arbitro

Another slow start which has become the norm meant that pretty much we had given ourselves a mountain to climb and in truth I reckon most of us envisaged a drubbing. A combination of poor finishing and slack play meant we went in at half-time only one down when in reality Villa should have been out of sight. Bennett was as poor as I have seen him in this period and I was amazed he came out for the second half as he was getting close to red card. It was the change of Bennett for Reed which I thought swung the game our way. We changed to a diamond and suddenly took control of the midfield when previously McGinn had the freedom of Villa Park. Quite simply Mowbray got his selection and tactics wrong here. Brereton and Rothwell looked decent as we ran at Villa and suddenly they looked shaky. Armstrong missed a dolly but his overall game I thought was poor. Dack and Graham were starved of decent service and Dacks frustration was apparent as he dropped deeper and deeper. I thought Lenihan looked rusty early on but got better. A real source of frustration and anger to me occurred late on when we were looking to equalise. We got a free kick midway in our own half and I expected the centre halves to go up and Raya to launch it into the Villa box. Instead Lenihan knocked it back to Mulgrew and twenty or so passes later without really crossing the halfway line the ball was back with Raga. This and the unwillingness to cross the ball during this period was baffling and bloody annoying. The bottom line however is that its another defeat and Mowbray has to feel under pressure now as more and more questions are being asked of his tactics and team selection.

It's almost defeatist to say things like that and I hope the decision makers at Ewood don't adopt the same mentality (although it seems they have). I don't believe Rovers have done enough over the recent past to attract new support. The lack of initiatives is worrying and it seems too many executives at Ewood have accepted our ten thousand fans as a fait accompli and want to bleed them instead of getting out onto the coal face. There have been dozens of suggestions recently some of which might fly but it seems the club are in a comfort zone.

Paul Downing was brought in as competition and only got a game through injuries. We should continuously be looking to bring better players in otherwise, as we are seeing, we will regress. Once again Mowbray muddies the water with an interview which leaves me perplexed.

I wholeheartedly agree that lots of long in the tooth fans won't ever return irrespective of what happens now or in the future. The club should now focus on future generations and initiatives like the free tickets for the Stoke game should be encouraged. As a kid I only really had football as a hobby but now kids don't have to leave their bedrooms to be entertained. Invariably they won't come to us so the club has to go to them and make watching football an experience for them.

He was decent in my opinion with a host of others being similar. None of the goals were attributable to him and in the clean sheet game against Wigan he stood up to the physicality and looked good. If you consider Lenihans, Mulgrews and Rodwells last games for us how can Mowbray justify putting them straight back in? Mowbray will no doubt cite experience as his rationale but I just think it's unfair on Magliore who in my book didn't do a lot wrong.

It's a really good initiative and hopefully the club will stock up on merchandise and food in advance. It would be good if they did it at least once more before the season ends and maybe give everybody who attends a flier advertising season tickets. Otherwise it's a wasted opportunity.

I find it ridiculous that Magliore won't be involved on Saturday after playing a big part in the clean sheet against Wigan and a decent game at Sheffield. I think it's poor management from Mowbray who will probably go with the brittle usual suspects.

The majority were already under contract for longer than this season. I think Mowbray called the new deals rewards for promotion. And with the new deals will surely have been wage increases. With a couple of exceptions they made no sense at all and have burdened the club with players who aren't good enough for the Championship.

I think you would find the majority of grounded Rovers fans are expecting a drubbing. No doubt Mowbray will make a lot of our returning defenders being fit and how hard they have worked during the break but his stock has dropped alarmingly over the past couple of months and I don't really take too much notice of what he says. Scoring isn't a great problem for us but defensively we are shambolic. Our best hope is if your players take note of the current form table and try to coast. I was glad to see a form of natural justice after the cowardly attack on Grealish by the Big Club idiot. I cheered when he scored and loved his celebration.

By clean I assume you mean out of trouble for 18 months. His court appearances have both been for offences whilst under the influence of alcohol. I said players are targets particularly players like Dack who happens to have a girlfriend who likes making headlines to try and promote her from Z list to Y list. Drink has been the ruination of many great players.

Wasn't Dack arrested less than 18 months ago when having a few drinks in Manchester? And his subsequent non compliance with his sentence almost saw him jailed. Footballers are targets and in Dacks case one more misdemeanour and his sales value will plummet.

Thanks for your input which helps the likes of me who doesn't really understand the finances. Could they write off the debt, walk away and leave us debt free (albeit with unsustainable overheads)?

Thanks for posting the information. If I wanted to sit in the main stand would I need to purchase a ticket in advance or could I turn up around 2.30 and get a seat then?

He must make an exception for Armstrong because defensively he is as poor as we have and Mowbray uses him in a predominantly wide position like Rothwell and Chapman. Artists and soldiers my arse.

It's not the first time we've seen the words 'Harry, Redknapp and denies' in a headline. There have been suspicions wherever he has been.

Rovers are at QPR on Good Friday.

But it will be available at a non Premier League ground for the semi-finals and final. And they had it at Burton for the dead rubber game against Man City when the first leg score was 9-0. That's the FA for you. Guardians of standards.

If he needs somebody to come in and challenge him to improve him then that shows a lack of professionalism and application from Raya. I don't doubt he works hard, knows his faults and tries to rectify them. I just don't think he is or ever will be competent at all aspects of goalkeeping.

I can't agree. How will a new keeper improve Raya's kicking and general decision making? I have my doubts whether a new coach can either because they both pretty much are natural traits. In my opinion he costs us too many goals and will continue to do so.

I've just seen on the LT website that in our four of our last five away games we have scored two in each but have garnered one point. That summarises exactly were we are.

After the Brentford game in February I spoke to Dack at Piccadilly Station and I asked him why only him and Rodwell were on the train. He said that most of the players were having a night out in London. Hew also said that provided you ask in advance Mowbray was pretty good and relaxed about social events. I asked him if Mowbray was going out with them and he said the staff were travelling back on the coach from London. I remember the incident when Dunn wanted to stay in Southampton with Beattie after a game there when we were particularly poor. Souness wouldn't let him stay and made him come back on the coach. Each manager will have different ideas about things like this and if the players are due a few days off they will all be up to different things.

I think Hughes and Allardyce liked taking the squad away for some disciplined warm weather training. This looks like a jolly up for two under performing players.

And doff their caps to her.

She wants it to succeed? We are around £120m in debt, the vast majority accrued on their watch. We have lost around ten thousand fans and have had people in charge of the club who bordered on being corrupt. And many, many other things that I honestly can't be bothered writing down. So I am astonished she wants us to succeed given her and her families calamitous and destructive reign.

If he wants to be critical and call out individuals he should have a go at Armstrong as his cameo appearance was poor in the extreme. He was caught offside several times and he has a first touch like an elephant in several promising positions. And he paid £1.75m for him.