V. true, and I think you can say that about quite a few of our attacking players. Rothwell is certainly a player who comes to life when he has other creative players around him. Looking back to last season, even someone with the experience and quality of Downing was a completely different player when he wasn't our sole creative midfielder. One of the reasons I'm not against re-signing him is that this season he'll be playing alongside Elliot and Rothwell/Hotlby instead of the likes of Samuel

Getting all of the attacking players in the side is undoubtedly going to be a huge challenge. Says a lot about Brereton's form that at present he would be near impossible to drop.

Great post. Inelegant but effective sums him up perfectly this season. I was thinking along similar lines after the Wycombe/Derby/Cov games, and which other players could be put in the same category. The name which came to mind immediately was Kevin Davies. They're not too similar in their style of play, but they're both players who don't look like they'll ever be prolific and yet are well worth their place in the side by being a nightmare for defenders. I think we can see his value in Armstrong's form. Obviously Armstrong is a top goal-scorer anyway, but having scored double any other player in the league this year bar Toney, and having enough chances to have scored a good four or five more, I think we have to see Brereton's form as a major reason why he is getting so many chances.

Couldn't agree more. Other players rightly got the plaudits today but Buckley was a crucial cog in our midfield. He obviously has talent in abundance, and showed it this afternoon. Has to work on his consistency and decision making, but on today's showing we have a real player on our hands if we're patient with him.

Very creditable and deserved three points given where we're at in the season. Wharton was good, Ben Brereton superb. Returning players made an enormous difference.

Can't say that I'm delighted that he's playing, but agree that some of the criticism is OTT. Playing slightly further forward in a three really doesn't suit him though, especially on the left.

Reading are up there with QPR as clubs that you want to play on a horrible midweek fixture in poor weather. Would be a perfect game for Travis this one, but I'm still confident that we'll win without him.

His pass to Brereton was wonderful, and if I was being hyper-critical, slightly overdue. Since moving back to the right this season he has been decent enough, but until that pass had seemed to get into promising attacking positions before putting in a disappointing final ball. I'm not saying this to have a go, only to highlight that he's had a solid introduction to the first team with rare flashes of real quality, and that we might need to be a bit patient before we see him realise his potential.

Basically agree, but I'd have Nyambe in front of Rankin-Costello. Not an easy call, but both Joao and Meite (assuming they both play) can be a handful and I'd much rather have a rested Nyambe helping to deal with any counter attacks than JRC coming back from a hamstring injury.

Counterpoint: our squad that season was always likely to stay up comfortably but was much more than a 7 million pound striker away from being top 6 contenders. Obviously we were all hoping for more from him before now, but seems to me that our need is much greater now we have a squad who on paper can challenge rather than when we were a nailed on mid-table side.

Even though he won't be playing in his preferred position, I'm increasingly excited about seeing how Dack fits into this team. We might lose a bit with him not playing as a 10, but we should gain much more with him playing in a team with so many other attacking options who will occupy the attention of opposition defenders. Thinking who gets dropped for him is the difficult part.

I can't believe that the lad is only 17. It will be a challenge for him to sustain his form over a season with plenty of three game weeks. Even so it's as clear as day what all the fuss is about with him. Extraordinary talent for a boy so young.

This is becoming a bit of a concern, hopefully we'll put them to the sword in the second half. Brereton has been superb

Agree - but on the back of a 3 game week and with the new few weeks looking congested I think we'll have to ring the changes quite a bit over the coming games. Attack like we did on Wednesday and we should have too much for them. 1-3 Rovers

Agree apart from Buckley. With any luck he'll be starting tomorrow.

Sharpe says that both are registered in time for tomorrow's game. I think this would be one occasion where Mowbray's tendency to not start new signings is completely understandable given their lack of game time, but I'd love to see Douglas thrown straight in.

On Evans, he's completely won me round from a few seasons ago when I would have happily let him go for nothing. I think the way that we're playing now though he would need to be the deepest player in the 3 for it to make sense, and I wouldn't want him trying to get as far forward as Holtby has been getting at times. In fact I think one of the things which did for him before Mowbray was that he had to get up and down the pitch too much in a 4-4-2, which clearly he isn't up to doing. Different story if it's a 4231 or if we have two players in front of him doing more attacking. Need to get Buckley in for Saturday.

You can see his influence on Pep - identify the way you want to play and commit everything to following that approach to the fullest extent, to hell with the weaknesses which comes with it. Sacrifice is the essence of strategy etc,

Another thing I like about the Trybull signing is that it seems to have been kept under wraps excellently. First knowledge of it about half an hour before he's supposedly having his medical.

The 'not athletic enough for a Bielsa team' is interesting given how our set up is really fitness driven too. Then again Leeds have been ridiculous in their pressing, so I guess it's all relative. On the potential defensive frailties, whilst we would obviously prefer players who can do both sides of the game well, an excellent attacking full-back is still a big upgrade on Bell (although by his standards he's had a very decent few games).

Start as I mean to go on. To think I've still no issues with typing Khizanishvili after all these years.

Whilst not knowing anything about him until half an hour ago, a little research suggests that Turnbull looks like a highly decent player. Seems to be good with or without the ball, should suit our new high-energy style.

In fairness, I'd mark that down as a very strong window given the circumstances.

Have to say I'm surprised about that, and can only assume he's asking for a similar wage when clubs are cutting their cloth accordingly. There are good arguments (which I don't 100% buy, but whatever) that he slowed our play down too much last year, but he still created great deal of chances. Played almost all of our games, versatile. Even if we have different priorities, amazed that other teams haven't taken an interest.

Agree completely with that, the successful clubs even at this level (see Brentford) are the ones with structures in place that are robust to changes in personnel. High turnover is a fact of life in football, exemplified by the fact that TM is almost in the top-10 longest serving managers in the football league. One room for optimism is that I seem to remember Mowbray giving an interview about this very point when the idea of a European scouting network first came about. He said that he wanted to leave a legacy which outlasted his stay as manager, and if the academy is anything to go by, Venkys do (currently) seem willing to fund the aspects of the club which are potential money spinners.