Ah so not the most definitive source then. He makes it up as he goes along. With contracts, it is a case of either being signed or not, little in between as we saw with Hoilett signing in 24 hours! Hopefully we have a few extensions to be signed soon.

It all seems to be a bit non urgent and and low priority at the moment, I have certainly not seen anything close to suggesting that we are in contract talks with all of those! Where did you read that? I hope you are right on Armstrong and am not getting deep into why i think it wont be "easy" to do. Rothwell was one I missed, again possibly not one I would necessarily prioritise because hes yet to really establish himself but might be wise to add a year or 2 onto his deal. Williams seemed happy to try and find a new club in the summer for family reasons so maybe that will be impossible.

Does anyone have any major worries about the contractual situation? Look at the side yesterday, 3 loanees, Holtby, Johnson, Rankin Costello and Williams all out of contract at the end of the season. Armstrong and Lenihan all out of contract at the end of next season. And of course Nyambe at the end of this season and the end of next season. I would give Holtby a new deal, Johnson and probably Williams I would hold off for now perhaps. Rankin Costello makes sense to sign up, should be cheapish and easy to do. Nyambe I would certainly try but am unconvinced that he would sadly. Armstrong and Dack by all means try and pull out all the stops but I cant see why they would commit too early. Lenihan there may be more chance of.

I acknowledged that it made things more difficult without numerous players, undoubtedly. A problem all managers will face at some point. That being said, both Holtby and Rothwell were available in the home game prior when we were equally impotent, Rothwell in particular had one of his best games for the club v Forest by not being involved yet being painted as a potential saviour! The issue regarding breaking down teams is a recurring one that we will need to overcome to reach the top 6. Going away from home and grinding out draws and wins is a very common and successful method. The side that played was full of regulars during Mowbrays tenure. Kaminski and Ayala were big summer signings. Lenihan has been critical to Mowbrays teams throughout his time here. Nyambe is in most peoples first 11. Bell has sadly been trusted by Mowbray playing most games since he signed. Bradley Johnson had won the leagues player of the month after the previous game. Corry Evans has been involved whenever he has been fit during his time here. The front 3 had nailed down places in the starting 11. Buckley has been in the vast majority of squads since the start of last season, heavily involved and often waxed lyrical over. Gallagher was a 5m man on the bench. Enough there to not be able to absolve the manager of responsibility should we lose to a team at home on 0 points? Certainly. The key to me was the tactical errors as I mentioned earlier. Cant see any merit in Johnson sitting, Evans ahead of him, Gallagher wide and Chapman as a number 10. Did Mowbray use the senior squad he had available in the best and most efficient way? Absolutely not for me. Im not in the business of putting the successess down to Mowbray and the failures down to mitigating circumstances, or indeed vice versa. Coventry went down to 10 men very early on, I could write off the last 75 minutes. Or I could write off the Forest loss due to unavailability. But no, praise and happiness warranted yesterday, and frustration and criticism warranted for the Forest game. Weve played 2 promoted and 2 relegated teams, I could focus solely on playing 2 easier teams with less resources, or 2 potentially harder teams with more resources. But no, I will factor in both sides.

Youd drop Armstrong, put Dack on the right and put Elliott central?!

I didnt criticise Mowbray for not including Trybull and Douglas, and I did acknowledge that the absentees made the situation much more difficult. But all managers have some games where they have major unavailability. Mowbray made numerous tactical mistakes with the players at his disposal. Johnson in front of his defence has always been a liability, Evans has always got a nose bleed over the half way line and Gallagher has never been a winger since he had a hole in his arse. I did mention that we keep beating the weaker teams but not in the flippant way that you implied. I have referenced that we have battered them in a way we havent done to teams for a long, long time and it is very exciting. Us at our best and/or v the worst teams in the league has been leading to brilliant watches for a Rovers fan. You mention Reading but it is not them at "their best" that is impressive to date, it is the consistency of our results. We are a little bit all or nothing at the moment, only winning when we wallop teams. Im excited about many aspects of our team at the moment, I just will only be totally satisfied when we start picking up top 6 level results consistently.

