To be fair to Mulgrew I thought defensively he was good very last year. He read the game so well was always one step ahead. Problem is I think Injury and age have caught him too much.

Like you say if we decide to go with a back 3 then maybe he's got a future in the centre. As part of a back four, if, as mowbrays says he does, play on the front foot then you need to be able to push up the pitch more. We'd miss his set pieces though. especially if Reed goes back in the summer.

Depends what you compare us to. Remember Salgado commenting on how pressure free playing for Rovers was compared to Real Madrid. Said we were far less judgemental.

Some interesting stats from Rich Sharpe on twitter about our defensive issues. When Mulgrew has played(26 starts & 1 sub) we've W-6 D-8 L13. with 4 clean sheets. When Mulgew hasn't played (10 games) we've W-6 D-3 L-1 with 6 clean sheets, Total this season for is P-37 W-12, D-11, L-14

I agree, he started less than 5 games for us in centre mid. He could quite easily start centre mid for a team higher up the league in CM. Unless Mowbray was to give him assurances about starting there every week I can't see it happening.

I'd look to rest Graham for this one, he was holding his hamstring before he went off on Tuesday and now we're safe lets not ruin him. Thought we looked better when we went to 4 at the back on Tuesday in the second half. Rothwell is well overdue a start, Chapman on the bench start him of with 20 mins then go from there. Nuttall or Armstrong up front to deputise for Graham. Raya Nyambe Magloire Williams Bell (if fit) Bennett Reed Travis Rothwell Dack Armstong/Nuttall Subs: Canadian, Smallwood, Evans, Conway, Chapman, Armstrong/Nuttall, Brereton/Graham. If we go 3 at the back then something like: Raya Nyambe Magloire Williams Rankin-Costollo Reed Travis Bell/Bennett Dack Rothwell Nuttall/Armstrong

Yeah I think you're right. Wasn't their a delay of around a month when we fired Coyle though, If I remember this right then Senior wanted to get rid of Coyle but it took nearly a month to get authorised.

Would Waggott actually sack Mowbray? Genuine question. Or would the decision be made in India and Waggott would just be the mouthpiece?

I like what you're saying but most of what you say isn't possible. Rodwell is injured and is also NEVER going to be an option for us in centre mid. He's not robust enough to play there, his body clearly can't handle it. There's a reason he's here in the first place thats because he's trying to extend his career by converting to cb. We can't recall Downing. He's not very good but he shouldn't have let him go without a replacement. Rothwell should be starting though and he should have been starting months ago.

I'd go something like Bennett, Reed, Travis or Evans, Rothwell

If thats the case then i'd call for Mowbrays immediate dismissal. No way that Conway should still be starting games for us. Lets hope thats not what he does.

I've just found this article from Monday which I missed at the time. - https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17475257.rovers-boss-mowbray-wants-his-side-to-show-their-character/ Some quotes in there I’m not a big believer in formations, ultimately it’s what’s in your stomach, what’s in your brain, the emotion of a footballer is what is a true reflection, never mind what formation you play. - Thats I'm not at fault it's the players who don't want to defend enough. Whether we play a back four, whether we play five in midfield, we lose three goals every game almost. - So why for example did we go Birmingham away and play with 1 defensive winger and one centre mid out wide? With all his criticism of the defence and the keeper i'd like to hear Mowbray address our attacking issues. We're playing two ball playing centre backs and all we do is lump it to Graham and hope we score from a set piece.

Mowbray calling Raya out in public isn't something that's sat particularly well with me. The other worrying thing was that Mowbray described Leuitwiler's strength as him being experienced. He actually isn't though. He's 6 years older than Raya and has played about 50 more league games than him. He's played 3 games at Championship level (not going to bother checking but I'm guessing under Mowbray) compared to Raya's 34 so if anything he's less experienced than Raya he's just older. He's not a viable alternative and that itself is part of the problem. I'd stick with him until the end of the season.

But that 1st goal against Rotherham, the lads made a decision before the ball has been thrown to come for it. He's started coming out realised that he shouldn't be coming for that then gets caught out back peddling. That throw in to the box he shouldn't be coming for at all, theres no way the opposition should be getting a clean header like that in from a long throw. For me the problem is Raya making poor decisions of when to come and when to stay examples being the birmingham (H) penalty, Rotherham (A), Brentford (A). I actually think that he's much improved when he does come for things than he was at the start of last season. Raya with his build and lack of height is never going to able to come through a crowd of players on the penalty spot, so why are we asking to do that. We're setting him up to fail, I think if we had at least one centre back who was dominant in the air we wouldn't be asking him to do this. If Mowbray didn't or doesn't like that Raya can't do this then he should've got a bigger keeper to challenge him. My main gripe with Raya is his kicking. He should've become more consistent by now

I found it interesting his comments about him needing to be more commanding. The way he said it made it sound like, our CB's are rubbish in the air so you've got to come claim more things. You look at the first goal on Saturday and there's no way Raya should be coming for that it's miles from his goal. But he's got it in his head that he has to come for that and gets himself stuck in no-mans land, if he stays on his line he saves that. It comes back to the last two transfer windows again, the manager wants to drop Raya due to poor form but can't because he didn't think we needed competition for him. He asking Raya to come for everything because we didn't sign a centre half that can head a ball.

My only hope at this stage is that Mowbray has another tactical shift within him. After the Oldham defeat last season I was very sceptical that he could get us automatic promotion, but he tweaked things and we went on a long run that got us into the promotion race. I'm hoping for a strong end to the season where he learns some of the lesson of this last 20 game run. What I think we'll get is the same old same old.

Think he's available for selection now. Should be in the 18 Saturday.

Interesting that Rich Sharpe seems to think that Williams return from suspension will see us shift to a back 3 at the weekend. Obviously Williams returning is always a bad thing but 3 at the back not sure how I feel about that. I think it would suit Mulgrew playing in the middle of a 3 would expose him to pace a lot less, give us an extra body to deal with crosses into the area, keeps Bell further up the pitch. On the other hand we've not been impressive last few times we've played that formation, and we don't have any decent wing backs. At least it something different-ish? I'm really trying to be positive but I feel that this time next week after the two homes games against North West teams that Mowbeay could completely lose the fanbase.

I don't get this either. Why change the law to give an advantage to the team who committed the foul?

Rodwell can’t play centre mid, his body is knackered. We either keep him as a centre back option or we release him.

Keep saying it Rodwell might get the odd hour in midfield but he's not a long term option for us in centre mid.

Sorry I've misread the initial quote. Your right we were better when we pushed up a bit more. We still weren't good though despite the last 30 mins being an entertaining watch. The tactics at the start of the game were rubbish, you just know we were never going to touch the ball in the final third let alone score it just invites pressure Only read that extract, but thats quite worrying quote from Mowbray, I wonder if the main imput from the players was from Mulgrew. He's the captain after all and he was dreadful vs Boro with the ball over the top. You look at the rest of that back 4 (Bell, Rodwell, Nyambe), they're all mobile. Strikes me of trying to protect Mulgrews sharply declining lack of pace. If they can't cope with their target man 40 yards from goal then he's going to be a bigger threat closer to the goal, sounds like they were more scared of Adams.

The bit that worries me where he's says it worked, it didn't.

If only... try 5 goals in 36 games.

I think it's fitness. You look at them at the end of every game and they look visibly knackered. Some might still be covering the ground but its affecting their game. You also look and our two main attackers aren't 90 mins players. Graham barely moves past 70mins, Dack would've scored the winner on Saturday if he was fitter and usually fades in the last 15-20 mins of games. We don't have an out ball and we don't move the ball well enough to take pressure off.