Five Changes For Town at Blackburn
Tuesday, 2nd Dec 2025 18:41

Town have made five changes for this evening’s restaging of September’s abandoned match at Blackburn Rovers.

Into the team come Ashley Young, Kasey McAteer, Chuba Akpom, Jack Clarke, making his 50th league appearance for the Blues, and Ivan Azon with Darnell Furlong, Sindre Walle Egeli, Marcelino Nunez, Jaden Philogene and George Hirst all dropping to the bench.

Jacob Greaves, sent off in the fixture curtailed in the 80th minute due to a waterlogged pitch, is also among the subs, as is Jens Cajuste, back in the 20-man squad following his ankle injury with Cameron Humphreys missing out.

Blackburn name an unchanged team from Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Wrexham but with club captain Todd Cantwell, who scored the only goal from the penalty spot in the first staging of the game, back on the bench after a knee injury.

Blackburn: Pears, Alebiosu, Miller, McLoughlin (c), Pratt, Hedges, Forshaw, Gardner-Hickman, Morishita, Ohashi, Gudjohnsen. Subs: Michalski, Ribeiro, Tavares, Gueye, Cantwell, De Neve, Henriksson, Baradji, Atcheson.

Town: Walton, Young, O’Shea (c), Kipre, Davis, Matusiwa, Taylor, McAteer, Akpom, J Clarke, Azon. Subs: Button, Furlong, Johnson, Greaves, Cajuste, Nunez, Walle Egeli, Philogene, Hirst. Referee: Oliver Langford (West Midlands).

Photo: Matchday Images

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mehrad added 18:46 - Dec 2 Why is goddam Casey McAteer starting again? He is rubbish. One gets the feeling that Wolfy is somewhat correct in that playing time is not based purely on performance but tied to other factors including spend (saw the same thing with Greaves over Burg last year)
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ITFCSG added 18:50 - Dec 2 Does McK randomly selects his XI from a hat. Every match is a new random lineup its no wonder players struggle to get in sync. At least no Hirst though, thank God
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jas0999 added 18:53 - Dec 2 Should be a straight forward victory against a team with a woeful home record.
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Stato added 18:54 - Dec 2

Once again playersc selected because its their turn rather than because their performances mean they deserve a spot. Its also now becoming clear we have an A team and a B team with the B team out tonight and the other 5 back against Coventry. All that said Blackburn have picked up 4 points at home this season so hopefully we can pick up 3 points but its now 30 plus games since McKenna last produced a win from a losing position so fingers crossed we don't go behind.

armchaircritic59 added 19:01 - Dec 2

Well I got 3 of the 5 right, didn't have the same set of dice as Km! At least we both agree on Kasey . That should be one for the boy boys, although our fantastic away supporters tend to do just that, support that is.

If we can't win this against a team who are atrocious at home ( worse than Oxford ) after that poor show, last Friday, I will be awaiting the after match reactions with some interest. At least we are not at home, Blackburn are second only to Coventry in the away league table!

Bert added 19:02 - Dec 2 Opinions, opinions. For everyone saying why these changes, there’s plenty who were arguing for them after the Oxford game. Nunez and Egeli to come on at some point I would imagine. Should be three points but then I think that most games !!
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Nottsblue66 added 19:05 - Dec 2 Jas0999 I'm going for a Blackburn win wtf is one- trick - McKenna doing constantly changing the team. How on earth can he aspect to get a settled side when every week a different 11
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anditractor added 19:06 - Dec 2 Why o why does KM have so many changes again. We have no consistency with all these changes !! Teams above us don't change like this, that's why they are being more successful. I'd love to know how are players feel when you play very well in one game and then get dropped the next. Stop making so many changes KM !!
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dirtydingusmagee added 19:11 - Dec 2 cant see your post Arnie
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55015Deltic added 19:13 - Dec 2 Nunez should play every game and should start. Crazy. McKenna is not creating hunger amongst his players because they know they will be dropped for the next game...............
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ArnieM added 19:13 - Dec 2 Its under the main forum TEAM thread ....
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55015Deltic added 19:14 - Dec 2 How about changing the tactics when its not going our way?
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dirtydingusmagee added 19:16 - Dec 2 win draw or lose the constant changes are getting farcical imo , hop im proved wrong but i think its going to cost us in long run ,We need a settled team that can play as a unit each knowing what the other is doing , .
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billlm added 19:21 - Dec 2 If you tinker long enough you may well stumble on something that works, his coaching skills certainly don't,
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Cakeman added 19:23 - Dec 2 We didn’t get promotion last time by having so many changes each week. McKenna certainly couldn’t name his strongest eleven as the standard with all is very similar. Odd philosophy to say the least.
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armchaircritic59 added 19:33 - Dec 2 billlm, rather like someone who's never played darts before but keeps throwing them at the board. Eventually one will stick in the bullseye. In our case, the bullseye equals a winning settled team. Here's hoping!
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jas0999 added 19:35 - Dec 2 Nottsblue66 - I agree! But I’m pointing out with millions spent, the highest paid manager in championship, we SHOULD win - nothing else will do! Let’s see if KM lives up to his billing … no excuse for anything other than three points …
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TimmyH added 19:42 - Dec 2 Noticed how few changes some of the Premiership sides make...I saw Palace have made as few as 11 so far this season, we've probably made that amount in 2 games!!
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Z765765 added 19:52 - Dec 2 Well said TimmyH. Squad is too big and it’s unnecessary, and McK rotates to keep people happy, it’s rubbish
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blueboy1981 added 19:54 - Dec 2 McKenna has become a Football joke - his stock has to be rapidly declining within the game. Has he lost it completely ? - lose tonight and we’ll be fortunate to be mid table at Christmas !!
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Churchmans_crate added 19:58 - Dec 2 Even though KMcK has made changes from Friday, it isn't as if these players have not played together, is it? And that's the point; he knows that the whole squad will be needed over the course of the season, and is making sure that they are all match ready.
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blueboy1981 added 20:06 - Dec 2

McKenna ? - progressively failing, too larger squad, rotation therefore is the rod he has made for his own back.
The Owners MUST be asking serious questions after such expenditure ?
He has to be on borrowed time - rotation like this is not going to work at any serious level within the game, this is only a very poor Championship this season anyway.
There has to be serious concerns !!

Hatman2 added 20:09 - Dec 2

So many dinosaurs on here preaching ‘settled side’, do you think players are strangers to each other by playing once a week on a Saturday? Then why, when for a whole month we’re playing every 3 days but making 5 - 6 changes (because we’ve invested in a deep squad to cope with an intense 50+ game season) do ppl think we won’t be able to perform with continuity? Instead you’d prefer we rinse the same individuals constantly until they’re injured, then bring in the unplayed back up and put a kid on the bench? Really smart that.

AlpineBlue added 20:18 - Dec 2 I'm sorry but I'm losing faith in McKenna. We need to stop this rotation. The passing is awful. There is no flow to our game. Other teams don't struggle with the number of games, so why do we have to wrap our players in cotton wool?
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