Both get drawn towards the ball and leave space behind. Rothwell in particular is going to drive forward with the ball and leaves holes, safer form him to do that from the wing. If we were to play a flat 3 in midfield then Rothwell would be perfect as one of the wide centre mids.

Should've gone off at 3-0, was blowing out his arse for 15 mins before he came off.

You can't play Rothwell and Reed together in Centre Mid together unfortunately, they'd get dragged all over the place. Need someone with more talent to hold his position, was hoping that it would be Davenport but he hasn't been available as of yet. Put Rothwell on the left. Go with a midfield of Bennett, Rodwell, Reed, Rothwell.

Williams coming in a switch to 3 at the back wasn't so much the issue for me. If your going to change shape like that then your going to have to make two changes. Our midfield 3 that second half was Reed, Smallwood and Evans coupled with Nyambe as not being the best going forward at right wing back. It was too defensive, we needed to try string a few passes together, and to do that you need options to pass to, we needed Rothwell in midfield to demand the ball spread it around a bit and drive into the space. But instead we tried to work it out from the back but there was nothing go in on in front of them.

Rodwell isn't going to be a centre back, it was probably worth ago but he needs to go back into midfield. If he can't manage more than an hour than so be it. Dack needs a bit of wake up call and Palmer hasn't played a single minute this season in his actual position. Rothwell needs a run of games from the left. Armstrong, Evans, Smallwood, Williams need dropping. Bell starts as I consider him to be the only proper left back (bring on January transfer window), Reed plays centre mid because i'm not crazy. Brereton gets a chance up top, if Graham is fit then he can replace him in the second half. Travis gets a shot at right back. If Davenport was fit he'd be given a shot. Raya Travis Lenihan(if fit) Mulgrew Bell Bennett Reed Rodwell Rothwell Palmer Brereton Subs: Leutwiler, Nyambe, Evans or Smallwood, Conway, Armstrong, Dack, Graham What I think Tony might go with; Raya Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Bell Bennett Smallwood Reed Armstrong Dack Graham Subs; Leutwiler, Rodwell, Williams, Evans, Rothwell, Palmer, Brereton

I wonder if the players are starting to lose a bit of confidence in the manager due to some of his weird team selections.

If what we know has Williams at left back and Reed playing on the wing then we know nothing. I'm not opposed to returning to the Smallwood/Evans axis just so long as its not at the expense of Reed playing out wide.

I think whatever Mowbrays initial plan with Brereton (insert your own theory here) its not working out. He needs a few starts and he should be played exclusively up front. When Graham gets knackered after 60 mins then Brereton should come on for him up top. 3 games in a week then Brereton should start 1 of them. Want to go 2 up top then bring in Brereton. Give the lad some game time in his best position so he can learn the ropes. Then if he still needs to bulk up get him in during the summer when its easier to add mass. If he fails then he fails but I dont think it'll hurt us at least till xmas for him to be used as Grahams deputy, can't be worse than playing an Midfielder up top again.

Williams got bailed out by a great block by Nyambe at 1-0, he'd got completely skinned by their winger. Then was at fault for the third. And didn't cover himself in glory for the fourth. If he's the Steady reliable option at left back then theres no point playing him there, might as well give Bell another go, he's not been great but he's been considerably better than Williams was on Saturday

Brereton will sign for Rovers on 1st January. Not sure why this is still up for debate

Davenport has been injured? I don't understand what doesn't sit right. He got injured in the last pre-season game with a bad groin injury was out for a couple of months, worked his way back with the under 23's (scored a good goal vs Liverpool) then picked up another thigh injury in training. These things happen, he'll get a chance in 2019.

I’d go Raya Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Bell Reed Evans Armstrong Dack Rothwell Graham subs; Leutweiler, Williams, Rodwell, Smallwood, Conway, Palmer, Brereton. no idea after Saturdays weird team selection what Mowbray will come up with. I have a sneaking suspicion with Bennett suspended he’ll move Reed out wide again as the defensive winger and it’ll infuriate me. He probably bring back Smallwood and Evans.

