I dont think we can afford to start Armstrong, if he gets injured I dont see any goals across our front line to be honest. And Lenihan is equally critical in terms of staying fit. I am usually very wary of falling into the trap of underappreciating the cup, I do want to go through but I dont think that we can risk those players. Kaminski Rankin Costello Magloire Wharton Williams Buckley Evans Davenport Dolan Brereton Rothwell Subs: Eastham, Lenihan, Bennett, Chapman, Armstrong, Travis, Holtby

Hes had about 6 cameo appearances of around 20 minutes during his time here. Its not a reasonable amount of game time. In one he set up the winner. Ultimately Dolan was very bright but his main contribution was losing the ball in the lead up to Bournemouths winner. Even in your hypothetical scenario, Dolan wouldnt have directly got us any points, he didnt cross the ball for Evans or Holtby. They had 5 shots on target, 3 he had no chance with, he made one good save and the 5th could barely be considered a shot. Did all he could and the save is reason for praise but nothing too much to really judge overall.

Wheres that from? Guessing assumed from that random tweet? Would be the best possible CB we could get although doesnt have the mobility to cope with the full back on his side playing so far up.

Every player cannot be signed based on re-sale value. You need experience amidst it and we have lost a lot this summer.

The wages are guesses but one thing that is a fact is that Elliott is earning less than Pears at the moment! Im not sure there would be much development either sitting on the bench week in week out. I dont necessarily think that resale value needs to be a priority of a sub keeper, just someone who can come in and be dependable as and when required. In terms of standard though, Pears would probably be as good a number 2 goalkeeper as we could get and I would be content as long as it doesnt hinder us affording competent defenders. Archer isnt very good.

I dont think hes gonna play much at either club so he will be upgrading from sitting in the stand to sitting on the bench, and potentially from playing for the reserves weekly to playing a cup game or 2. Elliotts wage at Newcastle is irrelevant. His current wage is zero. As I said, no point speculating about unknown wage demands. Would be happy enough with Pears but im skeptical about the potential fee in light of our defensive needs and also am confused as to why he would come and find the irony of you lambasting others for going to clubs to sit on the bench yet when its a player coming here you put a positive spin on it to be rather amusing.

Raya to Arsenal may not be true.

With a tough draw there is a good chance that he will have to wait until January.

If it was our goalkeeper leaving to go and sit on the bench of another Championship club, I know that your opinion would be vastly different. Surely Pears would be more desperate to get some game time having had a taste last year. He presumably wont be coming for a big contract here. I think if I was him, I would just run down my contract if the only alternative was to sit on our bench. Mowbray has already said that Kaminski will be first choice. If Pears comes it will be to warm the bench. I would be fine if he came but we have more obvious areas in which to spend any limited funds so as long as that isnt affected.

Not every player needs resale value, he wont develop much sat on the bench and any wage discussion is purely speculative.

Kaminski made one good save and his distribution was ok but I think it is a little premature to describe him as a massive upgrade at this stage, he didnt have overly much to do besides pick the ball out of the net 3 times, none of which were savable.

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/18717677.middlesbrough-reject-blackburns-first-offer-aynsley-pears/ 200k bid was rejected. Seems that he could potentially be third choice at Boro but still dont get why he would come here to still not play.

No one has suggested that we have Fisher as number 2 goalkeeper. I think I am the only one to question the rumour, and my main doubt is whether we should spend a fee of our limited resources on a sub, rather than just picking up a freebie, maybe someone like Rob Elliott. I would be surprised if they sold him for the price you mentioned. In terms of quality, I am sure he would be fine, although I am not sure that Boro fans are overly arsed that he might be going. I also would be surprised to see him leave his hometown club where he is sub to come here again to be sub. I doubt we would be giving him a big wage and Kaminski will be here for a couple of years so where is the opportunity for him to play and justify moving?

Its a bit of an inferiority complex though considering that we supposedly are targetting the top 6. If we want to do so we cant go into games as self proclaimed plucky underdogs who come away content with a loss but a competitive performance.

