Assuming he is physically fit, do you not think at least cameos in the under 23s is the best way to build up said match fitness?

It would be a blow if Dack and Armstrong arent fit, but especially with Dack, if they dont start id be surprised if they made the bench. Assuming neither make it, your front 4 picks itself really, although I would personally go with Palmer off Graham, where he is best, and where he is least likely to become a defensive liability. If Bristol City play what is essentially 4-4-2, Palmer could be the spare man and is far better in an attacking sense than Bennett. Whereas Bennett's defensive work could be used to counter one of their wide men, probably Eliasson who has started the season well. I would also like to see Reed start ahead of Smallwood who has had a below par start to the season.

Would people think considering the free agent market for reinforcements, baring in mind that Mowbray apparently tried to get bodies in yesterday and didnt manage it, at least to get players in for a week over the international break to have a look, to be something Mowbray could consider? Nedum Onouha could be someone who could, fitness permitting, provide experienced cover for Mulgrew in Lenihan. James Collins, Gareth McAuley and Russell Martin are also all free agents, although there would be question marks about whether the first would be realistic, and whether the latter 2 would be physically capable anymore to provide an upgrade on Downing remains to be seen. Out wide, Bakary Sako would be a very good addition, he apparently went back to Palace who were considering re-signing him if they could get rid of a couple of players according to Hodgson, one of whom seemed to be Puncheon who ended up staying at the club. Whether he would be prepared to take a step down again remains to be seen.

Thanks @Way down West and good luck for the season, after tomorrow of course. I had a feeling he wasnt entirely and universally popular. Reid was never prolific was he prior to last season, I thought Johnson was doing a poor job when you had Abraham scoring so many goals yet obviously in general you was near the bottom of the tab, the same year we obviously went down. I remember being impressed watching Bristol City in the cup against the Manchester teams though so i presumed hed turned it around somewhat. Looking at your signings, I thought Adelakun would be a really good signing, quick, direct winger, whereas I have never really rated Weimann so im surprised hes doing so well, suppose at Villa and Derby he was never one of the main men so maybe he will continue to thrive in a central role. Selling Bryan and Flint was always going to be a blow but I thought Da Silva, Hunt, Webster and Kalas were all pretty good Championship signings too. Bit surprised that you didnt sign a more high profile keeper, that Maenpaa hasnt played much recently so I suppose hes a bit of an unknown quantity. I don't think either Bristol City or Rovers will be particularly fancied outside of our own clubs really but I suspect both can be comfortably mid table with a bit of luck, looking up rather than down. Theres a bunch of teams, Reading, Birmingham, Rotherham, Ipswich and Hull who on paper seem far inferior to both of our teams. Definitely agree on League 1, luckily we only had one season and the success was a lovely change so Rovers fans will have a fonder opinion of it I imagine but the quality was terrible.

Certainly much better than the one we were in last year.

Why do you predict that we could lose by a few, what have we done to suggest that a comfortable defeat/thrashing could be on the cards soon? In the last game we played, v one of the early front runners and highly fancied teams, missing Dack, Armstrong, Graham as only a sub and the likes of Brereton and Reed also yet to sign, we won 1 nil. We've yet to lose and are a point ahead of our opponents. A loss will come at some point but theres no reason to suspect a thrashing is on the cards. Going into the international break, if we win tomorrow weve had a terrific start, draw and its a decent/pretty good start, lose and its an average one. @Way down West what do you make of Johnson as a manager? And what do you make of your summer business? Think you may be stretching the truth describing this as a "great league!"

Yout put Abraham, Bolasie and Admoah in that side with Grealish and its a different proposition.

A lot is based on the signing of Brereton in my opinion, hes the key for the swing in opinions, maybe its the price tag and the potential of the player, but it has to be assumed that he will play a big role, and give us a new dimension in our attacking options. I suppose from the closing of the window, in essence that he has just replaced the injured Samuel, but I personally didnt see him as a player who could contribute anything at this level anyway. If Brereton isnt as good as Samuel then we really are up against it! I think there was also a feeling that regarding our first 4 signings, Davenport was one for the future and in terms of our attacking players, Palmer was only a loan who has already got 3 goals in the last couple of weeks, Armstrong was a snip but he was here last season so it doesnt feel like having a new player, and Rothwell has perhaps shown in the last couple of weeks since the window that he is ready to have more of an impact than anyone could have reasonably predicted. I am very happy with the signing of Reed, although I dont forsee Rodwell making a big impact. You mention the Lincoln game (who themselves made 7 changes) but im not sure people have or should read too much into that. Raya, Nyambe, Bell and Graham are regulars. Caddis has since left. Nuttall and Downing both scored against a changed League 2 side, but it doesnt answer big questions about their abilities not being to Championship standard. Travis has plenty of potential but may struggle for game time. Conway youd think will barely play and Grayson is only a kid. I still think it was an imperfect window, in that although a lot of really good potential work has been done, there are a couple of gaps were we could become a bit thin on the ground in 2 or 3 positions, and I get the feeling that anyone proclaiming that it was perfect is overlooking these obvious gaps.

