Mattoon

Hopefully just precautionary but more than happy for Livramento to have a run in the team.

We've been comfortably in control of this game, never felt like we were in danger in that first half, more of that and it should be a stress free afternoon. We're good for the score line too which is a welcome change.

That's not how fatigue works, it doesn't just disappear because you're not running at the same level anymore, it can take a few months to recover. It also causes brain fog, difficulty making decisions and being slow to react to situations. The more you look into it, the more signs you will see in some of our players.

Blackburn did their research, they packed defence, stayed organised, limited space and hit us fast on the counter. I don't think we were horrific, we were disjointed, had a tough time finding a way through them and left gaps between the lines. They played well to our weaknesses. Definitely nowhere near our best but we still found a way to win, which has to be a positive.

I think people are writing off fatigue as an excuse and completely overlooking the long term effects of burnout. Yes, we might be playing a lot less games now and only once a week and we've got players coming back from injury to help with rotation. But these players aren't going to hit the ground running and the 11 that played every minute of every game for 2 months won't recover from burnout overnight, the physiological and psychological effects of exhaustion can take months to recover from, sometimes as long as a year. I think we'll see a slow improvement but I don't think we'll see a full recovery any time soon.

This was my favourite part of the exchange

It looks like a number of issues affecting us at the moment, clearly everything that has happened this season has taken its toll on us. Players look forlorn, devoid of confidence and composure, mentally drained which in itself causes physical draining. Add to that you'd have to imagine Howe is acutely aware that returning to full throttle football that won us so many games last season could easily see us losing options again. I think he's playing it safe which is leading to us inviting more pressure on. With such a one paced midfield and a keeper glued to his line were going to keep leaking goals. He either has to change our shape and make us harder to beat or open us up and have us turn the game over on the front foot. Whatever this is dangling in the middle is a complete horror show.

Liverpool kids, they're so young you know, just kids!

Dubravka (obviously), Almiron, Gordon, Livramento only players to come out of that game with any credit. Was a tough watch, keep waiting for it to happen but hopefully we can build on it to gain some of our swagger back.

Absolute LEGEND!!

Dubzzzzz

Come on Dubz be a hero!!

Nice one Elliot!

Bruuuuuuunooooo

What was that?

Yesssss

Cheeky Schar

I hope this is the last time we see Lonstaff for a while, he's been beyond atrocious

Can't expect a 17 year old to be taking pens

How can you be that big and that poor in the air?

We don't have the confidence to win penalties

Howwwww

Why did Longstaff not even try to run on to that??

Longstaff stopping play during a counter ffs

We really have hit rocl bottom across the pitch, players look shell shocked and devoid of any confidence and composure.