I went today, and i’d agree with your friends assessment. Thought we were poor today again and was very happy when graham scored as I thought we’d got away with it. Thought mowbray got his team wrong, too negative, 2 defensive wingers and only one subs. Only Reed out of position today so not as bad as last week. We said we’d only score with that team from a set piece or a bit of magic from dack, second half we were better and started winning more second balls, for all Tony’s talk of evolving our style of play we just lump it up to graham. we only really created one chance, and that was Dacks chance in injury time. Even the goals were a bit flukey, Graham’s was a massive defelection, and Charlie’s a corner. a few thoughts on the players Raya maybe should’ve done better for the 2nd goal but I’d need to see it again, Nyambe was solid, Rodwell was okay but outmuscled by their ex dingle striker. Bell is a really weird football, does some good things and makes a lot of errors. Smallwood was alright, Travis gave us some drive, Bennett tracking back was immense tracking back but other little going forward, Reed isn’t a winger and it shows. Dack was a little better today but faded late on, graham had a good game. But we’ve got to talk about Mulgrew. He had another really poor defensive performance, take the first goal, error from Bell, but he backs of Adams so much he allows the shot through his legs. He’s scared of getting done for pace and he’s backing off so deep. It looks like we’re seeing the begging of the end for him. It’s quite sad.

Raya Nyambe Magloire Rodwell Bell Bennett Reed Travis Rothwell Dack Graham Subs: Leutwiler, Mulgrew, Evans, Davenport, Chapman, Armstrong, Nuttall Drop Mulgrew doesn't deserve to start after last week. I'm not writing him off just think he needs to send a message and its a good chance to blood a youngster.

Don't think them being converted midfielders is the reason he'd struggle....

Anything is preferable to him playing

He's never going to be an asset for us in centre mid. I know it'd be great if he could play that role for us but theres a reason why he's rocked up here at 27 when he should be at his peak, thats because he's can't be that player any more. He has to adapt to his new role to continue his career, his body can't handle playing 90 mins in centre mid week in week out, it can barely handle playing CB. I agree that him and Mulgrew are too similar but that's happened due to Lenihan's injury and poor recruitment, really he should be vying for Mulgrews place at left cb and after Mulgrews performance on Sunday he should be ahead of him.

I thought Rodwell played okay yesterday. Mulgrew had his worst game for Rovers, he was really poor and continually got caught out with balls over the top. I don't think that was helped either by some of the positions that Williams takes up. Some of the criticisms i've read here that Rodwell wasn't aggressive enough and that the Titanic turned quicker are extremely harsh and should be aimed at Mulgrew not Rodwell. I'd be dropping Mulgrew next week to send a message even if that means we have to blood Magloire. Rodwell at the moment has a lot of individual traits of a very good centre back but can't quite put it all together, his positioning is not quite there yet. I'd keep starting him and working on him in training and then at the end of the season if he doesn't progress then we release him. Nyambe has to come straight back into the team next week. Interesting that Rich Sharpe said that Mowbray had told him that he taken him out of the firing line after the Birmingham collapse at home. But that was a long time ago now and for all his faults he's an actual right back unlike Bennett who we need on one of the wings. Bell needs to start at left back until the end of the season after which we can buy a new left back, Bell can stay as backup. Williams should be fired from a cannon into the sun . With all the talk about how many goals we concede late on in games I didn't realise how poor our record actually was (worst outside the bottom 3, 1 less than Bolton). If we are to do anything other than stay up next season then we need at least 2 defensive additions probably 3 really.

Another game when I looked at the starting lineup and knew we weren’t getting anything. my guess on Tony’s plan is that the idea was to get in round the side of boro’s back 3 and the wing backs using the two repurposed strikers out there. Williams inclusion I think was due to his Ariel ability against a big side when we lack big Cb’s. Bennett at right back I can’t get my head round because he’s proved every week that he’s not a right back, my guess he trying to mould him into a right back as a long term option. Anyways Mowbray lost us that game with some poor tactical decisions, they completely overran us in midfield and we didn’t have a single touch in their box in the 1st half let alone a shot, pathetic. Then when he did change the shape after 25-30 mins we had Reed as a RWB, Bennett as LWB, Dack In CM and Armstrong and Brereton floating behind. IMO he wasn’t bold enough he should’ve changed the personnel if he was committed to changing shape. Better 2nd half, down to 10 against a tough side to break down we created 2 good chances and should’ve taken one, although they had enough good chances to run away with the game ( fletcher is a handful and rubbish at the same time) Mulgrew was dreadful today and I hope it’s just a blip rather than the beginning of the end. thought Rodwell wasn’t decent before he went of but I may be wrong Williams should’nt play for us again Dack was shunted about too much to make an impact didn’t help that he had to run about more, didn’t look sharp. Evans was poor, Travis was better. Brereton after playing okay on Wednesday went back to looking like he’d won a competition, the fans around me were starting to get on his back tooo which is a worrying sign. Id put him in the under 23’s and promote Butterworth. Reed has tailed off but doesn’t help that he’s constantly plays for of position. my hope is that when Chapman and Davenport are fit they come straight in along with the promotion of some of the under 23’s. Give Rothwell a start next week. tine to start more aggressively fading some of the old guard out

I keep saying it but Bell ain't great but he better than Williams. Williams takes up some of the weirdest positions ive ever seen from a full back, he gets dragged all over the place. He's not good at anything. I assumed that Williams was recalled for his ariel ability with Boro being a pretty big side at set pieces. That was the only reasoning that made sense to me. I'd happily never see him in a Rovers shirt again. He's not even good enough as back up, belongs in League 1.

He wouldn't get a game for them

Doubt either are fit enough, Davenport won’t be too far away, no need to rush chapman back with the problems he’s had.