That pass on 1 minute 40 seconds I remember thinking wow when he did it yesterday. A shame that Gallagher has the first touch of Jason Roberts because it was absolutely perfect.

I dont get why the experiment would be to play him centrally, that is where Armstrong and when fit Dack want to play. Elliott looks good coming in from the right.

This is a big game. Reading have very much made themselves a team to beat at the top of the table and we could do with 3 points to put a bit of a marker down against a better side and also to make up some ground both on Reading and the top 6. Same side unless Kaminski is injured and Pears to come in if so with the Greek on the bench. Ayala if fit on the bench over Bell.

I dont think you can give the manager a free pass just because we had a lot of players unavailable. That will happen to every manager during the season, and out of those players, 4 were new signings considered unavailable (2 not registered and 2 not selected by Mowbray) so surely they also increase the absentee list for the 4 games prior if thats the case? Not for me, just a drawback of signing them so late. The 11 players plus the first sub Gallagher are all consistently in the first team squad so it wasnt quite bare bones by any means, and tactical errors by the manager (Gallagher widre, Chapman as a 10, Johnson sitting, Evans further forward) all majorly contributed to the poor result. In the Cardiff game we created very little. The Gallagher miss was poor but it wasnt as clear cut as a tap in and indeed if the managers 5m purchase misses a sitter, he doesnt get a free pass from judgement!

I dont think that Sparks was implying that the Rovers crowd are particularly demanding in comparison to other teams to the extent that playing behind closed doors benefits us, thats the difference. Brereton has after 18 personal dismal months been treated well by the Rovers fan base, in that I can not remember a player for whom there has been such a specific and unifed desperation for him to get a goal. Ultimately if his improvements are solely on the back of playing with less pressure in empty stadiums then in the long term then they are fairly useless if he reverts back to what he wss like before when crowds return. Suggesting so at this case is not only again reverting back to the incorrect suggestion that the Rovers crowd are horrible to play in front of, but also a disservice to the player himself. I know that you are being purposely patronising and antogonistic by claiming additional knowledge to any posters with an opposite viewpoint but we clearly didnt "obliterate" Watford, before considering the laughable giant killing narrative. We lost by 2 clear goals and that is all that matters. We were competitive and we certainly had chances but so did Watford who could have had 5 or 6 aswell. To view it as some sort of freak giant killing is not only totally illogical but also ignores numerous issues with that performance that led to us getting 0 points similar to v Bournemouth (although IMO we werent overly dangerous in conparison v Bournemouth with 2 shots on goal) in showing a real naivety and weakness in transition, and a struggle to turn possession into clear cut chances or if we did, a lack of ruthlessness. There are plenty of exciting elements to our play at the moment especially in 3 thrashings handed out to 3 of the 4 worst sides in the league so far but ultimately only until the point in which we are picking up points consistenly enough to be in the top 6 will this admittedly exciting way of playing be really proved in terms of effectiveness. Im also not denying that there could be more to come, new signings bedding in, Dack and Travis returning, and hopefully the flaws in our game ironed out, maybe that consistency can come soon. You could perhaps categorize the first 7 games into 3 categories, playing the weakest in the league in which we have won all 3 and absolutely battered them in an almost unprecedented way for us, decent organised teams coming to Ewood and us being unable to come close to breaking them down, and 2 games v top end teams in which we have perhaps slightly naively have gone toe to toe wih them and leaving ourselves overly exposed, leading to defeat. Also, never take any stock in an opposition manager praising us, thats my advice. A manager who has won and played against a decent team playing an easy on the eye style will always be full of praise, whereas a team who has ground out a 1 nil win against you in a professional and organised way will always be met with resentment and bitterness. Take Big Sams Bolton or us under Hughes getting under Wengers skin back in the day because he was bitter that he couldnt beat us "lesser lights" so resorted to dismissing our style. Good to hear such praise, although Colin Murray was full of praise that we signed Harvey Barnes which is news to me!

