Yep groundhog day is certainly an apt phrase. Indeed it has a "Hoilett will sign in 24 hours" vibe and the fact that deep into November that he is still pleading with the owners to do the contracts shows how disorganised they are. I have never seen from Armstrong or Dacks persespective as to why it is in their best interests to commit at this time rather than hold off, and Nyambe at particular we should be at a stage where we are very close or have already signed or even been rejected.

If you think about it though, there will be families etc using the same passes when in normal circumstances they would obviously have seperate tickets, that will bring the numbers down. Many will be on furlough or worse so will be down financially. That might lead to people not buying or even seeking free alternatives with less disposable income. It is almost impossible to feel at least an element of detachment as if its going through the motions and the experience will be much worse. More season passes may have been sold had Waggott and co had any modicum of common sense. We are again loitering in mid table. So many factors. The one thing I dont understand is why the delay is such an integral factor but it seems that even more trivial issues such as that and production values are a deterrant and at the end of the day especially in these circumstances it is totally understandable why people are not willing to part with their money for an unavoidably inferior product. I have got a season pass and buy the away games but it isnt the same so it is understandable.

Obviously it is nothing like being in the stadium, but if that is the case, you wouldnt watch away games in normal times on TV, you wouldnt watch full re runs or even highlights or via the red button if its as cut as dry as that.

I think Travis would be more likely to replace Rothwell rather than Johnson, Johnson albeit inconsistent has performed far more than Rothwell and I dont think Travis has the tactical discipline to have Holtby and Rothwell running off around him, I think it would be restrictive.

Must win game this weekend, we need to go on a run having already considerably lagged behind the top 6. The injury situation is unfortunate although its the same across the board sadly. Teams arent at full strength across the board and a few (Evans, Ayala, Williams, even Nyambe) are just injury prone players and we cant hide behind these too much. Assuming that Nyambe and Holtby (why is he doing the media if he is unavailable?) miss out and Kaminski is fine to play, would go with: Kaminski Rankin Costello Lenihan Wharton Douglas Rothwell Johnson Downing Elliott Armstrong Brereton Subs: Pears, Grayson, Bell, Trybull, Buckley, Davenport, Gallagher, Dolan, Chapman

I dont really get the comments about "abysmal" quality, just seems like a normal stream to me. The commentators are irritating but that is minor. The delay is unavoidable and I am used to delay from having sports through Now TV, thats not ideal but especially with Rovers its just easy to avoid twitter etc for an hour and a half. If my friend watching it seperately messages about the football then his stream tends to be in sync with mine when it isnt with Sky. I do also think that it is a very difficult time for Rovers and all clubs but it doesnt sit right when people imply that we have an obligation to help out, the responsibility shouldnt be on the shoulders of the customers/supporters. And as ever Waggott has failed in my opinion with his policies since the pandemic took hold as much as he had done so prior. The issue with refunds was terribly dealt with and the delays releasing season passes this season was totally avoidable and has led to lower than hoped for sales.

Plus you could argue that playing a third poor centre back and asking them to play out from the back as Dier tried and again failed to do yesterday is very much taking risks! And ones with minimal reward.

Saw that this morning but it seems that all information and interviews through the international break where gathered prior and just staggered out to fill articles. I hope that as you say he has had no setbacks and he can play a game this week.

If Kane isnt international class then there are maybe only one or two strikers in World football that are.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8816531/amp/Gareth-Southgate-insists-England-stick-3-4-3-formation.html Southgate said previously that we are sticking with the formation and has planned to for a while. Not sure the pandemic can be blamed!

I wouldnt doubt that it is difficult to get the right man for the job to be fair. I have no examples off the top of my head I will concede. I also dont see that as much of a reason to keep Southgate in necessarily otherwise you are essentially accepting that your manager is perhaps not taking you in a forward direction (in my opinion anyway) but are just keeping him out of fear. For me especially with no relegation fear (and thus at times terminal financial reprecussions) theres no point sticking IMO.

It is massively flawed as I suspect you are aware to imply that solely on the basis that he got us to a World Cup Semi Final, that his job is guaranteed as a result. Should Mourinho not have been sacked when Chelsea were 15th the season after winning the title with the squad in disarray, who else would beat winning the title? Not as simple as that. Firstly, things change in football and England do not seem to be displaying promising signs of developing and getting the best from what is a crop of players, many of whom (Kane, Grealish, Sterling, Sancho, Walker, Arnold, James, Henderson, until injury Gomez etc) are performing very well at club level week in and week out. 3 at the back and trying to pass it out only adds to the numbers of centre backs on the pitch and highlights their weaknesses. His loyalty to a poor goalkeeper adds unnecessary jeopardy. His midfield choices lead to us being very rigid and his reliance on less talented players like Rice and Mount is counter productive. One (heavily deflected) goal from 5 Nations League games is piss poor. We really struggle v the better teams. It may also be tempting to refer back to previous failed generations as a comparison as im sure you have done with the likes of Kean and Coyle here but the benchmark should be higher than that, the likes of Capello and Hodgson underperformed too. Southgate undoubtedly deserved massive credit for how we did at the last World Cup but with international tournaments they sometimes perhaps a bit more flexibility in regards to judgement is required because it is not as simple as a club season in which every team plays every other team twice. We only beat some very limited countries and a very favourable draw meant that although the games still warranted overcoming and as a result Southgate would leave with positive thoughts overall, there are plenty of valid doubts over whether he is the man to take us forward.

