If we're sticking with 433 Chapman is going to get a fair amount of game time I think. Big winners from that formation are the wingers. There's two wide roles to fill each game and Chapman has already got on the pitch several times. Needs to show he's worth it. If he makes an impact he will be picked again. I don't think there is really much to it beyond that. The whole "Mowbray has his favourites" rubbish is wearing more than a little thin. Where are Smallwood, Bennett, Evans etc. It's embarrassing to harp on about something that is not happening.

We have to win this game. Team for me : Kaminski Nyambe. Lenihan. Ayala. Bell JRC. Holtby. Evans. Rothwell. Gallagher. Armstrong. I am assuming Gally is fit, Johnson still injured. Don't feel good about the midfield without Travis in it.

Agreed. It's a real millstone. Not only because he doesn't offer anything as a striker, he actually drifts wide and takes up space that a proper wider player wants and is much less effective. We need to move on. Nuttall had way more of an impact than Brereton has and the Nutt is currently plying his trade in League One.

I would say the first three competitive games have told us the following Positives We have an exciting talented set of young players who can pass and retain the ball superbly. Holtby's new role looks perfect for him. Almost a bit Tugay-esque. Dolan has been revalation. The pressing 433 formation looks a very good fit for us, though I do worry losing Travis could make it much less effective. Kaminsky and the defence can play the ball out of the back very well Concerns We have a real weakness down both full back positions as they push up so high in the 433. As the season wears on and other teams figure that out it could become a serious issue. If Newcastle had pinged the ball in behind the full back more we could have really struggled. Kaminski has not looked convincing in terms of his shot stopping. We dominate the ball and get into good attacking positions but struggle to create significant chances. Should anything happen to Armstrong we are in big trouble. Next steps Get a left back who has good positioning, stamina and pace to recover as he will need it(!) Figure out how we can finish more chances. Really we need to sign some better strikers. But if we can't do that then its case of working with what we have. My key point is that whoever plays center forward (Armstrong, Brereton, Gallagher, Dack when he is back) has to spend the majority of his time in the box or on the shoulder of the opposing centreback. The issue is all of those players with maybe the exception of Gallagher want to play deep and wide away from the box. And Gallagher, maybe against his will, has had a whole season playing on the wing so is hardly practiced at proper CF play. This has to be resolved. The only way forward for me is give Gallagher a run of games at CF once he is fit, and try and get the sort of form out of him that we saw when he was on loan here. Armstrong can go left, Dolan right, and Brereton can warm the bench. If we can get a good value loan get cover for Travis. However given the huge number of centre mids at the clubs really we should be able to survive if this is not possible.

Thinking about it with Trav out JRC could pick up his role on the right. Got a good engine, but he would need to put in his foot a bit more. JRC has been a bit of an enigma to me. People rate him but he seems a pretty straightforward box to box player in the mould of Emerton or Bennett, lacking the same sort of technical ability of Dolan, Buckley, even Travis who is technically excellent. Despite being in advanced positions JRC has created relatively little? Unlike say Dolan who has in a short period created a lot. But maybe JRC will show more of what people rate over time.

There's no way they'll all stay fit. Davenport will get a chance.

I thought Rothwell was a lot better today. More considered use of the ball, and good driving runs. Rothwells already a useful player and has a lot of potential to improve. Brereton it is hard to see what potential he has.

My guess is Davenport will get a go.

I would say Travis natural position is where he played today. He's a box to box player, not a sitter. Not really sure where you are coming from?

Devastating this. He's such a big part of our team.

?? He's first name on the team sheet every week for Mowbray. How is he marginalised?

He played centrally today for 70 mins till Armstrong came on. Thing with Brereton is you can tell him to play centrally in the box but he will drift of his own accord to the wing.

I am okay with him being 3rd choice.

Thought we played really well today everywhere except in the box. Technique and passing was top drawer. Dolan, Holtby, Travis, Rothwell all a joy to watch. Buckley made a nice cameo. We really really suffered though in the striking department. Brereton had a few decent runs out wide but he's supposed to be the centreforward. It was laughable. We had no one in the box, and couldn't create a real threat. I really think we should drop Brereton and look for better options. He just doesn't give us anything. When Gallaghers back we need to give him a try centrally.

