Who is injured? Canos and Karelis who have been out all seaso, Forss who was out on loan anyway and Mokotjo who is decent but they have a few central midfielders of a similar level. No major losses unless ive missed anyone?

Found this opinion piece on Mowbrays signings an interesting read: http://roverschat.com/ranking-tony-mowbrays-signings-15-to-1/ http://roverschat.com/ranking-tony-mowbrays-signings-29-to-16/ You look at the first list, and I think even within that top half, the likes of Holtby, Rothwell, Cunningham, (due to injury) Samuel, Antonsson, Bell and Gallagher range from the jury still being out and difficult to judge them as an out and out success as of yet, to potentially even failure. His transfer record is very flaky, albeit the top 2 are big assets. I think during his time in charge, his main work aside from man management has been relying on the likes of Lenihan, Nyambe and Travis, all of whom he has developed, especially Travis.

How did you end up in this thread then?

Brereton should be removed from the bench despite his slight improvement in the last 2 cameos?

Champions League is often full of entertainment, thought Leipzig looked very slick and should knock out a depleted Spurs, cant see Bayern not beating Chelsea, I suspect Liverpool will come back though and City could go either way, should be a great game.

Dropping who from the bench? Same team and weve got striking cover in Graham and Brereton, why need a third striker?

Wouldnt bring Gallagher or Rankin Costello into the squad. Starting 11 should be unchanged and Brereton, Graham and Chapman should continue to be the attacking alternatives.

Chaddy wrote off Bielsa in English football from the start so I suspect he is justifying that initial opinion. Think he was dismissive of sacking Paul Heckingbotham too! Done a brilliant job there really, they finished 13th the season before and had become Championship also rans. Hes transformed quite a few players who were very average or not even featuring before he came, Klich, Dallas, Alioski etc and they are the best team to watch in this league on their day, as much as I dislike their fans. I dont really understand the outrage regarding a manager on a high salary as arguably he is more important than any individual player.

I appreciate the the phrase "Mowbray out brigade" proves that you are just provoking and on the wind up but your comparison makes no sense. As you said, Brentford havent had the same manager all the way through so how can you compare? People wanted him out because at one point there were serious questions about the scope for progression under Mowbray, the big money twice thrown away created huge doubts and before the last international break we were looking no better than last season.

He was earlier in the season. Against Charlton, Fulham, West Brom, Reading, Luton, Forest, Birmingham, Preston, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds, Bristol City, Birmingham, Huddersfield and v Birmingham in the cup. Not often seen that rocket of a shot either sadly.

He has played a lot through the middle and been in the main ineffective there too. One thing that does puzzle me is that he is very technically limited, some changes ie Downing, Adarabioyo, Holtby and Armstrong playing central are all understandable in terms of the new tactics, Gallagher doesnt fit in at all. Johnson albeit with far more pedigree doesnt really fit in either.

Your theory on wages is somewhat hypothetical although backed up by the chairman saying that he partly turned down Charlton for financial reasons. Why is that an any way a negative or a reason to doubt his personality? Everyone is somewhat driven by money, why would he not wait out for more money if he could get it? Doesn't mean he is a bad egg, that he wont put in the effort or that he wont perform. Why had no one else taken a "punt" on Dack before we did? You could apply that logic to every player, ultimately there will be a series of reasons, the chairman there has been stubborn regarding the clause in his contract being paid in full as is his right, so perhaps a big thing was simply financial and indeed Hull seemingly could only afford him on a loan deal. The only reasonable evidence given has been that he wanted more money which is not evidence at all.

Its all assumptions and suggestions, nothing concrete, he may have a bad attitude but I have seen no evidence of this. That article is 6 years old and he his saying that he has knuckled down, which I suppose is evident considering he has been scoring and assisting with regularity since. For example, the owner suggesting that the player rejected Charlton due to locational and financial reasons is in no way suggestive of a bad attitude yet "what the owner has said" is now being taken as gospel proof of a bad attitude, and whenever I question where he has actually said this, no clarity is offered! I just think people are trying to desperately justify not signing him, I am not necessarily saying we definitely should have got him but his record and his affordability made it very much worth a lool. There is also additional hypocrisy considering our best signing under Mowbray was facing a court case and had big questions about his attitude. Sometimes these gambles pay off.

