bluebruce

Very well in the first half. Fine goal, looked composed in possession and very tidy with it. Finally started seeing the player we keep hearing about. Even threw himself about physically a bit, winning the ball very well on the edge of our box at one point. Second half he was fairly poor I felt. Some sloppy passing and began looking indecisive, something which I wouldn't even have levelled at him in previous games. Then started to stabilise a bit later on. Still a project in progress. Still think a League One loan and weekly men's football would have benefited him better. But maybe he will start to find his feet in our first team instead. Fingers crossed.

What's happened to Buckley this half? Looking like that lost boy again.

Looked a blatant foul to me.

Me included, and it tastes fucking delicious He's done reasonably in the game in general to be fair, and even threw his body in hard to win the ball earlier. Really nicely taken goal, though he does seem to have luck with deflections when he strikes! Mind you, so did Lampard and that worked out well. This is the kind of stuff we've been hearing about Buckley being capable of, but seeing little of. Hope he can really push on now.

For those who like to bet on the other games, Coral are offering silly money on Bristol City beating Leeds - 10 to 1!!! 24/5 for the draw too. Ridiculous.

I don't see a draw as particularly any better in terms of the season. If we drop 2 points today there is a high chance we will find ourselves 8 points off the playoffs. That's likely to prove too much, especially if we show we still can't dispatch basement teams. I don't consider the draw unacceptable in itself though, as a lot of good teams have struggled at the Valley. I just think it will show we don't have enough. Tables can change quickly though I guess.

I assume you mean Jacob Davenport. He has played a bit, including fairly recently, and also got a little time late last season. Looks tidy and decent, and like he should be starting today instead of an immobile Johnson being made to play a third game in a week.

Not on here. Most people on this board seem to agree he isn't ready for regular first team football with us largely due to physical shortcomings. Maybe elsewhere, other forums etc, they want to see him knocked off the ball every week.

I think it's fair to say it is slower than most of our starting lineups have been, so I'm not sure why you say that?

That won't be a relief if he does his back in today...

In what way?

When I saw the lineup, I was actually thinking about him and how nobody ever seems to really talk about him so he is probably one of the ones that will fade into non-league obscurity. But that's a belter though. Prefer Arma's but it's like comparing two gorgeous women really, just a matter of preference.

I've seen worse, but it was definitely very poor from your side. Both your goals were shit too from our perspective, albeit not as much so (a lot of our lads at fault for your first, it wasnt as ludicrous individually though). It was a poor game with poor goals and I hope tomorrow is much better. On the balance of play though we should have been at least drawing if not winning, but you were much more resolute at the back than we were. I expect both sides will play better tomorrow. You've got a full house at home and have found your feet in this league, whilst we are in rich form despite an injury crisis and are definitely better than we were early in the season. I'm predicting a score draw, which won't be good enough from our end if we want to stay in the playoff push, unless other results all conspire for us.

We had two shots on target and scored one, so I'm pretty sure he did make a save. We also had 14 shots in total, to your 9. Possession was 62% to us. I think what he means is lucky we were below par, especially with our shooting which was frustratingly wayward. That 14 shots total is the same amount we had against Sheff W, and we slaughtered them 5-0. Our defending against you was particularly poor, every time you counter attacked we just parted like the Red Sea. This is still a vulnerability of ours at times, but it's undoubtedly something which has improved since shifting Mulgrew (you're lucky he was playing his only game of the season for us!!) and bringing in Tosin.

And they do. And they won't attend when they might for 15 quid. I wish people wouldn't apply their own budget to others. It's obvious that cheaper tickets, travel etc means more fans, which boosts the team. 37 quid and hours travelling isnt a small consideration for a lot of people just for a game of football, which could easily result in you coming away feeling down, and certainly isn't 'cheap as chips'. Especially these days where you can often find a stream...

It doesn't penalise anybody. If you're travelling by another mode of transport, chances are that's your choice (obviously if you live very far away from Ewood that's different). If you want the free transport, take the free transport. Yes if you live really far away it's different, but what if you live next door to Charlton? Then you get your ticket subsidised and your travel costs sod all anyway, whilst someone travelling from Ewood is paying a ton in travel. Free travel is a great incentive, not some backdoor penalty effort. You can't please everybody.

Pretty much none of those Hull players looked good enough for us. When I noticed him, he did ok, but I was paying a lot more attention to us. Hull site gave him the same score as all but one of their attacking players, a 5. Apparently he shone against Reading though. He is adapting to a new league and a new team, who themselves are adapting to losing their two best attackers. It's bound to take him a bit of time. I've seen plenty of cracking players have poor games against us. Hell under TM he wouldn't even play for the first month or two to 'learn how we play' (if we didn't have an injury crisis). Time will tell if he is up to the league and whether we fucked up by not getting him. But hindsight is great like that. On paper he was well worth a punt, however it turns out.

"He does bring you goals and assists, undoubtedly, but we chose a different option over that type of player, as it was what we were looking for at the time." Soooo, we wanted a player who doesn't bring you goals and assists, instead. Nice one. Mission accomplished, at least.

They were doing pretty well before he left too. Got some good goalscorers.

Nah I'm still not sold on him. Average at best.

That's when we struggle the most.

I've not been as critical of TM's lineups lately. Given the circumstances I don't think they've been the worst of selections. I'm not too pleased with this one though. Johnson was dogshit last game and looked lethargic. A few days later he is only going to be more so. Should have thrown Davenport in. I'd have had Chapman ahead of Bennett too. I'm expecting he wont even come on off the bench though, that honour will go to BB and Samuel, woefully out of position. Other than that I'm ok with it in the circumstances.

And that if he is anything less than the best player on the pitch, some here will be giving it 'I told you so'.

Why will they need to be of 'good' quality to stand still when some of the ones we are losing are a bit shit (Leuts, Bell) or have been out all season (Cunningham)?

Let me save you the concern. We are no longer in the playoff discussion.