roversfan99

Do you expect our current underwhelming set of attacking players to suddenly start becoming more clinical in front of goal though? Ive seen many suggest that it is only a matter of time before the goals start going in but I dont get why as we dont have a natural goalscorer. Also, are we likely to create 20 odd chances in every game? Probably not.

Is the last time we have signed a player over the age of 26 or 27 Daniel Ayala aged 29, over 3 years ago?

Such a difficult team selection ahead of a crucial game, we have a couple of fixtures coming up that if we don't sort our issues out at both ends could see us looking nervously over our shoulder. There just aren't the alternatives to make much of a difference. First name on the team sheet should be Wahlstedt, Tomasson deserves sympathy for most of the restrictions but his continued choice to play Pears is not helping his cause. Wharton is a conundrum, he has not been great this season and was terrible last night, but he is such a talent. Tronstad is in the cold at the moment and didn't impress v West Brom but could maybe help to stiffen things up in midfield. In attack, god knows. Leonard was the only one who could score yesterday but has particularly looked off it away from home, and Telalovic has struggled in his cameos, but maybe could give us a bit more pace. I suspect Sigurdsson won't be fit enough to start and Dolan and Markanday aren't up to it. Maybe: Wahlstedt Brittain Carter Hyam Pickering Travis Tronstad Wharton Szmodics Telalovic Moran Doesn't make me confident, Moran is quite slow and not suited out wide and Szmodics is out of position too. Not convinced that Telalovic will be the ready made answer. Could put Rankin Costello, Hedges or even Leonard amidst that team, either way our best chance is probably a 1 nil smash and grab.

I think Elliott Jackson is keen to maintain good relations, borne out by his match ratings. Why do they reduce the concern of the goals conceded? We have looked massively vulnerable to counter attacks all season, which has made us look far more brittle. We have a small team so will naturally be vulnerable to set pieces, and by the way, our attacking ones continue to frustrate. And the error was from passing it out from the back. As a team, not just from the goals conceded, we look far less secure this season, and Hyam and Carter have looked much shakier as a result.

Hes never been particularly good hence his inability to ever nail down a starting place. Problem is due to constant budget cuts, we need him to step up more than ever and he isnt capable.

Hardly inexplicable. 200k paid for a decent squad player. Problem now is such has been the recent budget cuts, he has to be a key player. Armstrong, Brereton, Rothwell, Dack, Kaminski, Pickering, the loans of Adarabioyo, Elliott, Harwood Bellis, Reed, the likes of Smallwood, Downing etc in League 1, his overall transfer record was no worse that what we have seen since. Although everyone has had their work cut out by the budget cuts and regular summers of the taps being turned off.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23803406.mowbray-praises-blackburn-rovers-despite-sunderland-victory/ Mowbray with some nice words. Ultimately not the first manager to say stuff like this. When other managers are regularly saying how well you played after beating you by 2 or 3 clear goals, it becomes less of a source of pride and more a worry. Soft touch.

We werent mugged. We just cant score goals.

I dont get this narrative that luck isnt on our side and especially the one that surely we will start taking our chances soon. We dont have a goalscorer, our attacking players lack the ability to score many goals. They will need well above an average amount of chances to score goals. Why would that suddenly change?

Really important game, lose and then its the bottom end that comes closer into sight. And hard to muster up much in the way of reasoning as to why we can be confident of a win. Ipswich are near the top but their side is nothing special. How do we change things considering our squad is paper thin and packed full of kids? Change in goal is obvious as Pears will continue to cost us, but for some reason Tomasson is blinded by how poor he is and/or the new keeper isnt anything special. Defensively we have not been good enough all season, I think thats as much down to the way we set up. We signed a holding midfielder who was a regular in the Dutch league but he cant even make the bench. Wharton has been poor all season but its hard to justify dropping him, Travis is important too, Garrett isnt ready and Rankin Costello is never a midfielder in a 2. Going forward, I have no idea how we can even change it. Sigurdsson I presume certainly wont be fit enough to start or even feature. Ennis remains in the Ayala role keeping Gallagher company and Dolan and Markanday are not even good enough to make the bench. So its left with Hedges who is tidy but seldom makes the right decisions in the box and Moran isnt a wide player. Then up front, it says a lot when Telalovic is not even considered a better striker than Dolan in Tomassons eyes. Some of the fluid passing football is great to watch but we arent scoring enough and that wont suddenly change, its not bad luck, our players just arent good enough. The budget cuts have left us with a shell.

Will they just start going in with our set of attackers?

You seem keen to avoid putting any blame on us having to go through bargain bins to try and sign a competent striker.

Its impossible to not have massive sympathy that Tomasson has been saddled with such a young, underfunded squad lacking in quality. But today he did make some very strange decisions which didnt help.

Same old story, lots of pretty passing and lovely interchanging but terrible in the final third and also now far more vulnerable defensively. Pears with yet another mistake, playing him IS down to Tomasson. Carter with a bad one too. Adam Wharton had a shocker, Travis was poor, Moran is not a wide man, Szmodics and Hedges both struggled when it came to the final pass and Leonard aside from a paochers goal was fairly anonymous. The subs bench told its own story about the negligence from the owners. For Telalovic (who struggled in his brief cameo but was so short its hard to take much from it) to be ignored in favour of sticking the useless Dolan up top maybe tells a lot about what Tomasson thinks.

Any blame towards the owners for their budget cuts and moving of the goal posts? Probably not.

The Tronstad signing seems ever stranger with him playing with the kids tonight. Obviously Sigurdsson is understandable.

The lack of investment is what I think people have issue with.

Guessing the fictional pitch inspection was positive and we are good to go.

Southampton for me have the weakest squad (plus obviously manager) of the relegated 3. I think the quality is overstated. Adams and Armstrong (writing Stewart off for the short term) give them a goal threat but the ones theyve lost were key (Ward Prowse, Salisu, Lavia, Livramento, Tella etc) and they were by far the weakest of the 3 last year. They made a lot of strange signings towards the end of their Premier League stay and beside the front 2 not many of what they have left is stand out. Not sure on their signings either in the main.

I am definitely glad that we let him go when we did and am certainly happier with Tomasson. It was merely a tongue in cheek comment at the regular weird hatred towards him some have displayed on here since he moved on.

They clearly did not want to run the football club but they had the decency to allow competent people to have the autocracy to make decisions which had just led us to a top half finish. The rot started when the sale went through.

Leeds should push on now the window is open. They had a lot of rubbish going on but with the likes of Gnonto and Summerville settled again and having signed some really strong players in Piroe, Kamara, Rodon, Anthony Darlow and Spence towards the end of the window and with Farke in charge, I think theyll do well.

I never once said dont give him a chance. For some reason, any questions seem to lead to a pack throwing that line down peoples faces. I said to give him a few games now in the absence of Gallagher and Ennis. Regarding tomorrow, im expecting us to absolutely batter Sunderland if Mowbray really is as bad as many on here like to make out.

Not sure what thats based on at this stage either way but I hope you are right. Seems the perfect chance to give him some games though and lets hope he hits the ground running as we need him to step up.

Admittedly he was offside but he did miss a sitter himself on Saturday. But he definitely should start especially with the lack of alternatives.