JHRover

So predictable isn't it? They went away and did a job on Bristol City last week. Kept it tight at 0-0 until 70 odd minutes then seized their chance when it inevitably came. Will Mowbray have an answer to it? I doubt it. Forest or Cardiff repeat on our hands.

And drew last week with Watford - that unstoppable expensive juggernaut that we had absolutely no right to expect anything against and who got beat by Barnsley yesterday.

So what was the excuse all last season and the first 5 games of this season? I don't dispute the suggestion that the number of absences is a problem. But conceding soft goals is a recurring problem irrespective of personnel.

Players missing cannot be used as an excuse for their first goal. Players missing but not in attack where we still have Armstrong, Brereton, Gallagher all fit signed by this manager. Internationals in midfield and defence. The biggest frustration for me is witnessing clubs no better, more attractive or developed than us outperform us. I'm talking sides like Middlesbrough, Millwall, Stoke and Reading. Sides who we were above last season but who have made progress and kicked on under new decent managers whilst we go around in an endless circle picking up plaudits for being attractive. It isnt difficult. Birmingham will be another example making steady progress under Karanka just by focusing on being pragmatic and hard to beat. We could so easily have been one of those pushing this season yet Mowbray thinks he is too good for pragmatics and defensive organisation and wants to try to be Klopp or Guardiola. His disproportionate level of power at this club, vacuum above him and lack of pressure from above have partly enabled this situation. No real pressure or expectation from anywhere. Press, fans and colleagues happy to roll with whatever our Great leader decides. Heaven forbid making a change just stick with it in perpetuity. A real setup would be on to him on Monday morning demanding answers. Anyone reckon Waggott will be?

He's incapable of adapting to the situation. Teams missing key players should grind out results and keep it tight. Plus all the issues on display today are the same as we've had for months before Covid took players away.

Promotion was 2.5 years ago. Absolutely irrelevant to the situation now. Just how long does he get a free Pass on events that happened an eternity ago in football? 10 years from now some will still be going on about 2018. He did a good job. He was congratulated, got a bonus.and a new contract and has had 2.5 years of Championship management going around in circles.

We had another chance earlier this year when he was unemployed and ready to work. But we are on a 'journey'. Warnock doing a proper job making Middlesbrough hard to beat and play off contenders. Mowbray going round in circles. He should manage the u23s so he can spend all day worrying about possession and passes and not results.

The plan today should be to go and keep it tight. Start from a clean sheet. If we do that and come away with a 0-0 then that will be something and represent progress. If we do that and then score on the counter or off someone's backside in the 95th minute then brilliant. Going there and trying to outfootball and outscore them is naive and will likely see a tanning.

1 defeat in 11 for them and only once have they failed to score (against well organised Birmingham).

Isn't that a contradiction? If he's following government advice and working from home then why was he at the training ground a lot during the transfer window? How do you know he was there a lot?

Swansea don't tend to hammer anyone. They're a decent side and hard to beat but usually win by a goal or two rather than dish out heavy beatings. Mind you I said similar about Reading and they stuck 4 past us with ease so it wouldn't surprise me.

Mowbray will be going at some point. If he isn't sacked he will resign or retire. Even if we offer him a lifetime contract he won't work forever. What are we supposed to do? Never even think about appointing anyone else because they might get someone worse? What happens if another club comes in and approaches Mowbray to go and join them?

Exactly. How often does Burnley's defence suffer from these 'individual errors'? It just doesn't happen because their manager won't allow it.

We should never have lost to Forest. A drab 0-0 is understandable but to lose that game late on in the manner we did encapsulates the weak, soft, easy to beat side to Rovers.

Probably right yes. Personally I'd have sacked him last season and I've seen little to persuade me otherwise since. But if we are looking in isolation at this season and ignoring previous seasons then November international break represents an ideal time to take action to salvage the season. * Not that anything will happen, just what I think should if the club wants to get anywhere.

I want him to make us promotion material. I couldn't care less if we are attractive to watch or as dull as dishwater. This is the Championship and we are of limited resources in it. We aren't in a position to be worried about style or entertaining people. Results are the priority. I fully agree Nyambe should be full back. Unfortunately it seems there are issues there with Mowbray and I fully expect him to be off for nothing at the end of the season to a club where he will thrive. I disagree that it is exciting to watch. I enjoyed the victories over Derby and Coventry as much as anyone but I get absolutely no pleasure from seeing us hammer a team one week and then follow that up with a hammering ourselves, especially when we are opened up with such ease. I would much prefer consistency in positive results and crap performances than decent performances lurching from one extreme to the other. All successful sides are built from the back. We aren't. The manager has already set the bar at mid table for the season with his public comments of 'challenging' for the top 6 e.g. being mid-table and in with a shout, which 6-7 other clubs will do. We 'can' be in the top six as I believe our squad is good enough to get there. I just don't think we've got the right manager, coaching or mentality to do it. You need to absolutely hate losing and develop an approach of giving nothing away. Looking at the manager and players I just don't think we have the nasty, ruthless, consistent streak to get there.

