I dont necessarily have any optimism that under Mowbray that in December, we will be in a good position to be honest. But I just think that it is fair to credit him when we get 7 points from 9, in the same way that we will criticise him if we get say 1 from 9 in the next 3 games. I criticised him playing Carter at full back before the game, he was excellent, and I would have also had Clarkson in front of the defence (or even Davenport) and Travis ahead instead of Buckley. Travis was man of the match playing deep. Ayala has been overall a very strange signing, but in these last 3 games he has been outstanding. We seem to be far better from set pieces this season too. There are things that I still find odd eg Dolan central and Gallagher wide, and dont think that specifically worked, but we won the game so overall Mowbray got it right.

I am not fickle enough to suggest that Mowbray suddenly should be the manager again from the back of 3 games, and indeed even in victory I didn't agree with everything that he did. But this is totally unfair, he got plenty of criticism for all of the losses, so he warrants praise for the wins.

I do agree that endless laborious possession is not a wise tactic, and indeed we do look better when pressing, but I think it is a little simplistic to put it all down to that. The last 2 games have been fine margins, we haven't offered a threat at all from open play, but we look far better from set pieces which have got us the goals we need.

A great win and a very nice start to the season, and fair play to Mowbray, I don't think he is suddenly the man to take us forward and I think a few of his decisions even in victory are curious but he deserves credit if we win. Travis was absolutely superb, man of the match for me. Ayala is an excellent defender at this level and him and Lenihan were excellent at the back, proper defenders and the goals are a bonus and something that they need to add. Such a shame that they again failed to get a clean sheet, Pickering was otherwise good but he shouldn't have let him cut inside. Carter did look like a centre back out of position but in the circumstances, he more than justified his selection with an excellent performance. Kaminski fairly untested. Rothwell had that one superb run and pass but was otherwise fairly quiet, and Buckley missed a couple of guilt edged chances. I also think that it is refreshing to see us become a threat from set pieces, but in open play we look fairly toothless. We need some recruits in attack, out wide and from midfield to add a goal threat, Dolan looks well short at this level although the position doesnt suit him nor Gallagher who worked tirelessly. Brereton was really poor too, his performance level in the first 4 games has been substandard, goals will always take precedent but he is not a totally transformed player after his goal v Bolivia, lets be frank. I thought Chapman was superb off the bench and I would go Chapman right, Brereton left and Gallagher central at the weekend.

Sound annoyingly well behind, youd expect it in sync for a tenner. We are toothless in attack, we miss Armstrong and Elliott so much. Dolan central makes no sense but again he looks well off being a regular Championship player, he lacks the quality. Buckley also really should have scored after a great run from Rothwell, and in general has dawdled once too often. Brereton anonymous. Defensively, again much more solid with Ayala and Pickering has been better tonight. Travis has been good too.

I believe Simms is injured, has missed all of pre-season and will be out for at least another month.

Do season tickets get sent out only to those who have requested replacements or to everyone?

But he has put in another academy player instead of Pike? The problem is not a lack of trust in academy players, 4 start in a very young team, and 2 others who would be right in contention are injured. It is just general poor management and bizarre decision making.

Utterly bizarre. Should have been one straight swap, Pike in for Nyambe. Buckley has played as a full back before and couldnt have looked any more out of place. I do hope that Gallagher is central but I wont hold my breath. I totally get the desire to protect him but I think you first must look at the timing, its only the third game in, and we are short on the ground, so we cant afford to rest him. I am not sure that defence is a position whereby you can be constantly rotating either, not good for continuity.

With Nyambe injured, wouldnt the logical replacement be a straight swap, Pike for Nyambe? If Buckley is at right wing back then that is ridiculous.

If they moaned at winning but not passing it out from the back, but enjoy the drivel currently on show, of which I have no evidence that it is the case, then they are idiots. Swansea could be nearer to the bottom 3 than the top 6 if they are careful. There is absolutely no evidence that Brereton could be a prolific goalscorer. Hugill was not that either, a focal point is different and perhaps they do miss that although I suppose Ched Evans is a similar player. But they are also missing Pearson and Davies IMO more than Hugill as they were the glue in their team, they never had a prolific goalscorer but they had players like Johnson, Browne, Barkhuizen and Sinclair all chipping in. The case of appointing a caretaker manager permanently like we did with Bowyer seemed always destined to be not worth the risk. I thought here that Bell was perhaps even poorer going forward than he was defending. He did get 3 goals in that first full season back in the Championship, all of which were in defeats which summed him and our defence up at that time. But I can't recall a single assist from a cross from him in his time here, so I always found the potential of playing him as a wing back to be a curious one. Their standards at left back must be low and I am sure that over time, they will become as furstrated with him as we did.

Ayala has to play. It is the third game in, his body shouldn't already be creaking, especially as he is being managed in training. Plus the need is greater with no defensive reinforcements as of yet.

I cant imagine that the Swansea fans will want it for too long if they keep losing and to be honest having watched their first 2 games, they were hopeless v us and boring as sin v Sheffield United. All this bollocks about principles, philosophies and styles nowadays, football is and always has been about results and playing such illogical tactics will not help that objective. Preston are one of a number of teams (us included) who lack a goalscorer. Hugill was never a goalscorer himself. But they have tended to punch above their weight, but falling into the trap of appointing a caretaker always carried a huge risk. They look really poor. They can still improve from being 24th even without signing a prolific goalscorer, as helpful as that would be.

