I think part of it comes from his admission that he essentially lets the dressing room police itself. I'm guessing the likes of Mulgrew and Bennett are a big part of that, hence the lack of directly calling them out in public, whereas younger players like Raya and Travis aren't in that bracket, and so are more open to be criticised. Personally I don't agree with singling out players in public interviews at all, as I think it's completely counterproductive, but it makes sense based on what Mowbray has said previously.

Unfortunately mate we've been here before. Under Bowyer we had Rhodes and Gestede firing in 20+ goals a season, supplied by the likes of Conway, Marshall and King. We even had Hanley and Duffy at CB which most would see as a decent enough Championship pairing. Unfortunately in Bowyer's case his blind spot was CM, where we had the likes of Evans, Lowe, Williamson, etc slowing us down, and RB where it was Lowe, Kane, Henley, and so on. Not to mention GK as if Robbo wasn't available we were playing the likes of Jake Kean and Simon Eastwood. It seems like we always have a part of the team hugely unbalanced, undoing the good work done by the rest of the team. It's very frustrating. I agree that we really aren't that far away. I still think we need a LB alongside a CB, but it looks like we'll get neither and once again a lack of balance is likely to hinder our efforts in the coming season.

Six weeks or so I believe, so it'll almost certainly be Mulgrew/Lenihan starting against Charlton. I think almost everybody on here at the end of last season agreed there was no way Mulgrew should be starting at CB come the first game of this season, so it would have to be classed as a massive disappointment should that happen... and it seems inevitable at this point.

He also said similar about the defence at that fans meeting towards the end of the season, so I don't think it was just a one off angry comment. At one point I'm sure he did think the defence did need an overhaul. It's possible our decent end to the season changed his mind (we only conceded seven goals in our final seven games, compared to conceding ten in our previous seven) but if so then I fear he has made a grave error of judgement based on a set of matches that were mostly played with teams that had little if anything to play for. If Lenihan gets injured again it currently leaves us with Mulgrew, Williams and Nyambe as CB options... and if Tony isn't scared of that possibility he certainly should be. As with any manager I'll ultimately only judge Mowbray on results. Maybe he will find a way to get a tune out of our current defence plus the City kid, assuming he arrives. I find it unlikely but stranger things have happened. We undeniably have a tough start to the season though, and he could find himself under some serious early pressure if we struggle to pick up points in the first month and a bit of the season and are still leaking goals. We've seen last season that we have a tendency to go on very poor runs of form, but our good start last season combined with some truly terrible teams below us meant we were never really close to the relegation zone even when we were losing regularly. It could be very different this season and I have to admit I'm not convinced Mowbray could turn it around if we find ourselves at the bottom end of the table in October.

I agree that I don't think Mowbray is intentionally trying to prolong his tenure by not spending money and therefore not raising expectation - would be a stupid thing to do considering Bowyer was sacked when we were in mid table - but I do think something has changed between the end of last season and the present day that we aren't privy to. Mowbray inferred more than once last season that defence would be a key focus during this window and... here we are. Suddenly he's saying a CB pool of Nyambe, Mulgrew, Lenihan and Williams is "alright". I mean... it just isn't, is it? Lenihan is the only proven decent CB out of the lot and he's injury prone. Mulgrew is both injury prone and a very poor CB. Nyambe is untested in that position long-term, and Williams, whilst a better CB than LB, isn't close to a top six CB. I've mentioned before that I think Mowbray talks too much. Sometimes it's better to say less, especially if you're prone to giving contradictory opinions across months if not weeks. Despite what some say he does not HAVE to reveal anything if a microphone is in his face. He can choose to say little or nothing if he wants to. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have a manager willing to communicate, but not when he sends mixed and contradictory messages as he has been with our defence. To me that is just concerning and suggests there is some frustration behind the scenes not allowing the manager to do what he wants to do.

Yeah, as stated above transfer discussion should go in the transfer thread, so I am going to lock this one.

It is annoying when Morgana stops you from going out - gets much better when you can go out in the evenings and after Mementos though. The Bank palace was really cool... you've still got the most irritating/difficult one coming up though

I just can't see us cracking top 6 with a defence of Bennett - Lenihan - Mulgrew - Bell. Even swapping Nyambe for Bennett or the City lad for Mulgrew I just don't think it's strong enough.

I think Palmer is a decent Championship level player tbf, but he needs to be in a specific role - AMC - which we already had Dack in last season anyway. Palmer wasn't a loan we really needed, and we probably would have been better off loaning a proper wide player rather than trying to shoehorn Palmer into that position.

And the most important fact - we were bloody rubbish under him, and on our way to the Championship!

Next N. Ireland match is 05/09 I think, so we can expect a spell of fitness and a couple of good performances around that time.

I believe that was Oliver Holt. That was one of the worst pieces of "journalism" I've ever seen.

