Going to be a lucky win here. Drab performance, no pace or tempo, balance of the team is all wrong. No way should Southgates England be favourites for the Euros.

I think a key part of the academy is not just to churn out stars but also squad players. That being said, a huge reason why us and Derby have such an "impressive" amount of graduates in and around our first team is because of a lack of quality elsewhere and poor recruitment. They wouldnt get into the teams near the top of the league.

Portugal at 9/1 are seemingly not a bad bet to retain the trophy. They have Dias and Cancelo performing brilliantly at Man City, they have some real quality in midfield with Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and Ruben Neves in midfield, and they have goals in them obviously with the admittedly aging Ronaldo but also with Diogo Jota and Andre Silva. Plus they have experience that has been there and done it in Patricio, Pepe, Moutinho etc. Belgium will always be one of the favourites and tend to get the better of us but like with us a bit question mark comes in the dug out.

Is it wise to try and play possession football with such a limited set of players? I always find it strange when a manager is praised for trying to play what is perceived to be attractive and/or progressive football in spite of the players strengths and weaknesses.

Fair enough chaddy, if you dont think there is "any point" and/or anything wrong with the owners disinterest, with their lack of proactivity and their unique way of working, that all of the problems are concentrated within an underachieving manager, and that there is even the slightest of chance of anything close to the above scenario playing itself out, then fair enough. There is a humour to the extent to which you have jumped on board with some of the throwaway comments about things like the constant Middlesbrough links and the repeated mediocrity under him, ill give you that.

In all honesty, what does it matter moaning about the manager if thats the case?! Strawman argument. Its not about signing a player in May, its about planning, its not healthy to be so in the dark as to what is happening next, if the manager is going, why not get rid now and look for another? If he is staying, which obviously is not a good idea, why is everything still up in the air, why is there no idea about budget and forward planning, therefore making scouting players a thankless task, so many players out of contract, I could go on. I am blaming the owners because they have caused misery to Rovers fans ever since they sadly bought the club. And more pertinently, their negligent, backward ways continue to cause us further problems. Mowbray has certainly not got the most from his recruitment which has been poor and like his tactical errors, I repeatedly criticise him for and continue to desire a change of manager. In a fairly poor league quality wise and with a competitive budget, there is opportunity to challenge, even amidst the irritations that the owners precede over. But lets not pretend that the owners are proactive, that they are emotionally invested, and that a change of manager alone will fix all of the problems at the club, as much as it needs to be done. Indeed, it is the owners that continue to sit on their hands whilst the current manager, possibly the best they have ever hired which tells you everything considering how average he is, just potters on. Even look at this season, our recruitment in the main was done late in the day, 4 players signed on deadline day, a number of games into the season, and one signed after that. Could that have been avoided, yes of course it could. On the flip side, the team that he did play contained a 7m joker that Mowbray signed, a left back that Mowbray has repeatedly dished out new contracts to in spite of his incompetence, a centre back that he gave a new contract to who has repeatedly proven to be unreliable, 2 more midfielders likely on decent wages who spend most of the time either in the treatment room or underperforming. I think you are in denial. You think that there is a chance that Mowbray will be sacked after the final whistle of the last game of the season, a sporting director is lined up to oversee a thorough recruitment process for a quality head coach, and there are in depth scouting reports on players ready for the go ahead to accompany our current misfits who will suddenly start performing and all together put us in the play off places next season. I suspect you will be disappointed.

I have no idea why you think I am making excuses for the manager. For a good year now, I have been fairly consistent in my criticism of the manager, his tactics, his recruitment, everything really, and indeed it was you that was making/swallowing all of his excuses, injuries, (especially Dack in which you regularly claimed that we could/would have made the top 6 last year had he not got injured) covid, the pitch etc, none of which excuse him. What I am saying is that BOTH the owners and the manager have their problems. If you choose to believe that the way Venkys work, the nonsense about keeping the manager in the dark until the season ends regarding budgets etc, their continued poor choices both of appointing managers and moreso when to let managers go, their continued negligence, if that is all healthy to you, or indeed "just one of those things", then fair enough, I think its shoddy and its not good enough. Amidst this, Mowbray still is making and has made decisions that arent justified or excused by anything, Venkys incompetence included. His recruitment has been poor bar a couple of exceptions, people do overplay the budget he has but it is undoubtedly very competitive and the majority has been poured down the drain. His tactical principles are massively flawed, he continuously plays players out of position, I could go on, to make it clear, I dont think it is good enough and as per the last 12 months, I want him to be removed from his position.

