Armstrong was sold for 15m as reference again by Broughton this summer as a warped benchmark used by Venkys to reject bids for Brereton. We bought him for 3m so if we made a profit of 4m then Newcastle had a 66% sell on relating to profit. No chance.

Its naive to expect any player let alone a young lad with minimal first team experience to be able to cope with his partner in midfield, 4 attackers and the full backs often high up the pitch and him left to protect the centre backs on counter attacks when we are so exposed. His demeanour has been identical, its just his style and doesnt mean he isnt trying his hardest. He has at times been sloppy but the system is not helping him and Tomasson needs to help him out.

Because hes been left isolated in there because of the tactics.

Obviously the defence, but that is down to the style of play, the same defence was good last season when we werent playing so gung ho. But a striker like Armstrong would have a field day with all these chances.

Considering the chances created and that we have to be so gung ho to do so, not really.

But in games, where it matters, Pears has averaged pretty much a goal causing error across the last 6 games. It can just also be that Tomasson has poor judgement, managers often have blind spots towards players, hes making a mistake here. Last season he decided to not change back to Kaminski when fit, we know how good Kaminski was, so the wrong call was made. Maybe Tomasson does think weve got a dud and I appreciate that, but the performance standards of Pears are so low where it matters thats its worth a go.

I never said we could balance the books, running a Championship club means losses are par for the course.. But the current level of losses is down to the owners, they could be less than what they are. Employ a CEO with instruction to increase revenue streams and boost the match going fanbase. Be consistent, so dont have summers of the taps being totally off which then blocks the process of signing players before developing and profiting off them. And crucially, dont block sales of players whose contracts are expiring. My point was, say we make 12m on Brereton and Rothwell. Reinvest 6m of that, a substantial amount considering our whole squad barely cost 10m and half of that was 4 or 5 years ago. Of course there is then scope to make money off those purchases in the future. Put 6m towards losses. So it massively helps.

This argument about training is nonsense. Where it matters in games, Pears has made 5 errors leading to goals in the last 6 games or so. Tomasson also picked Pears over a goalkeeper we saw in games was a lot better. Pears continuing in goal does not make it the right decision by Tomasson. If Tomasson was happy with Pears why did we spend 800k on a sub?

He was never going to "throw in" Wahlstedt not because he shouldnt but because he seems to think that Pears is far better than he actually is. Why drop him after the 5th mistake if you didnt after the 3rd or 4th? We could at least hope that Tomasson will finally see sense. But no. Bemoaning individual mistakes yet leaving in the biggest contributor.

It makes sense that your argument is based on the myth that our fanbase demands that the owners "write blank cheques." Thats not the issue. We would have money to re circulate if they run the club properly. Dont stubbornly refuse to sell players running down their deals which could allow both relatively speaking considerable sums to both reinvest and slightly stem losses. Dont slash budgets randomly mid summer affecting plans. Dont continue to employ an incompetent CEO who affects revenue streams.

You know what the uniquely negative Rovers fan base are like! I dont think people are surprised. Just annoyed about Tomassons continued lapse in judgement.

Pears to start. What a joke, why cant Tomasson see how bad he is?! Impossible to see past an away win.

Brittains main strength is negated at left back. Pickering should play.

Would be equally happily with him at right back. Was just thinking because Rankin Costello can do what Pereira does for them and become an extra midfielder so we dont get overrrun.

Ive never really bought that Pears is anything special with his feet. But I dont see how the number of goals he has been responsible for in the last few games is defendable or even worthy of meaning that he "must" start v Leicester. He will, managers tend to have players they seem to have blind spots towards and Pears is that to Tomasson. The Hull winner, Pears' positioning was awful. Against Plymouth, goals 2 and 3 were blatant mistakes. Against Sunderland, he should have saved the 2nd. And against Ipswich, the second was a poor kick out albeit a superb pass by Chaplin to take advantage, and the 4th was a poor decision to punch it out to Luongo.

There definitely is a plan and a specific way that Tomasson has really got across. The worry is especially with an average, young and thin group, whether it is naive in quite how gung ho it is and whether Tomasson will be willing to compromise that to retain a level of solidity. Chance creation is really good but we are also letting other teams create too many chances.

Was that not before his excellent season in Mowbrays final season when we played a back 3?

Its not just as simple as cutting out errors as if its as easy as that, unless Tomasson reigns in the setup then Wharton will continue to be isolated trying to protect 2 centre backs and players will keep being isolated.

Garrett was the other choice in mind and would give balance, and he and Travis could get up and down so I would be happy with that. Brereton did get into goalscoring positions hence the number of taps ins he scored but I did notice that Sigurdsson also did last night a few times, including his goals and also one that went over the bar. That was a good sign, Telalovic's movement was non existent and he just removed the space for others.

Of course, and he might well prove to be more effective even in a less natural position than the alternatives. But we could have done with a natural winger we went for as well as him and would have done had it not been for the budget slashing. But he is clearly better suited central, so it might be a case of trying to work with an imbalance in the side to get them both in rather than opt for someone not as good.

Sky cant bear to miss out on tantalising Prem v Prem team clashes for the third time in the year.

Really tough game and hard to see us getting much here. They have the best midfield in the league with Pereira moving from RB to help Ndidi, Winks and Dewsbury Hall out, and they also have Mavidivi and McAteer who are really dangerous wide men and a choice of goalscorers up front. We definitely need to make sure that at the very least, Travis sits deep alongside Wharton and Wahlsted comes in too. I would strongly consider a third midfielder who could bulk us up in there and also Rankin Costello in for the unfortunate Brittain (no point moving him to LB as his strength is then cancelled out) just for an extra player to drift into midfield. We have 3 clear choices in attack but in the absence of a definite striker and with 2 of those 3 wanting to play the same role its hard to pick a side with any semblence of balance. So this is a reluctant experiment. Wahlstedt Rankin Costello Hill Hyam Pickering Tronstad Wharton Travis Moran Szmodics Sigurdsson Would be content with Leonard up top and Tronstad dropping out though if it was done with Travis sitting much deeper. (I expect the same line up and tactics as against Ipswich bar maybe Dolan for Leonard if he misses through injury)

That is a hell of a statement so early on. Brereton got 14 goals and Dack got 4 goals just in the league, 17 and 8 in all competitions so 18 (25) between them last season. To upgrade, they need more than that, and are currently on 1 league, 4 in all competitions. Big ask. That front 4 relies not only on the impossible ie Ennis being fit on a regular basis but again, it might look good on paper but there is no balance because 2 of them want to play in the same position.

Is Pochettino a brilliant manager? He did a good job at Spurs undoubtedly building them up albeit they were always nearly men even when Leicester were the team to catch, and I have never understood why to many he is amongst the elite managers.

Ultimately the uncompetitive budget cuts have left us with an incomplete squad, undoubtedly. Problem is, Moran would have been a step up from Hedges and is from the likes of Markanday, so you have to try and fit him in. But he lacks the pace to play from a wide role, he is clearly a natural central player. Szmodics is too important in terms of goals to be jumping into moving him.