I believe that is not the case until your 32nd birthday. When that comes around, you are openly available to be "moaned at and not supported" (criticised on a messageboard to you and me) for a lack of work rate, as its the only way youll learn.

Didnt realise that you knew the players personalities so well and how best to motivate them based solely on their ages. If you cant see that its incredibly hypocritical to have a go at me for saying the same as you said earlier in the season about another player, regardless of who it is, then thats your issue. I hope Samuel steps up a gear and starts giving 100% (if im not wrong and he isnt already) and justifying his place in the squad. Not seen anything to suggest he will or can but hope he does.

I havent been happy with his offensive contributions, his work rate and other aspects of his game have been good but he has the ability to score goals and now he is doing. I was criticizing Antonsson when he was ineffectively playing down the middle, he wasnt playing out wide at the time. Surely you can see that you saying that Graham was lazy and playing rubbish is the exact same as me now saying the same about Samuel? Surely you understand the hypocrisy of inferring that I need to support him and not moan about him as a very weak argument? When you do something its kicking a player up the bum, when I do similar its moaning. He said "Roughly translated as 'he's lazy and he can't finish' which anybody who has seen him will tell you pretty much sums Samuel up. Poor signing and one of those players who will always be described as having the right attributes but will rarely utilise them." which I agree with.

You really dont listen do you. Bennett I said should contribute more considering the ability he showed in a league above, at a time when he hadnt scored for a year and barely got any assists. I never said I dont rate him. And I said I was really happy that he got 2 goals recently and hope he continues. Antonsson when I complained about him was playing up front, and looked awful. It was at the start of the season, and Dack was sitting on the bench in the main at the time. He then found a new home on the wing and started contributing with crucial goals. Something you dont seem to understand the importance of. People are going to moan if they feel like one of the players isnt giving 100%, and has underperformed for the club. Whilst typing this out, @blueboy3333 has shown Im not the only one to suggest they arent satisfied with Samuels application at the moment. Your assertion that he "needs support not people moaning at it" is both idiotic and hypocritical in equal measure. We are discussing a striker who hasnt scored in over 3 months on an internet messageboard that he almost certainly doesnt read. When in the ground the players get supported. And you constantly criticized Graham for months, for what you considered to be laziness and underachievement. Where was your "support not people moaning at it" attitude then? If you are going to critique me, at least understand what I actually said.

It doesnt in any way justify what I and others have perceived to be a lack of work rate. Giving less than 100% will not help him gain any form. He's not shown anywhere near enough to suggest that he can become a consistent League 1 threat, never mind Championship. I hope he proves me wrong.

I see Calvert-Lewin will potentially be in the next England squad. Southgates dishing out caps to anyone, Calvert Lewins not even a starter for Everton.

I personally dont think it would. Mahoney ended the season completely out the 18, and with some of the attacking players we have since added hed be well down the pecking order. Hes not that good.

Has he ever started a game aside from the checkatrade? Its different coming on for 5 or 10 minutes and doing a job and starting or featuring heavily in crucial games in a promotion run in. Nows not the time to throw in practically untested kids. These points are more aimed generally at the dilemma of whether Travis should be pushing for a start.

Did fine in brief cameos but not enough to suddenly be in the first team. Indiscipline at Portsmouth a worry. Nows not the time for more untried youth.

Just mainly in regards to the notion that he got his starting 11 wrong. The thing is, I agree that I like you would have played Payne over Evans, with Bennett centrally. But surely being 2 up at half time justifies the initial choice of team, especially Bennetts role on the wing that allowed him to cut in and score. Thus proving us both wrong, today in isolation? Agree on Smallwood being much more effective than Evans but today i thought the latter was slightly more effective.

My point is, I along with you wouldnt have picked Evans. But the way we set up initially led to us leading 2-0 at half time, comfortably, so how can you say that it was wrong? Especially when you mention Bennetts position, yet his role on the left wing was what enabled him to score the second goal. So surely that justifies Bennetts selection there, even if you felt he was put there more for defensive responsibilities or whatever? I thought that Bennett did really well in general out wide, and I've been one of his biggest critics there this season. Even if you feel like he stumbled upon it, the team that started the game was one that worked really well in that first half. If you think he chose a team to contain and that how we did in that first half was not necessarily down to the tactical approach, more down to individuals or whatever, then fair enough, but he got the starting 11 right even if he did it by chance. (which I think would be very harsh on him) There are aspects that are open to be criticised, im not saying Mowbray was perfect today, for example the most obvious error in hindsight was the lateness of his subs and also the players brought on didnt aid us in holding on to a 2 goal lead, and the fact that we let the lead slip in the first place brings the tactics into question,. You mention Corry Evans, I don't rate him but he was no worse than Smallwood today. You say that his substitution lead to us "halting the slide," the remaining 15 minutes hardly saw a Rovers resurgence, in fact if any team was going to go on and win, it was Wigan, and bringing on Antonsson and Nuttall at that time did nothing to make us more threatening, both were totally ineffective. You say that we are over-reliant on Dack, but he is the best player in the league, any League 1 team would be somewhat dependent on him, but all 4 attacking players played their part in that first half, we looked well balanced.

