I know it's disappointing and frustrating to lose three quick games on the bounce, but I do think that some of the reaction has been a bit OTT. Personally I think that we've been more unlucky than abject The game at Wigan - wasn't a great performance by any stretch and tbh it didn't ever look like we were going to do enough to win, but at the same time, until Walton dropped a ricket, it didn't ever look to be a game that we were in danger of losing either. The game at Barnsley - the result doesn't look great, but first half we had over 70% possession, were in complete control of the game and had two or three fairly clear cut chances to score. Had we taken one of those then I think we would have gone on to win fairly comfortably. Having gone behind, Mowbray tried to change things up and within 7 minutes we had Brereton sent off - and whilst I can see why it was given as a red, it was a fairly soft one and 8 or 9 times out 10 that is a yellow at most - and the sending off then affects our ability to get back into the game, especially as it comes so soon after making 4 subs and changing the formation. The game yesterday - lots of teams will lose to Leeds, and tbh I can't imagine many of us saw us getting 3 points here, but that said we did ok - especially in the first half. Again we created 2 or 3 clear cut chances, plus had a goal ruled out for less contact on their defender than there was on Travis for their first. Had we managed to get back to 1-1 or even to get our noses in front then the second half may have been a different game. Like I say it's disappointing/annoying to have lost all 3 games, but I think we were unlucky to lose at least 2 of those and there's a danger of letting the results colour our view of the performances. And on Mowbray generally - obviously he's made some mistakes. The signings of Gallagher and Brereton look worse by the week, and Walton - there's glimpses of a player in there - he had a decent spell of games from mid-Jan to the start of the lockdown, but his form at the beginning of the season and especially since the restart has been atrocious - so that has to be another black mark against the manager. However, when you consider the run of injuries we've had this season, I think he's done a decent enough job to have us up with a chance of the playoffs for so long. For instance, against Barnsley we were missing 4 left backs, our main centre-half, 2 centre-mids, and our best/most creative/most prolific player - and like I said we still dominated the game, in the first half at least. (To put that into perspective, if you took Liverpool - arguably the best team in the world atm - and this afternoon against Villa took away Robertson, Milner + the next two in line for LB, Van Dijk, Henderson & Fabinho plus one of either Mane or Salah - I would probably back them still to win, but it would be much more in the balance than with those players - many on here don't seem to be able accept that missing so many means that it's more likely that we will struggle against teams like Barnsley.) And, I know that's just one game, but we've been missing Cunningham, Evans and Dack for a large chunk of the season. Dack in particular, at the time when he got injured, was such a blow. Our team was built around him, almost everything went through him and he got injured just at the start of a run of games in quick succession, which didn't give us chance to adjust properly and meant we had a poor run in those games around Christmas. When we finally did have time to adjust properly we got back to playing well and went on a good run, which got us within touching distance of the playoffs. And again, for those who don't see the importance of losing just 1 or 2 key men from your team, I have a City supporting mate who is adamant that the reason the gap between them and Liverpool is so big this season is down to Laporte being injured for much of the season. If a team that has spent half a Billion £s on players can be so affected by the loss of just one player, then surely we can accept that losing our best player might just affect Rovers a little bit. I realise that I'm shouting into the void somewhat on here - as many of you made up your minds on Mowbray a long time ago. But for me, I can see progression each season and so I think that he has earned next season to see if we can make a serious, sustained push for the playoffs. If not, then I may well come round to the group mentality on here and call for him to be replaced.

I used to live across the road from Kevin - although not for too long, I moved in just after we'd been relegated and he'd bought the house after his move to Rovers, so then his mum and brother lived there after he left us to go back down to Southampton. I remember the local pub landlord telling me once that Kevin had gone completely off the rails during that first season with us - basically the move to us had made him a millionaire overnight and, at 21, it had just messed with his head and thrown him off kilter. I also think that the fact things hadn't gone well at Rovers must have shattered his confidence - I remember, a couple of days after I had moved in, I was standing at the bus stop and could see him in his garden. He had a set of full size goalposts in his garden he and was standing about 10/12 yards back from them and was flicking the ball up and then volleying it at the goal. In the time I was stood watching he did it 7 times, but only 1 of his shots actually went in! I remember thinking that I would have backed myself to have had a better conversion rate. Another player that comes to mind is Lee Makel - I remember seeing him play in a cup game back in about 94 or 95 (certainly when Kenny was still in charge), and he just ran the game. Both myself and my dad went away that day convinced that he was going to be the next big thing - but then he just disappeared and never really went on to do much as far as I know.

