Miller11

I’d be tempted to start both of them.

I agree with you Chaddy in that he’s always coming deep, but it’s definitely a result of the tactics. He thrives when we are a bit more direct, he’s good at running at players and cutting in but he’s too clumsy and not technically good enough for a lot of the one and two touch pass and move stuff. All these short passes in to feet with his back to goal doesn’t suit him at all. It was even more evident on Wednesday with Brittain in behind him. Pickering always has the out ball of knocking it into the corner for Brereton to chase on to, Brittain being on his wrong foot never did that. Personally I don’t think it’s a lack of effort. It’s woeful form, not playing to his strengths, and nothing he is trying is coming off.

Thomas wide on the right makes a big difference. We had Brittain, Hedges and Brereton all drifting inside against Coventry which meant that JRC - the person you really want drifting in, was the only one providing any real width.

He’s literally punched the ball then steamed Pears into the back of the net. Ludicrous.

I think it will be a good season if we get in the playoffs. I really don’t subscribe to this idea that getting us near would be some sort of miracle, and the teams in and around them at the minute shows this. This season represents a fantastic opportunity, if we blow it I’ll be fuming.

Then we are literally in the same position as Coventry, Sunderland and PNE too. So it’s not exactly a miracle is it.

Would you swap squads with Luton or Millwall?

Not even ready to discuss the handball yet. On the rest of it… At 70 minutes the discussion around us was “I don’t like this parking the bus and time wasting with so long to go. We won’t hold out that long.” Lessons not learnt from our cup exit. Bad subs, bad game management. I don’t think we defended very well tonight generally. Certainly wasn’t one of our more solid defensive displays. Nervy performance from Hyam. Brittain had some difficult moments at the back and despite some tidy play in the first half his one footedness didn’t help him offer much approaching the final third. Hope Pickering is back on Saturday. Leaving Wharton out for as long as we have has been at least as detrimental to us as our failings in the transfer window. It’s self sabotage. He is light years ahead of all our other players. He looks after the ball so well there was no justifiable reason to take him off. I don’t care if he was knackered, his brain beats the legs of practically any opponent he comes up against in this league. If we’d replaced him with Garrett I could see the logic. Replacing him with Morton was idiotic. I’m in the minority, but I don’t think Brereton’s attitude/commitment is the problem. I think he’d just woefully out of form and nothing he tries is coming off. He’s technically a poor player anyway who gets by on pace, power, and confidence. When the confidence is lacking his shortcomings become really evident. Have to mention Dolan. I’m a fan, but tonight he was woeful. Horrible performance. Typical of Gallagher to score a cracking goal then get injured… that’ll be him for the season I reckon.

That and he likes to dribble.

He reminds me a lot of Dolan, but is a long way behind him in his development.

I’d bring Scott Wharton in at left back if Pickering doesn’t make it. He’s left footed and would be good tucking in to a three allowing JRC to go roaming.

I’ll be really worried if Pickering misses out. Shame about Dack too, best bet for a goal at the moment.

Bloody hell, they are even claiming they are in the home ends of Ewood TONIGHT. You’d think with the amount of bullshit they spout they’d be better at it. Too thick to even lie well.

Yet he seems ok with someone who backs out of challenges every single game, even those in his favour, and who prefers rolling round on the floor feigning injury to tracking back.

Even if Adam Wharton’s list of misdemeanours is exactly as described, freezing out your best midfielder for nearly 6 months seems a ridiculously harsh punishment for going home in a strop and playing computer games. Players have been back quicker after biting opponents, shoving referees and taking drugs.

The bigger the recruitment department gets the harder we seem to find it to bring in players! Joking aside Broughton needs this third window to be a bloody good one. Even if you absolve him of all blame for the O’Brien fiasco (and you can’t) his inability to bring in even a bog standard striker means he’s been a failure thus far.

LWLLLDD Hardly surprising.

Tomasson’s post match comments have pissed me off even more than I already was. I can’t recall a single time when he has come out after one of our many dreadful performances, held his hands up and acknowledged he got it wrong. This, along with the fact he seems reluctant to make glaringly necessary changes until it’s far too late, suggest a massive arrogant streak.

Dismal and demoralising display. A pathetic performance that feels like a loss. We found a way to cover for Morton’s weaknesses and play to his strengths against Huddersfield. He’s been consistently poor in a midfield two for ages, so why revert back to that. We put in our best attacking performance in ages when Gallagher was nowhere near the pitch, yet today he’s back in and plays over 80 minutes despite being completely useless. Hyam has gone well off the boil - crap today. In fact most of them were.

You mitigate the risk a lot by loaning in players who are ready to ply their trade rather than learn their trade. More in the Sorba mould than the Mola one is what we need going forward.

Pears JRC Carter Hyam Pickering Travis Morton Wharton Thomas Szmodics Brereton

I’ve voted in hope more than expectation. That said I’ll actually be really annoyed if we don’t make the playoffs. It looks like four from Luton, Boro, Millwall, PNE, Norwich, Coventry, Sunderland and us, so it really shouldn’t be beyond us. Not a lot of parachute payments among that lot, and I wouldn’t be clamouring to swap squads with many.

Morton benefitted from this massively too.

Wharton needs half as many touches as anyone else and can see passes nobody else can. He tired towards the end, understandably, but could be a big player for us in the run in.

Diaz caught one down the back of his ankle that looked nasty.