DE.

Should have specified I meant in the league.

When was the last time we came back from behind to win a match btw? I remember it being noted a while ago that it was a really long time, and I can't remember if we've come from behind to win since then.

Stoke beaten again, this time by Birmingham. Huddersfield also lose again to Luton. What a terrible start for those two.

Hard to expect many to praise him when we lose in fairness, especially when a big cause of that was the selection of Armstrong/Bennett which made our right side a disaster zone in the first half. We only seem to be able to score goals at the expense of our defence, we just can't seem to get the balance right. Until we do then I think praise is going to be limited. We all know Mowbray does some things well and some things badly. He got plenty of praise for our improved defensive performances in recent games. If we won today I'm sure he'd be getting praise for the goals we scored, but we lost, so... that's how it goes.

Strange how the stats can tell such a wildly different story. WBA 20 shots to our 7, at half time it was 12 and 5. We scored 2 in the first half but none so far in the second (although we haven't conceded any either). Just shows stats aren't everything I guess. Most people seem impressed with our second half performance so I'm happy to take that over what the stats show, but ultimately it isn't going to mean much if we can't equalise.

We scored a fair few goals under Coyle too, but he didn't get praise for that because we conceded too many for it to matter. Same principle here essentially, albeit Mowbray is obviously a better manager than Coyle. I think it's also apparent that we are heavily reliant on Dack and Graham for our goals, they aren't spread out across the team at all. Most of our attackers thus far have no goals or assists to their name.

According to the BBC stats we've only had one shot on goal since half time and WBA have had three - appreciate I'm not watching the match but have we really been that effective in the second half?

Tbf we haven't often played good football under Mowbray so there hasn't been much historical reason to praise that. Also no point playing well and scoring if you concede as many if not more at the other end. It's nice that we're playing better football this half, but we haven't scored yet and unfortunately our first half performance has given us a hill to climb.

WBA's defence is there for the taking, but then so is ours, so this could end with any score.

Not really a conspiracy theory, the manager has already said in past interviews he has certain players he trusts to lead the dressing room - and we know those players aren't criticised publicly. Armstrong is young but it's possible he's one of them.

JHC. I hope for Tony's sake this works because these are absolutely baffling substitutions otherwise. Think he's in the 'inner circle', one of the few younger players to never be publicly criticised by Mowbray as far as I remember?

So Armstrong is now playing through the centre I take it?

Last season our away games were the ones where we conceded copious amounts of goals. Early indications suggest nothing has changed.

Normal service resumed once we come up against half decent opposition. Rothwell must be looking at Armstrong and wondering how he can possibly be behind this clown in the pecking order.

There goes the clean sheet.

Hopefully people will stop slating Dack for a few days now.

I know. The implication was that the EFL are pretending it didn't.

Arms and Gallagher can swap positions which at least makes us a little more flexible. Remains to be seen if Dack can be effective without Graham to play off.

EFL: ??? what Brentford game?

Mowbray's comments are less important than his actions. Smallwood is behind Travis but I think Evans is behind Johnson (which is also switching an older player for a younger player, albeit to a lesser extent and in this instance justified). Judging from the past few league games I think Mowbray's preference is Graham up top with Downing, Dack and Gallagher behind him, so I don't consider Armstrong a first teamer at the moment. He was last season but his favoured position was LW/LM, which has now been taken by Downing. No argument on Dack, although he's never had any competition for his place from an older player and it's well known he's a key player for us so dropping him is almost impossible with the way Mowbray plays. Honestly I'm not sure Nyambe is good enough, although his progression obviously isn't being helped by Bennett taking his place. Ideally I'd be looking at bringing in a new RB in January anyway, as imo it's one of our weakest points at present. I would not be surprised at all if Nyambe was gone by this time next year as I don't think Mowbray rates him and barring a long-term injury to Bennett I can't see him getting a solid run in the team. I'm not necessarily blaming Mowbray for Travis but I do think from the manager's perspective it was good fortune rather than good judgement which got Travis into the starting eleven on a permanent basis. Travis did his part in playing well when he got his chance, but the manager was ready to loan him out last January. https://www.clubcall.com/news/2019/01/03/travis-loan-an-option-for-mowbray/ Fortunately Travis had the ambition and drive to stay and push Smallwood out, but I don't think it's unfair to note that the manager was open to loaning him out so clearly didn't see him as a big part of his plans and was only convinced by Travis' excellent performances in January - which suggests that sometimes what's being seen on the training pitch isn't enough, sometimes a player needs to be put into proper matches to determine whether he's ready or not.