I'd give him until the international break. Swansea, Middlesbrough, QPR. By then we will be a quarter through the season. 11 games. If we don't get a couple of wins from them or if we lose two or more of them then we are at the sort of stage where a serious club would be taking action. E.g. if we reach 11 games and only have 10, 11, 12, 13 points on the board then that is basically 1 point per game and normally barely enough to survive. Not good enough. Probably fortunate this season with Wycombe being so bad and Wednesday starting on minus 12.

Mowbray's methods will not be successful in terms of promotion. On occasion we will blow teams away when playing well and with a fair wind in our favour, but on at least as many occasions we will be caught out and punished for it. As above, the proven mastermind in the Championship is doing it again at Middlesbrough. 7 unbeaten now and clear of us. Anyone expect us to go 7 unbeaten anytime soon? How has he done that? Through making them hard to break down and hard to score against and go from there. Hanging on in there until the 70th and 80th minute at 0-0 then nicking games. It doesn't require 60-70% possession, it doesn't require 20+ attempts on goal, it doesn't require the Watford and Reading managers heaping praise on us, it doesn't even require a 20+ a season goalscorer. It is the tried and tested method and it works time after time, because even when struggling you have the basics right and don't lose games easily or cheaply, which is what we have done at Bournemouth, Forest and last night. Even when struggling you can nick games late on or grind out bore draws which keep the points ticking over and develop good habits of not losing games. None of that here and never will be under this manager. He can't do it but doesn't even really want to because he thinks that sort of approach is beneath him. For someone who spent his playing days as a CB at Middlesbrough and Ipswich and has spent all but one season of his entire managerial career in the lower divisions or Scotland that is strange. It is also noticeable how everywhere he goes he always has a good relationship with fans because most people see what he is trying, and failing, to achieve. Many people will accept and be happy with win one, lose one, draw one if we are scoring goals, creating chances and walloping a few along the way. But it is inconsistent and will not result in promotion. The club need to decide if they are happy with that. In a normal world with supposedly owners eager to get promoted you'd expect not but I get the impression that everyone is more than happy with how things are whilst losing tens of millions of pounds for it.

I can see now how this one is going to go. Armstrong hitting 20+ goals as we limp along to a bottom half finish. He will then attract big bids which will internally vindicate Mowbray's management and earn him brownie points in India. Armstrong then sold and the never ending journey continues as we replace him with someone on the cheap and it takes time to adjust to a new way of playing or it was always going to be difficult to adapt without his goals. The rest of the division know we have quality in the ranks. Just a big shame and opportunity missed that despite this the manager still can't or won't find a way of getting the most out of it.

Conceding 4 goals at home is unacceptable. No amount of excuses gets around that. Even if we had drawn 4-4 it would have been unacceptable to concede 4. Most managers presiding over such a things would be embarrassed and feeling the heat. But not Mowbray. All part of the 'journey'. Imagine Allardyce having that sort of attitude after being hit for 4 at home. He'd have had players pinned up on the wall in the dressing room.

Good job you aren't running the club then. I've never heard of anything as ridiculous in my life of simply handing the manager the entire season irrespective of results or performances and just 'see where we finish'. About time the people running the club take some responsibility and accountability. 'Oh well here we are we'll see where we end up at the end of it' isn't running a professional football club. Setting proper targets and expecting those to be delivered upon and making changes if they aren't is the way it should work.

I went to bed at half time. I simply couldn't stomach another 45 minutes of it. Checked the score and at 3-2 thought about getting up but didn't. If this is supposed to be exciting to watch I'll stick with Allardyce football and be hard to beat thanks.

I find it all so predictable listening to him. I seriously think we should ditch 'Arte et Labore' and replace with 'always tomorrow, never today' as our club motto. I find it especially frustrating reading comments online about how brilliant Reading are and how they are what we should aim to be. Hang on a minute. We played them at Ewood not 10 games ago after the re-start last season. They were in the bottom half of the table and we put 4 past them. How have they gone from being a nonentity in the bottom half to suddenly being the trailblazers and superior to us? I think we all know the answer to that and it is within the dotted lines in the dugout. One mon has come from a foreign country to work here for the first time only a couple of weeks before the season started and transformed a struggling side beyond recognition into promotion contenders. The other after nearly 4 years in charge can't break the glass ceiling and goes around in circles on his journey.

Sign up for a Sky Bet account and its free on there tonight apparently. Red button also for Sky Sports subscribers All the above just part of the package for those who have paid for a season pass.

Somebody should ask him what the point is in trying to be around the top 6. I keep hearing this as our supposed target and wonder who has decided that. Last time I checked the only guarantee of promotion is first or second. You can guarantee that Warnock, Wilder, Santo, Bielsa weren't going round telling everyone that they wanted to challenge for the top six. Its all about promotion. If Mowbray doesn't have the top two as his aim then he's in the wrong job. Scraping 6th place and then getting walloped in the play offs is no use to me. Can imagine Chris Hughton telling Marinakis at Forest that he's happy to survive this season then try and challenge for the top 6 next year. He wouldn't have got the job doing that.