In fact I would suggest that whilst our attacking talent will ensure that we get through the group comfortably I would suggest, especially with the new format, the averageness of a midfield with Rice and Phillips in it would not stand out even in the group. Croatia with Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic etc will certainly dominate in there whilst even Scotland and Czech Republic have midfielders like McGinn, McTominay and Soucek who are probably just as good as those 2. We need Henderson fit really.

Not sure if it would leave too many gaps, but Henderson (if fit) sitting with Mount and Foden slightly ahead and Sterling and Sancho either side of Kane could work for sure.

Do you think Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice have the quality against the likes of France, Belgium etc? Jordan Henderson is proven as better than them both but is an injury doubt. If that is the team, theres no real threat in behind when Kane drops off. Needs more pace, in my opinion from Sancho but Saka and Rashford are also alternatives.

Not sure he has the discipline though, nor would it be playing to his strengths. Unfortunately I think the centre of midfield is a real problem position, and one that will be part of the reason why as much as there is reason for optimism and some good players, we wont win the Euros. Struggling to look past France personally, an embarrassment of riches.

Many bookmakers have us as favourites: https://www.oddschecker.com/football/euro-2020/winner

I know it is my opinion, that is the purpose of a messageboard. He has been a huge bonus, and has massively exceeded expectations, for a player expected to play for the reserves. My opinion is pretty simple to understand, the fact that it can even be argued that Dolan is a better signing than 21 of the 25 players that Mowbray has himself chosen shows how bad recruitment has been.

I know that Mowbray should be sacked, I have being saying as much for quite a while and in the last few weeks you have joined me and many others in sharing that opinion, problem being that you seem to think now that all the problems are solely with Mowbray. I am not defending Mowbray in any way, I have regularly criticised his recruitment and his tactics, I am just saying that the owners were never going to sack the manager during the international break because they dont seem to care. He will almost certainly still be here next season. Last year was an unusual one because of the pandemic but it was simply down to restrictions rather than proactivity that the manager didnt need to wait until after the season had finished before flying over to beg for money/sort his budget. But Mowbray will be totally in the dark as to what his budget will be next season or even what they think about the managers future and the teams progress. It is not a healthy way to run a football club, and whilst Mowbray should have gone long ago, when he goes, some problems will still remain. I do agree to an extent with your last sentence, since Venkys took over hope is all that we have had, blind hope.

“We’re doing pretty good, Derrick is close. We hope to have him in the mix within the next week and starting to progress towards match minutes.” It does say this, so it is unclear still how close he is to fitness, it doesnt sound like he will be ready to be considered for games in anything close to a week. Either way, even if there is a semblance of bollocks again in what has come from Mowbray's mouth, I am not bothered that Williams has gone and I dont think he will be particularly missed at all.

Such a drab first half, I have to say our central midfield area is a major concern and possibly a big reason why our favourites for the Euros tag is a little premature, the likes of Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice are ok, they are functional but little more, better teams will dominate the midfield against us. Mount is a weird one, he is a good player but there should be some serious consideration about playing him deeper, question is does he have the discipline to play in a 2? He is better than the aforementioned players in that position, in the final third he is not at the same level for me as Foden, Grealish, even Maddison and we need 2 ideally from Sterling, Sancho, Rashford and Saka to run in behind Kane. The team isnt balanced right either, Kane needs players running in behind and we dont have enough of that.

I was pointing out that it is not a good reflection on Mowbray that his supposedly 5th best signing of 26 is a young kid that he played no part in the signing of, that hasnt contributed THAT much really, but has played far more than expected. Why is Brereton bottom of the list? Because he cost 7 million pounds and has ranged from laughable to average. And had he not cost so much which is a fee that requires justifying now, no one would be arsed if he left on a free next season. Obviously he has contributed more than the likes of Leutwiler, Gladwin, Hart etc but they were a slither of the expenditure of Brereton.

