Absolute nonsense. All assumed rubbish to do anything possible to not credit the manager. Its a results game unless that result is a win in which case it is in spite of the manager, not because of him.

We are in the mix come the end, we are going into our final 8 games now and are 4th, whether we drop a place or two due to games in hand or not, we are very much in the mix going into the home straight. I would tend to agree that the quality in the league in general (not just this season) is shall we say unremarkable, but its important to put into context that Mowbray himself is hardly working at an advantage to our rivals. This season, we sold our best player at a massive profit, our other best player has only just returned from a second ACL, and aside from a nominal fee for a squad player, our owners gave him none of those proceeds to reinvest, and not only that, prevented him from selling someone in January to reinvest. The path to which our season has taken does Mowbray no favours in the perception of him either, partially justifiably but only if people don't lose sight of the fact that a top 6 finish would be a very good achievement. Had our poor spell been before the good spell, then the whole mood would be different. Many of the (again, it is fair to question tactics when they don't work) tactics used were critical to our good run, the false 9, the back 3, wing backs, wide forwards etc. It seems that like many, any sort of acknowledgment of the things he does get right is some sort of desperate and illogical attempt to defend him. I hardly have an unwavering loyalty towards him, I wanted him out last summer and before that, and I keep saying that should we not finish in the top 6, as you seem certain of and to be honest I am not confident in, then I would make a change. I have also repeatedly criticised the tactics in the first half last night that made no sense, equally I have praised him for being proactive in changing that and ultimately that was enough to get us a crucial win, therefore the first half tactics as crazy as they were haven't harmed us. I also haven't reverted to criticising his touchline demeanour, expecting him to be charging around like a mad man when he is not that sort of guy, or picking apart his post match interview to find ways to undermine him after he has led us to victory.

Rovers 3-1 Derby being included in that?

Over the course of the season, we have got the amount of points we have as a direct result of his management. The points won and points lost over the course of the season are the responsibility of the manager in equal measure. Could have, would have, should have, its a results business. Had we gone 2 down and not come back, there wouldn't be any scope for his defence, but that is all hypothetical. We won last night which is all that matters. His tactics in the first half were baffling, and obviously going in a goal down, hindered his own job as manager of winning a football match. Thankfully, his choice and timing of substitutions/tactical as well as whatever he said and did at half time saw us to victory. I have even seen people implying that it was the players who got us back into it yesterday. How is it possibly from a fair vantage point if when we are losing, any positive reaction is player driven, yet if we are winning/drawings and react negatively, it is the managers fault? At the moment, its hard to judge as teams have played different amounts of games, there are plenty of rivals with fixtures to come against one another, the one thing we can be sure of is that it is all about after 46 games and as it stands, we are very much in the mix. My stance has always been that if we do finish in the top 6, it is a very good achievement. If we do make it, Mowbray deserves plenty of praise, regardless of the way it is done, ie even if it is somewhat of a perceived stumble over the line, you finish where you finish over 46 games. That achievement would for me warrant a new deal regardless of what happens after. Am I confident of a top 6 finish? Not really no, and if we don't make it, I would consider that the perfect and natural opportunity for a change of manager, 100%.

Can you please point out when I have asked for the same tactics and specifically for "players shoehorned into positions?" In this very thread, I have been very critical of the bizarre tactics employed in the first half that thankfully were rectified quickly and proactively enough to see us to victory. Mowbray I would suggest has earnt his wage thus far this season with us being 4th in the table as it stands. Doesn't mean that his management has been perfect.

He deserves criticism for his first half tactics, 100%, I agree and join in with that. When I saw Johnson as a false 9 against a veteran Curtis Davies and against a Derby side who naively play the ball out from the back, I winced, it couldn't have been a more illogical tactic. He also deserves praise for the proactive timing and the actual changes made to rectify those mistakes and ultimately we won the game. Its more the side issues that I don't think warrant such focus. Touchline demeanour, interviews, questioning his passion or whether the players are playing for him, I just don't get it.

One thing you cannot argue against last night was that our players are playing for the manager. Derby were naive, they played into our hands sticking to their principles when we had them in traps. He doesn't and hasn't disrespected this club, and I do not get this focus on how he acts on the sides or what he says at the end. He can be critiqued for decisions he makes, weird tactical choices, poor signings, but there is an obsession relating to how he acts. He is who he is, not the most animated of people but I think its totally unfair to question his attitude or his desire. He won't suddenly become animated, jumping around etc, that isn't his personality and doing that doesn't correlate necessarily with managerial competence or even passion. Biggest way to respect the fans is to win a football match.

Why is it unacceptable that owners with zero clue on football are interfering on transfer matters, preventing the actual football manager from having the autonomy to sell a player before his contract expires to bring 2 in? You think thats normal?

