What chances did Thomas create against Wigan? Mowbray's tactics clearly did suit Brereton more as he was more effective and not spending all game defending.

Hyam is the stand out, I don't think he is "significantly" better than Lenihan who he replaced and is currently a key player in a high flying Boro side, judgement call and I would opt for Hyam personally. Brittain has been fine, I don't think he has been brilliant and you have to consider his injuries, but I am happy with him playing hopefully a much bigger part of things to come. Rich Sharpe reported the fee as £1.7m. Obviously not gospel, but worth mentioning. A big fee for a squad player. He is no more than a squad player and in a position where Dack is a lot better and Buckley has also been moved back to accomodate. The money could have been used on a good central midfielder rather than having to try and convert Buckley into one, or a striker. Szmodics can't really play anywhere else either.

I think with technology and analytics, it seems that has been ongoing pre Broughton. There were numerous interviews in which Mowbray mentioned new things in that regard to analyse performance.

I am also giving Broughton the benefit of the doubt and no blame in regards to the farcical Brereton situation, allowing him to run his deal down. That like Rothwell is clearly a decision above his head.

He himself took responsibility for it, but either way, he didn't sign, so I am judging on the 7 he has signed and subsequently the positions we are left lacking in, which include central midfield in terms of quality. Do you think Szmodics is worth nearly £2m as a squad player?

Which chances did he create though? If there are none, did he offer a tangible attacking threat? I know the left winger has to defend! But I don't think we are playing to his strengths when he is the one doing the graveyard shift spending all game in his own half when attackers like Vale and even Dolan are tasked with being the furthest man forward. He shouldn't be the man doing that. No, I wouldn't drop him. He along with Dack is one of the 2 attackers we have that can score goals regularly. I think Tomasson needs to try and find a way to get both of them as close to the opposition goal as possible. The likes of Thomas, Dolan and Hedges are all infrequent scorers but full of energy to be able to run up and down the line, so they can do that if needed. It will take something beyond merely dropping Brereton for someone like Hedges to suddenly start us performing as a good attacking side. We have struggled to create chances all season so merely like for like changes will not solve much alone. We don't have to play quite as defensively as we have been doing to try and stay solid, in fact it can be counterproductive as when we get the ball we have little plan of how to sustain attacks, so the ball comes back into our half. Brereton has barely played as a central striker, but we may aswell try it out because the current plan isn't working. He has not been as good this season because Mowbray's tactics were better suited to Brereton as an individual in comparison, he was always high up the pitch. We either stick to the formation and play him further forward, or change formation to get him further forward.

Underwhelmed so far, based on actual actions, as I said. Hyam good, Brittain unfortunately always injured, Szmodics overpriced squad player, Morton crap, Hirst and Mola woeful, Thomas I am optimistic about but just through the door. Fucked up the O'Brien deal, failed to get a striker. Communication and taking responsibility is all well and good but I judge on actions. "Will look at it in the future" doesn't pacify me.

He didn't create any chances though, the only one we had was Dack playing it through to Brereton. He didn't really do much if anything when it came to creating chances. We didn't look a threat at all throughout aside from that one chance. The tactics need seriously looking at going forward. I don't think that it is constructive to have essentially a back 6 for so much of games, but even so, I have not said that wide men have no defensive responsibilities, its just in our tactics at the moment, everything they do is defensive and they don't attack. Brereton is a quality striker with pace. Mowbray got more out of him compared to Tomasson because he played him higher up, either in a 433 or along with Khadra as one of our main 2 attackers with Buckley around them. Playing him as a left winger in our defensive 4231 will not allow him to get forward as much, but Dack needs to play as a number 10. So some thought has to be put into changing things up. There are 2 suggestions, one is to have Brereton playing as a central striker, he has had very little chance to do that but he is quick, he runs in behind, he can finish and he holds it up better than anyone else in the squad, so worth a shot. Alternatively, we could play a 3412 with Dack behind Brereton and another forward, maybe Dolan. I'd go for the former as the latter would mean only one of Thomas, Brittain and Rankin Costello could play.

Kaminski out for 4-6 weeks, gigantic blow. Hyam and Brittain in the squad tomorrow. Hyam in for Wharton IMO.

