hypochondriac

Worth reading this. Certainly changes opinions from the start of the thread to the end: https://www.brfcs.com/forums/topic/34579-joe-rothwell-a-myth-or-a-prospect/page/5/#comments

Over the course of the season, they have a points total hugely above the average for 4th in the table.

Just had a look on the Blackburn forum. A few of them putting him in their best 11 since 2012 noting his skill and pace. Said he played on the right before moving more central.

Who do you think he will be competing with? Not the type of player I thought we would be getting in so bit of a surprise there.

It's not really about catching Leicester, it's about increasing our chances of promotion by dragging them back into things. If Leeds carry in their unbelievable run then currently it's 3 teams going for one spot. Would be better to be four teams going for two.

Yes that's my stance too. It's a very small chance but that chance increases a fair amount if they lose next week with a few difficult games to come.

The only metric which really matters for determining who is the best. I said the end of September for a reason.

Someone on twitter reporting we are loaning in Joe Rothwell from Bournemouth who appears to be a defensive midfielder. Have to say I have never heard of him.

Well they haven't been better than us since the end of September if we use the only metric that really matters.

I'm glad you agree I thought I was the only one!

Well if you think we will overhaul Ipswich then surely an Ipswich win next week would be a positive thing. Chance to move just seven points behind Leicester and potentially drag another team into it. They still have Leeds, Sunderland and hull to play away and us at home of course. Again, not saying it's likely but it's still possible at the moment.

Don't think I've disagreed with anything you said there. I have faith that we can overhaul Ipswich even if they win next week.

You said "in that unbeaten run we are third." in the unbeaten run we are first but over the entire season we are third. My point was that we have taken the most points in the league since the end of September.

I'm not blaming you in the slightest and it was entirely understandable, but to be fair you did state with absolute cast iron certainty earlier in the season that automatic promotion had already gone and that there was no chance of us getting it.

Are we third in that unbeaten run? Thought I saw we were first.

I still haven't quite given up the chance of winning the league. Think we need a bit more optimism after my terribly incorrect prediction for the Wednesday game. Next five games for us will be crucial with all except one away.

Conversely, losing two in a row if we win both closes the gap to 7 points which is achievable. Of course they are heavy favourites but losing some of their best players to AFCON will have had an effect. There's an argument that we have actually been the best team in the league since our unbeaten run started and not that long ago Ipswich were ten ahead of us. It's unlikely but it's still a possibility at the moment.

I'm aware we aren't second. My point was that having the team at the top going through a blip may be beneficial as it give us two place to play for rather than one which at the moment is too far away.

Leicester and Ipswich is up next. What are we wanting from that? Would it be wrong to hope for an Ipswich and saints win so we close the gap on Leicester to 7? That feels a lot more like a gap we can bridge.

Absolutely. The reason I loved that 20 minutes after half time so much was because you could just see the pressure ramping up on them and how tiring it would be to keep the defending going.

Worth pointing out that winning those would now have had us level with Leicester. It's a ridiculous standard I agree but still room for improvement.

Great head tbf

Goals were great but some of that was in part because of what we had done previously tiring Wednesday out and they imploded.

First twenty minutes of the second half before we scored we played some genuinely incredible stuff. So so impressive. Best game of the season for me.

It made me hard.