joey_big_nose

Well, we have Davenport and Buckley in reserves, plus may sign Rodwell. But I agree if we could sign Reed or someone of similar quality I would not say no.

I would say youre being a bit harsh on Mowbray. Rothwell and Travis are starting every game and look set to until the end of the season, and will surely start next season. He might have come round to it later than we hoped, but he is there now I think.

I'd say Mowbrays started winning again at the right time and the teams started looking quite promising for next year. Think towards the end of March the fans were starting to turn but three wins on the bounce creates a totally different feel. We're pretty well stocked in midfield now so he needs to focus on making us stronger at gk, full back, centre back and centre forward. If we can do that and hold onto the likes of Dack, Lenihan and Rothwell we will have a decent stab at top half / playoffs. Edit - one issue is if we have an absolutely sensational last few games and rack up the wins then we might see more interest in our top players. Kind of want us to have a good end to season but not too good ..

Would love to see Chapman and Buckley today. Even intrigued to see if Brereton has improved.

Think that's a bit harsh. If you go off who makes the team sheet when fit every game his top players are Raya, Lenihan, Bell, Bennett, Travis, Dack, Graham. Based on who've we got in the squad the only one I'd quibble with is Bennett who I'd have Nyambe over. It's taken him a while to see the light but he has now. After his two goals I think Rothwell should have locked down his place also. If Reed is unavailable for whatever reason it will be interesting to see who Mowbray partners Trav with. I'd be tempted to go with a youth player (Davenport?) as Rodwell is unlikely to stay and Evans and Smallwood just aren't good enough. I'd do the same with the centreback partner for Lenihan (Magloire?) if Williams form dips again. I do admit however it's more likely we'll see more of Evans, Mulgrew and Smallwood before the season is out.

What are the thoughts on Davenport? If we don't get Reed (looks certain we won't to me) could be step into his shoes?

After another strong performance from the U23s I'd like to see one of the young centre backs give a whirl alongside Lenihan before the end of the season. Not next game as Williams played well last time out and we should keep the same team. But when we do need a change let's go for a youngster over Mulgrew or Rodwell. Also would love to see Chapman on the bench.

We'll I suppose Evans rather than Smallwood is a better result.

WTF - why drop Reed?

Rhodes finishing is unreal, but every other aspect of his game is weak. Never seen a player for rovers so unbalanced in his talents. I'd rather have Graham who does more to bring others into the game. That said Graham getting on now. We need another younger clever, powerful forward like him who can bring the best out of Dack, Rothwell and Chapman. Not got any suggestions mind... Must be someone out there. Maybe Gestede? He's got one year left on his deal so maybe possible. Though Boro probably paying him a fortune, and he's turned 30.

Im not so sure, Armstrong is weak defensively - I think we need to be a bit more robust. Conway worked well with Dack and Rothwell on Tuesday. I'd stick with the same team except Nyambe for Bennett.

The only thing is that TM genuinely thinks Mulgrew and Williams are good enough. He wouldn't have given Mulgrew a long extension, and he wouldn't have persisted with Williams without that opinion. I think when Mowbray draws up the plan for next season hes likely to work from the basis of Lenihan and Mulgrew as his starting centre backs - with Williams and a new signing or one of our loaned out players on the bench (I think Rodwell is likely to go). If we do that I really fear for us next season as Mulgrew is such a huge liability. One of the core tenants of Mowbrays philosophy is to respect seniority and heirachy. If Mulgrews still at the club (and especially if he's club captain) Mowbray will be loathe to drop him on a permanent basis. Same as Bennett, Williams and Conway he will try to fit him in somehow. Only way out is for us to sell him. But I doubt anyone will want him, as hes on a new contract till 2021. Maybe Celtic could be persuaded to take him back? He'd be great in the Scottish league . I don't think Mowbray will actually want to sell though.

What was exciting about last night was previously I would have said Dack and Rothwell would struggle to play together as they inhabit similar space on the pitch. I was totally wrong. Their linkup was superb. Can't wait to see them on there with Chapman too on the right. Something to look forward to after two months of terrible performances.

I think in terms of attacking midfielders him and Dack are the best we've had since the Premier League days. We've also got Chapman coming through. So we could gravitate to starting all three behind the striker. That is a very potent attacking threat. I keep on banging on about it but what's key is we give them a solid back line and central midfield to provide the security to stream forward. Travis, Lenihan, and Reed are all solid. Get the fullbacks and Lenihans partner sorted and we will be in business. I can see a future for Bell and Nyambe - they've got some good fundamental qualities - and maybe they will be effective with a decent central defence. But I suspect we need some more defensively robust fullbacks while they develop. Rodwell, Williams Mulgrew are all centrebacks who can't head the ball, slow on the turn, and lack a sense of danger. They need to go. Shopping list for summer (or promote from U23s if we have the quality) - Reed, LB, RB, CBx2 (so we have effective cover), ST. Remains to be seen if we have the budget and/or nous to find signings of the quality of Dack, Reed and Rothwell rather than Williams, Brereton, Bell, Rodwell.

