Admiral Nelsen

Me too - and I'd be amazed if be doesn't. Ideally I'd like to see him alongside Davenport, who I still think we could see plenty from if he gets a decent run.

We've been here before, like you say, but we should be looking at those home fixtures (with Hull away included) and really be licking our lips. A real opportunity to plant ourselves in the top six and put some distance between us and the rest of the chasing pack. Whether we will actually manage this however...

Some pretty undiplomatic language from Appleton at the end of that game as I recall! Without naming names, basically said that a handful of players weren't bothered and had downed tools. I'm not arguing that he would've been a success (that Millwall quarter final is still etched in my memory!) but an interesting bit of alternative history over our recent past would've been to see what Appleton could've done with the opportunity to rebuild that Bowyer was ultimately given.

I'll give you that - I wasn't especially looking to have a go at Duffy as the player he is now, but in his first prem season he still struck me as an excellent ball winner, but one who was clumsy on the ball and lacked a bit of game awareness like he was here. I think Brighton's system as it was then did a good job of making the most of his strengths whilst not exposing his weaknesses too much, and I can see Lenihan doing okay at that level in a similar system.

I can see him doing okay (wouldn't put it any stronger than that) at a team like the Dingles, who defend pretty deep and make sure their full backs and midfield are protecting the centre halves pretty much at all times. I think if Duffy (admittedly a different type of defender) can succeed when he played in that sort of system under Hughton, Lenihan could cope too. Thing is though there aren't many teams who play in that sort of style in the prem at present, and those that do still tend to have better defenders than Lenihan on their books. As much as he's vital to Rovers, I really can't see him getting a chance at that level.

Curious to know what your expectations are this year in terms of beating the drop? Sounds like a couple of pretty good performances in the last handful of games, and a point away at Chelsea which showed the signs of a team ready to beat the drop. At the same time, still in the bottom three, smallish squad, vultures circling over a couple of key players and you'd expect a couple of the teams down there with you to improve over the season (Newcastle at least will spend a few quid). My money would be on Dyche just seeing you over the line, but not as confident as I would've been in previous years.

I think we have to take things like size of fee/importance of player into account when judging his transfer record. Nobody was bothered with Sparky signing the Berners, Vogels and Rigters of this world because because when we needed to spend the budget on a new striker, he always delivered in spades. This actually makes it a tricky task to judge Mowbray's record. There are some players who were brought as (relatively) low cost loans, but need to be judged as pretty important failures because they filled important roles and didn't cut the mustard (e.g. Walton, Douglas). Others have eventually paid dividends, but only in time and there's an argument that the eventual Brilliant success of Ayala and Brereton has come 12 months too late for a promotion push. So even looking at Brereton as an investment which has paid off, it's not as simple as just saying that he's been a great signing because of the time that we've needed to wait for him to get to that level. At the same time, trying to take everything together, I really don't think that Mowbray's transfer record is something to hold against him. Quite the opposite actually. There are the obvious examples of Dack, Armstrong, Kaminski et al, but there are plenty of others that you'd have as successes given either how much we paid, or what we needed at a certain point in time. Whilst we wouldn't take any of them now, the likes of Smallwood, P. Downing, Samuel, Nuttall, Payne & Antonsson all played significant roles in getting us up first time and were signed for buttons. More recently, there have been others who were low-risk signings who improved us whilst admittedly not doing it consistently enough to be classed as a Dack/Armstrong level success (e.g. Holtby, Rothwell, 1st. season S. Downing). A handful of these low-risk signings haven't worked out, for whatever reason, but the success of Dolan should eventually make up for a dozen Sam Harts. Ultimately, I think the case against Mowbray as manager begins and ends with his ability to get the most out of the players available to him. The squad we had last year was, according to plenty on here (myself included) was good enough to finish in the top 6 - so the issue for me isn't really recruitment, even if it's that is bit of a complex picture. The squad was also made up of plenty of young players & academy graduates, so neither is the issue that Mowbray doesn't trust youth as others have suggested elsewhere. For me it just boils down to not getting the results that we should get consistently enough, most else is just noise.

All those double sessions he put in with Martin Boyle paying dividends.

Collectors item goal for Jason Lowe today too.

Only watched the second half onwards, but what a game. Seemed to me that Bolton are still some way away from being a team that could challenge for promotion in that league too.

Genuinely wonder if the £5 million is a typo, missing a 1. It just seems like such a bizarre figure for a player of his age and goal record who has effectively 18 months left to run on his contract.

There's a good case to keep Wharton in the team, definitely. Very impressive considering the time he's spent away, even though you could say he could've dealt with their goal better. Don't get me wrong, I think there's a pretty good case to keep the whole XI the same (and I hope we mostly do) but I wouldn't go overboard with how solid we looked, personally. I think we were great overall, and should have scored more than three, but at the same time our goal lived a bit of a charmed life to keep them down to just the one. This after the Fulham game, I think this is one of those cases where one or two changes to a winning side is warranted and not just Mowbray being Mowbray.