Don’t get your hopes up, doubt we’ll see him for another month

I don't think he is. He's better in the air that's about it. He's been abysmal this season

To be fair he says he expects him to come in not that he wants him to.

In Goal: Keep Raya, sign someone who can seriously put his place under pressure. Release Leutwiler if its cost effective. Right Back: We need a backup for Nyambe Left Back: I'd keep Bell as 2nd choice left back. Get rid of Williams. If you believe that the best way to recruitment is to constantly replace the weakest member of your 1st 11 then a new left back would be top of the list in the summer. Centre Back: Loan out Wharton, Magloire. Maybe let Platt go but i'm not 100 % sure on that. We are going to get a really good look at Rodwell in the next month or so while Darragh 'Long Ball' Lenihan is out, he's got a long run of games to learn his new position, if he doesn't improve then maybe we let him go but i'd be looking to keep him at this stage. As for the first choice pair, I think we need a new first choice one but I couldn't tell you which one I would get rid of. Mulgrew currently gives us an extra dimension with his set pieces, I also think defensively some people under rate his abilities, maybe he's a tad too slow. Lenihan on the other hand has had a real patchy season, has looked really good in places and made some mistakes in others. Neither him nor Mulgrew are going to start 46 games for us next year either. The way we play at the moment then we'd be better off going to buy a solid CB who's dominant in the air.

I agree with pretty much all of this (maybe the bit on Reed is going a bit far) On the point of moving to the next level Tony has talked a really good game on it in the past of the top of my head we've had quotes along the line of - If the players don't step up to the level then we'll buy new players - there's money to spend - we want to evolve our style of play. But then he does the opposite. He's building expectation for a promotion push next season,

Played for the under 23's on Friday so should be back soon. You'd think another 90 mins for them and he should be in contention.

Had some time to digest last night and still don't feel any less frustrated. When i saw that starting 11 I immediately feared the worst and I was hoping to be proven wrong, sadly I wasn't. We lost a very winnable game with that decision. The positives... the actual shape of the side wasn't too bad, first half we had them sussed, they were trying to pass the ball out from the back with bang average players, we pressed well and caught them in possession in good areas, Evans created two good chances for Armstrong from this. We recycled the ball fairly well too first half. The two cb's looked very comfortable in possession. Brereton's performance eased my worries about him a little, looked better in central areas than when he was out wide. Rothwells impressed also when coming on getting a good assist. Mowbray rested arguably our best 3 players in Dack, Graham and Reed. Now i understand 3 games in a week is too much for Graham at this stage of his career and he needs to be managed thats fine. Dack and Reed have also shown signs of fatigue of late but all 3 at once was too big of a gamble from Tony, if your going to rotate you've got to stagger it. The midfield 3 was far too negative of a selection. Bennett just isn't a right back as much as he is better going forward than Nyambe, who really be in his bad books if he's still not getting a game. We wasted some good chances 1st half we really should've taken control of that game. Conway, why does he still get starts? picking him over Rothwell, just why? The only thing I can think is Mowbray doesn't trust him defensively but we played with 3 DM's last night, it was the perfect time to play him, could even have played him left of a midfield 3. Back to conway he's past it, he was on the down-slope for 18 months before we went down and wasn't good enough for us when we were chasing promotion in League 1. He's past it and doesn't offer anything going forward for us anymore stop throwing him pity games! Like Saturday I didn't think individually Smallwood was that bad but I still wouldn't be picking him any time soon. He does what he does fine but his limitations hold us back as a team, especially when we've got the diagonal to Danny Graham to bail us out when the passes aren't flowing in midfield. Travis didn't have a great game for me last night, he plays a higher percentage of forward passes which i like but too many went astray last night, he also looked jaded again i'd rest him Sunday and go with Reed -Evans as the Cm's. The centre backs didn't cover themselves in glory for the 1st goal despite it being a big mistake from Bell. Rodwell didn't get close enough to their striker for the winner. My opinion on him as a centre half changes a lot needs to learn the fundamentals of being a CB quickly. Bell is a really strange player, he's not good enough but I still think he's better than Williams. Overall i'm really losing faith that Tony has a plan, I don't see us challenging next season unless the management get ruthless bin the players we need to and get 4-6 good players in.

Bell is still better than Williams. That’s how bad our left back problem is.

If we don’t buy a left back in the summer someone needs there head checking

Honestly what on earth is Tony thinking?

Its frustrating, if he deems that Travis needs a break then fair enough, he's had two average games recently but then you can't just revert back to something that we know isn't good enough. Play Reed and Evans in there. In CM we've got Reed, Travis, Evans, Smallwood, Bennett, Davenport and then Buckley coming through the academy, we've got plenty of options there's no reason to play those two together again. Don't want to criticise the Manager before the fact but I just hope he doesn't revert back to that pairing.

Personally I never want to see that combination again barring an injury crisis. Its not that I particularly dislike either its just that I dislike the way we play our football when those two are together it always end with us going long ball. A combination of one and Reed or Travis who are a bit more likely to press up the field. Think it's no surprise that we won 4 on the bounce in January and particularly against Hull played some lovely football with Smallwood absent. The midfield that day was much more fluid and I don't think we can do that with Smallwood playing.

Rich Sharpe thinks we'll be seeing the return of the 'Smallwood-Evans axis' this evening.

I'd rotate Travis for this one, he looked a little sluggish on Saturday, makes it easier to do with Evans back. Without getting into a debate on Grahams fitness i'd be rotating him also. Raya Nyambe Rodwell Mulgrew Bell Bennett Reed Evans Rothwell Dack Armstrong Subs: Leutwiler, Williams, Travis, Smallwood, Conway, Brereton, Graham.

I’ve seen him play and he wasn’t considered good enough at Shrewsbury in League 1.