Harry Winks for Jordan Henderson is the most unnecessarily conservative and pointless sub that could have been made too. Martin Tyler is a nauseating propaganda machine for the Nations League too, a competition that may have a bit of merit as a slight upgrade on friendlies but ultimately one that no one will overly give a shit about, and one that should have been scrapped as collateral damage amidst the excessive strain that the pandemic has put on the fixture schedule.

I hope this jinxes a comeback but England appear at a real crossroads at the moment. Changing from 3 at the back to 4-3-3 and then for no apparent reason back to 3 again recently, the constant changing not only of the 11 but the squad shows that Southgate doesnt really know what he is doing and is just hoping that something falls into place. The team tonight has no balance, absolutely no pace to penetrate in behind aging Belgian centre backs when Kane comes to feet, the love affair with 2 average players in Mount and Rice when we have far better players is very strange, and he is playing more inadequate centre backs than he needs too with Dier a particular liability. Trippier should also not be in the squad, never mind be starting every game. Southgate was very lucky with the draw in the World Cup but I suppose even by only betting Tunisia, Panama, Colombia on penalties and Sweden deserved the credit of how far he had gone but he stumbled into the job to begin with and I think we could do with someone with a bit more nous.

Rovers have been silent on Dacks first week back in full training apart from a 5 second video of him kicking a ball into an empty net on Monday. Wonder if everything has gone to plan?

Pulis was the manager who kick started Adama Traore's career at Boro and also his Stoke side heavily featured Ricardo Fuller. He does play direct but he is certainly not totally against the use of flair players and mavericks.

I dont think that everything is rational on here but lets be honest, he has been in and out, and almost symbolic of the last 7 years in which he has been here. A skeptical attitude is totally understandable.

I dont necessarily know if it is down to his physicality (maybe partially) but his main issue is his ability to really stamp his authority on games. More often than not he doesnt manage to do it, maybe that will come in time though.

Buckley was ok on Saturday, appalling v Forest and found things very easy v a 10 man Wycombe. Hes comfortable on the ball and likes to pass forward but more often than not fails to stamp his authority on games at his young age at the moment. Subjective stats such as "progressive passes" and "successful defensive actions especially when his game time is a much smaller sample size dont really prove anything.

Only 2.17 goals per game this season in the Championship, exactly half of games have finished 0-0,1-0 or 1-1. Falling below its entertaining benchmark.

Im not saying that they should or shouldnt get rid, but you can understand if they feel that they are stagnating, if they are regressing, that they might want a change. Outsiders may argue that we should be content with mid table and Mowbray, but theres nothing wrong with a bit of ambition. I suppose comparatively, Neil has had much less money both in transfer fees and wages compared to Mowbray, but if they feel that they are going further away from main play off contenders, consider the possibility of key players leaving, maybe a reset is something they might crave.

In regards to their first team, like with ours he is very much on the fringes when everyone is available. Sinclair, Barkhuizen etc all play over him there. They perhaps made a mistake not keeping him as a future prospect to loan out.

Exactly, Liverpool had both Wijnaldum and Henderson, both of whom are very responsible and selfless players. Rothwell cant play in a central 2.

I think saying that we even have 3 or 4 Premier League standard players is potentially a bit of a push. Maybe Travis could one day become one but I dont think he is necessarily a stand out Championship midfielder at this stage. Holtby has failed to impact games consistently for us really at Championship level. Dack and Armstrong maybe are the 2 but looking at other teams, even the least effective attacks at Premier League level have forward players like Callum Wilson and Chris Wood who regulary get double figures. Nyambe no chance at this stage, Kaminski its too early to say. The team has more promise this season but until it translates how it appears on paper to on the pitch, minus the reasons/excuses/mitigating circumstances, then I dont see how we can go too overboard. The season doesnt start at Luton, it started at Bournemouth. Using the whole squad is part of the game, you cant write off 11 games.

If they feel that their team has gone backwards or just because they dont have the biggest budget, should they accept mediocrity?