He is a crap manager and a strange appointment. Blackpool would be best served getting rid. Smith has had plenty of time at Norwich, think a change is needed there too.

Even if Brittain is one of the best right backs in the league, to which there is not much evidence to me, he will have spent half of his first season unavailable. He is steady enough and I am not saying that he is a bad player or anything, but it is hard to call him a success as it stands. Hyam is the stand out, better than Van Hecke? Perhaps not but a shrewd addition and by far the pick of the summer deals. Overall, a fairly underwhelming window all told IMO.

Perhaps a cap of 2 Sky games every month, or no more than 2 games every (for example) 8 to minimise disruption to individual sets of fans. Football should be about the fans but Sky take the piss, they literally just repeatedly show whoever is in the top 3 or 4 repeatedly.

Is one solitary season of Brereton worth more than £8.4m (minimum) to us? I can't possibly fathom that, unless we get an unlikely promotion. We bid for Thomas Asante, we didn't merely scout him, Salford had received a bid. I think that we went for Hirst when that deal didn't materialise.

Really good result tonight, Norwich were really poor and you can understand the frustration towards Smith, but We just look so much more balanced with that formation and with no obsession over naive playing it out from the back, and we were really good off the ball throughout. The key is Tomasson not being tempted to revert to type with the playing it out from the back and stupid experiments like inverted wing backs, On the ball, we have to be much better in attack though, we wasted so many chances to create a shooting opportunity with a bad final pass or decision. Hyam deserved the man of the match award, he was brilliant as was Ayala although he obviously succumbed to another injury with Wharton a very shaky sub. Both full backs were also very good, special praise for Rankin Costello who has come from the wilderness to put in a very assured performance. Kaminski came to our rescue when needed. Buckley was superb in the first half although he waned in the second and was as guilty as anyone of poor decision making in attack, summed up when he overhit his pass after a sublime backheel by Dack who is a class above Szmodics and pressed as much as anyone. Morton gave the ball away a few times (one in particular nearly cost us in the first half) and can't play on the half turn, he is actually better at reading danger than in possession and it is little wonder that him and Travis sitting when we play it out from the back is so bad. Dolan like anyone often chose the wrong decision but he was more effective than Gallagher and Brereton who can play much better, especially the latter. Also, it showed up the lack if quality in the league that those 2 teams are in the play offs.

Good away performance so far, Buckley and Ayala standing out. Very good team performance off the ball, not very good on it. Morton nearly gifted them another goal, he often takes too long in silly areas. Will be a different game in the second half, we need to be better on the ball otherwise they will score at least 1.

Why did we bid for him then when we had no intention of letting Brereton go? £8.4m more than we will get.

People were asking for specific changes and one of the biggest criticisms of the last 2 selections was the absence of Adam Wharton in the team, never mind the squad. Still the case.

Why has Adam Wharton AGAIN missed out on the squad and Morton again starts? Must be part of the loan agreement. Glad to see Dack start, Rankin Costello is a huge worry.

You could surely say that about anyone, how do we know that Dack isn't on par with Griezmann? Based on what has been proven, Grizemann is a fantastic player at the highest level, Maddison is a good Premier League player. Until if and when the latter changes, that is where we are. Many players might seem to have all of the same tools.

Is it strange or unfair for our fans to be hurting after being battered by our local rivals consecutively? And choosing to vent and worry on here? Have you sensed in the ground that Tomasson isn't being backed?

Just watching the Salford documentary and I think it has been mentioned but they are talking about us bidding for Brandon Thomas-Asante prior to him joining West Brom. So maybe the stuff about Hirst being first choice was not strictly true @chaddyrovers

I don't agree that he was that unlucky against Italy, even allowing for a penalty loss, because after the early goal he struggled to adjust. We again sat in and the equaliser was inevitable.