We are trying to get into the top 6 whereby competition is fierce and we have a 3 points and 2 place deficit already, margin for error isnt very high. We cant be going into a 3 game week, where we play a top 6 team away, a relegation struggler at home and then another home game v a team in and around us and be content with 4 points, even as a minimum. We shouldnt be anything other than very frustrated if we were to lose more points in the week than we were to gain, especially with 2 games at home.

Still no quotes about him having a bad attitude.

Ideally neither Lenihan or Adarabioyo will miss a minute of the remaining games as the drop in quality to Williams is very noticeable.

I think Williams can be adequate cover if alongside Lenihan but out of the 3, Lenihan I think is the only leading centre back. Adarabioyo and Williams didnt look particularly safe together (eg Preston away) and it was only upon Lenihans return that Adarabioyo started to flourish.

In the second half of the season he rarely started due partly to a contractual issue and his stats in general last season were very poor and with his age and lack of goals or assists, with Boro fans seemingly happy to see him go, there was plenty of scope for scepticism when he came here. The main thing that didnt suit Adarabioyo wasnt because he wasnt under Mowbrays unique tika taka passing style, it was being played at right back. Ultimately his only prior first team experience and relevant at this level was not indicative of someone who could come in and make such a big difference. Again there was justified scepticism. And he has been like Downing a huge success. On the flip side, Johnson had played regularly for the play off finalists and at 2 or 3 years younger to Downing seemed in prime shape to play a pivotal part in our season. As it happens, hes had 3 or 4 good games but overall his consistent level has been so low he was dropped for a couple of months. Obviously brought in to bring experience but his lack of passing ability isnt really in line with our new way of playing. I wasnt overjoyed at signing Gallagher but there was at least enough on his last average spell to hope for double figures as a striker. I think he is the opposite of Adarabioyo, who is suited by Mowbrays attempts to pass it more, playing in his natural position next to a more physical partner, everything suits. Gallagher on the other hand seems an illogical signing for Mowbrays tactics, he is technically poor and often played out of position has led to some very poor performances. My point was that there was valid reasoning behind the scepticism of Adarabioyo and Downing, and reason for optimism when we signed Johnson and to a lesser extent Gallagher, yet all 4 have either over or under exceeded the majority of expectations.

I havent seen these comments, bar like I said the ones that said that he joined Hull was because he declined Charlton due to location/traffic issues and financial reasons which I dont think is at all indicative of a bad attitude. It has nothing to with their chairman, and if he can be quoted to say that Maddison has a bad attitude then please feel free to show me and I will concede. Fester was perhaps a poor choice of word. My main point is that I dont see the season as a whole as a failure but there are parts of it or aspects of it which I do. I feel that it is fair to deride the signing and tactical use of Gallagher, the over (but now IMO refreshingly changing situation) use of Bennett, the non existent winter transfer window etc, praise the signings of Downing and Adarabioyo or the development of Travis, Armstrong and Nyambe individually or indeed comment on the overall expectations without being branded either positive or negative as an overall opinion. For context, our first season in the League was a massive failure but Rhodes form was a success. A successful thing can happen in a failure of a season and vice versa. I suppose you could say that about Dack, when he joined us maybe Championship sides were thinking he has only joined Rovers, he cant be that good. And he has tangible issues regarding his personality in terms of a court case. It perhaps would be naive to dismiss anyone solely on prejudged or perceived personality based on the success of Dack but that is a different debate! I have never said that Maddison will be a good signing for Hull, he was just an example of a player who could improve us, who was affordable (loan deal with further fee to buy as Hull have) and who could score and assist from the wide position. He may well flop. He may well build on his goal last week and prove a bargain. The only reason debate has rumbled on is because I think people are going out of their way to speculate and justify the fact that we didnt sign him, ergo he cant be good.

