DE.

Well, at least no Rovers fans had to travel to see this. The line-up and performance is a slap in the face as it is, let alone for anybody paying for the privelege of going to Barnsely to support the lads and being served up this shit as thanks.

I want Mowbray rescinded. The bloke has lost the plot, needs to go before he really sets us back in the summer. Every manager has a shelf life and Tony has reached his. Thanks for getting us back up from League 1, now please go and let somebody come in who can balance the squad properly.

Didn't look like a red to me, but for fuck's sake. He wasn't even on the pitch ten minutes. The only positive is that Samuel being on the pitch was like the opposition having an extra player so we haven't necessarily lost anything.

Have we actually had a shot this half? Can't remember if Big Dom's miss was before or after the break.

Is this a sign of things to come under Tony's much publicised "new style" ? More possession, less goals and a defence that's been shit since the moment he arrived and never been seriously improved.

What worries me is Walton's poor post-lockdown performances will make Brighton think twice about using him next season (as was rumoured to be their original plan) meaning he'll end up back here again - probably after 2 months of trying and failing to secure a better goalkeeper again.

Also a problem that Downing is 36 and Tosin is a loan! Holtby is ours but can't play much more than 60 mins when he is fit...

Under Mowbray we've always been far more effective when being direct and using Graham/Dack as a focal point, so I can't say that article fills me with optimism. Not much good having 70% possession if you never score. I don't fundamentally disagree with what Mowbray is saying, I just don't believe he's the man to implement such a sweeping change in style.

I'd be extremely wary of selling any defenders as we are yet to buy any decent permanent defenders. Tosin & Cunningham both loans and the latter got injured almost immediately. Mowbray has had a fair few transfer misfires up top as well but at least we seem to be willing to invest in the attacking side of the team... not so much the defensive side,

If I had to take a punt I would tip Hull, Luton and Barnsley for the final three places - although Stoke, Charlton or Huddersfield could easily fall through the trap door if Luton or Barnsely pick up a string of good results from the final few games. Boro will be fine with Warnock in charge. Wigan also have enough to get over the line.

The guy has had an entire season to learn his lesson re: Bennett and Gallagher, so I can't imagine one game making any difference at this stage. His stubbornness is a huge problem.

Yeah, it's strange but even when our better players are injured or suspended it doesn't seem to make that much difference to our overall form. In fact when Dack got injured I believe our form generally picked up rather than declined - but I believe it would have been roughly the same whether he'd have been present or not. Under TM our form seems to swing between good and bad irrespective of who is playing. Sometimes we'll see a line up and think "yes, that's exactly what we need" and the resulting performance will be dire. Alternatively sometimes we'll see a line up and think "wtf" and we'll go on to play well and win.That's why for the most part I've stopped paying attention to how we line up as it seems to have no major bearing on the end result. In my view it's not a good thing as it suggests we can't get the best out of our top players, and our system is largely designed to limit every player to a certain ability level. Good enough to keep us in mid-table as long as the standard of player is on average fairly decent, but never enough to push us beyond that point and in danger of dragging us downwards if the quality of players at the club begins to nosedive as it did during GB's tenure (and I would argue he was very similar to Mowbray in regards to the above).

A bit strange to say that and that set up with a 4-6-0 formation against a team who were 12 points behind us in the table.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see Gallagher toiling away on the right again Tuesday.

Indeed he has, but I would guess our overall transfer/wage budget still ranks somewhere in the middle of the division. It's something a better manager could get us into the playoffs with, but I don't think TM ever will.

Tony's penchant for overloading the team with strikers has been a consistent trait throughout his career - which is odd when you consider he played as a defender. I'm struggling to think of many permanent defensive additions he's brought in that have improved us. Raya, Lenihan, Nyambe and Mulgrew were already here. Downing I suppose you could count as he did make a good contribution, but other than that I'm struggling to think of anybody.

With our budget I don't think we'll ever have a squad that is top six in the division for ability. This represents a problem as I don't see Mowbray as an overachieving manager, just one who meets basic expectations. If we want to get promoted I do think we would need to change manager, but can understand the reluctance to do so as Venky's do not have a track record of appointing managers with the ability to overachieve.

I believe Kean and Eastwood both came in during the season (when Robinson was injured, maybe?) so it's a somewhat fair comparison. I don't think Raya or Fielding are significantly better than Walton so I'd still like us to do better than that. I'm not confident of Tony being able to do so, though.

It's sad to see how Rothwell has regressed this season. Being relegated to the bench seemed to knock his confidence at the start of the season and he doesn't seem to have ever really recovered. Either that or his performances at the end of the previous season were just a purple patch and what we're seeing now is his actual ability. Either way it's been a very disappointing season for Rothwell.

Have to agree, at most I think he'll be a 6-10 goals a season striker, which means we'll need more goals from the rest of the team.

I fear we've dropped a major bollock with this one. The manager does not help when he plays him out wide, but he's not that impressive in the middle either. It might just be that the system we play doesn't suit him, but we aren't getting £5m back for him so we either need to find a way to make it work or accept a likely significant loss (as nobody will pay him the wages we do either), move him on and look elsewhere.

Remembering Jake Kean and Simon Eastwood the answer is yes, they coud. I would much rather we look for an experienced goalkeeper than try to promote one from the academy earlier than we should. Walton is just an average Championship keeper - generally OK but prone to mistakes. If Brighton want him back it won't concern me, but I would be concerned if we ended up with an Academy keeper between the sticks next season.

An unfortunate reality check. Glad to see the back of Wigan after the dire 0-0 in December where Dack got injured, and now this. We played some pretty football at times today but had zero end product. Perhaps not surprising considering the starting line-up, which was concerning. If Armstrong is struggling fot fitness or something else I hope it is sorted soon, as we can't rely on Gallagher, Holtby and Brereton to provide us with goals - and for the record the latter two were decent today, but they aren't goalscorers.

In fairness I would be stunned if we went up with this team. There are a few legit gems but they are surrounded by a lot of inconsistent players and some genuinely poor ones, and we don't have the kind of manager who overachieves - just one who more or less keeps a team where it should be based on the talent available.

Subs don't seem to have helped us today at all. We seem to have been noticeably worse since Tony started making them. A shame as we needed some fresh impetus on the pitch, but I feel we brought off some players we shouldn't have. With that said for all Holtby's talent he rarely seems to complete much more than 60 minutes which is a problem.