Hadn’t even bothered reading the extreme rules results until your post @DE., let alone watching it. On the flip side, AEW have just done their best show yet by some margin. Just about all the nonsense was gone and the additions of Bryan and Punk have levelled things up massively. The best match I’ve seen in ages was still the recent Dragunov V Walter match from the last takeover, but NXT is now just rubbish. Lesnar, Heyman and Reigns can shoulder a lot of the burden, but not as much as they will need to at the moment. They have some huge potential, not least Rick Steiner’s son… who for Vince McMahon reasons they have repackaged and called Bron Breakker. It’s just idiotic. WWE’s constant self sabotage at all levels coupled with AEW’s rapid improvements and dropping of nonsense will lead to a change at the top quicker than I thought.

That was brilliant. Every credit to Mowbray… have to say it was a masterclass from him today. The front three were all fantastic and deserved their goals. Special mention to Brereton, I never thought he had a hat trick in him, but I’m now starting to get a bit giddy about the bet. Buckley also making his doubters look a bit daft. while the scorers get the plaudits, he was probably MOTM. Back 4 rock solid again. Special mention to Nyambe - looks unbeatable and that header off the line was as important as a goal. Anyone who claims he looks disinterested is talking utter bollocks. Ayala makes such a difference. Liked the look of Edun in his brief cameo. If your being really picky you can moan a bit about Kaminski’s kicking at times, and Rothwell was probably only a 6/10 amongst a lot of 8 plus performances… but what a day!! Hope Venky’s watch and sanction the improved offers for those out of contract players.

Nice to see a back 4 made up exclusively of our own players after relying on loans for ages. Some consistency in that area will help us. Hope to see Butterworth get some minutes again.

Not only is Waggott completely incompetent, he can’t even be arsed any more. He’s not the only one either. Those are some of the laziest responses I could ever have imagined. The one about re-engagement shows a complete and utter lack of understanding of the current reality. I despair. Nope. You have rectified the problem of broken speakers by turning them off and turning up the volume of the other speakers around it. Lazy, quick fix.

Barnsley away is a fixture that holds a special place in my heart. 30 years ago a visit to Oakwell marked my first proper away fixture, my only previous experience of away games being Lancashire cup ties at Blackpool and Preston. There was a big game feel that day and Rovers turned out in numbers with the season reaching the business end, as well as offering us a chance to get a first glimpse of what seemed like our 25th new signing of an extraordinary season. The more cynical onlookers suggested that Duncan Shearer had only been bought to neutralise the threat of Swindon Town in the promotion race, but we didn’t care. Since Newell has been carried off as we battered Newcastle at Ewood, things hadn’t been clicking, and it only took 25 minutes for the signing to look inspired. A long diagonal ball from Alan Wright was flicked almost perfectly into Shearer’s path by Barnsley defender under pressure from Speedie, and he steered it in on the turn. A chant that would become commonplace in about 6 months time rang out, but that was this particular Shearer’s only real contribution in Rovers colours as he joined the failed attempts to replace the injured Mike Newell Club with Roy Wegerle over his 6 appearances. Some pretty crap defending later and we’d conspired to lose the game 2-1, this fixture being the second of 6 defeats on the bounce and part of a longer wretched run of form the modern day Tony Mowbray might even struggle to survive. It all worked out ok in the end though. Shameless plug - re-live this game and this season, as well as many others, set to a soundtrack of the day withSound of the Season at Rovers Radio - select PODCAST from menu Barnsley’s own moment in the sun came 5 years later as a second place finish took them to the top flight of English football for the first, and to date only time in their 134 year history. Under Danny Wilson, Barnsley developed a much admired and very successful passing style, and Neil Redfern proved a much more effective spearhead of their attack than the fat Dingle they binned off - I can’t see the Padiham Predator playing for anyone where it’s just like watching Brazil! Our next trip to Oakwell came in November 1997, for what was a real game of two halves. After ourstrong start to the season, a Sherwood goal in the opening period we completely dominated led me to believe a win would be routine. However, Barnsley’s second half display was at times sublime… all one and two touch stuff, little flicks, brilliant movement, spectacular efforts, and we came away grateful for the point knowing there was more than a little truth to the chants. Fast forward. Last year represented Barnsley’s best ever finishing position since that solitary Premier League season. A fifth place finish and a narrow defeat over two legs in the playoff semis making a mockery of the narrative that you can only reach the top 6 by being a “big club” or spending big money. Their owner, Chien Lee also has stakes in 5 other clubs scattered throughout Europe and iscredited, if that’s the right word, with bringing a “Moneyball” approach to his clubs. Andy Holt was battering him and this approach on Twitter this morning. The multi ownership is worrying, but football has to be unique in its constant search for and celebration of “investors”, but then complain when they look for a return… but I digress. At ground level, it’s a bit more nuanced. While their style may have suggested an analytical andstatistical approach, playing the percentages is nothing new. The signing of Daryl Dike, a catalyst of their good form in the second half of the season,also flew in the face of their supposedly rigid model. Yes, he’s young, but his loan was never going to become permanent after a $20 million buy out clause. For the past couple of years though their recruitment has been far reaching, picking up young players cheaply from all over the place. Valerien Ismael was an inspired appointment, andreplacing him was always going to be a tough task. Markus Schopp hasn’t had the easiest time of it so far with injuries (and Visas!) and results have been, at best, mixed. Expect them to play a 3-4-3 formation with Cauley Woodrow at the top, but the team and tactics have not been settled thus far, so the rest is anyone’s guess. They play Stoke tonight which might give some inkling. Mowbray must have been given some food for thought after the Hull game. The Armstrong shaped hole hasn’t been addressed, and I expect we will see various different solutions throughout the season. I’d like to see this line up against Barnsley: Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering Travis Rothwell Dolan Butterworth Brereton McBride I know there is no chance, but we obviously lack a centre forward, apart from Gallagher who is injured and of questionable quality particularly for our style of play. Elsewhere on the pitch we seem to haveenough options, or at least we will when some of the injuries return, but Armstrong going has left a void. Hal Robson-Kanu anyone? The back 4 and midfield picks itself, though I have been impressed with Buckley so far, but not as a wide forward. Prediction: Score draw. Our last two performances haven’t been without their issues, but a 4 point return added to our early season haul has given us a points tally far greater than I’d have expected at this stage. With the transfer window now out of the way, and a manager who is going nowhere for the moment, we arewhere we are. It’s great to see we actually have some really talented players and a team who are easy to get behind for 90 minutes - I plan to switch off from all the other shite and do that on aSaturday. That’s not to say that everything at the club is wonderful, far from it. Our pathetic CEO ought to have a look at how Barnsley, a minuscule club in comparison to Rovers, are now averaging higher attendances than us. A fantastic early bird season ticket offer (that had run its course way before Waggott thought about putting ours on sale), providing real value will have helped.

