I know its hardly Cantona and Ferguson but I also heard a story on a podcast the other day of Neil Warnock giving Adel Taarabt the captaincy at QPR to try and focus him, but he was a terrible professional who never used to turn up etc so the senior pros were not happy, Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill etc all went into his office and said what are you playing at, Warnock said trust me and go with it because he will get us promoted. He did and they all went into his office at the end of the season and said yeah you were right!

He played central v Newcastle, anytime the ball was coming into the attacking third, he was stood outside the penalty box, never with any intention of getting into the box. He has absolutely no instinct to get into the box or to anticipate goalscoring chances. I also think that it is a little unfair to blame Mowbray for "shafting" Dolan. He had a bright start but was totally ineffective in the last couple of games, couldnt get involved and tried one or two tricks in counter productive areas. He is a kid who has only just started playing first team football, perhaps we got a bit carried away early on, he is still clearly a promising talent but its understandable that at the moment such a raw and untested kid is struggling to impact games and may need taking out the firing line and putting on the bench.

Its not a fact, there couldnt be any evidence that Venkys are sat there willing to pile more money in but cant because of FFP, its your opinion. Based on Venkys tenure thus far, I would also suggest that it is a fanciful opinion.

I think any suggestion that FFP is preventing Venkys from piling in more money is a laughable one to be honest.

I dont think the reason to take Brereton would be to rest him down to his age or out of fear of overdoing him, I think he simply hasnt done enough over the 7 games to continue to warrant a start. Travis has never needed a rest since he broke through, and Rankin Costello again probably never has guaranteed a spot in the team. Dolan is the most obvious example of someone needing to be taken out due to his age, someone totally new to proper football, but even then, the main reason is that he has been totally ineffective for a couple of games. Douglas has to start for me. Also Trybull is also a defensive midfielder and Johnson lacks the ability on the ball to be the deepest of the 3 so I would swap them round.

Im not sure on the second bit, not if he was stuck on the motorway because of an accident. If there was no reason or it kept happening then fair enough

I wouldnt say that Holtby is a defensive midfielder and Johnson is more suited to play a bit further forward. Anyone who has seen Gallagher on the wing for us and recommends doing so again however...

Its on the wing, its wide. Weve done the pedantic nonsense before but as a winger, a wide striker, an inside forward, whatever you want to call it, he has never had a good game there. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Not at all, but I just find it interesting that having been against the signings for fear of blocking the current players we have, youd chuck them in at the first opportunity. Under no circumstances should Gallagher play on the wing. He NEVER has been effective there. Id rather play Pears there.

Buckley I dont think did himself any favours on Saturday, he was really poor. I only really remember the Charlton away game in which Buckley has stamped his authority on. This is a season which with many key players being either in their final or moreso penulatimate year of their contract, a strong focus must be on trying to get up this year. For the here and now, unless Downing has really fallen off a cliff, he is far more effective than Buckley at this time. He created far more chances than anyone else last season.

Gallagher on the wing presumably against the evidence of him never ever having a good game from that position? And chaddy, Elliott and Trybull straight in despite us not needing either player?

How do you get the full games on catch up?

One thing that I would say amidst quite a lot of praise that I have seen for the owners by people clearly far more easily satisfied than me. (Maybe thats just me with ambitions above merely existing) But we havent really spent much at all this summer. A 450k reported fee for Kamimski and a nominal fee for Pears aside, no fees were spent. A free Greek youth keeper, 3 loans, a senior free agent and one intended for the under 23s. Im sure there may be modest signing on fees and potentially loan fees (although maybe not, maybe just wage contributions) and we have also seen Walton, Leutwiler, Fisher, Adarabioyo, Hart, Smallwood, Graham and at this stage Downing leave, so it seems more of a juggle of resources rather than an investment. I also dont think that many of our key assets would have attracted much if any attention at this stage. But I certainly agree regarding the generally illogical way in which the owners run the club.

Its quite interesting to look back on the front page of this thread to see how the window has panned out compared to what we expected. Stuart I think quite fairly suggested that only 5 of the team in Lenihan, Travis, Nyambe, Dack and Armstrong were good enough for the current starting 11. Obviously Armstrong plays up front and the system is different, but I think that potentially, Kaminski, Douglas, Ayala, Trybull and Elliott hopefully can/need to fill most of those other areas. The likes of Holtby, Johnson, Rothwell, Gallagher, Brereton etc need to also start contributing with some consistency. Also these 2 posts were examples of many predictions that our main assets would have to be sold off and that kids would be making up the numbers which never materialised.

No, as long as there is a space in the squad registration which there is, then he can sign. I dont see any benefit to constantly waiting though. Tomorrow night is our 6th game and even then, he wont be close to match fitness. He would have been a huge upgrade on Buckley and Evans on Saturday had he signed earlier, and indeed it seemed he was a low priority for Mowbray but he did sign Trybull yet still wants Downing aswell, so it is not as if it was one or the other.

Good podcast with Danny Graham here. Mentions his time at Rovers towards the end of it, describes his relationship with Mowbray as "love-hate" and mentioned him being unfairly punished and made an example of for being late after getting stuck on the motorway due to a car accident. Also mentions going vegan, his relationship with Mulgrew and Dack, Coyle being a laughing stock and his time with Lambert too.

I think Johnson has much more credit in the bank than Buckley after a good start to the season, whereas Buckley had a chance and fell massively short. Johnson should be played slightly further forward where he can offer a goal threat breaking forward with ideally Trybull sat in front of the back 4. Dolan and Brereton have been equally poor in the last 2 games, in an ideal world both should be taken out of the side.

