The team isn't that young. Mulgrew, Williams, Smallwood, Evans, Graham - all regulars with a ton of experience. Where's the leadership from these lads when the pressure is on? Dack is 25 in four days so he's hardly a youngster either. As I said yesterday, too many of the wrong personality types in the team right now. Not enough leaders. The panic and fear across the team towards the end of matches is embarrassing to watch. If you think the players will just grow out of that I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken. Leadership is an inherent trait and we don't have anywhere close to enough of it in the team at present.

Great, so we just need to work out how to get the game to end once we get ourselves into the lead?

Can somebody explain to me what Mowbray's philosophy actually is? Team spirit? Not really a philosophy so much as just creating a positive working environment, which is a prerequisite for any successful team. In footballing terms I have no idea what his philosophy is. Buy strikers to play out wide and concede a lot of goals, ideally as late as possible? Not something we're going to want to persist with long term, is it? I think I have an idea of what he wants to achieve, but I see no evidence of it being close to fruition on the pitch and our transfer record, Dack aside, is pretty uninspiring.

Recent reuslts are a textbook case of how to lose goodwill and cause mistrust between the fans and the team. Cowardly performances and bad results against local rivals? Check Constant leaking of late goals? Check Inability to beat poor teams at home? Check Inability to keep a clean sheet? Check Inability to beat a team with ten men for most of the match (despite being a goal to the good)? Check And amidst all of this nonsense we've got Mowbray and the club trying to guilt people into buying half season tickets with #COMMITMENT. How about Mowbray and the club show a commitment to improving themselves first, rather than a shrug of the shoulders and telling everyone "this is where we are... oh and buy a half season ticket please" ?

It's interesting how these results seem to have been forgotten in certain quarters. We got thrashed by two local rivals within days of each other - and neither of them are even particularly good. Looking at our results since we beat QPR 1-0 on 3rd November it's not hard to see why people are getting fed up. Rovers 1-1 Rotherham - terrible home result. Rotherham score with their only shot on target, because of course they did. Preston 4-1 Rovers - fucking embarrassing. Wigan 3-1 Rovers - another shameful performance. Rovers 4-2 Wednesday - still managed to concede two against a team which had basically downed tools. Boro 1-1 Rovers - Good result in theory but Boro played 80% of this match with ten men and we were a goal up. Rovers 2-2 Birmingham - two goals up against a dire Birmingham team, only to throw it away and concede two goals in two minutes. Rovers 0-1 Norwich - 86th minute goal conceded. A single shot on target the entire match. Leeds 3-2 Rovers - a goal on 90 minutes to make it 2-1 Rovers. Still contrive to lose 3-2. Got destroyed stats wise. Who in their right mind would be happy with nearly two months of this shit? We've been a joke the past month and a half, and we've got the manager coming out talking about "positives" and "this is where we are". Give me a break. We've been an embarrassment recently and something needs to be done to halt the slide.

The same problems we're discussing now were evident from day one when we let a lead slip in the final few minutes against Ipswich - the worst team in the division by some distance. How about when we ended up 2-0 down to Reading, another awful team, and had to rely on them giving us two penalties to get back into it? How about when we nearly threw away a three goal lead at Stoke and only won because they missed a penalty in the last few minutes? We should all be concerned by this pattern of behaviour. It suggests a very weak mentality within the squad, a lack of confidence seeing out games and at a basic level poor defensive coaching. This all falls under the manager's remit to sort out.

I think Tony probably sells his vision quite well to prospective attacking signings, but his words likely don't match the reality of the situation. I'm sure that Tony genuinely does want to play with two inside forwards. It seems obvious he wants those inside forwards to be supported by the target man (in our case DG) holding the ball up and bringing them into play either via overlapping runs into the space behind DG or from a lay off to and through ball by Dack. In theory the full backs would be operarating as wing backs, also getting forward to support the attacking players through crosses or through balls behind defenders into the inside forward to either get a shot on goal or put the ball across to Graham/Dack for the shot. If that is the goal then it makes sense for Tony to be looking at players with the general skills of Armstrong, Brereton, Palmer, etc for that inside forward role as it needs the player to be mobile, energetic and decent in front of goal. The problem is that type of system is pretty attacking minded, which is the total opposite to Mowbray's naturally ultra cautious, defensive mindset. It's a little baffling to me that this is what Tony is fixated on achieving when it's clearly not based on his personal preferences as far as caution and defence are concerned. To play a system with two inside forwards, a target man and an attacking creative midfielder your team either needs to be on the front foot throughout games or be extremely quick on the counter attack. We already know Rovers are not set up to impose themselves on games, particularly with the Smallwood/Evans axis, and we counter attack at a pathetically glacial speed which makes that route of attack largely redundant. We're also not particularly dynamic or intelligent when we're on the ball. Our slow playing speed means that it's rare for us to create gaps in the opposition's defence. I think this is why the likes of Armstrong end up drifting out to the wing position as opposed to the inside forward area - they're looking for space. Unfortunately they end up out wide so often that they essentially become wingers, making the inside forward idea and concept irrelevent. It also isolates DG and Dack as they are not supported at all and basically have to try and create everything between the two of them. I have to assume the reason Mowbray is choosing to buy strikers to play up top is because he really does want to play a system which is narrow up top with overlapping wing backs providing the width as and when necessary. It just doesn't work because our players aren't (imo anyway) capable of playing such a system effectively. We would need upgrades in numerous positions to achieve what Mowbray seems to be after, and he himself would need to shift to a more aggressive, attacking mindset. I would be surprised to see either happen which leaves us stuck playing a formation and style that doesn't suit the personnel available.

