Rich Sharpe I believe was told that any central midfielder coming in would be a loan.

There was the main one in the centre when he was down with the physio for a couple of minutes stretching his leg, with 10 minutes to go and all 3 subs left. At that stage he should have been forced to come off. Now we will pay the price and need to find a replacement.

Kaminski should have done better in my opinion, the defence in the build up were all over the place and it did come on the counter attack which is a worry that I have flagged because we keep playing with our full backs both high up and it will cause us issues on the counter attack. I dont doubt any of that, but the finish wasnt in the corner and somewhat went through the keeper. Travis wouldnt come off? Do soft arses refuse to play with damaged knee ligaments? Ultimately if he had an injury, he should have been told that he has to come off, not left on to make it worse and now miss many weeks. I would prefer to get battered and win to be fair. There are some positives tonight for sure but ultimately I am worried as to the vulnerability of our centre backs playing with our full backs so high, and I am unconvinced that we have enough of a cutting edge. I dont think we would have scored had we played until next week. Rankin Costello, Brereton, Dolan, Chapman, Rothwell, plenty of pace and energy there, but how many goals? I also dont know how Dack will come back in without a change of shape, but we do need him back because he is one of only 2 players who can get us goals. 40 million of that was spent on Joelinton, a total waste of space! I think this comes down to how much faith you have in what Mowbray is doing. Trying to play more expansively, 4-3-3, full backs high up, sometimes false 9s, wide strikers, this whole new world, it ultimately got a very poor points return in the last 9 games, and we have lost the first 2 this season, difficult games, games that we have been praised plenty in, but games we have been on the wrong side of. I have doubts about various aspects of it, and ultimately football is about points, not pretty passing, so until we start picking up points regularly playing this way, I will be skeptical. I think there will have to be a compromise.

Dominant display tonight but worrying signs at both ends. Absolutely no cutting edge and really susceptible to counter attacks with both full backs so high up. Brereton with another game with more questions than answers. Missed a big chance at the end and so reluctant to get into the box or compete for headers. Some things you can understand but those 2 are not good enough from a striker. To be honest, I think he actually looked worse centrally because he for some reason (and as @Miller11 highlights above) as I said is rarely in the box. He does have one attribute that he often, seemingly quite clumsily and at times fortunately but ultimately effectively can run past players but it is never in dangerous areas. None of our attackers were effective. Still unsure what Rankin Costello brings to the team, anonymous. Dolan I do get the hype but again theres not much at the end of it, albeit you can see what he brings with his pace, tricks (at times overdoing it but he is raw) and running ability, Rankin Costello, less so. Armstrong and Chapman were both quiet too. Gutted to hear about Travis, why did they make him carry on? I get that we would have had 10 men but his fitness is more important. He was excellent tonight. As was Holtby, should have scored but very good on the ball. Rothwell was too but no end product and not the same quality as Holtby. Bell so wasteful everytime he got the ball, so many overhit crosses and so slow of mind. Kaminski should have done better for the goal too.

I just dont see what he has to make opponents be worried about him. Mind you, we have had no attacking threat at all.

Its all good passing the ball around the back but we have absolutely no attacking threat. Weve had one chance for all the passing. Brereton and Rothwell have been anonymous again and I dont see why everyone seems to really rate Rankin Costello, not seeing it at the moment. We need to stop pushing both full backs right up otherwise we are going to keep conceding on the counter attack with or without Ayala. Not very good keeping for the goal and looked really uncomfortable coming for a cross too.

To be fair, people have been correct to be critical and skeptical based on what has gone on defensively to date. Everything regarding the signing of Ayala has been positive and it has been full of praise.

Very happy with this signing. Get him straight into the team on Saturday. Now a left back please.

But presumably Williams and Bell are only keeping places warm for new signings themselves.

You take Armstrong out of that side with Dack also out and theres a massive lack of goal threat there. Buckley and Wharton should have been given a game for me, possibly Davenport too.

Cheers. I did read that Stojanovic (their other goalkeeper who was 1st choice before Bettinelli signed) was ill hence why Pears was sub v Watford, but maybe Warnock has been making his unwanted keepers ill!

Where is this from that he could be announced so soon? Suppose with the medical done theres little left to do.

