Maybe it's easy to sing his praise right after a career highlight, but I overall thought he was a true bright spot for the team last year. I think one of the turning points of our season was his early Dec injury and then struggling to get back into form when he did return (for whatever reason he was often a sub during that Feb dip, whether due to lingering injury or maybe he was just playing poorly...) Unlike Gallagher, I can also see the merits of keeping him on the wing. His defensive work rate and speed seem to go underrated. I can't recall the exact game, I think later in the year, but there was a moment where he was running back at an astonishing pace... I wish I had a clip of it. Also has that ability to run at almost 100% with the ball stuck to his foot. I'll happily admit his shooting needs work (that Watford strike aside!) and grumbles about his transfer fee are still warranted, but he still only just turned 22. Some seem hung up on his early struggles but I think his future is still plenty bright (and the Chilean national team's hierarchy seem to agree!)

Thought this was an interesting chart from Ben Mayhew re: time spent in the lead, tied, or losing: I'm not sure exactly how he's ordered this (2nd chart is the Championship), but we were roughly 6th worst in the league in the amount of time we spent winning vs losing/tied, which I think explains a lot of our 'impressive' possession numbers versus actual results. A lot of time passing the ball around chasing games against teams that learned how to nullify us after getting ahead early (or were happy to sit back and wait for their chance). Need to account for such 'score effects' when looking at possession stats... I think a general story for our season is we came out like gangbusters offensively and arguably had a few 'unlucky' results (our xG supports that), but then teams quickly figured out how to bottle us up and nullify our possession (and xG roughly supports that too! I can't find a quick chart of our rolling xG average, but it definitely declined markedly during our Feb-Mar collapse) While I generally like xG as part of an analytical toolbox, we were clearly a statistical outlier last year (no stat is perfect...). I recall reading that xG is more predictive of future performance than actual goals until about halfway through a season, after which actual goals is more predictive. That's not at all to say xG is useless, it's a better early indicator of a team's 'true talent' or whatever you want to call it, but eventually results are what matter...

Ah, I may have lost the thread a bit, but +/- doesn't even really answer that question, so I'm not sure of the point of bringing it up at all... (For the record, we were 3-2-2 in games Buckley started 🙂) Anyway, my post was actually more of a general defence of analytics and why attacking stats like +/- is a silly strawman to use, as there did seem to be a sudden rash of analytics bashing based on one out of context table!

It's already been discussed, but I think the biggest thing to stress about those summer of 2012 signings is the opportunity cost. That was our first year with parachute payments and our chance to steamroll the league with our wage bill alone. I know there's debate about this, but all other things equal, having parachute payments is a huge, huge advantage in the Championship. And we certainly spent like it. It wasn't as if we tried to cut our cloth that year, we did go for it... Yet we wasted that opportunity on the likes of Murphy, Etuhu, and Best (I sometimes wonder how Best would've done if he hadn't gotten injured that year... obviously a twat of a person, but he had some pedigree), all reportedly on £30k/week. You could easily have 7-8 solid Championship players for a similar outlay. We ended up almost relegated and lost £42m that summer, setting us on course for a snowballing financial disaster. Rhodes was obviously the saving grace of that summer, and probably singlehandedly kept us from being relegated, but he should've been the icing on a promotion-challenging team's cake, not our safety valve.

