Would you agree that it was an incredibly short sighted mistake to give Smallwood and Williams new deals when we got promoted as "rewards." You wont progress with such a lack of ruthlessness. Same with Bennett and Conway.

Because Dacks place is a given because he has 15 goals and is our top scorer. As is Grahams when he is fit. The only functioning part of our team that doesnt need breaking up.

He definitely should have been selected before crap such as Brown, Varney and even played wide before shite like Chris Taylor.

What job do you have then, to see if it has similar physical requirements as a professional athlete? Players do have natural dips in form, to say teams have worked him out is again jumping to conclusions somewhat. He is not helped by the fact that we play predictable, long ball football. Mowbray is also really reluctant to play players like Rothwell and last season Chapman with technical ability and pace who both linked up well with him.

Seems like you are jumping to conclusions in the extreme to suggest that hes on the wane, his form has dipped as has our whole team, but hes been better in the last 2 games and has got a goal and an assist. Much of my point was aimed at thinking that Armstrong and Rothwell would be capable replacements. They would be downgrades, no doubt about it. Saying that, no reason why all 3 cant play together, Rothwell left, Armstrong right, Dack 10.

Whilst I totally understand your frustration if you feel that Dack is capping his potential by making poor lifestyle choices, to suggest that we should sell our best player for a fairly modest fee on the back of the picture you show is a massive overreaction. Even if Dack remains at the level hes at now, he has 12 league goals and 6 league assists this season, and 3 goals and 3 assists in the cup. He got 18 goals and 9 assists last season to drag us up into this league, and his biggest goal drought was 6 games. You mention 2 talented players in Armstrong and Rothwell but neither has given any suggestion that they would be able to live up to the mantle of Dacks numbers on the pitch. I agree that Rothwell needs to play more but feel that in comparison to Dack, you overestimate his ability to influence games. He has 6 goals in his whole career, so theres nothing to suggest he could replicate Dack's impressive goalscoring record if he took over his place. Armstrong has played a similar number of games and has had far less impact on them tangibly, and when hes played centrally hes looked even less threatening. Whilst I would agree with the notion that players are entitled to some sort of social life, your comparison to your own circumstances is a moot point. As others have pointed out, you are not a professional footballer. Forgive me if I am wrong but arent you some sort of lorry driver? If so, there is no requirement for you to stay in any sort of physical state, so long as you dont turn up pissed to work of course which Dack hasnt either.

Have to disagree on that. With Rothwell (and I suspect we will be able to soon include Chapman in this category) he could be reasonably included without breaking up the only part of our team that you can argue works efficiently in Dack and Graham as a front 2. Mowbray however prefers to play at least one of Reed, Bennett and Conway who plod up and down (Reed admittedly out of position in his defence) who dont really offer any attacking threat (from open play in Reeds case) but seemingly arent doing much to stem our defensive issues either. Meanwhile Armstrong has almost monopolised the other side despite having far more poor games than good games this season. Indeed, I think he needs to play on the right where he is capable of simplifying his game as he showed v Ipswich and Brentford, running at his man at pace and playing crosses in. I would like to see in the last 8 games, 2 of Chapman, Rothwell and Armstrong down the wings and a bit more bravery in that area that has in the main underperformed this season, alas I dont expect to see it. With Josh King, he is very much a striker, and ultimately no matter how good he is now, it doesnt the change the fact that it was impossible to justify breaking up a strikeforce that had 2 20 goal a season strikers in it. To be unable to get a top 6 position with two such consistent goalscorers is criminal.

Ultimately as much as King is now a better player enjoying a better career, even with hindsight there is not a chance that we could justifiably have broken up a strike force that had 2 individuals that guaranteed 20 goals each every season.

Yeah, plus Hope Akpan as captain which probably gives an indication as to why they are struggling!

Samuel was crap in League 1, we are supposed to be building towards the top 6 of the Championship. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Agreed on Morris and Mahoney not being improvements on what we have but the 2 defenders are top Championship centre backs who you are perhaps doing a disservice too. O'Connell has attracted reported Premier League interest and is key for a top 2 team. Hanley was our player of the year as we know and had really matured, left, didnt play much at Newcastle but still got a winners medal and was excellent for Norwich last season (think he was runner up after Maddison for POTS) befoee an injury saw him out of the team this season and due to the form of his replacement has struggled to get back in since. 2 top quality Championship centre backs.

A very average keeper and certainly not one of the calibre we need, supporter or not.

One thing I would like to see before the end of the season is a proper attempt at getting a much more potent threat from the wide areas. You are right, we are too reliant on Dack and Graham going forward, aside from Mulgrews set pieces. I feel like this defensive wide man crap is hindering us going forward whilst I am not convinced that it gives us the added defensive stability that Mowbray thinks it does. I would like to see 2 from Rothwell, Armstrong and Chapman, the latter should not just be a 20 minute man. I would also like to see Rodwell played alongside Travis in central midfield.

