Miller11

The offer for Nyambe has been on the table for nearly 2 years now. For the entirety of that period we’ve been assured that it’s as good an offer as the club can make. We’ve not heard that the deal is being re-negotiated due to the player being 2 years more experienced, playing x amount more games, or becoming a more integral part of the team. There were clearly some big budget changes last season when we trimmed off a load of big earners… did that not give some scope to change the offer? ”Nobody knows what he’s being offered” is true, although while not exact, it’s not hard to get a ballpark idea of any of our players reported wages, or the offers made. We also do know that there is an ongoing issue with being able to pay academy graduates a going rate. This isn’t due to budget or ceilings, it’s due to a silly, inflexible model being implemented by inflexible, illogical people. Doubling Nyambe’s wage from 4 to 8k would still only put him level with what Johnson and Davenport currently reportedly pick up.

I’m delighted we broke the hoodoo and finally got a goal, however, still some big questions. We cannot continue to be so profligate in front of goal. We missed plenty of good chances today, and while we can be pleased we created them, the fact our goal came from some horrendous goalkeeping is a worry. I have tried to give Gallagher the benefit of the doubt, but he can’t play as a wide forward. His basics are poor, his positional sense is worse, he looks like a frustrated midfielder, doesn’t seem to want to get in scoring positions, and looked happy to be subbed off. We looked so much more threatening when he went off. Dolan deservedly and clearly MOTM. Did the usual jobs of Buckley and Rothwell singlehandedly. Khadra is a definite threat, but perhaps unsurprisingly as a young attacking loanee isn’t arsed about defending. Should’ve had a couple today, but as iffy as the keeper was for the goal, hit it hard and on target and you never know! Shame that it’s Fulham up next, as it’ll be tough to make this count as the start of a new winning run. Our defence will suffer without Nyambe, and I hope it’s not as serious as it looked. Zeefuik needed a lot of coaching and instruction from his teammates, which is fine and he learns the system and his responsibilities, a more promising run out today though happily - he’s got big shoes to fill. QPR should be no threat at all, they looked very poor. Delighted with the points and it keeps the dream alive!

Makes my worst ever 11. And a dickhead too by all accounts.

Dack. If it was up to me.

Don’t disagree that they were a dirty side, but that’s not the reason we lost. If we play like we did last night for the rest of the season we won’t score another goal. Until our forward players get into goal scoring positions, we are going to drop down the table like a stone. We need to create better chances and take them.

Thought it better to resurrect this thread than go off topic in the match one… Nyambe getting subbed off last night was stupid, and lo and behold, when it happens we conceded. Admittedly, I’m a big fan of his and I wanted to check my theory that we are much weaker defensively without him. Clean sheets with Nyambe: 13 Clean sheets without Nyambe: 0 Average minutes per goal conceded with Nyambe: 114 Average minutes per goal conceded without Nyambe: 54 We also have a much higher points per game when he plays than when he doesn’t. In the 19-20 season the difference was enough to theoretically put us in the top 6… but Bennett was preferred for the first quarter of a season. There’s far too much talk about his attacking limitations (our attackers attacking limitations are the issue) and not enough credit for his overall performances and defensive importance in my opinion.

It’s an absolute disaster if we fail to make the playoffs this year. 10 years of disgrace shouldn’t dumb down our expectations to the level where throwing away this opportunity is deemed acceptable. Finishing 7th will be a complete failure. No different to finishing 21st in reality… unfortunately 7th - 21st is fine with our owners, management and too many supporters.

Mowbray would have had Speedie and Newell stood near the corner flags, only entering the opposition box on the rarest of occasions and Paul Shepstone as a false 9.

I’m as pissed off tonight as I was after the Fulham debacle. We could’ve played til midnight and we wouldn’t have scored. The only players who could’ve had any complaints at being subbed off after 60 minutes were Kaminski, Nyambe, Lenihan, Wharton and Van Hecke. Kaminski - kept us in it, but a rush of blood has proven costly Nyambe - defended fine, took up better positions in the box than our 5 million striker. subbing him off seems personal, no wonder he won’t sign a new deal. Lenihan - very good Van Hecke - Had a couple of dodgy moments (who didn’t) but good overall Wharton - Good Pickering - looked short of match fitness and had a torrid time against a tough opponent. Had our best effort and also took up better positions in the box than Gallagher Rothwell - looks like the Bournemouth fiasco has had an effect. Poor. Dreadful set-pieces, needs taking off them. Silly booking. Travis - just about ok, but more concerned with antics than football. Buckley - horrible performance. Is he believing the hype? I like the lad a lot, but should be dropped next game. Khadra - Greedy, drifts in and out, terrible penalty. Gallagher - seems clueless as to how to play the role expected of him. Poor basics, but runs about a lot… often in the wrong direction. Mowbray - dreadful. Back to his old self. Might be too late, but bollocks to whatever he’s said today. Get Dack back involved at the weekend to try and salvage our bloody season.