Pears isnt amongst the squad for Boros cup game tonight.

Of course, he is a very good defender fitness permitting at this level which is exactly what we need, I just hope that he is not exposed in a way that basically all defenders would struggle.

My main issue with Ayala, not as an individual because as I said, I am very happy if he signs. But he isnt the quickest and he isnt the most elegant, he is a proper defender. Playing too high and playing with the full backs concentrating on attacking may expose his weaknesses.

Not specific to Rovers, but a quick look at twitter regarding Aubameyang agreeing a new contract. How ridiculous is all of the "announce" and "signed da ting" crap that surrounds transfers nowadays on social media.

Areas in local lockdown will be declined.

Looks like we will be declined in terms of being a pilot event.

Maybe leader was an incorrect summary. Our results with and without Lenihan are vastly different, obviously Lenihan will head stuff away, I do think Adarabioyo and Williams together was not a good partnership because they arent as dominant as Lenihan. I would like to think that if Ayala came in and partnered Wharton or Williams, then that might be a better alternative.

Not at all. My beef in general is with people when they say "I know something but I wont tell you all" as that achieves absolutely nothing. In this instance RovingRover didnt come under this category at all, and my post was very much tongue in cheek towards him. I think that the quote he put "As I revealed over 24 hours ago. Nice of the Sun man to catch up. ?" which again is fair enough, bit of self praise. I am not sure if he genuinely knew information seperate from what was already in the public domain (it had been mentioned on twitter that the Ayala deal hadnt gone through in Saudi Arabia by Rich Sharpe) but either way, he actually shared that information so fair play for doing so. If you have in the know information, I think you have to be prepared that if it doesnt come off, you will get some questions and some banter, and if you self praise, equally, a bit of banter. I agree that his post was useful and welcomed.

I dont agree with Bolton, Wigan and Bury being used as examples to justify the increase in prices. We cant justify any decisions made as long as they dont lead to us being in administration or going totally out of business. Ultimately, it isnt even about whether we feel that the decision is 'fair.' I dont think that its the best business decision, he doesnt appreciate that there is, albeit not as much as with many other things, a level of elasticity with the pricing. Not only will quantity of sales decrease this year, but it will lose potentially previously regular fans from attending in the future. No one has any obligation to buy a season ticket, especially at this time, and Waggott with his marketing campaigns and his continued aggressive pricing policies is going about it the wrong way. I will probably for my sins still renew, but totally respect those that dont. I also dont get why there is no cap on season ticket holders. The potential for a ballot brings up all sorts of issues.

Ah, lovely ITK pats on the back Wont fully believe the Ayala deal until hes on the official site but would be as good as we could possibly get. Proper leader, experienced but not too old and a track record of being in good defences at this level. Also, Adarabioyo was good but when Lenihan didnt play, Adarabioyo and Williams lacked leadership. Ayala means that we have 2 leaders back there. Injury prone however, a lack of fitness and of course potentially quarantine team will mean we might have to go with the current centre backs until the international break which is not ideal. Also, if Mowbray doesnt compromise slightly on his principles, we will concede even with Ayala, if it is left just to him and Lenihan to defend with both full backs high up, even having a good CB pairing wont be enough. Ayala isnt going to bring the ball out from the back and he isnt the quickest but ultimately I dont think they are the 2 biggest priorities of a centre back. Him and Pears would also increase our "Middlesborugh quota" that Mowbray needs, especially with Graham, Smallwood, Leutwiler and Downing all going. I just hope we get a left back as soon as possible as Bell is the weak link.

No real clarity from what I can see in how you link 2 people together in a "bubble." The terribly timed price rise is a further stain on Waggotts "legacy." The sooner he leaves our club the better. The ballot thing seems crazy too. Surely limit season tickets at 6k (20%) for the time being. The 17.34 split between a link and a pro rata refund is sensible.

No i know, I was just backing up Ewood Ace regarding his comments on the comparison. Boro have a good academy too although I would probably favour our graduates at this moment. Buckley and Rankin Costello have not really established themself in the starting 11 at any point but hopefully will at some stage and the other 3 are very important to us.

Very true on their academy. They have the likes of Wing, Fry, Spence, Pears, Tavernier all regularly in the first team picture.