Totally agree that unavailability can often lead to a downturn in results too. Indeed Norwich's injury list was so bad that they had one senior player on the bench, a young midfielder at left back, a midfielder up front etc and in normal circumstances a draw at home to Coventry would be a major frustration. Watfords manager said that he was purposely playing a specific and more pragmatic way I think at the time when he didnt really have an out and out striker so it affects even the bigger squads and is widespread across the league. However I sense that judging our side when everyone is fit or indeed for any Championship side may be a scenario that doesnt unfold this season.

Any talk of relegation is undoubtedly illogical and seemingly from a minority, no disagreements here on that! Warnock certainly hasnt had a clean bill of health himself at Boro although of course he hasnt had the resources and the time to build a squad as Mowbray has done here. I think there were 2 games in which the unavailability list was especially troublesome. Forest at home although half of the absentees were players not registered in time or considered to be signed in time by the manager, and the 11 we named was very competitive, and that Boro game on Sky especially with Kaminski and Armstrong being the 2 particularly notable absentees, although the replacements where Pears who he paid a fee for this summer and 12m worth of firepower up top. As ive said, our absentee list over the season is perhaps above average but I just think it is important to appreciate that others have had numerous absentees and at times have left them with no senior options in certain positions, something we seem to have avoided in the main. Lets hope that over time others are affected more than us and our key players stay fit for the most part though. I am wary of falling into a "judge us when we have our best team available" mentality as quite simply I do not see any teams having a full clean bill of health for anything other than a fleeting moment this season, with covid drop outs and the massively increased intensity of the fixture list. When Dack and Travis are back, a couple of others will likely be out by then.

I have never doubted that we have probably suffered more than most with injuries, and like the manager and everyone else it is a big source of frustration for me, of course. It is not me just saying that it shouldnt affect us at all or indeed that we should ignore it, of course not. Its just that we have also been in a similar league position that we have flickered between for 18 months now, hovering from anywhere between one win away from the top 6 and mid table mediocrity, so I struggle to lump all/too much of the blame on the idea that injuries are costing us from being in the top 6. I feel that such a theory is lacking any real justification. Its a big question mark. I would concede that there was one or two games in which the number of injuries was particularly and abnormally serious, I think it was the Forest game in which we had to put Brennan on the bench to make the numbers up. But it is also important to realise that we are not the anomaly in the league, quite a few teams have suffered mass unavailability, I think as much from the increased quantity of matches in a short space of time. There are also a couple of caveats for me. The likes of Ayala and Douglas were signed (and Evans renewed) by Mowbray knowing that both players have suffered from injury problems in the past. Obviously I am not implying that we shouldnt have signed them but how much can you put it down to misfortune? I also think we would have been in a much worse situation had the injuries been focused in specific areas, it may be partly down to the benefit of Mowbray having the time and comparative resources to build a deeper squad on paper than many but you look at Norwich having to play a midfielder up front and solely kids on the bench, Preston had all 4 full backs out on Saturday and had to totally change shape to try and fail to cover that fact, thankfully we havent had as much of a specific area that has been totally ravaged. But yeah, I do of course sympathise with the injuries we have suffered, I just am keen to also add to the context of others suffering in similar or at times even worse ways and also I am unsure how much we can put not being in the top 6 down to unavailability.

The injuries will keep coming I am sure, they will to all teams, of course we need to manage and use the squad as best we can but we need to make sure that we dont use them as excuses.

They are only one point below us so if anyone considers them to be dire then they cant think much of us either.

Evans playing led to a very high win percentage last season. Unfortunately when he was played this season, he was used in a way that totally focused on the limitations in his game. He is also a player that Mowbray gave an extended contract to. As of yet we have yet to prove that we are a genuine top 6 side or indeed anything other than an outsider. There is more promise though but until we fully emerge from mid table and break into the top 6, said promise will be unfulfilled.

Has Kevin Phillips worked with Nigel Pearson before or is it just a token "legend" appointment?

