roversfan99

We don't know how much they do and especially how much if at all Morton does but if they do, its counterproductive for them to be doing so. In the ground, there may be a bit of anxiety in general when we pass it in defensive areas but if he sees that as a burden at a half full Ewood then he will struggle going forward to do it at the top level. It is his role but it is a specialist role and one that he has not had an entirely successful season doing, he like Buckley (for Morton, his first proper season and for Buckley the first in that role) has often struggled picking the ball up in dangerous areas. It takes spacial awareness, knowing who is around you, taking the ball in tight areas on the turn and moving it as quick as possible.

Wharton in his rare league starts really showed bravery and competence in that role too. Is there much outside noise? I doubt he reads on here. It is a difficult role, Buckley has often struggled with taking the ball on the half turn under pressure, same with Morton. The former improved greatly in the last month and Morton was good today so maybe they are getting used to it.

I dont get the obsession, why does praise for Tomasson have to be a consequence of a comment about Mowbray? The majority if not everyone on here wanted Mowbray gone. We are in a great position now, the platform is there and a bit of pressure on Tomasson to deliver a memorable season. Performance levels were unconvincing for a while even with good results but in the last month or 2 things have seemingly just clicked and we look a different team.

Wharton was good in basically every game he played in the league but Morton played well tonight. Great pass for the goal that maybe was overshadow by Gallagher's backheel. Buckley and Morton have been poor more often than good this season and midfield has been our weakest area, but Buckley had picked up prior to injury. Maybe a mixture of the side in general starting to adapt to the way of playing and also the form of Travis. Yeah I thought he shouldn't have been beaten for the goal, nearly was caught out in the first half with a shot down his throat and a couple of dodgy kicks and looked a bit nervy at 1-1. Nothing major and I didn't expect him to be generally so reliable (aided by some great defensive performances) in Kaminski's absence but we will be stronger when he returns.

Crucial win against a truly terrible side in a game that I thought we very easily could have won by a much more convincing scoreline, the performance was more dominant than the scoreline suggests. Brereton and Gallagher caused them problems despite wastefulness especially from the latter and offered a threat they lacked with Joao and Long. Szmodics was very good and Thomas gives us something we dont have and will be a big miss at the weekend. Morton did pretty well I thought and his pass was excellent that led to a superb assist from Gallagher and finish from Hedges. Travis continued his good form and the defence aside from the odd bit of sloppiness was fine. Pears was shaky and perhaps could have got to the goal.

In my opinion, just about. Although neither would get in the midfields of any of the chasing pack. Perhaps and of course I am just speaking relative to other parts of the team but it worries me. If the club had total faith in them for the here and now, we wouldn't have tried to bring in a midfielder in January and fucking that up I worry could cost us.

I'm not even commenting on the individual talents of the players in question, I love watching Adam Wharton and think he can play at this level now, albeit I am not keen on Morton and I think Garrett is well off at this stage of his career. But I just don't see how it is ideal that with only one injury, we are left with such a lack of experience aside from Travis. We are at the business end of the season, pressure really building and we have such limited knowledge of how any will cope. Both Wharton and Garrett have been removed from the squad with Tomasson questioning their training intensity in press conferences having made 10 professional league starts between them. It can't only be me that thinks that hence why we tried to sign O'Brien.

Wharton should come in but Morton is at least better than Garrett. But it is a massively weak area as even Buckley has not convinced in that role.

For some perspective, Garrett has 4 senior league starts, Wharton has 6 and Morton is the most senior statesman and himself is in his first season of regular first team football. That is the hand Tomasson has been dealt to support a top 6 push. These aren't the calibre of players you would ideally like at the business end of the season.

It is a fair comment to mention the off field issues that become highlighted when we get a serious injury in that same position. One below par loanee in the summer and a failure in January.

He certainly doesn't deserve credit for "trying" to bring anyone in. Even if he doesn't directly get the blame for the O'Brien deal collapse, which he did actually take responsibility for, he does deserve the brunt of the blame for a generally very poor window. Anyway, tomorrows game is not far off a must win in my opinion. With Millwall winning tonight and many of our rivals playing at the weekend whilst we are not playing a league game, it is a key chance in one of our easiest games remaining to get 3 points on the board.

We could have got the best midfielder in the division last year and fucked it up due to off field issues. Any of our current midfielders is a huge downgrade on him. Even if we differ in opinion on Garrett and Morton, especially the former, even you would be hard pushed to suggest that they would get in any of the other top 6 contender's teams.

The O'Brien incident which could really cost us now.

Massive blow, only further highlighting how poor we are run off the field. Buckley is inconsistent but Morton is poor yet still an upgrade on Garrett at this time. Adam Wharton or even Rankin Costello have to be worth a go.

Yes.

Lies, damned lies and statistics.

Heaven forbid someone criticises an "incompetent maggott" as you described him not long ago.

Lots of the usual "where are these people at (insert random game)" comments on social media. Do some prefer smaller crowds?

If Thomas got booked would he be "suspended" for a game he is cup tied for or does it carry over? And is Travis definitely on 9?

A lot is made of that performance v Blackpool because he was outstanding but it wasnt just that game. He came on the week before at half time against Stoke and was our best player. He played well at Hull and set up the winner. He played well at Boro and then followed it up by scoring the winner against Birmingham.

Morton is going back and even with him we wanted O'Brien and left ourselves short by fucking that up so surely scope for 2. It has been a problem position this season so I hope its not just left to the kids who havent been trusted yet to play week in week out there to pick up the additional slack.

Mowbray definitely benefited in terms of expectations inheriting us at such a low ebb and also from the shielding of abuse that empty stadiums caused. Facebook pages are usually full of extremes from the side of thinking he was great, on here its over the top in abuse. The people in the ground around me I never got the impression liked Mowbray so guess it depends where you are in the ground. Tomasson inherited a much healthier situation on the pitch so there will be more expectation, throw in a fan base not over the frustration of last year and it may have led to less patience.

4 years in which you backed up basically everything be said! Managers say that crap regardless of timings although inheriting a side set for relegation and one off the back of an 8th place Championship finish obviously make them difficult to compare. Not looking at the table, only bothered with performances, not expected to get promoted, all part of the managerial spiel textbook. Best not to get too mad at it. When managers say it during poor runs, people get enraged, when they say it through good runs they get praised.

They are not far off what Tomasson keeps saying. Meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Mowbray certainly has people at one extreme or the other for the most part which is strange. He was a decent manager for us, yet people either can't let him go or seemingly despise him.