What do you think of Venkys?

Plus two wingers and a striker who can replace Graham. Other than that, we are pretty close to having the team we need.

A balanced piece about Venkys reign? Good luck with that. Also the small matter of re-opening old wounds... I certainly wouldn’t participate in anything which glosses over our downfall as anything other than football vandalism. Found our natural level? No, we are bobbing just above the Raos natural level.

You’re right. I should probably have said “extended the support for Kean from certain sections of the fanbase”.

I thought that looked familiar...

Mowbray has gone out of his way to make sure that doesn’t happen by making Bennett captain, and then looking to find any way he can to fit him into the side. I actually like Bennett. He’s a good honest professional. I remember his comment when he arrived and said “I’m fit but not ‘Lambert fit’”. I knew then that he would knuckle down and be a good influence. Him and Danny Graham coming in was one of the main reasons I wanted to give Lambert time and budget to build a squad. Lambert felt he was short changed over the Rhodes sale and that was that. It’s ironic though that he was so disliked by Rovers fans yet Mowbray relies so heavily on both players yet can’t bring in his own equivalents. Lambert certainly scored in the personal principles department too - something else Mowbray is lauded for. Sadly Bennett has aged and been overtaken by football. It happens to the best of them and no amount of wanting and tub thumping can make up for it. Danny Graham is making way, with mixed results. Elliott should be having a similar ‘experience from the bench’ role but it’s a hole that Mowbray can’t or won’t fill, either through short-sighted recruitment or blind loyalty.

Bennett has been poor at right back. Which isn’t that surprising as he isn’t a right back by trade. He’s a League One midfielder but Mowbray has made a rod for his own back by making him captain. In my view, he could have been a ceremonial club captain but the team captain needs to not be one of the more limited footballers playing out of position. Although that’s probably the message Mowbray wants to send out, since playing square pegs in round holes has been a feature of his tenure.

We really don’t have any joy when it comes to defenders. Even Wharton has been on loan forever. Major failure in being able to bring through promising youngsters into the first team. Mowbray prefers to play midfielders there. A bit like we also struggle with wingers, Mowbray prefers to play forwards there.

Words were exchanged at half time and we brought Rothwell on. Will he start the next game? Probably not. Mowbray keeps making the same mistakes and just when you think he has learnt, he goes backwards. Then everyone seems shocked when the performances suffer. We’ll be having this same debate week in week out until Mowbray stops trying to keep everyone happy with his squad rotation strategy. How long til we see Evans or even Smallwood back in the first team in some I’ll-judged ‘back to basics’ approach?

Controversial EiT. Not averse to a discussion per se but I wouldn’t trust these muppets to come up with something better. Just look at 9 out of 10 of our shirts since they arrived. I wonder what an Indian inspired effort would look like?

We couldn’t cope with an invasion of last minute fans. Have you seen how slow our tills are? In all seriousness though, the Waggott Tax will never work on Blackburners.

Looks like you’re right Matty. The official site says paying ticket holders. However, it begs a question about attendance figures and the number of walk ons that take us from ST attendees (including free under 8s) and the total number on the day.

Do we know how many adult season tickets were sold at the point of the “competition” being launched? I understood the 8,600 was all STs.

It’s all about opinions. Next 6: Millwall (+5), Reading (+), Luton (+2), Forest (+7), QPR (+9), Huddersfield (-6) Following 6: Birmingham (+8), Preston (+10), Leeds (+14), Barnsley (-4), Brentford (+3), Stoke (-7) Much of a muchness really. (Brackets are places ahead or behind us).

Look, I’m as cynical as the next man and I still don’t think Mowbray is the man to take us further but Fulham, Boro, Hull, Cardiff, West Brom certainly constitutes a tough start. To dismiss some as having rookie managers is a little disingenuous. The only game so far that I’m disappointed with (on paper) is Charlton.

After 3 Championship windows and our biggest transfer budget since the parachute money ran out that’s a poor position. September will be a decent test of our prospects in my view.

He doesn’t seem to be getting the best out of his players. Just the odd spark here and there. His team selections remain head scratchers. Like every individual has been specifically selected, positioned and tasked to nullify the opposition threat rather than building a team for others to fear.

Glass half full... Big month ahead for Mowbray. We’ve had a tough set of August fixtures and are now at the bottom end of midtable, looking up at two-thirds of the division. We are one win off 6th and need to be knocking on the door of the play-off places by the end of September. People will say it’s early days but we need a real show of intent. But we need to start by benching failing players, not sticking with his favourites. Square pegs in square holes and some consistency.

Really hope we don’t lose 3-2. Zero points, -1 GD, but seen by many as “a good result against a team who will be up there come May”. C’mon Rovers, 3-3 would be a good result after how the first half went. Graham on...

Rovers unlucky!

Not often I agree with a post that uses ‘of’ instead of ‘have’. (Pet hate)

Dack Got to be.

You do wonder why Armstrong seems to be so protected. Dack up front apparently.

Johnson off??

Despite which we are on -2 GD. Don’t know about you but we’ve been a little fortunate not to have conceded in those two home games. We have one defender on the bench today, an out of favour Nyambe. It’s not good enough mate.