That’s not what I said, is it? I said that Brereton wasn’t to blame for the goals that we conceded. Do you disagree? Which of the mistakes that led to the goals would Graham have prevented if he were on the pitch? I’m not saying that Mowbray doesn’t get things wrong (although I feel that they are highlighted on here far more than the things he gets right), but to lay the blame for today’s dropped points at his door is just plain wrong imo. Yes, you can say that the players who f**ked up were selected by him, but as I’ve pointed out, they were also the same players that got us 2-0 up and bossed the game for the most part - so it’s not just as simple as saying if he’d chosen other players we’d have won

Mowbray did pick them and they got us into a comfortable 2-0 lead with 15 mins left to play. If these players were as bad as some on here are making out then surely that would never have happened - we should be getting rolled over week in week out if you believed the pundits on here, since we have no decent full backs, no proper wingers, no central midfield, no creativity going forward, no commanding centrehalf - it's a miracle that we not 20 points adrift at the foot of the table really ? Raya cost us two points today - not Mowbray, not Brereton, not a mentality of sitting back or anything else. It was a brainfart moment from the goalkeeper which gifted them a way back into a game that was all but won up to that point. And if anyone thinks that Mowbray didn't read him the riot act after the game then they obviously don't sit as close behind him as we do - he was absolutely livid on the touchline in that second half

I’m not convinced that Mowbray or his tactics made Raya come charging out and give away a ridiculous penalty, nor made Bell and then Evans give the ball away cheaply and Smallwood completely sell himself instead of covering round. And, for however poorly Brereton did when he came on, he too had no effect on those things either. And without them we’d have cruised to a comfortable 2-0 victory - maybe Mowbray should get credit for coaching us into such a commanding position in the first place

Exactly. Hence the phrase ‘I think...’ - it’s not rocket science is it? As to your other points - Armstrong played wide in virtually every game I saw last season, which was most of them. But I do agree he looked good at times. And, whilst winning more than we lose is not in itself an argument for playing Armstrong out wide, it is an argument to say that Mowbray is getting things generally right and perhaps deserves more respect than posters on here saying he’s lost the plot or implying he’s stupid. Anyway, I’ll leave it there. I only came on to get a sense of how we’d played as I had to miss the game and I got riled by the disrespect shown to,imo, a decent manager. But I guess it’s just further reinforcement of why I no longer come on here as much

I’d argue, once again, that you are confusing your opinion for fact. Since football is a team sport, and since we’ve won more games than we’ve lost this season, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that playing Armstrong wide is a ‘failed experiment that isn’t working’. By all means state that you don’t like Armstrong playing out there, or that you think someone else could do a better job, but be clear that that is your opinion and not a fact. And be clear also that 100 times out of 100 I’d choose the opinion of a man who has been involved in professional football over that of a nomark on a messageboard. Btw, I think the dropping of Armstrong for Conway is more down to attitude than level of performance. Mowbray was very critical of the team as a whole for their attitude on Wednesday and he knows, as do we all, that Conway will always give 100% effort, even when he’s not playing particularly well, and - especially with Bennett missing - I think that’s why he was chosen rather than it being an admission that we need ‘proper’ wingers.

I’d suggest that 29 points from 20 games, sitting just 5 points outside the playoffs at the start of December, arguably a better start than most of us expected this season, means that it must work to some degree, no? Add that to my earlier point about Armstrong being our most threatening attacking player in at least 2 recent games and maybe it’s less a discussion of ‘an experiment that just doesn’t work‘ than ‘something blueboy3333 off of BRFCS doesn’t like’. There seems to be a dislike of Mowbray from a few on here (and you’re the most vocal) that I just can’t fathom. After the last 6 or 7 years he is like a breath of fresh air and has more than surpassed my expectations, but yet a number of posters on here seem to delight in bashing him when we lose and belittle his involvement when we win. To read some of the comments on here you’d think we were battling relegation, getting hammered week in week out, with a manager trying experimental formations that no one else is ‘stupid’ enough to try. But thank God it’s not negative on here, eh?

I don’t want to rain on your ‘Mowbray knows nothing’ parade, but just a couple of points that I think need making: 1) Conway’s last appearance was against Derby (I think) where he was, rightly, taken off halfway through the first half. I don’t recall many on here (including you) demanding his reinstatement to the team following that game 2) Whilst it’s true that Armstrong isn’t a natural winger and he has struggled at times, he was also arguably our best player in the games against Leeds and Rotherham playing from that left wing and, again, I don’t recall many on here demanding he be dropped or moved from that position following those games.

