An upgrade on Walton won't take much though, he's dreadful. We sold Raya and can't afford to replace him. That's the cut & thrust of it. That is called weakening your side.. A good keeper is worth their weight in gold..

Evans, Smallwood & possibly Bennett need to be moved on if we're serious about promotion. You could then bring in 1 good centre mid, someone like Reed for instance..

So in 1 season we've gone from having arguably the most talented young keeper outside the top flight to a 32 year old on loan from Ipswich to Millwall. Fuck my life. I wonder what Brentfords asking price is for Raya now? I guarantee it would be significantly more than we sold him for... I want an upgrade on Raya in this window. Not happening though is it

How did Chapman play?

Walton Nyambe, Lenihan, Tosin, Bell Johnson, Travis Armstrong, Holtby, Rothwell Gallagher That would be my side, on the fence with Bell, think we may miss Downings set pieces but thought he, along with a few others looked jaded yesterday. Surely Dacks injury opens the door for another attacking player from the u23's to step up- Chapman would be my man- get him coming off the bench for Armstrong, or even Holtby. You could move Rothwell central and Chapman could fill in either side. Come on Tony, give the lad an opportunity!

You clearly aren't.. Acl or rather the anterior cruciate ligament is at the front. The 'anterior' is a bit of a give away..

Exactly my thinking.. Lenihan is really injury prone. Don't want Williams there. However I'd be more than happy with him at let back..

Hahaha, I'm a big fan! I can see him going on to be a bit of Madzukic type or a fast Harry Kane I think he'll be worth a few bob by the end of the season.

I really enjoyed watching Dickov, very underated player.. I do think GK and Centre half is a priority though. Walton might have had a few reasonable games, but I still think he's a massive downgrade on Raya. Can we not just bring Raya back and then sign that big lump Pontus Janson too? Be right with them two then I think..

GK:Raya DR: Nyambe DL: Olsson DC: Tosin DC: Michael Keane MF: Cairney MF: Nzonzi MF: Dack MF: Reed ST: Rochina ST: Graham/Gestede I reckon that would be a team that could compete in the Premiership.

Keeper and a commanding centre half is 100% necessary!! If there's any cash left after that I'd try and bring in a bit of firepower upfront- maybe a small nippy littl nuisance like Dickov to play off Gallagher- is there anyone knocking around in that mould these days? Keeper: Gomes from Watford Centre Half: Big commanding unit Striker: Nuisance striker that can score (Dickov) Any good league 1 or Premiership players knocking around that we could snaffle?

Gallaghers got enormous potential, he's a big lad, quick, decent feet, good first touch can score with his head and feet- I think he'll go from strength to strength and eventually land in the Premiership- unlike someone like Rhodes, SG has all the attributes to go right to the top, you don't get many lads of his size with pace he has. To contrast, Brereton, seems slow, poor infront of goal, poor first touch and worst of all lacks any work ethic- his body lanuage on the pitch is appalling- they're like chalk and cheese. I agree that Samuel and/or Chapman should be given an opportunity on the bench for the Rovers.

Raya IS class, he'll only get better as well. Brentford fans can't believe they sold their number 1 (forgot his name) to Bristol City and signed Raya whilst making a profit. He's getting rave reviews, their fans love him. As someone pointed out we've signed Walton, a player viewed by Brighton as inferior to Steele who played a pivotal role in our relegation- I think that speaks volumes. What really grates on me is the amount of time and resources that have gone into developing Raya only for him to whimsically sold by Mowbray. This summer, with letting Raya and Mulgrew leave and inferior replacements we're significantly weaker than last season. I know I've gone on about Raya a lot, but I think selling him for what we did was a howler and replacing him with Walton is an even bigger howler- one that, with the lack of centre-halves could quite realistically see us relegated- well played TM.

Christ, just seen the goals... What on earth is Walton doing for their first- he's up there with Steele. Terrible keeper. Bennett.. What on earth is he doing pulling him back in the area like that? Absolutely no need, the ball was moving into an area where just getting himself between the player and Waltons goal would have sufficed- stupid petulant stuff. I don't think we're a million miles away from being a side which could be competing for the play-offs.. But until we've addressed the keeper and defensive issues created by TM we're going to be cannon fodder.. It's really bad management, he highlighted prior to the end of the season our need for defenders, then did nothing about it- well two loans, but still.. I feel TM has totally lost his way and doesn't know his best 11 anymore due to the constant and pointless rotation- always worrying about the opposition, always on the back foot- fed up of it now.

Yeh- exactly! Then letting Mulgrew leave without bringing in another centre half was absolutely ludicrous.

