We're playing really well at the moment, but that we seem to win despite creating lower quality chances than the opposition is a continuing head-f***. There's very few games all season, including Sheff Utd on Saturday, where our xG has been higher than the opposition. I think that's where the reticence to get behind JDT comes from it doesn't quite stack up and gives the feeling of a "false position". It's weird as you'd think it would eventually catch up with us, but it hasn't. Maybe it's just we are absolutely shit hot at last ditch defending? It's been 35 games now so that's long enough to say it's not a blip, we must be doing something right. This table is absolutely crackers : https://footystats.org/england/championship/xg

Personally I'd say Sheff Utd could have score two or three first half but let themselves down with really poor finishing. We rode our luck, but then thoroughly earned the win in the second half. Something about JDT - he does seem a lucky manager, as all the best are.

Szmodics particularly looks like a really good player to me. Pacy, relentless, good technique, scores goals. I was a bit on the fence with him, but now I am well on board. He was also switching the play and finding long passes from deeper positions. Can see him continuing to improve. He's got a sort of Craig Bellamy vibe I like.

After three back to back wins of increasing quality each time the core of the teams pretty obvious but some tight calls on the margins for who gets included.... Pears, Hyam, Carter, JRC, Travis, Szmodics, Dolan, Gallagher all obvious starters. Which leaves LB, CM and RW up for grabs. I think I'd go for Brittain LB, Buckley CM and Thomas RW - although if any of Pickering, Morton or Hedges were selected I'd be okay with it I think - all played a part in the beating of Leicester.

Watched the game back on iPlayer. Wow, what a performance. What I particularly like about it was it proved me wrong on quite a lot of things (not for the first time) - I thought Pears was finished after Wigan FA cup game last year. I thought if Kaminski got injured we were sunk. Another excellent performance by Pears and probably ahead of Kaminski now -I thought Hyam was struggling to pass out effectively from the back. He (as well as Carter and the whole back four) were ice personified stroking the ball around the Leceister front three. Lifting it over their heads or playing it a few inches ahead of them. And then finding the longer pass to break forward. -I thought Szmodic and Dolan were too similar players to play together. They complimented each other to perfection, combining down the left, and scoring an excellent goal each. Actually they way they play - with Szmodics going in behind and Dolan cutting across is very complimentary. - I thought Travis was struggling with the new more direct way we play and was going to be frozen out of the side. Now he's probably the first name on the team sheet with a four superb performances in the row where he's not only back to his pressing and tackling best but also very creative in a way we haven't seen before. - I thought the tactics we were using meant we got few in the box and on the end of crosses. Things have changed hugely since early January. Everytime we go forward we get three or four into the box. To a lesser extent that the above I also thought Morton had a very good game up until the last 20 mins or so. Good tackles and blocks, and while nothing revolutionary with his passing he kept it moving quite well. We should get off his back a bit I think. The performance was so good it has actually turned me from dreading to beginning to look forward to the Burnley game...

Missed this as at a work thing abroad. I really hope BBC have this available ti watch back on iplayer. Phenomenal result!!!!!

I missed the game on saturday due to my wife's very selfishly placed birthday.... just watched it all back though. Have to say very impressed alround by the performance. When we played 4231 start of the season we were very narrow and tended to play in front of rather than behind teams, but since we reverted to this formation in Jan we've been getting more and more direct, particularly with the addition of Thomas, and two fantastic performances from Brittain and JRC on the overlap with lots of width. Gallagher actually got in the box repeatedly in a way I haven't seen in a long time. We had 3 or 4 players in the box ready for a cross over and over again. QPR were poor, so it's hard to know how it will translate against better sides, but lots of reasons for hope. When Dack and Brereton went off injured last week I said at the time that it might actually lead to us playing better not worse, and so its proved. Szmodics and Dolan (the two beneficiaries from the injuries) were everywhere and excellent. They might not have the quality on the ball of Dack or the physicality of Brereton but to me they looked a lot more consistently effective over the 70 odd minutes they were on. Both also have shown they can score when they get starts. They show a lot more for a penetrating ball in behind than either Dack or BBD who both prefer to pick up the ball deeper. And their workrate is ridiculous. It might be a long road for BBD and Dack to get back in the side. Sheffield Utd next week will be the real test to see how much we have really improved. p.s. thought Trav was on his way out of the club a few weeks ago, but he's maybe having the best spell he's ever had for us. Crazy turnaround...

Gareth Aisworth cracks me up. Looks like he should be in a 1970s pub rock band, not a football manager. And I can't imagine QPR fans will be overly impressed with these comments! Imagine if our new manager said that about another club who just battered us in the Championship after finishing between 8th and 15th in the last three season. "Going in at 1-1 against a team who came here and probably expected to win, and the whole world expected them to win. It’s Blackburn Rovers, the big club that they are in this league,” he added" As a Blackburn Rovers supporter though I am a big fan. Though much happier we have JDT I have to say.