You are being naive if you are just now blaming everything on Mowbray and a perceived disinterest. Your idea of proactively sacking the manager over the international break was never realistic because our owners dont care, hence the yearly charade whereby the manager is totally in the dark as to how much money he will have until he goes over to grovel to them after the season has finished, when in the last 2 seasons, any competitiveness finished well in advance of the end of the season. Mowbray's recruitment has been poor but lets not pretend that the problems stop at Mowbray. (or even Mowbray and Waggott) There is so much naivety in your post that we are on the brink of lots of proactive decisions that will turn us around, detailed recruitment highlighting signings waiting to be done, a new efficient football structure and a new manager. Why do I think that those players will stay? Because for years we have lacked a ruthless edge, the same manager will likely be here and we seem destined to lose quite a few (Armstrong, Elliott, Harwood Bellis, Branthwaite, Douglas, Trybull, Rothwell, Holtby, Nyambe and maybe Rankin Costello) so there will probably be more of a likelihood/desperation to sign up the others, Bennett will be a "trusty" squad player for Mowbray, Johnson plays when fit usually, even the likes of Evans and Bell may well be signed up, the question is would you be surprised? Where did you hear that none of those 3 will sign new deals? It is awful management of them to allow them to be so close to expiry but then again, in particular Rankin Costello and Rothwell will struggle to get better than the amount of game time they get here at a club further up the table. The former is injury prone and hasnt fully established himself, or if he has, only just without necessarily standing out, and Rothwell has flattered to deceive for 3 years. Nyambe has done more but even then, how many teams above us does he get into the first 11 of? Not many if any.

Both Venkys and their consistent negligence and disinterest and Mowbray who hasnt the foggiest where his players see their future are beyond a joke, really.

Id like to think so, but then again id let the majority of those out of contract go but I dont think we will.

Im sure the ones like Johnson, Evans and Bennett will all get new deals however.

Really poor list when shown like that. Downing in 4th would deserve that place on his first year even though he has just Not sure how Jacob Davenport is above Richie Smallwood, he might well be a better player but the former has barely kicked a ball in 3 years and the latter was a big part in our promotion. Probably put Smallwood above the likes of Holtby, Rothwell and Johnson too, none of whom have done enough in a combined 7 years of service to suggest that if any of them went, they would be huge blows to us. Even Dolan in 5th was a signing that Mowbray didnt suggest, and even though he has massively exceeded expectations in terms of game time, he is still very raw and hasnt contributed that much of tangible and thus wouldnt be 5th out of 26 for most managers. Brereton has to be at the bottom all things considered really.

Its incredible how poor their group of players is, due to the boredom of an international break I do quite often catch the home nations games as they tend to be at different times to England and Ireland for quite a few years have been out on their own as being shockingly dull and you look at their players and there is no attacking talent young or old to suggest that this is likely to change under anyone. Scotland seem to have a bit of quality coming through across the side although are also lacking up front hence their desperate attempts to sign up Che Adams and Wales are established now although reliant on 2 players whose powers are beginning to wane.

Obviously not England but incredibly Republic of Ireland lost at home to Luxembourg today. Scotland and Wales both have something about them at the moment but Irelands squad is absolutely dire.

By that, I appreciate the reliance on data, im saying that I dont know and havent ascertained from the article whether the players they eventually sign are done so with or without being watched in full prior. If that is the case, the data would still be key in highlighting that player, where it becomes dangerous is if a signing is made solely on data without seeing the person in full. The difference between clubs and people doing it from home as a hobby is that the latter might then give opinions as fact on who they think we should sign in the absence of seeing that player play. Clubs will have the time and people to be able to scout the players that top the specific metrics that they are looking for, in your case, Barnsley want attackers that will get through a lot of physical mileage. Barnsleys specific use of and reliance upon data is miles away from my initial point regarding my own personal opinion on its limitations and how whilst individual aspects of it are obviously true, its only objective to a certain point. But anyway, as you say, no point arguing.