Yes. The main barometer of judging him comes down to how competent he is, rather than how ambitious he is or how well he talks. Underwhelmed so far, yes. His 2 transfer windows thus far have not been a great success.

Saved Leeds from relegation by taking them from 16th to 17th. A bit like Super Frank Lampard "saving" Everton!

Our better players tended to be those in defensive positions, Carter and Travis stood out and Wharton, Pickering and Rankin Costello all did well. Thomas wasn't one of the better players for me, nor obviously was Brereton who spend most of the game back at left back. Buckley only played half an hour but did more than Morton who may aswell have not played. My point on Brereton is that he has been poor, I am not denying that, but the aim should be for the manager to look at getting him back into form by playing him near the opposition goal. The whole attacking side is dysfunctional and the tactics are a huge reason behind this. We have scored 8 goals in 9 games as a team since the World Cup and have scored less than many bottom half teams including Rotherham across the season, we have struggled to create chances all season. Brereton is on 9 league goals, Dack is on 4 having missed much of the season and beyond that, our other attacking players are on 0-3. The key to scoring again is probably getting Brereton back in form, and he won't do that in his own half in such negative tactics.

No I didn't think he was great at Watford, we were generally dropping off as we tend to do, Thomas wasn't getting us up the pitch. Like I said, I don't overly mind whether its him or Hedges, both useful players, the key to being an attacking threat is far bigger than that. If we continue to play as we have been, either player will be a secondary full back.

In this instance though, the club didn't do right. I think that is fair without going down the rabbit hole of "loving to criticise" or being negative, not specific of course to who you are quoting. You have chose to describe Broughton as "ambitious" but ultimately the key question mark is competence. I personally have been underwhelmed by the 2 windows that Broughton has overseen. I have yet to see much evidence of a "big step forward."

Such a strange appointment, Marsch nearly relegated Leeds last season (went from 16th to 17th) and has been doing poorly again this season, he has signed a lot of his own players for decent money (many from previous clubs) and it makes no sense for Southampton to appoint him. Nor Gerrard for that matter who isn't a good manager.

I was quite surprised to see such a positive reaction following the Wigan game regarding Thomas, he didn't create any decent chances (the only one we had was Brereton via a Dack pass) nor offer a goal threat and his set pieces were poor. I did rate Thomas at Huddersfield and I wouldn't be totally against him starting over Hedges but I did not see the same performance that many did against Wigan, albeit it was a difficult game to debut in within a "Tomasson back 6" with Vale clogging up space in front of him with terrible movement. The thing that seperates Brereton from everyone else aside from Dack is that he can score goals. For me rather than it being an issue of focus/effort, the main reason for Brereton's poor form is the tactics from the manager, Brereton is often having to go far too deep into a left back position and it totally nullifies the attacking threat he does carry. It makes more sense to me to re-think the attacking tactics which haven't been working for a while, well to be honest we have not scored many all season, even less than Rotherham. We have been putting players up front (notably Vale but Dolan would not hit double figures in a full season up front) who aren't a threat whilst having our main striker having to do all of the donkey work and never getting to attack.

Agreed. Just curious as to whether chaddy has changed his opinion of him following his shocking performances.

Flip of a coin between him and Hedges. I don't think he has been great in his first 2 games and his set pieces have been surprisingly poor. Hopefully more to come but I would be tempted to put Hedges back in. No Vale in your squad?

The failure to award the Soucek one was a major mistake by the person/people running VAR and the referee, but did it "cause no end of problems" when the decision wouldn't have been given anyway? VAR isn't perfect and I am still not convinced but it is factual that more correct decisions are made with it rather than without it.

Pears Rankin Costello Carter Hyam/Wharton Pickering Travis Buckley Hedges Dack Dolan Brereton Subs: Hilton, Wharton/Phillips, Brittain, Adam Wharton, Szmodics, Thomas, Gallagher

Very good appointment although he has inherited a woeful squad.

My main point was more to credit him for his defensive work which has been really good and IMO more impressive than him going forward, aside from v Birmingham. I am not convinced that he would be a big threat as a winger and the adaptation to central midfield is a huge difference.

😂 he makes it up as he goes along, powered by the fumes of those who seemingly hang on his every word.

It would say a lot about the recruitment team to see us go for another from Mowbray's list, just like Brittain.

If he is one of our higher earners then I suspect it might rule out a few, Preston included.