Angry_Pirate

If this was Football Manager you would definitely be looking into contracts for those 4 in a heartbeat. Bauer, Olsson and Maddison would be an instant upgrade on that position and Nick Powell would be a smart business decision and excellent depth player. Raya Nyambe - Lenihan - Bauer - Olsson Travis - New CM Maddison - Dack - Rothwell Graham Subs/Squad: GK, Bell, Mulgrew, Williams, Bennett, Evans, Davenport, Armstrong, Chapman, Powell, Brereton and youth players. That's a Championship strong 21-25 built for "free" and allows real money to be spent on the quality cm partner for Travis, backup/challenging GK and then maybe any other positions of need/desire such as a real Graham replacement. Ps. For what it's worth I have heard from excellent sources that we have already offered Smallwood out to clubs, mainly L1, for a couple hundred thousand.

Me and my mate were having a laugh calling him Luca Modric, he did stand out for them... probably the hair. Not much to moan about... again (wow). Manager is picking a team that agrees with the fans, gave the kids a go and Brereton finally got his goal, plus it's another win without Smallwood anywhere near the team. I thought Butterworth showed more than Buckley - then again, one got to play a free #10 role, and the other got to play next to Elliott "I'll probably pass it to a Bolton player" Bennett. Lenihan captain next season. 4 points to end the season and top 10 finish! ?

Despite not rating him (at all) I think there would have been a market for Smallwood. The problem is his new contract - still under £10kpw (I'd hope) - will probably mean we cannot ask for a fee and expect a L1 club to be able to pay his reduced wages. Last summers new deals puts us in a similar, albeit much lower financial, problem that we faced years ago when we had Murphy, Orr, Best and Etuhu on damning wages meaning we were stuck with them unless we give them a golden handshake and let them go for nothing. Dont forget we had to it with Caddis and Wittingham only this season. Though we dont have any actual "deadwood" players who are frozen out (Gladwin?), we do have players that are not good enough, yet on the contract of their careers, who we are unlikely to shift that and will hold us back for the duration of their contracts.

If I was making a list by position of what needs replaced/upgraded by importance I'm not certain GK (Raya) would be in my top 5 honestly. CB, CM, LB, Striker and RW all need looked at as a priority, some positions more than 1 player. CM would be filled by Reed, and Graham has another year but needs some actually competition. I don't ever see Chapman getting a go at RW and Williams have proven he is #3 or #4 CB but not a LB. Raya could be worth MILLIONS in a few years, back him. Let's get his face and the back four fixed and give him the benefit of another year. Same with Nyambe. If you said we would have 4 new starters next season I'd hope for CB, LB, RW and CM (Reed?) way before I looked at replacing Raya.

If we can't give Brereton a start up top and go full attacking vs what will (99%) be an already relegated Bolton a week on Monday, I will be worried. Nyambe and Bell at fb, Reed and Travis in midfield, Rothwell, Dack, Brereton and Armstrong / Chapman / Graham. Brereton REALLY needs a goal before the end of the season just to put a slight positive spin on... anything. Can we send Evans, Smallwood, Mulgrew, Bennett, Conway etc off on their summer hols now and give the unknown (potentially better) future a chance when were finally playing on the front foot around the Dack-Rothwell-Travis-Lenihan-Reed nucleus. C'mon Tony. Think.

Re Raya: How do we expect a young keeper to improve when his GK coach has never even been a professional GK. However, he needs to let Lenihan have first crack at anything outside the 6-yard box... as even if the attacker wins it I don't expect him to be beaten by a header from 8-12+ yards. 4 points behind Preston - that's the aim for me now. Keep playing Rothwell, Dack, Reed and Travis and keep playing positive football and all will be positive going forward if we can finally get past the blind loyalty phase with L1 players.

Best result of the day! Quicker he gets pushed down the order the better!

I've heard that Chapman will cost us substantially (more) money if he makes an appearance before the end of the season and that is why he has not and will not appear. Passing on what I've heard.

It is obvious to me that with Smallwood playing you are effectively playing with 10 men. He's league below average. After Tuesday, Mowbray has given himself one FINAL chance with me (and many others perhaps). If we get Smallwood in the starting lineup again with Reed, Travis, Evans on the bench for "Tactical" reasons, that chance will end. The only changes we should see now to the starting 11 are at RB with Nyambe, RW and maybe CB if Conway and Williams (likely) drop off. The other 8 pick themselves... and have done all season in my eyes.

I'm lost for words, how can anyone, let alone the manager, be so delusional. Last night was debatably the best performance in his 2+ year tenure and he still can't see the forest for the Smallwood.

Worried me slightly aswell when TM spoke of "fine margins" and almost insinuated that because we lost four games 0-1, this game was the other side of that line. No, that was one of, if not the most comprehensive battering of a team we have seen in his 2+ year era (include League 1) and it was night and day compared to some of the other team selections. We played on the front foot for the last 85 minutes because of the players he (finally) selected together. Credit him for picking the team, but it HAS to continue. That team last night won't win every game, will be caught on the break here and there, will make risky passes, will probably concede goals... but my God how nice was it to have 20+ shots, 10 corners and football to watch and get behind. The days of Smallwood, Evans and Bennett midfields, hoping you nick the first goal and then shut up shot, have to be buried forever now. Only took 41 matches ?

