DE.

So just as a heads up I've renamed the thread to "New Games/General Gaming" as it seems like most gaming related discussion goes here nowadays. I've decided I'm going to attempt to mod a Mega Drive to be multi-region. I've had a look at some tutorials and it doesn't seem too difficult. Nonetheless I've ordered a couple of cheap MD's off eBay as I don't want to potentially destroy my current working MD I & II models. The idea is to add a switch to the side of the MD to allow it to toggle between Japan/US/Europe. Typically PAL Mega Drive games run significantly slower than their US counterparts and also have black bars running across the top and bottom of the screen, purely due to the PAL 50hz signal and the fact games back then were not optimised properly for PAL (unless they were developed in Europe, then sometimes they were). The mod would have the Mega Drive running at 60hz instead which should improve a lot of games. I've got an Everdrive so have access to the US ROMs, many of which I can't currently run due to the region lock on my European Mega Drives. The other potential benefit of changing regions is, oddly enough, Master System games. The Mega Drive has all the components of a Master System inside it - the only reason you can't play Master System games on it directly is that the cartridge pins are different. There was a Master System sold in Japan which had a different sound chip, the FM chip, which gave richer sound to Master System games. Master Systems over here didn't have that chip, and whilst you can mod a Master System to add an FM chip, the Mega Drive already has those sound capabilities built in. If you have an Everdrive cart which supports FM sound emulation then changing the region to Japanese will enable any Master System games that have code for FM sound to produce it, rather than the standard PSG sound. The MD motherboard essentially contains all the elements to be whatever region you want. There are four jumpers which correspond to a language/region. If you disconnect the connections between the jumpers then the MD will still work, but default to 60hz NTSC (so your European MD basically becomes a US MD). Technically if you just wanted a US MD to play US ROMs from an Everdrive then this is all you'd have to do, as the region would be permanently changed to US. But there are some European & Japanese exclusive games so not an ideal fix. By soldering wires from the jumpers to a switch you can have the MD change between all regions.That is the plan. Well anyway, I've got a soldering kit, a multimeter and a couple of switches coming from Amazon tomorrow, so we'll see how this goes. I have no experience with this whatsoever but as I'm using cheap donor Mega Drives it won't necessarily matter if I fuck up. Both are listed as "untested" so it's possible neither will work, but one was listed as "used" so I can always send that back if it doesn't work. The other one was listed as "spares and repairs" so can't send that back, but it was only £9 so no big deal if it doesn't work. I can always look into working out why it's not working and potentially fix it anyway.

Makes it sound like Mulgrew's gone on a two week holiday to Menorca ffs, rather than been unceremoniously packed off to Wigan on the final day of the transfer window.

I think you're right in that most of the players aren't going to be actively playing with the mindset of "screw the manager, we're going to get him the sack", but if morale is low then we will certainly see poorer performances with a lot less confidence. I think we've already seen in the likes of Nyambe and Brereton that their confidence has been shattered by Mowbray's appalling management of both (imo) and even the likes of Travis and Rothwell seem to be losing their spark. It's a situation then can be at least temporarily resolved with victories, but the more we lose the worse it's going to get and the harder it is going to be to climb out of the pit.

Honestly, I can't remember a manager who ever thought playing strikers on the wing was the ticket to success. Granted there are gaps in my footballing knowledge, but in modern times has there been any manager who has consistently played forwards on the wing rather than just bringing in recognised wide midfielders or wingers to do the job? It's one of the most baffling parts of Mowbray's mindset and despite underwhelming results for two years now he still persists with it. I figured at least even Mowbray had the sense to know Graham can't play out wide, the one striker who had never been put there, but then Tuesday night against Oldham happens. It's so bizarre that I just can't find any logical reason for it.