Haha, +/- is a funny ol' stat to be arguing about... and a strange one to apply to football. As has been said, context is important. (Ice) hockey is my true love, where +/- has long been rubbished. I'll give the column in that table some credit for adjusting for minutes on the pitch, but it's still incredibly misleading to compare across every player. Setting Buckley aside, let's highlight Downing and Dolan at +1.3/90 and +1.1/90, respectively. Great numbers, apparently, but I think we can all agree that they're players who were mostly put on late in games when we were chasing, and thus more likely to pick up a goal. They may have contributed to that, but you need to adjust for 'score effects' to tease out that context (something that has been done for GF% stats in hockey, but it's not entirely satisfactory). Chasing up where that table is located (here: https://fbref.com/en/squads/e090f40b/Blackburn-Rovers-Stats), let's also look at the bottom, where we've got Elliott Bennett at -0.72/90. Now I'm sure plenty would like to use that as ammunition to attack a divisive player, but he's likely partly getting dinged for being put on largely as a defensive/emergency replacement. Or late in games out of reach, eg, he gets hit with a -1 for being on for Koroma's 82 min goal in our final 5-2 win over Huddersfield. The number can also be exaggerated for players with a small amount of minutes when converting to per 90. And then there's overall team effects, which make it a silly stat to apply in football where you've got 11 players playing most of the match together. (In hockey, players are constantly changing on and off, so there is a bit more hope to tease out player impact from team impact, if still difficult). Wharton played great, but he was also part of a general purple patch for the squad. Is he really +1.36/90 vs +0.35/90 better than Lenihan...? Armstrong played almost 85% of our minutes and his aggregate +/- of +7 essentially just reflects our overall GF-GA difference of +11 over the year. (Kinda interesting that Elliott is near the bottom at -0.16/90 despite playing a lot of minutes, but again, I wouldn't read too much into this stat) I'll admit to generally being an analytics fan (and I have some appreciation for xG-like stats, if of course not 100% devotion!), but let's focus on the stats that are actually being used by teams at the forefront of analytics (many of which aren't publicly available!). Reminds me of when data analytics were first coming into football in the '90s and they were counting things like tackles, without the context that if you're tackling a lot, it probably also means you never have the ball...

If of interest as MLS publishes all salaries (shocking, innit?! 😁), Williams is apparently making a base salary of $750k, going up to $821k in guaranteed compensation. So, to put that in UK football terms and at current exchange rates, about £11.1k per week. I'd guess he was on something like £8k/week with us? Probably better than he would manage on a new contract over here and life in LA on $800k can't be too shabby, so I can see why he was keen on the move! Good luck to him. We all had our frustrations with him but he was ultimately pretty decent. (Yeah, that tackle looks pretty bad but more careless/reckless than malicious) edit: was trying to think of any other recent Rovers who had gone to MLS. Most recent I could think of was Adam Henley (now NL North with Chorley!), who was on $160k (~£2.2k/week) with Real Salt Lake a couple years ago.

FWIW, Barnsley's wage bill is by far the lowest in the division. Our 19/20 wages were twice theirs (~£25m vs £11m). So it's not all that unimaginable that we'd be able to offer Mowatt a far better wage package. Barnsley are heavy into analytics and value-for-money (ahem, "Moneyball") and their turnover (and wages/turnover!) are quite low, so I don't see them getting into a bidding war. Making the playoffs was a hell of an accomplishment, but last year was sadly hardly going to be a money spinner for them... Now, if Mowatt has other Championship suitors, it's certainly a fair question why he'd choose us.

Are we allowed to warn about the potential dangers of breaching FFP again if both Sheffield Wed and Derby go down due to FFP-related penalties? 😉 (Tongue half in cheek of course haha 🙃. Covid repercussions obviously the elephant in the room for any FFP breaches in the near future...) Considering their financial chicanery, more than happy to see both go down, and credit to Wycombe who looked well off any chance of survival to start the year! Will be curious to read the final verdict as it seems Derby are still cleared on the stadium sale, which was the bigger potential breach, but this is apparently regarding their fiddling with amortisation. All it will take is 1 point... (edit: ah, scratch that as they'd still be ahead of Wycombe on GD if they lose only 1 point)

Edit: sorry, I'm struggling to the tweets to show up nicely... Latest Championship profit/loss figures from Swiss Ramble, excluding stadium sales chicanery (Covid a factor, but not so much for 2019-20 figures): https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1389824162412310530/photo/1 Looking at operating profit/losses, ie excluding profits from player sales (the only real hope of occasionally turning an annual profit): https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1389824196033880065/photo/2 So, nah. (To be less flippant, the ones that roughly have broken even are the likes of Burton and Rotherham, i.e. Championship-L1 yo-yo clubs at best)

