How do you know it has nothing to do with tactics and that he is coming back himself and defying the tactics of the manager? He has been playing crap, so have all of our attacking players. As a team we have scored 3 goals in 5 games. Dolan, Szmodics and Thomas have also failed to score in those games. I don't think for most of the season that we have offered much attacking threat, and I think that is for two reasons. The attacking players at our disposal are not great, aided by lack of investment/scope for sales and reinvestment by the owners. But still, these players were here last season and our goals per game has dropped from 1.28 to 1.1. Tomasson's tactics are very cautious and we rarely create many chances. That isn't to say it is necessarily wrong as it could get us in the play offs but it is something we have struggled with all season. Brereton becomes an easy scapegoat because firstly he has been the one to score the goals in the last 2 years plus also agreeing a move at the end of the season means that people can question his commitment. But I think considering how unthreatening the rest of our attackers are, aside from Dack. The key to any hopes of staying in the top 6 may depend on Brereton scoring 2/3/4 in these 4 games. You wouldn't fancy any of the others to do it. I think a key to that is playing him closer to the goal.

Kaminski Rankin Costello Carter Hyam Pickering Travis Morton Wharton Thomas Brereton Szmodics Really difficult to pick a team at the moment. Gone for 3 in the middle to replicate the dominance at Huddersfield. Kaminski has to start, he is a far better keeper and Pears has started to appear nervy. If both full backs are out, we are truly fucked.

It isn't, he might come back and try but he hasn't got a defensive bone in his body. Problem is, playing in a 4231 puts more defensive onus on the wide men compared to 4 options. The first is to drop him entirely, but considering the lack of goals amongst the other options and the lack of quality, that concerns me. The second is to keep playing him where he is in a 4231 where he isnt suited. IMO that leaves 2 options. Leave him from the left but change formation maybe to a 433 where we looked far better against Huddersfield and that also coincided with Brereton getting chances and being far more involved. The alternative to that would be to put him up front in the absence of any proven quality elsewhere. I refuse to accept that a part of the reason why he hasn't been as successful this season is not down to the tactics not suiting him as much as they did last year. There may well be other factors, notably having agreed to leave and also maybe teams figuring him out, but the tactics don't suit him as much. To drop him means that our goals have to then come from Szmodics, Dolan, Thomas and Hedges especially with Gallagher seemingly out and Dack unfit and none of them are natural goalscorers.

So you wouldn't have him here, but think that a Premier League team would be stupid enough to have him? Suppose based on recent appointments, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise. But still bizarre.

You wouldnt sell him if Liverpool offered us £50m in the summer? Fantastic talent, one I really rate and am frustrated he hasnt played much more, but that is a hell of a lot of money for someone who has barely played first team football.

At Rovers? Little surprise when he can get a big deal at a big Spanish club.

Just going to encourage congestion now. Stupid decision.

Makes no sense. We wouldn't be obligated to offer him a new deal even if he wasnt off to Spain. (Although I imagine someone who had scored 30 odd goals in 2 seasons would be someone we would retain if at all possible.)

One step at a time, I think he stands out for us but my excitement comes with him thriving at Rovers before we start putting him next to Bellingham.

Would agree to an extent, but we didn't last year and still the way we collapsed brought justified criticism. We "tried" with Obafemi and also Maja on loan but ultimately even then we wasn't allowed money to replace Armstrong. Also, Sunderland don't, Preston don't, West Brom don't really.

When you reel off the teams. Luton. Millwall having lost their star man. Coventry, we nabbed their best defender for a pittance during their run in in which they couldn't play home games. Sunderland, managed by Mowbray and left with no strikers with their star man having picked up a bad injury and his back up being recalled at the end of the window. Preston, barely spend a penny, team full of loans and journeymen. That's a big reason why dropping out of the top 6 would be so unavoidably frustrating.

One of my favourite things about Wharton is that (in game at least, allegedly) for such a slight kid, socks rolled down, he puts his foot in.

I think he will play Dolan there personally. Which is a huge worry.

As pointed out, its a bit of a false figure that could be avoided if we were run normally. We could have made over £12m within 6 months, spent roughly double the amount we did in the summer (£8m compared to £4m) and then would have had a net profit of £4m rather than a net loss on transfers. As it is, very limited in what we can do. Seems like frees and loans this summer. Next season is not the focus. We need to play the best players we have in the here and now.

Incredible how you watch a Rovers player play so well and instantly revert back to England!