Probably not, but I don't think this would be his last stint. People will look at his promotion from League 1 and keeping us in the Championship the following season and think there's a decent manager there. He also talks a good game even though he doesn't really back it up. In his mind it might be better to resign early and blame an unfair dressing room revolt (and maybe throw the owners under the bus too if they've been interfering in transfers, although there's no evidence of that) than staying on and adding another sacking or relegation to his CV. At the very least I think there would be decent clubs in League 1 willing to take him on, and maybe even some desperate Championship clubs. I have no idea what he is paid here so can't speculate on whether he'd be on more or less in a new position, but if he can walk away from Coventry and slide into a job like Rovers, I see no reason why he can't find his way into another club if he pulls the same trick here and leaves before being pushed. I can't imagine he's hard up for cash and he claims that "dignity" was the reason he left Coventry after ten games without a win, so, I don't think it's implausible to think he'd walk away from this job too if he felt it would do more harm than good to his reputation to stay.

I can see things turning quite quickly if we concede early again on Saturday. Even though we won late on last night and it should have been a feel good moment, I didn't really get that sense from people posting here who had returned from the game. It was mostly frustration over Mowbray once again making things much harder than they need to be. I spent most of the evening ranting about poor old TM and his decision making, whereas normally I barely even remember cup matches are on, particularly in the earlier rounds. A couple of league wins will ease the tension but it needs to happen soon. I don't think Mowbray can afford 3/4 straight losses on the bounce, and if we lose on Saturday our next fixtures are Hull away, then Cardiff and WBA at home, so it isn't getting any easier. We all knew we had a tough start to the season but it's still not acceptable to come out of this period with nothing to show for it, and right now I see it as a very realistic possibility that we could go into September on 0 points rooted to the foot of the table with loyal supporters turning (even Chaddy and Parson are being critical) and pressure rising to untenable levels. Mowbray has walked before and his demeanour suggests he's already feeling the strain. If he feels that he's lost the players then I genuinely think he could resign.

Nothing wrong with having a few versatile players in your team, but when you try to make the whole team into versatile jacks of all trades it just weakens everybody.

Unfortunately when you're making big mistakes and losing the faith of the players and the supporters that becomes increasingly difficult. He just has to hope he pulls himself out of it before the owners lose patience, which by conservative estimates will probably be around October/November.

Mowbray just can't help himself. He really does seem to think winger and striker are interchangable in terms of attributes. It's total madness.

It's amazing that so many people are already feeling so incredibly anxious and we're only at August 14th, with two league matches and one cup match played. It suggests to me that there is some concern still lingering from what was statistically the worst run of form we'd ever been on under Venky's between Feb - Apr last season, and resentment over a transfer window that broke promises and has blatantly left us undermanned in key positions. We need a performance and a result on Saturday, because it already feels like TM is on the precipice. If not with Venky's then certainly with an increasing number of fans who are beginning to see through his talk and realise a lot of what he says is hollow. He has an admirable vision but is proving he is unable to bring that vision to fruition, and is instead causing us to regress at an alarming rate. As I've said before it is rare that managers get themselves out of these downward spirals once they begin, we just have to hope that by the time Mowbray leaves he hasn't dragged us too far down. It would be a shame if his legacy was ultimately marred by a big contribution to another relegation, and would essentially wipe out all of the hard work and good things he had done beforehand.

Mowbray is in one of those periods at the moment where almost everything he does is wrong. His team selections, his transfer business, his comments in the press... nothing is going right and he appears to be in tunnel vision mode , unable or unwilling to change direction.

If it is then we have to forget about Lenihan being a reliable option in the future. The lad has already had significant spells out with injury in the last two seasons, if it happens again this year then unfortunately it's going to be a case of looking for another centre back going forward.

Not even going to bother predicting a line up because Mowbray always manages to make some kind of baffling/stupid decision that nobody expected. If we play to our strengths (Dack & Graham, direct) then a win is possible. If we keep trying to play this possession based nonsense we'll likely lose as we won't have any shots on target and are bound to concede at least two.

