Elliott Jackson on the possibility of Eustace leaving if his ambitions aren't met in January "

With the season approaching half way and Rovers currently exceeding everyone's expectations, thought it may be worthwhile looking at last summers signings to see how successful or not the recruitment was in peoples opinion. This is my take : Toth. : Obviously can't judge as hasn't played but would expect him to start against Boro in the cup if fit Beck : Excellent signing, would love to see a cheeky bid in January for him. 9/10 Batth: A signing that has turned out far better than anyone could have imagined. Been a rock alongside Hyam. 9/10 Mcfadzean: Again can't judge this season but going off his performances at the end of last season he certainly wouldn't let anybody down. Great to have around the dressing room as well. 7/10 ACD: Only seen cameos so far due to injury but yesterday showed his ability. Will be a real crowd pleaser for the rest of the season hopefully 7/10 Cantwell: Seems to be relishing his role as "main man" in the team, matching his work rate with obvious talent. 8/10 Baker: Solid if unspectacular in the games he has played, but a more than useful squad member. .6/10 Weimann: Another brought in on a free and certainly contributed to the success of the team. Able to play anywhere across the front and his experience and know how invaluable. 7/10 Gueye: Probably the biggest question mark, think the fans love his character and personality but has looked ungainly to say the least at times. At his best (which has been better the last couple of games), he is a real handful with his ability to hold the ball up and bring others into play. Haven't given up on him yet! 5/10 Ohashi: Starter like a house on fire with those early goals. No doubting his work rate and another I think will get better with more experience in the league. 6/10 All in all then a pretty positive review in my opinion, and with just a couple of good additions in January there's no reason it can't be a great season.

That Osmajic is a complete twat. That's the post

Was on the bench and came on for Bournemouth on Sunday so not much chance of that I would guess. I think we'll have to muddle through till Carter's back in about a month hopefully? Think the forward positions are the priority if there's any money available

Brilliant result again , but probably our poorest performance in the last month or two. Have to say that was without doubt Gueyes best cameo in a Rovers shirt. Held it up well and did some great work defensively

Rovers a yard off the pace so far, very sluggish. JE needs a stern word at half time, the games is there to win if we step it up

Apparently though, the guy from Brighton left because they also wanted to go more down the data driven route. If that's the case , and Rovers are looking at the same policy, why would he come here ?

Unfortunately Barry Bannan was also suspended for Wednesday today and will be back for the next game. He is their best player and the one who makes them tick, could have done with him being unavailable

Whisper it quietly, but could Pears be turning into a half decent keeper ? Just saying

Absolutely

Another young Irish winger, son of the former manager of ROI

What an effort from everyone today, fantastic result but I'll never understand why we played like we did in the 2nd half and just sit back and invite pressure. Worked today but it's a risky policy Silly booking for Trav as well after he'd done so well recently. We will miss him next week, not sure who the replacement will be, maybe Buckley or JRC ?

Very sad to hear the news John McNamee has passed away. Older fans will remember him fondly as a tough as nails Scot who took no prisoners back in the day ,! Huge mentor to a young Faz , sadly missed RIP Supermac

Has to be our best result of the season considering Boros recent form. Restricted them to very little really, and played some great stuff, especially 1st half. Thought 2nd half we sat back a bit , whether deliberate or not, I'm not sure. Another brilliantly worked goal again. If Venkys can scrape a few quid together in January for a couple of signings, who knows where we could finish, and you wouldn't have said that in August. Another game to look forward to on Saturday, a real test against probably the best side on paper in the league COYB

What a result that is 🔥 These last three games we have been excellent, our passing has improved beyond all recognition in my opinion, we are no longer giving the ball away cheaply as we have so often . Superbly worked goal, offside or not to don't give a feck

