Bennett left back, Evans not in the squad so Rothwell in midfield. Otherwise, as last week. Arma on the Bench, as is Smallwood

Not even conceded in 5, not bad going considering one of those games was West Brom away.

This is fair, but equally Klopp has an unbelievably well resourced recruitment department, and even putting aside how easily Liverpool can attract players, he's got the depth and richness of scouting data which is well beyond that of most clubs, including ours. I think Mowbray's transfer record is mixed, but certainly not poor. The big bucks spent on Brereton and Gally will rightly be talked about until they start living up to their price tags, but profits from Dack, Rothwell and Armstrong offset that for me. We won't make any money off the loans or players signed on a free, but there are loads of examples of players signed this season and last which have meant that we're continuing to improve. I think the first team has continued to improve, which is a pretty good measure of success of the manager's performance. Last thing I'd say too is that our targets have changed pretty substantially in a short period of time. We're rightly looking to get in the top flight now, but that doesn't mean that the signings we made to get us in the shape we are now like Smallwood, Samuel, P. Downing, Nuttall etc were the wrong calls, just that we've outgrown their usefulness.

I'm not completely unsympathetic to that - I rate Downing above Holtby as a creator of chances - but it is a way of getting both Holtby in a position where he might be more effective than last week and get Armstrong in the team too.

I don't quite agree that it's a no-brainer, mainly because I don't think that Bennett at left back is a disaster when we don't have a fit first team left back (accept that I'm probably in the minority on that one) and even though I think Downing is more than capable of doing a good job back there's still an element of risk moving him there. That said, on balance I agree that it's probably the best move - it's the one I'd make anyway.

Got a hell of a brain on him though. Not saying that Lowe wouldn't give him a hard time, but he's coped excellently with coming up against wingers plenty quicker than him so far. Maybe by having Downing making overlapping runs Lowe will be spending more time thinking about his defensive duties and less time running at the full back.

Managing the squad will be a real challenge from now til the end of the season. I'm not sure that Evans can put in that sort of performance three games a week without picking up an injury, but if we can get 4-5 games out of him at that level then it could be the difference between getting in the top six and missing out.

Ideally, but then again this is a way to get Hotlby in the game more whilst getting Arma on the pitch too. I'd be perfectly happy with either scenario to be honest, but I'm thinking that having three left back injuries might be seen as an opportunity to reshuffle to get our best players starting elsewhere on the pitch.

If there's not improvement with the left backs, I'd be happy sticking Downing there, putting Holtby back in the midfield and starting Arma with Brereton and Gally up front. Suppose Bennett to left back is the least disruptive option with Nyambe being fit.

Believe Brighton have hinted that he'll be involved in their first team next season, might be wrong though. I think that Walton is one of those loan signings that would be viewed differently had he been signed on a four year deal, rather than a season long loan. He has probably made one or two mistakes too many, and the PNE one in particular was hard to take, but he obviously has a lot of the tools needed to develop into a good keeper. We've picked up plenty of clean sheets this season, and whilst that's quite a lot down to our centre back pairing, Walton needs credit too.

That game at Hillsborough was horrible, genuinely not exaggerating in saying that was one of my worst days watching Rovers.

Just had a look at their win at the weekend, Huddersfield had 70% of the ball! Hard to say whether that played into Wigan's hands or not, but they'll get a very different sort of game against Rovers. Can only see this being tight, with the odd goal probably being enough to decide it. I think we have more quality though, especially in depth. 2-1 Rovers.

It would be flawed if you try to extrapolate our final position over a season, but I'm not. I'm saying that claiming TM relegated us by 'stubbornly keeping Lowe as captain and playing him at all costs' is an incredible thing to say when 1) we were picking up a healthy number of points and 2) we were so thin on quality and numbers there that we didn't have anyone to replace him with anyway.

Apologies if this was a tongue-in-cheek comment, but otherwise that's an absolutely outrageous statement! Our form after he joined in February came in was just short of play off standard and it's not as though we had anyone to replace him with anyway!

Robbo was a pretty good keeper in his pomp, but the fact that he got around 40 odd caps in an era before being dropped in his 20s shows how the quality dropped off. No expert, but it does seem we still produce plenty of good young keepers but few kick on to be consistently at the top level. Going back a bit now, but there's been Carson, Kirkland, Hart, Foster, Butland, Forster and probably about half a dozen others who looked they could be the real deal and for different reasons either didn't develop or couldn't do it consistently.

