Admiral Nelsen

I'd be very happy with four points from this and the Swansea game. Both tough in their own ways, but this one looks the more challenging on paper, so a point wouldn't be the end of the world.

Putting the L1 season aside, we've been too easy to score against since Sam left. Some managers have had spells of taking conservative, defensive minded decisions such as Bowyer at times, but they never really solved the problem of us being a bit soft at the back. Such a refreshing change this year. Eight clean sheets in ten is outstanding at any level, and as you say, all three centre backs have been absolutely immense.

That would seemingly have come from nowhere. Apparently they couldn't get the funds together to sign the Aussie midfielder who was on loan there and just went to Boro instead. Suggests the price has come down dramatically if true.

Had we been judging Gally purely on this season's output, we'd still have been frustrated with certain aspects of his game but they would be secondary to his very decent goal record. Obviously the signing gets judged for previous seasons too, so I wouldn't want to go overboard and say that it was £5million well spent, but he definitely deserves credit for this season and the decision to buy him in the first place looks much better than it did this time last year.

Funny you should mention... https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/17409886/bournemouth-andy-carroll-reading-burnley-transfer/

I briefly made them favourites to grab second once I saw they signed him. That really is a blow - happily means that he'll be missing for when we play them too.

I guess if West Brom are serious then we'd struggle to match their offer. Would be a quality signing at this level though (arguably a good one even if we went up).

If mentally he's in a decent place, Gallagher. I've no illusions about the negative aspects of his game, but for me it's his first touch and game awareness that holds him back. He has the tools to be a good penalty taker in my view.

Agree - the one thing that you'd say I suppose is that his injury problems were genuinely horrendous. I don't blame Mowbray for bringing in players who he could rely upon in the short term, but he's been fit for a year or two now. He should've had a run last year in my view, especially in that awful run after Christmas. I know others on here disagree, but I think the 'Mowbray has been unfair to Nyambe/Rothwell and that's why they're leaving' is a total red herring. Davenport on the other hand has every right to feel aggrieved.

Think this is the clearest sign that we're going to see that he's going to be leaving after this season. Real shame.

Definitely agree with the first bit - wouldn't change the back three under any circumstances if they're fit to play.

I'm expecting (hoping?) there won't actually be that much change, with Buckley playing deeper and Khadra playing as a 10. Personally I'd have much rather seen Davenport replace Trav, but there we are.

Trav out with an illness. James Brown on the bench.

Agree. Mowbray has rightly got some stick for being far too eager to change the team, but to be fair he's been pretty consistent in keeping systems in place until it's clear that it isn't working. In fact last season he didn't even change the system after it became obvious that it was holding us back. Changing to three at the back has signalled our amazing form and the wider footballing community talking about Mowbray as a managerial genius. There isn't a cat in hells chance that he'll change things now to accommodate Ryan Hedges.

Believe he's Patrick Barclay's lad, so could be reasonably well connected to be fair.

Should our good run continue for much longer, I think this should be seen as a sensible option for all parties.

Would be harsh in the extreme to not play Khadra, assuming he's fully fit of course. Other than that I sincerely hope that JRC can come through this. I believe that Lewis-Potter has been playing left wing back for Hull recently, so most of their attack is probably going to come down Rankin-Costello's side.

Pretty important that we start putting that to bed over the next few weeks!

This sums up pretty much exactly where I am with the signing. Very excited about the potential, but you have to acknowledge that a 20 year old with next to no top-level experience may at the very least need some time to adjust.

Not the most fair indicator of the quality of the league, but there is some sub-optimal defending going on there (along with some nice finishes too).

I think we rate Johnson slightly differently. I'm no massive fan & I'd start Davenport over him, but when he's on his game he doesn't tend to get bypassed that much in my view. He has been maddeningly inconsistent though, and when he's not on form his lack of mobility stands out like a sore thumb. Luckily most teams at this level don't have the players to exploit that too often - so I think his power and crafty game management makes him a useful option to sure things up, especially if we're protecting a lead. He has his moments with the ball at his feet too, but obviously these are few and far between. That said, I agree that if we lost Travis for any length of time and we couldn't play Edun there because he's on the left, I'd definitely rather see Davenport as his replacement.

Really surprised by that! I know he plays pretty deep, but I still would've thought he would've managed far more than 13. That's the record of an average centre back. Charlie Mulgrew almost beat that in one year! Always one of those players who looks better on highlights reels.

For all the talk of Mowbray having favourites and not treating others equally (Nyambe, Rothwell, the idea that Travis was kept out of the team for too long, etc.) Davenport is the one who can feel genuinely hard done by in my opinion. Injuries have been horrible, but he's been fit for a while now and has never been given a half decent run in the team. Makes sense now that the Rothwell/Travis/Buckley midfield is so nicely balanced, but there's no reason at all why he didn't get more game time last season for me. I'll be sad to see him go at the end of the year (assuming he will, of course) and I think he would be a very shrewd signing for someone. Having said that, I can understand why Johnson has come on for 20 minutes here and there to see games out. We all know that his passing can be very hit and miss, but his physicality can be a real asset.

Yes - we were hard done to with the circumstances of the first game being called off, but we probably couldn't have picked a better date for the rearranged fixture. Extra day's prep on Hull and and then the best part of a week to prepare for our next game on Monday.

Completely. If they were half as clinical as we have been, let alone Fulham, then they would at least be up there at the top along with us and the other two, if not a little in front of us. Dike delivering the same as he did for Ismael at Barnsley and they could easily still challenge the automatics.