Just now, DE. said:

We can only hope this result acts as a major wake up call to the manager. It's been coming. He needs to stop fucking around and get serious. 

The only issue with that is this has happened already against a poor Bristol city side. It's not bring learned from.

Just now, DE. said:

It's really quite simple and something we've known for a long time. Mowbray is generally a very smart bloke but often overthinks to the point of idiocy. He's gotten away with it more often than not during his time here - but that's in part due to the fact the majority of his reign has been spent in L1 where our superior quality protected against tactical negligence. We aren't afforded those protections now and it always feels like we're on the verge of a really poor run of form, yet we grind through it. At some point Tony has to start being more sensible or we're going to throw away any hopes of a playoff place. 

Couldn't agree more with this. Nail hit on head. The team is a decent team. It needs setting up to get the best out of it.

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

To concede 2 in the first 10 is down to more than Graham or whoever not playing upfront 

We can both agree that this defence has never been the best. They are individual decent for this level but as a unit don't perform as well as they should. 

That's the manager issue to fix.

It's been said on here many times that we don't play a passing game. We play long ball up to the striker or front four and play from there. Who out of the four playing today can recieve the ball in the air and link play up? 

The less a team can attack you. The less chance you concede goals so to give the other team the ball is to ask for trouble. 

I'm only trying to state that play players in their natural positions, they've spent their career perfecting their game to their best level so why ask them to do something they can't?

Let's hope the manager admits his mistake. Gets a striker on out of Graham or Brereton and takes off either Palmer or Smallwood and slots Dack into an advanced midfield role.

If he decides to go full on to get s goal from the start of half time without a balanced side then this will finish like the Bristol city game with a 3-1 or 4-1 scoreline.

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

The most sense you have made all day 

I have said in every post we should have played a natural striker, so not sure why you said that. 

Having a natural striker wouldn't stop us conceding 2 goals in ten. That's on the defence 

The team should attack and defend as a group. The reason why they play crap with no striker is because none of the midfield are good enough to play a passing game, that also includes Dack who is not a passer himself.

That's why the team in under so much pressure because there is no out ball on. It's played into midfield. Lost and then straight onto us in defence. Four players alone plus a goalkeeper cannot defend for the entire team.

12 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I think some of you are completely and undeservidly absolving the players from blame here. OK Palmer upfront is new, but he is good in the air, so I would prefer him than Dack. 

The thing is to go 2-0 down in the first 10 is not all on the manager, the players have a lot to answer for here. 

I think it is you who needs a reality check. These are professional football players who "Specialize" in certain positions. To not play a striker in any game is criminal.

We aren't prime Barcelona but the manager tries to set tactics up to be them.

I don't understand why Armstrong is up front instead of Brereton. The lad cost 7M apparently yet isn't being played. He's not slow either so could do the same job as Armstrong.

Going for a 1-1 score.

I think the squad overall is at a decent level with players being able to compete all over the pitch. Like a few have said they're are at least 2 per position in most cases.

Gk - Raya, Leutwiler

Rb - Nyambe

Cb - Lenihan, Mulgrew, Downing

Lb - Bell, Williams

Cdm - Smallwood, Evans, Rodwell, Reed

Rm - Bennet, Palmer

Cam - Dack

Lm - Armstrong, Rothwell

St - Graham, Brereton

Then you have the fringe players such as Travis who can be in and around the squad.

I think we need to strengthen Rb, Cb and St first as these are the weakest points.

For striker I don't know if any of the league 1 players will cut it but there's Kieffer Moore and John Marquis who are both in double figures already and play a target man role.

Cb will be someone like baur from Charlton who will be looked at for his physicality at the back.

Rb I'd have no idea but maybe a loan from the premiership if we haven't used all loan slots up. Someone like Dominic iorfa from wolves, Jonjoe Kenny from Everton or Ashley Richards from Cardiff. 

Granted I'm not sure how regularly the Cardiff lad plays for them but I'm sure the other two don't so as long as they arent injured could be good options.

I suppose it's a difficult situation for Ipswich. If they get to January and are a good number of points away from relegation then I couldn't see their owner spending money on new players. I don't think they've done that even in the past with a better manager. 

Personally think they will go down. Don't like Lambert as the only thing he's done recently was stand up to venkys slightly while here besides that he's failed everywhere and has turned out to be a one club man with Norwich.

As for Hurst and the Ipswich fans. I'm glad to see them both fail as they pushed out a manager in McCarthy who was a good level above what they deserved. Similar to us with Alardyce where both football styles where crap but it's got to be substance over style if you've little money to work with.

