Problem is, if that is true, the player will know that and it just means there is a bigger wage on Norwich's books to shift. A loan with minimal wages paid by us then becomes even more difficult to agree, and the fee is an irrelevance, its simply the wages that become the problem.

Surprised by this, he was bright as ever and the best of the front 3 but not as effective as Saturday. Dack for me would edge man of the match, he makes such a huge difference to us. Buckley and Trybull wouldnt be far off though. One of those 3.

There was one part where he did a lovely turn then looked like a rabbit in the headlights with no clue of what to do next, which was worrying. Next time he got it he played that brilliant pass to Brereton which was very impressive. I felt like his off the ball work on Saturday was better than on the ball, and he put himself about again tonight but I felt on the ball he was better and more decisive.

The parachute payment argument is massively flawed. Parachute payments are not to give teams a leg up to make them impossible to compete with. They are for clubs to cope with the acclimitisation of massively reduced income and initially Premier League level expenditure. They dont come down and spend 100m on new players. The majority of high earners that took them down have now been removed having been burdens rather than assets. Only Ayew really remains, with their team predominantly loans and academy graduates. Even if Barnsley dont go up, they prove they can compete with Swansea etc. An inferiority complex is based on a massively flawed theory.

Armstrong is set to leave but we would have to bring in a couple of attacking players to replace him and Elliott. Not enough goals otherwise.

I feel like the balance between industry and goals is too far towards the industry side at the moment, if you played a season with that front 3 im not sure theyd get 15/20 between them. I felt our only likely scorer tonight was Dack. With Dack, I think it is the way he is being played rather than the absence of Armstrong, in a much more balanced side with the 2 behind him.

Good performance and dissapointing not to get a win. The commentators are absolutely infuriating, especially Warren Lucy. Does anyone think they are any good? Absolutely transfixed from a bias viewpoint about refs, Lenihan jumps up and punches it and they dont say a word yet they go made at decisions that dont actually happen! Dack for me was man of the match, he seemed the only goal threat really for us and is just levels above, such a clever footballer. Buckley was very good too, again combative and more decisive on the ball. Trybull again very good too, them 2 behind Dack have struck up the most unlikely of effective partnerships. Defence all 7 out of 10. Front 3 all busy but theres little goal threat there and thats why Armstrong walks back in. Brereton with a poor miss and Gallagher clumsy as ever for the penalty. Dolan 100mph as ever and full of tricks.

I do find it strange how Dack looks better in his actual position.

These commentators are transfixed with referees and are so biased. I thought the Brereton one looked a penalty, as was the Lenihan handball which they didnt mention. Unsure on the actual one that was given. We have been pretty good but dont create enough of substance.

Cabango is not on loan. Guehi is from Chelsea as is Hourihane from Villa. Obviously they can work though as much as they arent ideal, as Adarabioyo and Elliott prove.

http://www.roverschat.com/2021/03/09/why-rovers-shouldnt-spend-a-penny-in-the-summer/ Thought this as a discussion topic is an interesting one. Totally get the angle of being self sustainable but I think that is simply impossible as a competitive Championship club. I dont think on a minimal budget or solely feeding from the academy that we could find a few sellable assets each year to do this. I think this would be essentially be giving up any ambition and probably lead to relegation within 2 or 3 seasons in my opinion.

Very true. Many of our midfielders are tenacious, defensively minded ones like Travis, Trybull, Johnson, Davenport and Evans. The ones who are supposed to be more creative in Rothwell, Holtby and Buckley often struggle to impact on games, and Dack is a number 10.

To be fair, we won that specific game so the decision was justified, but in general, something isnt quite right. But I have misgivings about the current system in general.

Of course, although it seems that those loaned out seem to have had mixed fortunes. I have long since suggested that the under 23 set up in general is too sanitised to set youngsters up for senior football. Possession obsessed, no pressure football against fellow kids. Its just a little confusing that I see the results and the league table, yet there doesnt even seem to be anyone on the cusp, Pike and McBride were on the bench the other week simply to make the numbers up with seemingly no intention of being used, and I am unaware of any stand out player that is likely to break through imminently. As you say, maybe that is partially a fault on the manager. Is Pike the stand out, and if so, is he good enough to compete with Nyambe and Rankin Costello? At the end of the day, even if none of the current crop do break through, the numbers we do get through more than justify it so it is not a criticism of Rovers really.