At the end of last season, Mowbray highlighted our defensive frailties.. Sold Raya, downgraded to Walton- a massive downgrade at that. Read the reviews on the Brentford forums- "Best signing in recent years". I'm not surprised Raya pushed to leave after the grief Mowbray gave him and dropping him at the end of last season to boot... Cunningham- excellent signing but now injured- not TM fault Tosin- Hard to judge, looks okay- is he the leader we need at the back? Letting Mulgrew leave was a monumental mistake- again, getting good reviews at his new club... Lenihan- injury-prone as anything, we had exactly the same issues last season and no replacement... I was really excited to crack on this season, but that excitement dissipated when Raya left for next to nothing- go on, tell me a better keeper his age for that price- absolutely shocking management letting him leave for that. We're left with a bloody awful defence marshalled by an ever worse keeper- We've gone back to the days of Steele who single-handedly relegated us, before doing the same to Sunderland... The squad is so unbalanced it's untrue- how many midfielders? Then he persists in playing tosh- leaving the likes of Rothwell to rot on the bench but for the odd cameo whilst 'Benno' is facilitated all over the pitch at the expense of anyone- nothing against Bennett, solid enough player, I just don't understand how he merits a start every game other than his work-rate. Then we have the 10-13 million spent on Gallagher and Brereton- Christ, that's some money for a clun in our predicament, Gally I feel may pay off- Brereton is yet to show me anything that even moderately justifies such a price tag... On the other hand, TM got us back up at the first attempt of asking- no mean feat that, look at Sunderland! He's also signed some cracking players: Dack and Rothwell spring to mind, whilst giving young talent such as Nyambe, Travis, Buckley, Costello opportunities. I do feel TM has the best intentions of the club at heart. In my mind at least he's steady the ship and re-built a much improved, albeit imbalanced squad to the one that was relegated.. I'd loathe seeing Tony leave the club. I think he's exactly what we need, but perhaps as a director of football. I really hope he turns our season around, but I find that difficult to see given how he can't see or correct some glaring errors. I don't see us going down- not at all, mid-table again, which perhaps is about right for us? Maybe we're all expecting too much- but then I look at teams like Charlton, Cardiff etc punching above their weight and it makes me wonder why we can't be doing that.. on the balance of things, do I want him to go? If we can bring in a Chris Hughton, Wagner or Hughes, I'd gamble. All this talk of Damien Johnson though fills me with absolute dread!

Where was Rothwell?

Could you imagine, Holtby, Dack, Rothwell & Chapman going forwards.. Let Johnson or Travis do the dirty work.. Christ!

I think Platt will go on to become a good centre half. I really like the look of him.

Enjoyed that today, everyone worked their socks off- Dack doesn't stop running, cracking player. A-side from the tremendous work-rate, bloody hell, did we get stuck in! Snapping into challenges left, right and centre. Johnson absolutely nailed one of their players in the first half- a nasty tackle, we've been on the receiving end too many times, so it's great to us giving it back. Speaking of Johnson, what a beast he is, bullies the opposition and brilliant in the air. For me though MOM would have to be Cunningham. What a difference having him in the side makes. Gets up and down, looks very tidy and again, isn't afraid of throwing himself into a tackle. I think we've lacked aggression in recent years and as such had a soft underbelly that, even in league one, was exposed at times. I sound like a right thug, I'm not, I like attractive attacking football, but unless you're absolutely unreal you have to able to mix it up- and boy, there's nothing like a few blood n' thunder tackles to get the crowd going- Travis, what a lad! When you throw in the likes of Dack, Rothwell, Arma, Gallagher it's easy to get a bit carried away. A bit puzzled why Armstrong played down the middle and we kept Gallagher out wide- but hey-ho, we got a solid win- I'd have to say Mowbray got it right today. Boro, on the other hand, look to have taken a big step backwards. Assombolonga did absolutely nothing, they looked like a side devoid of ideas and passion. I think they'll struggle this season based off that offering.

That's a great little saying that Neal, "Shit or get off the pot", I'll be using that one in the future. Harrison Reed in (3 million with add-ons) Smallwood (500k), Evans (1.5m), Nutall (250k), Samuel (250k), Gladwin out (£0). Plus their wages off the books, surely we could stretch ourselves to bring Reed back. We'd also reduce our bloated squad and free-up space for Buckley, JRC etc to make an impact this season. Win-Win, surely?

I doubt you could- Raya's stats speak volumes, it's there in black and white, he was one of the best keepers in the Championship last season. The majority of Waltons saves are right bloody at him.. I fail to see how this lad's going to be an upgrade on a player we'd spent considerable time developing through our own academy..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9UdpD3-41o How can anyone think he's an upgrade on Raya? Not only have we let an incredibly talented keeper leave for a pittance, but we've also downgraded to a lad we don't even own- awesome!

I don't believe Mowbray, is 'scared' of Mulgrew, not for a second. Mulgrew had an extended stint on the bench towards the end of last season.. Anyway, I don't think Mulgrew is a bad player. But he does need a proper defender next to him- same with Lenihan, it's arguable that neither of them are what you'd consider a specialist centre half, which is why when they play together they can look a bit shaky. Bring in a big lump- Samba would do the trick and I'm sure he'd be well recieved by the fans. I know he's getting on but I'm sure he could still organise a defence and impose himself.