BlackburnEnd75

Still needs to work on his crossing but it looks like he progressing well currently

We need to look at what the situation in the summer will likely be. Hence we need a keeper to compete with Walton on a permanent. Another cb is vital in the short term. If Cunningham is coming back for next season then like you say maybe we can wait or at least leave left back to last. if we got a few out I wouldn’t mind a proper winger either

Genuinely tough team selection for this one. With a game every 3 days over 12 days, could Mowbray play the Bristol team one game and the Evans, Graham, Downing team in the other? If he is picking a team on merit on Monday then he’s going to have be very brutal because, for once, some don’t deserved to be dropped. In theory you have to drop one of Travis, Evans or Johnson and drop one of Bell or Downing. Genuinely tough decision

Rhodes, Graham or Dack would be the nominations I think. Dunny, Samba, Conway possible on an extended shortlist. lot of people saying Rhodes, I personally think Graham was better than Rhodes when he first came in and was more mobile, he didn’t score as many but his all round gave us a lot lot more.

Walton Nyambe Lenihan. Tosin. Bell Bennett. Travis. Evans. Armstrong Holtby Gallagher subs: Canadian, Downing, Johnson, Rothwell, Rankin-Costello, Brereton, Graham Id rest Graham and Downing. Straight swaps. I was also tempted to start JRC.

Can anyone fathom the pushing Downing forward and bringing Bennett on at left back again? Bennetts energy would’ve been useful in midfield and we already know he’s rubbish at left back. Downing looked knackered by the end and I doubt he will start on Saturday now.

Harsh on Nyambe thought him and the cb’s were our man of the match contenders. Generous on Armstrong, good assist but often wasteful in good positions. Rothwell was anonymous but wasn’t as bad as some are saying.

I’m not being overly critical so far. We’ve had some decent spells of possession but lot created enough, they look dangerous from those grimes corners from the right and when they can beat our press. need to shift it quicker when it comes into midfield and cut out some looser passes. have a feeling the subs we make will determine what we get out of this one. Couldn’t call it one way or the other at this stage.

Yet his assist for the goal was very good

I’m actually quite excited for this one. im hoping If he rotates our Downing and Graham it’s Straight swaps for Bell and Gallagher not Benno at left back and Armstrong move up front

At times i agree we've been too negative but that was more last season, playing too deep with defensive wingers and so on. At times he's been too attacking in his selection (holtby in cm for example) and its only now that we have found the correct balance. My main criticism is we've taken too long to get to this position we are in now with a settled side (we all know which selections i'm talking about) and most importantly a settled core. So my main worry going forward is that he reverts to his old habits. So when Gallagher came on out wide and Armstrong went through the middle it worries me, Gallagher out wide doesn't work, it feels like he did it to allow Armstrong through the middle (he seems to think players need to earn their stripes out wide before they can play up front). Bennett on at left back was another, his pressing in midfield would've really helped and downing was doing fine at LB. I also worry that one bad game from Nyambe or a quiet game or 2 from Rothwell and they are back out the 11. We need to stick closely to this team if we can. We're going to have to rotate over xmas so this team will be broken up either way, I just hope that when our winning run comes to an end we can go on another winning run rather than what we did last season and completely collapse.

seems to have recovered mentally at Celtic. Looks like a good goalkeeper again.

Nyambe needs to stay at right back, I see little point debating it personally. Downing could be one we look to change before the window opens simply because he isn’t a natural left back. Teams will start to target him either in the air at the back post which understandably he struggles with or by someone quick cutting inside on him. Williams offers more solidity on crosses and Bell is actually okay 1v1. Neither are the answer long term and a new left back is needed in January. Until we get one id be sticking with Downing for the home games and would maybe consider away from home picking Williams if for.

Bring him back in January and send him on loan to a league 1 side

If a premier league club comes in and pays somewhere between £10-15 million then I think they’ll let him go. If it’s a championship club then we’ll either crank the price up or Dack could decide to go. I’m not sure that many premier league clubs will take the punt tbh he’s great for us in this league but I’m not sure he’s quick enough to make an impact I. The premier league but you have to understand he’s going to want to have a crack at it (I’d be worried if he didn’t). Dack has options; he can stay here become highest earner and get a decent release clause in his contract In case a prem club gambles on him. He can run his contract down and get picked up on a free by a prem club in 18months. Or he can try to leave in the summer at a slightly reduced price to whoever is willing to pay then, likely a championship team with a bit of money and try to get to the prem that way.

He just needs to stick as close to the team that started last night as he can.

When the team was announced I was very surprised. Dropped Holtby, actually started Graham and not only didn’t play Bennett at right back he benched him. Suddenly I was looking forward to the game. we played so well in that first half and the game in general that it initially confused me as I didn’t think we had that in us. but a day later I’m thinking that it vindicates a lot of what gets said on here: Rothwell should start most weeks Graham is still our best striker and should start when fit Nyambe should be right back Benno is a squad player not a regular starter. Armstrong up top on his own doesn’t usually work We shouldn’t have spent so much money on strikers who shouldn’t be in the team. we shouldn’t have sold Raya and replaced with just Walton on loan. I thought Raya was incredibly composed in his distribution and made some top saves.

I really don’t think the way he’s being used helps at all. The lads being asked to be a holding midfielder for Holtby who himself doesn’t look like a natural cm. Hes not a sitting midfielder, he’s a box to box midfielder who can drive forward and get stuck in too, ideally I’d place him with a deep lying playmaker but I don’t think we have one (maybe Downing). Maybe someone like Davenport (if he was playing at the required level) would be a good fit for him.

Leutwiler isn’t better than Walton at all. ive not seen enough of Lewis Thompson to make a judgement on him starting ahead of bell. Back 3 is an option for sure. Just hope that JRC is used as a wing back instead of Bennett.

Selection is tough for this one. There’s a few people who need to be dropped Bennett, Armstrong, Gallagher. A few who need dropping but we don’t have anyone else in their position, Walton & Bell. I felt the balance of the midfield was wrong on Saturday. I don’t think Holtby and Travis make a good pair. So maybe I’d go with Walton Nyambe. Lenihan. Tosin. Bell Travis. Davenport Rothwell. Dack. Downing Graham subs: Leutwiler, Bennett, Johnson or Evans, Holtby, Rankin-Costello, Brereton/Armstrong, Gallagher,

A wins a win but wow we were so poor. We were largely outplayed by a Barnsley team with one win all season. Another baffling team selection Mowbray, Gallagher our wide again when it hasn’t worked before and makes literally no sense was a highlight. The Travis-Holtby partnership is very poorly balanced. The last substitution was a bit of a head scratcher too. All it does is delay the inevitable, what pleases me though that I think the ewood faithful finally turned on the manager. Lots of Mowbray sort it out chants and the crowd were very frustrated at 1-1 and 2-2.

I too am sceptical that Brereton will come good and that he has yet to make any real impression on me except vs a very poor Bolton side. With what we’ve already sunk into him i think it’s worth giving him another go when fit through the middle. Especially if we try to move the ball on the deck and use his movement in the channels.

It’s quite hard to fit 2 number 10’s into the same team especially if neither are quick enough to play wide.

Problem with Holtby is he’s a 10 and the best player we had here before his arrival is a 10.

He brought Samuel on with 10/15 mins to go, as essentially a right wing back. He was hopeless as you'd expect and to be fair I couldn't have a go at him because he was being asked to use a skill set he doesn't have. All this at a time when we were chasing the game. Thanks for reminding me about this because it made literally no sense.