Mowbray after leaving Celtic: Celtic finished Wednesday's defeat with six strikers on the field. Their most creative player, Aiden McGeady, appeared to be deployed at left-back. Digging at Rangers “Maybe it is a league for playing defensive football and negative football and yet have the quality up front to counterattack, particularly away from home.” Given that Rangers have scored more, conceded fewer and have a goal difference better than twice as good as Celtic’s, that utterance indicated that Mowbray was not only about to part from his employers, but had already detached himself from reality. Mowbray after leaving Coventry: "I see some shoots of hope. The players work extremely hard, but it's a man's game, they're babies in a man's league. "I probably let them down by not getting in the big 6ft 4in centre-half we were after, who could have been a man and help us keep clean sheets. "We knew what the budget was but we didn't get our targets. You can't build a club off loans. They have to invest in footballers they can keep and build on. "It's important that this group of players get support. I have not seen a team better than us this season but, if you can't put them in and you can't keep them out, you're going to struggle. I haven’t looked at any of the comments after leaving other clubs, in which (to his credit) he had success/mixed success (Hibs, WBA, Boro) but I’m sure there will be similar themes, particularly at WBA where defensive frailties became his undoing, albeit in the Premier League. Just focusing on Celtic and Coventry as it feels as if we are suffering from similar problems. I really like Mowbray and really want him to learn from the past and the clear glaring issues in front of him. Unfortunately, if history is anything to go by, the few negative Mowbray traits will again overpower the many positive traits, stopping him from achieving things that would be very possible with a few seemingly simple tweaks to his approach and mind-set.

League One defence, League One results. History repeats.

JRC doesn't look like a right back at all, granted i've only seen him play it once and it's newish to him. In the friendly at Bury he was great going forward but got rinsed by their winger quite a few times, didn't have the knack to read things defensively at all and pulled the winger down twice to stop him, both would've been cards in league football. His talents come further up the pitch, good prospect as an attacking mid/winger (better future than Chapman imo).

Happy Football Eve! Always wary of playing newly promoted sides on the first day due to momentum and the weird ways of this game. That said, on paper, Charlton haven't kicked on massively. They've made a few additions at the back and have some decent players such as Taylor, Williams and Forster Caskey, but they've lost some of their better players in Aribo/Bauer and it sounds like they're very short on numbers particularly in midfield/attack. If we're serious about challenging the top 6 this season, it goes without saying we need to start with a win, we've undoubtedly got the better squad in this one so no excuses. A draw or loss would be a massive blow to any confidence, particularly noting some of the fixtures we've got over the next month. I would go: Walton Nyambe Lenihan Adarabioyo Bell Travis Johnson Arma Dack Rothwell Graham Decent options on the bench in Gallagher, Brereton, Downing, Buckley etc. On that note it's good to see some quality in the squad, we've quite a few who won't start and feel like they should be starting long term. I do think Mowbray will play Bennett/Mulgrew over Nyambe/Adarabioyo. If he does hopefully the carrot is dangled infront of those two to take their chance in the 11 and keep it sooner rather than later, with the former two being decent enough options for rotation/cover. With Nyambe returing late from AFCON & Tosin only having spent a few days with us, it's understandable if they need to be phased in. I really hope we don't bother with a big striker on the wing. Arma and Rothwell on form can really hurt any team in the league with their pace and ability. Arma has had a great pre season and seems to be adapting to the wider role well thanks to his attributes and a year or so's experience, and Rothwell finished last season very strongly and is arguably one of our best technical players, only second to Dack. We started games slowly at Ewood last season, would be nice if we directly tried to address this by being a bit braver from the first minute. Start well and score first and I'd like to think this is the sort of game we could control, going on to score one or two more second half. COYB.

