harryhealless1928

Have to say Gary Bowyer was an improvement on Mowbray given the LACK of resources he got, and we did get decent Cup runs under Bowyer. Id take successive 8-0 tonkings in our next two games if it got Mowbray the sack. Unfortunately I dont think it would. Any Ralph Hasenhuttl comparisons are purely coincidental!

Have to agree about goalkeeping standards. When you see Kepa at Chelsea(worlds most expensive?) Im honestly not too worried about Walton. What I am worried about is the players POTENTIALLY LEAVING i.e. might be subject to a cheeky last-day bid from Pemiership relegation fighters! Got to hope there were very few scouts at yestyerdays game. Whats the chances of keeping Armstrong if a cheeky £8 million bid comes in from Bournemouth? Remember they have previous swiping Josh King & Conor Mahoney(even though the latter didnt work out)!

Best performance I can remember since we beat Norwich 7-1 at home with Shearer(2 goals) & Wegerle(2 goals)in 1992. We hit 7 against Sheffield Wednesday in 1997 but I didnt see that game! All credit to the defence for keeping a clean sheet which rarely happens with such a tub-thumping win! This is the sort of scoreline you get with Klopp or Pep as manager!

Cant totally blame Venkys for that,if true,Cherry Blue. Id rest Lenihan as hes a bit injury-prone,and possibly also Armstrong(our only semi-reliable source of goals left)-just in case we get into a relegation dog-fight. Might as well give Samuels a run-out(but I doubt Mowbray will). Id bo:- Leutwiler -Bennett,Tosun,Williams,Bell- Chapman,Travis,Evans,Rothwell-Samuels,Downing. Subs:-Walton,Lenihan,Holtby,Buckley,Smallwood,Johnson,Gallagher. And YES,I would prefer Smallwood to Brereton.Sorry.

From what I remember of Pantilimon in the Premier League(admittedly a while ago & a higher level)I think Id rather stick with Walton. If Dack does leave in the January transfer window Im seriously struggling to think of 3 worse teams than us on current form. Defender Del is nearly the only other goal scorer this season(other than Armstrong)-forget about the £11 million combo of Brereton & Gallagher. Add to that we always seem to concede too many goals and it really doesnt look good.

The conclusion of all those statistics is that if we want a strong team with strong mental strength we need a change of manager. Pronto. Before(not after) we get relegated!

Would anyone take us doing a Southampton at home if it got Mowbray the sack? Mind you,a 0-9 home defeat is some achievement,even with 10 men for most of the game! And it certainly wouldnt do the goal average much good. Still our season is far from over. We have a relegation dog-fight(fight???)to look forward to.☹️

Why should they be better than us? Have they spent more than £15 million on strikers in the past 2 years plus big wage earners like Downing & Holtby ? When will you inject positivity into the club ? I suppose we have to wait until"defenders are coming"whenever that is !

Yes well the main problem is getting into a relegation dog-fight. I have no confidence Mowbray can inspire the team to "fight its way out" and voted accordingly. His money signings have been awful(Dack,Rothwell & possibly Armstrong apart). Im not being over critical...anyone who plays so many players in wrong positions is trying to do what exactly??? On a more positive note,I have never criticised Bennett. Playing a right-sided midfielder at LEFT-back-probably better than Gallagher,Brereton,Holtby or Bell in this position? I would say so.

Yes indeed the experiences at Celtic & Coventry say it all. Thanks for the immediate promotion from League I but I second the fact that Gary Bowyer was one thousand-fold better at spending transfer money(albeit small amounts ) wisely compared to Mowbray . So they both struggle at the Championship level but Bowyer does it on a far smaller budget.

To me the real worry is if we get in a relegation-battle by going on another poor run. The threadbare defence in spite of a glut of 20+ midfielders(shades of Gary Bowyers unbalanced squad anyone?). To be fair to Gary Bowyer he was a hell of a lot better than Mowbray in the buying/selling department. Injuries to 2/3 defenders mean we will struggle to put out a team at all in spite of the £15 million spent! Dont you think other teams will target our vulnerable defence?

Danny Graham came on a free(high wages maybe)but is far and away still the only decent striking option we have other than midfielder Dack. We need to seriously trawl the free-transfer market in January,as clearly Mowbray is incapable of spending the money on strikers wisely. It makes no sense spending any more considering the debt we are in.