Mowbray said in his post match interview that he hopes we can have him for the season so there must be a clause that could cut the loan short in January.

But ultimately the fact that he was such a good finisher and more pertinently got over 20 goals a season ensured that he was a good a Championship striker during his time here as there was in the league.

This conversation seems to have become most prominent after the 3 dominant wins, as to whether he even gets into the team. He is a very, very good player at this level who improves us as our best player. Of course he warrants getting into the team somewhere. If he was fully fit in the next game, would it be fair to drop any of the attacking players today? Obviously not, and when he comes back, he will be a sub anyway. But would he warrant a start long term over one of Brereton, Johnson or even Elliott or Holtby in our best team? Yes. Where is a fairer question, and may take a bit of trial and error and experimentation.

I was contributing to a pre-existing conversation and I never suggested that we should sign him now, I am aware that his career has badly declined. I just think that re-writing history by being dismissive or implying that a striker should have been dropped who got 83 goals in 159 games, so better than 1 in 2 and consistent over a few years was anything other than superb for us, in both strong and malfunctioning sides with different managers and in different formations and styles, is absolutely senseless.

I never said that he is awful at one on ones, just hit and miss. Likewise, Rhodes scored a fair few headers, I wouldnt say he was good or top level in the air. Its not a love in. I just appreciated that when Rhodes was here, he was as good as any striker in the league. If Armstrong scores with similar consistency and regularity then he can be too, his record in 2020 is very much putting him on the way.

Ultimately for 2 years he was understandably criticised because he looked totally out of place on a football pitch. Youth football is not a strong indicator of anything, Jason Lowe was England under 21 captain. Recently he has looked a much improved player and has seemingly found a best position, whereas Gallagher has no suitability playing wide, it suits Brereton in a 3 in that the onus on goalscoring is lessened, he can run with the ball, he doesnt have much defensive responsibility and he can hold the ball up against players who arent necessarily as physically imposing. He has to start scoring to really nail down his place in the line up over time and even start to think about coming close to living up to the price tag, but there are definitely some green shoots.

I presume there is an element of sarcasm in the phrase "lump of lard with no pace" but obviously that is not true. He is not massively fast nor is he particularly slow, he has scored goals on the counter attack before where he has more than kept up with quick players. He also has the technical ability needed, and is very comfortable pressing.

Very poor is an exaggeration anyway, but even amidst his limitations, simply being a 20+ goalscorer every year meant that he was a top level Championship striker when he was here, such is the importance of goals. Does Armstrong have all of the attributes? Timing of runs, strength, aerial ability, hold up play, one on ones, scrappy goals, is he particularly good at any of those even at Championship level/standard? I would say no, not really. But as long as he keeps scoring goals, all of them become secondary. Both players are not top level in quite a few ways, and often contribute very little overall apart from scoring consistently which is the most difficult and important thing for any attacker. Thats why Rhodes throughout his career here and Armstrong throughout this calendar year were/are so critical to us as a team.

You try telling the referee that!

