Tony Mowbray Discussion

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

56 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I think Cowley did the best job he could at Huddersfield keeping them up. I disagree with their owner decision and the reasons behind it  

My optimism is still there. I.think we have the manager, coaching staff and the players. Football is all about opinions

From I hear the problems with the Cowley's were more off the pitch than on it.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

2 hours ago, Hasta said:

What we then needed was plan B. We didn't have one. That's where I think Mowbray was (and is) lacking.

Agreed. I think that's always been Mowbray's problem. Besides chucking a load of strikers on he can't seem come up with solutions for when the game isn't going his way. 

[islander200]

2 hours ago, Hasta said:

Not sure I agree. Mowbray set us up fine for how we have played in previous games. However we met a side on Wednesday that let us play in midfield but got men behind the ball and said break us down. We knocked it around well and tried to feed balls into Armstrong in the box but ultimately carved out just the one chance for Armstrong in the first half.  The reason Arma kept shooting from 25 yards out is because we created very little any closer to goal than 25 yards because of how well the opposition manager set them up to cope with us.

What we then needed was plan B. We didn't have one. That's where I think Mowbray was (and is) lacking. We no longer have the direct ball into Graham option because DG was on the wane, but wasn't replaced and we don't seem to be able to mix it up any differently when required. The one decent 2nd half cross I recall us putting in towards the back post caused panic. At some point Gallagher should have been put up top properly  and we should have resorted to putting the ball in the box more direct on Wednesday. Ultimately, that's what Bristol city did and it won them the game. I'd say Mowbray was out-thought in the end.

 

On a number of occasions we had the ball in dangerous areas only for the player with the ball to take the wrong option.

They won one Nil but we had 22 shots at goal 8 on target, we had enough of the ball in dangerous areas as the stats show, it is not Tony's fault when a player mis hits a pass or takes a speculative shot when team mates are in better positions.

Will agree with the plan b part of your post but the post you quoted I was debating whether he had us set up right, and I think he had us set up fine we played well in the first 60 minute, we had possession in the final third only Elliot and Rothwell out of our attacking players were on it the rest very poor.

Edited December 11, 2020 by islander200

[JHRover]

4 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I think Cowley did the best job he could at Huddersfield keeping them up. I disagree with their owner decision and the reasons behind it  

My optimism is still there. I.think we have the manager, coaching staff and the players. Football is all about opinions

Cowley's win record at Huddersfield was 32.5%. He picked up 50 points from 120 available meaning 1.25 points per game 

Mowbray's win record here in the Championship is 36.29%. He's picked up 1.37 points per game.

I'll leave it up to individuals to decide if that difference is worth 4 years of slow build, tens of millions in losses and being deemed a success or failure. In my opinion it is pretty similar really. Mid table/bottom half stuff. 

[G Somerset Rover]

@supernikotakes the credit for this one. 18 games in:

2018 - 26 points and 5 off playoffs 
2019 - 24 points and 6 off playoffs

2020 - 25 points and 6 off playoffs

#Progress

Edited December 12, 2020 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[matt83]

7 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

@supernikotakes the credit for this one. 18 games in:

2018 - 26 points and 5 off playoffs 
2019 - 24 points and 6 off playoffs

2020 - 25 points and 6 off playoffs

#Progress

You don’t need a crystal ball to see it’ll be the same in 2021. 

[G Somerset Rover]

1 minute ago, matt83 said:

You don’t need a crystal ball to see it’ll be the same in 2021. 

And no doubt Mowbray will still be here and we’ll be plodding along in mid table. 

Edited December 12, 2020 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

He's not a bad manager and the club is in a much healthier football-wise than when he arrived. He has credit in the bank for that.

Sadly, he's just not good enough to get us promoted or even in the Top 6. 

[Cherry Blue]

I would hope Mowbray dishes out his anger at mistakes like four players together for a free kick which Douglas blazes over the top, but I doubt his does. Dare I say it (again) the manager down the M65 would have blasted them.

One reason why we are staying down. 

Edited December 12, 2020 by Cherry Blue

[DE.]

Majority of fans still back him and would probably back him at this point even if he relegated us again. "Got us out of League 1 once, so we have to give him the chance to do it again", etc. Owners don't care and likely get told what they want to hear from whoever is speaking to them at the time. Waggott will never even consider removing TM by his own volition. 

Only way he leaves if if he resigns, and we're nowhere near that. Another mid-table nothing finish this season - meanwhile contracts running out on various players and eventually TM will be pressured to start selling as the reintroduction of FFP looms next season.

[davulsukur]

Abundantly clear he has taken us as far as he ever can do.

Won't be long before we start regressing.

He won't be off anywhere this season, so start preparing for mid table mediocrity again.

[tomphil]

Now is about the time he usually starts changing his early season narrative in a bid to lower expectations. The ones he set and the ones the owners allegedly have.

Top 6 will turn to just an improvement on last season and see where we land. 

Second half triple change today to me smacked of lets keep it a 1-2 and just hope to nick something rather than lets try and turn this around.  Very Bowyeresq that and just giving some legs a run and saving others. 

He just doesn't have a top 6 mentality running through his bones but other than that can't moan too much. We were against a good side, contrived to give them a deflected goal and everything else was pretty standard stuff for this Rovers.

[RevidgeBlue]

I've been saying it since January or February of 2019 but he needs to go, we'll never get anywhere good with this manager in charge.

The triple substitution today was an affront to everyone's intelligence. What was the plan? Anyone and I mean anyone could just make a triple change simply to keep everyone happy and give them a bit of a  run out. Absolute joke.

