Great game yesterday. Pleased for Wales - they deserved it. Would be great for them to go on and win the world cup now. England and Ireland have a lot of work to do. Anyhoo... what sets the six Nations apart from any other competition I can think of is just how relentlessly competitive it is. Shame you can't get the same in football. A six team league round robin of the best European international sides would be tremendous. But how do you pick the best six etc.? To a certain degree rugby benefits from being a bit of a niche sport. Means you really end up with a lot of competitive games.

I'd say the only position we have the required quality and quantity is central midfield and number 10. Every single other position we could sign players for. Not an exaggeration to say 7 players. 2 CB, 1 RB, 1 LB, 1 winger, 2 strikers. Maybe a keeper. If Dack and Lenihan go we'd need another two also.

The key for Mulgrew and Rodwell is to only play one of them and make sure you have plenty of pace and physicality around them. Then you can just about survive. But they are both luxury defenders. We would replace them if we had the resources.

I'm not sure this is totally fair as he has persisted with Travis. Perhaps the same will happen with Mangalore

I don't think I've ever been as convinced we'll lose a game to a team below is in the table when we're playing them at home.

Bloody hell. How in light of that could downing be released? Is that new for this season?

Where has that been confirmed? Did we really loan players without the option of recall? And leave ourselves with only Williams, Lenihan and Mulgrew as proper centreback? And Lenihan and Williams are really converted from other positions like Rodwell. If so that is absolutely crackers.

Not picking on you, just illustrating where we are - but that entire back four is abysmal in the air. All Wigan need to do is hoof it into our box and they are guaranteed goals. The only sensible action is to recall the loanees. Mowbray has to do it.

I'm not sure he has lost the plot per se, he's just put himself in a position where he does not have the right players to staff a functional defence. I'd say everything flows from that really. If the defence was solid we would be better going forward also as the midfielders would feel more at liberty to push up. Indeed the defence could push further up too. As it is a simple ball up the middle undoes us. Could Mowbray turn it around? Not sure. Has he ever led a team with a solid defence? A strange consideration as in his career he was as a decent centreback. But it does seem a weakness of his sides. Whether it's Mowbray in charge or someone else I'd argue we need to sign an entire back four in the summer. If we can hold onto Lenihan great, but I suspect he might be bought. Nyambe I am on the fence on, but think he could progress in a more stable defence. Mulgrew's way too slow and weak in the air, ditto for Williams and Rodwell, and Bell has the attributes to be a decent left back but he seems to make bizarre decisions.

It's really hard to argue with this. He's brought some talented players in like Rothwell, Reed, Armstrong and Dack, and got some good young players coming through like Lenihan, Nyambe and Travis. But he hasn't got the right balance in the squad at all, nor found an effective way to stabalise the side and get them to play together well, except for one great month in January, and in spots before Christmas. Essentially he's violated the old adage "build from the back". We're absolutely shambolic across the back line, and if that is the case how can the team progress. Lenihan is our only solid defender - every single other defender (and there are only four of them in the squad) have very significant weaknesses. It shows how one or two bad decisions can really snowball. Pushing Downing out on loan and blowing the budget on Brereton instead of splitting it and bringing in a top defender, have been shown to be catastrophic, and now seem certain to cost him his job. Edit - What I genuinely can't understand is why, when we are having a full blown defensive crisis, we haven't recalled at least one (arguably two) of Downing, Hart or Wharton?

I think the request will be out for managerial CVs.

Surely we have to recall one of Bell, Downing or Wharton? It's farcical at the moment. What if Lenihan breaks down again? Also Mulgrew and Rodwell are both injury prone. Something's not right.

Are there any decent youth defenders we can put on the bench at least? How's Wharton doing? Can we recall him? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Rovers_F.C. Also - If you look at our squad of 25 only six are classed as defenders, but one of those is Rodwell who I would say is more a midfielder. So really only 5. Really you should have around 7-8 defenders in the squad. Then if you scroll down five of our nine loaned out players are defenders....!