Completely agree. It's an aspect of TM's management I 100% disagree with. With that said I wouldn't want him to single out any player in public, senior or otherwise. I prefer for that stuff to be done behind closed doors. Travis is thus far the only younger player to really push on under Mowbray. There's potential with the likes of Buckley getting appearances but otherwise our problem positions have been filled by older players, not younger ones. At RB we've seen Nyambe (21) demoted for Bennett (30). Rothwell (24) has had a potential place taken by Downing (35), as has Armstrong (22) to some degree, although Arma has had a couple of shots up top lately. Graham at 34, however, still seems to be the preferred option up top ahead of Gallagher (23) who plays wide, and Brereton (20) who barely plays at all. Raya has left and whilst his replacement is the same age he also isn't our player so it remains to be seen who ultimately ends up between the sticks. I'm not saying we should be throwing a bunch of younger players on at the expense of getting results, absolutely not, but whilst Mowbray has brought in a lot of younger players I'm yet to see any convincing proof he can or will integrate them effectively. I hope I'm wrong as the likes of Graham, Downing and Johnson in particular don't have that many years left in them so we need to be looking to the future in these positions rather than short-term solutions. Players like Rothwell and Nyambe aren't going to hang around forever waiting for opportunities - in particular Rothwell who at 24 has to be getting regular game time in the near future. He isn't a youngster anymore and can't be treated like one.

Technically correct, but you can't deny the impact Rothwell had in those games. Nor can it be denied that our attacking unit hasn't been firing on anything close to all cylinders so far this season. Our recent victories have come on the back of improved defensive performance rather than attacking performance. If we keep getting good results then OK, fine, but there's a chance we'll eventually lose Rothwell who will surely want more game time elsewhere. We'll then potentially be left with only strikers to play in the wide positions along with an aging Downing. I really hope Rothwell gets significantly more game time to show what he can do. If he fails to impress after that then fair enough. He's one of our biggest potential stars and it would be a huge shame if he left because we wouldn't give him an opportunity to prove himself.

Travis was going to be loaned out until Smallwood was suspended at the end of 2018. That's a fact, Mowbray said as much. Travis thankfully impressed enough to make the position his, but if not for that suspension he would likely have ended up in League 1 for the next six months and who knows where he'd be in the pecking order now? Obviously no point stressing over hypotheticals but Travis' inclusion was not part of Mowbray's plans - it was something that happened due to circumstances and credit goes to Travis for stepping up when he had his opportunity. Rothwell did the same at the end of last season, but unfortunately he was back on the bench for game one this season, which we duly lost. Still no goals from open play in the league but Rothwell remains on the bench, except for one match against Fulham which for some appears to be enough to decide he deserves to be a bench warmer for the foreseeable, forgetting how he invigorated our team at the end of last season and was a pivotal figure in rescuing us from an alarming slump. There was no justifiable reason, imo, for him to be relegated to backup again this season. Granted there are things going on in training, etc, that I'm not seeing, so maybe there's something else going on. Even so, I believe he deserves more of a chance than he's getting at the moment.

Much like Rothwell I fear it's just a case of his face doesn't fit. I hope I'm proven wrong on that, but Travis went into a very long exile after falling foul of Mowbray with his red card back in the L1 season, so it could be a while before we see Chapman in the first team, if at all.