Graham is being done a disservice again I feel. He kept going until the end and even in the last 10 minutes he made our best 2 chances. (one he did well to set for himself but blazed over off balance and a lovely header for Dack) We do need some a competent alternative (Nuttall and Brereton are not that) but his fitness is constantly prematurely written off. And Dack is the last person who should be sold. Hes in poor form (albeit last 3 games hes been hindered by an injury, starting on the bench and being played far too deep) but he has 11 goals and 5 assists in a very limited team. Hes probably not a Premier League but theres not a chance we could get a replacement of equal quality. I suspect with him it is a case of not being fully appreciated until hes gone.

Mowbrays tactics ensured that he was playing far deeper than he needs to be to be effective.

Not a fan of home and away teams as it does nothing to promote consistency. Especially defensively. But why have you gone for a more conservative choice of winger at home? And what has Brereton done to warrant further starts every other game?

I would even go as far as saying that even if Reed became available, we shouldnt buy him before we have done a major overhaul of our defence. There are 2 elements to it, im unconvinced that Mowbray has the organisational capacity to sort the defence, but also much of it is individual errors because Mowbray has neglected the defence in his recruitment and indeed the only 3 I would keep around, Nyambe, Mulgrew and Lenihan all pre-date Mowbrays appointment. It cannot be a job for 1 or 2 signings to be brought in as cover, as sticking plasters. We need a revamp but can you see Mowbray for example doing a Wilder and splashing 4m on an Egan? I cant. Weve essentially got 5 defenders (Williams and Bell too, sadly) and beyond that we move midfielders into our defence which quite simply cannot be done with regularity or it will do what it is doing now, costing us goals.

Theres no way that Bell should be played as a winger. If hes not good enough defensively, which he isnt, you cant just shoehorn him in further forward. His final ball is nowhere near good enough to be a winger, being a winger is different in that as a full back attacking you have space to run into, and he showed in a game last year (cant remember v whom) that he isnt suitable as a winger.

The tactical change was neither a wise one nor one that should have been reactive. Middlesboroughs 3 at the back formation was hardly a secret, playing an extra (useless) striker as a wide man at the expense of Travis made a bigger disconnect between attack and midfield and meant we were over run. But even if he did want to make that change, he couldnt do it without making personnel changes. The change he did make was horrendous and had a massive domino effect. It meant Bennett had to go to left wing back, where he cannot play as proved v Newcastle, Reed had to then moved to an unfamiliar wing back position, which in turn left our best player in a midfield 2 often deep inside his own half where we dont want him. If he did want to admit a selection mistake, surely bring on Bell for Brereron and adjust accordingly, Bennett RWB, Reed CM with Evans and Dack in front. Saying that, the problem was them dominating the midfield so it would have not changed that, indeed all his change did was moved Reed away and made it worse. But it definitely wasnt effective.

Part of the problem now is there is no viable alternative to Mulgrew and Lenihan. No other centre backs. Rodwell, Williams, Nyambe, not centre backs. Even if we sign a centre back or 2 which we need to, we need competition.

Absolutely shocking yet again, dont let a fairly spirited but ultimately fairly toothless second half with 10 men take away from how poor we were first half. Mowbray got things horribly wrong. Brereton is simply not a wide man, he is being let out to dry playing there, that being said he doesnt really resemble a footballer. Mowbrays reactive change to 3 at the back was absolutely horrendous. Bennett can not play left wing back, Reed right wing back, the front 3 not having a clue what they are doing and Dack in a central 2 sitting in front of the defence. Defensively again we were torn apart at will. Rodwell is not a centre back, Bennett isnt a right back, the defence again had a vulnerable, flimsy nature to it that continues to show signs of neglect under Mowbray. Mulgrew was the man to typify it today, he played like hed been out last night on the piss. Thought Boro were very good, dominated prior to the red card, played less long ball than us, Mikel ran the show and Assombolonga was excellent too, and they should have scored 4 or 5 in the second half but otherwise a terrific away performance. If only we were capable of such away performances. Clutching at straws looking for positives. Raya made a couple of good saves, kicking as bad as always bar a lovely chest and volley near the end. Bell was much more positive although his crossing is very ... inconsistent. Mowbrays created a massive mess for himself, 4 losses on the bounce, 9 in 16 I think it is, so many goals conceded and so many strange tactical decisions creates further doubts as to whether he can take us further.

A good shot on him? Thats the first goal hes scored for us and I dont recall him coming close before that. So not sure how youve concluded that. And whilst he did right to hit it across the keeper, it was very much a goalkeeping error. Im guessing that you perceive that he is better going forward judging by your analysis of him. Again, what is this based on? He gets so far up the pitch and shits himself and turns back. I dont recall any assists although im happy to be corrected, whereas Williams has 10 in admittedly many more appearances for us, and his attacking ability is very much limited.