I'll be happy enough to see Tosin get over the line. Whilst he doesn't tick every single box (he isn't an experienced brute leader) he adds height and mobility that could complement Lenihan well. Mixed reviews from WBA, but he was being compared next to two Premier League quality centre backs in Dawson and Hegazi, and now has a season in the championship under his belt. Fingers crossed. A solid championship centre back ticking all the boxes was desirable but seeing Webster from Bristol City going for over £20m shows how tough it would be. At the start of the window most of us wanted us to go for somebody like Jake Cooper, expecting him to be available for £5m tops but with the current state of play Millwall would probably only start listening from £10m and beyond. There is the odd exception and the odd bargain to be found, but that doesn't detract from how tough the market has been. If we go on to add another centre back, and add a left back (e.g Bormuth/Clark as mentioned on here) whilst not losing any of our best 18, I'd be pleased with the window. I think we've improved our firepower, i'm not quite sure about the defence yet, but Johnson as a screen in midfield with Tosin plus one or two more defenders should be seen as an improvement. We threw away a silly amount of wins and draws last season due to stupid individual errors and late team collapses, leaving us 15 points off a play off spot. Time will tell if the new additions will make us at least 4 wins and 2 draws better, but there's definitely room for optimism despite the window not being a perfect one.

Defensive situation is worrying indeed. The man who spent the last few months of the season saying we are going to bring men in to defend and improve our weakest area, and the man who walked out of his last job (Coventry) blaming himself for not bringing in a big nasty centre back (his words), has now back tracked by saying he has faith in the current backline. What happened there? Will history repeat? I can't understand his reasoning in the slightest. To only bring a very young centre back in on loan is very dangerous, a huge risk considering we should've and could've brought in well proven bodies (we've spent millions on lower priority areas). Particularly infuriating as a better defence would give the current squad it's first legitimate chance of getting back to the Prem in a good few years. Not addressing this could well leave us looking over our shoulder rather than forwards. Here's hoping Tosin turns out to be brilliant and we're surprised with a defensive addition later in the window, but that seems more unlikely than likely.

Not a fan of this...

This is the biggest fear for the summer. We all recognise the glaring weakness in our side and its painful when the feeling is it's been knocked down the list of priorities. Towards the end of the season Mowbray spoke as if he was due to go out and spend on the defence. Come the end of June and article appeared in the LT with Mowbray playing down the need for defenders due to finishing the season strongly, being over-emotional about the situation at the time and needing to strengthen across the board. Extra worrying given the fact he resigned at Coventry due to losing 10 on the bounce, blaming himself for not signing a big nasty centre back. Not signing one after the league one season has just bitten us. I'd like Gallagher but we've other areas where money would be better spent if it is a case of one or the other. A better keeper and defender with a cheaper striker would improve us over a 46 game season much more than a cheaper keeper and defender with more money spent on a striker, looking at the current squad we have imo. Of course we'll ultimately only know the score when the window closes. We might even end up spending decent fees on a keeper, centre back and a striker in which case this all counts for nothing. But with previous history and evidence so far it feels like we're trying to add the icing before the eggs.

Little disappointed to lose Raya but it makes sense if we’re looking to add more of a commanding keeper. He’s a good shot stopper with plenty of potential but has some clear flaws that might be impossible to iron out. If we want to have a proper crack at promotion maybe it’s worth swapping him for something tried and tested, rather than crossing our fingers for development whilst coping with his lack of presence. Besides, one of the realities of being a Rovers fan is the need to sell one or two academy players/players we signed when young every now and then to balance things and to allow ourselves to bring in in other areas. Out of the current lot it had to realistically be Raya, Lenihan or Dack. Much rather keep the latter two.

Downing is sensible short term. Could bring composure and experience in the final third, Graham was often the only one who could keep the ball up there which put us under a lot of pressure last year. Think he's got a decent delivery so might make the decision not to play Mulgrew easier.

Think it's the other way round. Mowbray made a comment hoping to add a few multi million pound signings at the start of the summer. Since the return from India talk is up to 5 signings, a few frees and loans. Certainly don't expect us to show our hand at all, that would be foolish. Nobody expected or even wanted us to come out and talk about big budgets. But to come out with the lines we have done this week has indicated that we're at the lower end, not the higher end of proposed budgets. Just indications, though.