He did try things and of course that attacking instinct should be nurtured but he was largely responsible for the third by trying a trick at the wrong time and failing to pull it off. It was a mistake by a young lad and hopefully he will learn from it. Saying that he carried some blame doesnt mean that people are saying that he shouldnt be creative and expressive or that he wasnt otherwise eye catching. Goes without saying that Gallagher should not play on the wing. He doesnt look comfortable at full back, 2 weeks ago he was repeatedly skinned and caught out of position at right back. Can tell that he wasnt a full back. Im not convinced that we will be able to plug the goals against even with reinforcements if we always want our full backs so high up. He deserved his start but I dont think he impressed to be honest but it is only one game. Ineffective. Of course not, I am just not sure that comparisons to such a player at this stage are warranted or helpful. Has he had game time at senior level? Chapman against Reading set up one goal and put one on a plate for someone else, I would say that he was more effective than Dolan was yesterday, even if he was eye catching.

I dont understand why he would come here to sit on our bench, considering that he is doing the same at his boyhood club, with a potential gap for him next season and I doubt that we will be offering him a big pay rise. If it in any way limits the money we have to spend on the defence, I would probably just get a more senior freebie as a safe pair of hands if needed.

Spending money on the sub keeper may be a questionable use of limited resources. Also dont get why he would leave his hometown club who he is sub for to sit on our bench. Especially as Boros keeper is only loan and Warnock will only be there short term. Plus I doubt he would get a big wage here.

I think @Hannoverover has seen him regularly and said that he is crap, apologies if ive misremembered. Of course the off the field stuff means that the deal shouldnt be considered.

Very difficult not to like him as a Rovers fan. Such a good player for us.

Jordan Rhodes scored today for Sheffield Wednesday away at Cardiff. Wonder if he will have a good season this season.

Thats a big statement considering it was his first 20 minutes of League football in which his failed trick led to the winning goal. He was very bright when he came on and I dont doubt that I would like to see more of him in the first team but I think that people are going a little over the top and could lead to potentially expecting too much from him. Duff was a world class talent who not only was exciting but was very effective. Lets not go over the top.

Totally agree that there isnt a perfect correlation between "unattractive" football and winning, there are many ways to skin a cat. That being said, I don't think we would have been battered had we been more conservative, they looked strongest after we had attacked on the counter attack, they had a lot of pace but not that much craft. I do think a pressing style suits us but the way we played today, no part of the side totally convinced me. I dont think we "should've won" either, whilst I always think that the team that should've won will win, in terms of the game, I would say it was very even, quite scrappy at times, and I am surprised that there were 5 goals. Defensively, we are obviously awful. I don't think that the midfield controlled the game particularly, and it is so easy to bypass it, so often they got between our midfield and defence and obviously could shoot from distance. Both wide players were ineffective and the 5 of them struggled to create any good chances, many of our 15 shots were speculative, including one of only 2 shots on target. Armstrong often was left isolated, his goal was when he came alive, but he often looked to peel off and our midfielder on the ball at that time was neither capable or brave enough to look to play him in, but it was on all of the time. My main point is regarding an inferiority complex, not to sound too much like Vinjay, and this isnt aimed at you by the way, just a general point. I dont think anyone truly believes that we are good enough to be up in the top 6, or even close to it. We lost a game late on against another side who will be competing at the top end, it is only one game but it is gutting. Understand that the manager needs to come up with the usual spiel, full of positives etc and not too fussed about that but if we had got a result it would have probably felt like we had pulled off a shock as a plucky underdog. I remember Brentford away last year. Quite a few people were preempting a loss before the game had kicked off, even though we were in good form at that time, we needed to make ground up and were playing a fellow play off rival. We threw a 2 goal lead away yet people seemed happy with a draw.

The take home thing for me is that we have lost which obviously has worsened my mood! Whereas if we won id be very happy now. I would much prefer supposedly less "entertaining" but more effective football

Big thing to say based on 2 competitive cameos. Long way to go before we know what we have on our hands properly. Mistake today too for all of the bright attacking play.

Cannot fathom that at all. It isnt going to serve as a kick up the arse and I just dont get how you could watch a game with the raw feeling of disapointment and think that, totally impossible for me to empathise with it.