I didnt criticise Mowbray for not including Trybull and Douglas, and I did acknowledge that the absentees made the situation much more difficult. But all managers have some games where they have major unavailability. Mowbray made numerous tactical mistakes with the players at his disposal. Johnson in front of his defence has always been a liability, Evans has always got a nose bleed over the half way line and Gallagher has never been a winger since he had a hole in his arse. I did mention that we keep beating the weaker teams but not in the flippant way that you implied. I have referenced that we have battered them in a way we havent done to teams for a long, long time and it is very exciting. Us at our best and/or v the worst teams in the league has been leading to brilliant watches for a Rovers fan. You mention Reading but it is not them at "their best" that is impressive to date, it is the consistency of our results. We are a little bit all or nothing at the moment, only winning when we wallop teams. Im excited about many aspects of our team at the moment, I just will only be totally satisfied when we start picking up top 6 level results consistently.

That pass on 1 minute 40 seconds I remember thinking wow when he did it yesterday. A shame that Gallagher has the first touch of Jason Roberts because it was absolutely perfect.

I dont get why the experiment would be to play him centrally, that is where Armstrong and when fit Dack want to play. Elliott looks good coming in from the right.

This is a big game. Reading have very much made themselves a team to beat at the top of the table and we could do with 3 points to put a bit of a marker down against a better side and also to make up some ground both on Reading and the top 6. Same side unless Kaminski is injured and Pears to come in if so with the Greek on the bench. Ayala if fit on the bench over Bell.

I dont think you can give the manager a free pass just because we had a lot of players unavailable. That will happen to every manager during the season, and out of those players, 4 were new signings considered unavailable (2 not registered and 2 not selected by Mowbray) so surely they also increase the absentee list for the 4 games prior if thats the case? Not for me, just a drawback of signing them so late. The 11 players plus the first sub Gallagher are all consistently in the first team squad so it wasnt quite bare bones by any means, and tactical errors by the manager (Gallagher widre, Chapman as a 10, Johnson sitting, Evans further forward) all majorly contributed to the poor result. In the Cardiff game we created very little. The Gallagher miss was poor but it wasnt as clear cut as a tap in and indeed if the managers 5m purchase misses a sitter, he doesnt get a free pass from judgement!

I dont think that Sparks was implying that the Rovers crowd are particularly demanding in comparison to other teams to the extent that playing behind closed doors benefits us, thats the difference. Brereton has after 18 personal dismal months been treated well by the Rovers fan base, in that I can not remember a player for whom there has been such a specific and unifed desperation for him to get a goal. Ultimately if his improvements are solely on the back of playing with less pressure in empty stadiums then in the long term then they are fairly useless if he reverts back to what he wss like before when crowds return. Suggesting so at this case is not only again reverting back to the incorrect suggestion that the Rovers crowd are horrible to play in front of, but also a disservice to the player himself. I know that you are being purposely patronising and antogonistic by claiming additional knowledge to any posters with an opposite viewpoint but we clearly didnt "obliterate" Watford, before considering the laughable giant killing narrative. We lost by 2 clear goals and that is all that matters. We were competitive and we certainly had chances but so did Watford who could have had 5 or 6 aswell. To view it as some sort of freak giant killing is not only totally illogical but also ignores numerous issues with that performance that led to us getting 0 points similar to v Bournemouth (although IMO we werent overly dangerous in conparison v Bournemouth with 2 shots on goal) in showing a real naivety and weakness in transition, and a struggle to turn possession into clear cut chances or if we did, a lack of ruthlessness. There are plenty of exciting elements to our play at the moment especially in 3 thrashings handed out to 3 of the 4 worst sides in the league so far but ultimately only until the point in which we are picking up points consistenly enough to be in the top 6 will this admittedly exciting way of playing be really proved in terms of effectiveness. Im also not denying that there could be more to come, new signings bedding in, Dack and Travis returning, and hopefully the flaws in our game ironed out, maybe that consistency can come soon. You could perhaps categorize the first 7 games into 3 categories, playing the weakest in the league in which we have won all 3 and absolutely battered them in an almost unprecedented way for us, decent organised teams coming to Ewood and us being unable to come close to breaking them down, and 2 games v top end teams in which we have perhaps slightly naively have gone toe to toe wih them and leaving ourselves overly exposed, leading to defeat. Also, never take any stock in an opposition manager praising us, thats my advice. A manager who has won and played against a decent team playing an easy on the eye style will always be full of praise, whereas a team who has ground out a 1 nil win against you in a professional and organised way will always be met with resentment and bitterness. Take Big Sams Bolton or us under Hughes getting under Wengers skin back in the day because he was bitter that he couldnt beat us "lesser lights" so resorted to dismissing our style. Good to hear such praise, although Colin Murray was full of praise that we signed Harvey Barnes which is news to me!