I honestly took very little away from last season because the standard of the league was so poor. Even then whilst Armstrong did have a purple patch when he joined, his goals dried up almost completely after that. I remember being concerned by that at the time and I wasn't convinced he should be signed permanently. All of that said he is ultimately playing out of position so the blame still lies squarely with Mowbray. If he wanted a wide man he should have bought a wide man, not a bloody striker to play there. The same nonsense was happening with big Dom before his injury.

To be fair there's a reason he cost less than £2m. In today's market that is peanuts, especially for a player who was at a PL club.

We're essentially back to where we were under Bowyer during the season he got us 9th, just with a less talented squad. So finishing anywhere from 14th - 21st would be about right. I'd be stunned if we got relegated at this point. Too many teams worse off than us this season.

The Trust were unfortunate in that they simply put the club up for sale at the wrong time. If they'd waited a few more years and kept us in the PL then I imagine they would have had far more lucrative offers. In their haste to jettison us at any cost they fucked us all over. We all know the club is entirely dependent on Venky's, but the reason we are in such insane debt and now practically unsellable is because of the countless mistakes Venky's have made during their tenure. No fan should feel grateful for what they've done or for the owners' support - it's the absolute least they can do, having bought and demolished a club many thousands of people cared and still do care deeply about. If they have even the slightest hint of integrity within them they will keep this club afloat for as long as is necessary without expecting a shred of gratitude from any of us. If they get us back into the PL and wipe the debts, maybe we can reconsider, but even that won't erase the negative experiences they've carelessly bestowed on thousands of fans, not to mention driving business and livelihoods directly and indirectly linked to the club into the ground. There's a lot of bad karma there.

I do wonder if giving away those penalties at the start of the season has had an effect on his tenacity.

I agree. I don't think the current structure provides the manager anywhere near enough support to ever be successful long term - at least as far as getting us out of this division is concerned. We're currently supported enough financially to keep us in the division (or get us out of a lower division) with a half decent manager - although I do fear what happens when Graham, Mulgrew and Dack inevitably move on, or in the former two's case become ineffectual due to age or retire. It'll take a good eye for talent to replace those lads. Our owners are very wealthy Parson. If they genuinely wanted us to compete they could get serious, lay the right foundations, ensure good signings are made without breaking FFP rules and put us right in the hunt - not too dissimilar to how Tan got Cardiff up last season. But we all know this won't happen because they've never been serious about Blackburn Rovers. We're an albatross around their neck which they seem to feel obliged to support at a basic level, but not enough to ever make us successful long term. And let's not forget the main reason we need such hefty financial support is because of the destruction they themselves have wrought. The supporters don't need to feel thankful towards them for that as it's their own fault the club is in this position. If anything we should all feel extremely angry that they've put this club in such a vulnerable and unenviable position.

The main thing we're lacking (imo) to get into the playoffs are leaders on the pitch. We have a lot of weak, timid personalities. Not enough players in the mold of Todd, Savage, Nelsen, etc. In many ways it's a team built in the image of the manager.

He barely bloody plays, let alone scores!

Yep pretty much, although Rotherham have been poor most of the season. Us and Wigan definitely ended up in a bit of a false position for a while, but I think we're quickly returning to where we should be nearer the bottom of the table. I don't think we're a bottom three team but we're nowhere near a playoff team or even a top half of the table team. The gulf in class between us and the better teams in this division is very obvious.

Apparently the word you're looking for is "competitive" ?

We just have to hope Mowbray figures this out. I can't say I want him to be binned as I seriously doubt we'll get anybody better. Mowbray has some serious flaws as manager, but we're more likely to end up with another Coyle than another... Uh... Bowyer? ?

Nope, just a fluke result, much like the 0-0 against Derby earlier in the season.

So 24 shots to 8, 10 on target versus 2 and 71% to 29% is competitive? Yeah, okay.

Sounds like it could have come from Steve Kean. I mean that as well. Delusional comments considering our current run of form and statistical inability to stop goals from going in towards the end of matches. I used to appreciate Mowbray's honesty, but if he keeps this up then he just joins the long list of bullshitters that spend their interview time talking to India rather than Blackburn.

This is pretty much the aim now, which is sad when you consider where we were a couple of months ago. Our season has totally imploded as of late and we're dropping points in the most soul destroying fashion for both players and fans. I really hope Mowbray's bullshit about positives is just a smokescreen and he understands how serious this situation is. We're free falling dangerously.

With all due respect Tony, take your positives and shove them where the sun doesn't shine.

Mowbray is responsible for the coaching of these players ffs. If they can't see out games it's because they aren't being coached to do so.

Frankly I don't think it would change much. In terms of quality our defence was near the top of League 1 standards, yet we were leaking goals regularly in that wasteland of a division. It's more of a Mowbray/coaching problem than a player problem imo.