Getting very near to being a must win as far as Mowbray keeping his job is concerned. Critical that we change something at the back. Hopefully Lenihan is back and fully fit. If not Id advocate playing a nutty formation we tried earlier in the season, simply to have some pace at the back. I'd drop Mulgrew as he is culpable for so many goals ATM. -----------------------Raya -----Naymbe----Rodwell-----Bell Reed--------Travis------Evans------Bennett -------------------------Dack --------------Graham---Armstrong Mad that I could be advocating a back 3 without a single CB in it, but that's the horrendous position we find ourselves.

How do we get to 12m - Ive got 6-7m for Brereton, but who else have we spent on?

Yes I agree with this. Without him we're pathetic at the back. One of Rodwell, Williams or Mulgrew with Lenihan is a reasonable partnership, but you take him out and suddenly you have no pace or aggression.

I could see him getting sacked now if we lose three out of the next four, which is pretty amazing considering where we were end of Jan. What's done him I think is the injury to Lenihan and letting Downing go, alongside weak defensive full backs. Plus Brereton purchase has been crackers. If that money had been spent on defenders we would be in a much better position. He's done a lot of good things, but if you concede and lose as much have there is only one logical conclusion. If he can turn it around great, I like him. However such is the lack of defensive resources the only way I can see that happening is Lenihan coming back as we are a vastly better defensive unit with him in it.

Think Tony had moved to officially under pressure today. Amazing collapse since the end of Jan. Defence looks hopeless. We really really need Lenihan back.

Come on - he's an exciting player but compared to the midfielders we had in the top division he's hardly up with them. Dunn was a much better player than Dack, and he didn't even make my 11! Tugay would eat 10 Dacks for breakfast. On a similar theme no one's picked Rhodes, cause while he was a sensational championship striker he was never a top player as his club and international career have shown.

I know we do this periodically, but I thought worth a revive to remind us of better days. What's the best XI you can build out of the Rovers you've seen? I would say ---------------------Friedel ---Berg-----Nelsen----Hendry----Le Saux Bentley----Tugay-----Sherwood----Duff -------------Shearer----Bellamy I've been watching since 1992. I guess what's remarkable is Bentley gets in there ahead of Ripley, but he was truly outstanding when on form. And I went for Belllamy over McCarty, Santa Cruz, Cole, Jansen as he won games single handedly for us in a way you very rarely see. Absolutely unplayable when on song.

I hate writing players off, but it's really hard not to with BB. He's played quite a bit now and the only thing he seems okay at is running with the ball at goal, but not in an exceptional way that will worry a competent defence. For example I would rate Joe Nuttall as slightly better at this, and he's nothing special either. Apart from that BB looks very poor in every department. Most criminally he can't hold the ball up even in the most cursory way, or finish good chances, both which we really really need and I thought was the reason we signed him. In fact - as others have said - he actually prefers to not get in the box. I'd love to know how we ended up signing him as I just don't believe Mowbray wanted this player.

Something about the way Mowbray talks about him I don't think Brereton was his signing Does anyone know who decided to bring him in? Was it Mowbray? It seems a staggeringly stupid signing on any level. Why gamble such a huge fee on such a young and limited player? And the sort of player we don't need. I just don't get what the plan was?

Nothing specific, just he's done it before with Huddersfield and may be up for it. I don't think his stock is so high he will definitely get a prem job.

When you consider someone like Wagner could be interested in us it is worth consideration. Next steps I would say are now to think about next season. Let's get the young players on the pitch (and let's face it we looked a lot better when e they came out second half). Mulgrew and Rodwell need to never play together again in a back 4 ever. Until Lenihan is fit again I would play a back three with Nyambe in it. And he got a lot of stick against Reading but Bell was our best player by miles today. I'd line up next game ------------------------Raya -------Nyambe---Rodwell--Mulgrew Bennett-----Travis------Reed-------Bell -------------------------Dack -------------Graham-----Armstrong Think we will limp home around 14th. The manager needs to think we are likely to have a very weak squad come August. Dack, Mulgrew, Lenihan and Graham all likely to be sold or too old to play regularly. Rodwell and Reed may not sign. Would leave us very weak across the team and needing an absolutely massive rebuilding job.

Him and Rodwell have both been good alongside Lenihan as he has the recovery pace, but without that pace a simple ball over the top kills us.