But even with those considered better, Vale cant get into Rochdales squad, Brennan struggled at Fylde, Butterworth has barely played any football in 2 years, Mols couldnt get a game in the amateur leagues in Spain and Grayson cant get a game for Oxford, when he played here v Oldham he looked well out of his depth. The worry with Pike would be when we had no available right backs, he still didnt play. So how close is he?

He may well make a change or two but hopefully not as mentioned apart from Nyambe back in. Johnson and Trybull would be a rather immobile partnership and the latter was outstanding on Saturday, if there is to be a change there, it would surely be Travis for Buckley. Dack finally played further forward was the catalyst to the win and the unimpressive Rothwell should not take his place, and the front 3 should remain I would suspect.

His form has definitely dipped, he has 5 goals and an assist in those 15 games which is as many goals as anyone else has across the season but is not at his previous level. I have noticed him being far more selfless recently, dropping deep, linking up, I think the goal at Boro was a perfect example, dropped deep, linked the play and laid off Elliott to square for Rothwell to score. Comparing the numbers, I prefer the selfish Armstrong I think.

Not sure about that, he has not been starting here every game due to poor form. Hes not ready for Liverpools first team. Not sure that Harwood Bellis is anywhere near Prem ready. I must say though that we definitely need to improve central defence this summer. Magloire is an interesting one, I would agree with your caution, but surely SPL football is far more credible than a friendly played at half pace? I would be wary of either him or Carter being anything other than back up next season though, suspect another loan will be ideal for at least one of them but glad to see they are impressing

Stats have their limitations for sure, but I believe goal conversion is goals taken to shots taken, and shot accuracy is how often they get their shots on target. I have never claimed that Armstrong is clinical or ruthless in front of goals, or that he hasnt got selfishness in his make up, although I dont see that as a solely negative trait. But looking at that from BBC, his goal conversion is fairly normal, he takes more shots and he scores more goals proportionately to that. Not far off a goal every 5 shots. The attacking player who stands out as poor in that regards is Brereton, which I can understand, he scores 1 every 9 shots. I felt he was our biggest threat for example v Reading but none of his shots ever looked like scoring. His shot accuracy shows that for every 10 shots, 6 hit the target. Only Dolan from much less shots has the same accuracy, everyone else misses the target more often. For me, the primary stat is the goals scored one anyway.

Did Johnson say it? And even if he did, and it turns out that his performance in that one game did cause team mates to argue, as is common I am sure, you then rabbled on with a theory you had as to the exact conversation, including Armstrong seemingly then going on to further enrage his team mates by telling them that he only cares about being top scorer! I never said it would, but not having his goals will make us even less equipped to go up. Not that we "carry" him anyway. I presume blocked shots count yes, included as part of your favourite 56 shot line, so those stats show that he isnt taking shots to the extent whereby his impressive goal tally is a disproportionately low percentage of those shots. And when he takes shots, more often than not he hits the target. Im sure he would, but it was just an extreme example of how many strikers by their very nature are selfish creatures.

Quite interestingly, his goal conversion percentage is very competitive, with Brereton the most blatantly wasteful with the shots he takes, and his shot accuracy is also as good as anyones: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/blackburn-rovers/top-scorers Throw in the fact that he is the second top scorer in the league, and has 14 more for us than anyone else, and I think these things all are a little more substantial than a totally fabricated theory in which after a game "his team mates were fuming and his view was along the lines of the defence of him on here, saying "I'm top scorer and that's all that matters."" Or indeed it is "Armstrong, not Mowbray that has lost the dressing room." He was really poor v Bristol City, and seemingly born out of frustration, took too many shots on, selfishly. It was one game though, in a prolific season. As an aside, I would have loved us to have had Ruud Van Nistelrooy in his pomp, a player who used to sulk if his team won but he didnt score, and obsessed about scoring. Was one of the best strikers in Premier League history, but I suspect he would not have been received well on here.

I still cant really understand how they can be so dominant at under 23 levels yet none of the side is close to the first team. Surely some should be pushing?

Thanks @oldjamfan1 for the reminder. Would be tempted to go with the same team. That being said, might be too much to expect of Rankin Costello but happy with Nyambe there, and Travis for Buckley with Dack given even more license could be wise.

Never seen Jephcott play. Youd think there is someone via our new scouting network to fill the void that Armstrong will leave. But Dack off Diedhou could work.

Ive always wondered why media outlets dont rank strikers on metres run to be fair. Todays theory is that Armstrong has caused a dressing room mutiny.