How can Rowett expect anyone to take him seriously when he doesn’t even mention how Ben Benson thought the pitch was playable?

I actually really like this. It’s pleasing to see that the focus does seem very much on finishing the season strong and getting promoted. Might be reading too much into it, but there’s a lot of talk of finishing off, and some distancing… I wouldn’t say he sounds like he’s confident he’ll be here beyond the end of the season.

Some good insight from Cornette on the Cody situation. I had also thought that Cody will be an upper-midcarder back in Vince land… he’ll have to be punished for doing the whole AEW thing, but I hadn’t thought about the fact that Vince is effectively buying some serious insider info of the AEW contracts and wrestlers. Very interesting parallel drawn between this and Dusty in 1989.

Me and @PeteJD13mentioned to Waggott that it was stupid to have cut off points for Season tickets and half season tickets. They should be available at any point at a pro-rata price. Rather than dressing this up as a 5 game bundle, push for sales of season tickets to help with the promotion push, and give them the other minimal season ticket holder benefits too. Priority on playoff tickets would be an incentive surely. Far better chance of people who buy them renewing next year too. We actually discussed the possibility of us being in a position where the last 6 games of actually meant something and suggested making sure there was a deal available in that scenario, but this seems to fall into the nearly but not quite right category. Also messes up any chance of cheap tickets for a potential must win game/promotion party.

I don’t think either of those games should be used as a benchmark of acceptable pitch quality. We struggled in both games due to the surface. It cost us points against Huddersfield in my opinion.

I think there is some good debate around the state of the pitch and the reasons for the cancellation. I also think this thread is being spoiled by some rambling opinions being stated as fact over and over and over again, and people being bombarded with questions by someone who isn’t the least bit interested in any answers anyone they may have.

FullSizeRender.MOV Ref checking the bounce and doing his inspection just before calling it off. Make of it what you will, could only upload a short file

The weather today was freaky. I’m about 3 miles away from Ewood on slightly higher ground and at half 11 I thought there was no chance the game would be on. The announcement at 12:30ish was premature and very optimistic. I’d have to question how thorough an inspection the ref carried out at that point. A mate of mine sent me a video of the ref testing the bounce of the ball just before 2. The surface looked pretty far from ideal at that point. I’ve no real issues with the game being called off, but the communication was poor and the timing ludicrous. Easy enough for me to shrug it off I suppose, I haven’t travelled from London… or Chile.

Anyone got an orange ball?

Terrible take

Was it that season or the year after when we were heavily linked with Trevor Sinclair? I seem to remember Jack not being keen, possibly out of loyalty to Wilcox if I remember correctly. He’d have been a lot better bet than Matty Holmes for sure. I’d go for him along with Zidane who I would happily pay the same as Shearer. I’m sure we signed Chris Coleman that year too. With the benefit of hindsight Southgate would’ve been the much better buy from Palace. I’d go with that. Super Atko goes nowhere. I’m not sure how reliable my memory is, but I recall Chris Armstrong always doing well and scoring against us. While there are better value deals to be had, I hate Dennis Bergkamp and he’s too scared to get on planes, and I reckon we’d give the Champions League a much better crack with my updated squad!

Don’t think I’d fancy sitting in the Darwen End with all the Millwall fans directly overhead!

We never looked like conceding tonight - the back three were awesome. Few people owe Nyambe an apology. We need to find a way to score though, particularly if Brereton is going to miss any games. The positioning of our forwards is far more of an issue than the service they get, that’s been evident over the last 3 games. Dack could be the answer.

Very possibly. I’ll try and find out later. Regardless of any stats we were visibly so much more solid with that settled back five. Moving away from it by choice seems negligent.

Don’t worry everybody, Chaddy has reported three Forest players to the police (and Steve Waggott). I wish I was joking.