arbitro

But you criticised him for the same things people are critical of Samuel for. Double standards?

He never questioned Danny Grahams attitude or performances but you were highly critical of him saying pretty much the same things people are saying about Samuel. Mowbray very rarely criticises players publicly and that's how it should be.

I found this comment interesting. “Coming back after that meeting I felt positive and as if we could have a chance, that they (the owners) weren’t just taking all of the money out of the business, and there was going to be support and we could build a team.

Only offsides where goals are scored are reviewed by VAR but I have spoken to a close friend in the refereeing world and asked him about the following scenario. A forward is marginally offside but the Assistant Referee doesn't flag and the forward is then denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity by the goalkeeper who fouls him outside the penalty area. My friend said it could not be reviewed by VAR and the goalkeeper would be sent off. I said surely that can't be fair as a team would be down to ten men erroneously and that should be viewed as an critical error and as such reviewed. He said at the moment that is how it is and there are, as yet no plans to look at anything else. At the moment there are lots of potential situations which haven't been covered and are full of ambiguity.

I thought Wagner made an excellent point about VAR taking the emotion out of the game. For two minutes yesterday the fans, players and management teams stood around not knowing what to do. Can you imagine that situation in a the last moments of a hugely important game? Even that decision yesterday was so close and the camera position from above cast enough doubt to give the benefit of the doubt to the striker which is what they would do without VAR.

The big difference from the fans perspective is that they are in an upwards trajectory whilst we have been in a downward spiral. It will be interesting if the are bottom of the PL this time next year and have a plethora of Portuguese players and officials on massive money how they react. Meanwhile the EFL will be happy to pass the problem to the PL and vice versa if the go down. And the FA will continue to monitor events at Wolves. It's an accident waiting to happen.

I spoke to Gareth immediately after the Brentford game and he told me he didn't even get an interview when Coil got the job.

I recall Adam Blacklaw playing for Harwood too but I don't remember if it was at the time of Douglas and Clayton. Harwood were in the old Northern Premier League at the time and there were lots of ex internationals playing non league then.

It looks like the players have been allowed to play with freedom and to express themselves. The sublime movement and touches are a sight to behold.

We had VAR at Ewood today. Very awful refereeing.

Another aspect might be that he isn't having to make as many challenges having another tackler alongside him who shares the load. Without trying to sound disrespectful pretty much all his partners aren't renowned for putting tackles in.

The key words to me are intensity and speed. Prior to Bennett moving inside our sedate central midfield pace meant the opposition could control that area of the pitch for long periods in a game. Now we are at them from minute one. Mowbray can take some credit for this but for me he kind of stumbled across it because of injuries.

We'd be better off signing Kelly Marie. She does have legs.

Top player who seems to grounded too. Before the season I said any success we might have would hinge on him staying here and then keeping him fit. I felt that Mowbray was gambling too much by playing him in FA Cup matches but he came through unscathed. In fact the only game he has missed through injury was at Rochdale which ironically he got playing for Scotland. Hopefully he can get 20 goals this season to help see us over the line.

For anything that requires a judgement there will always be a difference of opinion and I guess from a managers perspective that depends whether the decision is for or against you. In that respect VAR changes nothing. Last night the VAR was Mike Jones who is one of the worst referees on the list and the once the decision is going to be reviewed it is his responsibility. I foresee lots of VAR associated problems which by the way is costing a fortune.

There is a real danger the game is going to become too sterile. It's not uncommon now to see 25-35 free kicks in a game which really stifles the flow which denies the paying customer seeing what they pay for. When I was refereeing it didn't take me long to realise that a lot of minor infringements in insignificant areas can be overlooked for the benefit of the game and a lot of my colleagues at that time thought the same way. I used to explain this to the players and generally they were fine with it. I would be be disappointed if I gave more than 15 free kicks in a game. A colleague of mine once refereed a match in the Football League and only gave two free kicks.

There has to be a element of accuracy and the right level of pace on the ball. We simply have to get defenders turning to gain any advantage from such balls. And they have to be diagonal as any long straight balls are food and drink to the big centre halves that the majority of League One clubs have.

I think we are far too easy to defend against at home. We tend to sit in deep and try to play a really sedate passing game allowing teams to get ten men behind the ball. I honestly can't see the addition of Armstrong changing this too much as his pace can only be really utilised by one of his teammates playing the correct ball. I can't see any of our available players being good enough to do this.

That would need 30 extra people back weekend to cover this and don't forget there is also a specialist VAR appointed to cover incidents involving the assistant referee. In the recent league match between Liverpool and Everton a really soft penalty was awarded to Everton which Allardyce supported. In last weeks FA Cup match another soft penalty was given to Liverpool and Allardyce disputed it. My point is that most managers will be critical of game changing decisions which go against them so in that respect nothing will change. For me it's going to be an expensive folly which will be intrusive in what should be a game played with as few stoppages as possible. The majority of fans will debate referees decisions as they have done for time immemorial. It's all part of the game.

David Hamilton.

Goal line technology is based on fact, VAR is based on opinion and therefore not an exact science. Mistakes will still be made even though there is a chance to re referee incidents. Personally I don't want it as I can accept mistakes (however infuriating) from players, managers and officials.

Well RV started so he'll finish. Personally I would have passed.

Well done to the football fixture planners again. Torquay v Gateshead tonight. They really have excelled themselves with this one.

You have highlighted one area where we have improved but the main area to me is that Mowbray has us pretty much playing counter attacking football which seems to suit us but that is only in away games. He (by his own admission) needs to devise a plan to beat teams more comfortably at home. The laborious, easy to defend against passing game at home could be our Achilles Heel with most of the top teams still to come to Ewood. I don't want to sound like a party pooper but in my opinion we are still quite a bit away from where many believe we should be in terms of the consistency in our play.

I do remember Marsh as an entertainer who excited fans with his craft and ability. Dack is probably a lower league version who can win games with flashes of brilliance. Interesting that you bring his fitness up as we spoke about the same thing during the game. He injured a hamstring on day one at Southend and didn't really do much for some time but his confidence (and fitness) are certainly evident.