Personally try to get to about half of the away games as I did last year, but regarding the midweek ones, they tend to be ones that I struggle to do unless local anyway, so this is beneficial to me to be able to watch it. Similar to what @chaddyrovers said in regards to working during the week. Out of interest chaddy, how many away games do you get to in general? Sadly, I do believe that season ticket holders will not attend as religiously, midweek home games, even though they have a ticket already bought, if theyve had a long day at work, if the weather is miserable, and its cold and wet, whatever the minor reason is, if its on TV some people will stay at home and watch it sadly. I personally would always prefer to go and will attend home midweek games regardless. I also agree with @Stuart and his points on walk on pricing. Part of Waggotts remit had to be taking advantage of a natural increase of demand with the team doing well, he failed to do that, primarily with the sharp increase in ST prices, and also things like moving the DE fans didnt help. As you said though, walk on pricing needs to be reduced or there will be no uptake, the increase in price in the hours before kick off is a joke to be honest, and I cant see the penny dropping, and as a result, midweek home attendances will be low.

If he played again he would get supported like anyone else. Hopefully he never will play again though because he is dreadful. And I dont think he will.

Links with the likes of Albert Adomah, Yannick Bolasie, Jed Wallace and Luke Freeman, and Pulis' public frustration at not being backed to sign any of them, suggest that he wanted to sign attacking, flair players and was unable to. Read this: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/16412667.pulis-frustration-exposes-tension-behind-the-scenes-at-middlesbrough/ I am not a Pulis fan like I am probably sounding like now but I feel like you are letting a strong dislike of him to get in the way of facts that disprove your points.

Agreed on Nuttall. Disagree on Travis. Its counter-productive to keep Travis for such limited game time, Evans, Reed, Smallwood, Davenport, Bennett and Rodwell in central midfield, and Nyambe, Reed and Bennett mean that we have enough reasonable cover in them positions to allow Travis to play week in week out. I know, but my point was why would it be a panic buy, if Mowbray has lists of various players in said positions? I acknowledged your point in that I dont like Pulis' style either, but I gave you one strong example of Adama Traore, and also that Lewis Wing has started games this season, but you seem to have refused to acknowledge these facts in preference to mentioning a game tonight which Pulis was clearly happy with a point, a very good point at that. His development of Traore, a winger full of pace yet very little defensive awareness, shows that he is not 100% against the idea of playing pacy, attacking players if they are good enough. And Braithwaite wants to move abroad.

Leeds have looked very good so far. If they are still in that sort of form when we go to Elland Road and we stink the place out and get a draw, id be pretty happy. I dont like Pulis and I do think he often goes past the point of being overly negative, but you cant argue with the results hes had so far. They were missing Savile, his replacement for Traore, Hugill is not match fit and Braithwaite has had his head turned apparently by a move abroad, so tonight, his arms were somewhat tight. Them 2 teams will almost certainly finish above Rovers.

Both have 4 wins and 2 draws from 6 games

Almost identical views to mine, albeit more clearly put!

Get what you mean about leaving ourselves short in terms of keeping Nuttall to an extent, especially after Samuels injury, but not Travis, he has mainly played in central midfield, a position in which we signed 3 players yet to be involved that will more than cover that position, and we have Nyambe, Bennett and Reed to cover right back. He isnt needed just to make up the numbers. Why would any buy be a panic buy? Mowbray has talked about lists, which is why I dont really understand why we didnt resort to an alternative, even if it was a temporary one until Bauer and Chapman become unavailable. Not bringing in a centre back and a winger have made a potentially perfect window, only a good window. Dont get where you are coming from at all re Pulis' tactics meaning he will never play. Whilst I would agree with suggestions that Pulis is a bit of a dinosaur, regarding this situation, your comments are blatantly untrue. Firstly, Mowbray only started him once in half a season in a weaker league, and has repeatedly said that he doesnt trust him to start games, so you could argue that he wouldnt play much here. More pertinently, look at his treatment of Adama Traore. He was a player with so much raw pace and natural ability, but one who was untrustworthy and had failed to nail down a regular place or consistently affect games positively, both at Aston Villa and at Boro prior to Pulis' arrival. Under Pulis' management, he turned into one of the best players in the Championship in quite a short period of time and earnt a big money move to Premier League Wolves. Also, more recently, he has given starts to Lewis Wing, a young wide man similarly through the academy, fact of the matter is part of the reason that Chapman may struggle for game time is because he is one of 3 talented, academy wingers at Pulis' disposal, along with Wing and Tavernier. My comment earlier was tongue in cheek, but is this mate the same guy that made that stuff up about Kent and Gallagher and you then initially blocked? Or a different one? A lot of people wanting to pretend to be in the know at the moment (this isnt aimed at you btw) that just take what is already public knowledge and put their own spin on it to get attention.