Ultimately, even if it was as unjust as chaddy is implying, and the game was one that we dominated, there are 2 aspects of the result that Mowbray can be questioned on: The chances we missed - Our 2 best attackers/finishers were subs and our 7m striker blew a big chance from an alien wide role. His team selection can be criticised. The goals we let in - 2 more goals conceded of a cheap nature. Our defence had 2 midfielders in it, and is very flimsy and has been neglected with such a small proportion of Mowbrays resources dedicated to it. Hes signed 4 defenders that I can recall, Caddis and Downing were 2 League 1 squad players, a free and a nominal fee, both already left, Bell was again a nominal fee and a really poor defender and Rodwell was a midfielder brought in on a free. The latter 2 were responsible mainly for the goals. He has spent fees on Brereton, Armstrong, Dack, Chapman, Gladwin, Samuel and Rothwell, probably around 11/12m worth there roughly. His recruitment and his organisational skills can be criticised.

One was Kingsley at Hull, who then came to Ewood and made me think our 2 left backs were Roberto Carlos and Ashley Cole.

Norwich and Ipswich exiting the league via different ends would remove 2 monstrous away days at least.

You really do beggar belief ?

You never ever criticise him. Wednesday was a case in point, staunchly defending a team selection you clearly didnt agree with. A team selection that went on to lose to 22nd in the league table.

Youve maintained this "he cant play 3 games in a week" throughout the season chaddy.

Even if you can empathise with Mowbrays thinking you have to be able to criticise him when he makes incorrect decisions. Thats not OTT or negative, thats being fair.

Bell as has been pointed out to you has been shite defensively and was also responsible directly for Readings first. I thought Wlliams was ok v Bristol City, its lesser of 2 evils but Bell is a coward of a defender and we can expect crosses galore if he is at full back as he rarely prevents them. Conway is past it. He was poor and offered no threat midweek and again as others have said he offers us nothing in the future and should be released in the summer. Good servant but has been poor for a couple of years now. A tombola system is reserved for the man who put our best 2 players, our only natural right back and Reed all on the bench midweek and played a 7m striker wide, a winger at right back and a midfielder at centre back due to poor recruitment. There is no point you suggesting a team anyway as even if Mowbray picks a totally different one youll defend it to the hilt!

Irrelevant. Thats at a time of the season that is unprecedented in terms of quantity of fixtures, but even if we had 11 games in 11 days and he played 3 in that time, he has still proven that he can play 3 games in quick succession. The number of games he doesnt play is irrelevant to the number of games he did play. And why no mention of my other 2 examples? I've never once claimed he can play 4 games in 11 days, or that he might tire during one of 3 games in a week and a sub may be needed for half an hour, but he quite clearly can play 3 games in just over a week.

Has a new contract though because we dont want to be spending our budget on defenders now do we?!

In 8 days, he played a full game v Villa, an hour at Derby and all but the last 5 minutes at Stoke. In 8 days, he played a full game v Forest, an hour v Sheffield United and a full game v Bolton. In 11 days, he played full the 90 minutes against Norwich, Leeds and West Brom. So there you go, myth debunked, he can play the majority of games even inclusive of a game midweek. And what use is a journalist having loads of information that he cant or wont release to the public thats his bloody job!

Raya Nyambe Rodwell Mulgrew Williams Evans Travis Armstrong Dack Reed Graham Subs: Leutweiler, Magloire, Smallwood, Bennett, Rothwell, Brereton, Butterworth Dont want to see Bell or Conway in the squad. Was tempted to put Rothwell in but feel he would add even less cover for the full back so went with Reed wide. Hopefully Mowbray can get a few tips from Pulis as to how to create a solid, disciplined and well organised team.

As good as Pearson is at what he does, his ill discipline and constant red cards mean I am not convinced he would be a wise move for a Premier League club.

I know Preston have had a few decent years at this level, but theyve not made the play offs for a long while and our resources dwarf theirs. They also had the handicap of a terrible start due to being riddled with injuries.

What did people think of Mowbrays comments suggesting that we are doing well to be on level points with Preston? I thought they were a little strange, we shouldnt be using a team of Prestons stature as one who it is a big achievement to be on par with. Prestons horrendous start to the season has meant they are having a poor season so its nothing to be boasting about in press conferences. Interesting to see the PNE manager and players in the media bigging up a play off push and saying it is achievable, and ours is saying this: “There’s still a long way to go but it looks like we’re going to fall short of what we would like to achieve." https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17434228.tony-mowbray-on-rovers-aspirations-for-the-final-14-games/

Its not arrogant to have a view contrary to that of the manager, And Graham has played 3 games (the majority of) 3 times in a week this season already, as I said the other day. If thats the case hes a poor journalist! Gets a story and doesnt release it?!