I was counting the 2 games this week as ‘one’ occurrence - I can’t yet bring myself to accept that we were that shit twice! Also I can’t agree on the Rotherham game. The result was disappointing, but I thought overall we played quite well and created enough chances to have won the game comfortably. Had we taken one of them and won 2-1, I don’t think anyone would have been suggesting that it was a poor performance

The difference being that this was a one-off (hopefully), or very rare at least, whereas under Dumb & Dumber it was a weekly occurrence

Maybe, but my point is that you don't have to buy it - as many people have pointed out, they haven't and aren't really missing out on anything. Increased ticket prices, and even the surcharge to some extent, are more of an example of the club trying squeeze fans - as the match ticket is a fairly essential part of the whole fan experience - but the membership scheme isn't. It is a add-on, something that people will buy if they feel it is good value and won't if they don't, and ultimately it's something that won't massively affect your experience either way.

Let me start by saying that I agree with you that Rovers have got there pricing wrong for 1875 membership and, like you, I haven’t signed up this year after being a member last year. But - I don’t think I’m particularly missing out or being inconvenienced in any way by it so I’m not sure what the point of moaning about it is. Ultimately it is like anything else, it has a price and people will decide whether or not to buy depending on how they assess its value. For instance, I’d love a new iPhone, but I can’t justify spending £1000 on one so I won’t buy it. If the pricing of the membership is wrong not many people will buy it and it’s the club who miss out and so might reassess for next year. Having said that - if you were not a ST holder, couldn’t buy tickets in advance for whatever reason, and were likely to come to at least 6 games, then you’d actually save money by paying the £15 membership fee, plus get extra money to spend at the club shop and a few extra perks too - so maybe it is worth the price Genuine question here - has anyone on here actually been affected by the surcharge? Turned up on spur of the moment and had to pay it? Or been put off from attending because of it? Or are we all getting upset on behalf of the hypothetical family who might decide at 2pm to stroll down to Ewood? I imagine that in reality the people most affected by it are away fans - and that it is actually in place to deter late sales, as they need extra stewarding etc. I know last season there were a couple of away games (can’t remember which ones) where I thought about going after my sons game was called off in the morning, only to be put off by a surcharge in one instance, and a refusal to sell tickets on the day in the second!

It would be so easy to solve if there was any real appetite to do so, but ultimately time wasting only really negatively affects the paying public and we all know that the authorities don’t care one jot about them. 2 quick suggestions - 1) when the ball goes out of play you have 20secs to get it back in play again. Failure to do so means a booking for the player closest to the restart. Goes for throw-ins, goal-kicks, corners, free-kicks. Any action to impede the restart, e.g kicking the ball away, picking the ball up and walking away etc is an automatic yellow card 2) For substitutions you have 30secs before play starts again. If your player is still walking off or the sub isn’t in position, tough. For both the time could be displayed as a countdown on the scoreboard/screen, in the same way as the NFL have the play clock, so that it is completely transparent and not down to the refs interpretation. Both would be fairly simple to implement and both would improve the current situation imo

You do realise that Smallwood only went in goal because we’d already made 3 subs and so we couldn’t bring on Leutweiler, rather than TM just preferring to chuck a CM in goal, don’t you?

I'm not sure it's fair to say we were particularly poor in the first half against Forest. We started slowly, and obviously could have been behind from the penalty, but from 20 mins onwards we were clearly the better team, and but for a couple of good saves, a wonder clearance off the line and the width of the crossbar we could have been 2 or 3 goals to the good at half-time. Also I keep reading about how Mowbray has been given funds and how we've spent a good chunk - obviously compared with recent times we have spent a decent amount for us, but considering we're starting from a net spend in the region of -£30million over the last 5 years or so, and teams in this league have squads that cost upwards of £60million to put together, I'm not sure that spending roughly £10million over 2 years is being 'given funds to build a much deeper squad' - to put it in perspective, Forest spent more than that on 1 player this summer, as did Boro last summer.

I expect us to finish comfortably mid-table, but think that Mowbray and the team are targeting the top end of that, around 8th or 9th, in order to set us up for a proper push next season - similar to what Sheff Utd did last season and so far this

I agree that we missed Nyambe last night. Not just defensively, but his willingness to get forward and give us width on the right is crucial to the way we play too. Bennett, for a supposedly attacking player, was incredibly negative from rb last night. Very rarely looked to play forwards, unwilling to overlap and I can’t remember him trying to go past a man. It all meant that we had no attacking threat on that side of the pitch, especially in the first half. In fact the only positive moment came when Reed and Bennett briefly switched positions and Reed picked out a great through ball inside the fullback for Bennett to run onto. I wonder if it might have been an idea to start those two the other way around down the right.