I always felt that cover in defence was down the list of priorities and that although he failed to bring them in, he was right to prioritise attacking players in the wide areas. A left back would also have been preferential. The comments about Downing are correct, he has massively exceeded expectations but a full picture is needed. People were right to be sceptical, he is 35, barely played last season and when he did he contributed very little and Boro fans were seemingly happy to see him go. He has been very impressive. Similar with Adarabioyo, he did not pull up any trees but was out of position at right back and was displaced by another signing in Mason Holgate. He has been a very shrewd addition both defensively and with his passing. Conversely, I and many others were made up to sign Bradley Johnson, unfortunately in the main he has been hugely disappointment with only isolated examples of the player we thought we were signing. And to everyones surprise, I didnt want us to sign Gallagher but many were happy and indeed I did expect him to show much more competence than he has, albeit part of that has been down to the position he has been asked to play, which he cannot do as couldnt Adarabioyo at right back. I think we have had a bit of a mixed bag in terms of expectations, arguably the 2 that got the most positive reactions have been the 2 that have not met expectations, and the 2 that came with some trepidation have massively improved us.

I wish he was a few years younger, has been very impressive.

What rumours have I used to make my points? Or even to scoff at others? If you mean Maddison, the thing I maintained was that the only actual evidence of anything was his chairman saying that his transfer was partially money motivated, which I dont see as an issue. If people can find anything showing or highlighting a bad attitude, be my guest. My whole point was that the transfer window was unsuccesful, which youve agreed. And that so many people are desperate to make other fans seem like they are just only interested in negatives that it affects their judgement, that is the case for the odd one but its the same with people who defend every single thing the manager does or if they cant, they deflect. There has been so much crowing after Saturdays win but more about desperation to humiliate and pick apart people perceived to be too negative rather than the actual result. I dont think you could file my overall opinion and current outlook as negative, yet you are continuing as if I am.

We didnt know the exact budget until after the window so there was no noving of the goal posts. But Maddison didnt go for 2.5m, he went for a 6 figure loan I think with another fee to make it permanent in the summer. Most of the conversation about Maddison since has been people going out of their way to try and prove that we were right about not signing him, mainly fabricated nonsense about his atttude. I meant around the time of the Preston away game and Huddersfield at home, im sure we were 17th or 18th. Again my point has been taken out of context regarding my expectations were at the lowest at that point during the season, naturally. Wasnt even a criticism.

You perceive my stance to be negative and have been very focused on trying to trip up people who you think fall under that category to the point whereby you are just totally ignoring anything positive. Of course positives are usually much less dicussion worthy because there is more agreement and thus less debate. I have just repeated a huge evaluation in which I stated that I am happy with the manager, have seen progress this season and highlighted at least as many positives as negatives. The expectations that matter are the ones before the season, the one the manager set out, the aim we all wanted and the one the incoming players echoed. Thats the benchmark, where we are aiming, not if and where I felt we would fall short. Ultimately we have never at any point been in the top 6 and yet for someone being so negative it is surely strange for me to be happy with the manager, surely I would use that as proof that he should be sacked or that am I unhappy? My expectations are going to be lower like anyone else when we were 12 places off the play offs or when our best player gets a bad injury, but I have been impressed by recovery from both.

The benchmark has always been the top 6 target set in the summer. I didnt think we would get into the top 6 but expected a considerable improvement on 15th. My expectations reduced as the season went on, especially when we was festering near the bottom and again my expectations took a temporary hit following Dacks injury. If you are measuring where we are now v start of the season, we are slightly behind where we aimed to be and not far off what I expected. Compared to my expectations during the season at our 2 lowest ebbs then obviously we are well in front. All of this though is irrelevant to my valid point that we failed our objectives of the transfer window, something I am sure Mowbray would agree with.