Ramsdale has started well at Arsenal although it has only been 7 games, meanwhile Henderson has spent most of the last year sat on his arse and Johnstone is playing in the Championship. I'm not sure that the comparison is much different.

He played centrally today, and he was certainly a nuisance in the first half. That being said, like v Coventry (when he also helped to create their first goal) and I think it was the Luton game when he was also central, his main weaknesses are a big factor in the pressure that we then faced and often cannot sustain. There are natural comparisons to Graham yet I dont expect a striker as good as him at holding the ball up but Gallagher is right at the other end of the spectrum. His first touch is so poor and he simply cannot bring others into play, I am not massively data focused but I do wonder how many % of times he gives the ball away. He is such a strange player, because in front of goal he is wasteful yet he does seem to chip in with goals to be fair to him. He also is as I said a nuisance especially with his powerful running, but there are so many parts of his game which are lacking. I dont think hes particularly good in the air either.

I am not convinced that there has been much if any evidence since that Hull game (in itself he didn't create or come close to scoring) that Khadra is "capable of terrifying defences." I don't see much difference between the 2 at the moment. Poveda has featured off the bench more in recent weeks but that has coincided with Khadra missing out on the squad a few games after struggling with tonsillitis. He got the nod before Poveda today now he is back. To be honest, I think that it is crucial that we bring in a couple of attacking players into the club in January, although I won't hold my breath. None of Poveda, Khadra and Butterworth have suggested that they are going to put much pressure on the current 3 for their places or offer much off the bench.

He is still a world class striker and although the questions about his application are understandable, the standard and performance of his team mates and the tactics of a manager not fit for purpose are not helping to get the best from him.

You speak as if my opinion is massively inferior from watching on TV. I am not sure why Khadra seems to be commonly regarded so much higher than than Poveda. I do think that both look well off the level needed, albeit I do appreciate that both have mainly been involved from the bench when it is difficult to impress. Khadra did well at home to Hull without directly creating much himself, whereas Poveda pinched the ball back for the goal at Boro and has shown a couple of fleeting glimpses recently at home, the great cross that Brereton knocked down for Van Hecke to a miss a sitter last week and a brilliant ball over the top against Coventry when Brereton played a ball across the face that should have led to a tap in and late winner. Today, Khadra had slightly longer but was just as ineffective and indeed it was his immaturity that cost us a free kick for their goal.

It isn't fair to criticise him when he does something wrong yet refuse to give out credit when he gets it right. Had Clarkson played and struggled, the manager would correctly be criticised. Davenport was also an option but he tends to be pretty poor when he features. I watched the full game and certainly don't think he was our best player, indeed the fact that he is clearly not a right back was evident, and they had much more joy out of Buckley than they did against Edun. Buckley in his defence is not a right back and never will be, and he hardly had a torrid afternoon and wasn't a liability like he usually is there, plus he was comfortable on the ball as you would expect, but I hope that Nyambe is back v Fulham. I think there is a decision to be made assuming that we can slot someone else in at right back v Fulham. Johnson added stability to the midfield and that could be the order of the day against a quality Fulham side. Does it then become Rothwell OR Buckley, of which the former would be the obvious choice?

Good win, and possibly as good a demonstration as you could get as to the current state of Rovers. First half, brilliant. Should have been 4 or 5 up. Brereton with 2 goals, should have done better with another good chance and very typically unorthodox and clumsy but effective at the same time. Dolan fairly quiet today, as was Rothwell really. Gallagher is generally a really poor player, he is (aside from height at set pieces) useless when we are winning because he loses the ball basically every time, horrendous touch, can't hold the ball up, and it just keeps coming back. Yet he isn't a total write off, when we are on top early in games, he is a real nuisance, full of running power, he isn't a good finisher but he will chip in, such a strange player. I thought the change to bring Johnson in by the manager was a wise one and he did give us some stability and allowed Travis off the leash somewhat, I am not convinced that Travis suits being the deepest midfielder because he can be a bit ill disciplined and chaotic. Edun I like, I feel like the 2 signings in the summer have turned left back from a position of worry where we had Bell who could barely control a ball and Douglas who was forever out of position to 2 good technical and trustworthy options. The 2 centre backs put their body on the line although both were guilty of being drawn out once too often, Ayala is a miss. Buckley is blatantly not a right back, tried his best and good assist but an obvious weak point throughout, and Kaminski made a couple of comfortable saves, helpless for the goal and poor again with his kicking. The game management needs to improve, total chaos in the end, and a lack of experience and also of depth in the squad makes it really difficult. Poveda and Khadra were signed purely because they are cheap and you can see that, both are so inexperienced, Khadra cost us the free kick for the first goal with a stupid foul, it was a hectic game to come in to and I am not sure that any of the other subs would have helped either. Fair play to Mowbray too, this squad is not the 7th best so he is getting a decent tune out of it, but that outlook could look different at the end of the week. Lives and dies by his results, we won today so that is the most important thing.

