Thought Morton was good. Thought he'd be a lightweight passing midfielder but actually looks a strong all rounder. Impressed.

Great great win... Two quality goals - what a finish by Gallagher! Solid defending under trying circumstances. Only thing I'd say is we know from a few seasons ago (season we had Harvey Elliott and played 433) that if we play a high intensity pressing game we will get a lot of injuries. Seems to be already happening. Ayala could go down for two months at any moment. We really need to sign a few defenders ASAP.

Yeah on the team sheet it's 4231 same as last year but in reality it's very different, the front four are all much more narrow when we are attacking. Do think tbh Pickering will struggle as what's being asked of the full backs is huge, basically cover the entire wing, so it's supreme athleticism required. Edun might be more suited as he has come back looking a beast?

Yeah in recent seasons it's really only Fulham and Norwich who have got promoted through pretty footy. But both of those team has sensational strikers (Mitrovic and Puki) who scored shed loads of goals. Burnley have not got one of those. And of course once Norwich and Fulham got promoted and tried to play total football in the Prem they got absolutely mullered which makes you wonder why even try to get promoted like that if you know you can't keep the same system once your up? Brentfords practical flexible approach is much smarter imo. Or Burnley under Dych. Glad to see JDT already showing he likes to mix it up.

As West Brom are offensively very good I doubt Gallagher will get dropped JDT will want his athleticism for closing WBA down and covering the wing.

To be fair whether you have a great first half then poor second half or vice versa it's the same outcome if you finish 8th. To think anything else is just recency bias. Mowbray did okay. JDT looks like he might be putting something special together or it could be the new manager bounce... will take a couple of months to figure that out. But generally everything JDT and co are doing is stuff I like - playing the youth, high intensity, meaningful passing, good tactical defending. Aside from the personalities involved splitting the three main areas of the club managers role across three qualified people makes sense. JDT - leadership and values; Remy - tactics; Broughton - personnel. Reckon Remy should be looked at as one of the key three individuals. Mowbray was trying to cover all that off on his own (don't think Venus et al did much), and by specializing it does give extra capacity and focus.

On the bit in bold - the vibe I get from Broughton and JDT is that they are happy to play the kids. They haven't been coming out saying experience is an issue, just overall numbers in the squad. I think Vale, A Wharton, Phillips (if he stays), maybe also Garrett are going to get serious game time even when we hopefully sign three or so more. With 5 subs per game now it will be relatively easy to give them 20-30 mins here and there in the Championship, and if they take to water like Travis, S Wharton, Buckley have they will play. I don't think loaning them out is the right thing personally.

Didn't realise Sparky had pitched up at Bradford... Man City to Bradford, that's quite a fall. Really looked like he was destined to be a top manager when he was with us.

Teams out : Pears JRC. Phillips. Wharton. Edun Morton A Wharton . Markanday. Dack. Dolan Vale Good team, will be interesting to see how they do.

But I guess he can't watch it either unless he's at Ewood?

EFL have confirmed no FA cup or League Cup games on iFollow, and only 2 games per round on Sky TV - neither of which is Rovers. I guess that means absolutely no TV for tonight. Want some detailed match reports from those who go! ITV4 has highlights at 10.30pm

Yeah, but then you need to be really lucky with injuries.

Hard to argue with that, only thing I'd say its probably Garrett in the middle as hes more physical than Wharton from what I've seen I'm interested to see what Markanday can do. From how JDT has selected /subbed so far he doesn't seem that keen on him

To be fair we can just do 532 like we did last 20 mins against Swansea. Both Edun and Pickering on. Wonder what theyre thinking at WBA hq - set up to attack us or look to draw us out. Based on our first two matches this is a tricky call for them. Reckon they might come and sit back and see what we can do and hit us on the break. Do to us what we did at Swansea. That's the way with the Championship, everyone responds very quickly to how the other teams play.

Have to disagree - after our last two defensive performances I can't see JDT having any issues with Pickering. That back four will be chiseled in stone - QPR didn't create a sniff, and Swansea cut through maybe twice and had a few long shots.

Yeah, I thought he was too lightweight last year to deputise for Travis, but maybe that is achievable for him based on what I saw on Saturday. Based on who we have been linked with it doesn't seem we are after a physical midfielder, so if Travis gets injured/suspended we are going to be looking at either Edun or Garrett to put the tackles in. Travis is such an animal though they will be very big boots to fill. I'd prefer if we sign someone experienced in that role either on loan or perm.