It's been covered a few different times on the thread, but I think it just shows how the scrutiny that modern footballers face is just a lot harder for them to avoid compared to previous generations. Couldn't agree more that Brereton has only ever had support from the overwhelming majority fans inside the ground. I distinctly remember the very warm reaction to his first (I think?) goal for us when we beat Bolton towards the end of his first season. No sign whatsoever that the fans were giving him stick more than any other player at that point. All that said - and this is an inescapable fact for every decent sized club, not just Rovers - the comments that are made about players after games are absolutely everywhere and some players get made targets. I don't think we can honestly say that Brereton (or more typically the expensive signing of Brereton as a stick to beat Mowbray with) wasn't a go-to target for people venting their spleen when things weren't going our way, and unlike 20 years ago this wasn't all done in the pub after the game where the player is none the wiser. Only a (probably small) minority and happens at every club, but not easy for a young boy to deal with all the same.

Not defending Mowbray's tendency to over-tinker, but I think Ayala & Pickering coming back in is entirely fair enough. Edun (as much as I'm glad that we have him) found it tough going against Sheffield United and obviously was obviously a part of the Fulham drubbing. Dropping Wharton after a good return is harsh I suppose, but I think you'd really struggle to overestimate the importance of Ayala's contribution before he got injured. I suspect that he'll get his chance again sooner rather than later anyway, but in the meantime I'd look to make the very most we can out of Ayala before his next spell out.

I'd just about lean towards Davenport over Edun, but other than that I like that side. Khadra slightly unlucky after a goal and a good second half performance vs Sheffield United, but to be honest I thought they masked him having some pretty dreadful spells until that point. I like him, but his game intelligence/respect for possession needs a lot of work for me. It would be a big call leaving out Rothwell though. It was one thing to drop him last time out when we could've easily done the same to the whole starting XI, but generally this year he's been involved in a lot of what we've done well. If we go back to 433, I can see Mowbray going with: Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering Buckley Travis Rothwell Poveda Brereton-Diaz Dolan

Just had a look now. There's some awareness of the depth of feeling towards him, but not really any about why he's hated so much. Basically seem to think he was out of his depth at the time, but nothing else dodgy beyond his record on the pitch.

Generally I think Malan gets a bit too much of a hard time, but I think we could rue him not really cashing in after eating up so many balls. Massive powerplay coming up

Runs on the board, but I'd say advantage NZ with them batting second in these conditions.

This isn't in any way meant to be a dig at Jones - loved him as a player at Rovers and really want his next move to work out, but I never got the sense he was really emotionally connected enough for him to want to make this sort of 'homecoming' move at this stage. I'm sure Rovers was/is his team, but not in the same way that we are for the likes of Dunn, Wharton, Derbyshire etc. I suppose beggars/choosers when it comes to his injury record, but even if he doesn't get a prem move, I can see a good level European club coming in and being able to offer more in wages than we could.

Not sure if it has already been mentioned, but Aberdeen's Head of Recruitment (or equivalent) is Mowbray's younger brother. A quick scan on their message board a couple of weeks ago and it seems commonly accepted that he'll be here at some point, either in January or later on a free. Seems very likely that there's truth in it.

Having seen it back, what did you make of them getting in behind the defence on our left as much as they seemed to? I moved seats to the Jack Walker, so couldn't really be sure whether it was Edun's fault or whether he needed more help from Khadra. I think Khadra is the one attacking player who could justifiably be replaced against Bristol City to be honest. A bit harsh maybe, given his goal and strong second half performance, but I thought his game awareness & respect for possession was really poor until his equaliser. Different sort of player, but I was far more impressed with Poveda. Your assessment is pretty much in line with how I saw it - best game I've seen in I don't know how long but it's not sustainable to concede as many chances as we did.

Didn't get to see the Hudds game, so I can't comment on that, but I don't remember any other time this season when his winger has really had the beating of him. There have been unimpressive moments here and there, but obviously a big improvement on what we've had (admittedly not that hard). Agree that he doesn't have much interest in taking players on, but that isn't such a big issue if his delivery is good enough when he gets space, and there are promising signs on that front. My main point though is that whilst he's only been fairly solid so far, I expect him to get a lot better given his age and where he has played so far, so ideally I'd want him and Edun both getting time on the pitch. Far, far too soon to be saying that he's a poor buy at this stage in my view.

I think there's a chance that in a few years he could really excel in that position, dictating games. Agree that he's not at that point yet though.

Earlyish days, but I agree that he looks to have real potential. Being harsh for a second I thought he faded badly against Coventry, losing the ball in bad positions in the second half and maybe showing a bit of naivety and lack of discipline as a defender, but that aside I think he's looked very promising wherever he's played. Long term I like the idea of having Pickering at left back and Edun in midfield. I think whilst Pickering hasn't been the marauding attacking full back that maybe a few of us expected, he's still been pretty effective in attack & defence and should only improve given his age.

Whilst that is clearly a step too far, there's no escaping the fact that Gally's stats have been great this year, especially when you factor in that he's missed a reasonable amount of game time through injuries. I thought too that whoscored might not take things like chances missed into consideration, but to be fair it seems as though he's been very clinical this year (Derby aside!) with a goal for every 2.1 shots. To put in perspective, that's a lot better than Mitrovic & Brereton. Don't get me wrong, we're still very much in 'not value for money' territory when you factor in previous seasons, but at the same time he's showing that he can be a real asset in this league if he plays in the right system. He definitely doesn't warrant being put in the same bracket of the Grabbis/Davies/Peacocks of this world who delivered absolutely nothing for their big fees.