Start him on Saturday. He is 30 years old, and has a history of playing and scoring goals in the Championship. For better or worse he is our player and we are paying him good money. He wasn't good on Saturday but he wasn't the only one. The whole team was awful first half with only a couple of exceptions. He didn't get any service apart from balls pumped forwards. He got one chance when a ball ricocheted to him and he fluffed his lines. Poor as he was (and I think he has been scapegoated a bit), if we are going to drop him after one start how is he ever going to get his fitness, sharpness and confidence back? To me we have two choices. We either write him off now and we have an expensive problem on our hands, or we give him a run of games in the side and say to him 'show us what you can really do'. I like Jerry Yates and he deserves an opportunity, but maybe not as a starter in a struggling team. Maybe that isn't fair on the lad. Start Dexter and tell him to give his all for an hour. He owes us. If once he is match fit with a run of games under his belt he isn't interested and doing it, then at least we will have tried and so be it.
We are playing Norwich. Blackstock hope I never see him again in a Millers shirt. Can't start with a unfit player whose had long enough to get fit. He's an agent surely he can't do both jobs, way out?
I will be mortified if DB starts ahead of JY. Against Oxford Yates achieved more in 5 minutes than Blackstock did in the whole first half. Every time Yates has been given an opportunity he has not disappointed and at some stage we have to get over the reluctance to play him because he is too young and inexperienced. We have to play our best 11 and I'm afraid that doesn't include DB. If Blackstock needs to get fit, he should do that at the training ground. If he needs match fitness, he should do that with the Reserves. We can't afford to put him in the side just because we paid a lot of money for him.