Bloody hell that's absolutely damming. With Mulgrew per game - 0.13 cleansheets, 0.9 pts Without Mulgrew per game - 0.58 cleansheets, 2 pts He should stay out of the team.

Great result. I absolutely didn't expect it. Derby were surprisingly poor, but we played very well second half. There is definitely a correlation between when Mulgrew doesn't play and an improvement in our results. Let's stick with the same XI next game.

The problem we have is the whole defence is extremely vulnerable (probably worst Rovers defence in over 25 years of supporting the team). As a result it needs heavy duty protection. 433 is the sort of formation you can use if you're confident of overpowering the opposition. We just can't do that. Inverse is in 4231 we end up with a static team mostly behind the ball. A diamond and we end up expecting our defensively poor defenders to overlap to provide width, which then leaves us further exposed. Play 3 at the back and Mulgrews, Williams and Rodwells lack of mobility gets brutally exposed. Anyway you move the pieces around it looks a very very poor team at the moment. We've got some individually okay players (Graham, Rothwell, Dack, Reed, plus Travis, Armstrong & Evans on a good day) but as a unit it's shocking because the defence is calamitous. Get a proper centreback and decent fullbacks and we would be a totally different proposal. But who would trust Tony to find those? Plus if you take Graham out - and he's getting older all the time - and we don't have an effective striker. It's really really bad. If we can't sign due to budget I would seriously consider going into next season mostly with the kids. That's not being hysterical, it literally looks a better option to me than persevering with Mulgrew, Smallwood, Williams etc. And I would never normally say anything like that.

Youre probably right, so frustrating. It really feels like we are rewarding failure at the moment.

Surely we can't start Evans and Smallwood again, and I would bring Magloire back. Mulgrew has to be dropped due to being a massive walking liability. Team for me : ------------------------Raya Nyambe---Lenihan----Magloire----Bell Chapman--Travis----Rodwell--Rothwell ----------------Graham---Dack Why not just give it a go. We need a massive overhaul.

I'm pretty lenient compared to most in terms of when to sack a manager, but Mowbray has definitely jumped the shark now. The risk of carrying this terrible form into next season is too high, he looks out of ideas, the defence is absolutely shocking and his transfers have been poor. I can't really see how we keep him tbh.

Yup. We just can't justify carrying Mulgrew. He's poor in the air, was always not quick but has lost another yard of pace, and positionally not great. He's been at fault for so many goals. We need to find a top quality partner for Lenihan, move on Rodwell and Williams, play Mulgrew from bench and either sign another CB or promote the likes of Wharton to the bench. As an aside I'm increasingly of the opinion we might get to keep Lenihan and Dack for next season. Neither are hitting the form to get clubs to pay out the big bucks for them. A silver lining of sorts.

I get the sentiment of the above two posts but as it stands if Venkys walked away the club would cease to exist. We are totally reliant on them with no way out anyone except Venkys control. It's an utterly horrendous situation.

Without both Henderson and Dier we look porus through the middle. Also think our full backs could be better. On the positive side Barkley, Stirling and Hudson-Odoi have all been great .

Aligned with all of that. I'd also say Walker is probably at risk as we have Trippier and Alexander Arnold who play right back, and Walker has looked a bit dodgy on the defensive side, and lacks the quality of crossing that the other two have. Probably best team we have imo is as follows : -------------------------Pickford Trippier------Stones-----Maguire-----Chilwell -----Henderson------Dier---------Alli ---------Sterling------Kane------Rashford Squad : Butland, Alexander Arnold,Rose, Shaw, Walker, Gomez, Rice, Barkley, Lingard, Sancho, Hudson-Odoi, Wilson On paper that team looks workmanlinke in midfield and soft in the centre of defence, but it works really bloody well as everyone works their nuts off and can inter change positions. On top of that we very rarely give the ball away, and we have three players in Kane, Rashford and Stirling who will score a lot of goals. Then you can throw on the likes of Sancho and Hudson-Odoi to give the opposition something completely different to think about.

In a way I quite like us not having too many "world class" players. If you have them there is a demand to play them, fit them in somewhere even if they don't quite fit together (see England at the 2006 world cup as a prime example). A lot of very good players will do me, with the ability to use them flexibly against different opposition. What I particularly like is that we went from a pretty successful 352 formation at the World Cup straight out into a totally new 433 in September which has pushed us onto another level. That change meant reassigning every role in the team back to front. Southgate and team are obviously continually re-thinking what's the best setup. We probably now have 2 players who can play every position in that 433 system, and the only area that looks a bit weak is central defence. Everywhere else we look well stocked, and with more youth coming through also. Obviously I wouldn't say no to an English Messi or Ronaldo, but if we keep on working the way we are - which is prioritising the team over individuals - I think it will keep us in good stead.