Mowbray said in his post match interview that he hopes we can have him for the season so there must be a clause that could cut the loan short in January.

But ultimately the fact that he was such a good finisher and more pertinently got over 20 goals a season ensured that he was a good a Championship striker during his time here as there was in the league.

This conversation seems to have become most prominent after the 3 dominant wins, as to whether he even gets into the team. He is a very, very good player at this level who improves us as our best player. Of course he warrants getting into the team somewhere. If he was fully fit in the next game, would it be fair to drop any of the attacking players today? Obviously not, and when he comes back, he will be a sub anyway. But would he warrant a start long term over one of Brereton, Johnson or even Elliott or Holtby in our best team? Yes. Where is a fairer question, and may take a bit of trial and error and experimentation.

I was contributing to a pre-existing conversation and I never suggested that we should sign him now, I am aware that his career has badly declined. I just think that re-writing history by being dismissive or implying that a striker should have been dropped who got 83 goals in 159 games, so better than 1 in 2 and consistent over a few years was anything other than superb for us, in both strong and malfunctioning sides with different managers and in different formations and styles, is absolutely senseless.

I never said that he is awful at one on ones, just hit and miss. Likewise, Rhodes scored a fair few headers, I wouldnt say he was good or top level in the air. Its not a love in. I just appreciated that when Rhodes was here, he was as good as any striker in the league. If Armstrong scores with similar consistency and regularity then he can be too, his record in 2020 is very much putting him on the way.

Ultimately for 2 years he was understandably criticised because he looked totally out of place on a football pitch. Youth football is not a strong indicator of anything, Jason Lowe was England under 21 captain. Recently he has looked a much improved player and has seemingly found a best position, whereas Gallagher has no suitability playing wide, it suits Brereton in a 3 in that the onus on goalscoring is lessened, he can run with the ball, he doesnt have much defensive responsibility and he can hold the ball up against players who arent necessarily as physically imposing. He has to start scoring to really nail down his place in the line up over time and even start to think about coming close to living up to the price tag, but there are definitely some green shoots.

I presume there is an element of sarcasm in the phrase "lump of lard with no pace" but obviously that is not true. He is not massively fast nor is he particularly slow, he has scored goals on the counter attack before where he has more than kept up with quick players. He also has the technical ability needed, and is very comfortable pressing.

Very poor is an exaggeration anyway, but even amidst his limitations, simply being a 20+ goalscorer every year meant that he was a top level Championship striker when he was here, such is the importance of goals. Does Armstrong have all of the attributes? Timing of runs, strength, aerial ability, hold up play, one on ones, scrappy goals, is he particularly good at any of those even at Championship level/standard? I would say no, not really. But as long as he keeps scoring goals, all of them become secondary. Both players are not top level in quite a few ways, and often contribute very little overall apart from scoring consistently which is the most difficult and important thing for any attacker. Thats why Rhodes throughout his career here and Armstrong throughout this calendar year were/are so critical to us as a team.

You try telling the referee that!