Mowbray's comments about the youngsters not being good enough against Oldham and sending them out on loan really are pathetic. It wasn't that we had a second string out there, it was who the manager selected and where he selected them. Completely unnecessary to put the reserve goalie in there, although I guess from Mowbray's perspective if Walton gets injured then we're screwed as he failed to bring in anybody better than Leutwiler as second choice. Putting two young lads in the centre of defence, OK - but then dumping Evans and Smallwood in front of them? Bit of a cruel joke. Graham on left wing. Buckley apparently playing out wide as well (then later right back). But no, it's the young players that are the problem here. Nothing to do with a manager who appears to be losing his marbles.

There's no reason we can't play Downing, Dack and Rothwell across the midfield. Chapman and Armstrong are capable impact subs to come on in the second half. Playing Gallagher or Brereton out wide is just handicapping the team because they are both strikers. So is Armstrong but it's obvious Mowbray sees him as a wide midfielder and I doubt we'll ever see him up top by himself.

We'd be better off just terminating their contracts. Of course they'd both already be gone if they hadn't been given extensions, but yeah, another good decision made there. A year later and the pair of them are so bad they can't even make an impression against Oldham.

He means the team that got promoted the first time of asking out of League 1, then consolidated last season despite the manager screwing the team over in the January window by failing to address our key positions? Yeah, let's not be that team. Let's be the team that loses at home to Charlton, concedes two goals a game against any and all comers and can't hit a shot on target. That's what we want. We literally beat a League 2 team tonight because we went back to being that team. There is no other choice here.

So it'll almost certainly be Bennett - Nyambe - Williams - Cunningham at the back then. I can't discount Bell as a possibility, but let's try to be optimistic. It might be okay against a poor Boro team, but long term we're looking at some tonkings with that back four I'm afraid.

I honestly don't think it's a problem at this point. The choice seems obvious. We can worry about rotating and experimenting without Graham when we have some points on the board. Right now we need to go with our strongest team in every match until we have a bit of momentum, and there's surely no doubt that Graham/Dack is our strongest option at this point in time. If at the end of the season we have had no joy with any combination other than Graham/Dack, then there is a problem.

Yeah, agreed. I'm of the opinion Gallagher should have been phased in gradually, starting off with a few appearances off the bench to replace Graham when he's tiring, then eventually starting at home against clubs we'd expect to beat, or in midweek matches when Graham may need a bit longer to recover, and go from there depending on how he's doing. Breaking up the Graham/Dack partnership from the get go was a risk that has not paid off at all and could have a detrimental effect on Gallagher if it continues, as well as the team as a whole. I hope this is how we'll handle it going forward, but I'm expecting Gallagher to be shunted to the right hand side of the pitch. Mowbray might even continue to start him up top. Nothing would surprise me at this point.

Oh well, at least we'll have a chance to focus on the league. Nice for the BBC not to include us in this. Or does injury time no longer count as normal time?

As annoying as it will be, I can take Gallagher out on the right wing if Graham is up top with Dack just behind him and Rothwell on the left. Johnson and Travis in the centre, Tosin and Williams at CB and at least the spine of the team will be somewhat useful. We'll obviously be extremely weak on the right with the Gallagher/Bennett combo but if Cunningham starts on Saturday at least the left side will be a little more solid. Of course this is all fairly logical so I fully expect to see something totally different around 2PM when the lineup is announced.

Graham - 15 goals 5 assists Dack - 15 goals 7 assists Not effective my arse. They're literally the only effective thing in our team.

Graham scored 15 last season so he's certainly effective. Dack & Graham have been our only consistent performers in terms of goals/assists for the past two seasons. We simply have to start with them both on the pitch.

Despite the win tonight only deepens my concerns that Mowbray is really, really struggling. We can only hope tonight galvanises some of the players and cements the end of Evans and Smallwood forever. It might be worth it just for that.