Agree with all of that, but I think Evans in particular has completely changed my opinion of him over the last season or two. When we were relegated I was more than willing just to let him go for nothing. He clearly had some ability, but he seemed so passive in games and never seemed to really impose himself on the opposition and was a bit of a soft-touch who flattered to deceive. I (probably wrongly) got the impression that he wasn't as bothered as you need to be at this level, maybe not helped by his injury record and towards the end of the Bowyer-era I had made my mind up about him. He is still a player with limitations, but his form under Mowbray has slowly but completely changed my opinion on both his ability and his attitude, and dominating the midfield (with the excellent Travis) was so impressive given his injury. Pleased that you mention Bennett as well. He's no world beater who shouldn't get into our strongest side, but Saturday's performance shows that he's more than capable of contributing as a squad player.

This is all fair, and if I gave the impression that I think there are no ongoing problems with their ownership, then that was a mistake. The main point I wanted to make (which probably got lost slightly) was that fans are still entitled to feel however they like about Venkys, even if there has been a marked improvement in their contribution over the last few years. As others have alluded to, there were questions posed by Alan Myers some weeks ago about how fans would feel about Venkys coming to Ewood for games, and whilst most comments were balanced there was the odd statement along the lines of "imagine still being bitter about them after so much time etc." Personally, I'm happy to recognise their apparent improvement and focus on the team, but I really didn't like the attitude suggesting that fans who took a different view were being unreasonable. Basically, I think questions about whether they are 'forgiven' or not really miss the point and are not important - but at the same time the fact that their ownership isn't the dominant issue that it was a few years ago is partially a result of how they have been doing a better job of shutting up and writing cheques.

I agree, we had to be playing at our most intense level to get those four points. I wouldn't say that we were at out best going forward, but our pressing & defensive focus needed to be very strong to keep them at arms length. As things stand I'd fear both Brentford & Fulham over two legs, but equally I think they're both a couple of injuries away from being vulnerable. Fulham especially, for a team with so many proven talented players they don't look the same team without Mitrovic.

I won't pretend to have followed every twist and turn of the Bolton saga, but I think their case shows if anything how financial crises from poor owners doesn't necessarily empower fan groups to take over, even for a club with a reasonable fan base. There's always the chance that a Portsmouth-like situation could materialise, but I wouldn't be optimistic about that being the end result and would only even be possible after the club suffering a huge trauma beforehand. On Venkys, the biggest complement I can pay them and their behaviour over the last 3/4 years is that they have made it easy for fans to be pragmatic. They're not causing havoc by making bizarre recruitment decisions, and they're underwriting our massive losses. Forgiving or forgetting doesn't really matter in this context. They can just be tolerated/ignored as long as they're necessary and not casing additional harm to the club.

Think Joe (who I like the look of) benefited in the second half from the dominant team display. They couldn't get Eliasson running at him nearly as much which was a worry in the first 45. The lad deserves a pat on the back and to stay in the managers thoughts, but I'd be happier going into the Wigan game with a recognised left back, not overly bothered if it's Bell or Williams.

Cardiff have defended very well and took their goals magnificently, but they've definitely had the bounce too. Take away the great saves and the strange Bamford offside, I've lost count of the number of times where the ball has come lose in Cardiff's area and just evaded a Leeds man. Cardiff deserve credit, but they had to ride their luck to win that game.

Not so sure, it's been a while since that's counted for much away at their place! Fully agree with the rest of your post. Whilst Evans is rightly getting plaudits, Travis again went about his job magnificently. That boy is a player.

We have three injured full backs who otherwise would have played. Bennett is a limited player, but is there anything to be gained by implying that he's so bad that he isn't up to being a reserve in the second tier?

Being generous to him, taking over a Tony Pulis squad with the remit of doing better with a reduced budget whilst playing more football was going to be very tough for anyone. Even so, we're well in the final quarter of the season and they're in serious danger of going down. Not acceptable for that club or squad.

Definitely turned out that way, but I suspect it was less him happy to sit on a contract, more him backing himself to win a spot back. TM has said on multiple occasions that he's not one to fully ostracise the players who are surplus to requirements, so it's possible that he was waiting for his chance to come around. It just turns out that it never did.