Very pleasing performance and result, as soon as a very limited Coventry went down to 10 men the result was a formality but the scoreline and many aspects of the performance were very exciting. Of course the key is consistency now. We have played 3 of the 4 poorest sides in the league so far and we have absolutely hammered all 3 of them. Against "superior teams" or stubborn teams of a similar level, we have struggled to get results. The good parts of the 3 wins have to come together on a regular basis, the start so far is ok, no more, but today I am very happy. Brereton was absolutely superb today, 3 assists and plenty of other good play, his best performance. The poor finish at the end was frustrating because when we got the first and obviously the man advantage, one of the main things that I was dying to see was another Brereton goal, of course until he starts properly contributing with a few goals there will always be a question mark, but very impressive overall. Armstrong is the main source of the numbers in Dack's absence, perhaps the least involved overall of the attacking players but the most important in putting the ball in the back of the net. Elliott looks a real talent, he doesnt look raw as I expected of someone so young, he looks surprisingly mature and seems to really be on the same wavelength as Holtby who ran the game, although whose finishing was dreadful! Their link up for the fourth was not a first time but it summed them up today perfectly. To see Elliott getting a goal and an assist already is a huge bonus. Further back, Johnson wasnt stand out but not playing him in front of the back 4 removes that worry of him being a liability in possession and causing us problems, he can put himself about more and he used his experience well, and Trybull whilst looking rather slow in transition looks a natural in that holding role. I thought that Lenihan was the pick of the centre backs, Williams was fine but Lenihan looked particularly determined to get that clean sheet, he has got some criticism lately but I think whilst not being perfect that we are better with him than without him. Douglas had to shake off some rust at the start with a stupid yellow card and being caught out of possession, ultimately defensively he wasnt tested but on the ball it is night and day with him and Bell, sensible decision to sub him off with the yellow but hes got to be the only choice there now. Rankin Costello would be a worry at right back v better teams, there was once or twice when he naively gave them the run of that right side either by losing it trying something he perhaps shouldnt or even backing off but on the ball he was good and the ball for the first goal was absolutely outstanding. Kaminski had a quiet day and I hope that he recovered for Tuesday. I thought we lost some control and quality when we made the 3 subs, the players coming on were all obvious downgrades. Buckley grew into the game to be fair and Gallagher got his goal through a terrible goalkeeping mistake but I was really pleased to see him score. He is not a right winger in a million years though so why Mowbray persists with it is beyond me. I dont think that I have ever seen him even come close with his head in a competitive match. In fact he often seems to purposely avoid aerial duels. Both of them are predominantly players that dont contribute loads from open play but are just regular goalscorers. Armstrong does have pace but often he still finds himself offside and he is quite languid in general play, when he wasnt scoring prior to 2020 he was often somewhat of a liability because his at times laziness (which was more of a problem because of the role he played then) was not being offset by goals. He is also hit and miss when he goes through on goal and isnt the biggest threat at sniffing out and anticipating chances likes Rhodes, Dack and even Graham were/are but boosts his numbers up by hitting a few screamers and also like Rhodes, penalties. Rhodes' limitations in general play were overly exaggerated and he didnt have the pace or even the technical ability of Armstrong but he was brilliant in terms of movement, anticipation, composure, intelligence and as you say his finishing, put him through on goal and he scores 9 times out of 10, Armstrong scores maybe 5, Rhodes also gets so many more tap ins. You never really see Rhodes smashing in one from 25 yards though. I think they are both very similar, not necessarily in style but in being very limited players in terms of how much they contribute overall, apart from getting regular goals. That being said, I think that as stupid as it sounds, simply being able to score goals regularly and consistently is a skill that is becoming underrated, hence why both players were and are so important to us.

Does Brereton offer an aeriel threat?

Bournemouth equalised in injury time.

Happy enough with the team, although I would have started Nyambe at right back. Good to see Douglas and Trybull start. Apologies, didnt explain very well. I think he should be on the bench at the moment, and obviously if he makes an impact as and when needed then he can solidify his place in the squad and even push to start. If he fails to do so then be might struggle to get into the 18 at some point during the season and if that happens he can dip into the under 23s as initially anticipated. Nyambe cant head a ball. Over the last year or 2 our win record is much better with him than without him and especialy with Ayala out, he has to start.

