Letting Downing go in January was never the problem it was the lack of a replacement. It’s the same situation this time around, I’m please we’ve let him go provided that we sign a proper centre back

That suggests no new keeper....

I wonder if we've just announced those released that we had another year option on? Then they can say they are in talks with the otheers so they casn wait until Mowbray comes back from India with the actual budget. Because there's no way anyone sane would offer Gladwin a new contract!

I think what you've wrote there sums a lot of my feelings, i'm satisfied with where we are now but we made some unnecessary mistakes along the way. Mowbray still has a lot riding on Brereton, if he contributes 10+ goals next season alternating with Graham as the CF then it might be worth it, if he doesn't then he stays a big misuse of funds. My own preference would've been to see the younger players come into the side sooner, I wish Butterworth/Davenport/Buckley had got at least 5 games under his belt for example, he could be good back up in the Dack role next season and with the window shutting earlier again next season it becomes more of a punt as to whether he's going to be able to contribute.

Me too it's clearly not Mowbray's style of doing things. He'll more likely tell them that they aren't likely to get much game time next season.

I say come back starting Saturday when tickets are cheap.

Source for these Bauer quotes?

Raya Nyambe Lenihan Magloire Bell Chpman Travis Davenport Rothwell Butterworth Graham Bench: Leutwiler, Williams, Bennett, Conway, Buckley, Dack, Brereton.

It's annoyed me that people would claim that was a penalty, but from next season the law is being cleared up to say you cannot score if the ball goes in off your hand/arm whether it was a 'handball' or not.

Reed must look back on this season as being a waste. He's stayed in the acadamy at Southampton a few years too long and he desperately needed game time in centre mid. Despite being our best centre mid most of the season he has barely played in his actual position and isn't any closer to breaking into Southamptons first team, he certainly not going to do it as a right winger. I wasn't too bothered at the start of the season when he was being shoehorned in on the right wing as Smallwood and Evans were playing okay and we were winning games. But like with Rothwell and Travis, he had earned his chance long before he actually got it (if at all, did he ever start back to back games in centre mid?) and since October Smallwood and Evans have been average to poor. I suppose he's partially a victim of Tony's decision to drop Nyambe, with Bennett playing at right back for big chunks of the season we've only an ageing Conway available as the 'Defensive winger' in Tony's footballing mantra. You add in Mowbray's comments in the press throughout the season and I imagine he's pretty peeved off, he'll likely be back in the championship one way or another next season and its unlikely he'd bother coming back here. Perhaps there is a chance that Tony has told him he will play centre mid if he came back but I doubt it. My hope now is that we play Buckley or Davenport in his place until the end of the season but I just don't see that happening, one of them will get 25 mins against Swansea and that'll be that.

You say we don't need an overhaul but 6-8 new player is basically an overhaul of the squad. I would like to see some of these young lads slot in somewhere too. For me the squad would ideally be: Keepers: Raya, New Keeper to challenge him, Fisher Right Back: Nyambe, New right back to compete, Left Back: New starting left back, Bell Centre Back: New commanding CB, Lenihan, + 2 others (from Rodwell, Williams, Mulgrew, Magloire, Wharton) Centre Mids: Travis, Reed (If possible), Davenport, Evans, Buckley. Wide players: Bennett, Chapman, Rothwell, Rankin-Costollo 10's: Dack, Butterworth Stikers: Graham, Brereton, Armstrong, Back up striker to Graham

Whats funny is Mowbray has taken a lot of stick (rightly IMO) for not playing Rothwell over the last few months, but if he had actually started him earlier he would be getting a lot of credit for the signing. He cost us less than 500k, had a poor injury record yet has been fit all season, goes past players with ease. What a bargain. Also Mowbray really pursued him too, tried in January couldn't get him signed Payne on loan then went back in for him in the summer when some of us would have preferred Payne back. I for one was really underwhelmed by the singing initially. Just makes his exclusions even more confusing.

Amen ? stop trying to turn him into something he’ll never be. As someone posted earlier Friedel wasn’t amazing coming for crosses so generally stayed on his line.

