Bradley Dack

[roversfan99]

This conversation seems to have become most prominent after the 3 dominant wins, as to whether he even gets into the team. He is a very, very good player at this level who improves us as our best player. Of course he warrants getting into the team somewhere.

If he was fully fit in the next game, would it be fair to drop any of the attacking players today? Obviously not, and when he comes back, he will be a sub anyway. But would he warrant a start long term over one of Brereton, Johnson or even Elliott or Holtby in our best team? Yes.

Where is a fairer question, and may take a bit of trial and error and experimentation.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, darrenrover said:

A bit harsh on Brereton. That being the case though and keeping the same formation and pattern of play, that would mean Dack playing in the left wide forward role as things stand and I don't think that suits Dack at all.

He is our talisman but left wide forward? Would we shunt Armstrong out wide to accommodate Dack?

As Tyrone and philipl have said, it's all hypothetical at the minute as he's not fit. Wait a month or so though.....

Brererton's not playing out wide left as far as I can see. As I said a few weeks ago he seems to occupy what back in the day was the old inside left position. I can't see a reason why Dack couldn't play there. What's Brererton got that Dack hasn't ? Maybe he's a bit quicker over the ground once he gets into his stride but Dack is a lot smarter and he knows where the goals are.

[Roverinbelfast]

1 hour ago, darrenrover said:

A bit harsh on Brereton. That being the case though and keeping the same formation and pattern of play, that would mean Dack playing in the left wide forward role as things stand and I don't think that suits Dack at all.

He is our talisman but left wide forward? Would we shunt Armstrong out wide to accommodate Dack?

As Tyrone and philipl have said, it's all hypothetical at the minute as he's not fit. Wait a month or so though.....

That's football.. Its harsh. We can't go saying there is no room for dack after one good good result. The forest and Cardiff games proved that we do lack that bit of magic in the final third and that's when we need dack. A fully fit dack starts every time in my opinion and the rest fight it out for the other spots. 

[Admiral Nelsen]

Even though he won't be playing in his preferred position, I'm increasingly excited about seeing how Dack fits into this team. We might lose a bit with him not playing as a 10, but we should gain much more with him playing in a team with so many other attacking options who will occupy the attention of opposition defenders. 

 

Thinking who gets dropped for him is the difficult part. 

[joey_big_nose]

I would say Dack could play in midfield but really he needs to be up top because of his goals.

Means dropping Brereton and moving Armstrong left or dropping Brereton though....

When everyone's fit it's going to be a nightmare to pick a front three out of Brereton, Armstrong, Elliott, Dolan and Dack. But then whichever three you go for you have 2 excellent options off the bench for any given situation. Plus I think Gallagher will offer more as the season progresses. We know there is a player in there from his first spell at Rovers.

When have we ever had as good a set of attacking options for the level we are playing at? Or indeed midfield where we have Holtby, Rothwell, Travis, Johnson, Trybull, JRC, Buckley.

It really should be our year this year.

The key, alongside good recruitment and a bumper crop from the academy, has been the high intensity 433 which has allowed everyone much more freedom.

All of it leads back to Mowbray making some big tactical changes in April and following them through very astutely in the transfer market.

[philipl]

Pretty mind blowing when you think about it.

We are destroying teams with our best defensive midfielder and the star name at the club both missing probably for half this season.

On current all round game form and potential, Dack goes where Elliott is and Elliott replaces Armstrong. That 20 minutes cameo at the end at Coventry this afternoon was the first glimpse of that.

The thought of Brereton continuing to improve, Holtby back to German international form, Dack and Elliott all operating together with Travis the enforcer bursting forward when the opportunity arises is pretty mind blowing. Then it is Trybull, Johnson and Evans competing for the third midfield slot, Armstrong and Dolan impact subs and two games a week rotation options.

Edited October 25, 2020 by philipl

[1864roverite]

Evans is a hindrance as his lack of pace causes big gaps between both attack and defence meaning the midfielder alongside him gets overrun

[Mattyblue]

You’d think we won’t be seeing much of Evans now (what’s new!) and him and his sizeable wages will be off at the end of the season...

[tomphil]

We've been saying that about Evans for how long ?

No reason to think it'll ever change his feet are well under the table here and operation new contract will commence again soon.

[Mattyblue]

Main difference now is that he is not close to being a starter when everyone is available, not sure that’s ever been the case in his loooonnnggg stint here.

On ability alone it would be bonkers to give him a new deal (never mind his ‘injury’ record), as he’ll be looking for one last big 3 year deal at his age.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Mattyblue

[philipl]

27 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Main difference now is that he is not close to being a starter when everyone is available, not sure that’s ever been the case in his loooonnnggg stint here.

On ability alone it would be bonkers to give him a new deal (never mind his ‘injury’ record), as he’ll be looking for one last big 3 year deal at his age.

For a moment I thought you were saying that about Bradley Dack.

If Trybull stays, I suspect Evans will go in the January window.

[roversfan99]

10 hours ago, philipl said:

Pretty mind blowing when you think about it.

We are destroying teams with our best defensive midfielder and the star name at the club both missing probably for half this season.

