nottingram

What if we'd played a stronger team and still lost? Winning last night wasn't a gimme, Rowett played a team he thought would win and they didn't. But that team included none who played Friday or who are likely to play Saturday. The players that have been playing league games won't really be affected. I could look at last night as a game where Russell has gained confidence by scoring, Martin has shown signs of playing well again, Anya has created a goal, Bennett has continued his progress, Thorne has got minutes under his belt, Bird has impressed in his debut as a 16 year old, Forsyth has gained match fitness, and we've kept fringe players happy with game time. Depends whether you want to moan or whether you want to try and see positives.

I for one am very disappointed that we gave minutes to fringe members of the squad to keep them motivated, gave debuts to two promising players, and gave minutes to our best player coming back from a year and a half out. I'm also disappointed that none of our first eleven were put at risk of injury or suspension in a low priority game. What a ridiculous fuss over nothing. If we'd won, fantastic, we'd get a trip to Wembley to see Spurs' second string beat us. But we didn't win, and we've been knocked out. GR thought the team was good enough to win, it clearly wasn't, no real harm done. This could also have been possible if we'd named our first eleven, Barnsley are a good side, it wasn't a gimme. People wouldn't have made any comment about disrespecting the competition, risking momentum etc etc etc etc if we'd won the game which we weren't a million miles from doing. If we lose at Bristol City on Saturday it will have zilch to do with last night, as none of them played. I'm not sure this is difficult to understand really. We might lose as Bristol City are a good side though, and I can't wait for the bumper matchday thread on Saturday correlating last night with it.

Would you say it's wise to play Johnson, who loves a silly yellow, in a relatively low priority game, considering we have limited cover there? Not necessarily disagreeing with you or saying you're wrong but interested why you chose those five names?

Good goal. Our best U23 XI would struggle against this Swansea side let alone this seemingly second string

Few posters saying that apart from scoring goals we've not done much, that is the ethos of 'Rowettball.' He isn't fussed about possession between boxes really, just efficient and direct which has been done to perfection today.

Annoying that we put all our chicken eggs in one basket

Yep, not a chance now we've missed out on a probable back up defensive midfielder.

What about it !

Thorne, Baird, Hanson then we have Guy and Bird. You'd probably put Keith just after Thorne on that list, so the backup to the backup. Sensationalism indeed I remember not too long ago, Manchester United had no fit strikers. They'd loaned out Ashley Fletcher and James Wilson. Stellar names I'm sure you'll agree, ahead of Marcus Rashford at the time. Weird how things work out.

Would rather that than be paying the backup to the backup to the backup first team wages. Each to their own.

Guy impressed in League One last season, Thorne is obviously always doubtful but he does still exist, Max Bird is one of our U23's best players already. I'm not saying it's a perfect situation, someone has ballsed up and I bet GR is fuming but the way some are carrying on you'd think Keith was the difference between promotion and relegation.

Not ideal at all but it's hardly the end of the world, it's an opportunity for someone else to step up and stake a claim.

You can only use current form as a measurement when he's playing badly.

Will be really gutted if he goes, call me a romantic but I don't think he's ever been given enough of a run of games to prove himself again.