I’ve avoided looking at Rovers news for the last few weeks due to the sad inevitability of nothing happening. And nothing has happened. The conversation and articles are practically identical to what they were at the start of summer which is a little drab and boring, but in fairness we’re better off keeping our cards close to our chest, not sure we have a decent hand at all though. Personally, I’m a bit annoyed at the club as they fed us promise through a big money signing last summer, followed by lots of talk about kicking on, talk of heavily scouting Europe etc. Sadly, the Indian holiday party came back with little enthusiasm and without the relatively healthy pot of cash that was regularly insinuated, and the same people that fed that hope seem to be trying to dampen it as of now. I might be jumping the gun with that, but in all probability, that’s where we’re at. If we’re continuing along a sensible, build bit by bit approach, that’s absolutely fine, just please don’t make out as if we’re doing more as it only causes disappointment. As a saving grace, it seems like the majority of teams in our league are in a similar position, shown by the lack of activity so far. If we bring in 2 or 3 frees/loans that add genuine competition with the experienced mentality/qualities currently lacking, followed by a couple of cash signings on a defender and striker, we have every chance of doing better than we did last season, providing we aren’t forced in to a sale with Lenihan or Dack. On top of that, one or two of the signings who played no role last season (Davenport, Chapman) or very little of a role last season (Brereton, Rothwell) have every chance of making an impact on the first 11. Based on past activity, and like most others, I’m concerned about us not addressing the defence in the way we need to. Everybody on here knows we need a good, commanding centre back before anything else, if not we won’t improve make no mistake. If we cop out and go cheap it’ll be a long season. Also don’t think we’re strong enough at full back (think Nyambe has big potential, not keen on Bell but not writing him off) and it looks like we’re probably not going to add in that position. That’s a major gamble and we might have to hope and pray that they improve over pre-season and any centre back coming in has a major organisational presence to help them along throughout the season. There’s a number of weeks left so let’s wait and see what happens. Movement across the league will start soon, hopefully we pull something off as it does. Nothing is guaranteed, by the end of the window we might be happy, might be sad, only thing certain is us sad bar stewards will be sat refreshing tinterweb on the regular! Fingers crossed.

Good shout. Proper winger, low risk financially. Potential to improve the starting 11 but would improve options from the bench at the very least.

To stay on topic, my thoughts on some of the links i've seen this week. Fielding - Meh. If it's a signing to push Raya a bit more, fine, as he has plenty of Championship experience and would provide a genuine threat to him. If (and I don't think we are) we're looking for a new number 1 we need to be recruiting somebody better. Bauer - A big no nonsense centre back who I think would complement Lenihan & would definitely go a long way towards addressing the glaring frailties from last season. He's free and I'm sure he'd improve our back 4 if he walked through the door tomorrow, on that logic if the wages are reasonable I'd be happy with him. That said, budget dependant and if we're only going to bring one centre back in, I'd like to see us at least attempt to go and bring in a big lad who has proven he can do it at this level and possibly beyond; somebody of the Jake Cooper mould. Maher - Looks class. Would be over the moon if we signed him but looks like we'll miss out to a team who'll be playing in the Europa League; can't do much about that. Downing - Wouldn't be looking at him as starting 11. Could be useful as a composed option/Conway replacement when required to complement the other young gung-ho lads we have. Also played behind the striker in recent times for Boro so could be an option to play second fiddle to Dack for a year, on top of being wing cover. If wages are similar, as a one year option, I'd rather bring him in over another Kasey Palmer loan type. Gallagher - Not the out and out goalscorer we'd love but he's a decent player and has good physical attributes. Much more likely to be Graham's replacement than anybody else we have, and has the experience/is of the age to make an impact on the first team straight away. If we can't find better value/better abroad, I'm all for it.

