Youd lose decent money then.

Preston have Nugent and Bauer, Wednesday have 3 as do WBA, those figures are wrong. That being said, the recent uproar has been not about the timing of the deals, but on the back of Mowbray himself saying that he wants one centre back (presumably Adarabioyo) in because any more could cause problems with *insert list of defenders who Mowbray rightfully said have shown they cant do it.*

Mulgrew is finished. Across the whole of last season, he had a considerable negative effect on both points accumulated and goals conceded when he played. Theres no way that Bauer is a worse defender than him. If he was, its beyond me why we even ever looked at him.

As a pairing, in terms of Mulgrew being part of that pairing. I do think Lenihan is overrated somewhat, by far our best defender but he can be incredibly rash. Theres definitely a defender to polish there, and im definitely happy to see him in our team. Mulgrew is well past it though, the stats over the whole of last season show how we perform with him in the team. Even if he played 46 games injury free, that isnt the main problem necessarily.

Rhodes scored 20 goals every season. He was more than anyone the player who was very much doing his job consistently. Strongly disagree. They have proven not to be good enough at this level. Mulgrew is past it no matter who he is next to. Agree with the rest of your post though in general.

If he doesnt have another change of heart then ultimately I think his defensive negligence will be what costs him his job, as we will be nowhere near the top 6 with the defence we have now, plus the City kid on top. He knows full well that we need defenders, he said it publically and absolutely correctly in May that our current defence has proven that it cannot defend at this level. Nothings changed, but now hes wittering on about not upsetting the aforementioned senior incompetent defenders. Hes also mentioned converting our only competent right back into a central defender. Deckchairs and the titanic spring to mind. Its a blind spot hes had throughout his career, it was a major factor in his failure at Coventry and it will be the undoing of a very exciting set of attacking players. Absolutely infuriating.

If we are to assume that its our second team tomorrow and our main 11 as it stands on Saturday, id go: Walton Bennett Magloire Mulgrew Bell Rankin-Costello Evans Buckley Downing Gallagher Brereton tomorrow then on Saturday: Walton Nyambe Adarabyio Lenihan Hart Travis Johnson Armstrong Dack Rothwell Graham Assuming Adarabyio signs, we dont have our main CB in for the weekend and that Chapman is not considered for Blackpool, otherwise id stick Armstrong in tomorrow instead of Rankin-Costello. May aswell give Walton both games. Obviously it doesnt matter who plays in friendlies, more trying to figure out where we stand in terms of our best and second best teams.

He played almost exclusively at right back (not sure them stats below are correct positionally, Dawson and Hegazi where the main 2 for WBA in the centre) and West Brom fans seem almost exclusively glad to see the back of him. He was replaced by Holgate in January. I do hope that the fact he was out of position is the reason for his poor form. Ive seen little if any criticism of the Johnson signing.

Theres not a chance that Leutweiler would go to another club in the Championship and get first team football. Hes hopeless.

Cardiff and Leeds have the best managers so Id fancy them to be up there. Warnock knows how to build a solid defence, Morrison, Flint, Bamba and Nelson is an embarassment of riches along with some very good full backs and a goalkeeper at this level. Plenty of attacking players who can get goals in Bobby Reid, Hoilett, Murphy and Mendez-Laing, just need a striker and I'd have them as favourites. Bielsa pushed them 10 places up the table last year, the Helder Costa signing is superb although they will really miss Jansson. Fulham have taken a massive risk with Parker and seem to have a glass defence but also a front 3 plus Cairney in behind thats as good as anything in the league.

If not being Bury/Bolton is genuinely a reason to be thankful to Venkys then thats more depressing than anything.

Few things: - What makes you suggest that Evans "has half a season, max?" Mowbray played his strongest 11 yesterday, Evans played. Unlike Smallwood who didnt play as much in the second half of last season, Evans wasnt at all phased out, has a new contract and seemingly id a big part of Mowbrays plans. - Where does Dack fit in your 433? We cant play a formation that doesnt suit our best player. - Thats a massive, massive assumption. 50-75m is quite frankly ridicilious for 5 players who all are young and have scope for development, but none have really any evidence that they can or will ever justify the massive figures youve just plonked on their collective heads. - If you also are so focused on stockpiling young attackers, you remove yourself from actually the primary objective of short term success, if we dont equally focus on the rest of the team at the same time. For example, we continue to neglect the full back area. You have to understand why defending Venkys is always going to be a touchy subject considering what theyve done. Theres nothing to be grateful for.

As in you think its good or bad? I presume seeing as Mowbray said we are using the Raya proceeds for other positions that Walton is a loan.