I was disappointing with the non selection of Payne but im not sure how you can claim a moral victory when we were so dominant in the first half? Especially when someone youd have chosen to play central midfield scored from the left wing. I do think Mowbray got things wrong in the second half in terms of substitutions, but im not too sure you can suggest that he got the line up wrong. Is it? He looked quite poor whenever he played in midfield, he was not good enough on the ball, his attributes are better suited to playing in defence, where he has looked far more accomplished as seen today. Don't get this urge to move our centre backs into midfield.

Doesnt upset me, just this and your nonsense about Dave Whelan suggests you are trying to get peoples backs up. Maybe im wrong.

Its obvious that you are just saying things now to try and provoke a reaction.

Agreed on Rowett, not sure about the squad but probably enough to avoid relegation. Jota was quality at Brentford, has been rubbish this, Stockdale is a good keeper, any team with Jason Lowe in it will struggle, and Jutkiewicz and Gallagher has to be the worst strike force in the league. That said, theres enough rubbish with Sunderland, Burton and Bolton to avoid relegation if they get anyone half decent. Linked with Monk who has consistently failed recently.

Not before time.

There are 2 aspects, both of which split opinion, the application of VAR and the theory of it being used. For me, the grey areas of the system, the communication, time etc can all be improved but that isnt even my bug bear with it. I dont think it can work perfectly, as you see with Tottenhams wrongly disallowed goal, someone has seen something that has baffled basically everyone else, its subjective. But its the fact that it ruins the moment when you score a goal if you have to wait to see if it is allowed. It kills the emotion. I would rather accept that mistakes will be made.

Pitch has looked as poor as I can remember it recently.

It wasnt a direct comparison, stop taking it out of context. Just was saying that any positive physical attributes will always be counteracted by a poor work ethic, i dont feel when i watch him that hes working hard enough. If he rated Samuel and had no doubts about him surely hed feature more than the occasional sub appearance. Samuel has never proved in his career that he is a capable goalscorer (unlike Graham), we paid for promise and youth that as of yet hasnt looked likely to materialise into anything more.

If he was convinced then hed be in the team. Self explanatory. Graham was out of form but managed to break back in, Armstrong has since been signed, and both are doing what Samuel has been unable to, and now barely plays. I have made the judgement myself (shared by others) that his body language and work ethic is not that of a player desperate to earn his place back, hence me questioning his attitude.

I said that he has assets(pace and power) that are useful if applied correctly, I dont think Leon Best is useful because of his brain meaning that anything he does have going for him is rendered meaningless due to a lack of work rate and work ethic. If you think I am implying that Leon Best as a player is useful then you dont understand my point. The only reason I even found that article is because im not the only one to question his work rate here, so the fact its a running theme makes it even more of a concern. The 2 players you mentioned were geniuses, they had shown their ability in the past, it was just their temperament that needed keeping in check, the ability was never in question, sadly with Samuel even that is in doubt. My point in regards to Mowbrays view, is that hes clearly not 100% convinced hence him falling down the pecking order.

I never said Best is useful, again you are taking peoples comments out of context. He has a bit of power and pace but my point was that hes never taken full advantage of these attributes because of whats between his ears. Another person weve debated is Elliott Bennett who admittedly from a different position also isnt scoring in the moment. That said, his attitude is what you want to see from a player, even if hes not scoring goals. Samuel on the other hand is like chalk and cheese. The attitude questions that have been raised ring further alarm bells when you discover that managers in the past have had the same problem. You keep saying Mowbray has taken to him, but he had the shirt to keep earlier in the season and now hes 3rd choice, behind Graham and Armstrong who he signed since he got Samuel.

https://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/sport-opinion/curious-case-dominic-samuel-never-13362740 Managers have come and gone since McDermott, but none really took to Samuel. Nigel Adkins was critical of the player's attitude, as was current boss Jaap Stam. Samuel never a key part in Steve Clarke's plans when he was manager. This is where I found that hes been accused of having a poor attitude in the past. I don't agree at all that hes worked hard when hes been on the pitch, hes looked at times disinterested.

Only because you either ignored my point or didnt understand, the point was they both have attributes that are useful, power and pace, enough for managers to take a chance of, and I suggested that I hope that Samuel doesnt have a similar career, ie many clubs but never really finding a home due to a poor attitude. I know, but he clearly isnt convinced, hence him being dropped. Samuel doesnt deserve to be anywhere near the team, in his chances hes looked ineffective and disinterested, the opposite of Graham, he doesnt deserve a run of games.

Mentioned in a conversation with @chaddyrovers in another thread. Albeit my loose comparison to Loon Best was taken out of context and got peoples backs up. Hes got certain attributes but he came with previous managers having given up on his poor attitude, he never threatens to do anything noteworthy, the application isnt there, hes not got the ability either, even at this level and hopefully he will move on in the summer.