I am giving him credit. For fulfilling the most basic duties of a manager. Picking the best players in their favoured positions, a settled line up and formation. The fact it took him so long is another thing but he deserves credit for doing what the average bozo has said all along. We all learn at different speeds.

Not only do teams do better when they have a settled line up and ergo an increased chance of winning but I find it easier to accept defeats when there’s logic to things rather than losing with inferior players out of position. Find a couple of defenders, a long term replacement for graham and a keeper in January and might just have a side.

Excellent. No tinkering.

We’ve been saying this for a while. Let Mowbray do whatever it is that happens midweek but isn’t then allowed to pick the team, give the HT team talk or make substitutions. That way I really think we’d be in the play off places.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we make it 4 wins on the bounce nor would I be surprised if this was the first defeat of 7 consecutive defeats. Tis the Mowbray Rovers way.

So 1 minute for folk to contemplate why the hell they’ve bothered turning up to the most uninspiring draw going

Watched till lunch. It was an absolute road of a pitch - very glad he got the runs but if hadn’t have he’d need shooting. Particularly for someone in the “big 4”

Nothing like a bit of hyperbole from the managers union. I assume mr Holloway might not be so complimentary after our next ticker fest losing run.

Ian Holloway can’t understand why Tonebola is getting stick and thinks he needs his own statue built outside the ground. Hmmmmm

Even worse still a pink ball. Theres a stat where with the pink ball. Something like there’s one pink ball triple century every 6 matches vs 30 in 2,500 red ball test matches.

Group F ?

Warner 335*. Couldn’t buy a run here. Plus Paine declared before could have a crack at Lara’s record. ??

The happiest and luckiest man tonight will be calamity Walton. He needs replacing ASAP

Sometimes people just need steering in the right direction.

Brentford thrashing Luton 7-0. On the one hand we duffed them but on the other how they fuck did Luton beat us at home.

Eeyore has scored. Blimey

Calamity Walton AGAIN.

Part of me thinks he would accept a big defeat just to give him carte blanch to revert to type.

I’m delighted we’re picking an unchanged side. Feeling more content with things. But I personally will stop short of praising a bloke for doing what every Tom, dick and Harry has been saying needs to happen for months. But at least the penny seems to have dropped

It is a tad worrying when he is only bowling 80mph for long spells when he’s in for his pace. This series he’s been bowling on roads and a kookaburra ball neither he’ll have seen in a test environment. So like every other Englishman bowling in non English conditions without a duke ball he’ll have to learn. Also I’m not sure whether he’s one of these players who only turns up if he fancies it. Certainly at an admittedly chilly old Trafford he stood there with 2 jumpers and hands in pockets which wasn’t a good look. I still see him as our brightest prospect to replace the ageing jimmy and broad but 2 wickets at 91 isn’t great.

Sibley missed a leg stump half volley then. Early days, but he ducked into a bouncer, got hit in the bollocks then missed a ball on leg stump which is supposed to be his strength. Rabada and Philander aren’t losing too much sleep at the minute. I also assumed stokes was injured but as he bowled 2 yesterday and 11 today it was clearly a bizarre 5 seamer attack plan from the offset. Root is to cricket captaincy what Mowbray is to management.

Tonebola was a professional footballer for 18 years and he’s been a manager on and off for another 18 years. So at 56 he’s been involved in professional football his whole adult life. Therefore, it would be utterly ridiculous to think we as fans know more than him about football. However, I don’t know whether it’s a case of he can’t see the wood for the trees but he does seem really really really consistently slow on the uptake for things that seem bloody obvious no brainer decisions. Brentford was a great example of this. Things that have been said on here, up and down the terraces, in pubs, in homes are finally tried and we look imperious. Even little things like last season we’d lost 9 from 11 everyone was saying play Travis and Reed together and he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Finally, tries it vs play off Derby and we smash them off the park. Go figure. Hes an enigma.

Through accident or design Tonebola managed to stumble on a team and formation that clicked. It was hardly groundbreaking stuff in fact us mere enthusiastic amateur plebs have been saying it for months. That’s to say drop Bennett, drop Gallagher, don’t play Armstrong up front (preferably not at all), play Rothwell and where possible play people in their favoured positions. I hope he’s seen the light. But I expect to see wingers up front, strikers on the wing and bennett to return.

Buttler in doubt with a back strain. So that leaves Ollie pope with the gloves and a decision between Crawley as a batsman or Woakes to beef up the feeble bowling attack.

That’s 3 games worth of shots by usual standards.