Branthwaite and THB were collectively a clever bit of loan business considering the situation we were in at CB (more on that below...). Both complete unknowns in League football, so we spread the risk of one of them not working out, and presumably with a minimal budget. Branthwaite actually looked alright for a few games before the wheels came off (nowhere near ready, but I can see him developing into a very good CB in maybe 3-4 years time), and then THB stepped in very ably. He's had a few shaky moments, but overall an excellent loan showing. Definitely interested in him coming back on loan again, particularly with Wharton and/or Ayala's health an ongoing concern. Ayala is easily the most consequential miss considering the apparent overall cost and the importance of his role. His absence left us relying on Lenihan, Williams (an okay CB, but always injury prone and clearly had one foot out the door), Wharton, and a few unready youngsters in need of loans. Ignoring injury histories (and Williams wanting out), Lenihan, Ayala, Williams, and Wharton is actually pretty decent CB depth... but then injuries took out the latter 3. To make some concession to Mowbray, who would've thought Wharton would pick up the most serious (and seemingly freak) injury along that backline, particularly right when he started to look like he could handle this level! Perhaps the unluckiest moment of our season (with all due respect to Dack, where some sort of injury recurrence was sadly somewhat predictable) Ayala can, and should, be a top CB in this league. His injury/appearances history wasn't as bad as some claim - lots of whispers due to leaving 'Boro on bitter terms (as far as I can tell glancing at his appearances record, the accusation that he always picked up a mystery 'injury' over Christmas is a myth) - but obviously a major concern now after back-to-back injury-plagued years. He looked pretty unsteady in the games he did play this year too. I'm not going to outright write-off Ayala just yet. For better or for worse, we need him to bounce back in a big way next year, and he's still only 30, but obviously a major ongoing concern. 2/10 is fair enough for now, and there should be a lot of weight on that rating!

Was just thinking about this again and I mucked it up as Gallagher's fee won't factor into the 'intangible asset trading' profit. It'll show up in our rising amortisation costs. Nuttall was a free and whatever minimal fee Raya cost would've fully amortised, so fair to assume that the initial fees for Raya + Nuttall were about £3.2m. So, maybe £3m for Raya (and presumably rising!) and about £200k for Nuttall (not a bad deal!). Possible there are some minimal loan fees wrapped up in that number too (Rovers, like many clubs, don't split out fees from loans. Presumably most of our loans only include wage contributions anyway) On the amortisation, worth noting that is rising given Gallagher + Brereton + Armstrong etc. Amortisation costs for 19-20 were £3.7m, compared to £1.3m in 18-19 and only £0.4m in 17-18. On the point about doubling up on auditors between VLL and BRFC, it's possible there's some additional cost there, but the amount is minimal and clearly stated in the accounts: cost £19k in the latest VLL accounts. On those 'other expenses' I mentioned above, I think I now realise that amortisation/depreciation/lease charges are bundled into that. (Whilst I work in a numbers-oriented field, I'm certainly not a qualified accountant!) I don't have the time to split it all out historically, but they amount to about £5.5m for 2019-20, so the remaining 'other expenses' are £8.6m. Doing the same for 2018-19 leaves 'other expenses' at £9.2m. So, such costs actually declined last year! The increase is due to our transfer spending starting to bite after our "austerity years".

I was honestly just guessing there! To add some more context to what I mean, here are the previous 5 years comparing 'other' operating expenses for the VLL and BRFC accounts: 2019-20: VLL £14.1m; BRFC ? 2018-19: VLL £12.3m; BRFC £10.4m 2017-18: VLL £10.2m; BRFC £8.9m 2016-17: VLL £11.5m; BRFC £5.9m 2015-16: VLL £12.4m; BRFC £10.7m 2014-15: VLL £13.8m; BRFC £11.6m Maybe BRFC reflects a subtraction from grants/subsidies for academy costs, etc. I don't know! Just thought it was worth pointing out that the BRFC accounts tend to be a bit 'better', partly due to that line item (particularly in 16-17!) Our 'other expenses' are certainly high by 'below average size' Championship club standards, but it tends to go without comment in the accounts. I'm not surprised it's high due to the extent of our facilities, but it is curious.