Early days,I know but clearly Mowbray shouldnt be allowed to spend any more money on strikers. On the positive side,I dont expect us to get relegated. This tedious possession-style football probably works best away from home. Mowbrays refusal to play his strongest team(which MUST include Graham) means he isnt getting the best from the squad available. At least we can now play a strong team in the FACup as there is probably no chance of promotion!

Think Tonys tombola is an attempt to imitate Pep with playing players out of position. Whilst it probably foxes our own players it also confuses the opposition!!

Much like he did for Hamburg in the last 4 seasons. Neat & tidy passer but NOT a goalscorer-so read Tom Cairney/and or Corry Evans.

Holtby ISNT a goalscorer.Never saw him score for Hamburg in Bundesliga I or II in many matches on bt t.v.

Wouldnt have brought Evans off.

Game management required. But few defensive(time-wasting)options on the bench. Bell an absolute no--no!

Unfortunately we have a lot of irate fans who moan & moan again. "Moaning minnies"as Maggie Thatcher said. Look at the stick Mark Atkins used to get(and he won a Premier League winners medal). Then there was the"great pointer" Keith Andrews. Neither great players but both good goalscorers and VERY versatile,position-wise. So would have fit in well with Tonys tombola. As said,Lewis Holtby remains to be seen!

To quote Vilesinner"Having watched plenty of highlights of his incredible array of passing ability;much like Tugays imo." O.K. Ive seen quite a few Sunday Hamburg matches and dont agree. Maybe he just played badly?not so well in the games televised. Either way,how come no other teams are out there for his signature? There were at least 2 competittors for Gallagher,as far as I am aware. Wages?

When we are desparately short of semi-reasonable defensive options IF any of our first-choice defenders get injured this signing doesnt make sense. Unless of course Dack is on his way. Holtby is no replacement for Dack.

Very worried about this one. Ive seen quite a bit of Lewis Holtby on BT t.v. over the past 3 seasons playing for Hamburg who got relegated from the Bundesliga I and then failed to get promotion back as many Bundesliga II games featuring Hamburg were on t.v. on Sundays. Not terrible by any means but massively underwhelming in a fairly poor team with huge crowds and even bigger expectations. Has scored 14 goals in 127 appearances for Hamburg(as player & on loan). I would say he is an upgraded version of Cory Evans with a better goal-threat.Think he could score 3/4 goals a season in the Championship. Bearing in mind the German leagues are more similar to English leagues than probably French,Spanish or Italian but significantly weaker(except goalies) I believe he would be a competent Championship player. If he is being brought in to replace Dack we have big,big problems and considering our lack of defensive options if any defender gets injured this looks total insanity. However, on a low enough wage(I doubt) could be useful.

Overall agree with Stuart it looks haphazard though sometimes Tonys tombola works.... We arent Barca and dont have their budget so am a bit of a fan of aimless passing as we are not then needing to defend. How much of this is accidental is anyones guess! 1.Give Mowbray some credit for coming up with a reasonable defensive set-up on limited budget here(do Venkys veto spending on defenders)? 2.The best new players are the loan ones(agreed with Stuart 100 per cent). 3.Mowbray shouldnt spend the budget(just make recommendations)as the £15 million on 3 strikers looks awful(Gallagher could come good),For the lads sake & all the supporrters I hope he does.

The positive is that 5 at the back has brought the clean sheet we desparately needed.With 2 sitting midfielders in front of them,that makes 8 players in a somewhat defensive set-up(including goalie Walton). Only Williams cost a transfer fee amongst them. Unfortunately 3 of these players are loanees-Cunningham,Walton & Tosin. To quote Allardyces great mantra"Clean sheets,clean sheets, Clean sheets again I say clean sheets". Yes it does make life easier. Meanwhile our £15 million strike trio of Armstrong,Gallagher & Brereton continues to underwhelm. Shouldnt Graham be starting at least the home games when he is far and away our best striker ?

Yep Williams top goalscorer now......maybe he should play as a centre-back & "false striker".After all Mowbrays tinkered with everything else. It did wonders in the early 1960s converting Fred Pickering from defender to centre-forward!