Thanks for the information PB. Do you think that any of the players you have mentioned are ready for a first team game yet (or perhaps a regular spot on the bench)?

Mowbray over complicates things.

A lot of goals we concede are from individual errors I think. Nearly every one of our defenders has weaknesses which nothing seems to have been done to address these as we see these errors on a regular basis. Our full backs allow to many crosses to come in virtually unopposed, Lenihan thinks he has to win every ball and gets caught out of position by doing so. He also has a tendency to concede silly free kicks by diving in. Raya is poor in his decision making when coming off his line, not just for crosses but when a ball is knocked over the top. There are others weaknesses amongst the other players but these are the glaringly obvious ones to me.

I was meaning when Evans went off. Smallwood would have been like for like.

And to accommodate Conway our most effective player on the day, Armstrong gets shifted to the left and Reed into the middle.

That would have been the logical change but Mowbray over complicates things by switching several players positions. It's one of the most frustrating aspects of his management to me.

His main contribution was that he stupidly gave the free kick away which led to their equaliser. Having said that Bennett was guilty of conceding silly free kicks when the opponent was going nowhere.

Since Southend away last season the friends I go with have all said the same thing. We need a couple of strong characters who get really hurt and angry when things go wrong and aren't afraid to rattle a few cages. I know Mowbray talks about having the right type of character in his players but they are all similar in that respect. For their first goal today Bennett has let their player run by him on the half way line. I was screaming at him to foul the Brentford player but Bennett just shouldered arms and a few seconds later they score. We have to be nasty and horrible, this is professional sport and sometimes doing the nasty stuff gets results.

It was a typical Mowbray change for me. Far too often he moves several players around to accommodate his change when a like for like will do. And he does seem to have an obsession with getting Conway some game time. It's a situation I think were the fans know better than Mowbray because Conway just isn't good enough.

Although losing and conceding five goals is annoying and frustrating I have to say I thought some of Brentfords football today was exceptional and they fully deserved their win. Their play in and around our penalty area was extremely difficult to play against. The quick movement, one two's, spinning in behind and movement off the ball was as good as anything I have seen in the Championship this season. From an analytical point of view there is plenty for Mowbray to look at and whilst he does that he has to analyse himself and his staff. His changes were poor and once again he made several positional changes when using substitutes when one positional change would have done. One real cause for concern was how our players looked at each other after three of the goals. It seems that they were trying to pass the buck whilst exonerating themselves. A bad day for us and the sooner we can get fifty points the better which has been my opinion since August.

A London based Rovers supporting colleague has asked to come but has no ticket. If anybody has a spare please PM me and we can make arrangements.

One game at a time sweet Jesus. I never really look beyond the next game as there are so many variables to factor in. Keeping our big players fit and clean sheets are the way to go for me. I really believe there won't be many games in which we won't score.

It is what it is mate. There are so many variables and complications in transfers that they can be derailed for lots of reasons. It used to be a relatively simple business but with the advent of agents there are many hoops to jump through. Thanks for sharing the information and showing a good sense of humour.

So it was all a dream then.........................

It was this era that hooked me onto football. The smells, the noise, the colour and the spectacle was something that most of that generation remember. As a young kid I, along with lots more were allowed to sit on the perimeter wall and almost touch the players. Hearing them shout to their teammates led to me replicating what they said when playing in the school yard or on the cobbles near home. I sniggered last night when Klippety Klopp blamed some snow on the pitch for Liverpool dropping two points. A generation of snowflakes is upon us. That kit is so simplistic and original it stands out and gave us real identity but what sets it off for me is the socks. The players looked a lot bigger and stronger then although in reality they probably weren't.

That's fine but don't count your chickens..........................................?

It's a gradual process as Mowbray has said many times. Smashing your wage structure by a significant amount isn't a good practice in my view. I don't think Shearer would have been on more than double the wages of Mimms, Hendry, Newell and others do you?

That is pretty much where I am. For a club like ours paying anywhere near his reputed wage is madness.

Given Mowbrays often public show of fairness I honestly can't see us paying wages which are not on parity with the current highest earners. One sure fire way of upsetting the spirit and morale of the current squad is by bringing somebody in and paying them way above senior players.

Once the game has restarted they can't go back on the decision but I get your point. The emotion of your team scoring is the best feeling in football. Them emotions may have to be held in check whilst someone is reviewing the incident in a studio miles away. The powers that be and suits probably won't have had that feeling.

The marked difference is that goal line technology is factual and can be proved that the ball did or didn't cross the line. All VAR referrals will be subjective and rely on a human being to make the call. I accept VAR will offer more empirical evidence and should arrive at the correct decision but there will be occasions when it won't. Quite simply it won't be the exact science that many are predicting.

I speak to close friends regularly who are actively involved in VAR so I have a good idea on the process. The most surprising aspect to me is that next season in the PL the on field referee won't get the chance to see the incident again pitch side. Quite simply he will be told what the decision is.

I don't like it at all. The whole concept goes against everything I enjoy about football. The emotions, the spontaneity and talking points are to me what makes it enjoyable for m6as a fan. I don't want sterile stop start football.

The game stops when the referee blows his whistle or the ball goes out of play. Assuming no offence has occurred as advised by VAR then the game restarts with a drop ball providing the ball was in play when the referee blew. Tonight the ball was out of play when he blew. As no offence was committed the game should have begun again with a corner.

I retired in 2006 before VAR was even thought of.