I can see Bennett getting on the bench given our lack of options at right back. If Davenport is fit, there shouldn't be any reason for Evans to get in the squad with the players we have available.

To be fair, those sorts of numbers didn't stop some Rovers fans putting Modeste up there with Ashley Ward! Agree that his good spells vastly outweighed the bad. As you say, he was excellent for us and I'm sad that he couldn't get rid of a few demons by banging a few in back in the North East.

Agree. I also think this is the first season where our squad is good enough to view a top six finish as something to expect (or at least expected to get very close to) rather than just hope for. This means two things. First, it's completely fair to hold TM to a higher standard for this season's finish, but also that he deserves credit for the squad being improved enough on a fairly modest budget that we can have those higher expectations.

Not just the opinion of those of un on here either, believe WhoScored have him in their team of the month.

Josh King attracting interest from a few it seems. Don't expect we'll get a massive windfall like we could have done last year, but would be nice if it could pay off the fee for Pickering.

I'm definitely an optimist when it comes to Rovers, and have pretty consistently said that Mowbray gets far too much stick on here, but I think saying that he's been dealt crumbs is a little too far. As his detractors have been quick to point out, he hasn't been forced to sell any of our first teamers since his arrival, and whilst our budget means that he needs to look for value it's clear that we still have more spending power than a few in this league. I agree that he is developing the squad quite nicely, and a couple of buys have been tremendous investments, so perhaps I'm splitting hairs a bit.

Some woeful content from Rovers here which I'm ashamed to say actually made me laugh.

He had a six-hundred grand release clause, didn't he? Or somewhere in that region? Then again I suppose the loan back may have shaved a little bit off the asking price. Like you I've definitely seen some improvement in Douglas, and I'm comfortable enough with having him starting for the rest of the season. Even so I think the ideal situation would have been to bring him in straight away if we could have sold Bell too, albeit for a very small fee, and let Picking & Douglas battle it out.

And this is during a season where all three relegated clubs are doing relatively well, by historical standards. Very rare for all three to be in the top six at this point, it's usually a safe bet that one will drop like a stone (rather like we did!).

Without wanting to go through each of TM's interviews on the subject, hasn't he usually caveated his preference for permanent deals with a 'sometimes the budget can only cover a loan', or for Tosin/Elliott 'we can only get players of this standard on loan.' Doesn't seem to me like there's too much evidence of Mowbray being cut out of transfer dealings.

Spot on. We need Travis in these sorts of games to give us the competitive edge to make sure that we don't get bullied, but with the ball he needs to be at the top of his game to not fall into some of their traps. He's making us a much better team already by making us harder to score against, but I expect him to be much better in a few weeks time.

Pleased to see Douglas play well today too. Probably the first time since he signed where you could make a good case for him putting in a better performance than Nyambe.

No, and I definitely wouldn't use the word excellent, but it doesn't really tell the full story either. We were good for the first half hour or so, without putting the right finishing touch to moves (not for the first time!). A different bounce for Armstrong in the first few minutes (or Lockyer doesn't make his wonder-tackle) and all of a sudden we could be in for a straightforward afternoon. A grotesque football match, but nice to see us winning these sorts of games now.

Just showed the goal on Sky, decent finish.

Not sure if this is the right thread to post this, but Carter has put Burton in front on his debut

Speculating in the extreme, I wonder if Travis would be a covid-related omission?

For international superstars, that's mostly correct. Other very good players in certain positions often emerge quite a bit later. You could just as easily say look at Lallana or Scholes, who only started getting games in their early 20s (Lallana in a team which was then relegated from the Championship). Just as it's too early to say that he's on his way to the top, it's equally ridiculous to write him off at this point.

Let's see - I think we went about the summer the right way (broadly) in terms of spending the budget on the right areas, so I'm not saying that I'm particularly annoyed about us not getting him. Even so it's never easy to see how these 'too good for L1' types adjust to going the step higher. I'd be shocked if he's as effective in his role as Travis is, but it took Rothwell ages to get to his current level, which is still inconsistent. Holtby is too hot and cold too. Buckley not there yet. We're well off for good/promising/useful midfielders in a way that we never used to be, but most have question marks next to them too so I'd expect that he would get plenty of game time for us. Anyway, the ship seems to have sailed. Like you, I'm not overly bothered about PNE (even if it has been an embarrassing run of results against a lesser Lancashire club!) so good luck to him.

Vaguely, big reputation who didn't really justify it. To be fair to him he didn't exactly come in at the best time to showcase his talent!

Pretty close to the team I'd like to see, although was Butterworth one of those isolating against Birmingham? Probably not going to be able to play if so.

The boy has clearly been very unfortunate with the timing of his injuries - but I'm inclined to agree. There could very easily be a good player in there, but unless he's playing well at a much higher level in the next twelve months, it'll be best for all concerned for him to move on.

No Carter? Have to admit I didn't really think bout Downing - definitely should be starting him in this one. I know he doesn't really possess the attributes that Tony wants from his attacking players, but as a one off I'd have him on the wing for this one.

Not usually one for making wholesale changes for cup games, especially in the FA cup, but I'd make an exception for this season. Chance to get minutes in for players who need them, rest the ones who have been flogged in a crazy start to the season. Pears Pike Lenihan Johnson Douglas Davenport Travis Buckley/Dack Dolan Gallagher Brereton

Not so sure. I'm not denying that there's something awry with our ability to pick up points against the better teams this year, but there's nothing in the games that we've lost which tells me that we should be frightened of any of those teams. Norwich away could end up being very difficult if they improve with more players back, but Bristol and Brentford at home & Millwall away don't scare me one bit. Reading blow hot and cold, as do we. Definitely some wins to be had if we look after our game (admittedly a big if). 100% with you on tomorrow's game. We have to look at the four games before the cup game as a chance to close the gap and rack up some points.

As things stand, a win tomorrow would put us in the top 6 if Brentford don't match our result. Usually the sort of situation when we start a 4 game winless run!