jim mk2

Pandya probably won it for India. 169 is a tough task for England

From the absolute pits of a showing at Coventry last week to the excitement and character of last night Unfortunately I chose to attend the former and not the latter Never mind: it shows the highs and lows of football and why the game is so intoxicating and why against all logic we keep coming back for more The cup draws are rarely kind to us: we always seem to draw the "big boys" or difficult opponents and it's about time we drew one of the "minnows" at home and got ourselves in a cup quarter-final for the first time since the Kean debacle at Cardiff I'm dreaming of 2002 all over again.

I stayed away and we won!! Should do it more often Lincoln, Gillingham, Charlton or MK Dons next please

What a good team that was ....... players full of character. Don't you think that 3rd division team would wipe the floor with most Championship teams now and beat the present day Rovers side? They might get done for pace in some areas but the skill level was so much higher

I was planning to go but the "performance" at Coventry really cheesed me off and I don't see the point in going if Tomasson is going to have us playing the same way. If anything it will be a very late decision on the day if we are able to pay on the gate. Does anyone know?

Still remember that game, walking away shaking my head wondering how on earth we had filched a win The beauty of Sam Allardyce. I miss him

You don't lose at a "fortress"

You're right, I haven't been listening......because like Mowbray and all the others he's self-serving and I'm not that interested in what he has to say or any silly slogans like "Team First". Most goalscorers by their nature are selfish, and Armstrong is no exception. He is however an exceptional goalscorer and Rovers are desperately short of those at present.

Time to bring Adam Armstrong back, maybe on loan. He's not Premier League quality but he'll score goals to get us there and he's certainly better than any of Gallagher, Hirst or Vale

Fear not, I'm not

Excellent. My sense of humour... wish I'd thought of it! All you need to know is that if Burnley score first, then it's game over. A Rovers team under Tomasson have never come back from behind (even to draw). Rovers have been awful generally away from home (I've seen 4 defeats) and the losses usually self-inflicted through mucking about with the ball at the back. If Ayala's playing all you need to do is press him and he'll give the ball away. However, if Rovers take the lead expect a hard match because we've shown we can defend narrow leads for long periods, and luck has been on our side. So there it is, my head expects Burnley to win 2-0 but football's not logical so I'll hope for a repeat of 1965-66 when I first attended Turf Moor and go: Burnley 1 Rovers 4

I wasn't there yesterday but the 5 games I've seen this season (we've lost them all) this sums up my frustration with the Tomasson regime. I applaud the pragmatic way we eke out wins in the same way I did with Allardyce but, dear me, it's agony to watch in a way that Sam's teams never were.

I liked the Travis of a few years ago but the player I saw at Coventry in midweek was a shadow of that player, even allowing for the fact he was playing out of position. I think the Mowbray years have affected his game. He needs to go back to the Travis of a few years ago ,the more dynamic player who bossed the midfield and got up and down the pitch alot more. And he needs never to play at full back again

Yet when we've never been able to come back after going behind IIRC. The defence is miles better this season but you have to admit we ride our luck at times.

Chilwell is out injured

Tip tapping at the back…. Was Ayala playing by any chance? I wouldn’t pick him Ale house football created our few chances at Coventry too after 70 minutes of pointless passing

The performance sounds as bad as the one at Coventry except with a different result. How we’re in second place I don’t know except you have to say playing so poorly and expecting to get promotion is unsustainable over the course of a season. Is Tomasson a lucky manager? You’d have to say that he is so far because we’ve been very lucky with some of our wins. We’re in a great position though and I’d love the owners to give him the money to buy a bit of quality in January. We need some better players especially up front

Yes very satisfying. Especially on their own middin. I wonder who they’ll be supporting in the semis……England or India?

Apart from Ayala that's a reasonable team. At least it's not 5 at the back

England never make it easy. If they bat like that in the semis, they'll lose. Brook, Livingstone, Ali and Curran all played either loose shots or were going for the big hit when it wasn't necessary at that stage. Can't they learn that at only 7 an over they only need to nurdle it around for ones and twos?

Any "Sunday league manager", even one with a only a "tiny mind", can see when a formation isn't working so how does that place Tomasson when he still makes the same mistakes and refuses to change a system that isn't working? Is Tomasson therefore worse than a "Sunday league manager" because he's so blind to what's going on or so arrogant and stubborn that he refuses to admit he made a mistake? Using your great intellect would you like to pick a team?

After Tuesday I've seen enough. It's goodbye to 5-3-2 and the cause of our troubles Ayala must stay out of the team Stick to 4-4-2, strengthen he midfield, get the ball forward quicker and move it quicker and keep it simple This is the kick, bollock and bite Championship, not the pass-a-ball Champions League If fit I'd go Kaminski Brittain Hyam S Wharton Pickering Morton Travis Szmodics A Wharton Gallagher Brereton

So prancing around like a showpony passing the ball 10 yards sideways, backwards, sideway, sideways and sideways again ad infinitum earns a MotM. If ever there was a match where no one deserved a MotM Tuesday night was it.

Good post. I spotted early on that alot of our problems stem from Ayala. He's good on the ball but the interminable playing out from the back invariably gets us into trouble and he's usually the one who gives the ball away. The defeats at Reading, Luton and Coventry were cases in point I prefer Hyam and Wharton in a conventional 4-man defence with 2 full backs. The 3-man defence including Ayala with 2 wing backs only encourages him to play the ball around - to absolutely no effect. If Ayala plays he needs to be instructed to get the ball to the front men quicker.

You have to hand it to the Burnley owners/board. They identified Dyche as a top manager who did a great job for them for many years and they seem to have unearthed another gem in Kompany. They looked to be in disarray at the end of last season but there they are sitting pretty at the top of the league and favourites to win it. There's no long term "project" at Turf Moor - only promotion back to the big time in short order