My view is he's done okay but not good enough every area - some decent signings, decent youth development, some decent tactics. But the pattern of a good two months followed by a poor two months petering out into mid table finish is very well established now and I (and I think virtually all supporters) have zero confidence we will be able to improve on it. It's got to the point where we need to try someone new.

I think that's got to be Mowbray finished at Rovers now I think?

I think it's a bit early for this. Should wait until it is clearer where we will finish.

All true, but you can see if he improves his decisions he can consistently hurt teams. He's only 19 so has a lot of improvement in him. He will get better and better I am sure. Next season can see him growing into a top player at Championship level.

He's been absolutely awful. The one saving grace for me is that he looks almost exactly as bad as Brereton did when he first joined, and seems a similar sort of player, so maybe he will improve in a similar sort of way. Real grasping at straws though. And even in the Brereton example it took him 18 months to get going.

Dolan is a quality young player. He is scoring and assisting quite frequently if you look at his minute breakdown. Only Brereton and (surprisingly maybe) Gallagher ahead of him in terms of mins per goal involvement. He's quick, tricky, physical, got a knack to get into the box. As a team we've got to figure out how to make the most of him. On Saturday it was really striking how when he went off and we had Hedges on we offered absolutely nothing down the right.

The error today for me was bringing Hedges on, he's offered nothing. Doesn't press enough, doesn't beat a man, doesn't provide quality crosses, doesn't offer a goal threat. The whole right side became totally ineffective once he came on. I feel if Dolan had stayed on we would have had more of a chance. Maybe Hedges will be a Brereton and after a year or so turns into a good player, but today he was a total passenger. What's worrying is really on balance of chances Reading should have won this by three or four. Our strong area has been defence, if that reverts to last seasons form we are going to end up well outside the playoffs.

Since Khadra has gone off we have looked all over the place. Giles as RWB not working at all. Kaminski has been tremendous. On the positive side introduction of Dack should allow us to reshuffle into a 4231 that suits the players on the pitch better. Kaminski Lenihan Van Hecke Wharton Pickering Travis Rothwell Dolan Dack Giles Gallagher

Why would we switch to yet another formation? We have struggled with 433 since halfway through last season. I can see Mowbray going back to 343 but it will be serious dispiriting for all the attacking lads who have struggle hugely for 10 games, find a way to score goals, and then go back to the way we played when we couldn't score.

I don't see why we couldn't stick with 4231 when BBD is back. He'd just play on the left I think.

Only two days away... Reading generally poor but got a good draw at Bournemouth Obviously after the Tuesday we should (!) stick with the 4231 that was so effective in the second half. The main question will be whether Mowbray risks Dack from the start or he puts Buckley in and then brings Dack on second half. Probably the latter. For all of how good we looked throwing people forward on Tuesday I do wonder if it will open up our defence again. Hopefully playing Lenihan at right back will help a bit to maintain the defensive solidarity we've had. One of those games it's very hard to know what to expect. Team likely to play imo : Kaminski Lenihan Van Hecke WHarton Pickering Travis Rothwell Dolan Buckley Khadra Gallagher Subs : Pears, Rankin Costello, Davenport, Hedges, Giles, Johnson, Dack

Gallaghers good when he can out compete the defence he's up against. Derby he was all over them, but most games he gets marginalised pretty easily whether playing through the middle or out wide I wonder if part of the difference on Tuesday was that we committed a lot of players forward second half - 4 pure attackers in Dack, Dolan, Khadra/Giles and Gallagher plus Rothwell getting forward - and that gave Gallagher the support and space to play more effectively.

I agree with the general point. In the horrendous recent run we generally created a decent amount of chances and should have picked up a lot more point. Our finishing was terrible. That said second half against Derby we were definitely getting more people forward and in the box than we have done for a long time. Regularly getting four or five bodies in, whereas before maybe only two or three. We obviously were taking a lot more risks, and it paid off.

That's pretty punchy if true!

We should never sign players with a really significant injury record like Ayala. Way too risky.

I wouldn't really agree with that. In our recent great run in November-December we looked pretty much invincible. With Mowbray I would characterise it more as we go through periods of looking really really good (start of 20/21 season being very much like that as another example) for around 10 games, then the wheels fall off, till we put them back on again around 10 games later. It's been such a feature of Mowbray's teams, not just at Rovers but elsewhere also (Celtic, West Brom etc).

Mowbray is so odd. Came across like he wants to top himself in that interview after a sensational comeback win.

He's used him as a false 9 to replace Buckley a few times this season. Pretty mad. I guess the thinking is he provides some sort of aerial capability. Terrible today, could barely run. 4231 looked good when we switched at half time. Totally overran Derby. Playoffs looks just about possible. So tight though. We have played so many more games than teams behind us. Sheff Utd, Luton and Notts Forest all have enough points in their games in hand to over take us.

I wouldn't be surprised if the person to ultimately decide to move on is Mowbray rather than the club. He's had a good season, stock is high, will find a roughly equivalent club pretty easily. I doubt our ownership will be decisive one way or another in terms of a new contract, and given that a lot of key players are leaving because of contracts running out, and he's been here a fair while, I can see him leaving. If we don't go up of course. But going up looks very unlikely to me even if we do make the playoffs.

To be honest I would say everything was a positive except actually scoring. Everyone played well up until the penalty box and then we became terrible. If John Buckley had some shooting boots we'd been about six points better atm. He's young though and obviously has the quality so hopefully it will come.

I always like to think of forwards in terms of "how can they hurt the opposition". Gallagher is taller, stronger, quicker than the average centreback which gives you hope. But he rarely dominates a defender, and loses the ball cheaply very often, and has virtually no link up play, and he very rarely gets in goal scoring positions.

I thought it was one of the the most one sided game I've ever seen us play. We were totally dominant and created thee or four stone cold chances. Millwall offered nothing, our defence was (again) outstanding). If we'd got a goal it would have been a near perfect game for us. However as has been the issue since the turn of the year we just can't finish. There's no real route out of that I can see until Diaz is back, and maybe Dack - though it's a lot to ask a guy coming back from two ACLs to come in and score regularly. Lack of goals is a major major major problem, and looks like it will cost us a playoff place.

Totally dominant performance. Even generated a string of good chances. But never confident we could score. And we didn't.

I am a bit perplexed by Zeefuik. Want him to do well but while he seems a decent athlete, but not in Nyambe's league, lacks Nyambe's excellent one on defending, and hasn't really shown much going forward. I'd prefer a fully fit JRC who has the quality of delivery. But he's looked well off the pace whenever he's played this year so not really a go-er.

Mitrovic will eat Van Hecke for breakfast. If Ayala is fit he's got to play I think.