Rovers twitter, ankle injury

Reed injured, shame. Armstrong Dack and Rothwell behind Graham is dangerous and is a bolder move than we’re used to, fair play Tony.

I guess the need in his mind comes from Graham’s age and Brereton not being ready to step up. I think he will hope that Graham and a new striker will be sufficient for next season, with said new striker and Brereton being the main men the season after. Or maybe he see’s Brereton and Armstrong being a future partnership as they are 19 and 22 respectively and he’s invested a good amount in to them, there’s a number of possible scenarios. Me too. Unless Bell miraculously learns to defend with purpose from now until the first day of next season, I think we’ll still be way too weak defensively no matter who else we sign in other defensive positions.

We need a number of signings but agree with this totally. When watching our strongest 11, the need for a centre back and a left back sticks out like a sore thumb over any other position for me.

Top and bottom of it, as with most strikers, you never get a good picture of them until they get to start a few games in a row in their actual position. Vast majority of Breretons minutes have been on the wing. Whilst he should’ve made more of an impact I do feel for him. Got to play a couple of games centrally for the u23’s and he actually looked decent and most importantly, he knew what he was doing in terms of his position. Then when back in the first time like at Villa, he gets chucked on to play 20 mins on the right wing: no wonder he look lost. Clutching at straws too but he had two legit goals chalked off for offside at Bournemouth and Preston, real shame they didn’t stand as I’m sure his confidence would be higher and the spotlight/pressure would’ve been off him considerably.

Can see Samuel being loaned out to league one next season. Possibly even Nuttall. If Brereton was an academy product it would be him first out on loan, but with that purchase price the club wouldn’t even consider it as it’d make them look dafter than they already do. I think we’ll bring in a striker to compete with Graham, with BB seen as ‘next in line’ behind that. Only thing that would change that structure for me is if we decide to change to a two upfront formation.

Indicative of the manager not the player!

He did but come on, watching Armstrong you can see something. His pace stands out against most in this league. And he’s previously got the goals to back it up. Whereas we couldn’t see anything like that with Lowe. And be realistic - for every Pukki I’d bet there’s 10 flops. We could’ve done better for that money yes but only as a gamble. Imo Armstrong for that money was one of the soundest investments out there.

At the time of signing he was a 21 year old forward, with 40ish league one and championship goals under his belt, also played and scored at every level for England up to u21's. All opinions but I wouldn't say paying £1.75m with that record and further development potential in today's market is anywhere near over the top.

Ah, the annual 2 month delay due to the communication channels of explaining the concept of a Season ticket to Madame.. again

Arma's got loads of ability but his composure is often crap. Often tries to absolutely leather it, which is annoying as we've seen on a number of occasions he has the ability to buy himself a yard and guide the ball in to the corner. But that said he's a striker by trade and is playing deeper and wider than he's used to which gives him more to think about, maybe supressing his instict abit. Most of his shots are from well outside the area too so he might be blasting it to compensate. Might not be the case but it's a reasonable theory. If he's to continue playing as a 'wide striker' maybe he'll improve on the above with time and coaching, he's still young.

For most clubs season ticket timing is down to strategy around factors like what division the team is in - has an impact on the nature of the marketing, pricing structure and such. Think Rovers don't think that far and are just always late to the party!

Both are rapid, but Rothwell is quicker than Arma!

Looks like cheaper tickets on the last day v Swansea https://www.swanseacity.com/news/blackburn-tickets-sale-monday

The Only Ones - Another Girl Another Planet

We were surprisingly excellent against Derby. So I'd go almost unchanged.... just Nyambe in for Bennett. So: Raya Nyambe Lenihan Williams Bell Travis Reed Conway Dack Rothwell Graham However I'm semi expecting Conway and Rothwell to be benched due to the muscle niggles they picked up (Frustrating but sensible if not 100%). In that case we'd probably go: Raya Nyambe Lenihan Williams Bell Travis Reed Bennett Dack Armstrong Graham Wouldn't be enthused with Bennett on the right but knowing the defensive winger approach it's reality. Hopefully we don't shoehorn any of Evans, Smallwood or Mulgrew in as they aren't deserving of a spot, particularly after the graft the players put in on Tuesday night. Give Lenihan the captain's armband. COYB.

I hope we don't give up on Reed, and I hope TM is being shrewd by underplaying the situation. Southampton may want to look at him but every player has a price. If he's affordable, without stopping us from signing the other key positions, it's an absolute no brainer. The lad is good and is only going to get better. We also know that he fits in to our team which is half of the dilemma solved. Likelihood is we'd either be rewarded by years of having the type of central midfielder every team needs, or we'd recoup the fee we pay with a tidy profit on top. Sign him up. REEEEEDY!

More so on Conway. Wasn’t happy with him starting but turned out to be the perfect selection tonight. Agree it’s been a while coming and we could’ve been as bold and creative as we were tonight earlier (not to mention Rothwell warranting many many more starts) but hey, better late then never, long may it continue.

Delighted to eat humble pie tonight. I criticised Mowbray and the selection and was proven wrong; that’s why I’m not a manager! We were excellent. One of the best performances of the season. Lenihan at the back is an absolute warrior. Won everything as usual. He should be captain without a doubt. Great work rate and energy from Travis and Reed who didn’t give Derby a minutes rest. Dack is back. Did what he does best, he had a point to prove and he did it. Conway - I hold my hands up. Excellent performance. Best crosser of the ball at Rovers still. Finally, Rothwell. 10/10. Phenomenal. His runs got me off my seat like nobody has done since Duffster. Jumped about 10 foot high when he scored. Love him. The rest of the lads put in a great shift, played like men tonight to a man. Credit to TM for getting it right. Lets hope this is a turnaround from the recent bad run of form. The moment at 2-0 with everybody including Raya down in the corner was brilliant. Proud to be Rovers!

Bennett, Williams and Conway playing when Nyambe, Rodwell and Armstrong are on the bench. Standard, but expected disappointment.

Just like Ben Brereton will end up playing Champions League and Tammy Abraham will end up on the Bolton bench!!..

Yeah you're right in saying we can't overly criticise it; was just pointing out it wasn't a miracle as such. We'll always remember it for the great year any promotion year is, and the Mulgrew header at Doncaster will be thought about like Jansen's goal at Preston, Speedie's dive at Wembley and such. There were areas for TM to improve on from the league one season going in to the championship that were not addressed as they could've been, but again I suppose it's much easier said with hindsight. The next month will be telling, as it always is when talk from the manager goes from performances to the need to just get the points.

Think you misinterpreted my reply to the original point BDS! But I would be inclined to disagree with that notion. Lets say we finish 16th this season after 46 games. Without context we might see that as a decent job. With the context of knowing that we were touching the play offs in Jan, followed by a run of 4 points from 33 I think it's much worse of a job, especially taking in to consideration aspects such as the very same manager's history at Coventry and Boro, and the fact that we need to give ourselves the best chance of a strong start to next season. Taking things as they actually are with full context is really important. And as in any line of work, decisions made with context should be backed up by dynamic data over time as opposed to taking a purely static view.

Not sure chasing down the likes of Shrewsbury by 9 points or so with 40 games to play with a squad full of players that had played Premier League and Championship was anywhere near a miracle! For what it's worth, I think we could lose every game for the rest of the season and the only way he'd depart would be through resignation.

Not rated at all by them. Looked okayish in league one but nowhere near good enough in this league. 'A more attacking Jason Lowe' I was told!