PDF has now been uploaded. Took a glance and it's generally the same old story as recent years. Important to note that these accounts only go up to the end of March 2020, so they won't fully incorporate pandemic impacts. The more interesting set of accounts will be BRFC accounts, which should run until the end of June 2020. I would think the BRFC accounts are the more 'relevant' figures too. Some quick observations/notes: - Turnover up from £14.9m to £15.8m due to increased media revenue. Commercial approx. flat at £4.9m (still relatively high for our 'stature'). Matchday down to £3m from £3.6m, likely reflecting losing 2-3 home games due to the pandemic, plus attendance pre-pandemic being a bit lower. - Wages up from £19.6m to £21.9m. So, an increase, but still below-average for the Championship. - 'Other' operating expenses up from £12.3m to £14.1m. These continue to be high in comparison to other Championship clubs of our 'stature', likely reflecting the academy and other facilities (and hence likely a motivation for savings with the Brockhall STC proposal...). These numbers tend to bounce around a lot, as well as generally being a couple million lower in the BRFC accounts. Perhaps reflects some overheads for VLL that aren't relevant to BRFC (and hence the BRFC accounts are usually a 'touch' rosier!) - Profit on player trading of £3.2m. So, largely Raya + Nuttall - amortisation of Gallagher fee, but that doesn't quite add up by my quick math, so maybe also reflects some other add-ons that were activated that I can't think of (e.g. maybe Mahoney sell-on?) or loan fees (probably minimal). I would also suspect Raya was more than the £3m often bandied about (particularly if appearances were a clause) - Overall losses up from £19.5m to £20.8m. Operating losses up £3m due to increased wages/other costs outstripping turnover growth (wages/turnover rising from 154% to 158%), partially offset by the increased player trading profits

Nice article on Nyambe in The Athletic this morning: https://theathletic.com/2398736/2021/02/26/nyambe-id-sleep-at-a-friends-and-a-snake-would-be-slithering-across-the-floor/ (usual disclaimer that it's behind a paywall! Sorry... not sure if The Athletic allows for reading a couple articles before subscribing or not) Oddly doesn't touch on his ongoing contract situation. Can't help but feel this was partially arranged by his agent to turn up the heat/get his client some notice.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/13504724.blackburn-rovers-waiting-work-permit-kim-bo-kyung-netting-initial-1-5m-josh-king/ LT at the time reported the agreement as an initial £1.5m, potentially rising to £2m. Considering how King did at Bournemouth, and his continued appearances for Norway, it's probably fair to assume we got close to £2m in the end. For other out-of-contract comparators, Hoilett's Bosman was 'up to' £4m (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/19750830) and Mahoney was £425k, potentially rising to £925k with appearances, plus £250k if he makes an England appearance (ha), and 20% of any profit (so we got another £135k when he went to Millwall for £1.1m) (https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/may/rovers-to-receive-fee-for-mahoney/) King sits in the middle of those two, so sounds about right to me for at the time. (King was quite despised by some supporters before that FA Cup hat-trick...) That was also 5 (!) years ago now, so prices weren't quite as inflated then as they can be now (pre-Covid of course...) I was resigned to getting nothing extra for King, so another £500k or so is a nice little last second bonus. May be a bit of a 'drop in the bucket' considering our overall losses, but could be part of the difference in having to sell off a player next year vs the year after...

