Don't follow what you mean here. Dack has always played best behind Graham as a lone striker. I can't recall him ever playing particularly well behind a front two.

I really don't get where BB fits in in any formation. Number 10/ second striker I guess. But Dack and even Rothwell look miles ahead of him.

What I don't like about all those teams is Mulgrew starts in all of them! Surely Williams is ahead of him, plus we should sign one more CB. Also Johnson Travis will be the starting partnership in midfield. And I'll be gobsmacked if we don't start the season 4231. It suits all of our players, most importantly Dack. Move away from that and Dack becomes much less effective.

If he doesn't sign a goalkeeper and a centre back in July I'll happily borrow one of your pitchforks and get a lend of a nice big flaming torch Rev. But for now we do need to give it a few weeks to see who else comes through the door. And goes out of it.

I think Raya and Mowbray fell out, simple as that really. He dropped him last few games of the season after some pretty big errors, and then Raya wanted to go. He's a great shot stopper, but his kicking is a atrocious, he's weak on crosses and always has a mistake in him. Would have preferred him to stay, but it's no big blow to lose him I think. We should be able to find someone adequate. Who needs not to be sold under any circumstances (because it is highly unlikely we will find better replacements, and they are out best players) - Dack, Graham, Travis, Lenihan, Rothwell. Anyone else in the squad I think is not only replaceable but also improvable. I include Raya in that, there's a decent chance we will bring in someone better.

Where's your view of Adam being a go getter from? Was great for Blackpool but since then a bit part player who has never made that much of an impression. Only played 13 games last season in an average stoke side that finished below us. Can't really see how anyone can expect him to do well. He's got quality but he's had that for a long time and done little with it. At least Johnson and Downing played a lot of games last season and performed well by a lot of accounts.

Charlie Adam to me is very reminiscent of Murphy. I sincerely doubt he will be coming to the Championship keen to put a shift in.

I'm pretty sure Souness said a few things about Dunn. This at the end of his time at Rovers https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11676/2254743/souness-dunn-can-go Also macateer here : https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11676/2218469/souness-unhappy-with-mcateer-attitude Souness, a bit like Roy Keane and Mourinho, loves a bit of negative public feedback. Can't see the sense in it myself.

I'd quibble and say we definitely don't need any more centre mids, so no Reed replacement. Agree with you elsewhere though.

On balance we are at best standing still at the moment. Get 2 quality defenders and a striker and we will have reasons to be optimistic, but at the moment we are looking down the table, not up. Edit - that said Championship is such a mad league I don't really think anyone can have any decent expectation of what will happen until around October.

Both Nyambe and Bell I think can improve a lot. Have the raw materials. Really need a solid central defender though alongside Lenihan to give them the stability to grow. It's a decent midfield and attack but defence still looks poor. Need one top quality centre back and at least one of the full backs needs to be more solid and experienced.

I would be happy with Gallagher if we get two defenders. GK and a centre mid is a nice to have, I think we could do okay with Raya and the centre mids we have although I wouldn't say no to an upgrade obviously. But at least one centre back, at least one full back and and a legitimate alternative to Graham is an absolute requirement. If we don't manage that we've really messed up the window. Frustrating that the one person we have signed, Downing, seems a total luxury.

Is there any suggestion Downing can play centre mid though? It's a totally different skillset to out wide or attacking mid. I can't think of too many wide players who successfully changed to centre mids. Giggs, but obviously he was a different level. After that I'm struggling. Pedersen gave it a go for us with poor results.

Savage was also technically a very good player. Better than most centre mids we've had. Absolutely miles ahead of Smallwood and Evans for example.

Bentley will be absolutely gutted by that. 4 bins! Puts him in the shade.

I have to say back 3 seems to layer risk on for me. All you do is create more space down the sides. Mulgrew and Williams lack of turning speed and pace gets exposed. To some extent I can live with Lenihan and Williams as a CB pair in 442. Lenihan is decent, Williams played well to the end of of the season. But we need a competent RB and LB, and what do we do if one of the CBs get injured? Mulgrew coming back into the side will see us conceding heavily again. I am really hoping Wharton or Magloire can show something and be Travis level successes.

I don't really follow this, loads of our youth players have had a chance over the last 5-10 years. I'd say more than the average for a championship club. It's not really a stick you can beat the club with. Current side has 4 regular starters from the youth squad (Raya, Lenihan, Nyambe, Travis). Only youth player who got bounced by Rovers and went on to have a better career in recent years was O'Connell I think. Mahoney went to Bournemouth but it hasn't worked out. Fascinating web page here, though some data looks incomplete : https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/blackburn-rovers/jugendarbeit/verein/164

I have to agree that with Rothwell, Chapman, Armstrong the one area you wouldn't think we were desperate was out wide. If we're investing in experienced quality I would say CB, GK, CM, FB need it a lot more.

A club like Villa will want to splash big money on big names to show intent. I can't really see them going for Dack. Sheffield Utd or Norwich I could see as being potentially interested, or Bournemouth. But anyone looking at Dack would wonder if he is worth £15-£20M, and will he succeed in the Prem.

If we manage to sign 7 players, let alone 7 good ones, I will be amazed. I anticipate about 3/4 decent players is about where we'll end up, similar to previous windows.

I forgot him yes! He would go in ahead of Brereton - you're right.

For what it's worth if we didn't sign anyone I think we would line up something like this. Maybe Bennett ahead of Davenport. -------------------------Raya Nyambe----Lenihan----Williams----Bell -----------------Travis------Davenport ----Brereton---------Dack------------Rothwell ---------------------Graham Subs : Leut, Mulgrew, youth centre back, Evans, Bennett, Chapman, Nuttall I can't really see Mowbray moving away from 4231. If he was going to do it he would have done by now. On signings he seems to be looking for upgrades at GK, CB, CM, ST. He doesn't seem to be focusing at full back which is weird as we are absolutely terrible there.

Mulgrew in midfield would be terrible for me. Way too slow and lacks intensity. Plus while he can strike a dead ball very well he is not that great at passing. If Mowbray thought he was decent in midfield he would have played him there, instead he left him on the bench towards the end of the season. Tells you everything. Mulgrew is finished I think.

With Norwich going up and that Hanley has played few games this season (9 matches) suggests to me this could happen if we were interested. Likely to be on big wages though as Norwich will probably have matched what he got at Newcastle. Plus it would bring him a lot closer to home/

Its balls. There's no way we could afford his wages. He'll be on 50k a week.