DE.

To quote Didier Drogba...

Even if we end up winning tonight, I simply can't get my head around the starting lineup. Walton needs game time, not being rested for Leutwiler. I'm fine with bringing one of the younger lads into defence, but two of them? Appreciate we're low on CB cover but that is 100% Mowbray's fault. Evans/Smallwood, just fuck off. Why the hell is Buckley out wide? Why is Graham starting? Put Brereton up top and Chapman on the wing for goodness sake. Feels like Mowbray has totally lost the plot now.

Good. I don't understand why players bother with twitter anyway, it's a toxic cesspool for the most part. If you want to interact with the fans there are better and more controlled ways to do it - Facebook, Instagram, etc. Hell, start up a website and a blog like MGP used to have. Opening yourself up on Twitter is just asking for trouble.

I don't understand why we didn't start with Evans/Buckley in the middle and give Chapman a start on the wing. What's the point in even starting Smallwood? He's so far down the pecking order it doesn't even matter. Plus he's awful. At least give Chapman a go from the start to see how he holds up in a proper match. If he gets injured again then oh well, it would be an inevitability anyway.

For sure. That has been a consistent problem throughout his time here. We never seem to have two good, energetic halves. It's always one good half and one turgid half. Usually the first half is the bad one, although he mixes it up every so often just to keep us on our toes.

Good lord. That's Sunday League level.

Sounds like standard Rovers tbf. Mowbray couldn't coach a team to defend to save his life. His career is littered with teams who couldn't defend and we are unfortunately now one of them.

Can't even keep a clean sheet against Oldham.

There's no point in booing Bennett at all, let alone because he's captain. It all rests on the manager's doorstep. Bennett has a fair point when he says he doesn't demand to be picked at RB, but if he is put there he can only do his best. I'm sure he knows just as well as the rest of us that RB isn't his best position and he doesn't perform particularly well there, but if he's selected he can't do much else other than try his best. You can make a lot of criticisms when it comes to Bennett, but his commitment has always been second to none. It's not usually enough but there isn't anything else he can do. He doesn't deserve to be booed for that, regardless of how poorly he performs. It's up to the manager to replace Bennett if his performances aren't up to scratch, and any ire should be pointed in that direction.

The problem is whilst there are plenty of out of work managers people could make an argument for (Hughton, Pulis, Adkins, Rowett, Monk, etc) it's practially guaranteed Venky's would choose none of these. Every single time they have made an appointment completely out of left field. Kean, Berg, Appleton, Bowyer, Lambert, Coyle, Mowbray - none of these were even mentioned let alone considered before they were appointed. Bowyer is the only exception due to his caretaker stint, but even so when Appleton was sacked nobody was saying that Bowyer should/could be our next permanent manager. If Mowbray does go, he'll be replaced by somebody none of us expect, that much I'm sure of.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2470452/Tony-Mowbray-leaves-Middlesbrough-difficult-start-Championship-season.html "They were in the top three for most of last season until January and then went on an abysmal run of three wins from 21 games and finished 16th. Boro have won just five games this calendar year, including two this season and just one away. They are currently 16th again, 10 points adrift of the top six and just four from Barnsley and the drop zone." Eerie similarities. Wonder if Mowbray's getting deja vu?

Yeah unfortunately I think Nyambe's days here are numbered. Right now he's backup RB to Bennett (which is pretty insulting imo) and backup CB to Tosin & Williams, then further down the pecking order when Lenihan returns.

Think most of us would have been happy with Bauer and Tosin/Lenihan at the back. Would have given us decent depth with Williams in contention as well.

The thing that bothers me about Bennett being named club captain is that it almost guarantees he's going to start regularly, which means Nyambe might as well paint his name over one of the seats on the bench.

Lol yeah, Persona 4 Golden was apparently a huge improvement on the original, so hopefully Royal will be an improvement as well. Liking what I'm reading so far with extra characters, extra story, extra locations, a new palace, etc. Although that will make an already long game even longer, so... ?

Just make sure you finish it before Persona 5 Royal comes out next year

@Bigdoggsteel have you finished Persona 5 yet?

That's very harsh, that header was an absolute rocket and might as well have been hit with his foot. @01:46, anyone calling that Raya's fault is showing a heavy bias imo. I'm pretty sure if he let that in for us there wouldn't be many people blaming him.

