I thought he'd been sacked - was that a fake report?

Man, the Venkys have really done a number on this club.

Dean Smith.

It's Henry. He's the best player I've seen at Ewood (albeit we didn't see Ronaldo in his final form).

Cardiff just missed a sitter. Brutal.

I feel like that's why he benched Graham this season. He hated how effective he was because it lead to a more agricultural style of football.

These playoff games are hard to watch - these teams are so bang average it's untrue.

I must have been watching a different team to many last season. Our CM is ok with Travis in there and woeful without him. Yes, we need help at LB, CB and GK, but a better defensive screen for the back 4 goes a long way to improving that goals against column. Not to mention what a good CM partnership does for your attack (assuming this lad doesn't just pass backwards and sideways like Evans and Johnson).

I mean Leicester bid £25m for a bloke that's scored 9 goals in 3 years. If they didn't have incredibly rich owners, that'd be a crippling mistake.

Make up call by the ref then - typical Raya howler. Stonewall pen.

You can see why Raya is 'much improved' on crosses - his two towering CBs gobble everything up!

I used to think that, but refs have been giving red cards for tackles like that for a number of years. As a professional you have to know you're running a risk there. It's like the targeting rule in American Football (a tangent, I know). I hate it as it's fundamentally opposed to what the game stands for, but as a defender you know that if you hit an opposition player in a certain way you're going to get ejected from the game.

I'm on the fence about that red card. He wins the ball, but it was reckless. In this day and age you know that if you leave your feet you run the risk of getting sent off.

What a shit penalty from Ayew.

Which is why he's fine at the first CB off the bench for a cash strapped club.

They had a defensive crisis at CB and didn't even consider recalling him in January. I'd suggest he's not in their first team plans - which is a shame as his style of football actually suits City. Suspect his agent will be angling for a permanent move away after they sit down with Guardiola in the next few weeks.

Neither. I guess you're happy with Rovers paying the full whack.

If we paid £10k a week and his new club paid £10k a week, what's there to agree to? He's not going to sign a new contract at the same rate with anyone - and he's certainly not going to be playing for us. I guess it depends on whether he wants to sit on his arse for a year.

I mean it works if you have a CM who can pass too - which we don't currently have.

I'd pay half of Mulgrew's wages for a year if it got him off the books. You'd still be saving £500k a year.

Gallagher scored two old fashioned centre forward goals post-lockdown. Who knows, maybe the light has finally come on for him. ?

I don't think he's half bad as a CB. He's a poor LB though. I'd look to bring in a loanee to play alongside Lenihan, with Williams being the first CB off the bench - but realistically the issue at LB and CM (the lack of defensive cover) is the biggest problem we have defensively. Well that and the GK.

You know he's going to offer Downing a new deal. Holtby doesn't bring enough to the table - I'd rather run with Dack / Buckley / Rothwell in that #10 role than pay him a sizeable wage for his 10 minutes per game (when he's fit). Evans I don't mind, but if the option is Evans or Whiteman, I'd be happy to sell Evans.

This is where a good manager comes in - there's so much fat to trim from this squad: Mulgrew Johnson Evans Bennett Downing Holtby If we have aspirations of pushing for the PL, we can't lose players like Armstrong, Lenihan, Nyambe, Travis or Dack unless we're blown out of the water by the money on offer. I'd add Gallagher and Brereton to the list of players to move on, but we'd get peanuts for them at this point.

So you think Mowbray is getting the most out of this squad? He can't even settle on a formation. At the end of the day, he's badly mismanaged the generous (for the Championship) resources he's been gifted. Any manager worth his salt should have us in the playoffs.