No one's shown any interest in him apart from us. I suspect the reason he's sticking around is from his perspective he may as well see if he he can force his way into the Brighton picture in August and if not sign for us towards the end of the month.

Watched the game back just now. Few thoughts - -Like QPR our defending, shape, workrate were all top class. Didn't really expect given who we've lost from the squad and JDTs background as a striker defending would be our strong point. But we've been superb. One of our best ever all round defensive performances in the championship imo. -Really liked how tactically flexible we were, starting with the ultra deep 4231, then switching to an ultra deep 532 part way into second half to nullify the extra forward Swansea brought on. I think someone said JDTs deputy Remy is a bit of a tactical genius - maybe his influence? -All the side were defensively superb. Pickering whose got a lot of stick recently looked totally solid to me. Brittain good again. It was sort of game where Swansea went at the full backs a lot and they both did well. - Offensively we were a bit more patchy. Hedges was brilliant. Travis, Sammie and BBD took their goals well but struggled to really create too many chances, but then they finished the ones they did get so what more can you ask? Gally as usual lots of graft but little quality. Buckley surprisingly muted. - I've been a bit indifferent about Edun but thought he looked good when he came on. Mobile, seems to have filled out a bit, and showed good technique. Maybe could play more of a role than I thought? - If we can keep up this defensive performance we are going to have a real start to the season. West Brom real test next week...

For me Dack is a striker really, especially since his ACLs. He might drop off and find a bit of space like Teddy Sheringham or Peter Beardsley used to, but he's far more like them than a proper midfielder who would carry and pass the ball centrally . Even before ACL he was really more in a partnership with Graham up front than in the middle with Smallwood and Evans etc imo. And he has a strikers sort of scoring record too...

Yeah he's been a bit frustrating but like Dolan you can see if he just improves his decision making a bit then he'll be a real handful. They've both got the raw qualities in different ways to scare defenders and create chances. Dolan and Hedges will have really good seasons this year imo. With Gally its a bit different - he's also got a lot of excellent qualities (mainly athletic), but it's not just his final pass or taking on a man he gets wrong. Its everything about his movement, how he receives the ball, playing back to goal, heading, his touch, getting in the box. There's so much to overcome to turn him into a good offensive player it's not going to happen. That said defensively probably Gallagher is one of the best forwards in the Championship. He's an absolute animal tracking back on the wing, and that's what keeps him in the team.... But I am not really sure how long you can keep forwards in the team because the defend well. Reckon his days are numbered under JDT. He will be happy to sacrifice a bit of defensive athleticism for someone who offers a threat. With Sammie coming in can see it soon moving to BBD, Sammie, Dolan, Hedges as the front four with Gally on the bench.

I don't think there's any legal or professional body requirement for that to happen. Its just usually the player will refuse to move unless the "top up" to his existing contract is paid by his existing club so he doesn't lose out by moving to a lower salary at a new club. Which makes sense really. Not many people will voluntarily walk away from money contractually owed to them.

Missed the game yesterday as out and about. Looking forward to watching the full match replay later tonight! Sounds like a great performance. Glad Hedges is showing real quality. He's Got all the attributes. Of the XI out there I genuinely rate virtually all of them, obviously Sammie is new so need to see what he offers. Id probably only really be keen to swap out Gallagher. Like Hedges I'm pretty sure despite doubters Pickering will go on to have a good season.

I think part of the reluctance from Venkys is they gave Dack a massive deal then he did 2 ACLs. THere is something about the way they work these days that suggests they would rather lose money than get screwed over by agents or pure chance. Rather let someone go than pay bumper deals.

Yes - like Tugay Buckley has got that quality where you give him the ball in virtually any situation and he will come out the other side retaining possession and then do something useful. With someone like that it's worth just giving them the ball as early as possible to set the team up so playing them deep makes sense. Also what Buckley has got that Tugay didn't really is the ability to carry the ball 20-30 yards past players. He did that a couple of times against QPR, and as he fills out more I think that will do that more. You can see how much stronger he is compared to last season. He will be player of the year.

I'd quibble with that really. While Sammie and Morton look like good additions they are way down the priority order compared to centre back and left back.