That was on the 12th! After the permanent window closed.

Obviously that would never happen, but we would have to wait until Jan.

Think its fair to reignite this thread now that our business is officially done, and we have added Brereton, Reed and Rodwell to the deals done of Davenport, Rothwell, Palmer and Armstrong. Are we better than last season? I would say overall, yes, in terms of replacements, directly or indirectly. Palmer has replaced Payne, Rothwell has replaced Antonsson, Armstrong has replaced, well, Armstrong, and Brereton replaces the long term injured Samuel, just leaving Chapman not replaced. Happy with the amount spent, a nice surprise and somewhat of a statement of intent, and also happy with the retaining of and in some cases, new contracts given to of our main players. Hope Mulgrew gets a new deal shortly. Defensively, we have not signed anyone which leaves us incredibly short at centre back, with our only natural cover in Downing carrying big doubts about his ability at this level, and the injury proneness of our first choice duo. If Bauer was our first choice, I appreciate that he was not available at a price we considered to be value for money, but even if as assumed, we will revisit that deal, we should have signed temporary cover in the mean time. In central midfield, we look a lot better stocked than last year in terms of depth than last year, only losing Whittingham who missed large periods through injury. Harrison Reed is someone I think should boost us tremendously in there., from both when I saw him for Norwich last season, and based on what their fans have said. Shame it wasnt a permanent deal. Davenport again comes as a more long term option but hopefully he recovers from injury ASAP as he could boost us short term as well as long term. Rodwell is certainly not someone I would have signed, I hope he is not signed as a defender as basically, he hasnt been one as a professional footballer so it would make no sense. If hes signed from a midfielder, I've still got major doubts as to whether he will be a success, but presumably hes on much lower wages than hes been used to, and weve got more than enough in there to compensate even if he isnt a success, which of course I hope he is. In attacking areas, we were heavily reliant on loanees last season which left us with a skeletal remain of an attack; practically just Dack and Graham. Palmer is definitely for me an upgrade on Payne, both 10s who can do a job wide, Rothwell looks a bright spark to have as an option, Armstrong is a steal as we know what he can do and Brereton is one to definitely be excited about, but there are questions based on his goal record, with his price tag at our level, he will need to have an impact now even if that isnt with the consistency or at the levels that we suspect to be able to see in the future when he has developed further. He definitely boosts us in attacking areas and I look forward to seeing him, theres enough to suggest that he will add to our attack. I am content with our attacking business but the lack of a winger really is an issue and an obvious and quite major flaw in our business, as we dont have anyone who can run on the outside of full backs. Again, like with Bauer, I appreciate that we had a number 1 target in Chapman, but considering we tried to conclude it at such a late stage, surely we could have looked at alternatives? Not keen on Nuttall and Travis stagnating because they will get very limited game time here, wish they had been loaned out. Overall, would say the window has been 7 out of 10. Theres been enough done to be optimistic about, and not to expect a toil in the League, desperately trying to keep our heads above water, and theres an exciting core of players to watch and develop. But we could be affected hugely by injury to Mulgrew or Lenihan, and we are a winger short of having a good, balanced attacking set of players. Very much glad that the window is closed now and we can concentrate solely on the pitch.

Ryan Kent or Sam Gallagher?

The rifts such a vague rumour have caused suggest that people understandably still have no faith in Venkys holding firm and doing whats best for the club rather than themselves. Im unconvinced that theyve bid 15m. Goes without saying that we can not sell him at this point in time. Also not naive enough to suggest that he is unsellable as some have suggested, or that West Brom wouldnt be a step up at this moment, regardless of current League position after 5 games. All that said, I do reckon he will be here on Sunday, but also unfit to play a part.

No Armstrong or Dack that I could see in the training pictures earlier. Can't see them featuring.

Burnleys. Dack might get into their team but Ashley Barnes is a very clever player, Vokes started over Wood which for me was the wrong decision but the latter would walk into our team. Brady when fit and Gudmundsson are wide men with excellent deliveries that again would get into our team with comfort. That said, as touched on, their issue this season has being defensive fragilities not seen last season. Dyche does ultimately get more out of them than the sum of their parts. I did criticise him for not taking the Europa League seriously and I stand by that, as Chris Sutton said last night, when will they get that chance again. Saying all that they do have some decent attacking players, albeit nothing special, they are certainly a step up from our squad sadly at the moment.

Tottenham definitely in the group of death with no weak teams in there. Inter have made some good signings in the summer so will be a big threat, and PSV are the weakest side in there but they do have Lozano. United and Liverpool have also got groups that youd probably fancy them to get through in but with Valencia and Napoli as well as the giants of Juventus and PSG, itll make for some interesting games.

Never going to be good enough for us in the Championship, was a bit of his depth really in League 1, with a pitiful goal return. That being said, the circumstances with such a serious injury is never nice to see. Hopefully he goes on to make a full recovery and when hes back fit he joins a club lower in the pyramid to try and make a career for himself.