I thing you are downplaying the injuries that Norwich have had. Yesterday they had Pukki, Hugill and Idah all injured in the same position so had to play a midfielder up front. They were missing Buendia, Cantwell and Dowell all from attacking midfield and were also missing a couple of full backs so had to play a young midfielder at left back which has been the case for a few games. Their bench was one senior centre back and then just kids. Other teams have also been badly affected and again in specific areas. Preston are currently without all 4 senior full backs as well as Browne who sometimes plays at right back in an emergency, and have also had Pearson, Davies and Johnson out in recent weeks. Watford have had Capoue, Gray, Hughes, Deeney, Dele-Bashiru, Perica etc out at the start, they beat Boro on the opening day with 11 players out, some of whom have recently returned. Bristol City signed Mawson and Sessegnon in defence who have all been injured as well as Joe Williams and Liam Walsh in midfield and Andi Weimann. Stoke have had a bit of a goalkeeping injury crisis lately having to recall a kid from a loan spell with Gunn and Davies both injured. The culmination of our injuries came v Forest when we had to put one kid in Brennan on the bench. Many of our players are injury prone anyway (Ayala, Williams, Evans, Douglas etc) so it is a little illogical to claim to be hard done by when those individuals succumb to further injury. But the side we put out that day was full of experience, the injuries werent really pooled in one specific area and 4 of the absentees where new signings that were either ineligible or simply not selected which is not something that we were hard done by. The main issue for me is I dont think it is fair to imply that injuries and covid are the main reason that we arent in the top 6 because we dont have any evidence of being there prior. Injuries across the board are naturally more common this season.

I do think on the injury front that the main 2 reasons are the fact that we have many injury prone players and obviously fixture congestion and the pandemic. Other teams are really suffering too (see Norwich today who had half a bench and all kids) which is why I am reluctant to put too much stock in the narrative that injuries are a major excuse. I think they are normal at the moment across the board.

Its guesswork (unless Mowbray has publically stated as such which i have missed) to suggest that we had a special and seperate "development" transfer kitty and even if we did, for the first 2 years there were no signs that the development money had been correctly spent.

Echo everyone elses analysis that the performance was poor but it is all about 3 points at the end of the day. Kaminski's save was absolutely brilliant, he is a very good goalkeeper. Some of his kicking was slightly under his usual standards and had a bit of a heart in mouth moment trying to claim a corner near the end but I feel safe with him in net and hope he can keep these standards up as he is a huge upgrade. Nyambe was really good at right back, miles better than Rankin Costello and highlights the avoidable contract situation which could cost us a very promising right back. We need DOuglas back ASAP, Bell is so poor technically and tends to need 3 or 4 touches when anyone else needs 1 or 2 and it slows us down, his clearances and touches are usually loose and cause us further problems. The 2 centre backs again impressed, Lenihan is back to his usual self and playing well and Wharton again was really impressive, Carter admittedly in a difficult situation looked really shaky and it just shows how much them loan spells have pushed Wharton on to another level. Trybull im not convinced by and I thought Johnson coming on improved us, Rothwell anonymous, Holtby is a very technically good player but he doesnt control enough games for me. Elliott I thought was pretty poor today too, as was Brereton really, quiet compared to recent standards. Gallagher finished off a very impressive personal week with a very good goal, Armstrong seemed quite moody but he scores goals at a brilliant rate and you just cant argue with it.

I would but I think he will speed past me like he keeps doing to defenders at the moment.

My post was downplaying the correlation between empty stadiums and his improvement, that comment you highlighted is out of context. Although as I am sure you are aware, even if I did genuinely mean that he used to play like "an incompetent clown" on an internet messageboard, that is not abuse nor would it affect him in a stadium.

Its a bit of a double edged sword, obviously I share everyone's doubts about him as a manager but he is a liability on the pitch at the moment too, so they may suffer either way.

Mowbray did specifically say after PNE that “On my board we’ve got 11 fixtures between now and the new year and players like 17-year-old Harvey Elliott can’t be playing all of them." I dont think there would be any realistic expectation for Elliott to play every single game, and having got a knock I hardly expect that Liverpool would be in any way annoyed should he not start tomorrow, I think obviously its a different matter should he have ever been regularly out of the team and we would have been financially penalised should that have happened. No doubts from me that Elliott is a better player than Gallagher but I think the latter could feel hard done by should he be dropped tomorrow. No need to make any changes to the starting line up.

Im not sure that it tends to work out too often when clubs try to mould Sporting Directors and Head Coach partmerships to try and cover all bases in terms of experience and new ideas.