If that has happened, ie Mowbray has asked for money and Venkys have given it to him, that is still on the owners, they control the purse strings.

To an extent for sure, especially considering his management of things such as ticket prices etc has been piss poor. Can't argue with that. I meant more Mowbray in truth, he spends the budget that he is given, if he spends that money well or otherwise, that plays a big part in judging his competence, but he spends what people above him give him.

Buckley at right back? Oh dear.

I don't have information that he is wrong, nor right. Straight loan, loan with an option to buy, loan with an obligation to buy, all speculation and as he didn't sign, totally irrelevant.

The idea that the brunt of blame regarding financial mismanagement falls onto them 2 is utterly nonsensical anyway. They are given money by Venkys, if they are given x million, regardless of what they spend it on, x million has been spent. If that amount is too much and thus causes issues with FFP rules, that goes back up to the owners. If that money is not spent efficiently, of which there certainly is a fair argument, that is a whole new discussion. Although the sale of Armstrong covers back much of it and any potential Brereton sale would likely lead to an overall profit.

The suggestion of it being a loan to buy was purely conjecture and speculation, not fact.

He played basically all of last season centrally yet didnt really offer much more than fleeting brilliance, as has been the case throughout his Rovers career. As much as I was and am still somewhat skeptical of him playing deeper, so far this season has been better than anything before.

£400 was expensive, and ultimately they cannot now offer better value than that, so if anything 17/11 game tickets are slightly less value for money. Backed themselves into a corner, because the critical aspect is season ticket pricing and it is too high. Surely self explanatory.

I hope that Nyambe has been able to train today and can slot back in. He is our only proper, competent right back really, the other 2 are not right backs even at full fitness and when they play there, it shows.

A structure and a decent structure are 2 different things.

Good question, not sure. I want Mowbray to be removed, but say we had a vacancy, Rooney would be far from the top of that list.

With Bell, we didn't offer him a new deal which was correct because of the 3 and a half years of terrible performances, he didn't turn us down.

This season, Rothwell has played every game in a central role bar one in which he was rested but brought on at half time anyway. Last season, he started the majority of games that he was available for, again from a central role. From that, I don't get how he wouldn't "be overly fussed" about him leaving when he plays him all of the time. He regularly says what he is good at and seems to think that he is capable of dominating week in week out rather than fleetingly as has been the case during his Rovers career.

The job that Rooney seems to be doing seems to have improved this season, almost as if he is using a seige mentality as a real positive to drive the team to results. Last season when things weren't as bad, he wasn't overly impressing. Fair play to him this season for really having Derby organised although a further points deduction would surely be fatal. I wouldn't be surprised to see him earn a managerial job in a much better comparative position only to not impress half as much when that "us against them" against all odds narrative is removed but it will be interesting to see.

Jesus Christ. Can't do wrong for doing right is a phrase that springs to mind. It is far from the first time that Mowbray has praised Rothwell in public, I can remember off the top of the head him saying that Rothwell can do everything that Benrahma can do 2 years ago when the latter was the best player in the division, he has regularly said how good he is and simply that he needs to do it more often because he does have the ability and attributes to do it. I want Mowbray out too but the way that every single thing that he says is twisted is beyond a joke.

The things that you have put in bold are your opinions, assertions and assumptions, not facts, including FFP experts without our profit and sustainability calculation to hand making generalised statements about why this particular sort of thing MAY be done. My posts include my own, even spending or not spending next summer will neither prove nor disprove that we couldn't spend a penny more in the summer which is what I am contesting. My raised points include differing accounting periods to which these various profits, losses, sales, transfers of ownership etc relate to, the unknown percentage of which the losses shared contribute/are disqualified from FFP regulations, absolutely no public suggestion that FFP was the specific reason for the cut backs, the fact that the 2022 accounting year had only just begun when I wanted a bit of money to be spent, some of the reasoning behind my rationale, some of which you have not really addressed at all, some of which you have with your own opinions which I disagree with. The fact that we nearly got Maja on loan (which would cost albeit perhaps not the reinvestment level alone that I requested, a 2/3m striker and some new deals would suffice) alone proves that we aren't right on the line of projected FFP failure in my opinion, there is a semblance of flexibility for reinvestment which didn't materialise. Our opinions are so different on this topic and I don't feel like you are directly addressing my specific stance at times so I suspect that it is easier to just agree to disagree.

Gonna be a difficult game with a patched up defence. Carter himself has an injury so that right back slot where I would be nervous with him playing there anyway. Mowbray suggested that he might have to play Rankin Costello there although he wont be able to do 90 minutes which is not ideal in itself. Van Hecke doesn't convince me either yet, has a mistake in him and holds onto attackers too much, penalty in the making.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0b0yptf Mowbray said in his press conference that he believes that Mowbray carries the ball from midfielder better than anyone in the Championship and indeed anyone in the Premier League bar Adama Traore, Allan Saint-Maximin and maybe a couple of others. Hell of a statement.