Exiled_Rover

It was a fine performance - a good one if we take our chances. He literally doesn't have anyone else to play in CM than Buckley (and JRC). That's on the recruitment team, not the manager. He wanted to rest Baker / Tronstad as we're playing a ridiculous amount of games at the moment.

It'd be a great signing if we were a functional club and it was part of a structured approach to transfers. Alas I can't help but feel like it'll be the only money we spend in January.

16 different goal scorers and 9 goals from subs. Eustace is doing an incredible job squeezing everything he can from this group of very limited players.

That's a pretty apt description. Guys around me screaming for attacking changes on about 50 minutes and I just thought "who?" Weimann's legs have gone (although he's clearly a very clever player), Hedges is awful, Leonard has been out for 9+ months and has 5 professional goals to his name and Ohashi. You can see now why JDT used to turn to his bench and just shrug his shoulders.

He'd literally be gone in the summer if he was - that's how the football pyramid works now, sadly.

Who's playing LB for you then when Beck picks up an injury? Are you also happy with Buckley being first man off the bench in midfield for the next 6+ games? We need strengthening everywhere.

Sounds peak Rovers to me.

Just watched the SKY highlights: https://www.skysports.com/football/video/36395/13281299/blackburn-0-1-hull-championship-highlights What the actual fuck? Makes it look like Hull were all over us - that was literally every shot they had. Where are the two sitters we missed?

Was it a poor performance or did we just refuse to take gilt edged chances?

Absolutely no chance Hull go down. They've got a better squad than us.

Isn't it about the chance rather than the outcome? i.e. Cantwell side footing wide from 8 yards out is a baaaaaad miss - doesn't matter if it's on target or not as 9 times out of 10 a professional player slots that home so it's a high xG chance.

The most frustrating thing about Gueye is that all of his teammates are stood miles away from him. Cantwell wanders all over the shop and Dolan / ACD are stuck on their wings. He wins the ball and it just gets turned over. One of the three has to gamble that he's going to win it. Speaking of ACD, he'd be a worldie if he had any pace. Too many times today he cut back inside rather than driving at his man 'cos he knew he didn't have the pace to run past him.

Silly stat then. I'd have scored Cantwell's chance and I'd have backed myself to score Beck's chance too.

Guy behind me mentioned him and I said he's the new Cannon - there'll be an orderly queue for his services. We won't be anywhere near the front of it.

That was a poor loss. I don't know what the xG says, but it feels like they only had one shot on target (before we started chasing the game) and scored it. Gueye, Weimann and ACD had shots blocked and Cantwell and Beck missed absolute sitters. On another day that's a 3-0 win. We need several players in the window - a backup LB, another CM, at LEAST another wide player with pace. You saw the difference when Baker went off - Buckley simply isn't up to it at this level. He's a liability. Sell him and Sigurdsson. Until we actually spend some money I won't get excited about being in and around the Playoffs. Eustace is working miracles to have us anywhere near.

Our game is based on being enthusiastic and organised with very limited players. We were always going to struggle during this ridiculous period. Losing Travis and Pickering has only compounded things.

I think they'd be delighted to get rid of him, but they'll struggle to find a taker.

Yes.

Injured again? When isn't he? Bloody hell.

He doesn't even make the bench currently. He has to be off in January.

When have we ever played Sigurdsson as a 10? Poor sod has been pushed wide left for 18 months.

The recruitment team could do much worse than firing up FM 24, turning the masking off and filtering all players by pace and acceleration. Set the search parameters to 15 pace, 15 acceleration (minimum) and sift through that list (obviously Mbappe is probably out of our price range). We don't need more slow wingers. You saw the kittens the Millwall LW was giving JRC. You saw the ACRES of space on our left wing against Sunderland. Whilst Gueye gives us the ability to just lump it up on occasion and have the ball stick upfront, we have almost zero ability to get in behind teams. Every counter attack has to be so intricate - whereas (again, against Sunderland) their lad just ran away from all of our players before Pears' excellent save. ACD (who again is a good player, but he's very much mini-Saka - deceptively slow) was hawked down in a similar situation. If I'm Eustace I just walk past the recruitment offices every day chanting "Pace, pace, pace, pace, pace".

I'd be amazed if we're not all disappointed come Feb 1. A proactive team would be lining those transfers up now - we have 8 games in January, they should be in and around the first team as soon as possible. We'll probably bring in a few cheap loans on deadline day.

I thought it was a typical Dolan performance at Ewood. Again, you can't fault his work rate - at one point in the second half he sprinted 40 yards to cover the overlapping LB. The problem is he fluffs gilt edged chances like the sitter in the first half. If his brain was as quick as his feet he'd be a good player. Sadly it's not. He has a place as a squad player, for the right price, but nothing more.

His striking technique is poor, so I'd never actually back him to score a goal if the chance falls to him, but we're absolutely a better team when he's leading the line. He's 6'5" and uses it - you can see CBs hate playing against him because he's a physical player. It's not a finesse league, you need one or two battering rams in your side to upset the opposition. He's ours. You can dismiss the assists all you want, but the ball keeps on 'fortuitously' bouncing off him into the path of our players and they keep on putting it in the back of the net. Long may it continue.