I agree to an extent. Our current team is hardworking and functional, rather than exciting and free-flowing, but I don’t think that is Mowbray’s natural or preferred style. I have a mate who is a WBA season ticket holder and he raves about Mowbray’s team there - the way they passed and moved, kept possession and tore teams apart. If you look at some of the players that he has signed - the likes of Rothwell, Davenport, Palmer etc, I think ideally he wants us to play a more possession based style - but he obviously doesn’t trust the players to implement it yet. He spoke early last season about changing his plans and playing a more counter-attacking style as the team suited it more. Plus, the current system seems to be getting results so he’d be a fool to ditch it too quickly, but I do expect that he will try for a slow evolution, especially once we’re safe and I imagine that next season we might be a different looking team

Second half we switched formation and matched them up in a 3-4-1-2, with Armstrong playing more centrally with Graham. We did actually look better like that, although Armstrong actually looked worse through the middle and Graham and Dack were both off the boil all game, so even though we looked more comfortable we never looked like we would create anything. After they went ahead, we switched again to a 4-4-2 with Dack wide right and Armstrong and Brereton through the middle, but we looked even worse than in the first half and there was only ever going to be one winner. Hopefully it’s just an off night and we’ll be back firing again on Saturday. Incidentally, the way that Sheff Utd set up and played with 3-4-1-2 and the wide centre backs stepping forward to create overloads out wide, is the way that I think Mowbray would ideally like us to play. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see some variation of 3-5-2 on Saturday

Genuinely can’t believe I’m reading this. Rewind two seasons to when clownpants was here and we’d have been delighted with finishing mid-table. What has changed to make you believe we should be challenging for promotion? I know we’ve spent a bit of money, but nowhere near the likes of Villa, Middlesbrough etc. No - the only reason that we can even begin to dream about promotion is the man whose head you’re calling for! As someone else said - get a grip!!

Don't disagree that we often draw games that we should have won (although it is also true that we often seem to dig draws out of games where we probably ought to have lost too, so swings and roundabouts perhaps) But - I'm not entirely sure it's fair to put all the blame on Mowbray for that - as you said today we lost points through poor finishing - that's not a tactical decision from Mowbray that has cost us - I'm fairly convinced that he hasn't sent them out and told them not to put the ball in the back of the net!

I too thought it was a cracking game - after our now customary slow start I thought we dominated the game from the 25 min mark, up until our second goal - and on another day we could have scored 4 or 5. We had 2 cleared off the line, 1 off the bar, plus a couple of decent saves from their keeper. Unfortunately in the end, however, we just didn't have an answer for their lad, Madley, in the centre of the park - the one in the black shirt!! We did seem to go off the boil as soon as we scored the second though - I don't know if that was a mental thing or was caused by the substitution. Personally I think he should have waited 5 mins before making the change as soon as the goal went in, however I suppose no-one can accuse him of negativity today since it was a positive substitution rather than one designed just to hold on to the lead. Motm for me was Reed - I thought he had a cracking game once he'd grown into a bit - he looked a bit lost for 20 mins or so, but then he was everywhere harassing and tackling, but with quality on the ball too. Almost unheard of for a player to have both in our midfield of late! Like I say - a very enjoyable game, bar the result. One of the fans coming off commented that it could have finished 5-5, but I don't think even that ref would have got away with giving them 5 penalties!!

Do you honestly believe that we had a chance of winning the competition this season, even if we played our first 11 in every round?? I’ll be honest and say I don’t. We potentially could have beaten Bournemouth, maybe even gone on a couple more rounds, but eventually we’d have drawn a Man City, a Liverpool, a Spurs etc and we’d have gone out - having played a number of extra games and possibly damaged our (already slim) chances of reaching the playoffs. I don’t think it’s any surprise that Bristol City’s form tailed off from March onwards last season following the number of extra matches they played to reach the semifinals and get hammered by Man City. If I felt that we genuinely had a chance - say like Leicester, Bournemouth, Southampton - hell even the Dingles - then I’d be right there with you in being disappointed in the manager playing a weakened team - but I just don’t think that it applies in our situation

I don’t think the late goal today is down to lack of game management by the team, but down to a slip, and then an absolute brain fart moment, from Williams. That allows them the opportunity to throw the ball into the box right at the death, with everyone forward, and from there anything can happen. And I know, with hindsight, it’s easy to say that we shouldn’t have played the ball back to Williams there, but had we tried to cross the ball and lost it and then concede from them breaking on us, we’d all be saying that we should have been smarter and kept possession and ‘managed’ the game better - so no criticism from me for trying to do that, just a shame it didn’t work out. To be honest, I think tonight’s result is about the best we could have hoped for. Not a damaging defeat by a big margin, a terrific fightback and proof that we can mix it with better teams, but going out of a competition that we can’t win, and which takes its toll especially on a small squad, in a respectable way. It probably would have been better to go out on penalties than to a last minute goal, but ultimately have to say that I’m not sorry we’re out - and hopefully the performance in defeat will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season and maybe a push at the playoffs

I had my wallet stolen a few weeks back with 3 season tickets in. The guy at the ticket office was very apologetic, but said he had to charge me as the system wouldn’t let him do it for no payment. He did only charge for 1 of the tickets though, which was a bonus. It’s not just rovers who charge for replacement cards though, as I unfortunately found out. £20 for a new driving licence, £5 for a new student card, plus a few others as well. As others have said I’m not sure this is something to beat the club over

Samuel??