Never stopped Mowbray when hes tried it with Buckley, Holtby, Dolan (although to be fair to Dolan he does offer incredible closing down)... I get it with Dack - he's a goal scorer, but everyone else it just is bizarre. Fully expecting Clarkson or the new lad from Leeds to be there on Saturday. 😞

We got really bullied at the back by them last year. However they were pretty direct so if Ayala and Lenihan are both fit we are well equipped to manage a direct approach. Where we will struggle is in the physical midfield battle. Only really Travis can mix it. But I think they'll probably bypass midfield so will be less of an issue at Boro than it was against WBA. Team for me.... I would start 352 personally. Kaminski Lenihan Ayala Carter Nyambe Buckley Travis Rothwell Pickering Gallagher Brereton Overall I can live with that XI except would much prefer a new signing to Gallagher and having JRC at RWB would be much more effective imo as he has the delivery which Nyambe lacks. Having him and Pickering would give us a good delivery from both flanks and decent creativity in the middle from Buckely and Rothwell. Also Gallagher looks much better in a two. Given the injuries and that we aren't going to get a striker by Saturday I guess I would persevere with Gallagher, and get Nyambe to hold the line in midfield and give Buckely licence to get down the right. All that said I am expecting Mowbray to stick with his bizarre false nine 433 thing. Kaminski Nyambe/Carter Lenihan Ayala Pickering Buckley Travis Rothwell Gallagher Clarkson Brereton Genuinely think there is not a manager in world football who would choose that front three with our squad. He really is an outlier in how he sets up a forward line. It feels like some mad experiment, but it's one he will always play if given the chance.

I'll eat my hat if we move Carter out. It would be absolutely crackers.

Very harsh on Lenihan I think. He has the odd shocker, but generally solid. Probably one of our three dependable performers in Kaminski, Travis and him. If we lost Lenihan to sale or injury would be a very big loss for us I think.

Given that Carter has performed well, Ayala has a chronic injury record and Lenihan also has a significant injury record it seems to me that Carter will get a lot of game time. On top of that switching to 352 seems to be a core tactic for us (and one that is working well, if only early days) and Carter is well suited to left sided in a three so I can see him getting games there. Can't see the sense in sending him out on loan? He should get 20 games easily. Even with the loans coming in.

Mowbray loves centre mids - I think we had ten last season (Travis, Holtby, Downing, Buckley, Tryball, Davenport, Rothwell, Smallwood, Bennett, Evans). And we played Dack there too..... Its not even a flexibility thing. I don't think any of them covered other postions. Think Downing covered left back once or twice and Rothwell a couple of times at left wing. But that's it.

I'm curious how you define worst football ever?

Love this phrase - is said every year I have followed Rovers with the exceptions of when Dalgleish and Hughes were in charge. Levelled with gusto against Hodgson, Hartford, Kidd, Souness, Ince, Allardyce, Kean, Appleton, Bowyer, Coyle, Lambert, Mowbray....

Lets have a look back at this two years from now.... I'm no great supporter of Mowbray but it can (and likely is) going to get a lot worse.

A lot of dissing of Mowbray going on.... But to be fair to him 1) he's got an absolutely terrible set of owners to work with and no transfer budget 2) He has got some good results at the start of the season 3) The team looks motivated and can't be faulted for effort. Those who think if we get anyone in they will be better are deluding themselves. Id guess with the current owners and situation we will struggle to find better. Not because Mowbray is great, but because of the abject state we're in. On top of that when you do get a good manager - like Forest did with Houghton - sometimes it just doesn't work out. A top name is not a guarantee of success. Sadly there's a very decent chance a year or two from now we will be looking fondly back at the days of Mowbray. The issue is not Mowbray, it's the owners. We aren't going anywhere until we get a proper structure in place at the club, and that needs new ownership.

I think Zlatan would have something to say about that....

Lets hope he likes playing false 9 with Gallagher whipping the crosses in from the wing! (Seriously Gallagher on the right wing for literally two years has to be the strangest long term strategy I have ever seen in football, Rovers or elsewhere. In all that time it has only looked effective in maybe four or five games. To be fair to Mowbray he has shown that it works with Brereton on the other side so fair play, but surely it's time to give up on Gallagher? Perhaps that is why we are signing wingers? But given we've played Gallagher wide right every game so far, and played Dolan and now Clarkson centrally I think this bizarre state of affairs will continue).