I definitely think that there is scope to naturally dip him in and out of the under 23s as the season goes on. At the moment we look light across the front line and hes not in the first 11 at the moment so when hes needed off the bench he should look to have more impact than he did on Wednesday night and work his way back up the pecking order. When Dack, Gallagher and Rothwell are all available again, there may be a point when he cant make the 18 and if that happens he should play with the reserves rather than risking getting stuck in limbo.

The owners are disinterested and the CEO is his mate. Probably the ideal environment in terms of comfort.

I listen occasionally to not the top 20 and also the second tier podcast. Undr the Cosh are definitely one id recommend, they are very funny and at times focus more on the dressing room side of it and things like nights out etc as well as obviously the career of the players. David Thompson, David Dunn and Michael Gray amidst the guests over time.

Obviously the acid test is will we actually start beating teams with regularity? Hopefully so but if not, when does the point come in which we become less snobbish to playing styles and more pragmatic? I am not saying we should do that now. I find "instead of playing like Cardiff under Harris" a little patronising considering that it got them a play off place last season yet seemingly we are too good to consider resorting to that.

I never specifically commented on any tactical mistakes that I believe Mowbray made. My comments were about this underdog mentality not in keeping with a side expecting a top 6 finish, especially based on what i believe is an exaggerated perception of the strength of these relegated teams. Im not saying that there arent promising aspects to our performances but again in keeping with my earlier comments regarding an underdog mentality, my take home feeling after both games was frustration that we had lost. I havent seen any comments describing the exclusion of Douglas as a "disgrace" which would be over the top but I personally think that on the back of a Bielsa pre season and appearance in the cup plus the pressing urgency to drop an inept Bell who shouldnt have been given a new deal, Douglas perhaps should have played. You mention his atttibutes but Bell has pace which in theory gives him an advantage but he cant defend so that pace is of little use. If Douglas isnt a better one on one defender and better positionally than Bell then he is a pointless signing but I am sure that he is an upgrade. My main issue with Brereton is that he offers no goal threat. I dont feel (even on Wednesday) that he anticipates chances in the penalty box and his lack of willingness to get in the box and instead wait well outside the box for the ball to feet is infuriating, Mowbray himself said after the game that he cant score 25 yarders all the time. My comments about his lack of goal threat came before pleasingly he got off the mark, am I convinced that will prompt a spree or even a season where he gets even 8-10 goals? Not really but I am desperate for that to happen, the latter being a reasonable expectation and I was made up when he scored. I have repeatedly commented on a general improvement post lockdown (on an admittedly non existent benchmark) plus I again commented on Wednesday about his ability (which is a positive one, Craig Conway used to be the master of it) to "win" fouls (sometimes genuinely taken down, sometimes he initiates contact, sometimes he essentially dives, either way its a free kick for us so fair play) and have not seen whoever you have seen giving him "shit" about it, feel free to quote said poster and if so, again id disagree, it gets us up the pitch. I think the fans I know and indeed as shown V Bolton when fans are in the ground are particularly desperate to see him do well. There is no vendetta, to date he has not been a very good signing for us and has got fair criticism for that. Regarding your last paragraph, I am not sure what to suggest, locking the forum and waiting until 10/12 games in before people can comment on our results? Obviously there are people on both sides, there were comments suggesting that we will definitely finish in the top 6 should we maintain a level of performance that didnt earn any points. Ultimately people will judge continiously based on results and our points tally after 6 games is pretty poor. Absolutely terminal and leaving us with no hope? Obviously not.

Agreed on the loans for sure. No I havent listened to any podcasts with Eric Kinder. I have started listening to podcasts called Open Goal with Si Ferry, the Danny Graham one was uploaded on here the other day but the player who mentioned it was Barry Ferguson who has gone into coaching in Scotland. He was actually quite complimentary towards Rovers but he said that he didnt like that if we lost or drew we didnt boo, which he found strange after being at Rangers. The best podcasts are Undr the Cosh with Jon Parkin and Chris Brown though, and football ramble are good general daily podcasts too.