Hurst was a plank for how he walked out on his last team and tapped half of the squad up as well while he was there. He should have had some respect for the fans at least.

11 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Not really possible to hide that you're going for a Dack replacement though. You'd probably be looking to spend 4 million upwards to get someone even remotely filling the gap (not that they'd be as good), and if we started looking for someone in his position at that money, it'd be obvious what was happening.

Other positions though, sure.

You do have to wonder if you sign a direct replacement. The team formation could change, or the overall squad could be improved to supplement his loss as I do think he will leave in the summer unless he gets an injury.

25M could definitely be used to strengthen 4-5 positions permanently but wages would also need to be taken into account so it's a balancing act I suppose. I would expect around 15M-20M to be made available though if he did go. 

If that was true you'd hope Rovers made bids and signing before selling him to keep fees reasonable. Once teams know you'll spend they charge double the rate.

Just now, benhben said:

Cant see in a million years we would get Solanke. Hes just scored 4 in 2 for the under 21s. I can see a mid table prem team taking him on loan in January. 

As others have said the squad is fairly competetive. I would like to see a strong powerful striker on loan unless Brereton starts getting a few games there.A pacey wide man on loan would also be good.  If theres one thing our team lacks overall its pace. 

I wonder if we will re-visit for the charlton Centre Back Bauer in January. A bit of height 

I can see us making one or two additions at most. I also think Travis, Nuttal, Tomlinson and some others may go out on loan. 

Can you not say that about Villa?. They went out and got Abraham/Bolasie and the such and have shown that extra ambition to get them. Abraham would have been looked at by lower perm teams as well. 

If Rovers want to really push on and make a statement then that is the player to get. Target man type who would score goals. Sam Gallagher wouldn't be enough for me to push on since the manager would play him on the wing like Brereton. He hasn't scored a lot either when in the championship.

If you want to get to the premier league then the club needs to think bigger. 

Anyone have any idea of much solanke earns at Liverpool. He would be in a similar bracket to Abraham at villa and would do well. He's also a target man build and in the England youth team which Mowbray likes to go down with a British core.

On loan though. No chance it would be permanent with Rovers covering 40%-50% of his wage at most. Would imagine that would be around 25k-30k per week with him on around 50k-60k in total at Liverpool.

5 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

 

This would make zero sense. What if Dack got injured? We haven't leveraged the Brereton deal off a future fee for Dack. 

Oh god, are some really starting the "we have nothing to spend" line. Did we not have enough of that during the summer? Ultimately we had plenty to spend. Mowbray is saying we still have money, so why do people just ignore that and revert to the boring old line that we won't spend anything 

Fair enough. Does It have to be just one player though? There are 3/4 in the team that could generate the money to cover the out going fee. Lenihan, Raya, Nyambe to name a few. Combine them and you've easily paid the fee off and generated a profit.

Until the club is back where it started in the pram before these owners came along. I myself won't buy into fully that they do. That's managers, fees everything because it has a track record to suddenly turn on its head when you don't expect it.

How do you know this season isn't the go for it season in venkys eyes and if it fails they want their money back. They are business people first and foremost and will not risk any money without the guarantee of a return on investment.

Not to annoy anyone but I think the money spent in the summer was already leveraged against any potential fee that can be received from Dack. 

These owners don't put money in without the idea of getting it back with interest so they wouldn't risk it on a "potential" profit from Brereton. 

If Rovers spend any money in January I can't personally see it being big money. Maybe pushing the 1-1.5 million mark which is a lot for us but in terms of football is nothing.

56 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

How can you come up with an answer when Teams are man mark him like Norwood did for Sheff Utd. Putting him wide for 5 or 10 mins would give the opposite a different problem, something to think again. Not saying for all game but 10 mins spell. 

I think the centre midfield battle is very tough at the minute with 5/6 good players who can all play there. Bennett, Evans, Smallwood, Reed, Rodwell and Rothwell Plus Davenport. I did like Smallwood and Bennett second half yesterday but I did enjoy seeing Rothwell there and his dive and ability is a joy to watch. 

I would play Bennett wide right with Dack centre and Armstrong wide left. My team would be Raya;

                                                                                                                                            Nyambe Lenihan, Mulgrew, Williams;

                                                                                                                                                         Smallwood, Reed;

                                                                                                                                                      Bennett, Dack, Armstrong;

                                                                                                                                                                 Brereton

Do you not feel that other players should take responsibility. Like you say, teams are marking Dack out of the game usually with two players at a time.