My #1 criticism against the manager was (is) his team selections. Reed and Travis behind Dack, Rothwell, +1 and Graham is how we should have been lined up since Travis got his first run in early 2019. For what it's worth, Nymabe still deserves to play over Bennett at RB, however, having 24 shots, attacked to defend as opposed to whatever the plan is with Smallwood and Evans made Bennett, Bell and Williams's night comfortable. If, huge if, TM has finally learned all this, then happy day. 5 more games to prove if he has or not. That could be our best performance in years.

Was about to fully like whole post, but l, and I expect plenty of fans, will argue with at least 2 of that team. Nyambe - Bennett Rodwell - Williams Conway - ? I am however thrilled with the other 8. Reed and Travis in the middle, Dack and Rothwell in the team and Smallwood out of the 18, long may that continue. Brereton cannot go the whole season without scoring if he wants any form of confidence, I'd be starting him every game now for that reason. It's not like buying a cheap £2 pint and it being minging so you leave it on the table and buy another, that's a £7m cocktail your girlfriend has bought... she needs to f*cking drink it until all the ice has melted.

100%. Find me just 1 fan that would have picked Bennett, Smallwood and Evans and I'll be gobsmacked. I like TM as a person, very much so. But he must go. Or at the very least smarten up rapidly.

Our defense has been shocking, but besides Raya who missed 1 game. The rest have been chopped, injured and changed repeatedly and unnecessarily at times. Bell - Mulgrew - Lenihan - Nyambe As a 4, that team has not played enough matches this year due to injuries to 3 of them at times, the Bell/Williams time share and the Bennett factor. As a 4 they have obviously underperformed individually and collectively but we have ZERO depth behind them as Williams - Rodwell - Magliore - Bennett is just worrying. Even Maldini - Nesta - Stam - Cafu would struggle if they had Smallwood and Evans "protecting" them and our rubbish tactics. You could make a case we need 4 new defenders but is the backup players which bring the unit down. So much to do this summer, which needs to start now. These last few games need to be trails and tryouts of the young kids and formations... not the old guard parade.

So TM says you cant play the back 3 formation against "better teams" - So we play it against Newcastle... okay. Personally I dont hate the idea of a 4-3-3 (my FIFA Ultimate Team formation ?) but that formation will 100% not work if any of Evans, Smallwood or Bennett are in it. Maybe he sees Brereton/Samuel as the RW, Travis as the "mobile" holding midfielder with Dack and another in the #8 position. (It wont be Rothwell - Reed would have been nice). But 4-2-3-1 would also still be working if he chose his best 11. Get (Bauer) in, a proper #8, and an actual Winger, and we can look at this new formation Tony.

The best managerial move this club has made since King Kenny was in 2000. Even though Tony Parks was doing his usual classy treading water job and the season was going nowhere, there was no pressing need to get the next manager in. Graeme Souness was brought in around Easter and you cannot underestimate how crucial it was due to those 6-10 games finsihing 11th why we were able to get promoted the next season. Jansen and Dunn were nowhere near the starting 11 and our GK and CB options were poor. Souness brought in Berg, Bjornebye, Curtis and Friedel and built the team around Jansen, Duff and Dunn. Mowbray would have continued with Carsley, Ward, Dailly, Fettis and Peacock. Tony Mowbray is 2019 Tony Parks... very likeable guy and we owe him a lot but.... Out.

That made me want to vomit. Honestly, I'm past caring if we lose now for the rest of season, we're going to finish 17-19th now regardless so please TM look to the future. We simply have to play as many under 23's as possible who are close to the first team. Smallwood, Evans, Mulgrew, Conway, Bennett, Williams, maybe even Dack and Graham, can all begin their holidays now as they are the known commodity. Raya, Lenihan, Nyambe, Bell and Travis all feature regularly and should continue to do so as all have struggled at times and more games is what they need. Give Chapman, Brereton, Rothwell, Davenport, Magliore, Nuttall, Butterworth, Buckley, Rankin-Costello, Mols etc 6 games to show what they can do. The crowd will understand this and support, even if they lose. Ps. does anyone else notice that as soon as Reed said in the media that he wanted to weigh up his future in the summer, he's spent more time as a substitute... seems a bit childish from the manager. "Well Smallwood, Bennett, Evans and Conway would sign lifetime contracts here, so they will play instead, thanks Harrison".

Get spinning...

Good (long term)

Go and enjoy your afternoon. Nothing to see here.

We've moved six points clear of a team originally 3 points above us, without even playing. Thats better than Preston form. Mowbray in!

Start the petition for Joe Rothwell to win Player of the Season... seriously. Could you imagine if he did after not being used even 10% properly. Yes, I know Danny Graham deserves it.

⭐ My thoughts precisely.

Going forward it is realistic to anticipate we won't average greater than 1.0 point per game from the final 8 fixtures when we only have 16 points this YEAR, 4 points in two months, and 26 points from 25 games. We have ultimately endured half a season averaging 1 point per game... Relegation form, no excuse about it. We will drop below 1.0 per game over *33* games, unless we can beat a Bolton and or another from here on out. 1 point a game is good for 21st in the league every other season, relegated the other half. Sack the manager.