Mowbray’s Future

[blueboy3333]

Has anyone got Bowyer's number?

[DE.]

Our general performances have been concerning all season imo. We're fortunate to have the points we have and it's only been an incredible fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude that has gotten us this far. It hasn't been tactics or player quality, because both are generally below average. Once that fighting/team spirit evaporates, as it seems to in the last couple of matches, all you're left with is a group of poor players being given baffling instructions. Better hope Tony can get morale back up.

[Scotland1]

8 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Has anyone got Bowyer's number?

Best manager since Sam in my opinion 

[47er]

13 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Has anyone got Bowyer's number?

There's one big similarity here, both assembled reasonable squads but didn't know how what to do with them once they had.

[Rover_Shaun]

1 minute ago, Scotland1 said:

Best manager since Sam in my opinion 

? Such faint praise ????

[davulsukur]

21 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Has anyone got Bowyer's number?

No but I tried adding him on LinkedIn. 

[Darwen Rover 007]

We need Rothwell and Reed in CM And we need to buy 2 x proper wingers at least and then play Dack behind Graham and use Palmer, Armstrong and Brereton tactically for Dack and Graham.

We also need a new LB without a doubt!

 

Tony needs to stop being so loyal and man up 

[JBiz]

Just now, Scotland1 said:

Best manager since Sam in my opinion 

I loved Bowyer! 

 

17 minutes ago, Stuart said:

His line up tonight wasn’t my gripe necessarily - although recent ones have left a lot to be desired.

He brought off Graham and brought on Williams to play wing backs and effective us Armstrong as a front man with Dack doing not a lot. It was such a poor change - especially at 1-0 down and we looked even worse afterwards.

In the games I’ve seen him, Rothwell has made us tick in midfield, although he needs a Savage type to do the ugly stuff for him (maybe Reed) but he can’t get a look in. Dack looks disinterested or has just gone out of form. A ‘slight knock’ might be a good plan for the weekend. Sadly like all managers who have run out of ideas Mowbray will probably persist with the ‘false 9’ nonsense as his Plan A.

I watched the game and the only lively spell came right after HT, in what I interpreted as 532. Wigan then punt up field, Rodwell let’s it bounce and it’s game over. That’s simply an individual mistake, not as a result of any change. Mulgrew made an awful tackle after a similar Wigan clearance a minute or two before.

Ironically the only shot we took first half was in our own foot, so whilst I might’ve kept DG on (whilst on a yellow and always never more than 45/60) I would’ve changed the system to try and liven us up.

As for the rest- I’d agree with giving Rothwell and Palmer recalls to midfield, potentially moving Dack on the bench for a spell. He has particularly dropped off recently but I feel that’s more our inability to get consistent balls to him in the final third. When he played upfront instead of behind, he is even more isolated.

Cutting out errors and better final balls is the way to turn it round for me.

[davulsukur]

25 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Has anyone got Bowyer's number?

No but I tried adding him on LinkedIn. 

[Darwen Rover 007]

We need Rothwell and Reed in CM And we need to buy 2 x proper wingers at least and then play Dack behind Graham and use Palmer, Armstrong and Brereton tactically for Dack and Graham.

We also need a new LB without a doubt!

 

Tony needs to stop being so loyal and man up 

[perthblue02]

56 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Has anyone got Bowyer's number?

1-800-rightgoodgo

[Mercer]

31 minutes ago, Darwen Rover 007 said:

We need Rothwell and Reed in CM And we need to buy 2 x proper wingers at least and then play Dack behind Graham and use Palmer, Armstrong and Brereton tactically for Dack and Graham.

We also need a new LB without a doubt!

 

Tony needs to stop being so loyal and man up 

Think all the money has gone on the Brereton deal......................................

[Mercer]

33 minutes ago, Biz said:

I loved Bowyer! 

 

I watched the game and the only lively spell came right after HT, in what I interpreted as 532. Wigan then punt up field, Rodwell let’s it bounce and it’s game over. That’s simply an individual mistake, not as a result of any change. Mulgrew made an awful tackle after a similar Wigan clearance a minute or two before.