I wouldnt want to see Magloire playing in our first team any time soon. He seemingly cannot head a ball for a start. May need to spend some time on loan. Hanley would be a terrific signing but also I cannot see that one happening.

Rubbish. Graham is good on the floor but unfortunately it requires less thought from those behind him to kick it in the air knowing that Graham does often turn that trash into treasure.

"Being locked into playing one up front" is totally deceptive in that Dack is essentially a second striker and directly contributes to goals with regularity. Selling him would be a massive backward step no matter how you look at it. If we played Armstrong or Brereton with Graham instead of Dack, that would give us 2 up front. Would that make us more attacking or threatening? No.

Graham wouldnt be in your best side when everyone was available?

No its not. Hed be going on holiday and leaving you with a hole in your roof as a direct consequence. At the moment we have no games for 2 weeks and a small rest is quite possibly beneficial to a set of players who have played with such regularity for a few months, not as a reward may I add. A more accurate comparison would be if a player got subbed off at half time to catch a flight! Ive been very critical of Mowbray lately but I think this is a storm in a teacup.

Benson putting on a session for kids does not suggest he can or cannot competently teach a professional goalkeeper at Championship level.

I don't think either keeper is good enough, but keep either as back up to a new keeper. Both Bell and Williams should be instantly on the chopping board, 2 terrible players. Would keep Lenihan and Nyambe, Mulgrew potentially as a 4th choice centre back, but we need an overhaul in defence as an urgent priority. In midfield, I would sign Rodwell up for an extra year or two solely as a midfielder, Travis is a very good prospect, Reed I would like to get on loan again but I don't think he can be considered a big enough priority to spend a chunk of our budget on. Evans I would keep as a squad player, I think he's had a pretty decent season. Smallwood, Bennett and Conway I would thank and move on, Gladwin I would just move on. In attacking positions, build around Dack, give a new contract if we can. Armstrong, Rothwell, Chapman all can play big parts going forward. Graham still has a huge part to play, otherwise up front we are short. Samuel has got better to some people by not playing and needs discarding, I don't think Nuttall is or will ever be good enough, and Brereton has looked woefully short and I would loan out ideally. So yeah, a big overhaul and one that wont happen!

Im not sure why theres an insistence to view it as a reward. Its the first time in a few months where there has been a break in the fixtures, a few days off to rest any knocks and recuperate ahead of the remaining fixtures seems in the best interest ahead of coming back and training ahead of Villa. If we go to Villa and suffer further embarassment then im sure there will be tactical, recruitment, substitution, team selection based questions to ask of the manager but I feel like this thread is somewhat clutching at straws. Im sure the holidays arent paid for by the club or awarded as a reward. The suggestion that its because we dont care about the rest of the season and are going on a "jolly" because of it is unfounded in my opinion.

Whilst you are correct in suggesting that Hughes has declined massively from his spell as manager here. You staunchly defended him up until what you perceived to be an unfair sacking at Southampton so why have you suddenly changed your tune? You say Mowbray knows what we need. Why hasnt he even tried to address what we need in the 4 windows prior? Why did he not learn from making a similar mistake of neglecting his defence in his last job? Theres a different between knowing somethings wrong and being able to fix it.

Your comment about team selection is a far more objective and fair one. Although the player you have picked out is unfair. I dont discount the fact that Dacks form in the last month or 2 has been below par, but hed made himself the first name on the team sheet prior to that, and his recent run of 6 without a goal was his biggest drought in a Rovers shirt. A goal and an assist in the last 2 take him on to 12 goals and 6 assists in the league which is a more than respectable statistic. Its like with Rhodes; people used to question his inclusion when on a lean spell but hed proven himself consistently before that. There are players that regularly play whose places should be under serious threat far quicker than Dack. I dont understand why you are viewing potential mini breaks as a reward for poor form. Poor results dont discount the fact that the players have played a lot of games since the last break. It makes sense to give the players a bit of a break, im sure a few are carrying knocks that need resting and then get back with plenty of time to go over tactics on the training ground. (Something I am not convinced in Mowbrays ability to do so recently but thats beside the point) I personally dont think that we have been so poor because of a lack of effort either necessarily.

But the players may benefit from a few days off after a hectic few months to rest and recharge. You are viewing the opportunity for a holiday as a reward but it may well be far more beneficial to allow the players a bit of rest.

Im not one to get too worked up about something like this. Im not saying that it is or isnt like a holiday camp but I think its pretty common at the start of an international break to see players go on holiday, its not a reward its to rest ahead of a busy end to season schedule. There are plenty of things that I can with certainty criticise the manager for, recruitment, tactics, team selection, organisation, without needing to speculate. At the end of the day, different managers have different styles and last season we were all praising the dressing room. Id prefer to see through such a subjective issue and concentrate more on facts, weve lost 10 in 16, and we cant defend at all, rather than speculate how much if any of that is down to a holiday camp mentality.