I definitely would prefer Armstrong central and I think the best formation would be a 4-2-3-1 just so that him and Dack can both be central and essentially have the team built around them. With Elliott signing we hopefully have a bit more quality out wide where I dont think we are stocked with quality. If we persist with the 4-3-3 though, I dont see much alternative but to go with Armstrong to the left. With a third central midfielder, it does massively reduce the defensive responsibility for the wide men in theory and because that Dack would not constantly stay right up front, it would potentially leave space to run in behind. Armstrong has also struggled to get involved on his own down the middle in the last 2 games because he becomes more reliant on those around him.

I get what you are saying to an extent but I suppose the first 5 results are not good enough to not at least bring the current system into question and debate. It also could be a bit counter productive to be too focused on the formation and working within that formation if it is deemed that upon Dack's return, it would need to be changed to get him in.

I didnt enjoy watching either of those games particularly, of course mainly due to the results although the concept of entertainment is subjective and clearly we hold different opinions. In the Newcastle game, we did plenty of passing it across the back 4 in non dangerous areas but I never felt at any point during the night that we were likely to score, and so it proved. Against Bournemouth, I think the only 2 shots on target were the goals (one of which was a huge mistake by the goalkeeper from a speculative shot, surely if Lolley was lucky, again so was Johnson?!) and indeed I never felt that we was likely to win the game based on the performance. Maybe it is slightly pedantic but Holtby and Trybull technically weren't unavailable, both were fit and well and in the latters case registered in time but ultimately Mowbray himself chose to grant Holtby paternity leave and leave Trybull out of consideration. Although the main issue was his use of the midfielders that he had left, Johnson is technically not very good and cant really pass but he is a powerful unit and a goal threat, whereas Evans is neat and tidy although if he goes over the half way line he gets a nosebleed. Why he put Johnson as the shield and Evans further forward is beyond me.

Isnt that quite normal? I dont enjoy "good performances" (matter of opinion) if we lose and I never have.

I suspect that questioning whether I get any joy out of watching Rovers is a pathetic argument made in the absence of anything more logical. I appreciate that people have different circumstances but seeing as I have bought a season pass amidst the uncertainty of being able to attend any time soon, whereas you are unwilling to purchase the games due to the production values and slight delay, then I also find it quite hypocritical that you have resorted to questioning whether I even enjoy watching Rovers in general. To be honest, I dont get any enjoyment out of watching my team put in a really poor performance and lose a home game against a side yet to pick up a point, it put me in a bad mood because it was the opposite of what I wanted to see. If that in any way questions my enjoyment or purpose of being a Rovers fan to others then so be it. In regards to yesterdays performance, I couldnt give a shit what a heat map shows about Gallaghers positioning, I could see using my eyes that he was again stuck on the wing and that Mowbray got his tactics wrong in regards to the positioning of our midfield and attack. To suggest that the result was purely down to luck, missing players who failed to perform in the previous game or indeed suggest that no alternative tactics could have made a difference is just shutting down any concept of debate and discussion over what caused a poor performance and poor result. Forest could argue that they were incredibly unlucky to hit the post just before the goal, and I didnt hear people suggesting that Johnson was very lucky to score a massively deflected goal the other week.

I did acknowledge the unavailability and I didnt specifically say that his tactics were "the reason we lost" but they certainly contributed. You yourself said that Gallagher should have played central, under absolutely no circumstances should he be playing out wide, its amazing that the journalists interviewing him never really question him on it considering that it never ever works yet he keeps persisting with it. Chapman was totally anonymous and lost as a number 10, it didnt work at all. So yes, the tactical make up of our attack in the second half was wrong and the fact that we created absolutely nothing was of little surprise. Something that I have repeatedly said is that Johnson should not be sitting in front of the back 4, he is not good enough technically to be trusted in that area and regularly gives the ball away. He did, he was typically sloppy in possession, Evans offered absolutely nothing in a role further forward which again he is not suited too, and Johnson's misplaced pass led to the winner. The game was similar in that the onus was on us to break down a side and we never came close to doing so, we lacked ideas, we lacked tempo, we lacked craft. Holtby and in particular Rothwell certainly have ability but more often than not flatter to deceive, we would much rather have them available but considering that they had no effect v Cardiff and often have games were they are totally anonymous, its hard to put too much stock in their absence.

We had both Holtby and Rothwell v Cardiff and they couldnt do anything in a very similar game, so I suspect that it is a little inaccurate to imply that with them, it would have been a different story. Unavailability played a part but so did Mowbrays tactical mistakes. As you say, Gallagher should have gone central, and having him wide and Chapman as a 10 was bizarre. Also, having Johnson in front of the back 4 was costly.

I am unsure on exactly how good our squad is at the moment. I still feel that with so many players, its just hope that they will have a good season in spite of what they have done so far. That being said, the back 4 (never thought I would say this) looks very competent at this level with Ayala and hopefully Douglas, and we do have some real quality and goals in Armstrong and Dack. I just wonder if Mowbray will get them 2 into the team together in a way that suits both, and also about the contribution of basically every other attacking player, Rothwell, Chapman, Brereton, Dolan, Gallagher, Rankin Costello, Buckley, even Holtby who I rate above all of those but he hasnt done it consistently for us yet. Good question, I hope so because we need him. The choice to allow Holtby is an interesting one. Many managers would have expected him back for the game with his baby born a few days beforehand, especially with our depleted squad. Mowbray has been very generous.