Ironically the only shot we took first half was in our own foot, so whilst I might’ve kept DG on (whilst on a yellow and always never more than 45/60) I would’ve changed the system to try and liven us up.

As for the rest- I’d agree with giving Rothwell and Palmer recalls to midfield, potentially moving Dack on the bench for a spell. He has particularly dropped off recently but I feel that’s more our inability to get consistent balls to him in the final third. When he played upfront instead of behind, he is even more isolated.

Cutting out errors and better final balls is the way to turn it round for me.

Mowbray selects both the players who make the errors and the players who can't play better final balls.

Mowbray is responsible for recruitment, training / coaching, motivation, tactics and selection.  The buck stops firmly with him.

[roversfan99]

The thing is, Mowbray has had plenty of money, 3 windows, plenty of time and surprisingly plenty of flexibility from the owners to mould his own side. He signed 7 players alone in the summer for around 10m.

Even the most staunch person defending Mowbray, can you say that whatever selection will be made for Saturday will be anything other than another random assembly of players with the hope that something clicks? And can you honestly say that the squad has any real balance to it?

Raya will start, our only acceptable player tonight.

Nyambe had his second appalling game in a row, as bad as even when he looked so nervous breaking into the team. Do we have a feasible alternative? No.

Mulgrew and Lenihan are our only decent centre backs, the latter in particular has been inconsistent and both are brittle. We have absolutely NO backup. Rodwell showed himself up as a midfielder playing in the back 4, that second goal was as bad as it gets. Should never play there again. Why has he not signed a centre back bar Downing a year ago who is not trusted? (understandably)

Both left backs are absolute shite, one he signed in Bell is a joke. He will pick one on Saturday and just hope that he doesnt embarrass himself again. Thats all he can do. 

Central midfield, we are well stocked in terms of numbers. Evans is ok usually, Rodwell was always a big gamble, Davenport hasnt been off the injury table, Smallwood is a League 1 player, and Reed has been good but is often shoehorned out wide. 

Out wide, a particular source of frustration. He seems to hop between the likes of Bennett, Armstrong, Palmer, Rothwell, Conway, none of whom are doing anywhere near enough to guarantee a place, none of whom are contributing to our attack, and its as if he picks 2 out of a hat and hopes something comes off. 3 he signed, so far he has got 2 goals from all 5 of them.

Dack is off the boil, although we may aswell not play him if we are just going to kick the ball in the air all the time.

And up front, we have Graham who cant play all the time, and Brereton who is the luxury we simply cannot afford with the rest of the squad as lacking quality and imbalanced as it is.

We dont seem to have an identity, we havent really had any plan in terms of attacking all season, the most long balls in the league, a pitiful number of goals from open play, Mowbray doesnt carry the same stigma or stereotype as Allardyce/McCarthy but the football barring one or two exceptions this season has been painful to watch.

And before its misconstrued, Im not saying he should be sacked. He does need to sort things out starting Saturday though.

[JHRover]

59 minutes ago, 47er said:

There's one big similarity here, both assembled reasonable squads but didn't know how what to do with them once they had.

The other similarity is they both worked under the same lunatic owners and began to make signings/decisions that raise eyebrows and make you wonder if something is happening above them to force them into it.

Under Bowyer strange stuff happened with Rhodes, under Mowbray it is Brereton. All very odd.

[JHRover]

Mowbray's had his money. Almost £10 million of it if rumours of our owner's benevolence are to be believed. Having spent such a relatively vast amount and not having to sell anyone and looking at the return this season from those he has signed, i wouldn't be in a rush to get the chequebook out in January if it was my cash. 

[chaddyrovers]

2 hours ago, Stuart said:

I think Mowbray is making it harder for us with his team selection and tactics. He withdrew Graham today and reverted back to the formation that failed us so badly at the weekend. The players may well be responding to that.

It’s been made all the worse by having this mini-meltdown against local rivals because the reaction is much more emotive. After a crap morning on Monday, it’s going to be more of the same tomorrow. I even went to Ewood on Monday where West Ham gave us a lesson but as disappointing as it was, nobody else knew or cared.

really? we didn't play 3 at the back against Preston, tonight he changed it at half time and went 5-3-2 with Dack and Armstrong up front. 

