Can we ban threads on this weasel? Personally I could do without seeing his stupid name pop up or hearing about what he is doing.

I often wonder about this too. It seems we concede a lot of goals from long range as well. I remember a number of games where the excuse(for ant of a better word) as to why we lost/drew even though we were in control of the game was because the opposition scored a "worldie". It can't be because we are playing superstars every week. It must be down to a lack of closing down from us and the goalkeeper not expecting the shot. As for us not scoring any long rangers. Well the 2 players who try most if not all our long range efforts are Dack and Armstrong. Dack has scored a few and usually goes for placement over power. I would say Armstrong is by and large wasteful with long range efforts. Graham doesn't shoot from range. Reed decent enough at times, but again doesn't try it too often. Evans and Smallwood score around a goal a season each full stop. It probably highlights the lack of creativity across the squad

I don't know anything either apart from the fact he has only played League 1 football in England. He could still be a great signing, it's just adding him alone to the mix with Mulgrew, Lenihan and Rodwell doesn't fill me with the confidence that there will be a huge improvement defensively. I suppose we have some good young lads as well, but again I don't see them as certainties when it comes to fixing our defensive woes. As for Lenihan, it seems he picks up an injury every few months that keeps him out for a number of weeks. Could be unlucky or could be some underlying issues. Hard to know.

I would disagree with @roversfan99 on a lot of things, but I agree about the overreaction to the poll. It was just a question on a message board. I don't think it is disrespectful to anyone. Plus the answers weren't as binary as keep or sack. There was nuance there that I feel some on Twitter didn't get. Plus, ultimately, the vast majority think Mowbray should be manager. So is that not the important finding from the poll, as opposed to the poll itself? So should the tweets not say something like "96% of Rovers fans want Mowbray as manager even though they have lost 4 games in a row. The patient bunch"

But we have had major issues with Mulgrew, Lenihan and Rodwell as our center halves this season? Bauer would be a good addition, but do you think that will leave us with good enough center half options to get promoted?

Nice. In fairness he signed some good foreigners there in Bednar and Teixera and you won't get 3 better servants than Brunt, Ollsson and Morrison. Dorrans a cracking signing as well , also Malumbu. No wonder West brom fans love him. Some of those signings were key players for many, many seasons. Some of them types of signings here please Tony!

There is always one option and that's the long ball to Graham. It is definitely Lenihan and Mulgrews "go to" ball. I think some of you are a bit hard on the Chadster sometimes, but I think he is defending the indefensible by trying to say we aren't a long ball team. Not alone do the stats show we are, but if you watch us play it's pretty obvious that we are. A long ball to Graham with Dack feeding off the knock down/header on. How many of our goals come from that set up? Maybe not straight away, but a I would imagine if you go a few phases back from all of our goals, you will see that move. My God Wilder explained perfectly how they shut us down at Ewood by removing that channel! The issue stems from the 2 players playing in midfield who are generally Smallwood and Evans. Good at breaking it up, but lack the ability to pick a good forward ball all too often If we aren't getting joy with the long ball to Graham, it's a predictable working of the ball to the full back, who will then either play it to Armstrong or Reed if on the other side. Armstrong will try and kick chase past his man or Reed will cut back inside looking for a pass. It's all very, very predictable

100% agree. We could circumvent the 2-3 windows stuff by actually hiring people who know the European market. A DOF and a couple of scouts would do it. One good find would make the outlay worthwhile. Kind of a side note, but I would be interested to know what scouting went into the Brereton signing.

Contrasts with how Pep reacted to losing to Wigan last season, but I will let him off on that seeing as Cook is such a little troll

Never heard of him, but will get researching!

How? By looking at them in training. Also he should have known that our defense would struggle, it had it's moments in League 1. I don't know if we have til 2020 for this European network to develop and if it isn't ready, where will we source these 7 to 8 new players from next summer? We could easily fall back if the recruitment isn't good.

I'm actually not overly partial as we are shite at the moment, I probably just recognise the players more than someone who isn't from here. Some good players there. We could do with Brotherson and Duff now. Moran too.

Maybe Davenport can do that. It's an interesting question. I mean Dack plays 10, but isn't it really 2 upfront with Dack off Graham that we play? I just wonder is a formation change pretty much nailed on if we are to "evolve" our style or even tighten up at the back Straight 4-4-2 Raya Nyambe Lenihan Rodwell Bell Bennett Davenport Travis Armstrong Dack Graham 5-4-1 or 3-3-3-1 Raya Rodwell Lenihan Mulgrew Nyambe Bell Davenport Armstrong Dack Chapman Graham

I never said anything about having too many leaders, I said if anything Mulgrew doesn't lead enough. Sometimes you jump in with your premeditated points and fail to read what the posters actually says.

That's what he has said alright, but should he have known who would be good enough without trying them out? He has a lot of work to do now in the summer due to lack of addressing concern issues in summer and in January. I am all for giving him time, but I am concerned that a lack of pro-activity with regards who is good enough or not leaving too much to do this summer to put us in a position to compete for promotion next season. We need 1-2 center halves, 1 right back,1 left back, 1 winger and at least 1 striker. Of those players we need at least 3 of them to be good enough to come straight into the starting 11. Definitely 1 center half, 1 striker and 1 winger (to replace Reed) need to all be top players. If we had have signed even a good center half and striker last summer or in January, that would mean less to do next summer. If last summer was 3/10 with regards recruitment, then next summer needs to be 8 or even 9 out of 10. He has it all to do

Which may be why Lenihan was better playing with Rodwell as he was the clear and designated leader. Having Mulgrew there confuses it a bit as he is captain, but Lenihan is more likely to shout and organise

Also this won't be popular, but I find Mulgrew to be lazy at times. I think he backs out of headers on occasion too. I just wonder does he have it in him to lead us to the premier league. As things stand, I would say no. Great set piece delivery, I think that glosses over a lot. As did last season where he could get away with playing at around 80%

No, obviously it isn't black and white, where did I saw that it was? I have doubts currently as well. The reality is that he will be here until next season one way or another anyway. I'm happy enough with that and would echo your final paragraph.

Is it zonal marking or is it defenders leaving it for someone else? I would say the former. Also, I genuinely look at some of our defenders sometimes and think "is he afraid to header it as he doesn't want to hurt his head?" Lenihan puts his head in to be fair. A few of the others make me wonder though

Duffy and Hanley

One rule for one and one rule for another is a good way of phrasing it. Ya, between Nyambe and Brereton I think he has handled two young players badly. If he keeps playing Brereton on the wing he could go the entire season without scoring. As for Nyambe, at this stage with safety practically secured starting Bennett ahead of him makes absolutely no sense.

Acknowledge that some say it and that's fine. This thing of saying nobody is saying he should be sacked when people clearly are is odd. I'm not sure if you can say it's 96% support him as "reassess in the summer" is pretty open ended, and that is fine too!

I'm not saying they aren't entitled to their opinion or should be pilloried. It's just some come on and say he should be sacked, then others, mods included will be like "nobody is saying he should be sacked!"

Ya, but imagine how good he would be if he wan't wolfing down mayo and have pre-game fry ups!

I think it is safe to say that Usain Bolt was in better physical condition than Dack