You might be right which is unusual... However when we were struggling first half with their high press, there were often five across midfield harassing our 3. This was a reason for Arma dropping deep which then meant we had no out ball by-passing their midfield.

I think it is really good we now have 4 very decent central defenders to select from when they are fit. They each offer something different and you can see why over lapping central defenders Sheff U are reportedly interested in Lenihan. Hayden Carter currently is not of the standard we need- he is on the slow side and it was noticeable Barnsley pulled one back when they very effectively bypassed Carter in a way they hadn't been able to with Wharton. I hope Wharton can play v Millwall but that looked like concussion and a mandatory seven days. Scott Wharton in my eyes has in these few games unambiguously shown he is a very competent Championship central defender and this is another unexpected bonus from this most peculiar of seasons.

Interesting that injury-hit Norwich had the same number of players out (13) that we had for two matches. They could only assemble a bench of 6, 5 of whom are untried kids. When we were 13 out, Hayden Carter who had recent Championship experience and came on yesterday, couldn't even make the squad of 18.. I don't think he was the only one with first team experience to miss out at that time either. All credit to Delia Smith and hubby for getting Norwich to where they have been in recent seasons but even with the parachute they are cheese pairing. At £25m net worth, they are by some distance the least wealthy Championship owners.

You have made my point for me!

I will give Mowbray this. He has come up finally with the 4-3-3 which he has drilled into the squad so that subs don't disrupt the flow and increasingly fit into the system. 4-3-3 really suits rotating Brereton, Gallagher, Armstrong and Elliott and Travis will take to it like a duck to water. The big question is where Dack fits.. but what a nice problem to have when we eventually have it. This is essential with a huge squad with multiple players coming through the Academy complementing the 25 named players. Having such a monster squad is essential this season and Norwich are less well set up for handling absences than we are currently. He got away with 3 against 5 in midfield against Barnsley because man for man we had the better players all over the park. The expanded bench and ability to use 5 subs helped Rovers a lot today. It meant we had specialists for all positions and arguably we didn't get disrupted by either injury. I expect to see two pairs of subs to be used regularly throughout the season by Mowbray now with the changed rule except when we have injuries. So kudos to Mowbray for the system and foresight.

Wood26 recollection is the same as mine. Not judging either the wisdom or indeed veracity of this but Mowbray has twice said that Venky's set aside a pot to get a young, preferably English forward and it was burning a hole when he signed Ben. The £5m on Gallagher was always the more puzzling spend in the context you mention. He chose to spend on a relatively high waged forward when there were huge gaps still at gk and in defence. The development of Ben since lock down and Sam in recent games are the huge unexpected but prayed for bonuses of this season! As much a surprise as Ben being qualified to play for Chile. Actually there is another big bonus of this season which is the 4-3-3 system. Barnsley's 3-5-2 is another unusual but well drilled system which suits their players and took us 40 minutes to come to terms with.

It was a bad attempt - not even an attempt given how wide he put it - but when you are left of goal 8 yards out with a defender on your right shoulder and keeper perfectly positioned it is a damned good chance but hardly a sitter. He had made it himself winning the ball originally and running 30 yards if I remember correctly but still the end effort was a real "oh Ben!" moment. Ben's reputation for falling over is costing him and us. He was given a meaty shove in the back in the penalty area earlier and nothing was given or appealed for.

Agreed. Haven't seen anything of Millwall this season but I thought Brentford were at least as fortunate against QPR last night as we were against Barnsley today and 3-1 did not adequately reflect how much better Reading were than Bristol City this lunchtime.

Needs a scan so potentially not good

Ayala expected to be available on Wednesday. Douglas a glute strain which will need a scan Wharton- see how he is on Monday JRC is out for two months as are Platt and Vale of the under 23s. Williams- doesn't sound like he will be ready for Wednesday

Results elsewhere very much went our way today.

What a beautiful ugly win! Four pieces of class won it for us: Nyambe's run and pull back for goal 1 Gallagher's strike for goal 2 and two Kaminsky saves Huge credit to the Barnsley boss. He has those players playing far above their level of ability. Set pieces are outstanding. So much variety brilliantly delivered.