While I understand the sentiment to bring in a non-nonsense, grizzled shithouse 33+ CB as cover, considering the budget we're apparently working with (or the equivalent of whatever we are paying for Braithwaite - who looked quite good on Saturday!), I think the risk is you're more likely to end up with someone like Gordon Greer. Setting aside whether Keogh's actually any good or not, I suspect he's managed a decent bidding war for his wage (key may be whether Huddersfield gives him a year extension when/if they sign him!) - Does the rule that you're only allowed to play for two clubs in one season apply to Magloire's time at Hartlepool in the National League? Considering he probably still needs a lot of lower league seasoning, I'd assume they're looking for a L1/L2 loan for him now rather than sticking him on the bench. Plenty of reason to question his true potential at his age, but strikes me that a player with his physical attributes is worth a long look. I suspect that a couple months getting roughed up in the National League did him some good. - Was randomly glancing at Morecambe's roster (Lyons got in a sub appearance on Saturday). They may be the new "team of less than impressive ex-Rovers" (previous holders Blackpool a couple years ago when Bowyer was in charge): Hendrie, Lavelle, Slew, O'Sullivan, and Songo'o, plus Lyons!

Yep. As much as the Chapman signing is turning out to be a failure, I think it was a pretty reasonable low-risk/high-reward swing. I may be misremembering, so welcome to be corrected on the exact numbers/rumours, but I recall 'Boro were looking to sell him to us for something £1m after his initial loan spell, but we balked given he had picked up a significant injury (and questions about his commitment had already cropped up). He returned to 'Boro, where he again failed to break in, so we returned to poach him at a much lower fee (I don't think there has been a confirmed number, but FM suggests £250k 🙃). Perhaps that was influenced by constant fan clamouring for his return, but Mowbray probably thought he was a worthwhile cheap project, just not as a big(ish) ticket transfer. While unsubstantiated rumours and speculation can be unfair, with Chapman you have to think where there's continuous smoke, there's fire... Will be interesting to see if he can tear up League One again. Commitment/attitude issues aside, his main issue is his speed seems to have dropped from a 9/10 to ~7/10 since his injuries, which is a shame. I can't recall him beating a defender in any of his senior appearances since his return...

Reading today that Bournemouth may be pretty keen to offload King in January before his contract expires. He's only made 6 appearances so far this year (3+3) and he's still agitating for a move. Maybe won't get the £5m we could've hoped for last January (£25m x 20%) or the £2.6m possible from the West Ham offer of £13m in the summer, but maybe they'll still get £5m...? So £1m for us. That plus maybe Trybull heading back to Norwich (as speculated given his omission from today's squad)... and there's your budget for a CB loan?

Swiss Ramble posted a thread with an interesting set of charts comparing gross and net transfer spend across the PL and Championship over the past 5 years: https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1340985406922354688 Rovers very much near the bottom. This is covering 2014-15 to 2018-19, so it more covers our 'lean' latter years in the Championship + L1, and then you can see the +£8m net spending boost for our first year back in the Championship. Including 19-20 would change things a bit with a net spend of ~£1.5-2m (Gallagher - Raya - Nuttall), but not drastically so. A comparison of only 18-19 + 19-20 vs the rest would probably be more interesting from our perspective. Obviously have to also consider wage expenditure, how much of that spend by relegated clubs turned into an anchor, probably misleading to go so far back for a couple of those former PL clubs, etc etc etc, but anyway, though it was an interesting visual of the gulf in spend between PL clubs, recently relegated clubs, and Championship clubs!

