Horrible, and clashes with half of oue opponents so pointless!

Not sure how I feel about this, felt that we were needing experience beside Lenihan so would be disappointing if this is our only signing. West Brom fans seem very unimpressed by him, although are quite insistent that he must play centrally. Hope hes one of a few additions in defence, sure hes an upgrade on Mulgrew and Williams.

Thats a big question, it would be crazy to play a formation without a number 10 considering our best player plays in that position. We will see, theres bound to be a bit of skepticism because Mowbrays previous tactical experiments (3 at the back, Dack/Palmer as a false 9, strikers playing as wingers) havent worked and indeed hes found that simplicity is key at times. Theres very little to talk about. This quote is something to talk about because its a guide to how we may play. Obviously people will judge after performances, goes without saying, people can question/hypothesise/suggest things in advance.

Hes said defenders there, plural, he also said "defenders are coming" a mere 2 months ago. I stil totally disagree with the assertion that people are only asking for more than one defender to make it unobtainable for the manager so that they can have a go at him after the window shuts. Not for conspiracies like that. Our defence was woeful last season and needed more than tweaking We need full backs far more urgently than a sub keeper. Full back is a major weakness in our side, both in terms of quality and quantity.

Seems Carson is about to leave.

That worried me too but at least hes trying to bring in more than 1 defender.

“The defensive area of the team could do with some competition and some bodies added and we’ll try and do that.” @Paul Mani seems that he still wants more than 1 defender and it isnt an unrealistic demand of people so that they can moan when he fails!

Is that a response to Foderingham? Think I'd prefer him to Carson.

Is Foderingham the one you think is quite close? And is the Celtic one Jack Hendry at a guess?

Rothwell played for the weaker team on Saturday and again tonight, if I had to put money on it (thought this beforehand) itll be Armstrong and Downing v Charlton. Johnson and Evans over Travis too.

Youve said numerous times that if Mowbray doesnt strengthen the defence you wont be happy so to be fair you have put in black and white something you are going to judge the manager on, positive or negative. But I dont think that its unrealistic/some conspiracy to hope for/expect more than one defender to come in considering our current defence is so bad. And crucially, that the manager made a very straightforward and clear public promise that "defenders are coming" suggesting more than one because our "defenders cant defend." (or something along those lines) I havent seen anyone suggest that Mowbray is purposely derailing our promotion chances by playing Bennett and Mulgrew. Fact is, Mowbray wouldnt be the first or last manager to have a blind spot towards a senior player who doesnt deserve to play as much as he does. I also think that its always going to provoke people when you infer that they "know very little about football" whilst making many cryptic references to some sort of vague expert knowledge about the inner workings of the club. For example, you mention Bell as someone the club rates. He hasnt shown anything on the pitch to suggest he can contribute to a top 6 Championship team IMO. Nowhere near. And thats where it matters.

May I ask what and how you get this "access" and why for example you refer to Johnson as Jonty, out of curiosity. Has anyone implied that the manager is purposely sabotaging his own promotion push? People are questioning decisions hes making which may, unintentionally, reduce our chances of success. You mention Mulgrew and Bennett, they are his captain and vice-captain, who hes in the last year given new deals. Neither can in my (and seemingly many others) opinion have any claim to being the best in any position, to warrant automatic selection. But it wouldn't be the first example Whats this conspiracy about people purposely demanding too much in terms of recruiting defenders in order to use it as a stick to beat the manager with down the line? Absolute nonsense. Our defence was the 5th worst in the league last year, and I think the worst in the Football League away from home. It was embarrassingly bad,not just in need of a solitary recruit. Crucially, the manager himself said only two months ago that "defenders(plural) are coming" in a public rant at how his current defenders cannot do his job, something that only echoed his weekly interviews for months prior. So how is it unrealistic to expect that our weakest area shouldn't be massively prioritised,especially when hes just proven with a 5m striker purchase that the money is there. Patronising undertone aside, we do know how the development of Bell is going for example, we see it week in week out. And no one has ever doubted the potential of the academy and its success.

Adam with another 2 goals, Nuttall also getting a goal. Bit of a worry that Davenport is involved with the under 23s whilst Smallwood is presumably with the seniors, and also that Davenport went off early. I think its a bit pie in the sky to expect that Evans and Smallwood will be left behind by Mowbray.