Only listening on the radio but sounds to me like we should go 352. Current formation is mental.

Agree we should switch around and start 352 for this one. Can go to 433 or 4231 if we need to change up later. Only issue for me is RWB. Nyambe lacks the delivery and may be injured, Pike is totally untested. Shame JRC is injured. We could play Travis or Buckley there and give Clarkson a start in midfield? Buckley has shown an ability to carry the ball forward and a tenacity in the tackle which suggests to me he could fill in at RWB quite well.

Dolan is very young with a lot of raw ingredients. He's got a lot of qualities which you just can't teach like the ability to beat a man, a robust mentality and raw pace. Things he's weak at like final ball, finding space and generating power in his strikes are coachable. I'd say he is someone who will keep improving as he gets more game time. He's fun to watch too as he's unpredictable, and you can't fault him for effort. Only 19 as well. Could be much improved by the end of the season.

Gallagher looked better when we went 352 towards the end. Could suit him more to play as part of a two more centrally rather than on his own either up top or wide right. Means he has more to aim at with flick ons etc. When we switch to him and Brereton as a pair in a 352 it suddenly make us quite a physical direct side which is a good change to have up our sleeve.

I thought Bell was okay, better than Douglas who was horrendous. Pickering looks better to me though, so we have upgraded. Our sudden proficiency at set plays is down to Pickering imo. He's got a good delivery, links up well, is defensively competent, has a good engine and seems to be one of those players who will rarely get injured. No world beater but a very solid signing.

Yeah, but it feels to me like he will start scoring regularly soon. On the cusp. If you get in the right places they come through eventually.

I think Chapman came on at wing back in a 352, so a reasonably mental move, but it worked. We've got to be fair to Mowbray, his tactics are still odd but they are doing the business atm. So credit where its due. For what it's worth I really like the switch to 352 mid game. Both Millwall and Forest have really struggled with it when we changed. I feel it gives us a totally new option.

Love how football is so weird. I don't think a single fan would have predicted a strong start to the season given the players we lost and the lack of players brought in. But here we are.... 7 points from 9.... Anyway - I really feel Buckley is under rated. He's our best passer, got good bite in the tackle (made a couple of really good ones today), can carry the ball forward and beat players, picks up good positions. Should have scored one today but he gets in the right spaces. Him, Trav and Rothwell is such an enjoyable midfield. Carter looks good. And while Armstrong is an exceptional striker and a big loss, it's obvious how much better the forward line is at pressing without him. Some really outstanding pressing today from all the front three which Forest couldn't cope with. Really looking forward to West Brom.

Kaminski Nyambe. Lenihan. Ayala. Pickering Buckley Travis. Rothwell Butterworth. Gallagher. Brereton Subs :. Pears, Carter, Clarkson, Davenport, Garrett, Dolan, McBride If it's not working Carter can come on and we switch to a 343. It's not a bad first XI, but we are so thin at full back, centreback, the whole forward line. We're doing okay at the moment, but a few injuries or a loss of form and we are in real trouble. 9 games from now till October. If we lose to injury any of Kaminski, Lenihan, Ayala, Nyambe, Pickering, Travis, Rothwell, Buckley, Brereton, Gallagher it will be very tough to manage.

Clarkson makes sense. That he supports Rovers gives more chance of a an extended stay too. Maybe two seasons loan.q Even a transfer if it's not working out at Liverpool. With Rothwell, Travis, Buckley, Johnson, Garett, Davenport, Johnson that's midfield sorted. Key is another CB for me, and goals up top.

How did you watch the game back? I would like to do so!

I couldn't watch the match (French 4G on the TGV train down to Marseille couldn't deliver), so take what I say with a pinch of salt. But I watched pretty much every game last season and one thing we very rarely did was go to a back three. Even though we had real problems against teams with a back three themselves we just huffed and puffed and usually ended up getting well beat by them. That we do now have the option of changing our back line to matchup can only be a good thing. As an aside - it looks like the capability to watch the full game back does not feature on whatever it is that has replaced ifollow which is a real shame. I'm moving up to Manchester from London in October so will be able to make quite a few games. But basically with Ifollow you could watch every game you missed in its entirety which was great, but now it seems if you miss the game you get 3 mins of highlights. Very crap.

I'm in France for holidays and thought I would be able to watch the game on a over sees match ticket. Cant see that option though, only get the audio options listed. Any overseas rovers had any luck?