a chance of passing the ball to each other and we might stand a bit more of a chance.

Neither. They weren't good enough to stop us going down and we wouldn't have been promoted without Dack. At the time we were relegated I'd say only Mulgrew would have been considered a major loss although Graham has done better since. I'm sure that ideally they would rather not have played in League 1 but obviously they must have been well enough remunerated not to receive an equivalent or better offer from a Club higher up the pyramid. Bit of a stretch to call it a masterstroke on behalf of the manager.

Unless it was very well hidden, there was zero interest in any of those three at whatever money they were on.