Very pleasing performance and result, as soon as a very limited Coventry went down to 10 men the result was a formality but the scoreline and many aspects of the performance were very exciting. Of course the key is consistency now. We have played 3 of the 4 poorest sides in the league so far and we have absolutely hammered all 3 of them. Against "superior teams" or stubborn teams of a similar level, we have struggled to get results. The good parts of the 3 wins have to come together on a regular basis, the start so far is ok, no more, but today I am very happy. Brereton was absolutely superb today, 3 assists and plenty of other good play, his best performance. The poor finish at the end was frustrating because when we got the first and obviously the man advantage, one of the main things that I was dying to see was another Brereton goal, of course until he starts properly contributing with a few goals there will always be a question mark, but very impressive overall. Armstrong is the main source of the numbers in Dack's absence, perhaps the least involved overall of the attacking players but the most important in putting the ball in the back of the net. Elliott looks a real talent, he doesnt look raw as I expected of someone so young, he looks surprisingly mature and seems to really be on the same wavelength as Holtby who ran the game, although whose finishing was dreadful! Their link up for the fourth was not a first time but it summed them up today perfectly. To see Elliott getting a goal and an assist already is a huge bonus. Further back, Johnson wasnt stand out but not playing him in front of the back 4 removes that worry of him being a liability in possession and causing us problems, he can put himself about more and he used his experience well, and Trybull whilst looking rather slow in transition looks a natural in that holding role. I thought that Lenihan was the pick of the centre backs, Williams was fine but Lenihan looked particularly determined to get that clean sheet, he has got some criticism lately but I think whilst not being perfect that we are better with him than without him. Douglas had to shake off some rust at the start with a stupid yellow card and being caught out of possession, ultimately defensively he wasnt tested but on the ball it is night and day with him and Bell, sensible decision to sub him off with the yellow but hes got to be the only choice there now. Rankin Costello would be a worry at right back v better teams, there was once or twice when he naively gave them the run of that right side either by losing it trying something he perhaps shouldnt or even backing off but on the ball he was good and the ball for the first goal was absolutely outstanding. Kaminski had a quiet day and I hope that he recovered for Tuesday. I thought we lost some control and quality when we made the 3 subs, the players coming on were all obvious downgrades. Buckley grew into the game to be fair and Gallagher got his goal through a terrible goalkeeping mistake but I was really pleased to see him score. He is not a right winger in a million years though so why Mowbray persists with it is beyond me. I dont think that I have ever seen him even come close with his head in a competitive match. In fact he often seems to purposely avoid aerial duels. Both of them are predominantly players that dont contribute loads from open play but are just regular goalscorers. Armstrong does have pace but often he still finds himself offside and he is quite languid in general play, when he wasnt scoring prior to 2020 he was often somewhat of a liability because his at times laziness (which was more of a problem because of the role he played then) was not being offset by goals. He is also hit and miss when he goes through on goal and isnt the biggest threat at sniffing out and anticipating chances likes Rhodes, Dack and even Graham were/are but boosts his numbers up by hitting a few screamers and also like Rhodes, penalties. Rhodes' limitations in general play were overly exaggerated and he didnt have the pace or even the technical ability of Armstrong but he was brilliant in terms of movement, anticipation, composure, intelligence and as you say his finishing, put him through on goal and he scores 9 times out of 10, Armstrong scores maybe 5, Rhodes also gets so many more tap ins. You never really see Rhodes smashing in one from 25 yards though. I think they are both very similar, not necessarily in style but in being very limited players in terms of how much they contribute overall, apart from getting regular goals. That being said, I think that as stupid as it sounds, simply being able to score goals regularly and consistently is a skill that is becoming underrated, hence why both players were and are so important to us.

Does Brereton offer an aeriel threat?

Bournemouth equalised in injury time.

Happy enough with the team, although I would have started Nyambe at right back. Good to see Douglas and Trybull start. Apologies, didnt explain very well. I think he should be on the bench at the moment, and obviously if he makes an impact as and when needed then he can solidify his place in the squad and even push to start. If he fails to do so then be might struggle to get into the 18 at some point during the season and if that happens he can dip into the under 23s as initially anticipated. Nyambe cant head a ball. Over the last year or 2 our win record is much better with him than without him and especialy with Ayala out, he has to start.

I definitely think that there is scope to naturally dip him in and out of the under 23s as the season goes on. At the moment we look light across the front line and hes not in the first 11 at the moment so when hes needed off the bench he should look to have more impact than he did on Wednesday night and work his way back up the pecking order. When Dack, Gallagher and Rothwell are all available again, there may be a point when he cant make the 18 and if that happens he should play with the reserves rather than risking getting stuck in limbo.