Firstly, the situation is massively different to the West Ham one. We are a win from the quarter finals, only one round extra but still. We have just come back from a break so the players will be fresher and if anything lacking in game time. We aren't on the horizon of a game against Burnley either. The "on a no winner" remark doesn't make sense either, the judgement of the game will come dependant on what happens in it. If we win regardless of the team, he will be justified and praised. We have been shocking in the last 2 games but (not factoring in tomorrow game) the natural reaction wouldn't be to change everyone, so I would approach it essentially as if it was another league game. There are some changes you would naturally make that don't weaken us, for me Adam Wharton would definitely come in, possibly Buckley too as Morton and Travis are not playing well. Ayala could come in for one of the centre backs, maybe Dolan somewhere too. But Kaminski, Pickering, Carter, Brereton, Gallagher and Dack should all start, rather than bringing in players who may have played well once but take Edun, has been crap everytime in the league, Rankin Costello has been bombed out, we know what Pears is like, Vale and Garrett have shown that they aren't ready too.

Like I said, there aren't much in the way of alternatives. Never going to be prolific, cant hold it up and always injured. Has his uses (strong runner, will chip in with some goals, tall) and I would probably have him down in our best 11 too but the alternatives are Vale and Hirst. If we are just to defer to the experts then surely the messageboard for supporter opinions is pointless.

Pretty good yeah. Armstrong a massive success who scored loads and made a massive profit. Brereton would have done the same had the owners not refused to sell him. Rothwell also would have got a good profit. Dack, Kaminski, Pickering, Dolan, Hedges, Smallwood, Downing have been successes and then loans of Elliott, Adarabioyo, Downing, Reed, Antonsson, Van Hecke etc all improved us too. "Very good" is well over the top. He is pretty much an automatic pick because most of our squad are academy graduates or cheap/freebies/loanees so there is little alternative. He has his uses but he is average.

Mowbrays transfer record was pretty good, certainly no worse than the first window under the new structure. Not exceptional either.

Scapegoating? I will go and support them like any player but I dont think those players named are particularly good (no surprise that Edun, Pears and Rankin Costello are being linked away) and I want us to put everything in to getting to the quarter finals and wrestling some momentum back. I think our chances decrease with those named players starting.

https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/transfer-news/blackburn-sunderland-transfer-buckley-dack-25765805 Nixon talking more shite.

I hope we give it a proper go to get to a quarter final. I hope the likes of Pears, Rankin Costello, Edun, Garrett, Vale and Hirst aren't all chucked in together.

Garrett isnt the answer, not a Championship player at this stage. Adam Wharton is a must as is keeping Dack in.

I remember watching him at Barcelona and whilst his stats are decent, the problem was getting him and Messi in the same team. His problem back at Atletico has been a contractual issue that has meant that him playing over half an hour incurs a fee, hence why Simeone kept bringing him on after 61 minutes. That being said, he was absolutely incredible prior to moving to Barcelona and repeatedly is one of if not the best player at each international tournament. Either way, he is levels above Maddison who is a good player but probably better in your mind because he is English and can be seen as the missing piece to potential glory.

A mixture of comments, your usual fans with a lack of empathy (often the younger ones who get discounted tickets, living with their parents and are totally oblivious to a different, efficient Rovers) mixed with quite a l ot of understanding. End of the day, Forest have not played in ages so their fans will be more willing, its a cup game with a likely second string side, it is midweek and absolutely freezing cold, it has barely been advertised and we have just been battered twice off local rivals. Plus that 3.5k will increase with people paying on the days. I have never got the feeling that the whole fan base has totally warmed to Tomasson to be honest either, initially there was a huge buzz that Mowbray had gone and that we had put in what seemed to be an efficient "structure" but I feel like if form really unravelled he would get it in the neck a bit more than Mowbray.

It is fairly irrelevant just because Grizemann has a track record of being world class in a France shirt over numerous tournaments. But "pretty crap?" He had that weird clause that hasn't let him play more than 30 minutes recently, but for 5 seasons he was outstanding for Atletico Madric, and he was good at Barcelona even though his signing wasn't properly planned as they struggled to get him and Messi in the same team. Maddison could only dream of such a career.

Maddison is a good player but certainly not comparable to Griezmann who is outstanding.