Ewood Ace

At the start of the season when results were disappointing the excuses offered by Mowbray's disciples were that we had injuries, were playing well and that results would come. However as more players have come back the worse performances have got and results have been no better either. Today with arguably our strongest starting 11 on the field the display was pitiful. There is no doubt that we have good players but the manager is completely clueless as to how to mould them into a successful and winning team. There is no shape players just seem to be roaming around out there, to be honest at no point today could I tell what system we were supposed to be playing. Over half way into the season now and 7 points of the play offs having played a game more than 5th, 6th and 7th as well. Mowbray Out!

Line up 4-2-3-1 and that is quite possibly our strongest 11 in our best system.

Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Branthwaite Bell Travis Davenport Elliott Dack Rothwell Armstrong Subs: Stergiakis, Douglas, Johnson, Trybull, Downing, Holtby, Dolan, Gallagher, Brereton

If you ever wanted to know what a poor coach Mowbray is then you only had to watch Fulham last night. Tosin not for the first time this season has looked a far better defender for them in the Premiership than he ever did here in the Championship. Harrison Reed was outstanding in the centre of midfield yet when Mowbray had him he played him wide on the right because he needed to learn how to play centrally from Evans and Smallwood.

If we want Pickering then go out and pay what Crewe want for him, if not move on and spend the money where it is needed most on a centre back. The Pears signing to me screams of Mowbray doing a favour for an old friend. Also how much are we spending on Downing's wages for him to sit on the bench and play every now and then from the bench. Mowbray likes to make out that he is careful with the clubs money but he is incredibly profligate with it. We are still paying the bulk of Mulgrew's substantial wages after he gave him a new 2 year deal (in which time he has played twice for us), then of course we paid Hart and Smallwood to doing nothing for an extra 2 months. Not to mention £12 Million combined on Gallagher and Brereton.

You ignored the rest of the post that explains why I think it is in spite of the manager.

I'd say that is in spite of Mowbray and with the ability he has he should be even better than he is, if anything Mowbray has held him back. Let's just look at the other defenders Mowbray has managed here. In our relegation season Lenihan was one of the few bright spots and putting him at centre back was one of Coyle's few good ideas. Lenihan has not improved in the last 4 years if anything he has gone backwards. Ayala for years when fit has been one of the best centre halves at this level but bar one half at Brentford he has been all over the place for us. I've watched Fulham a few times this season and Tosin has looked a far better defender for them in the Premiership than he ever did here in the Championship. Williams hasn't improved under Mowbray. Mulgrew played worse under Mowbray than he did under Coyle, perhaps in that case you could say age caught up with him. He played Bennett at full back on and for 2 years yet Bennett never developed any positional sense or learnt to refrain from diving in high up the pitch. Bell came as the top Left back in League 1 but has never looked like a defender here in 3 years. Douglas came with a good reputation having done well at this level before yet in a Rovers shirt has been no better than Bell.

I don't doubt this lad is a decent player, Crewe have produced some good players over the years. However if Mowbray has money to spend then it is crazy that first thing he hasn't done is to use that to go out and buy a centre back. The sums of money he has spent 0ver the years yet he has still to pay a fee for a centre back. You won't achieve anything in the game without a strong spine and that starts with a solid centre back pairing. Not if Mowbray is here we won't as he does not improve defenders and in some cases he regresses them.

The LT must be struggling for info if they are having to rehash Nixon's stories.

He also said defenders are coming, yet yesterday we lined up with two midfielders in defence and two players who here here when he made that comment. What Mowbray does and what he says are two very different things. He knows he won't get a bigger or easier job than the one he has here and he won't walk away from that, every interview he gives is about one thing his own self preservation, nothing is ever his fault.

Off course they are going to say that when questioned about the manager. Do you expect them to come out and say the manager is poor and the club are going nowhere with him because he is incapable of building a solid defence? Players used to come out and defend Kean, remember the excruciating Bradley Orr interview after the relegation. Use your eyes did that look like a team yesterday who had faith in the manager? For the last half an hour yesterday most of them looked utterly bewildered and clueless as to what role they were being asked to play. And if they looked to the bench for guidance all they would have seen was our chump of a manager having a kip.