[JBiz]

57 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Mowbray selects both the players who make the errors and the players who can't play better final balls.

Mowbray is responsible for recruitment, training / coaching, motivation, tactics and selection.  The buck stops firmly with him.

The point escapes me, everything that’s happened football wise since he arrived is his responsibility- when did I say otherwise? Good and bad.

We haven’t forgotten about you predicting and betting on big victories only a few weeks ago - if you felt the club was completely hamstrung by poor recruitment, tactics et al - you’re either talking out your arse or deliberately wasting your own money.

 

 

[Husky]

2 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

Has anyone got Bowyer's number?

Good idea, let's get Tony to give him the cursed Tombola back.

[Butty]

2 hours ago, 47er said:

There's one big similarity here, both assembled reasonable squads but didn't know how what to do with them once they had.

Bowyer had Rhodes and Gestede firing 20 goals EACH and couldn’t get us into the playoffs. Cairney, a younger Conway, Marshall, Hanley,Duffy, Josh King.. That squad is better than our current squad on paper. If Gestede and Rhodes were up against our defence the way we are currently playing, with Marshall and Conway delivering they’d have a field day! We looked sooo shaky from corners and set pieces tonight. We are relying solely on Graham and Dack, do you think graham for all he offers is going to score twenty a season? No chance. We’ve just come up from league one man, bar our recent bad run and worst performance of the Mowbray era tonight, If you’d have been shown the league table as it now going in to December prior to the season starting you’d have more than taken it... Bowyer should have got us into the play offs with the squad he had, our squad as it is, is mid table at best and as that is currently where we are, you can’t really say TM is underachieving. However, should this run continue we could be talking a lot different come the new year. The performance tonight was a disgrace and if we don’t see a response Saturday i’ll be worried. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Butty

[Stuart]

The manager is always responsible for results. Always has, always will.

A manager who regularly changes the personnel in a team and doesn’t get results will be even more open to criticism.

One week you are playing the back up to Graham, the next Palmer, the next Armstrong...

A feature of Mowbray’s tenure has been rotating players. With a superior squad in an inferior league it kept players fresh and it didn’t matter so much because whomever we put out we had a better side that 90% of teams. In the Championship it is preventing us from building any momentum because we no longer have superior players.

Sticking with Evans and Smallwood out of some misguided loyalty while having Reed and Rothwell make room is ludicrous.

[arbitro]

5 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

really? we didn't play 3 at the back against Preston, tonight he changed it at half time and went 5-3-2 with Dack and Armstrong up front. 

Last night we went to a 3-5-2 in the second half. The gaps between the back three were alarming.

[arbitro]

6 hours ago, JHRover said:

Mowbray's had his money. Almost £10 million of it if rumours of our owner's benevolence are to be believed. Having spent such a relatively vast amount and not having to sell anyone and looking at the return this season from those he has signed, i wouldn't be in a rush to get the chequebook out in January if it was my cash. 

In addition to the money he has spent a significant number of players have been given new deals at some extra cost. A few of these shouldn't have been given in my opinion and just aren't representing any value to the club.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

All managers have a shelf life at a club.   Once the team starts back pedalling, it takes a massive effort and rethink to turn it round.  We've seen it with Souness, Bowyer etc.  

TM is at that point.  It's clear now that our season aim has got to be staying up.  Anything more is not acheivable with the current squad.   Now I'm in two minds. 

I'd give him the Janary transfer window to have a shuffle and address some glaring failings and hold off on contract talks.    If he doesnt make changes, then he clearly can't see what the majority of people can and needs to go. 

He has a history of doing well initially, then the wheels falling off.  Probably because he starts over thinking things the longer he is there.

Still like the guy though (like Bowyer) but football's ruthless

Edited November 29, 2018 by Wing Wizard Windy Miller

[JacknOry]

I am not going to get drawn into talking about binning the guy off because he is a little way off that for me at the moment. However, he needs to turn things around because it is difficult to see where the next points are going to come from at this point. When two defeats in a row turns into 5 or 6 and we are suddenly involved in a relegation scrap - a good portion of the fans will turn.

Aim this season has to be to stay up. I know we flirted with the top 6 for a while but that was more down to how open this division was at the start of the season.