One of the squad changes is apparently a fit again Ayala coming in. I have already said I would play him because of Lucas Joao's height. That doesn't look like an impervious Reading defence to me but we'd better watch ourselves for that guy who can hit it like a train from near the half way line! On Saturday Holtby and Johnson had eight attempts between them and zero on target. If those two can up their accuracy to just 50% on target we should be ok tomorrow night.

Beyond frightening to realise we won the Premier League 8 years before Harvey was born. @rovers_chat Harvey Elliott: “The main goal for me this season is to get the team to promotion. Blackburn deserve to be in the Premier League.” [Lancashire Telegraph] #Rovers 9:00 AM · Oct 26, 2020·Buffer

He has the ability to disguise a pass so well. Even having watched the game live, I was taken by surprise during that clip of the direction the ball was taking to a Rovers player. I suspect he will prove to be a supreme goal poacher too. The only thing he lacks is height but then Messi and Maradona are sub 6 footers.

But Coventry didn't have a 6' 5" forward. Ayala has to come in.

Known as whispering death- he was so light on his feet in his run up.

For a moment I thought you were saying that about Bradley Dack. If Trybull stays, I suspect Evans will go in the January window.

Having lost 3 games to teams which will surely be top half by season end, here come another 3 all within 7 days for us to try to beat. A casual look at the table and Reading are already out of sight at the top 5 points clear. P7 W6 D1 L0 F10 A1 Pts 19 A careful look at their opponents to date though- well you can only beat the team you are playing, but... I know I have stuck my neck out and said Reading are going to stay in contention all season. If they keep this up beating bottom half teams every time they play them, there's 78 points available... so I am sticking with that prediction. However, regardless of opponents, that is still a mighty fine record Reading have so will Rovers prove even mightier? I would have been much more nervous about this one had we not returned to Genghis Khan form against Coventry and slaughtered another bunch of footballing innocents. Against Reading, I would start with Ayala in place of Lenihan as the height of Joaoa needs defending against and Williams had the more assured performance against Coventry. We might see Pears make his debut if Kaminski really did himself some damage with that late late save against Coventry. Otherwise same team and same result please... Not being greedy but we should be a different level of forward threat for the Reading back line to try to cope with.

I'd rather have Ben playing at Rovers than have sold Watkins to Villa. Of the BMW at Brentford, Watkins was clearly the Premier League quality player with the other two fantastic at Championship level but a big? over whether they can make it in a higher league.

Might be if we go up and they come down....?

I will be worried too if we have to start any more games with 13 players from the first team squad unavailable again.

The Coventry highlights were not showing for me last night but they are working this morning on ifollow. Boy we were good!

Recall options on both Trybull and Elliott could disrupt us at the end of December. I am less worried about Elliott unless Liverpool have Salah and Mane out. I think Klopp and Mowbray have a project for Elliott at Ewood and as I posted in the Dack thread it is playing him up top through the middle which is where he switched to for the last 20 minutes at St Andrews. As for buying him. Well the Venkys probably do have a spare £100 million...

Pretty mind blowing when you think about it. We are destroying teams with our best defensive midfielder and the star name at the club both missing probably for half this season. On current all round game form and potential, Dack goes where Elliott is and Elliott replaces Armstrong. That 20 minutes cameo at the end at Coventry this afternoon was the first glimpse of that. The thought of Brereton continuing to improve, Holtby back to German international form, Dack and Elliott all operating together with Travis the enforcer bursting forward when the opportunity arises is pretty mind blowing. Then it is Trybull, Johnson and Evans competing for the third midfield slot, Armstrong and Dolan impact subs and two games a week rotation options.

Much more confident about Brereton than I have ever been about Gallagher. I rewatched highlights of the Watford game and must admit I thought Foster had dropped a clanger letting that one in on Wednesday night's viewing. But in fact it is an amazing strike by Ben with bend bouncing just in front of the keeper and going through a ball's width gap between diving keeper and post. I urge everyone to look at the camera angle behind the goal and not go wow!

Thank you. Plenty of slagging on here for what happened at Watford but we ran up against a top keeper having one of the best games of his career. Nice of Watford and Bournemouth to be so complimentary but it is points on the board that win promotions. Also no doubt about the red card.

I swapped from chrome to safari but in Safari the option to switch commentaries is not available. Instead there is a match time bar and a whistle icon which takes you back to the start of the match again if you click it. Can only go live again by coming out of safari and logging back in again so don't touch it! I am still getting the circling icon in Chrome even when trying to view the highlights.

Flat track means the ball doesn't deviate off the pitch so the batsman can intimidate the bowler by attacking every ball not on the perfect line and length. Great batsmen have the reflexes to do that even when there are inconsistences in the pitch causing uneven bounce and deviations in direction. Flat track bullies cannot score when the pitch causes uncertainty.

You will get hammered for suggesting the Rovers crowd might adversely affect the performance of our players.

I remember the incident- it was in the 89th minute when Rovers were peppering the Coventry goal looking for the 5th- Brereton was about to have the miss which was the only blot on an otherwise impeccable performance. Kaminsky was a bit unprofessional as he was on his way off with the ball still in play. Rovers held possession and really slowed it down before knocking it out after presumably Mowbray had told him to stay put. In the 3 minutes added time, our outfield players ensured the ball never went anywhere near the stricken keeper.

I just hope having the Dack of old is a headache we are going to have around Christmas. We have no idea what injuries or other absences we will have when he is coming back nor what first eleven has or has not gelled by then.

Why are we discussing a largely unused sub at the Championship's bottom club? Rhodes and Armstrong are only similar in being goal scoring forwards for us. Despite all the goals, I think Armstrong is off the pace at the moment. Wonderful things are going on all around him but he doesn't seem to fit in terribly well.

Beat what is front of you. Coventry were marmelised and the stats support what we saw. Well, not quite, how did Coventry get to 34% possession? Echoing a lot of what has already been said but Williams massively the better of the central defenders. Douglas and Trybull both looked short of match action so salivating over what there is to come from them. Buckley much much better when he came on than the game he started- good management by Mowbray to give him the chance to rebuild immediately. Johnson solid and no mistakes today. To the stellar performers Brereton two assists and a penalty won had his best game for the Rovers so far but still looks way short of the finished article. Holtby magnificent except for missing the goal with SIX very straightforward chances. For a player who can pass a ball through microscopic gaps with perfect weight, I just hope there isn't a psychological problem when the intended destination is the back of the net rather than another Rovers player. Elliott just wow- an assist and a goal and what an all round performance. In matches to come he is going to be the automatic must find player as the ball is passed forward. Oh and Armstrong scored two and Gally was awful until he buried Elliott's perfect cut-back.

Settings button not visible using Safari. Well what an odd half. Lenihan had a nightmare for twenty minutes. Apart from the penalty Armstrong having a poor game. Holtby missed four excellent chances. ref given us nothing since the penalty and bonus red card. Otherwise really encouraged by the play and Brereton is close to unplayable. Over to Mowbray to avoid a second half horror show and turn it into a rout.

Using Safari but can only get the home commentary. iFollow are ridiculously inconsistent

MacBook