‘Off the line’ may have been a slight exaggeration, but certainly blocked inside the 6-yard box with the keeper looking beat. Here’s how both teams reported it on Twitter (Hull seem to have got confused between Armstrong & Bennett)

Hull were poor, yes. And it's true to say that we might not have won so comfortably against a better side. But last night could/should have been 5 or 6 nil, and I'm not sure what else Rovers could have done (except obviously taking a few more of their chances). Certainly very far from a 'very poor' performance as you described

Armstrong in the first minute, Johnsons header straight at the keeper when he should have done better, Armstrong's shot blocked on the line by the defender - all three of those absolute gilt-edged chances which we should have taken at least one of. Added to that, Armstrong curled one just wide from the edge of the box fairly early on, Tosin headed one wide from a corner, Downing put one over from the edge of the box and also had a free kick that was saved by the keeper. Not saying that any of those were clear cut chances, but all were equal to the one where they hit the bar, and all better than anything else they managed all night

73 minutes of being unable to breach Hull’s back line... except for at least 3 clear cut chances, including 2 point blank saves from their keeper. We dominated the ball, nullified the opposition and created more than enough chances to have had the game won by halftime. If that’s not good enough for you then I just don’t know what you’re looking for ?‍♂️ I get that sense that it was going to be one of those nights - there was a point just before the first goal where I said that myself. Armstrong’s first chance potentially came too early for him, as you’d normally back him to tuck that one away, and a number of other promising situations in the first half seemed to fall to Bennett, who is probably the last player you want them to fall to, but, other than actually score earlier, I’m not sure what more Rovers could have done last night. To be honest, having been at both games, I’d say that last nights performance was more dominant than the 5-0 at Sheff Weds. The only difference was that the flurry of goals came late instead of early.

Feck me. I can’t believe I’ve just read that. 70+% possession, 26 shots, 11 on target, 3 goals plus at least 3 other clear-cut chances and a potential penalty turned down, all whilst restricting the opposition to long range pot shots and zero shots on target - what a terrible performance, Tony and the lads should hang their heads in shame. I realise that, like a few others on here, your dislike of Mowbray prevents you from being objective and seeing anything positive about Rovers atm, but by god you’ve taken it to a whole other level tonight and, as someone else has pointed out already, you’re making yourself look silly.

I'm a big fan of the NFL, and particularly follow the Jets - I think it's in my DNA to follow a team that consistently underperforms and finds new and imaginative ways to let me down!! In fact this year I'm off to NY to see the game against the Patriots - I can't wait!!! (Although I imagine I will leave disappointed by the result)

I wonder if we might see 3 at the back - Tosin - Lenihan - Williams - with Downing at LWB If Tosin is fit then that’s what my fiver would be on - especially since Mowbray has talked about picking sides based on the opposition and Cardiff will bombard us with high balls into our box and so 3 CBs will be helpful, plus Tosins height will be important.

Maybe I’m alone but I didn’t think Bennett was that bad. Not great, but not terrible either. He struggled for the first 20/30 minutes, but then I think a lot of right backs will struggle against Grosicky, but I thought he got better and nullified the threat much better in the second half. I thought Gallacher struggled a bit out wide, but then it was his bit of skill that led to the free-kick that we scored from, so I guess he played his part. Travis is fantastic at hassling the opposition and winning the ball back, but I thought his passing was poor, as it was on Saturday too. Which I guess is encouraging as we know he can be better and we’re still winning. It’s been said many times already, but Williams is a revelation at CB. Could easily have won MotM in each of the last 2 games. And finally, I know we’d love him to start, but Rothwell coming on full of energy for the last 20 minutes is a real help when we’re winning. He keeps the ball so well and moves us up the pitch which stops us from being pinned back.

For me the two most pleasing moments were 1) Williams bringing down their striker late on when a couple of missed challenges looked like they were going to allow him to run through on goal 2) Johnson keeping the ball in the corner right at the end of the game Both instances showed that maybe finally we’re moving away from being too nice and getting a bit of shithousery into our team

On the evidence of the last 2 games (Fulham A & Oldham H) it can. That’s not to say that Bennett is a good (or even adequate) RB, but Nyambe was so poor on Tuesday there’s no way he has forced his way into the team

You keep making this claim about Graham playing on the left wing, but he didn't. He was up front with Brereton - Buckley and Downing were the wide players, albeit tucked in with Nyambe and Cunningham overlapping. Graham played slightly to the left, with Brereton to the right, but they were essentially a front two. He certainly wasn't playing as a left winger, or left mid - I just don't know why you seem to think he was

You’re right. I do remember that incident now. Still though my recollection of his time on loan with us is of him flying past defenders for fun, and he was a pale imitation of that tonight. Maybe it’s just my memory playing tricks on me and giving me unrealistic expectations, I just anticipated him having a bigger impact