Rolling my eyes and shaking my head through it, but admittedly a pretty entertaining listen! Marshall may be a prat, but he's got a sense of humour at least. For those who can't be bothered (I agree the forced laddishness of that podcast can grate, and it's not a short listen!), here are the general bits re: Rovers: - Bowyer was apparently very 'paranoid', but they don't really elaborate (I suppose fair to Bowyer as he tried to survive under Venky's) - Evans allegedly has a video of Marshall and Marrow naked wrestling outside a pub (lads lads lads!) - Marshall had a side hustle selling knock-off gear, like Yeezys, to players. Mentions selling them to Brown, Taylor, and Guthrie (who wraps it in new packing and gives it to his gf for Christmas - Marshall mocks him for doing so given his PL money haha) - Again confirms everything we already know about Coyle. Funny stories, but that appointment still boggles my mind... - Says Bowyer bought him for just over £1m, he promptly went on the lash with Marrow for 2 weeks before Bowyer had to plead for him to get his head in order. (Makes you again wonder wtf Bowyer was thinking bringing Marrow in) - Liked Lambert, also suggesting he's pretty self-interested (and repeats that he was promised money to spend and then fucked off when Venky's pulled the plug) - Coyle tried to convince him to stay. Was offered the same terms he eventually got at Wolves, but there was a 50% relegation clause and he was convinced Coyle was going to get Rovers relegated, so he refused. Coyle then kicked him off the first team and he went on a 3-week bender before being sold (which apparently showed in his physical at Wolves!) - Says he was sold to Wolves for £2m. I recall there was a lot of debate on here scoffing at the idea of us getting anything more than £500k for him given his contract was running down, but it does sound like we got £1.5-2m in the end (LT reported £1.5m). Cairney and maybe Raya are exceptions, but we generally have gotten quite a good price for the players we have sold under Venky's... (and usually well-timed too. Probably got the best years of Marshall's career anyway) Marshall at least doesn't come off as pretty honest and not a hypocrite... Can also give him some credit for not being one of those misfit players who also blew all their money and fair to him for realising his heart just wasn't in it anymore. Can definitely understand Norwich fans' ire, but it sounds like he voluntarily cancelled a lucrative 4-year contract after 1 year. I was saying earlier how Graham maybe doesn't come off well in that other recent podcast, but there's a balance as he's probably also a great dressing room presence (and while he's floundering at Sunderland and looked past it last year too, he was quite an effective Championship striker a couple years ago at 33!). Sounds like Marshall was one step too far in that regard, particularly with other players being aware he was regularly blowing off training.

While I'm sure they're in it for the fun of owning a football club, rumour is this is also a play on making a 'Sunderland 'til I Die' style documentary, as they realised it would be cheaper to buy/invest in a club like Wrexham for a couple million than pay an established club for broadcasting rights and then wrangle over distribution rights, etc. They also won't have to deal with club PR micromanaging every frame, making sure the club comes off well (/boring). Main risk/worry is if Wrexham's play doesn't produce enough storylines! But I suspect they'll manage just fine in making lower league football interesting and seems they're already leaning into the quirkiness of the Welsh angle. I'm a huge Always Sunny fan and McEllhenney's always seemed like a sincere dude. Reynolds' public persona is charming too, if a bit polished haha. Apparently Reynolds may have made 9 figures selling his gin brand this past summer, so he's got plenty of money to invest/lose!

His first touch is occasionally awful, but he really shows his abilities with that 2nd and 3rd touch (if he gets to it!) What impresses me is how fast he is with the ball right at his feet. Never seems to kick it forward and gallop, yet still gets up the pitch at great pace and with control. Similarly, always seems to be on the verge of trouble in tight in the corner/around the box, yet always seems to wriggle loose. Then his final ball occasionally leaves a lot to be desired, but that finally seems to be improving this year!

