Admiral Nelsen

Take that result in a heartbeat. I've a feeling that we'll put in a decent performance but be edged out 2-1. Obviously hope I'm wrong, but on paper this looks like it may be the hardest game we have left. Apparently Jensen went off injured for them on Saturday. Meant to be an important cog in their machine, hopefully means they won't be at their most fluent.

Enigma certainly. Wouldn't call the boy average though. Clearly has the talent to hurt teams, the next level for him is finding consistency.

Last season fair enough. I still think there's a meaningful difference between a manager too loyal to players and one giving a promoted side a crack of the whip to begin with though. I'd take issue with a few other things too, Mulgrew may have started our first game but his being sidelined was clearly on the cards. Travis started alongside Richie at Sheff U too, so he was close to breaking through. In the main though, judging off this season alone, TM has been pretty ruthless with the players who were meant to be his pals. Even Benno, who gets far too much grief from some who have short memories imo, hasn't been starting recently. Basically, there are fair criticisms of Mowbray, but I think there are a couple of red herrings which people often use and I think this is one of them.

Not sure that's true actually. Who would we put in that category? Smallwood's not had a look in all season. Mulgrew the same. Williams has barely played all year. I have criticised Evans plenty, but this season he has thoroughly deserved his spot. Like others, I would've preferred to see Nyambe replace Bennett earlier than he did, but I think the Mowbray plays his mates idea has always been a bit of a myth to be honest.

Agree with this. A win makes it a good week despite losing to Fulham. Anything less is disappointing, but we still live to fight another day, even if it looks very tricky.

Before the Fulham game I thought we would've needed 6 points from this week to keep us in touch. I was really deflated after the game for that reason, but after yesterday I still think it's possible. The Brentford game aside, we've got plenty of winnable games before the end of the season. Charlton, Wigan, Barnsley & Luton away, and we know that we're strong at home. In my heart of hearts, I think we'll probably finish just outside, which I'd see as progress and sets us up for a pivotal summer in the transfer market.

Swallows, summers etc. But if a 20 year old from the academy made his debut yesterday with that performance, we'd be going mad. Not defending the money spent at all, but it's fair to say that at his age, most players are only emerging to be first teamers. His touch still looked very heavy, but very much improved from anything we've seen from him. Just hope he manages to kick on until the end of the season.

Good. He was getting a sniff about a month ago, but not really enough to impress with. He might still be a flawed player, but with the injuries in his position this could be the making of him.

There's clearly something, but it might be as much his lack of defensive work/ability which is stopping him. Think how long it took for Rothwell to get in the side, could be a similar thing with Chapman. Hopefully, given our injury troubles, his not playing on Monday was because he'll be in the squad at the weekend.

Pre-Rothwell injury I was lucking my lips at those. Strong home record for a long time now and playing some very beatable sides away. With the squad as it is now, it looks tougher, but you're still 100% right to say that we need wins from them to get in the top 6. On the Bennett at 10 thing mentioned elsewhere, he played the same role against Brentford at home last season and he was MoM. Pressing everything and not letting their better footballers settle one bit. Not saying the same thing would happen this time, or that he should be anywhere near there when any one of Dack, Holtby or Rothwell are fit, but given that we're playing some decent sides and we have to deal with what we have, it might not be a bad solution.

The Holtby injury seems to force our hand a little bit. Either stick with playing the same way but relying more on youngsters, or switch tactic to playing two up top. Fulham's defence has had plenty of off days this season, so I'd be tempted to change things and bring Graham back in. We're not going to out-pass Fulham, so having his know-how and ability to give us a platform could be vital.

Keeping Tosin and Lenihan fit and playing is massive for us. We're stretched all over the pitch at the moment, but they're the ones who we miss the most when either are missing. I still think we can do it, although how we deal with February might be make or break. Even though we're stretched, we've got four games at home and the Charlton game looks winnable as far as away games go. If we can get through those games without anymore major injuries, pick up 3-4 wins and go into March with Rothwell, maybe Evans coming back in, then we have as good a chance as anyone.

Game of opinions, but I seem to remember Andrews going on loan to Ipswich when we were still in the Prem and scoring a silly number of goals. Goals aren't everything of course, but I think, but I think if we were to sign him now instead of when he looked like Ince's lapdog, he would've been seen very differently.