Funny how people see things differently. Personally I thought Brereton was looking good in the first half, up until the moment he was played through and his touch let him down - after that his head seemed to drop a bit, but up til then he looked lively, good movement, looking to play some nice 1 touch give & go’s. I do think there’s a player in there somewhere, but as others have said it might be a confidence thing. If only his header had gone in 2nd half, rather than being kept out by a goal line handball, maybe we would have seen him grow a bit more. But I’m amazed that people are still putting Nyambe at RB in their first choice line-ups. I’ve been as critical of Bennett as anyone, but after tonight I can’t see Ryan challenging for that spot for a while. He was abject - his performance summed up by the fact that Downing overtook him chasing back for their first goal. Our play was slow and ponderous all first half and Nyambe was the biggest culprit in my opinion, forever turning backwards, taking 3 touches when 1 was needed- right at the end of the first half he screwed a clearance into touch and my son turned to me and said ‘At least he kicked it forward for once’ I was also disappointed in Chapman when he came on. He seemed reluctant to run at the defence and I don’t recall him beating a man all evening. Dack was the game-changer. We really do need to get him firing on all cylinders if we’ve got any chance of a decent season

Personally I think the shirt looks ok and would probably be a good shirt to wear with jeans etc, although as a functional away shirt it is inherently flawed as it is too similar in colour to the home shirt The less said about the shorts and socks, however, the better ?

Just because we finished above a team doesn’t mean that individual players from that team can’t be an improvement on what we’ve got.* That argument is like saying ‘What’s the point in Utd buying Maguire since they already have defenders and they finished above Leicester anyway’ (*I haven’t seen this kid from Liverpool so I’m not saying that’s the case here, just making a general point about the argument)

£1.75m according to Mowbray - https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/revealed-bargain-price-blackburn-paid-15000800.amp and Benitez - https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rafa-benitez-decided-sell-adam-15631184.amp But I guess if you know different then...

I’m having a deja vu moment - I’m sure I remember reading almost exactly the same stuff all last summer about Adam Armstrong who supposedly had a release clause of about £3.5m Post after post of ‘we should just pay it and stop faffing around’ and ‘Mowbray doesn’t know what he’s doing’ for about 2 months until low and behold we signed him for about 50% of what posters on here had been urging us to pay. Maybe, just every now and again, we should give the club and the manager the benefit of the doubt, no?

This idea of keeping Raya whilst also signing an experienced keeper for him to learn from is great in theory - and I’m sure Mowbray would have liked to do that too - but it ignores that, for it to be successful, Raya would have to be happy to go from being number 1 every week to sitting on the bench for the majority of at least 1 season. In reality that’s unlikely and therefore it’s probably better to cash in - and get some money to fund the experienced keeper who won’t come cheap - than keep a player who is unhappy and will affect team morale etc

I disagree. I think we all want Rovers to succeed. The difference between the two groups is that one believe Mowbray can deliver that and the other doesn’t. And like I say, those views have become entrenched within some, with some posters unable to see any bad in Mowbray and some unable to see any good. To take Bauer as an example, one group is now saying that he wasn’t that great and there are better signings to be had when, as you pointed out, the same posters would probably have been lauding him as a great signing had he signed. However the other group are now chastising Mowbray for being unable to land a target he had chased for a year, but presumably had he signed wouldn’t have credited Mowbray with being able to get his man, but instead claimed that there were better signings available and that Mowbray was settling for mediocrity. And to be honest it makes for dull reading on both sides. I long for the bygone (probably non-existent) days when we used to discuss the team and manager on their merits, rather than taking every little thing and twisting it to score points for our own particular viewpoint (In truth I’m probably just sick of it happening with regards to politics and want this place to be a break from that particular depressing reality)

Indeed, and I imagine that many of those using this as a stick to beat Mowbray with, would have been underwhelmed had he signed and then used that as a stick to beat Mowbray with instead. It’s almost as though people have entrenched views and use every action, inaction, rumour and whatever else as confirmation of those views

Another of those things on here that are repeated so often they become ‘fact’ even though they’re not https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2003/jan/07/sport.comment1 https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/4750711.former-blackburn-rovers-striker-puts-world-cup-agony-in-past/ https://www.lep.co.uk/news/life-is-good-at-last-for-matt-1-3323971/amp

The ball was out on the wing, which is where I presume the ref was looking, and the pull back happened on about the penalty spot. There’s a chance the ref did see it, but at best he could only have seen the incident in his peripheral vision and therefore would have been guessing. I really don’t see what’s wrong with giving the ref another chance to see things that he has missed - in this incident, once he had seen the replay he made his decision very quickly - indicating that he wasn’t in any doubt and, had he seen it initially, he would have blown there and then. It’s only a issue because it’s gone against us - had the same decision been reached at the other end, saving us from a defeat instead of preventing a win, then I wager the tone on here (and in the commentary) would have been very different and we’d all be saying what a good thing VAR is.

But in the opinion of the ref on the field it was - he was the one who went over to watch it and it was his decision. Had he seen the incident as it happened he would have blown his whistle before the ball ever got put in the net - and we might have moaned a bit, but then the ref can never please everyone. It is the same as it ever was - some they’ll get right, some they’ll get wrong (all in our subjective opinion of course). All VAR does is allow the ref to have eyes in the back of his head, so to speak, and see more of what happens on the field