How is it unrealistic to expect that? The defence was horrendous last season, it doesnt just need a solitary addition. I personally felt that left back was one of the main 2 or 3 priorities to fix over the summer, I certainly dont see the potential in Bell, a full back who doesnt stop crosses coming in. Bennett will start on the other side too. Mowbray said "defenders are coming" so its not unrealistic to expect more than one.

Obviously yeah, but I think theres a common assumption that experience brings command of a penalty area which isnt always true, and Carson for all his experience isnt great in that area. Like I said, wouldnt be top of my list by any means. Ruddy would be there or thereabouts.

Any need for this? Out of the keepers mentioned, he would be down the list for me. https://www.optasportspro.com/static/10-create-season-review.html He was statistically the worst keeper in the league when he played last year. His weaknesses also seem to be not only distribution but an unwillingness to come off his line. So his flaws arent too dissimilar to Rayas.

If we are close to signing a goalkeeper, my guess would be Scott Carson. Hes out with Derby but didnt play either half of their friendly with a "slight knock." If it is him consider me underwhelmed.

I would love to believe that but I have not seen anything to suggest that Bennett will be anythung but the first name on the team sheet, and subsequently our poorest player.

I don't think he was particularly good personally anyway.

He didnt play in the friendly last week, Mowbray said he, Bell and Williams were injured. Shouldnt have been resigned.

Theres no way we could go with such a wreckless formation. If you go 3 at the back you need to have wing backs to ensure it is a back 5 when defending. Any team against that would have free reign down the flanks.

But it is all related. If we also considerably strengthen the defence then of course it is a positive. And of course the window is still open to do so. But its a massive concern that we have spent such a large proportion of our transfer budgets during Mowbrays tenure (and before to be honest) on forwards and such a minimal amount on our defence, which is quite frankly not fit for purpose. I am happy to put the Armstrong purchase to one side, it was much cheaper than the other 2 and he IMO is best suited out wide right, therefore I can understand his signing in addition to another striker. But we blew 7m on Brereton, and from Mowbrays interviews he is on track and surely the focus should be on giving him more game time central this season. You could say its good that almost we have 2 potential replacements when Graham goes, my 2 counter arguments would be that essentially they have to job share and as a result their game time is limited further (neither can play wide effecticely) and also whether we can afford the luxury of 2 potential heirs to Grahams throne when our defence is horrendous. I also am not convinced by the individuals. I know your opinion on Brereton is essentially that you are refusing to judge based on limited starts. Thats fair enough, of course that raises further questions as to whether we can afford to spend 7m on a player so far away from the first team, whether hes been used right, why hes so far away when he started so many games for Forest, all the usual questions. From what we have seen, im very underwhelmed to say the least. Gallagher again I didnt particularly rate in his first spell, and hes done nothing since to build on that. Can I see any realistic scope for profit on either player, considering how big the cost was? Not sure I can. Can I on Dack, Rothwell and even Armstrong who all were signed for much cheaper? Absolutely.

You've essentially ignored most of my points and not offered anything constructive in return, instead choosing to be patronising and sarcastic.

You have absolutely no justification whatsoever in making such an outlandish statement based on anything we have seen from Ben Brereton so far. Also, it implies that any Rovers fan will be anything but benefited by Brereton suddenly scoring and showing something he hasnt thus far. How pleased everyone was when he scored v Bolton showed that contrary to myths being put out, no one wants him to fail.

Can we please stop with the "insistent negativity" crap, it adds absolutely nothing. The primary criticism is that weve spent 15m on 3 attackers, something youve claimed is "not a massive amount of money" when the same manager has spent a mere couple of hundred grand TO DATE(not just this window to clarify) on a quite frankly embarrassing defence. I also may be wrong but I cant think of many young British strikers bought for similar amounts and sold on for a profit. Can you think of any examples? For me, the chance of profiting on English players as a low risk strategy becomes high risk when you are paying so much money in the first place. The premise of signing 3 attackers covered by the future sale of our main asset may be somewhat idealistic in theory, but I dont think its the best way at all of reinvesting future predicted sales money. Ultimately, I don't think we can justify two such highly priced players who at the moment would have to play in an unfamiliar wide role or be on the bench in our best 11, when our defence is so bad. One sure, two is reckless.