Bell, Tosin and Walton all almost contributing to a monumental fuck up there. Bell the worst culprit playing Tosin into a difficult situation.

Just as a friendly reminder please don't post any dubious links to streams in this thread

I had forgotten about Mulgrew, and apparently Mowbray has as well. If he can't get a look in with our options so thin on the ground then I think he's done here. I doubt we'll ever see him in a Rovers shirt again. It doesn't bother me as far as on-field is concerned as I think Mulgrew brings more negatives than positives at this stage of his career, but what an incredible waste of a big wage.

It wouldn't be so bad if Nyambe and Lenihan weren't both so injury prone, but we're playing with fire going down this route imo. Do we really need Samuel, Brereton and Graham all on the bench? It's already been shown before that just throwing six attackers on the pitch doesn't equal goals, so I don't really see the lack of balance as a positive. It worries me.

You're not wrong, but even one defender on loan in the Jan window would have been enough. Out of curiosity why did we recall Magloire if he doesn't even get on the bench when we have no central defenders available for cover? Is he injured or what?

Disappointed to see Gallagher back in the starting line up as I don't really think he's earned the right over Samuel. Not that either are right wingers but Dom deserves to start ahead of Gallagher right now. Nonetheless Gallagher was £5m on a hefty wage and Dom cost £400k and is probably on pittance comparatively so the pressure is no doubt there to start Gallagher one way or another. Let's hope SG repays TM's faith with a goal or two tonight. Pleased to see Rothwell right back into the team. He'd just got going when he got injured before so hopefully has some motivation to keep that fire burning. This is a good match for him to get his teeth into as Stoke concede often and are shown to crumble defensively when put under pressure. The lack of defenders on the bench is a huge concern but that's a consequence of our barren January window. Mowbray will have to hope luck is on his side. I suppose if Lenihan or Tosin get injured Nyambe can move to CB and that would probably mean Bennett coming on at RB. Not ideal but it is what it is.

I think Forest are similar to us in that they've had some very good players there over the years, but never found the right manager to get them playing well enough as a unit. Seems like they might have finally found their guy now though.

These lads got smashed 4-2 by QPR on 15th Feb, beaten 2-0 by Preston on 12th Feb and also got hammered 4-0 by Derby on 31st Jan. Nothing to fear if we're positive and go for it from the off.

According to the Beeb Bristol City have lost 9 out of their last 15 Championship matches. Ouch.

Lots of excuses can be made for not winning tonight. The simple fact is successful teams get the job done in circumstances like this. Let's see how far we've really come.

Unfortunately yes that's pretty much the case and has been for a while.

I think most of us did to be fair. As you say he looked totally ineffective for long periods, but since Dack has been injured Arma has really stepped up.

I remember very few people complaining about Armstrong's fee in all honesty. Gripes about his performances were purely based on his perceived value to the team at the time and other options which weren't being explored. Armstrong did go through a period of repeated poor performances and kept getting selected. Any player and manager would come under some criticism for that. His fee, as far as I remember, was rarely brought up in a negative sense or to compound the issue in any way. Armstrong just wasn't performing at the level we needed. Obviously that's changed and long may it continue.

In fairness I don't think this is entirely true. Whilst you're right that people have complained about Armstrong, it was usually tempered with "but at least he only cost us £1.75m" rather than also being angry at the fee. That was generally considered the saving grace for giving him time to come good (and on current form that is now happening). With Brereton and Gallagher it's somewhat the opposite as the feeling is that we've significantly overpaid rather than underpaid or paid the going rate.

Just to note even though Blue Blood is showing as being quoted for this post it was actually Paul Mani's words...

Bowyer had a lower transfer budget and higher wage bill, with the opposite being the case for Mowbray. The ultimate difference in budgets probably isn't that big overall. As far as the stability of the club both walked into chaos, but Mowbray has benefited from being able to build a more stable behind-the-scenes structure than Bowyer ever experienced. Although that may be down to TM's desire to do so and Bowyer's lack of experience in understanding the necessity of doing so. Until TM betters Bowyer's league finishes I don't think it can conclusively be said he's doing better, but it's a pointless comparison to me anyway. The aim is top six and so far neither Bowyer nor Mowbray has achieved it. It doesn't really matter to me who finished 8th or 10th or 15th or whatever. All finishes that achieved nothing ultimately so much of the same.

Yeah, this is exactly right. It's alright putting in good performances against the clubs around us, but you have to put the poorer clubs to the sword too if you want to seriously challenge for promotion. We've gotten ourselves into a great position over the past couple of months and back-to-back home wins would really set the cat amongst the pigeons as far as the run in is concerned, and announce us as genuine contenders for a playoff spot. I think this game and the following Swansea match will be huge in determining where our season goes from here.

I've decided to re-open the poll as I have a feeling a few people may want to change their vote. I've amended mine from a 'no' to a 'maybe', which it probably should have been from the start anyway but in light of recent performances I'm definitely not in the absolute 'no' camp at this point.

Just had to hide a lot of ridiculous bickering stemming largely from one inflammatory comment. Firstly, please stop it. Secondly, apologies to anyone caught up in the collateral damage with posts hidden. It is what it is.

I think 4th choice is a bit misleading. Whilst it's technically true the fact is Steele is there as a token English player to bolster the quota, much like Grant at Man Utd and various others. They are in name "3rd choice" but in reality are just training dummies that will never see first team action. Walton on the other hand potentially has a future so is being loaned out accordingly to ensure he continues to progress and get experience.

Was just looking at Imbula's wikipedia page and couldn't help but laugh at this

Strange one as frankly Newcastle under Ashley will never be absolute top level, they'll do well to remain a mid-table PL side. Arma would definitely be an asset for them right now if they'd kept hold of him imo, whether that be this season or next season if they were still loaning him out.

To be honest there's a hint of delusions of grandeur going on as far as Ipswich are concerned. A lot of their fans still fancy them as a big club based on winning the FA & UEFA Cups in the late 70s and early 80s. Never mind that they've barely achieved anything of note since then, other than a couple of good years in the late 90's and early 00's when they got promoted back to the PL and finished 5th during the first of their last two seasons in the top flight. Fact is most people remember them more for getting drubbed 9-0 by Man Utd in 1995. It has its own wikipedia page ffs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_United_F.C._9–0_Ipswich_Town_F.C. With their budget they are nothing more than a lower to mid-table Championship club at best. It's a reality many of their fans still can't accept.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51599290 - Stoke cancel Imbula's contract, an £18m signing with 18 months left to run on his contract. Talk about throwing money down the drain.

I can't remember the reason TM wanted to stay at Hibs off the top of my head, but to be honest I never thought he'd leave here for Ipswich. There was no good reason to. They had a smaller budget than us, worse players and a fanbase who had just hounded their previous manager out by chanting all sorts of disgusting slurs at him. Frankly I'd have been stunned if TM even gave the Ipswich offer a second thought and I doubt he did.