Totally useless. One primary schoolboy game at Sett End- we lost 14-0. Bryan Douglas' son played for the opposition and the highlight of my career was the great man calling good tackle when I fluked a block. Myles Andersonesque me.. One appearance for Shell 7th XI and a few trundles around for the Rovers London Branch. 0 goals Oh I forget, I did score past the QEGS first XI keeper and hit the post on a geography field trip match on the proper pitches at Beaumaris which the staff were taking far too seriously.

Dackless Rovers play Everton in PL2 at 8 tonight. Cannot see any TV stream for it.

First time I think next unread topic has taken me to three match threads... Millwall are currently above us. W 4 D 7 L 2 F 12 A 10 So we are going to have to be on our game for this not to be 0-0 or 1-1. First goal will be extremely important.

If I remember correctly, South American clubs dominated the World Club Championship from its inception for decades. Yes the lesser lights of the Brazilian League were and still are as tinpot as, say Burnley, but the top club sides were really tough. Many phenomenal players got nowhere near selection for the national side. So I don't buy Pele's 1,000 goals coming against useless opposition as a basis for dismissing him. I remember talking to Ronnie Clayton about playing against Pele when Pele was just a teenager. Clayton's view was unequivocal, Pele was the best he ever faced and is the greatest. Cases can be made for Puskas and Eusebio in the pantheon of greatest ever listed by Revidge.

This is going to set off a fire storm. The European Commission is tackling the problem of lead shot used by hunters poisoning the environment and killing millions of wildlife ingesting the residue and discarded pellets by use of chemical regulation. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/26/eu-to-ban-use-of-lead-shot-by-wetland-bird-hunters Tattoo parlours are regulated but there is no regulation on what is used in the ink. No ink manufacturer produces tattoo ink because there is no way of making ink safe enough to pass product liability. Most ink is lead based so by definition tattoos are carcinogenic and indeed lymphatic cancers are increasing and lead counts in tattooed patients are beginning to cause concern. It is possible that the anti-lead legislation proposed in gun shot will be extended to tattoo inks.

Tier 3- like an away game at Everton or Newcastle.

Five teams ahead of us drew last night so we did make progress with that Preston win. It is going to require consistently good results to haul ourselves back into promotion contention. We hadn't beaten teams above us but now we have. Any defeats in the four games following Barnsley will see us slipping back badly again. Millwall, Brentford, Bristol City and Norwich are all promotion six pointers. The top 11 are all bunched up so the 3 goal margin at PNE was as good as a bonus point.

I would start with last night's starting XI. Numerically, our list of absences should be no worse and at least one better than for PNE. Barnsley are a good footballing side let down by lack of strength in depth. People are saying the Tykes will come and shut up shop but I am not sure they have the personnel capable of doing that. If we start out low key, Barnsley will take the game to us and certainly have the players to hurt us. Again a high energy start on the front foot is needed from Rovers to avoid any calamities. We should win this one but 'should' doesn't mean we have an automatic right to Barnsley handing us the 3 points gift wrapped with an addition to the goals scored and goal difference columns.

All in favour of having Rovers internationalists but Santiago makes Windhoek look like a trip to the corner shop. As for the occasional game in Concepcion...

75% possession for us, 0 shots on target for PNE. By way of comparison, only Barcelona with 70% possession in Kyiv come close to that level of dominance from last night's matches. Even Exeter's 6-1 demolition of Colchester came from just 54% possession while Hull won 3-0 at Ipswich from just 36% possession! Hopefully, if we keep last night's squad fit they can repeat those sorts of performances. And we needed that win just to keep in touch with wins for Norwich, Bournemouth and Brentford lastnight and straightforward games for Boro and Swansea coming up tonight. Fingers crossed for two draws Millwall v Reading and Bristol City v Watford.

So pleased for the lad. PNE players definitely know all his tricks and how to counter them but Dolan was unplayable when he came on. Very encouraging for the future.

His heat map will be a red blob well outside his area!

Oh and really chuffed for Davenport. There is a very good player there now thankfully his injury nightmare is behind him.