He's been extremely well backed as well. Never been put under any pressure to sell players or keep the size of the squad under control or cull the deadwood. Simply been allowed to accumulate more and more players.

Sadly the day of financial reckoning will presumably have to come sooner rather than later and by the time Mowbray leaves with his pension pot bursting at the seams I think we'll be lucky if we're any better off than at the point when he arrived.

[frosty]

Another wasted season. The league is as weak as ever and it’s absolutely wide open, yet we’re slap bang in the middle in 12th, 12 points off the top and 12 above relegation, you (almost) couldn’t make it up. This is after bringing in a load of signings and quite sure he’s never had to sell anyone he hasn’t wanted to in almost four years in charge, what a luxury.

You often hear talk now of “remember that season when both Rhodes and Gestede banged in over 20 goals? How didn’t we at least get in the play offs!”. Well fast forward a few years from now and the equivalent will be “remember the season when Armstrong scored 30 and we had Harvey Elliott on loan? How didn’t we at least get in the play offs!”. 

It’s all just extremely frustrating.  

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

On 10/12/2020 at 14:03, JoeH said:

Just spotted Preston 3-0 Boro. Warnock working wonders 😶

This aged well

[Blue blood]

Once one or two of our best players go, the rebuild will start again, as will.the give him time clock. 

Outside of Ewood I have never seen a manager get so much time. It's crazy. 

Also it's a load of bull. Reading and Boro are two teams not waiting 3+ years for a manager to launch a promotion bid. Why we and we alone need time and are a project is beyond me. 

 

 

[tomphil]

He'll bail when they finally start selling players but then again maybe after growing a side until it's ripe to sell his work will be done.

[LDRover]

On 11/12/2020 at 08:31, K-Hod said:

Was it? By whom?

Either way, I hope we don’t have to come to expect smug posts every time Warnock or Hughton loses a game, as it will get really old, really fast....

Don't think you need to worry on that score for a while.

[A Northern Horde...]

"We're plodding along,wearily singing this song,going nowhere in a Mowbray Winter wonderland!"

 

[JHRover]

All the delight and elation of those narrow wins against Barnsley and Millwall has dispersed with a meagre 1 point from 9 since. 

As predicted by so many experienced Rovers observers we have been unable to collect points from the more difficult opposition, contriving to lose games we shouldn't and as is so common are able to hide behind narrow defeats, refereeing decisions and deflections to provide a comfort blanket. End result is the same though whichever way you want to dress it up. Mowbray sees a need to remind people that Norwich are top of the league. Of course he is correct. But the same Norwich were well beaten at Luton, drew at home to Coventry and scraped past Forest in their last few games so it was hardly Bayern Munich we were up against. There's always an excuse though.

So on we go. Where to who knows. My prediction is that we follow the established routine of win a few, lose a few for the remainder of the season and end up somewhere between 8th and 14th. No doubt there will be a number of stats to suggest progress. A few more points than last year, a position or two higher, more goals scored or more possession. A 'better' style of play. 

The cycle then continues on again because half the squad are out of contract, and we can bet Armstrong will be off elsewhere. Then it all starts again. Many people seem happy with that which is fair enough if you pay your money and are happy to spend years floating around making the same errors and not changing but I'll never accept it as enough. 

I can't help but keep remembering Mowbray's grand plan when we got promoted, where he admitted that he had gone to India and put the handbrakes on the owners spending to go to the Premier League and had persuaded them to go with his 'slow build'. It says a lot about the man's confidence in his abilities that he would do such a thing because I can guarantee Neil Warnock wouldn't have done the same at Cardiff or Middlesbrough.

I do wonder how much Mowbray really wants this. Is he prepared to do whatever it takes to haul us to the promised land including playing dirty or nasty when needed? I don't believe so. This is why he will win a lot of respect from opposition fans, managers and the likes of Jurgen Klopp. He's great for diplomacy and as a flag carrier for your club, great for keeping a happy camp and working on meaningless stats that impress certain people but a ruthless winner he is not.

[Ossydave]

Maybe its a good point to ask, again, who people would replace him with?

[arbitro]

In a few weeks time we will enter our eighth transfer window under Mowbray and really aren't much better off from a positional perspective. There have been pluses along the way and we are in a healthier position player wise so credit to him for that. The real conundrum is can he take us any further. For me it's a resounding no and simply from that point of view we need to replace him with somebody who can give us a better chance. However I don't think there is a cat in hells chance of him leaving, either sacked or of his own volition. We will be mid table, win some, lose some, play well, play poorly, good runs and bad runs but he will be safe. 

Personally I want more for my football club and Mowbray just isn't the man to deliver it.

[tomphil]

The squad has evolved, the style is evolving but the points are looking like remaining very similar. The same old mistakes and dynamic to plod rather than push hasn't really evolved though either.

It's a dilemma and fine lines,  i still feel the lack of a proper defensive rebuild and the lack of another striker in the squad with goalscoring nous costs us over a season. We've wanted a winger and more flair for years and now in a young loanee we have it. A good striker who could develop and understanding with him would get a bagful. 

At the back yet again the ones who'll play the biggest part are still Lenihen and Williams. Both unatural in that position and one mistake ridden whilst the other is falling too bits !

This kind of thing is TMs achilies heel.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

1 hour ago, Ossydave said:

Maybe its a good point to ask, again, who people would replace him with?

Someone who is capable of getting this group of players in the Top 6, as the current manager keeps predicting but failing to achieve. 

[Ossydave]

Just now, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Someone who is capable of getting this group of players in the Top 6, as the current manager keeps predicting but failing to achieve. 

Yes, but who fits that criteria?