RevidgeBlue

You're contradicting yourself completely there Matty - if you don't think we'll do it then by definition in your mind we are not in the mix! Also people keep mentioning Villa as an example of how we might be able to work ourselves into the mix - but they only did so after they changed manager! Which incidentally is the only way I think we'd be able to work our way into the mix - by bringing someone in who will deliver victories not disappointing outcomes when it matters.

And at half time. Very strange given the weather we've had although I don't think the pitch is in bad nick considering the extreme conditions recently.

We haven't been in the mix all season. We weren't in the mix before the game and we still aren't. We COULD suddenly start winning crucial games instead of blowing it every single time, then again if my Aunty had balls etc........ It's the definition of insanity isn't it, doing (or in this case watching) the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

4 crucial home games with the play off positions beckoning. Wigan, Birmingham, Stoke and Swansea. No wins, three draws and one loss and barely any passion or commitment in any of them bar the last 10 -12 mins today when the game had already gone. You could maybe excuse us not winning one or maybe even two of them. To not win ANY is absolutely pathetic and tells you all you need to know about where we're going with this absolute joke of a manager. Venky's - Please please please replace Mowbray now, send Waggott and Venus packing with him and put a team in place that at least gives us some hope of challenging for promotion. On a note specific to today, why was Graham taking the penalty when he's barely played or found the net all season and only been on the pitch 10 mins.? Conversely you've got Armstrong on the pitch.who has generally been in good goalscoring form and who actually scored a penalty seven days ago! Amateur beyond belief.

Grrr...... we're NOT in the mix! 4 points outside the play offs might as well be 14! If we get to the stage when we're level on points with the team in sixth place then we're in the mix.

I can see where OEB is coming from. Technically of course it isn't "a dead rubber". But then again technically we could still go up automatically if we win our last eleven games and all the other teams above us collapse. Are we really going to bridge the gap between ourselves and the play off positions now when we've failed to do so all season and have looked countless gift horses in the mouth in that respect? There's always that glimmer of hope but I dont have any expectation whatsoever it will happen.

Fair comment about the relegation scrap. Arguably Mowbray has performed slightly better since all the injuries than before as the options available to him have been more restricted and his hand has been forced about trying youngsters etc. Avoiding a relegation struggle isn't an acceptable yardstick though. And another manager might not waste the vast majority of our annual transfer budget on expensive flops.

You're quite right I dont enjoy watching us under Mowbray because imo the football is generally dire, in the general scheme of things there's no real sign of progression and ithere is no hope of ever achieving promotion under this manager. If you're happy to bob around mid table in the Championship forever without ever really challenging that's your prerogative.

We're miles behind a target of 1.8 points per game. If we were on track we'd be on 63 points after 28 games. We're only on 52. Edit: We also now need more than two points per game from the remaining eleven to get to the normal sort of benchmark of 75 points.

Yes, how dare away teams come to Ewood and attempt to make it difficult for us to score, completely out of order, in fact I think they should do the sporting thing and give us a goal or two start. As for talk of the play offs it is and always has been completely pie in the sky. It's always "IF we win x, y and z we'll be right in the mix" etc. We never do, but as suckers we fans fall for it, get briefly excited, then get let down time after time. However all the "never mind the bad result and performance we'll be ok if we win the next 3" talk does make it sound like Mowbray is doing a far better job than he actually is and keeps us limping down the road to nowhere for a while longer.

We're not "well in the mix" for the play offs at all though are we? That's the entire point. We've never occupied the play off positions at any point in a terrible division and when the ordinary nature of the rest of the Clubs occasionally contrives to give us an opportunity to challenge we blow it.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Wigan all over again. Not as bad a performance but as soon as this lot look like they might be in with a chance of doing something they fail to perform and let us down. Subs made way too late from the 78th minute onwards.Very odd with the game at 0-0 and us needing the 3 points. Even odder considering Tombola Tony normally chucks on a random array of subs around the 63rd minute mark. It is difficult to do justice to how bad Gallagher is, he is absolutely dreadful. How he survived 78 mins tonight without being hooked is anyone's guess. We also played really well in his absence through injury against Hull therefore I've no idea what he's shown to the manager this season that warraned his automatic recall once fit again. So on to Swansea, we may win, we may not, but you can more or less guarantee that if we win on Saturday we'll contrive to throw in some poor performances thereafter to keep us a "safe" distance out of the play off spots. It's really difficult to maintai much enthusiasm for proceedings knowing we'll never do anything under this manager.