If his improvement is largely down to the lack of crowd, surely as soon as they return he will go back to what he was as soon as we return? That could be a worry in that case, being good in an empty stadium looking longer term is a fairly worthless trait! Its impossible to allocate how much if any of the improvement is down to that though, I look at a physical change in him looking far stronger, I consider the change in style that we have adopted and the positional change of him being left of a 3, and also much better application and desire, maybe he has realised that he needs to do more. He also changed the game in the Swansea home game just before the lockdown so maybe the lack of crowds and his upturn have minimal correlation and indeed he would have improved regardless? I certainly think it is too soon to be saying things like we will struggle to keep him in the summer. He has that 7m price tag on him still which will probably mean that we wont consider anything under that and there is no way that anyone will bid that sort of money for him at this time or indeed unless his contribution improves further still. With Armstrong, his departure may be inevitable if we dont go up simply because of the sheer number of goals, if Brereton chips in as he has started to do, then im not sure that he will necessarily become impossible to keep.

What tackle has cost us? The injury was fairly innocuous and it is unfair to attach any blame to Morsy. Mowbray said this about him today: "Bradley Dack is probably a week or so away now. He was telling me today next weekend, which is good," he added. "Like any player coming back from a long-term injury, they have little setbacks along the way. It's not the smooth journey back that he wants but he's out there running round and kicking balls again today. He's happy and we have to accept sometimes the route back to first-team football isn't always smooth. "He had an awareness in his hamstring last week but he was back out there kicking balls today and he's a week away."

I would like Holtby to sign on for an extra year or two but I do worry that a potential want to move back to Germany coupled with the owners disinterest making Mowbray struggle to be able to get contracts over the line based on his recent quotes may make this his last season at the club. I doubt that pay as you play contracts exist, why would anyone in their right mind accept a contract in which a spell out of the team would lead to no income?

I really struggle with this theory that Brereton has suddenly turned his performance level around because there are no fans. As others have touched on, Brereton has not been unfairly abused by the fans, in fact we have been very patient with him. No need for our own fans to make us out as a raging mob. Also, if the difference is down to playing behind closed doors then the improvement is worthless if as soon as crowds return, he will return to being an incompetent clown! That theory does him a disservice anyway. His application and effort have gone up lots, the change in style and formation seems to suit him and have found a role for him and he looks like he has bulked up. All more constructive explanations as to the changes in his game.

Theres surely no way that at the moment, he is worth more than 7m. His improvement is stark and very promising but he has only scored 5 goals as it stands in over 2 years so there is no way that anyone would pay that sort of fee for him.

10 would be a decent starting target. Lets assume he gets 10, rather than of course at the moment it being hypothetical/extrapolated, even then does a 10 goal "wide forward" warrant a 7m fee? Not sure it does really. But of course it would be an unexpected and impressive improvement, that is for sure.

Im not sure that Barkhuizen is a "top player" but even so, the one thing that we can be sure of based on his Rovers career to date (and highlighted again at Deepdale last season against Barkhuizen) is that Bell is not a competent defensive full back to face a player deemed as such a threat. Agree that the ability to play it out from the back is massively overstated, its mostly important to defend properly. I would say though that you do need a degree of competence on the ball though and that there have been a couple of times especially v Luton where he has created (usually minor) defensive problems by conceding possession in poor areas so it is important that he improves on the ball but defenders defend first and it is very difficult to expect centre backs at this level to do both sides of it. Wharton doesnt get into our best 11 but I think he has shown to Mowbray that as one of 4 CBs he can be depended upon, which will be required especially as the other 3 are injury prone. Last season we were left short a couple of times, which saw bring Bennett in at RB and subsequently move Nyambe or bring in Carter and it cost us points.

No chance, he will need to do more and for much longer to justify that level of fee. More goals especially. Thats not downplaying how much of a different player he appears to be or a criticism of him, but hes not worth 7m at the moment, If someone offered 7m for him in January, I doubt we would turn it down.

I am a bit wary of saying things like Kaminski is "the best keeper since Friedel" so early although such a title is not the biggest of compliments anyway, I suppose the main competition would be Robinson who was decent at a higher level but of course also had a spell in which back problems, a blood clot and weight issues made him a liability for a while. Aside from him, the likes of Steele, Kean, Bunn, Eastwood, Walton etc, we have had some really poor goalkeepers, even Raya made his fair share of howlers, thats for sure, In regards to him using us as a stepping stone, its easy to forget that a few months ago, he was dropped to second choice goalkeeper at Gent and his stock was low, their fans seemed pleased to see him leave. He has started his Rovers career very impressively and I think especially compared to the 3 games in which Pears played, he gives a real feeling of confidence to everyone. I dont think we need to worry about him being snatched off him by a PL club anytime soon though as it is early.