Is promotion now the target, rather than the initial stage of the "journey?"

To be fair, you could have said the same about yourself and Rovers in recent years! I hope he does, but I dont think the opinions are unfair, especially compared to Foden who I think is a brilliant player.

Mount is ok. Sterling also far less deserving of a start.

We need more than 1 or 2. No full back cover, no experienced central midfielders and needing a striker or most likely 2.

Says in the Daily Mail that the side tomorrow will likely be Pickford, Trippier, Stones, Maguire, Shaw, Rice, Mount, Bellingham, Saka, Sterling and Kane. Southgates continued inability to fully utilise Foden is criminal.

If Tom Sutton recommended him then perhaps he needs a P45!

A week in hiding and this is the best counter argument you could think of? It shows bias beyond the point of constructive debate to just pass off the blame onto the players when we lose, yet praise the manager upon victory. Tomasson made a series of strange tactical/personnel decisions that IMO led to a very comprehensive defeat. I am aware of our league position and have praised it numerous times. It has no real relevance to a post specifically dedicated to 1 game. Also, on social media, if any player is tone deaf enough to post that they are going to whatever location after being battered by our local rivals the day before, and I am as understanding as anyone of the use of a week rest prior to a mini pre season. But if they post it at that point, they deserve the criticism thrown their way.

I know what has been said, but I have many questions. The ultimate reason that he hasn't made squads so often is IMO because he is shit, simply not good enough. I have questions about who actually wanted him, Broughton or Tomasson and have never swallowed the "number 1 striking target" nonsense. Tomasson would never come out and say "I never wanted him" or "he isn't very good hence why I don't play him" so I guess that we will never know.

Out of interest, how much of your interest in a World Cup starts and ends with England's involvement? I find the whole thing exciting, all 8 groups, I will be wishing England to win as much as anyone , but I love the days with 4 matches and I am excited to see all teams. The big teams and the big players like Mbappe, Neymar, Messi etc that I don't see weekly, the strong underdogs like Denmark, Serbia, Uruguay, Senegal, Croatia and even USA with really talented players, and even the more minor countries like Canada, Morocco, Poland etc with a couple of stand out players trying to drag average players with them. I think you come across as someone who is so fixated on England that even when you watch other games, your whole mindset is based on how those teams compare to England, and if we went out in the group stage, your general interest would fizzle out. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I shall put Qatar v Ecuador on shortly and will no doubt be frustrated with a continued over emphasis on England to the point that minimal research about todays 2 teams will be done and a long interview in the England camp will take priority.

Ive always felt that Dier was a poor defender prone to making errors like ve did against Liverpool. Maguire has had 18 months of horrendous form since which cant be ignored and again I dont rate him as a defender, very succeptible to pace in particular. I do think that you could paint any England player in a positive light in your defence.

It is a clear weakness in the team, Maguire has been shocking for ages and bas been dropped to 4th choice at United and Dier has always been a poor defender IMO.

A defence with Dier and Maguire in it will likely be a huge weak point against any good forwards, if we did end up against France then Mbappe would be licking his lips. I think you struggle to not be overly biased towards England to the point whereby an injury to a totally different team in a different group instantly is spun back in your head to England. When you watch games in other groups, do you do so purely to watch those 2 teams or simply to weigh up the competition for England?

Iran have Taremi at Porto but also Azmoun at Leverkusen, Ghoddos at Brentford and Jahanbaksh at Feyeenord who was previously at Brighton. Plus a few other players in more minor European leagues. Probably the weakest team in the group though. I feel like America have some really good young talent.

The World cup is interesting for the spread of the best players and interesting teams across all groups. As ever, I am sure that 95% of all coverage will be pointless regurgitated interviews with Southgate etc rather than discussion about the different teams.

Lots of big players pulling out injured, the latest 2 being Mane and Benzema. France now dont have Benzema, Pogba, Kante, Nkunku and Kimpembe.

He didnt seem to upset many senior defenders in League 2.

Of course, but I don't think that requires targets that guarantee graduates x minutes.

But it wouldn't be a fluke in that no team uses its resources totally efficiently. It wouldn't in anyway reduce the scope of the achievement if it meant that for example teams with parachute payments missed out.

It wouldn't be a fluke, but it would be a very good achievement. Our revenue may (partially self inflicted) not be top 3 or top 6 in the league but it isn't lower than the "majority" of the league though. A project in which specific targets are put on playing academy graduates does not really scream an underlying desperation to go up.

What is our style? People banged on about the high press and the fluid front 4 all summer but neither has materialised, and although we do pass it out more, it is certainly not a consistent, defined style.

The first team squad are all on holiday.

I find the topic of expectations an interesting one, there has been lots of post-Sunday talk about us being third as if we are doing exceptional things. This is an example of media conversation: https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/blackburn-rovers-transfer-needs-opportunity-25520157 I took exception to the following: "Whilst a top-ten finish would have been a fantastic achievement at the start of the season." Why are our expectations so low? A fantastic achievement would be promotion, admittedly not one we could align with our budget, but equally we are not a minnow. We finished 8th under Mowbray and whilst I appreciate the position we was in and the time he spent in situ etc, he was rounded out towards the end, so how can 2 places below ever be "fantastic." A top 6 finish would be a good achievement, bordering on very good, but it is not this unfathomable prospect, many teams with similar and even less money have got into the play offs.

Does it even suit Brereton? It often leaves him isolated, he is at his best when we counter quickly.

Of course he needs to be jettisoned now for undermining the manager but a lot of what he says will be true about the direction of the club, agenda or not.

Who has said that "JDT is as bad as Coyle?" They may have done and if so my apologies, but like the stuff about sacking Tomasson, they seem to be baseless allegations with the intention of making our fans seem unreasonable. Should we be able to compete over a season? For the top 2, maybe not although you can reel off the names of recent top 6 finishers with less resources than us. But this was about one game, and I don't get how anyone (this isnt aimed at you) can react to such a beating in the first local derby in years with a shrug of the shoulders. We didn't compete and some of those factors were as a result of choice rather than selection, we had more experienced alternatives on the bench and Tomasson's supposed number 1 striking target left at home. If we can't expect to be competitive against a Burnley side in the same league as us and one that we would have overtaken with a win, whats the point?