Defensively at home we were pretty good, but away from home we were literally the worst in the entire football league. It would suggest our defenders struggle to deal with pressure, particularly when teams are attacking us. You could make an argument that our tactics away are wrong, too, so it either requires an experienced head at the back to help manage games where we're under pressure, or a significant change in tactics to avoid inviting unnecessary pressure when we're on our travels.

It's a shame he plays CM as it's a position we're arguably already overstocked in. Evans, Johnson and Travis are likely to be ahead of him in the pecking order, and we currently still have Smallwood lurking around with Downing also able to play that position if needed. I'd be happy to get rid of Evans & Smallwood to allow players like Buckley a visible route to the first team, but at the moment it's unfortunately looking like both will be staying.

Worryingly suggests that, as I suspected, TM does not consider LB a priority and is happy with Bell/Williams in that position. I think this is going to be a very weak link for us in the coming season. It's possible that Bell will improve, and I hope he does, but Williams simply isn't good enough to play LB in a team that's genuinely aiming for the top six. He showed far more capability at CB in his brief appearances last season than he ever has at LB, imo.

I think it's fair for us as fans to judge the manager on what he says in public. We can talk about it being cryptic messages to the owners or attempts to lower prices for players we're after, or whatever else, but as few if any of us are privy to what is going on behind the scenes we can only really go by what the manager is saying in public. A manager who many have described as being trustworthy, salt of the earth, etc. The fact is Mowbray said both at the fans meeting towards the end of last season and in the oft-linked press conference that new defenders would be coming in and our current lot essentially hadn't met the standard for the division. We're now potentially looking at going into the season with a like-for-like GK and a youngster on loan from City who will probably not be a starter. As it stands I'd say we have a right to be concerned at what appears to be backtracking, as the manager is yet to come out and say anything about targets being missed, wages too high, etc. Unlikely he'll come out at the end of the window and admit that either, as it wouldn't exactly be good for the morale of the defenders we still have! So, inevitably TM will get some flak - on here at least - if we don't reinforce the defence. And that's surely understandable?

To me this summer will only be a breath of fresh air if we sign a good CB and LB. Otherwise it's just the same old story, spending all of our money on attacking players at the expense of the defence, with results that will likely be similar to the last nine years where we're decent up top but a disaster at the back.

I have a bad feeling Evans will be in the starting line up against Charlton, meaning one of Travis or Johnson will be on the bench.

In fairness I don't think we've ever really heard anything from Mowbray to suggest he has a problem with the full back positions. Williams was publicly dropped last season, but whether that was more of a motivational tactic rather than an admission that we need better players at LB I'm not sure. We mainly heard comments from Mowbray about defenders not heading the ball (CB position) and a lot of comments about Raya in goal. Hard to tell whether Mowbray thinks we really have a problem at full back or not. I still think he sees Bell/Williams as 1/2 at that position with Downing there as a back up option in that position if necessary.

I'd be worried if we were playing with wing backs as I don't think we have the personnel for it anyway, but I really think Downing would struggle to play the LWB role. It's really a position for a younger player with a lot of energy and stamina. You're up and down the flank pretty much constantly - and if you don't do that then you're either leaving the team exposed at the back or further forward, depending on which area of the pitch the player prefers to stay in. If Nyambe could cross a ball he'd be a great shout for RWB, same with Bell at LWB. Unfortunately neither are particularly good at this, but I'd rather focus coaching those two on crossing/inside passes than put players like Downing in that position.

Almost certain that it will be worse. Venky's tend to appoint cheap managers who are out of work. You could argue Lambert wasn't cheap, but look how that turned out. The best we could hope for would be Johnson getting promoted to the manager's seat, imo.

It's interesting how perspective works. I saw plenty of people saying Adam would be a great signing, class player, dem assist/goals in pre-season, etc... then when he's signed for Reading comments about how it's a good thing we didn't sign him, etc. There was also comments on the opposite end of the scale for both. Almost like everyone has their own opinion rather than BRFCS being an entity with a combined opinion on everything which is absolute. Granted that doesn't work well when making sweeping generalisations, so, whatever. Johnson is a decent signing assuming one of Evans or Smallwood leaves. If all three stay then we're suddenly overstocked in centre mid, although I doubt Smallwood is on very much so shouldn't have a huge impact on the budget. Downing we certainly don't need as a first teamer, and I hope he hasn't been signed on that basis, but as back up he's an upgrade on Conway at least. I'm quite worried he'll end up playing LWB, which I can only see being ineffective at best.

He already told us last season that he lets the players sort out their own problems as the dressing room is "their domain", so yes I suppose you're technically right.

I don't consider Walton an upgrade to Raya, but he isn't a downgrade either. Roughly the same, except he isn't ours, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Assume Tosin will be announced as well shortly. Hopefully there's at least one other CB to come in before the season starts.

Problem is the central CB needs to be able to put his head on the ball regularly, which Mowbray admitted last season none of our current defenders can or will do.