This means there is more room for the other forward players to exploit. You win nothing being a one man or one trick team. This is where Palmer, Armstrong and the like should be stepping up. 

Playing a team where you have 7-8 defensive players is a major reason why the team scores so little. But finding a balance is what this manager is paid to do. He's been backed financially. Now it's time to produce consistently.

Just now, philipl said:

Possession 66-34

Shots 26- 13

On target 10- 1 (we know which one!)

Corners 11 - 3

No way you blame Mowbray unless you say Brereton's height would have been more effective than DG's efforts- with hindsight yes it would. We got a point at Derby we never should have done (they got beaten 0-3 home to Villa today) and Rotherham got a point today they shouldn't have done.  

Getting 6 points at PNE and Wigan would be lovely...

 

Stats can be misleading. Why make changes once 1-0 down? Not willing to risk average results for greater rewards

Said it before. Mowbray is a more liked version of bowyer. No consistency at all. Fair play to Rotherham but to be honest even their fans would say they will either scrape survival or relegation so teams like this should be put away at home.

Also feel the manager is stuck in his ways with certain players. If Brereton missed the chances graham has recently, half the fan base would be saying get out of the loan to buy deal by anyway possible.

Can anyone honestly say the Cardiff team that went up is much better than this Rovers team? I can't.

Can't see that happening. I don't think he gets in the spurs team and they wouldn't pay the money to buy him even though they can. Well known for under cutting teams on prices. Think they were linked to the villa player for £25M plus. 

That's a good starting point on price demands as I think both are equal players.

Think if the team is to be improved in areas that are lacking. You've got to look at the wide areas. You can argue for an extra forward but there won't be one brought in after buying Brereton.

Centre defence is also an area as at the moment we don't have a natural defender there. Everyone is converted from another position and even though they've done well. It's better safe than sorry to get someone experienced in.

Team the manager will play 

Leutwiler 

Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams 

Reed Smallwood

Bennet Dack Armstrong 

Graham 

Team we could play to go for it

Leutwiler 

Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams 

Reed Bennet

Palmer Dack Brereton 

Graham

3 minutes ago, Franky said:

what if

2-0 up wins the match and is better than a corner.

An instinctive striker would have had nothing in mind except smashing it in the net.

A Shearer or a Rooney... or a Haggis would not be out muscled and fail to get a shot away.

 

Although having got the corner he and Dack did superbly well.

 

Not to direct this at anyone but this is exactly why I want this lad to do well because it seems no matter what he chooses to do or does on the pitch. It will be viewed as bad. 

If he takes it on and scores fair play but, if he'd lost the ball which leads to a 1-1 result you'd have everyone blaming him. No one would be going "if he's a proper instinctive striker he should go for it" it's a team sport.

If come the end of the season the team gets top 6 then he will have played a roll big or small it does not matter. It's not the supporters money to judge him on.

12 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Meaningless clichés. Bowyer has a very good record as manager.

Think my point is a little off. The team he had was better than this one but I think similar problems are happening. Back then you could see Cairney was a good player but shifted out wide. Same with king who could add a different dimension to the other options back then but never used properly. Now both are in the prem holding their own.

There are certain players in this team that can go up that 10%-20% if used properly. Reed for example should be in ahead of Smallwood all day long. 

Brereton gets put on the wing instead of up front. It worked today but doesn't usually. I also get the feeling Mowbray will never sub a Dack from the game even if it benifited the team.

For example going two up front to win a game or in the past when he's clearly looked tired during games. I do get frustrated because the top 6 is there for the taking this year and once you get there. Anything can happen. There may not be a building on top of what we do this season chance next year.

A question to everyone, do you think this squad is as good or better than the one bowyer created with Cairney, Marshal, King and the rest. I think it's not miles away.

I also feel that this year is the chance to get to the play offs as I think the likes of Dack will be gone in the summer and getting the likes of reed and Palmer to name a few back will be far less likely next year. 

I personally feel this league is there for anyone's taking and that there isn't a standout team and a few results can change the ambition of any teams season. 

Do people feel that Mowbray may possibly be another nearly man like bowyer where he creates a talented team but doesn't get the best from it? 

The fact that people are looking at him as a failure already tells you some have a target aimed at his back because of the fee. 

Let the lad play in his position and get on with it this rubbish that we are a striker short. In terms of ready made quality yes, but numbers no. I'd certainly put him ahead of Nuttal and Samuel. 

Manager signed him so now needs to get him playing to his maximum. Like some have said. Graham and Dack both took a while to get going. No different here.