I was giving my ratings some serious thought on the drive home. Big fan of this feature!

Bad first half. Confused formation and lacked any real shape in midfield and up front. Thank god Brereton gave us a single Diaz moment, because that fantastic strike aside he was dreadful tonight. He can’t play centrallly, particularly on his own. Always happier moving away from goal without the ball, too much dropping to look to get it into feet then turn and run. He’s a wide forward. The changes were spot on tonight - credit where it’s due, mirror opposite from Saturday, Mowbray got it right this time. We immediately looked better organised and players seemed more comfortable in their roles. Without a focal point up top we should never have started with the 4-3-3. Back 4 we’re very solid. Special praise for Lenihan who I thought was exceptional in his defensive work tonight. Butterworth was superb. Looks like he just needs minutes and a goal, we’ll have a very tidy player on our hands then. Could fill the hole left by Dack very nicely for now.

Any chance we see JRC tonight? I haven’t seen much of Mowbray’s ramblings over the last couple of days. I’d bring him in for Gallagher and try Brereton central.

He was anointed by the local press and a section of the supporter base immediately upon signing. Therefore an acceptable performance will always lead to affirmation articles like this. He will also get a certain level of praise for simplynot being Amarii Bell, who I don’t believe was half as bad as some make out. As has already been mentioned, a lot is asked of our full backs. I think Pickering will bring a lot going forward, but still looks to be getting up to speed in terms of the defensive demands. Early days yet, so that’s fine. Be interesting to see what happens with Edun.

Embarrassing dive. No need to be doing that Dolan. The whole “entitled to go down” thing is ridiculous. If you are making a conscious decision to go down under contract it’s a dive, and it’s cheating. For all the moaning about refs that goes on, often justified, their job is made all the more difficult by players trying to deceive them. Clubs, fans, players and managers need to stop seeing this particular form of cheating as an accepted part of the game.

Presumably if he doesn’t hand it back into Waggott first thing tomorrow morning, signed and accompanied by a heartfelt thank you note, he should be immediately transfer listed and dropped?

There’s some ridiculous slating of Nyambe going on. Granted, it’s mostly from people who have stated they only watched very limited highlights. I know it’s the done thing these days to attribute blame for every goal we concede to a single player, but singling out Nyambe for their first is lazy at best. We didn’t deal with big switch, then let their man waltz around and put in a really dangerous ball. It’s horrendous defending a ball like that as you are moving towards your own goal, and the forward player is always favourite! Nyambe has had his critics since he broke into the side as a 17 year old, and many of the people who were critical of him then stubbornly and inexplicably remain so. To claim he has made no improvement, lacks effort, or has never had a performance above mediocre is fucking ridiculous, frankly. Why aren’t any of the other nearly dozen out of contract players being questioned over their commitment? I know Pickering was anointed by the local press and others as the answer to all our problems, and there are some really encouraging signs with him, but defensively there are a few questions, which is absolutely fine considering he’s just played just his 6th game at this level. We were far more solid down our right hand side than our left yesterday, as we usually are

I really, really wish I was.

Looks like our strikers won’t be working on putting the ball in the net, much more important they learn to block crosses judging by Mowbray’s latest…

What sort of idiot thinks it’s a good idea to sacrifice a midfielder to play 5 at the back? Who in their right mind thinks a 5-2-3 is a sensible formation in any situation? The minute that happened we were bang in trouble. If he wanted to go 5 at the back, fine! But take one of the front three off. Gallagher and Brereton were both dreadful today, and if they score 20 between them this season it will be a minor miracle.