It might be that dropping back regularly is affecting his stamina a little. Hard to tell from watching it via a screen as I'm not seeing what he's doing when he's off the ball - the drawbacks of not being able to attend live unfortunately. My observations are limited mostly to what's happening on the ball at the time. That's part of the reason I appreciate the reviews of people who do go, as it helps fill some of those gaps!

We have found Tony's login.

It's a fairly common occurance, particularly as the game reaches around the 65 minute mark. I think it's because at that point our CM's are usually sitting quite far back and not getting forward often to support the attack. With nobody behind him Dack has no choice but to drop back to try and get involved, as otherwise he's just waiting for flick ons from the striker as the ball flies over his head. In a way it's good that he's coming back to try and get the ball, as it shows he wants to be involved, but it limits his effectiveness as there is then a big gap between himself and the striker - not to mention the two wide midfielders who tend to be fairly high up the pitch as well. He then has ground to cover to get back into his normal position.

Our current system makes it virtually impossible to get the best out of Armstrong, Rothwell, Brereton or Gallagher individually, let alone in the same team. That's nearly £15m of talent who have been signed for a system that doesn't really suit them, and there is no evidence we are planning to change style any time soon. Worryingly Tony seems to be trying to retrain Brereton as a left winger (!), whilst Armstrong is wasted on the flanks and Rothwell is only partially effective out wide. Jury's still out on whether Gallagher can be the Graham replacement we need, but we better hope so as I don't see Venky's sanctioning another big splash on a striker.

I think our issues go far beyond just pointing at players and saying they aren't performing, aren't good enough, etc. I don't think we set up in a way that gets the best out of the vast majority of the players we have at our disposal. Our main right back is a right midfielder/centre midfielder. Our main left back is at best more of a wing back. Our playing style makes it difficult for either of our CM's to contribute to the attack, as if they do then the defence is totally exposed on the counter. Our wingers are almost always converted strikers and they play like it. Dack often has to drop back to get the ball, limiting his effectiveness, and our striker has to be a Danny Graham type because otherwise the long balls we play are worthless. You could argue none of our other strikers possess the same abilities as Graham which means they look very limited when in that role. We haven't necessarily recruited badly (defence aside) but we don't play to the strengths of the personnel we have, and it's a common theme throughout Mowbray's managerial career. For some reason his transfers don't match the way he sets his team out, so his vision is either so advanced that he needs incredible players to achieve it, or it's just nonsense and doomed to failure.

Not trying to go into conspiracy territory here, but I do wonder if the owners have demanded that Gallagher play full matches unless he absolutely cannot. Against Charlton he was clearly tiring but instead of bringing him off, Mowbray pushed him over to the right wing and instead put Graham on for Armstrong. Yesterday the obvious choice seemed to be a like-for-like swap with Gallagher/Graham, but instead bafflingly Travis is the one hooked. Hopefully I'm just seeing things that aren't there but I do find it odd.

Problem is Parson I can't think of a single player who has significantly improved under our current manager and coaching staff since we got promoted out of League 1. Raya - declined to the point the manager was openly criticising him and was eventually sold. Nyambe - has somehow ended up behind Bennett in the pecking order. Bennett - being repeatedly exposed at RB with countless mistakes. Lenihan - lapses in concentration, has had injuries which won't have helped. Mulgrew - much like Raya, declined to the point he was totally dropped in March and then loaned out last week. Bell - still looks like a League 1 player. Williams - poor at LB, has looked decent at CB but only played a handful of games in that position. Travis - has progressively been less impactful since his introduction to the first team. Has maintained a decent level of performance but hasn't exactly kicked on. Evans - one of our highest paid players is a bench warmer. Smallwood - position usurped by Travis after numerous poor performances, now nowhere near the first team. Armstrong - consistent performance levels, but can't say he's improved since he arrived. Rothwell - great end to the previous season, dropped for the first game of this season. Brereton - no comment required. Dack - blows hot and cold. Seems to struggle to get into games without Graham in the team. Graham - has maintained consistent levels of performance. I could be missing somebody out, but I can't think of one player that improved last season. A lot of them seemed to regress if anything. If we're pinning our hopes on Mowbray sorting this out on the training ground I think we are in for a long season.