As you mentioned its as much about PR for the club and a bit of excitement for the fans than what the players will benefit from the game. Our PR and marketing departments seem completely unambitious/lazy. Pretty sure if we tried we could have had a decent pre-season home game to get a bit of buzz going for the new season.

Brazil had 3 goals dissalowed by VAR in a game last night. Each goal was dissalowed due to a percieved foul or handball earlier in the build up. Whilst technically each decision may be correct, surely this kind of thing is bad for the game as a spectacle. It seems fouls are being given with no pragmatic approach from the officials and every goal is subject to review. I thought VAR was supposed to only come in if a clear and obvious offense had been missed....doesnt seem to be reality. https://www.skysports.com/football/brazil-vs-venezuela/report/405635

Acc Stanley have arranged a friendly in Manchester v Marseille. whilst were playing league 1 and 2 clubs.....

How did he allow the abomonation of last seasons home shirt? Needs to grow a pair and sort it out! ?

These look pretty minging to me....but Ive never bought a training top so cant see many people being that fussed. Hoping the home or away kits are an improvement on last year!

Dislike VAR more and more every game to the point I struggle to carry on watching. Seems every goal is subject to VAR checks now. even if it's the right decision, disallowing a goal after letting players and fans celebrate for a minute just feels wrong.

Is it a conscious decision by the club to play all pre season games against lower league opposition and away from ewood or some sort cock up? We had liverpool and Everton at Ewood last summer. They were a good test and had a decent crowd

Very much hope so. Hated this years home kit. Looked like it had been in the wash too many times. Also hope they try harder to blend the Bet 10 logo better. Most other shirts did this whereas ours was a black splodge on a blue and white shirt.

I understand your stance, however if only the champions of each league participated it would be a small competition which pretty much only started at the quarter final stage....unless the champions from all the smaller leagues around Europe were given direct entry and the qualifiers taken away. Perhaps people would prefer this but as you say it would bring in much less revenue to TV.

This is mental. I've never experienced two days of football like it. Even I felt emotional watching pochettino and I dont support spurs. Amazing. Brilliant competition this year. Amazing advert for football and the premier league

Im not quite sure why so many neutrals dislike Liverpool. I agree many of their fans are painful at times but no more than Man U fans (who I find even worse and are more concerned at what Liverpool are doing than Man U), Arsenal, Chelsea Etc. They are a team who play together, fight together, have a decent quota of English players with an entertaining manager who unites the whole club. I find the style of football they play brilliant to watch. I think the season they have had they deserve a trophy. They would have won the league at a canter weeks ago if it wasnt for one of the best sides the prem has ever seen also being in the running. Amazing game. I half expected them to give up and focus on the weekend given their injuries up front and a 3-0 defecit.

I think the main issue with the Leeds Villa debacle, wasnt neccesarilly about simply putting the ball out. If you watch the clip the leeds left mid or full back signalled to the rest of the players he was going to put the ball out and then kicked it down the line. After this the Villa players stopped until the Leeds forward ran onto it. I agree teams should play to the whistle and I wouldnt put the ball out of play unless the ref stopped it. Signalling your about to kick it out and then not doing so is a bit dodgy though. Saw a boxing match once where Floyd Mayweather signalled he was going for a handshacke and then threw a punch to an off guard opponent. Guess its kind of similar.

Look good these.....perhaps a bit tight for anyone with abit of a spare tyre!! Never understand why the club doesnt consult the fans on the kit design. If they did that crappy pale blue would never have been approved. Its us that they want to buy them after all.

As long as its not this season's terrible pale blue and back to the royal blue.

Sounds like Chapman had a dodgy 80 mins and a brilliant 10 minutes. Has anyone watched him live recently. Hows his pace looking after the hamstring injuries?

Id hope we would keep Rodwell as a CM next season. Sounds like hes done well in every game hes played there. Evans and Smallwood can both go. Not sure TM rates Rodwell that much though.

Are we 3 at the back then? All the line ups I've seen are 4-2-3-1

Skysports have Brereton upfront with Arma Dack and Rothwell behind. Pleased to see Rodwell in CM. He has the ability to be the best CM in the division but does he have the will or body for it anymore. We shall see. Hope to see the young lads on the bench get some decent game time

As others have said I hope to see a few youngers blooded in. Brereton given a go up front from the start. Rothwell to continue his good form. Let them play without any caution. Cant see it though. 2-2

Has anyone read TMs last two interviews in the LET? His comments to me read as if we are looking at backup players in the summer rather than overhauling the first team starting 11. A bit concerning that we will continue to see Evans, Bennett, Smallwood and Williams in the starting line up next year. From today: "What we have to do if the injuries come again next year is have players chomping at the bit behind and not just have young players coming in." Yesterday: "They’re doing great and yet I feel if we’re going to be right at the top end of the Championship next season then we need to find some players who are competing with this lot to give us more depth for when the injuries do come along."

I read this article getting more and more agitated. I struggle to read anything he comes out with now without disagreeing with every single point. Evans and Smallwood are a better CM pair than Reed/Travis? This after his recent LET comments saying Bennet is a better winger than Rothwell because he defends? Pull the other one. If we were solid and keeping clean sheets every week i'd take some notice but we have one of the worst defensive records in the entire footballing league. I wonder if Dack and Graham would prefer Bennett smallwood and evans alonside them rather than Reed Travis and Rothwell..I doubt it. Complete and utter nonsense. As others have said its comments like this that show we will never progress past where we are now under Mowbray.

I dont think CM is far off retirement to be honest. He cant play more than 5 or 6 games without getting a hamstring injury. Could see next season as a squad player will be his last.

What's the injury? Sad to see he's off injured just after scoring his first goal. Hopefully not too bad and he can kick on now.

Is Mowbray boning Bennets mum or something. It's getting weird how much Mowbray loves him.

Rather than doing what the fans are asking I think TM will try and hunker down even more resulting in another drab horrible home defeat. I reckon hell go something like Raya Nyambe Lenihan Williams Bennett Bell Smallwood Evans Dack Armstrong Graham That team is horrible! Personally Id like to see a sod it, lets go attack attitude like everyone else on here. Rothwell, Travis, Dack, Armstrong, Brereton, Chapman and maybe even Butterworth, Rankin Costello from the U21s in the squad. Doubt it though.