joey_big_nose

Is that true?

The tactics seem very odd. Great first half, turgid second. Bells actually looked pretty good. Travis strong again.

Missed the start due to brexit vote.. are we really playing a back three with two full backs in it??

I guess things are so bad at left back that Mowbray might give Mulgrew a whirl there, but I just can't see it being a long term thing. He just doesn't have the legs. Like others have said - main hope for Rodders is if we go three at the back. -------------------------Raya -------Lenihan----Rodwell----Mulgrew Nyambe------Travis-----Reed---Bennett? -------------------------Dack ---------------Graham---Armstrong That's not a bad team. Wouldn't mind seeing it given a go. Again not sure if it's a long term thing though, I'd be concerned Mulgrew would be vulnerable down the channel. We would still need to sign a proper pacy left back/left wing back to cover him.

I'd say after today a left back is a pretty high priority. Left back, winger and a striker. Then I think we will be in good shape.

Thought Travis was excellent as well as the two centrebacks, apart from that a pretty average performance from most. Nuttall and Dack worked hard but received little service. Armstrong played a crucial role. Strange from Mowbray to play three strikers at the end but that's what he did. Brave to bring Dack off too. But it got the points. Only really weak point imo was Bell who had an absolute shocker. Great three points.

Team for me : --------------------------Raya Nyambe----Lenihan----Mulgrew----Bell -------------------Travis-----Reed ------Bennett----------Dack-----Armstrog ------------------------Graham Subs : Leut, Williams, Conway, Evans, Rothwell, Brereton, Nutall

We've signed McLovin from superbad!

Agreed. Rothwell needs game time. Maybe not quite as impactful as Palmer but he does have the significant advantage of actually being our player. Also think he has the makings of a really top performer. If we bring in a winger for Palmer we will be in better shape than before when effectively having three players (Dack, Palmer, Rothwell) who all want to play number 10.

Fabulous player. That whole Wolves team is brilliant, reminded me of us in our best days under Hughes. What you live for one day as a football supporter. Hope the Wolves fans enjoy it while it lasts.

I don't know - if I rated the squad in order of whose had the best season Evans and Smallwood would be top eight or so. Ahead of the likes of Bell, Brereton, Conway, Palmer, Williams, Armstrong, Rothwell, Samuel etc. But they lose their place because we have two better CMs above them in the pecking order. That's what I mean by harsh

I'd take Gallagher and Reed perm in this window in a flash. Gallagher has his weaknesses but he is certainly better than Brereton. I'd also take a look down the leagues and take a punt on someone scoring for fun down there. Marquis, Maja, Eaves, Henderson? Wingers more of a problem... must be a loan from somewhere?

Like you I can see him hating to drop both Smallwood and Evans. He'll probably keep Bennett at RB, play Reed RW and play Travis and Evans in CM until Nyambe and Smallwood come back. Then he'll be forced to drop 2 senior players. I thought he'd probably sacrifice Travis but I don't think he can after that performance against Newcastle alongside WBA. To be fair to Mowbray he has stood by Nyambe and Raya so hopefully Travis will get the same treatment. It's a bit harsh as Smallwood and Evans have been amongst our best players but we're just overloaded in certain areas.

Emergence of Travis does raise the question of what our best side is now with everyone fit. IMO... ------------------------Raya Nyambe---Lenihan---Mulgrew----Bell? ----------------Travis-------Reed ---Bennett?--------Dack-----Armstrong? ---------------------Graham ? = I'm not convinced Subs : Leut, Williams, Smallwood or Evans, Conway, Rothwell, Palmer, Brereton We do seem to be getting ever more narrow. We have only one wide player so we shoo horn central players like Rothwell, Armstrong, Bennett and Palmer in there... Also central midfield is mad. We have nine decent players I think now who can play there. But only one decent striker (Graham) and one decent winger (Conway) - and both of them at the end of their careers. Left back is also weak. All in all good squad though. I would argue the "spine" of central positions GK to CF is promotion quality.

Two things we learnt today 1) Travis is a very good player indeed. Impressed with him. If we could pair him with Reed the middle we'd have one of the better midfields going in the Championship I think 2) Brereton continues to look utterly useless. I know it's not kind to say but sadly it's true I think we have a pretty good squad all told. Just need another quality striker.

My total guess is we spent around £3M up front for him, with the remaining £4M add ons. Still looks way too much based on what's been seen so far.

Main hope we have of keeping him is if his poor from from the last month or so (WBA excepted) continues for another few months putting the prem teams off him. But then do we want players who have long poor spells? I'd say he's a gonna in the summer as we are not getting promoted. We have a succession plan of sorts in Rothwell I think. I can see him developing into that number 10 role and being decent (though obviously not as good as Dack).

Simply put we should sign one very good striker and a good quality winger. Everything else we have decent enough players we can persist with. Doubt Mowbray has the cash though.

If there's one player Mowbray is loyal to it's Smallwood. Probably Bennett the other one. He does not like dropping players he sees as "core players" like those two. It's due to their mentality and leadership I think. I bet even if Travis has a good run Smallwood will still find his way back into the team when he is available again. Probably Mowbray will drop Evans and play Travis and Smallwood, rather than leave Smallwood out entirely.

Still looks really poor to me. Im really struggling to think of any player who had looked so consistently poor for us since signing on. Even the likes of Joe Nuttall and Samuel - signed at a fraction - look like they have something in their locker. Brereton is a total mystery to me.

I'd say we're one good striker from being a good team personally on paper. If Venkys have the cash I'd write Brereton off and go out and buy a top striker. It's the only area we are seriously deficient. Simple as that id say. A winger also if possible. But we're not too bad. All the other comments are jumping off the deep end after a run of poor results. The losing goals late is a mentality thing which a decent manger should sort out. Hopefully Mowbray will do that. If not sadly we need to swap him out

Pretty bad when you put it like that...!

I can't really see why that would be to be honest. Main mistake I can see Mowbray making is bringing in Brereton who looks no way good enough. Everything else he has done seems reasonable, performances have largely been modestly good, and he's in a table position we would have accepted at the start of the season. But to lose winning positions again and again is not sustainable.

How we handle the last 30 mins of a game has turned into a very significant problem. One that could ultimately cost Mowbray his job I think if it doesn't change between now and the end of the season. Seems to be something fundamentally wrong. I'm not sure what it is, but it's happened far too often for there to be purely chance.

I just can't actually see us paying £7m for him. I think we must be paying a much smaller sum (like less than 1m) wrapped up in a lot of other conditional clauses that lead to that number. Otherwise it's a totally crazy deal. He's looked a total fish out of water every time he's played. Not just from a physicality and technique standpoint, but also from his positioning and movement which are bizarre. He's not only not what we need, hes *profoundly* not what we need - virtually any way you cut it. Which - when you consider we haven't spent more than 2m on a player in 5 years - is exceptionally weird. Unless he was signed for a lot less cash. Or - I hope - I'm missing some harbinger of his quality somewhere. But forgive me I can't see it.