I do think that again the standard of Championship is very poor this season. Watched Huddersfield v Preston tonight which was a horrendous watch. Huddersfield are a constant calamity waiting to happen, there was one point near the end when the keeper came to catch, spilt it onto the head of his own player, before the ball rolled across to the erratic Naby Sarr who booted a clearance against his own man causing further chaos. Preston look to have made a huge mistake with the manager, they have some useful midfielders but are toothless in attack and leaky at the back. Little surprise to me that Swansea lost again tonight, obviously I saw them first hand at Ewood and then also v Sheffield United in another awwful game, if Martin continues to try and play out they are asking for trouble.

Bell is a horrendous player at this level and it would be revisionism to suggest otherwise, and it said that we didnt offer him a deal if I recall on the official site. That being said, Luton certainly show us how to really get the most from what little they have, and it wouldnt surprise me if they finished above us.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/19519380.blackburn-rovers-transfer-search-set-go-wire/ It seems like we are going to try and get experience through the market after all, but it requires the risk of waiting as long as possible at which time the parent club will become more desperate. We do desperately need experience if possible although 3 games will have passed before the end of the window, and his experienced loanees last year were shit, I hope he doesn't go back for the useless Trybull. Also, he wanted Ben Davies from Liverpool but we couldn't afford him. This doesn't imply that he is going to get the funds to get in a proper replacement for Armstrong either, although maybe that is taking the below too literally: “I’m pretty confident that by the end of the window we’ll have probably filled our loan quota and hopefully we might have signed one or two young players.” He implied last week or the week before that he didn't know that it would be solely relying on kids on loan, and perhaps that the players released were done so because of their wages and he didnt have full say on that.

I think if we do sign a central midfielder, it has to be one that is attacking and can get goals. Longstaff I don't think fits the bill. I think Brady will struggle to get a club because he is made of glass, a big reason why I wouldn't have him here. Bennett hasn't recovered from a serious injury too, so both the type that may have appealed normally but with injuries, we should ignore.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-united-matty-longstaff-loan-21327603 Matty Longstaff linked on loan, three club rule in place though.

It seems that we dont have the money to even afford freebies, but there are some bog standard Championship players still available. Looking at that list, the below stick out, but I am sure that many will have lingering injury issues, hence why they havent been snapped up yet such as Bennett and Brady, or perhaps other question marks such as Mendez-Laing. Players like Wilshire, Sturridge, Dann etc are likely unrealistic for a mixture of injury and financial reasons, and there will be others who could be wild card options like Ntcham and Izquidero who again are likely to be unrealistic. LB: Yuri Ribiero, Joe Bennett, Neil Taylor CB: Kean Bryan Attacking Midfield: Marco Stiepermann Winger: Kadeem Harris, Robbie Brady, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Junior Hoilett Most of the useful ones will have been snapped up by now, but with some, they may have less risk than say a Khadra who is a total stab in the dark, simply because whilst we know that they might not be stand outs, they are proven to be able to do a solid job at this level.

Not seen enough of him to know either way really to be honest, only once or twice. He is a left footed centre back.

When I saw him for Sheffield United once or twice, he seemed to be comfortable on the ball rather than a brute.

Kean Bryan would be an interesting one, a permanent player, and covers a few places, centre back especially on the left of a 3 and at left back where we are very short. That being said, his career has been a little curious. I remember that he (if I recall correctly) scored the winner at Old Trafford last season, but spent much of his time at Sheffield United on the sidelines and he had a brief loan spell at Bolton when they were struggling for players the season before. If its us v Boro, I can't see him coming here.

Waggott might be useless in every other way but if you want the autograph of either our 2nd or 4th choice keepers...

To clarify, I share the feeling that a flurry of kids on loan deals is rather underwhelming. Indeed I would be amazed if this transfer window ends us being judged as anything other than desperately poor, with our best player leaving a huge void and experience replaced by inexperience. But it seems that based on Mowbrays interviews in the last few weeks, we are currently operating exclusively in the loan market because we cant afford anything else. He specifically said at the weekend that he would like experience but that will be impossible due to salary levels. Loaning players with the parent club footing the majority of the bill can be mutually beneficial if done correctly. We have had 4 players in the last 3 years that massively improved us to an extent that simply wouldnt have been possible if we wanted an equally effective player on a permanent basis. Indeed it was the rest of the puzzle being wrong that caused us to rot in mediocrity. Obviously the parent club then benefits from a player who has matured, indeed we have been on the other side of that process with Wharton, Lenihan, Raya etc. It is not just us at this level that looks to use the loan market, look at Norwich who were promoted last year with Skipp in midfield, or Swansea getting into the play offs in successive seasons with the likes of Guehi and Woodman being central to that. The risk perhaps falls in the lack of gametime making signing a loanee such a stab in the dark. The main argument against that I regularly see is that they will block the development of our own youngsters. It is something I disagree with, we should want to make the team better in the short term too, and that can be in tandem with our younger players, especially considering how light in numbers we are.

I was too young to fully appreciate the title win but still I grew up watching the likes of Tugay and Dunn every week. It is crazy that based on his age, he would have grown up watching players like Lee Williamson, Jason Lowe and Corry Evans. Thanks Venkys.