Travis' attitude was a disgrace yesterday a number of times he lost possession and just stood looking around rather than attempt to win it back.

He has a cult-like band of disciples who believe his every word, so when he tells them what an great honourable guy he is they automatically believe that he is this great honourable guy who is beyond reproach.

But in the last 3 weeks we have drawn at home to Sheffield Wednesday, been comfortably beaten by Huddersfield and lost at home to League 1 opposition. If after yesterday you don't think Mowbray should go then I don't think you ever will. Until of course he finally does leave and then you will say it was absolutely the correct decision that the time was right.

He's not going to walk he knows he will never get a better and easier job than the one he has here. He missed his target last season by 7 points all he had to offer for that was a load of excuses, none of which of course were his fault. It will be the same again when we miss his target this season he will have a load excuses ready again none of which will be his fault and of course his disciples will swallow it all and tell us to give him the first 10 games. Mowbray's sole interest is his own self preservation.

That performance yesterday and a fair few performances of late have been very Coyle and Kean like though. Easy to score against, a lack of tactical nous, no shape, unmotivated players, putting attacking players on with no plan in a desperate attempt to score and being easy to beat.

You tell us you back Mowbray but you never tell us why? What have you seen over the last 2 and a half season to make you think this is the man to take us to the Premiership?

The club debt is the clubs problem, the future survival of our club is in the hands of the very people that put it in the perilous position that it is now. The only way without a big takeover (which isn't happening anytime soon) to sort the clubs finances out is for the club to be promoted to the Premiership and that is not happening under Tony Mowbray. Surely you can see that by now? A new will manager gives us a better chance of being promoted. So we trigger Nyambe and Rothwell's clauses we still will have to sell them for cheaper than market value or lose them for nothing the following year. Armstrong isn't going to sign an extension for a club content to plod along in mid table, so again in the summer it will be a case of either selling or losing for nothing the following summer.

Beaten by a better coached and organised team, who played some nice stuff on the counter and thoroughly deserved their win. The goalkeeper isn't good enough, terrible from Mowbray to spend money on a third keeper in a window whilst only only signing one crocked centre half on a free. But given how poor we know the keeper is Lenihan and Johnson have got to go out and attempt to block the shoot rather than just standing off and letting the man shoot. Lenihan was absolutley abysmal again today, his performances this season bar one or two have been shocking, we don't just need 1 centre back this window we need 2. Buckley was pathetic again and summed up by the fact that he chickened out on a great chance to score. Travis' attitude was abysmal, multiple times today he lost possession and instead of just trying to win it back just stood about sulking. Brereton was hopeless he tried hard but the harder he tried the worse he got. It seemed like he ended up giving them possession more often than he did us. The 4-3-3 just doesn't suit us, it also does not suit Dack one bit, he looked at a loss as to what his role was today. We were effectively lining up today against league 1 opposition at home without a striker. The subs just made everything even more of a mess, when we are behind there is never any tactics done with the subs its just a case of throw as many attacking players on as possible, have no shape and hope that one of the players produces some individual brilliance.

Mowbray on the bench today looked a defeated man, who is not even bothering to go through the motions. He looked completely uninterested and like he would have rather been anywhere else. The only thing keeping him here is his very nice salary. For goodness sake Venky's and Waggott put the man out of his misery.

Us non-football people told you that months ago.

There wasn't a long queue 18 months ago when he was available on a free and his performances over the last 18 months aren't likely to have attracted many more bidders.

The key words with Holtby is former and played. I'm not saying he wasn't a good player but he's well past his best now. This season he has only really performed against 10 men other than that he's put in a lot of sub par, half hearted performances.

Whiteman looks as though he can do it against 11 men which immediately makes him a better player than Holbty. Also as you are talking about midfielders how come you made no mention of the boy wonder?

Magloire turns 23 this year and if he can't get game time now with only Lenihan fit then you have to wonder does he have any sort of future at the club.