Groundhog

Their goals against record this season is frankly bonkers, yet the two lads at the back don't look that good - yes they're quick and cover a lot of ground, and they seem to be able to stand up and snuff out 1 v 1s with ease, but I feel teams don't test them enough, we certainly didn't at Ewood - the commentators were waxing lyrical about them but I think I could have nodded away most of our attempts at crosses... They get a lot of praise for their long diagonal passes, but tonight almost every ball was hit long.

Dull first half so far between them lot and Dirty Leeds The battle of which turd you'd rather scrape off your shoe Two pound shop Pep teams trying to out-sideways each other - like two crabs fighting over a pickled onion

That question answers itself - replace "weird" with "expected"

The problem with Markanday for me is the potential for him to turn up at Ewood, playing for a Swansea or a Bristol City, or even if (when) we down drop into League One, and completely tear us a new one 🤣

I agree - someone should do a compilation of every goal conceded from pissing around with the ball at the back in the last 2-3 years - it would be a collection of near carbon copies. I get the game evolves, and why teams do it to evade this new style of "pressing" we have now, but I'm personally bored of seeing nearly all teams letting the players with the worst touch and general ball control (ie the back 4 and keeper), having so much of the possession close to their own goal, it's just not easy on the eye. I have to watch old 90s games to remind myself of what football can look like.

He was "immense" when he came on against Portsmouth, every turn came off and the ball stuck to his feet, showing similar signs tonight.

Opposite of the Leeds game - just like Luton and Sunderland, take the game to them and try and blow them away and then defend like animals. Has anyone actually attacked Burnley with purpose this year? Worried that Cullen and Brownhill will overcome Baker and Cantwell and leave Tronstadt with too much to do mind. Hoping that the Barnes factor actually contributes to riling Burnley up too much - their one advantage this year has been how calm and machine-like they've been, maybe this game they lose their nerve. Wishful thinking. Come on lads. I've got a 40th to go after, and for someone from an all Dingle season ticket holding family.

At the final whistle it was great to see Batth, Pickering, Hyam etc all celebrating as a unit like they had won the league - they're a team within a team and it's a joy to watch. That first half felt very different - to actually have the confidence and squad depth to try a new line up and take the game to Luton, with options on the bench to revert to in case it didn't work, is a "normal" football thing to do. I really enjoy the fact that Eustace has the ingenuity and confidence in himself to have a go like that. The fact we can play in different ways is a credit to JE and the group. ACD was getting so much joy on that right hand side, I'm surprised it took Edwards a whole half to shut him down (he did tire) - previous Rovers teams wouldn't have picked him out so readily, but we were finally seeing first time diagonal passes from Travis, JRC, Sonny using him as an immediate out ball, It didn't always come off, but Rovers fans are a sympathetic bunch if we can see the team is trying to force the issue and being positive. We're just doing sensible football things that once us as fans took for granted, playing the game in front of us for once, rather that on the tactics board or in the manager's head (sorry JDT). It feels good to be a part of.

On rewatch I'm appreciating the great little take down for the cross by JRC - its those little moments of quality that can gain an advantage in this division So many times we've seen other teams do that to us and make us pay.

In typical football fan fashion, the longer our run goes on the more nervous I'm getting, it's the hope that kills you, plus the impending January transfer meltdown over the horizon that I can't seem to get out of my mind. Trying to be realistic and not get carried away. It feels different with JE at the helm though, Trav, Hyam and Batth and McFadz being leaders on the pitch, scoring all kinds of goals, defending like lions and blocking shots like the Hughes days. Almost want a hard fought defeat soon then we can regroup for them lot at home - anyone else feel that way?

Every team needs a mad bastard in it - lightens the mood and gives everyone something to bond over. I think he'll come good - he needs a role, something the rest of the squad seem to have well defined. If he can own being a battering ram against certain teams and we can get the crosses into him, even if he just creates havoc at least, the resulting knock down or second ball will be dangerous on its own. It was happening early on in the season. The way the players are celebrating goals and wins at the minute is a real indicator of the feeling in the squad - it just feels different to me from previous seasons. I know at Hillsborough it's easier to get to the fans due to the stand being closer to the pitch, but the scenes after the goal were amazing, 4-5 players getting their heads stuck in, Hedges, Tronstadt, JRC etc, there's a connection there that seems a level up. Getting emotional watching it and I haven't felt like that for ages. I see a lot of criticism aimed at Hedges, I find it a little unfair, yes him and Dolan can be frustrated going forward, but they work really hard to track back and get back into shape, and for that you sacrifice forward momentum - his run for the goal against Hull was great. I agree the passing could be better. Hedges is one of those players that managers love and apart from his injury record he's bloody fit and can graft. I'd hate to play against him or Dolan, knowing they're always going to be getting goal side of you when you've managed to knick the ball back, relentless.

His goal reminded me of some of Sutton's goals for us, especially our 2nd goal at West Ham away in the cup in the 90s - grit, strength and determination to force himself past the defender - only one player winning that ball. No one else in the team is scoring goals like that, and what I like about us this season is we're scoring all sorts of goals, rather than previous seasons where we just saw repeats of Diaz or Szmodics cutting in from the left on a breakaway.

