The problem, as has always been the case under Venky's, is that the manager has too much responsibility. He has to not only select and manage the team, but also the scouting, the youth system, the transfer activity, the club christmas do... it's too much. I'm not entirely sure what Waggott does in his role, but somebody should have been questioning TM about his apparent lack of interest in recruiting in the January window whilst allowing Downing to head out on loan. Surely somebody in a position above Mowbray should have said "look, it's nice that you're trying to run a tight ship here - but we've only conceded less than Ipswich and Rotherham, and we've just let a centre back go out on loan despite our other options being injury prone and questionable in terms of their abilities. Why are we not looking to strengthen what is clearly a weak defence? What are your plans to shore the back line up if not through bringing in better players?" Instead the manager seemingly answers to nobody, until Venky's randomly decide they don't like the way the wind is blowing this month or the meet a new "adviser" and suddenly the manager is out on his arse and the club is thrown into chaos again. The club isn't right at the very top and that's where our problems stem from.

That's an absolutely appalling statistic if true, and I think it most likely is. We've always been a 45 minute team under Mowbray and we're not in a division where we can get away with it as often as we did last season. We had a bit of momentum and a fair bit of luck at the start of the season, but it began falling apart in November and save for that brief spell in January (where, let's not forget, we played the likes of Millwall and Ipswich) it's been a really tough slog the past couple of months. The warning signs are all there, and I fear it'll only get worse in the summer when realistically we're likely looking at Dack and Reed departing. Meanwhile Graham and Mulgrew, who are already starting to falter now, will be a year older. We're suddenly looking at a lot of urgent replacements in a very short space of time, when you consider Rodwell may also be off and being brutally honest we almost need the entire back four replaced. Bringing a couple of fresh faces in during the January window would have made this process a little easier, but no, apparently that wasn't necessary. Personally I am very concerned as to where Mowbray is taking us. History suggests that he finds it very difficult to get out of these slumps once his teams begin to fall away.

We'll do well to finish 14th imo. I'm expecting closer to 17th/18th. We couldn't even beat Reading ffs.

I imagine Bell must be wondering what he did wrong to be replaced by the walking disaster that is Derrick Williams.

Thankfully didn't see the game but am I to assume we're back to Evans Mk I now he's got his new contract? Notice he was hooked at HT.

Worrying if he's being serious, because the rest of us certainly recognised them.

Yep, that blip at the start of Jan masks what has otherwise been a shocking run of form since the start of November. If Tony genuinely thought we were fine to not strengthen in January then at the very least he needs someone above him taking those decisions out of his hands.

I remember there were quite a few times last season that high balls caught Mulgrew out, but usually the opposition were too poor to capitalise. Unfortunately for him we're now at a higher level. Bloody good set piece taker but we need more than that now. We desperately need a real leader back there to sort us out when the pressure is on and organise the defence to stop conceding goals.

Sounds about right. Allardyce football with half the intelligence, and that's probably generous.

Aren't we pretty high in the table for long balls? The spin about us playing good football under TM has always been nonsense tbh.

Good thing we picked up those points in January, because I don't think we'll be picking up many more.

Mowbray has generally always played our strongest possible team before, so to me it suggested he's already written the season off and is happy to finish somewhere in mid-table. That said, none of the players he brought in made an impression which doesn't speak well for them either. Parkinson did an incredible job keeping Bolton up last season, but this season will probably be one step too far with the ownership problem at the club. I reckon he'll have a few job offers if and when he leaves Bolton.

Villa two down at home to WBA. Another team who can't defend to save their lives.

Sheff Utd not having much trouble with Reading, who we couldn't best home or away. I appreciate Sheff Utd are light years ahead of us but I can't help but think our league position really flatters us.

Mowbray seems to see every club as superior to us in some way to be honest. He takes the underdog schtick to absurd levels, like when he was waxing lyrical about bottom of the table Bury last year before we faced them. Sometimes it's OK to be favourites and to have a little ambition.

PS4 not being backwards compatible does suck, but in Sony's defence it hasn't stopped them from dominating the market over the past few years. Also retro gaming wasn't as big in 2013 as it is now, so I think the sudden surge of interest will play a part in Sony making the PS5 backwards compatible. Plus the shitload of amazing games that have come out for the PS4. I'll be keeping mine either way, as I do with all my old consoles

As it stands Belokon is disqualified from owning the club as he somehow failed the fit and proper owners test.

I noticed yesterday that, much like us, Norwich are shipping more goals than their position can allow long term. I think they've conceded the most out of the top 9! Obviously they've been scoring a lot which keeps them up there, but much like with Rovers when those goals stop coming so frequently the tumble down the table begins... all great sides build from the back.

I'm not at the stage for calling to the manager to go just yet, but there are some serious and very concerning problems in terms of our defending. It's no overreaction to say it's bad enough to put us in serious jeopardy if the team goes through a lean spell in front of goal. Needing to score 3 goals to win matches is never sustainable and will ultimately end badly. We got away with it in L1 because the opposition were very poor, but if we don't take action in the summer to correct this issue then I fear we are looking at a relegation battle next season. Tony Mowbray has shown absolutely nothing as of yet to suggest he can put this right. The ball is very much in his court to sort this out before it's too late.

Needed to be rested for the upcoming defeat to Boro.

A really sad state of affairs. Our team has never been able to defend under Mowbray, he's come out and said he doesn't see it as a problem, so do we just accept this is it and watch the club slowly regress as the likes of Dack leave for pastures anew and our older players begin to wane? If we had proper footballing people in charge questions would be asked about this consistent problem that is massively impeding our progress. Unfortunately I imagine nobody will notice until we suddenly aren't scoring as many but still conceding regularly, and at that point we may well be in a relegation struggle. Possibly as early as next season. The signs are ominous, especially when you take into account Mowbray's dubious record in the transfer market. People will cling to the fact this season was always meant to be consolidation and mid table is fine, but the warning signs are there for all to see - the goals conceded column makes for grim reading and the points column will look a hell of a lot worse if and when the goals aren't coming as often as they have done.

Frankly, if we have aspirations of staying in this league in the next year or two we need to sort the defence. As soon as the goals dry up and/or Graham's age catches up with him and/or he picks up an injury we are toast.

I think we have enough points in the bag to stay up this season, probably fairly comfortably, but we are a bottom three team without Dack and Graham in the side. There's just nothing there in terms of quality.

Worrying times. Another goal in the goals conceded column. It's alright though, Mowbray says defence isn't a concern.

It's going well then?