arbitro

It's difficult to be critical of Mowbray here. I thought it was a gamble worth taking and pretty much win/win for Rovers. There is a player in there somewhere.

I have no problem with selling Raya. He has too many weaknesses and I didn't see much evidence of him eradicating these. A player is only worth what somebody will pay for him and the fee seems fair to me. Johnson is a decent signing simply because he is better than what we have. Hopefully we can bring in better centre halves quickly and shift some of the dross.

Increased wages would eat up a chunk of what we could get for him. I think if we could get £500k for him it would be great.

If that is true about Evans it's another baffling decision by Mowbray. Why give him a new deal until 2021? I don't disagree with getting rid of him or Smallwood just that he will have unnecessarily had an longer, improved deal. And Mowbray eulogises about him in this piece. https://www.irishfa.com/news/2018/december/northern-ireland-midfielder-corry-evans-signs-new-deal-at-blackburn-rovers

My memory from queuing at silly o'clock was a well prepared Rovers fan in a camping chair reading Cas Pennant's autobiography. It's strange what jolts the memory. I remember the food outlets being open but not what they had on offer.

The latest rumour is a bit of a bombshell to me. My hunch was that the Indians had cut Mowbrays budget hence the distinct lack of movement and that we were apparently outbid for two players. This bolt from the blue has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons but Mowbrays admission that he had to persuade the owners not to spend adds a touch of credence to the story. If it's true then Mowbray isn't the right man to take us up and we should prepare ourselves for the low light oven rather than the microwave we were expecting. But then again why would he target a top six finish and not spend big? I'm confused but come the end of the window all will be revealed.

An interesting development in the aftermath of Argentina v Brazil when Argentina felt incredibly hard done to by VAR. I read that they have requested the audio from two VAR referrals which the referee allegedly refused to look at. There is also an inference that the Brazilian FA interfered. https://mundoalbiceleste.com/2019/07/03/referee-advised-to-go-to-var-during-argentina-vs-brazil-afa-request/

One of my fears about VAR was that it would sanitise the game. If you take the letter of the law to the n'th degree there was contact but anybody who knows the game understands that it was completely unintentional. I'm just so glad that it won't be in the Championship next season but it won't be long before it is.

Sounds like a decent prospect. An under 23 regular at 19 with a successful side gives me some optimism.

A funny skit on Roy Keane with a Goodfella's scene.

Mowbray did use Gallagher in the way you describe although we played a back three and Mulgrew played long diagonal balls. But doesn't this way of playing conflict with Mowbrays wanting to play a more passing game?

The name of the prospective Bolton owners, Football Ventures arouses my suspicions straight away. Is it the first sign of venture capitalism in football?

I was in the same boat as you and would chunner to myself every time I spent my hard earned at Boots on razor blades then my brother recommended the one he uses bought from Lidl. The make is Cien and for £2.99 I got a razor and blade and a pack of four blades for another £2.99. I have actually been using the first blade for over three weeks now.

I really don't know why you come on here then. People have different views, that's the way of the world and nobody should take it to heart. Its no different than sat watching a game and listening to comments around you. Some you agree with and some you don't. As far as transfer speculation goes all there is to go on is snippets in the media and in the fullness of time we'll know how true they are.

With the current bunch I would say out of the bottom three is my expectation. A few decent signings could change that but given the players we have been linked with I honestly don't hold out too much hope. I say this having fallen for Mowbrays 'top six' talk at the end of last season.

I think that's a fair assumption given Mowbrays interview in the LT yesterday and the news of Brentfords interest. Personally I believe that Raya simply isn't good enough so selling him isn't a big deal for me. I still believe though that we need two centre backs who can hit the ground running and provide competition for Lenihan.

Duly confirmed John.

Namibia lost 1-0 to South Africa last night and Nyambe played the full game. I only saw the first half but once again he looked comfortable in the middle of a back three.

I have it from an impeccable source that Anderson was big buddies with Shaun Harvey and that lots of the goings on at Bolton were covered up. With that and the botched TV deal I got the impression that Harvey jumped before he was pushed. As I understand it the sale/takeover of Bolton still hasn't gone through.

It's not about judging where we are now or at the end of the window. This debate was started because Mowbray has seemingly done a U-turn on what he saw as an absolute priority in March on the strength of a few dead rubber games. If you aren't alarmed by his comments that's fine but the majority are. Were you not concerned by our defensive record and felt we need different types of players to what we have?

I think the lack of ability to pass the ball quickly is, with a couple of exceptions lacking throughout the squad. You have correctly identified several defenders who can't and In central midfield none of Travis, Smallwood or Evans can do this. Other players such as Bennett also fall into this category. We are far too ponderous when we have the ball and easy to play against.

I think it was at the Supporters Consultation that he really sounded off about how poor we were defensively and he actually garnered some support as at last he seemed to have woken up to the fact that defending is our Achilles Heel and some faith in him was restored. That interview has done him absolutely no favours in my opinion.

I think Mowbray is dumbing down expectations before a ball has been kicked and my take is that he simply didn't get what he was expecting in terms of his budget. My view is that the Indians have tightened the purse strings and Mowbray is working with that. His interview in India where he talked about 'having to sell a Bradley Dack' and 'polishing up' cheap young players was telling to me.

But only a few months ago he did.

So, so strange. He says that the decent defensive form in the last few games forced him to change his mind. The centre back pairing was Williams and Lenehan during that period and Mowbrays comments lead me to believe they will start. Similarly Leutweiler was in ahead of Raya, will he be number one now? Since Mowbray came we have needed some big, dominant centre half and it was almost as if he suddenly realised this towards the end of last season when he said as much. To vast majority welcomed his comments but now he is back tracking on the strength of a few dead rubbers. It's another disappointing interview from a manager who more and more are beginning to doubt.