Leutweiler is shocking, made a few camera saves but flaps at everything and very lucky Morelos was offside. Defence is not anywhere near good enough, we all know as does Mowbray from what he has said. New signings looked pretty poor, Johnson gave away so many passes and Downing looked so lethargic, hopefully fitness rather than age. Rothwell a breath of fresh air, no loose passes, always desperate to make things happen, one twos, trying to get through. Travis also so much better than Evans, and Buckley looked tidy too.

Its not, in fact im fed up of a growing trend of posts such as your earlier one, as @Mattyblue sums up "moaning about moaning" unwilling to tolerate any criticism, no matter how constructive or realistic. Whether it makes My opinion on Evans is that he has a part to play but I'd be very dissapointed if he started the season over Travis. (or Johnson) Smallwood I think should be moved on, but is not playing today.

Making a comment about a player I would agree shouldnt be starting for us this season on an internet forum is neither supporting the team nor not supporting the team.

Undoubtedly a big thing for me is whether Mowbray has genuinely reverted back to seeing the likes of Mulgrew, Bennett and Evans as first teamers, plus Downing, when for me the likes of Rothwell, Travis and Nyambe have shown vast improvements on the aforementioned.

Got a new number one at least...Leutweiler wearing the shirt today!

Not so keen on signing Walton, him on loan after selling a keeper at the same age with similar faults seems a bit backwards to me. Reading up on Wigans fans opinions, it seems his main frailty is commanding his penalty box, just like Raya. He also got dropped last season due to poor performances. If we bought him then I'd be more enamoured, from what I've seen he may be slightly ahead of Raya, maybe with the loan of an older head, but otherwise I don't get the logic.

Full back is just continuously blatantly ignored. I just hope the end of this window is the time when this is finally rectified, otherwise the centre backs are going to continue to be overworked.

Some people choose to adjust their opinions to match exactly what happens/what Mowbray does. Which is fair enough, each to their own, but theres no need to constantly hound people who do have their own independent opinions, some of which are constructive criticism. As you say, whatever you do around that defence, a better holding midfielder may aid its protection somewhat, and a goalkeeper might bail them out a bit more, but ultimately, them 4 (?) defenders are going to have work to do defensively each game, and ultimately, have shown more than almost every team in the league, that they are incapable of doing it. You can't cover up or totally protect an incompetent defence. Experience in goal doesnt mean a command of the penalty box either, Carson a prime example.

These comments are something to judge Mowbray on, from the end of the season. I wholehartedly agree, our current defence isnt good enough at this level. He said that defenders are coming and he said the other night that hes still got a budget so I would like to think that he meant it and the City kid is one of a few, definitely need a left back aswell, plus someone with more experience. If we get to the Charlton game/deadline with only the City kid, id be incredibly dissapointed in the manager. If he completes the overhaul he identified in May, then ill be excited at pushing on up the league. We can only wait and see. The defenders we already have, Williams, Mulgrew, Bell, Bennett, they are still not good enough as at 2 months ago.

Played as many games as Charlie Mulgrew in the league, and its pretty obvious that he isnt up to it anymore sadly, so that means nothing. Common consensus from the forums/posts Ive read are that hes no right back, West Brom were really short there, signed Tyrone Mears as a cheap, short term option and ultimately it was the signing of Holgate on loan, himself naturally a centre back but much more comfortable at right back that saw Adaraiyobo drop out the team and at times the squad due to loan limitations. My opinion on him would be that id like to think that his underwhelming spell at WBA was down to being played out of position but will have done him good in terms of knowing what to expect. I watched West Brom a few times on TV, plus twice v us live and he looked a little awkward and cumbersome and very much the weak link of an otherwise very solid Championship defence. If hes the sole addition to a really poor defence, id be unhappy. If he was one of two or three including some experience, and if he has been signed solely as a centre back, he may be a shrewd addition. Ive seen no one suggest that they wouldnt give him a chance so theres no need for people to take the moral high ground. Im fed up of people constantly trying to be a better fan and put down anyone who offers any sort of doubt or criticism.

Yet another totally unwarranted attempt at playing superfan, something that has become sadly rife amongst our fans recently. I made a comment about a potential new signing, not even about his general ability, but his competence in a position that isnt his natural one. Defence is an area that we are quite blatantly and statistically not good enough in, and full back in particular was an area we was lacking in. Dack, Graham, Lenihan, Travis, Rothwell, Armstrong, Johnson etc are all rated above competent so your needless attempt at pointing fingers at our "negative" fanbase was inaccurate.

West Brom fans are pretty insistent that he is not a competent right back. If we neglect this really poor area of our team then it will cost us points, undoubtedly.