I find it absolutely incredible that you repeatedly cannot separate the situations, obviously I am not advocating sacking Tomasson in the summer. I am saying if and when, maybe Tomasson will go elsewhere, maybe he will get fed up with the set up here, maybe a bigger side will try and poach him, maybe this summer, maybe next, whenever. I also don't get why you think Lampard would be unobtainable, he will be a free agent with at best a sketchy CV, I would be flabbergasted (not totally though, looking at some of the strange managerial decisions that clubs make in the Premier League) if any Premier League teams wanted him. So I will re-word. Whenever Tomasson goes, assuming Lampard would consider coming, would you take him?

But in his main season, he played predominantly essentially in a front 2 (Buckley floating in between) right up the pitch, or on occasions, as left of a three, as he played the season prior when he improved. Playing as a left winger in a 4231 is not the same, it requires a lot more running back and a lot less scope for playing on the shoulder. That is a huge reason IMO why he hasn't offered the same threat this season, the tactics don't suit him as much. That's why I think we need to have a re-think, the status quo isn't working. In the absence of any competent strikers, a situation worsened by Gallagher being injured who himself is not very good most of the time. The alternatives now are Dolan who showed how poor he is at offering an out ball last night, and Leonard who has played about 40 minutes of senior football. Having Brereton right up top would offer us at least some physicality, and also the option to go in behind. Plus he is our main shot at getting goals. He hasn't played up front very often for us but when he has been effective, it has been in formations which naturally lend themselves to him being far closer to the opposition goal and also narrower than he is in the 4231. His best game from the last 4 and the only time he offered a goal threat was against Huddersfield because again, the 433 let him be further forward. He was having chances and getting involved. Even if he stays on the left, which makes me worry about who we put down the middle, I would prefer at least to be in a 433 where he can be closer to the opposition goal. There may be a subconscious part of him that fears injury and I get that, it is a terrible indictment on the club (well the owners) that we have got into this situation in the first place. But I feel that every time he mis controls the ball or whatever, things he did even when he was at the top of his game, it is put down to his head being elsewhere which I don't think is entirely accurate. We have to make do now and I just think moving him as I mentioned above is the best way to get him closer to goal. As you said, yesterday why not have him down the middle?

Again, 4 blocked shots and a meagre 2 shots on target all game hardly scream exhilarating performance! Business end of the season, grind out a 1 nil win and deserved praise, that's all that matters but I can't fathom how it can be seen as a very good performance. Offered nothing in attack and sat back too long offering nothing on the break unfortunately. I would say that the last 5 games overall have been nowhere good enough both in performances and results. Continuing is not the mindset we need, things need to change to get over the line.

He has been crap but I feel that the questions over how much he cares are unfair. Today, every time anything around him broke down, you could hear moans around me suggesting that he wasn't trying. Tomasson's tactics don't get the best out of him, he is a player suited to being more central and further up the pitch than he plays. He is quite quick, quite powerful and offers a threat in behind. He can also finish. He has never been the best player technically or the most elegant.

If Tomasson went in the summer for whatever reason, would you have him here?

"Very" well? Like I said, had we won, it would have fit the grinding out a 1 nil win narrative but we certainly didn't play "very well." Very passive, no real intention to attack and never offering a threat hence why the only other chances you can think of were blocked! We played well at Huddersfield, that is the only game we have played well really since the international break, where the results have been won 0, drawn 3, lost 2. Continuing with things is not right, we need to have a re-think because we are again as for much of the season are not offering barely any goal threat. Performances are dull, we struggled to break teams down and we are not half as defensively stable as we once were. How were the subs bizarre? Going to a back 5 as we did unsuccessfully at Sheff United handed the initiative even more to Coventry. Taking Adam Wharton off was strange too.

He was hopeless. Very happy with the performance? Really? If we see that out, its your typical grinding out a 1 nil and thats great. But I didn't see a very good performance at all. Cagey, even first half, little in it. Did we ever look like scoring after that? We didnt seem to have any interest in pushing for a second and going forward we offered nothing. You say keep playing well, we have been shit lately. Tomasson calling for VAR post match.

Feels like a decisive night in a bad way losing those 2 points to such a dodgy goal. But controlling what we can, not good enough. We backed off and it felt somewhat inevitable. The subs didnt help, Dolan was shocking and couldnt keep the ball and Thomas was all over the place as a wing back, the third centre back invited pressure. Brittain was hopeless too. Wharton absolutely outstanding and the 2 centre backs and Rankin Costello were good. The attacking players struggled to contribute and Pears doesnt instill confidence.

I dont understand how Gallagher has maintained his place at all. Glad to see Wharton play in midfield but worried that they might over run us in midfield. Glad to see Dack back on the bench. I don't necessarily mind Leonard dropping out, there is a lot of pressure and it is a critical game and you'd fancy the 3 attacking options on the bench over him at this stage.

It seemingly doesnt "fit our recruitment model" to sign experienced players. Mainly because everything is done on the cheap with an overreliance on the academy to make up the numbers. I doubt it will change.