Maybe he's got a short memory. He's picked picked Richard Dunne but he played with Terry and Carvalho at Chelsea for two seasons. He's played with Cech, Given and Friedel so Schwarzer seems a bit of an odd choice. Surprised no Tugay

Think Reece James might be a little pie in the sky But Jake Bidwell ticks a lot of boxes: -He's originally from Southport so might fancy a move back up North. - He's out of contract in the summer - He's over 24 (or whatever the limit for compensation is) -He shares an agent with a couple of our recent signings (Brereton and Chapman)

I agree on Conway, I still wouldn't give him another year but a proper winger would complement that midfield very nicely. Williams is better at CB largely because he's less likely to be stood up one vs one in a wide area!

It feels nice to be vindicated about the selections of Travis, Reed and Rothwell but there's a couple of statements i appear to have got wrong on here. Before last nights game I would have been very happy to never see Derrick Williams wearing a Rovers shirt again. But fair to play to him, I thought he played well last night, a particular highlight in the second half was where he nicked in front of a defender to keep us on the attack. As i've mentioned in another thread not having Mulgrew in there allowed us to play 5-10 yards higher up the pitch which allows the midfield to press higher up. The other one is Conway who bar the Sheff Wednesday at home match has looked really below what he used to be and Championship level. But he had a good game last night, he put in some fantastic crosses (like he used to!) and got up and down well. He's a natural wide player too which helps, he knows when to tuck to in and when to pull wide which meant he was always an option for the pass.

It's not just the tempo. The absence of Mulgrew allowed us to defend about 10 yards higher up the pitch which allows the more mobile midfield players to push up.

Wish we played the way we did last night on Saturday. A few of the youngsters might actually want to come back now!

Remember the second game of the season, home to Doncaster. The team he played that day: Raya Nyambe Ward Mulgrew Caddis Smallwood Evans Williams Whittingham Bennett Graham

Well that's a depressing thought

Thought his decision to bring Williams on for Mulgrew was strange also. Lets not forget that his last appearance was Sheff Wed where he was at fault for their first, so why have Rodwell on the bench if your not going to bring him on when a CB goes down injured? Could've used that space for someone that might change the game like Chapman.

Agree on Lenihan, his ability on the ball means he's no way a centre mid. Interestingly I was told that they had to work quite hard to convince Lenihan that his future was as a centre back, he really wanted to be a Roy Keane type midfielder. Mulgrew's gone at this level which is a real shame. That 2 and half year contract extension isn't look great right now. On Rothwell, I thought he started brightly and faded as the game went on. I actually don't think 10 is his best position, think i've read him say he likes to play left of a three in midfield so he can drive at people. Even so when you've been criticising someone for not contributing defensively then that was a perfect opportunity to play him as a 10. It was also a good chance to play Armstrong up front in his actual position who had yet another ineffectual game, he's another i feel sorry for, he;s clearly not suited to getting the ball from deep and trying to open people up. Playing Bennett as a 10 was simply baffling, he offered nothing at all to open them up and was nearly as bad at right back where he put is some really poor crosses. I've lost all faith in Mowbray. It's a shame as I genuinely wanted him to do well and now I can;t see him turning this around.

I’ve been quite critical of Mowbray this last month, but I’ve always wanted him to turn things around. Yesterday was the final straw for me. He just doesn’t get it, yesterday had a bit of everything from him Bennett as a 10? Needlessly negative with only 1 attacking option on the bench? Smallwood and Evans starting centre mid with Travis and Reed on the bench? Even when Mulgrew got injured (there’s another that deserves to be dropped now) he opted for Williams instead on of Rodwell, what’s the point in having a centre half on the bench if your not going to bring him on when one goes off injured? Could’ve used chapman or Butterworth off the bench to breath some life into the team. He didn’t make a tactical change until gone 70 mins. He didn’t make an attacking change until brereton came on with about 15 mins to go, it was quite pathetic. just drab turgid stuff as usual. Mowbray says that there’s not been a visible drop of in our performances. Remember Hull at home Tony what absolute nonsense. the way we’re going we’ll get relegated next season