Details on the trialist

Timeline on the pitch situation from Trevor Wilkins. The last comment from him is pretty telling ..... Rovers’ head groundsman Trevor Wilkin has provided a timeline of events and the reasons leading to Saturday’s fixture postponement against Portsmouth. The game was called off at 11am by referee Farai Hallam, who deemed the Ewood Park surface unplayable following torrential overnight rain caused by Storm Bert, with further wet weather forecast right through until kick-off. Trevor, who has worked for the club for over 40 years, said: “The week leading up to the fixture had given us a mixture of rain, heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures, all of which were dealt with effectively. “The forecast was for a storm to arrive Saturday morning, with strong winds and heavy rain clearing as the day progressed. In readiness for the storm, the pitch was cut on Thursday, then we spent all day Friday punching holes into the surface at a depth of five inches, giving the pitch a fighting chance of draining. “Today’s pitches are designed to accommodate vast amounts of rainfall, but unfortunately ours cannot cope with the rainfall that fell on Saturday, which was in the region of 35ml. “Another major factor, which has historically troubled the drainage of the pitch during heavy rainfall, is the outlet for the pitch drainage that runs directly into the River Darwen, which is clear for all to see by the side of the footbridge at the Blackburn End. “On Saturday, the river rose to just below the level of the footbridge, leaving the outlet for the pitch totally submerged in water, thus not allowing any pitch water to escape. The club will address this issue shortly with the Environment Agency to discuss a plan of how to address this issue once and for all. “Following discussions with Steve Waggott on the morning of the game, we met with both managers and the referee on the pitch at around 10:50am. Given the forecast and the fact that you could see all the holes full of water, it was unlikely to improve and the game was called off by the referee. “I stayed at the stadium until after 3pm to see what the pitch would have been like at kick-off and it was indeed waterlogged. I checked the river and the level was nearly above the footpath. “Another issue we face is we are restricted to the depth that we can aerate the pitch in fear of puncturing the undersoil heating pipes. We will use a machine leading up to this weekend’s fixture against Leeds United that injects compressed air below the surface to alleviate any deeper compaction. “Days like Saturday are few and far between, but when they arrive we are at the mercy of the weather. In my 43 years at the club, this is still the best surface that I have worked on. “I am confident going forward that if we can address the River Darwen issue, in conjunction with the AIR2 machine, we will find ourselves in a much better position until a reconstruction of the entire pitch can be signed off, which of course would require significant investment.”

Depends I suppose on what you (or Rovers) term as a big sale. I would imagine anything around £3m -£4m would be given serious consideration

True, but he doesn't seem to be getting much game time at Cambridge so maybe doesn't bode well.

Could possibly be looking at him in case we get any bids for Carter ? Can't see Fadz being offered another year, although Batth probably does deserve an extension. That would leave Hyam, Batth and Wharton when he returns, so a younger cb probably makes sense. Highly rated at Reading, here's one fans view : "This might sound paradoxical, but the biggest praise I can give Bindon is that I very rarely leave the ground ranting and raving about how good he was. It’s almost expected now that he’s going to put in a 7/10 performance. And to be able to say that about a 19-year-old (yes, I’ll keep reminding you of that), in just his second season in professional football is nothing short of astounding. He just never seems to put a foot wrong, he rarely gets caught out of position and he seems to always be one step ahead of his opponent - not in terms of his feet, but in his mind. His footballing intelligence and awareness of where he needs to be and when is second to none when comparing him to most centre-backs we’ve had in the past decade. Things like heading a ball away from a corner, or clearing your lines from a cross, are so unappreciated because they’re just expected of defenders, but you can only do that if you’re in the right place and your positioning is spot on - and Bindon is more often than not that man."

Honestly think the last 2 games have been out best 2 performances of the season. Wednesday we came up against an inspired keeper, but no stopping us today with 3 great goals. Travis outstanding, having to play on the edge knowing you're a yellow card away from suspension , credit to him. Shout out to Pears as well , who for me has done nothing wrong recently ( in fact most of the season) 💙🤍

Fucking Trav has been unreal today

Someone was asking a couple of weeks ago whether this lad had signed from Accy Stanley. Now confirmed https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1250037432?-11198:839