Yep. Their record transfer fee is 2.5m

I think that role fits a 34/35 year old Danny Graham perfectly. A good finisher with the know-how of how to win games, whether that be getting in the positions to score, bringing others in to play or killing time/keeping the ball. IF we sign/loan a good striker to play as our number 9 next season, with Graham being that man to play say 20 mins each week with the odd start, I think we'll be a much better outfit. Not our absolute priority, and something that has become a bit of a headache due to the Brereton signing, but it's something we should be considering if we want to get to the next level.

Utterly insane. The knockout stages have been incredible, can’t remember two semi finals being close to this weeks. Brilliant for English football too, the Europa League final could also be all English.

Looking forward to watching Ajax again tonight. They deserve the final. For such a young side to beat Juventus, Real Madrid and Spurs away from home in the knockout stages is commendable, all done whilst sticking to their attractive/inventive game plan and showing zero fear. If anybody has time to kill, I'd recommend finding some extended highlights from the above three games, their attacking moves at times have been some of the best I've ever seen. No secret, but De Ligt (leaving in summer) and De Jong (signing for Barca) will surely be spoken about as the best centre back/central midfielder in the world respectively soon. (I've probably jinxed them haven't I..)

Courteeners - Lose Control

Frank Fielding released by Bristol City....

Thought Davenport looked very tidy. He’s probably the only midfielder at the club with actual technical ability. Echo the previous comments - he looks the type of midfielder who will drop back a few yards to show for the ball and retain it with short neat passing, equally as comfortable pinging a 50 yard ball to the winger/striker. These types can be invaluable. Look at Norwood for Sheff U this season. The team got forward as they knew he’d always pick somebody out & he’s always available as an option to give it to to retain the ball and reset the play when they’re under pressure. He’s one of their key cogs, without him I don’t think their system would’ve worked anywhere near as well as it did. Davenport wasn’t just a pretty ball player though, thought he had a bit of midfield terrier in him, pressed well and wasn’t scared of getting stuck in. Hard to tell after seeing him just once, he could end up having the same impact as Whittingham. Hopefully that’s not the case. Can we pretend he’s a new signing to make the next month or so less painful?

Mowbray said the Hart rumour is a false one. Would like to pick up an experienced keeper capable of making his presence felt on balls in to the box. Somebody of the Scott Carson/John Ruddy mould.

Can’t argue with that, prices aren’t bad at all. After focusing on younger kids the last few years, it’s good to see we’ve now also targeted the 18-25 market, good to see some long-term thinking strategy developing around the club. Think this puts us half-way to shifting some more tickets next season. As has been said, the real difference maker will be summer transfer business. Get a couple of exciting things done early on and we’ll be ahead of target with a real buzz around the club. Echo the call for a singing section - that’s a trick missed in terms of a much needed improvement to the atmosphere which is a big draw to attending Ewood in itself, maybe we’ll see something introduced next year.

Yeah me too. Defenders defend and attackers attack first and foremost, anything on top of that (when they're actually good at the initial role) is a bonus worth having though. Suppose it would add the aspect of being more dangerous in the box from set pieces, something we're okay-ish but not great at. No idea on the stats but Millwall themselves seem to score a good percentage of goals from corners, and on the flip side Sheff U seem to score a lot from corners. They've stayed in the league and got promotion from the league by 4 or 5 points respectively, so could be worth signing a player who might give you that bit extra compared to a similar player who plays the same position.

Interesting to hear Mowbray acknowledged Cooper as a possibility. Not only does he fit the bill for being the tall commanding centre back we need, he's been involved in 12 goals (6 goals, 6 assists) in this seasons Championship. None of them free kicks or penalties, just seems to be a monster in the box. We concede more goals with Mulgrew in the side, however the one down side to leaving him out of the side is goals scored. Cooper would go a long way towards resolving both of those aspects in one signing, on paper it seems like he'd certainly be worth the money, if doable.