Brentford had a really really good squad though which they honed and improved season after season until they were finally promoted. We dont have that really. Kaminski, Hyam, Brittain could maybe make it in the prem. After that its a lot of very young players who it is hard to know how they would handle the step up. The gulf between prem and championship is absolutely massive now. You look at the size, athleticism and technical quality of even a lower bottom half prem player and its so far ahead of whats kicking about in the Championship. Trav, A Wharton, Buckley I reckon could have had a crack at the prem ten years ago - the old sink or swim. But now the suspicion is they would get absolutely eaten alive. Its a bit unhealthy how the gap between champ and prem is widening imo.

Markanday is a puzzling one. Has looked pretty okay when hes played, caused the opposition issues. Quick, direct, can score. Its hard to figure out why no one is playing him, obviously something we can't see

I think club just wont see the value in extending him on current terms with his injury record. I might be wrong, but with the club keen to trim costs, and needing to create budget for a quality striker that seems where we are heading. If we can reduce terms to something more like pay as you play he could end up staying, but thats always a tough negotiation.

He had a spell where he was very good early in the season then recently has been quite poor. Trav and Buckley have both similarly been up and down. I personally dont think hes a bad player, just at a similar level to what we have already. Next time we loan we really need to make sure they are a level above what we have or offer us something different we dont have. Morton isnt either of those.

I broadly agree with this. We should replace Morton who is way too similar to Buckley and Wharton with an (ideally perm) more experienced and physical midfielder. Dack I think will leave, but we will replace him with a forward I think rather than a midfielder. Up front in where all the action is - we should try and sign Thomas or another wide player, replace BBD if he goes, and we absolutely have to sign two central strikers with good goal scoring records. One target man Graham/Gestede type and one all rounder. We should let Vale and Dack go (unless he wants to sign pay as you play). If we can persuade someone to pay a decent fee for Gallagher then that would mean we could get a third striker in. We do that and we are good value for a playoff finish. Add all that up and it's signing potentially five good forwards which does feel incredibly optimistic. Dare I say unrealistic. So I suppose in light of that convincing BBD to stay another year, and holding onto Gallagher, and signing three forwards could be the route to go.

Id play the same team as against Blackpool, but start Carter obviously, and start Hedges in place of Gallagher. Given the subs on Tuesday my suspicion is we will start Vale up top, and if we do that we are in trouble imo.

My mate used to teach Dolan when he was at the Man City academy. Said he was a good lad but a bit of a tearaway, seemed like the sort who would not knuckle down and make the most of his talent. But he really has. Mowbray gets a lot grief, but I do think the way he handled Dolan was excellent.

Could be a really top player I think.... his goals/assists per minute played is really decent and quite consistent. Scores some crackers, scares defenders, always fun to watch. As Brereton is going I would like to see Dolan get a solid run at left forward as it is his best position (as someone said on the match thread).

Yes his left foot would be invaluable here, especially with a right footer at right back. Similarly Adam Wharton in midfield would help a lot with a left foot. Because everyones right footed we end up playing quite a narrow range of passing forward. Anyway Blackpool might be the worst team we have seen at Ewood this season so it doesn't look a massive issue for us. Forwards have been good. Those saying Gallgher should come off - he's god awful on the ball but off it he gives the defenders something to think about. Bring Vale on and watch us suddenly struggle as the CBs will just step up and squeeze the space for our forwards. I could maybe go for Hedges having a crack at CF if we did bring Gally on.

Definitely struggling to pass the ball out with Ayala and Hyam in there. Both so slow... Why is Carter not starting?

With both Dack and BBD out I think Leonard has a good chance of being on the bench just to fill it out. As we play four forwards we will probably only have one first team forward left over, so Vale and Leonard could get onto the bench to make up the numbers. I would really like to see him for 20-30mins.

I agree, should be moved onto a decent pay as you play deal with minimal basic. I think given his injury record that will be how every club approaches him now so it won't be anything uncompetitive. We've looked after him really well over his two ACLs, time to protect the club and make room for other signings on the wage bill.

I suppose it's possible, hard to think that he won't get £30k from somewhere in Prem. That's nothing these days.

Good illustration of why Chat GPT is impressive yet unimpressive at the same time. Can turn a single line prompt into grammatically correct flowing sentences in a particular style, and make them relatively aligned to the topic at hand, but they still come across as a general summary without insight. I do wonder whether calling tools like this "Artificial Intelligence" is right? It's really more of a collation and filtering and structuring of a vast pool of information, rather than actually providing a new intelligent insight or initiative. What you get out will be limited to what is in the information pool it is drawing on.

Yeah... but equally the run of games where Dack and Brereton have played since the world cup break we have scored very few goals anyway. BBD has managed one, and Dack three... It's not like we are missing players who have been banging them in week after week. Hopefully the change will unlock something and other players can score. Maybe a forlorn hope!

I think I would just about have Gallagher ahead of Szmodics and Vale. And Leonard I have never seen play.

Ben and his advisors are not daft.... what does he get out of that? He will get a better signing on fee and wage if he is a free agent. Why sign on for us to only then be sold? The only reason would be some sort of loyalty to the club that developed him, but if that was a motivating factor surely he would already be tied up to something.