To be honest I'm only going off the Bristol City game, which I didn't go to, so I could be talking nonsense. Just seems to me that given the Rothwell injury, we can move Downing to the wing, Johnson in the middle and have Graham up front.

Yeah, wouldn't expect that any dealings today (or lack thereof) could possibly be affected. Even so, assuming it would be somewhere between 5-8 million, then it should significantly change the complexion of the summer. Come on Ole!

Quite right, my mistake. I'd still look to go 442 though. Perhaps Graham with Arma instead of Gally

Under normal circumstances, with their upturn in form and our injuries, a draw would be a decent result here. But we need 10 wins, so this is one we really should be going for. I'd be tempted to temporarily revert to our Bristol City approach with Gally and Armstrong up top, Johnson in the middle with Travis and Downing on the wing.

It's something he seems to try a lot, probably one of the main reasons that he's played so far on the left. No co-incidence that he hit the post so much last year, with him trying it as often as he does.

Ibe is one of those players who I only know by appearance and reputation, rather than having seen him play a lot. His goal record, apart from a brief loan at Derby a couple of years ago looks pretty dire, it has to be said. Having said that, he obviously must have something about him to get 100+ PL games when he's just turned 24. If it's him, I'd be cautiously excited, especially if it's linked to a permanent deal, although I've no clue how realistic that would be.

Some rumblings (maybe Nixon started, don't know) that Forest are after Freeman on loan. Suggests that he might be available, but then again they might be a slightly more attractive option than Rovers at present seeing as they're potentially going for the top 2.

Believe that he's been coming off the bench, but then again I suppose many of the names suggested have too. He'd be a top signing, but I suspect that it will be a PL youngster, despite the mention that it could be an experienced player. Hope to be wrong obviously, and even if it is a youngster it could feasibly be a Harvey Barnes type instead of a Martin Samuelsen.

That would be amazing, but I seriously doubt it. Surely would have Prem interest?

I'll choose to see the last 20 minutes as us learning how to see how out a game, rather than let it take away from what was a very good opening hour against a decent team. Quick point on Bell, tonight was a microcosm of where he's at with his Rovers career. Most of the game looked like there's a reasonable player in there, but too many times where he is far too loose. Genuinely conflicted about offering a new deal. Anyway, great three points. COYR.

Sharpe very impressed with Davenport by all accounts. Said he controlled the game and PNE had a number of senior players there

I don't see how? It's entirely consistent to believe that players bought in the first few transfer windows a) improved/contributed to the team so we could get promoted and consolidate in the championship and b) have now been shown to be not good enough to challenge for promotion to the top flight. This doesn't mean that it was the wrong decision to get them in them in the first place, just that our ambitions have quickly outgrown their usefulness. It wasn't a given that we'd get promoted (look at Sunderland) nor was it a given that we'd find staying up fairly comfortable (look at every other promoted team over the same period). Signing Dack was wonderful, but there aren't too many players who join a L1 side and find gliding up through the leagues so easy. Sometimes you have to shop at the level you're at, and Smallwood, Samuel, Nuttall, Bell, P. Downing and others made significant contributions in progressing where we are now. TM is now happy to raise our expectations, which I think we all are glad about, so we need significant (not 9 players though!) first team reinforcements. There's no contradiction at all in recognising that setting our sights higher will require improving the squad, and at the same time that our position now of having a young squad sat not far outside the playoffs is a significant improvement on what TM inherited, and for which his recruitment has clearly played a large and positive role. In terms of the wider transfer strategy, totally fair enough that we have more loans than we would like (even if they play a crucial role in being successful at this level) but elsewhere we needed to improve the depth of the squad (see Holtby), and signing players for the future is exactly the way that a club like ours can overcome FFP. Wouldn't disagree that this approach has been hit and miss so far, but our squad value must be miles higher than it was prior to Mowbray's appointment (even notwithstanding that he's spent a few quid). This has turned into a slightly longer and ranting post than it was meant to, and I don't want to make it sound like he hasn't made errors in some of his signings. He obviously has, potentially at least one big one. At the same time when he get's criticised for needing to bring players in so that a team that was in the third tier a season and a half ago can challenge for promotion, it just strikes me as enormously disproportionate and is even in danger of underplaying the progress we've made and continue to make, which is considerable.