An abysmal first half, as bad as I can ever remember in a long while. The players werent competing and both they and the manager warranted the dissent and frustration that spilt over. The choice of playing Johnson as a false 9 against a team who play it out from the back literally couldnt have been more illogical. Credit to Mowbray at least for making a good double change at half time and not waiting until half way into the second half as he may often do. Proactivity led to an excellent opening to the second half which got us the win. Gallagher was crucial to our comeback, I still think that if he played as a central striker over a period of time, this narrative that he would bang in the goals is a false one and his numerous flaws and shortcomings would frustrate. In the second half, we had nothing to lose throwing everything at it against a team whose tactics played into one of his main strengths, his tireless running and he was excellent tonight. Would he score 15 goals in a full season there, not a chance for me. But he should certainly play there on Saturday. It was great to see Dack get a half and his cross was superb. Dolan in general was ineffective for much of the game summed up by again doing a million stepovers on an attack in the first half and falling over, but you cant fault his willingness and its all about goals for front men, and he popped up with a real poachers effort. Khadra was appalling throughout and didnt seem to be up for it, Giles massively improved us playing from the left and what a cross for Gallaghers great header. Wharton was man of the match, Van Hecke was also good again and Kaminski kept us in the game. Lenihan was poor, on the ball he was awful and I didnt think much of his shoving of Rankin Costello, as poor as he was himself. Pickering was under par too, one too many aimless punts down the line. Travis and Rothwell were often bypassed by a Derby side who regularly got behind us. I think a few on here are going too far out of their way to discredit Mowbray and are beyond the point of acknowledging positives and negatives equally, @Mercer and his body language expertise typical of this. At the end of the day, we won the game and its all about the results. We have had more chances than opponents in recent weeks and lost and still justifiably criticised. Yes he got things horribly wrong in the first half and he warrants stick for baffling initial tactics but he was proactive in fixing them. There is no need for micro analysis of his touchline antics or his interview to justify a seperate opinion.

Such a negative team. Take out an attacking midfielder and a forward, bring in a defensive midfielder and a forward.

Firstly, Mowbray won't be going regardless of where we finish, and I fear that your faith in Venkys is misguided/naive/stupid. But if there was a new manager, he would much prefer to inherit a squad full of assets with minimal holes in it. You are recreating history with Rothwell, Cantwell doesn't even play in the same position. Bournemouth bid creating a drawn out affair, it wasnt a passing fancy. Mowbray said in the press that he was open minded in bringing in 2 players with the money but the owners blocked it, which is unacceptable.

Big blow for Forest.

His tactics seem to be fairly random at the moment and he doesn't have any interest in starting the signing that he desperately wanted, presumably on considerable wages to accompany a potentially large fee in the January window. He also complained that he couldn't play 3 at the back at Spurs because he didn't have 3 fit centre backs, overlooked by the interviewer was the fact that the admittedly unimpressive Branthwaite was on the bench.

"Exciting prospect" is not the way I would describe losing our captain, right back and a key midfielder for free aswell as another excellent centre back and Khadra who will go back to their parent clubs all without a penny to replace them. Brereton will be sold too with the most recent evidence suggesting that there is far from a guarantee of even a fraction of that money being available to reinvest. Even if we take it as a given that the 3 contract rebels would not have signed unless we had offered unsustainable wages, much of this summer of surgery could have been eased. If Venkys had allowed a couple of million to have been reinvested last summer on an attacking player, we would have one less slot to fill and also extra help this season. Had Venkys allowed the manager to make his own decisions on player recruitment, we could have 2 additional assets instead of a soon to be worthless Rothwell.

Fulham affect us being only 19 points ahead, yet Blackpool and Preston don't being 7 points away?

I think its a good question and something I agree with. People tend to focus on specific runs which as you say arent irrelevant especially when they tend to happen at similar times albiet to varying degrees. But you often for example hear "2 wins in 17" in relation to last season, which is IMO people selecting specific runs to to suit the point they want to make. All that mattered is how the results levelled out over all 46 games which was in 15th place which was worthy of criticism in itself without needing to focus on 17 specific games. If we finished say 7th or 8th, it would be justified to an extent to point out us being 2nd/3rd and how we have dropped from there, I totally get that. Equally as you say, if it was linear and we had been there all season or even went up to there near the end of the season, it would be viewed differently.

I do think that some of the criticism of Mowbray generally is too much, he isnt useless, many of his derided tactics have worked for much of this season and there is a lack of willingness to acknowledge that we are for now in the play offs. Talk of sacking him right now is crazy. But to remove any responsibility by suggesting that he isnt on the pitch is bollocks, it totally removes any importance in the manager. Mowbray was worthy of praise when we was winning, equally it was the players on the pitch and not him, surely?

4 nil?! We havent scored 4 goals in the last 13 gamed combined. Gallagher was crap again yesterday, so difficult to pick a strikeforce considing how incapable of scoring all of our attackers are minus Dack and Brereton. Would keep the back 3, id bring in Giles for Pickering, probably go with a front 3 of Hedges, Dolan and Khadra, not many goals there but thats the case in general. Nyambe if fit back on the right, if not go with Buckley there. Best case scenario is a 1 nil I suspect.

Would have taken something special for Everton to go down and I suspect they will survive and the media will laud it as a great achievement by Lampard. Seems a curious appointment as it stands.

Khadra could have easily been booked again for that desperate dive. Seldom if ever would a ref book a player twice for diving though. I agree on the actual penalty, shouldnt have been given and the most likely was the Gallagher one.

I heard a few people in the Blackburn End say to the person next to them that Mowbray should go. I am not convinced that everyone is behind him, and have not experienced what you mention above @roverandout is that in the Blackburn End too?

Hedges did make the bench, just wasn't brought on.

Another great result for Frank "the right fit" Lampard.

I don't think that anyone suggested that he would come back and be at full fitness, that has nothing to do with those games. He wouldn't have been at full throttle playing against kids and would have been using it purely as a fitness gaining exercise, nothing more. If anything, the fact that he has played a fair few games now with and against kids and is still so rusty when it comes to the speed of an actual senior match proves that playing those kids games has a limited worth.

Why would it be a good idea to not only replace a manager with 9 games to go, but then give it temporarily to a rookie already within his coaching setup? There are 2 reasons why someone might want a change of manager now, as illogical and counterproductive as I think that would be. Firstly to try and salvage our play off hopes, in which case surely youd get someone who has been around the block, a Warnock type. Or secondly with also half an eye into next season, which to me we cant afford to have at the moment, but in which case we would need to get our next manager immediately. Johnson wouldn't provide a bounce or tick either box.