bluebruce

Finneran to come on, great for him at 15

Great, Szmodics indicating he has to come off because, looks like, a groin strain. If only someone had seen it coming...

Would love to see it, but both central players on are subs already. Maybe if Ayari went further up and Szmodics off.

Yeh he needed that to restore his confidence after that utter howler. He didn't look that excited to score it tbh, probably knows it only cancels that out.

I hope a significant amount of the tickets sold were after the digital bollocks was dropped.

Wow Harry Leonard. Wow.

Tronstad on. Not sure why, Garrett playing well.

He's scored plenty of braces for us and never gone on to a third, so yeh, relatively!

Nah, you're thinking of the first game after the transfer window shuts and we can't do anything about it anymore.

Is that Sammie's first hat trick for us? I had a feeling he was going to get one today after the second. I like the look of Garrett, have for a while.

Or like the defence has been drinking port.

Only 2 changes to the starting lineup. Hyam for Hill, Garrett for Tronstad.

What's that meant to mean, 'but a full 11 as we've previously seen'?? I certainly didn't think we were about to name a starting 10 instead, the injuries aren't that severe yet...

Two goals a game...although some games, it does feel like we've conceded two games...

I meant he isn't likely to make it at Championship level in the next two years, which is what we would reasonably need, if he is only getting a Northern Prem move at 22. I didn't mean he is too old to play in our ressies. Hilton probably isn't going to make it here either, but at least he's been trusted to sit the bench while Pears is out.

At 22, he's a bit far along in his development to only be playing at that level and have any real chance of making it here. Makes it seem pointless that we contracted him to 2025 in March. Imagine Hilton will be the u21 keeper when Pears is back.

Two things wrong with this post. The most glaring is that we absolutely do develop our own young players. The last stats showed we gave the second most minutes to players we developed ourself, out of all the clubs in England. The second is that you can't expect that having a good academy means you'll have players of the requisite quality ready to step in for all positions at all times.

Well I fundamentally disagree with nearly all of what you've said so I'll just leave it there.

Confidence. It's confidence based on confidence.

Szmodics didn't have a poor first campaign, he was good for the second half of last season. Dom Hyam won Player of the Year, but he's average at best? No credit for Tronstad?

In fairness though, the Travis deal was signed in March 2022, before the JDT and Broughton era commenced. Before the additional financial cuts this summer too. Absolutely the CEO's fault though if he put him on too much. Interesting to note that Travis is only being loaned out and is still contracted until summer 2026. Part of me thinks there's an understanding from the club that JDT may well not be here by this summer, and a new manager might value Travis more. Either that or we're hoping he shines for Ipswich and attracts a decent bid from somebody. But every chance he is still seen as having a future here, we'll see.

Anyway, anybody know much about this Chrisene? Not seen much opinion proferred about the actual player rather than transfer policy and his age. I get none of us have likely seen him but usually someone has at least heard something. LT article says he has 1 FA Cup appearance and has been part of the PL matchday squad on several occasions. I see he also played a League Cup game for Exeter at the age of 15 years and 7 months, against Coventry. A League Two sub appearance for them, and 3 EFL Trophy games, before Villa bought him. Had a season-long loan to Kilmarnock last season, made 13 SPL and 3 cup appearances before tearing his medial ligament and missing the rest of the season. Not sure how long ago he regained fitness after that injury, hopefully not something that recurs. That seems to be the extent of his professional experience. His total game time across all club levels U18 and upwards appears to be 63 games, with 4,287 minutes, equivalent to about 47 full matches. 2 goals, 4 assists, all for Villa at youth level. Has spent a little bit of time playing LM, 10 matches, not sure at what level of competition. Capped at England youth (U15s, U16s, U17s and U19s), 18 times in total, none of which included in the above stats. The Egg says: “He will bring additional pace and physicality to our backline, and he is very comfortable in possession. “Ben has spent the first half of this season training with Aston Villa’s first team squad and we are delighted that he has chosen Blackburn Rovers to continue his development.”

I wouldn't bother with that hope. I think all it means is they've identified there are no backup LBs who can be relied upon.

What JDT wants, and what JDT gets...seldom the twain do meet. Good of Elliott Jackson to admit he gave false impressions of how close O'Riordan was. Certainly different to the Nicko School of Denying All Mistakes. This negotiating over O'Riordan's fee...we met a minimum fee release clause. Generally means you haven't met what the club actually want for the player if you're having to resort to the clause. They won't be obliged to sell if the fee isn't up front (unless the clause specifies it can be staggered), so they're likely to insist on more than the 500k if it's structured.

The LT are actually wrong there, as according to transfermarkt, he played 90 minutes against Preston, and 90 minutes against Watford. Both at fullback though.