That side would be a bit like Kean's famous forfeit. We need to get our side and system settled. Resting one or two would be okay, but should try and keep largely the same team if possible. Kaminski Nyambe. Lenihan. Williams. Bell Travis. Davenport. Evans. JRC. Armstrong. Brereton.

I have to say it's hard how we would meet his demands. Maybe because he's on a free we will throw him a big signing on fee but keep the wages in our structure. Could work? I think that's how we swung Holtby.

I agree I think that's where having a flexible approach could help. If a team sits in going 4231 or 4411 could help using whoever is at the 10 role to unlock. But then I suppose if they sit back we can still press them hard in 433 and get them to make mistakes and turn over the ball. I know they're a trillion times better than us, but Liverpool hardly struggled to break teams down in a 433, they were just relentless. I guess we will just see how it works. Probably other teams will work out best thing against us, no matter the vaguries of the formation, is to just hoof it as we are so weak under a high ball or running back towards our goal.

I am surprised by Davenport too. I think he's decent. Johnson and Evans have qualities but are not going to last all season. I would imagine that Travis, Johnson, Evans, Davenport will get rotated in the flanking two CM "water carrier" roles, while Holtby and Buckley will share the central playmaker CM role. If we are playing high pressing those flanking roles are going to be really really intense as they are asked to cover a lot of ground. If you run out of legs there to whole system falls apart. I can see a fair bit of rotation as we play Saturday/Tuesday a lot.

I think to be honest you are dammed if you do or dammed if you don't at the moment. He's trying something new, it looked pretty good against Bournemouth, let's see how it goes next few games. Prefer that to just hiding away with a defensive game.

Don't think Tony, or any manger, would want Dack that far away from goal.

Yes I was thinking that last night. Basically he would have to play as a false 9 I think. On the balance I do think we are better pursuing a system which work for half a dozen of our attacking players rather than just one. That said maybe we could have a fluid system that switches to 4231 when needed with the same personel? 433 Kaminski Nyambe. Lenihan. Williams. Bell Travis. Holtby. Johnson. JRC. Dack. Armstrong. 4231 Kaminski Nyambe. Lenihan. Williams. Bell Travis. Johnson. JRC. Dack. Holtby Armstrong

Oh enormously so. To be fair to Brereton though last three or four games have been his best. Starting to look like a reasonable asset, mainly because he can now quite regularly beat his full back. Has bulked up a lot.

Based on what I've seen he's seems a.nailed on future star. Last time I saw a player come through with that sort of quality was Hoilett. I'm so confused why Preston let him go. Mental. He's the ideal last 20/30 minute player. Will get a lot of game time for us. Should have scored on Saturday, but that apart his all-round game was excellent.

I know hope springs eternal but having watched the Bournemouth game I have to say I like the new system which is quite a radical departure from where we were for most of last season, we've actually got quite a lot of good attacking players, so am interested to see if Tony and the team have turned a corner. Desperately needs some quality defenders though or it's all for naught.

Couldnt watch the game yesterday, but watched the whole match back this evening. All in all very unlucky to not get a point, draw would have been fair. Also hard to really say any of the goals were major defensive errors, more that the Bournemouth players made some incisive moves and finished well. Johnson, Evans and Dolan all had chances where if they had shown similar cool finishing we would have scored. Also it was really hard to see if Holtbys goal was offside. Looked very close. Obviously the 433 is going to lead to some pretty open play. But I'm looking forward to it to be honest. In Dolan, Rothwell and Chapman we have players who can come off the bench and scare teams, and we are a very energetic and youthful side who can cover a lot of grass. Del had a surprisingly good game, I like the look of Kaminski. Bell was actually less of a defensive liability (but was an offensive one). Still we do need two really top defenders to kick on. Think this could be quite a fun season for us playing some ultra aggressive football with quite a lot of entertaining attacking players in the team. Expecting mid table again, but it should be a more interesting season.