On current all round game form and potential, Dack goes where Elliott is and Elliott replaces Armstrong. That 20 minutes cameo at the end at Coventry this afternoon was the first glimpse of that.

The thought of Brereton continuing to improve, Holtby back to German international form, Dack and Elliott all operating together with Travis the enforcer bursting forward when the opportunity arises is pretty mind blowing. Then it is Trybull, Johnson and Evans competing for the third midfield slot, Armstrong and Dolan impact subs and two games a week rotation options.

Youd drop Armstrong, put Dack on the right and put Elliott central?!

[philipl]

21 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Youd drop Armstrong, put Dack on the right and put Elliott central?!

I was coming at it from a different angle which is Elliott probably has the ability to play central and giving him a go there might be part of the deal with Liverpool. If he can it means we have goal scoring cover for Arma.

After all, that is exactly what happened when Armstrong was subbed off after 64 minutes on Saturday.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, philipl said:

I was coming at it from a different angle which is Elliott probably has the ability to play central and giving him a go there might be part of the deal with Liverpool. If he can it means we have goal scoring cover for Arma.

After all, that is exactly what happened when Armstrong was subbed off after 64 minutes on Saturday.

Seems a very random assumption to make that we have told Liverpool that he will play centrally. Assuming that Armstrong is fit, that will not be happening. Elliott looks at home cutting in from the right.

Mowbray seems very keen to persist with Gallagher as a wide man which is an experiment that only he sees any value in.

[philipl]

23 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Seems a very random assumption to make that we have told Liverpool that he will play centrally. Assuming that Armstrong is fit, that will not be happening. Elliott looks at home cutting in from the right.

Mowbray seems very keen to persist with Gallagher as a wide man which is an experiment that only he sees any value in.

Not an assumption, It happened for 30 minutes against Coventry.

[roversfan99]

1 minute ago, philipl said:

Not an assumption, It happened for 30 minutes against Coventry.

Yeah, but only on what you would think and hope is one of the few times in the season when Armstrong wasnt on the pitch due to having the luxury of giving him a bit of a rest.

Throw Dack into the mix who also is naturally a central player and it seems unlikely that Elliott will get much chance down the middle.

I think that it is more that Mowbray seems to see Gallagher as more of a wide player in the 3, which in my opinion is a very strange experiment, that he put Elliott in more of a free role. But with Armstrong especially and also Dack, I dont see much scope for playing Elliott centrally. Elliott is a wide player anyway so it makes little sense that we could have made any promises regarding where he will play.

[chaddyrovers]

17 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Yeah, but only on what you would think and hope is one of the few times in the season when Armstrong wasnt on the pitch due to having the luxury of giving him a bit of a rest.

Throw Dack into the mix who also is naturally a central player and it seems unlikely that Elliott will get much chance down the middle.

I think that it is more that Mowbray seems to see Gallagher as more of a wide player in the 3, which in my opinion is a very strange experiment, that he put Elliott in more of a free role. But with Armstrong especially and also Dack, I dont see much scope for playing Elliott centrally. Elliott is a wide player anyway so it makes little sense that we could have made any promises regarding where he will play.

Let's see How Dack returns first. Dack playing any minutes in 2020 is a bonus. 

[roversfan99]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

Let's see How Dack returns first. Dack playing any minutes in 2020 is a bonus. 

You keep saying, but he will come back at some point.

But even take him out of the equation, and my point was that I cant see any merit or logic to us promising Liverpool that we play the young winger that we have taken on loan in a central position, baring in mind that we have Armstrong playing central.

[1864roverite]

Personally think both Evans and Bennett are now coming to the end of their time at Ewood

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

You keep saying, but he will come back at some point.

But even take him out of the equation, and my point was that I cant see any merit or logic to us promising Liverpool that we play the young winger that we have taken on loan in a central position, baring in mind that we have Armstrong playing central.

Yes he will. But he hasn't been contact training yet and will need a few under 23's games 1st. Looking at mid December for him returning for me

[roversfan99]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

Yes he will. But he hasn't been contact training yet and will need a few under 23's games 1st. Looking at mid December for him returning for me

Thanks doc. But my point regarding promises potentially made to Elliott over playing central was not really connected to Dack's return, even at the moment without him I see no logic to such a potential promise.

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Thanks doc. But my point regarding promises potentially made to Elliott over playing central was not really connected to Dack's return, even at the moment without him I see no logic to such a potential promise.

Anytime ?

I agree with you on that on Promise playing Elliott central

[JacknOry]

4 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Yes he will. But he hasn't been contact training yet and will need a few under 23's games 1st. Looking at mid December for him returning for me

For me? You watched him in training and been part of his recuperation? How can you have an opinion on when he comes back unless you are there day to day? 

[DeeCee]

45 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

For me? You watched him in training and been part of his recuperation? How can you have an opinion on when he comes back unless you are there day to day? 

?

[BlackburnEnd75]

6 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Yes he will. But he hasn't been contact training yet and will need a few under 23's games 1st. Looking at mid December for him returning for me

I'd say early December would be realistic for a first start. Think sharpe suggested after the next international break for him to be in and around the first team.

That gives him time for 2 or 3 under 23 games increasing his mins each time. Few 1st team games as a sub then could do an hour as a starter.