The game of two pens that never were.Cant really complain about theirs when ours wasn't either. For me Walton has let the opposition get back into the game today just as at Boro. Great strike by Watkins but if Walton was covering his near post he makes a routine save. He was way too far over towards the centre of the goal gambling Watkins didn't go near post. As Tyrone said above successful sides see out wins from winning positions. Sky highlighted that even before today we were joint top of the table for dropping points from winning positions. 21 before today, 23 now. On the plus side, thought all the back 4 were very good. Battled really hard. Best I've seen them play as a unit.

Great win. ?

Get in!!! ?

Delighted for Buckley. Can only help his confidence. Looks a lot more likely than JRC to me but obviously I'll have to defer to those who have seen more of them both.

Very disappointed Brereton has been dropped again after a bright showing Tuesday night. He really can't do anything right where Mowbray is concerned can he?

I still don't believe that if Mowbray (or any other manager for that matter) definitely isn't working then the fact a worse replacement might be found is a valid reason for keeping him. I realise we differ on whether he's "working". As regards HSH/SEM etc etc I really don't believe things have ever been done that much differently in modern times, I can't see that using them is that much different to getting shafted up Hill and down dale on a regular basis by Souness's favourite agent Willie McKay for example. It was just the conflict of interest thing that intrigued me. I suppose there must be lots of examples where agents act for both a player and manager at the same Club. Possibly not a problem normally but where a potential conflict of interest does arise occasionally you'd like to think they'd cease to act for one party or the other. Bet they don't though.

If it is the case that the last 3 managers have come from this HSH agency like you say, then who do they have on their books that's currently out of work? Because if you're correct then there's every chance that that's the "talent" pool we'd we drawing from if we go down the same route for the next manager. Had a look at HSH on the internet last night. Seems a relatively small 3 man concern set up in 2014 based in Middlesbrough (there's a surprise!) and the guy who is the public face of it Craig Honeyman previously had a senior role at SEM. Seems we are still being advised and/ or drawing "talent" from the same people under a different name. One thing that surprised me was that Richie Smallwood was specifically cited in an article about Honeyman as one of HSH's clients. Assuming Mowbray is an HSH client as well then there's a clear conflict of interest there, Mowbray might want shot of Smallwood but HSH with their Smallwood hat on could advise Smallwood to dig in and see out his contract on higher wages than he'd get elsewhere which ultimately could be a factor in getting Mowbray the sack. The other alternative is that the Club might want Smallwood off the wage bill but Mowbray isn't as proactive in pursuing this as he should be because they're all from the same stable. Not healthy at all.

The reality is that enough teams above us are going to be picking up points at a reasonable rate so we would need about another four or five wins on the bounce to actually get into the play off positions and I can't see that happening. Keeps Tony in a job though. "We're only (insert figure between 3 and 8 points) behind the play off positions" sounds a lot better than "We haven't occupied either the automatic promotion slots or play off places at any point this season."

If we did sign him after seeing from his loan period that he isn't particularly good (like Gallagher) then I think it'd end up exactly the same way. We'd end up vastly overpaying and end up with an expensive flop we'd struggle to give away. Which probably means Mowbray and Waggott will do it. Less work than looking for a better alternative.

Course we shouldn't. Never heard anything as ridiculous and not even sure why it's up for debate.

I think we're roughly similar in our views on the manager and the team but I enjoyed last night. I thought Saturday was a scandal. Theoretically meant to be chasing a play off place but setting up to try and scrape a point and mustering just one effort on target after going behind. However I thought last night was much better. Armstrong should have scored from a glorious chance inside 10 seconds and we carved out numerous clear cut opportunities in the first half whereas normally you're scratching your head up to half time trying to remember if we've worked the opposition keeper or not. Although we did our usual at the start of the second half, and dropped off the pace after a good 45 mins, the tempo picked up again after the introduction of the substitutes and 27 shots in total was evidence of a much better attitude than normal for me. I completely agree we need to back the result up against Charlton. Whether we do so or not I think will depend primarily on the manager. Will he stay positive with his selections and let the players continue to go out and give it a go? If so it might be an interesting and entertaining end to season. If however he retreats into his more natural containment mode the season will probably fizzle out into a repeat of the last one.

Whoa, I enjoyed last night but let's not get giddy. Walton is absolutely dreadful by far the worst permanent keeper I've seen playing for us and if it's true we turned down the chance to send him back in January it's yet another lamentable decision imo Walton seems completely incapable of catching a shot coming towards him, he did my head in at weekend when he straight arm punched a weak shot at chest height out for a corner. That in itself is an art it's be easier to catch it than five away a needless corner. Said it before, for me Raya has massive natural talent and whilst he makes mistakes more than makes up for it by making stupendous saves he's no right to make. Walton makes just as money mistakes if not more and for me is relatively talentless and rarely makes any saves you wouldn't expect him to make. He's ok on simple crosses and spreading himself on a one on one, but that's about it. His shot stopping ability is more or less non existent.