Trav suspended for the Hull game...could be worse. Silly booking though.

"bUt yOuR GoAL WAs OFfsIDe"

Sonny is one of the best signings we've made in recent years. He seems to love it too, the way he celebrates after goals or at the final whistle, proper player.

Cantwell is the only player who can loft the ball in behind and drop it on a dime for the onrushing forward, or play a 35 yard crossfield pass first time. Those are things that should be a given for a footballer, the default, we've been spoilt with them in the past. He's working with little around him.

I wonder if we are even identifying these players, anyone with half a football brain could see his potential. Is he on our "A" list and we just can't afford him or organise ourselves to make the approach, and therefore we end up with an unproven keeper in Toth. Or is he even on the list at all?

I'll never be able to get that Ashely Ward lob toward an empty net out of my head, when the 0-0 against Utd sent us down. Although imagine if we had VAR back then, that penalty that should have been against Charlton... Gueye has a way to go yet but I'm getting Kevin Davies vibes.

Double post

I totally agree with you - it hurts tonight and there's a lot of understandable knee jerk reactions. We did everything we could - I normally criticise us for not getting enough men forward, but we created a host of chances. We seemed to want to play with energy, enthusiasm and actually cause some trouble in the final third - there's a lot you can land at Eustace's door about our front line being more taken with pressing than scoring, and also having two very slow, defensive midfielders, but tonight we did actually create chances. We're just not scary enough, there's nothing in the final third to get opposition defenders worried. What we are seeing is the fine margins of the Championship and the dumbing down of the squad by the Venky's writ large on the pitch, causing mistakes at both ends. It's like Stockholm Syndrome, death by a 1000 cuts so we don't notice the gradual decline. We can't compete with the likes of Stoke to get the signature of a player like Cannon, so have to take a punt on Big Mak. We're expecting hard working but bang average players to become clinical. We're relying on a 34 year old defender to play 3 games in a week with zero cover, that's going to create a problem at some point and lead to a mistake. We've got an unproven lad up front who's played a season already and we replace him after 60mins with someone who can't strike or head a ball, also unproven. The other options are Dolan and Leonard, we just don't have the goalscoring ability to turn slim chances into goals. Those are players that would support a forward line, not be relied upon to make a difference. We need a player to match Cantwell's ability, he sticks out like a sore thumb.

Why do we play Cantwell on the left? He seems to rome, and him and Dolan often trade places, but not often, probably by circumstance rather than design. All I can think is that it's a "modern football thing" and that having Dolan central allows him to press their back line and harry?

No wonder it was 0-0 last night 🤣:

Cantwell stood out by a mile last night, can tell he's done it a level above. We just need one more player of that quality to pair him up with.

Feel like I'm in the minority but I really enjoyed last night. I quite enjoy seeing two evenly matched teams try and outwit each other and enjoyed the battles all over the pitch. I prefer this pragmatic approach by Eustace, he'd done his homework, I like seeing us match up to the opposition, rather than gallantly losing 1-3, totally fine by me. Yes, they had chances, but so did we. We kept Maja quiet until we tired, a player who was once courted by us - if he was in a Rovers shirt last night we'd be moaning about his performance. West Brom are a top 6 side, some say top 4, and that fact we matched them for 80mins is to be commended, only their better squad depth was the difference towards the end. If anything it just makes me more frustrated by the results at Plymouth and especially the Coventry game, and more frustrated again by the ownership, but that's a given... I wasn't even bothered by the passing out from the back, I can see why we do it - the margins are so tight nowadays with the way opposition teams press, and it does work. What doesn't work was the constant hoof up to Dolan in the second half, that was driving me crackers, but who else can we aim at once Hedges has gone off and Gueye on the bench? I wish we had another option up front with height and strength, and not just the pace of Amari CD to look forward to. January? Oh yeah, sorry... My main concern is that we don't have anyone who can run beyond against the well set up sides, I think it's due to the lack of pace, our build up play is slow, when we quicken it we look the real thing, but 80% of the time we are playing safe and not going for the first time pass out of midfield, mainly down to the abilities of the squad. It takes confidence to ping a 30 yard diagonal on your second touch. We can't get in behind as we allow teams to drop back into position and set themselves on every attack. I thought bringing on Brittain to help JRC was a good move, but did wonder whether there was a little bit attacking intent in it too, hoping he'd cross it to Maktar, but we never got a chance, both on too late. I'd love to see us try 15 mins of sustained crossing to Gueye just to see what he could do. I thought the Blackburn End were fantastic in the second half for the good 25 min spell, and I feel the fans do appreciate the grit and effort the team are putting in. Whoever booed in the Riverside at the full time whistle and at every square pass needs to give their head a wobble - we've been in the championship long enough to know it's an attritional slog and not every game can be full of wondrous attacking play, the good teams behave the same. At least the team are fighting and scrapping for every ball, we are annoying to play against, and I like that. I do get a feeling that Eustace and his team are seeing the season as a whole and managing our limited resources well, there will be bumps and we're not always going to get it right with our lack of depth, but I trust him.

Worrying statements from Palace. Get the lad the surgery he needs. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/crystal-palace-adam-wharton-injury-surgery-glasner-b1188794.html