Problem: We're crying out for a physical presence up front. Armstrong and Elliot would thrive off any knockdowns or loose balls. Solution: Tony plays his 6'4" centre forward out on the left wing. Conclusion: He's so clueless when it comes to these blind spots (Bennett at lb etc etc...). This is squad is underperforming under Tony and quite a bit of that is down to his selections and tactics.

It's almost like we could do with a 6'4" centre forward being played in his actual position in the middle and not out on the left bloody wing...

Sacked?

Even the one win was thoroughly undeserved.

Time's up for Mowbray. This squad should be top six by the end of the season, we don't have chance under Tony. His mismanagement of Gallagher is shocking, ruining him by asking him to be a winger for which he is eminently unsuitable. Nothing new, a solid, competent, popular player in Elliot Bennett was made into a whipping boy by forcing him into being a right back. That's three out of four defeats since we got ourselves back into the playoff picture. Groundhog day. We had, what, a couple of chances in this game we "dominated"? Think one team was comfortable to let us pass it sideways and backwards... Solid performance by Stoke.

Superb from Elliot!

Don Mackay. One day you're a jobbing division two player fighting relegation, next news you're going to Wembley (twice), welcoming Steve Archibald from Barcelona, going on 21-match unbeaten league run (still remember the end of that coming at the Victoria Ground of Stoke City) before sitting next to a World Cup winner from less than a decade beforehand in Ossie Ardiles! Those days were like a micro budget version of what would happen in the 90s...swap premier league challenges with second division fights, swap the league cup for the full members, swap Walker's millions for a few pennies and coppers!

Your first sentence makes a lot of sense as it certainly wasn't solely his fault but the second is irrelevant. We're talking about his performance against Bristol City, not previously. He has "Credit in the bank" of course...but what's that got to do with discussing his performance in this one game? Armstrong being greedy is fine, he's our main striking outlet. But today he just wasted possession time and again with next to no chance of scoring, while his teammates had sprinted up to support the attack.

Trying to open the door in China which never had a chance of being opened was slapstick genius. It was a bit like Armstrong's 247th punt into Row Z from outside the area last night when five teammates had bust a lung to get forward...

Fair play. Humour bypass on my side... On that note, you can't beat a Bushism.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhmdEq3JhoY

That's not an old saying in Tennessee or anywhere else. Think you've mixed it up with a presidential brain fart...

Good half, two teams both going for it and the only surprise is that it's goalless.

Indeed, he's probably been our best player, some nice touches, putting himself around. He's been showing good form in recent weeks.

We're playing well and looking dangerous. With Rothwell's runs, Holtby's always looking to bring players in, Elliot's through balls and Nyambe's trickery, we're an excellent attacking team. That's not even mentioning Armstrong who has a knack of being in the right time after time. Not sure why people are complaining about Gallagher, he's looking a real handful. Really need to be putting one of these chances away, though!

We win while not playing that well. Again.

...and yet it's exactly what he's done!

ARMA!!!!!!!!!

He's been one of our best players for months now. If he could just add a few more goals to his game, then he'd really cement the Ben 2.0 version that we're enjoying these days.

Do people really think that's how it works in football? We're in a tight game at Ewood going for the win before the XI have a collective, spontaneous instant recall of what Our Tony said in a throwaway random interview six weeks before to the local rag that nobody even buys anymore? That then leads to our loss in a game which might have taken us into the playoffs. Do we say, "Curse that Rich Sharpe and his probing questions, it just led Lenihan to lose his marker and the opposition to score!!!" There are many more obvious reasons why we finish where we do, such as tactics, injuries, players, injuries, substitutions, staff, coaching and so on. It's unlikely that what Mowbray says here or there has a scintilla of an influence. Plenty of other things to bash him over rather than his interview style. Causation and correlation and all that...

The transfer fee does seem to overshadow his age. He's only 21. A couple of years younger than Lewis Travis who we think of as one of younger lads. A few years to reach Armstrong's age. No doubt it's been a rollercoaster rather than a consistent upward trajectory, but he's been more consistent over the past six months than seemed possible before. He needs time to mature, to improve. The future's looking bright for Ben at Rovers. About time, sure, but now he's a first-team regular starter, we can expect to see him progressing before our eyes this season. At least, that's the hope!

Well, they had 23 shots to our 7 and 11 corners to our 4 which tells the tale. In those circumstances, an excellent three points with a cracking finish from Gally needed to ensure victory. Kaminski had an excellent game and was the man of the match. Quality finishes from Armstrong and Gallagher from two Nyambe assists. Bell played well mostly, not sure why people have it in for him even when he plays fine even if Douglas is a better option. Get Johnson in next game.

Elliot and Trybull off for Johnson and Gally. The subs make sense. A Dolan cameo would be nice, too.

Save of the season there!

Barnsley have been excellent in pressing our defenders and that has lead to errors. We probably need to launch it up more often for a bit of variety, the opposition have obviously targetted us for that. It's true that Wharton misplaced some balls, but he was being given no options from our midfielders when he made those errors, so they need to be being doing more off the ball to support our defence. Bell has done very well since coming on, Rothwell looks a handful when he runs at them and Kaminski is looking so much of an upgrade on last season's keeper that it's night and day. I'd be looking to bring Johnson on to sit in front if the back four and protect them, with maybe a touch of shithousery thrown in. I think we're missing Travis today more than anyone.Coming away from a poor half like that with a clean sheet still intact and the lead is somewhat inspiring, this is how teams grind out results. That said, not sure we'd survive another half like that, come on lads!!!

AA!