Who wants to tell me that Williams is better than Bell at left back now eh?

I think thats a fair point. January could be a good indicator, we've said we won't sell in January at any price so what people offer for him in January is what we could be selling him for in the summer. It could that nobody matches his valuation in the summer.

I wouldn't be looking to sign another left back in this window no. As currently stands we have Lenihan, Mulgrew, Rodwell (all fairly injury prone), Downing (maybe to be replaced by Bauer or even a recalled Wharton) I think thats enough bodies at centre back, If Williams has to moved to left back to replace an injured or badly lacking form Bell then we've got enough players at centre back. Rodwell can't hack 90 mins in centre mid so I don't think he should be considered to start there, we can't have 2 players in the 1st 11 who aren't good for 90 mins, I think you could use him there off the bench to see games out and help us retain possession better. Only thing Mowbray should be thinking for me is how to we evolve to play through the lines more.

Williams in my view could be a decent centre back for us, he's also a good option off the bench and would suit as a 3rd centre back. I don't particularly rate him at left back, then again Bell hasn't really nailed down that spot when he's had the chance and in some ways has regressed. In some ways Bell is a bit of an enigma and he's not quite the player I expected we would sign, i'd give him chance till the end of the season to nail that spot down, as i've seen enough off Williams to know he's not good enough (although a steady performer) for a promotion chasing team. Your spot on when you say the next evolution of this team is to more of a passing team and away from being a long ball team. I think we have the centre backs who are good on the ball its then about getting the more technical players in the team. Signing Reed on a permanent would be massive for us, he has the hardworking ethos but also has that touch of quality. I can't see Rothwell playing Centre Mid regularly as he's not disciplined enough to do it and it may stifle his natural instinct to go at people, maybe if we played 3 centre mids. Bennett has done well most times he's played centre mid but I don't think you'd want him as first choice in there. Davenport could end up being that player for us, but we won't know till he gets fit and gets a run of games. We are in a situation where as it stands our Centre mid options next season are: Smallwood, Bennett, Davenport, Rothwell(at a push) but I think centre mid can wait until the summer. The other part of that evolution is who the main striker will be next season, Armstrong, Brereton or someone new cause obviously that will affect our build up play and how Dack plays whether its more of a second striker as he is now or as a more of a playmaking no.10.

Yeah. I’ve also seen Williams play...

I'd go Raya Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Bell Bennett Reed Evans Armstrong Dack Brereton Subs: Leutwiler, Rodwell, Williams, Smallwood, Rothwell, Palmer, Graham

See I thought his work rate was good against West Brom but then against QPR thought he went back to looking like a show pony

I was going to say that it depends how bad his injury is but i've just had a quick look at Boro under 23's fixtures and it looms like he's had a problem with his hamstring on the 9th October come back and played well and then got injured again a couple of days again. If It was anyone else i'd be saying we should completely avoid. It's a great shame as he lit up the early part of last season before Dack became central to our side, would've loved to have seen both of those two in full flight together. Shame it'll likely never happen. Hope the lad can carve out a career for himself.

Has been called up for Scotland so it mustn't be too bad.

Called about an hour ago and they hadn't moved onto the 3rd block. Frustrating policy really, should be first come first serve. I really don't enjoy being so low down you don't get as good of a perspective of the game.

Ticket office won't sell tickets from anything other than the centre block. So it's either wait till that block sells out or get tickets at the bottom of the stand. Frustrating but will have to wait until it sells out in that block

I'd disagree with West Brom game. He played well for most of the game but the error he made in the first half to allow Rodriguez in on goal was horrendous, genuinely horrendous, under no real pressure and he puts their main man clean through on goal. It was a poor miss from Rodriguez. He played well Saturday though, we've got to factor in that they didn't really attack us much until the 87th min.

Antonsson isn't left footed.