The Christmas dinner story about Coyle is hilarious. The players are trying to sort it out in a serious meeting and he can't be bothered haha... Still can't believe that appointment. Considering how razor thin our relegation was that year, certainly an interesting counterfactual if any other manager had been appointed... Graham comes off as pretty immature and less than 100% committed, but you can also tell he's probably good for locker room morale. It's a balance... I often remind myself that 90% of athletes are the guys I hated back in school haha. Players are waaaay more ill-behaved than some fans assume haha, but I also suspect that's what separates the elite from the merely very good. I think there's a quote in Wenger's new book how the very best players live boring, monotonous, and repetitious lives. Fair play to Graham that he's still managing in League One at his age, but you also wonder where he'd be at if he was more dedicated. Also highlights the credit Mowbray deserves for getting the best out of Dack despite his "extracurricular interests"... £750k was obviously a steal even at the time, but his reputation also contributed to him being so cheap. Will be interesting to see how well he comes back from injury (I also think he keeps fitter than people give him credit for. I recall many games trailing where he's all over the place trying to get the ball back with 80+min left...) Makes sense that there's always going to be some love-hate between manager and player, particularly for a player effectively frozen out last year. Graham has every right to be annoyed about it, but he'd clearly lost another step last year and also seems to respect that Mowbray helped revive his career. The manager is effectively their boss, making them run/work every morning, so a players vs manager dynamic naturally develops. So Graham will naturally take Mulgrew's "side", even if it's clear from an outsider's view that Mulgrew is also past it... Also recall Graham speaking out for Gallagher after Sharpe's mildly critical article.

I'm often a 'defender' of Evans, but even I'll admit he had a pretty awful game. Aside from him just being technically 'off' (he's usually at least pretty tidy with the ball), he was often terribly positioned as the 'attacker' among the midfield trio. He did at least show some scrappiness and was a touch better in the 2nd half when re-positioned further back... He's at his best complementing more dynamic attacking, box-to-box-type midfielder(s), cleaning up at the back and then handing off. So beside the likes of Travis or Rothwell, or maybe Dack. But the midfield just dies if he's only partnered with slower/deeper lying midfielders, like Johnson and Buckley (or Lowe, Smallwood, etc in years past!). Probably wouldn't work in a pairing with only, say, Holtby or JRC either, but I think he can effectively shield the back as part of a trio with Dack or Rothwell driving things forward and working with Holtby/Buckley further back as part of a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. Will be curious how Trybull fits in. Didn't help that Johnson had his worst game since pre-COVID and Buckley weirdly being so 'off' technically (despite his technical promise, he's still very much a WIP in the other aspects of his game, so if his passing/long balls are off, he simply won't be effective out there. I do like the idea of him being the apprentice to Holtby as a deep lying playmaker this year!). In hindsight, maybe Davenport was a better option than Buckley, as he can drive forward a bit better. Anyway, there has to be some sympathy for a midfield scrapped together at the last second... was hoping for a 0-0 'write-off' game, but losing at the end on a lucky deflection is quite annoying... Some ratings, cause my (belated) opinion is important: Kaminski 7: No fault for the goal and made some solid saves. Would give him an 8 if he hadn't hashed a couple kicks. Nyambe/Bell: 6: certainly not bad, but not particularly good (maybe a 6.5 for Nyambe who handled Ameobi pretty well) Ayala 7: makes you nervous at times as he's not always elegant with the ball, but thought he was quite effective Lenihan 6: struggled passing from the left and had a couple sloppy touches, but his overall defending was fine Evans/Johnson/Buckley 4: just all around bad Armstrong/Dolan 5: hardly had any service from the midfield, but didn't create anything when they did get the ball. Thought Dolan was a touch better than against Cardiff, but have to dock him for that stupid giveaway in our corner. Brereton 5.5: would give him a 5 with the above as he kept making bad first touches, but I'll give him some credit for actually managing a couple driving runs when the midfield was of no help and Armstrong/Dolan couldn't manage anything themselves Gallagher 6.5: was a brief breath of fresh air as we tried change it up, but ultimately for nought Chapman 5: I'll give him some credit for trying to create something when he had touches, but another sign that his legs just aren't what they used to be (quite sad at his age!) Brennan N/A: he was actually pretty poor, but I'll cut a youngster some slack on a hastened debut! (you can credit Mowbray for continuing to try to mix up the attack, but I'd question throwing on an untested youngster in a tight game where despite generally being on top, Forest were still regularly threatening. Again, not to criticise a youngster, but his defending on Lolley's goal was poor...)

oh fuck