Mowbray cannot be given a free pass for that horrible, dismal performance as much as there is an element of sympathy around the absentees. There are plenty of controllables that contributed to such a bad performance, one that cannot be celebrated at all. No chances of note at all, literally no shots in the second half. The usual suspects making the night to be a success in the circumstances, no chance. The main thing is the obvious thing, 12m worth of shit. Can anyone accept the challenge to name a striker in the league that is worse than either of those? With Armstrong lethal in front of goal their incompetence is not a major issue when he plays, without him and Dack we needed them 2 to at least offer something and they were absolutely hopeless. Perhaps an indicator as to why Gallagher is not trusted centrally as much as he is even worse wide, touch of a donkey, and Brereton was no better. These 2 expensive mistakes will at some point signal the end of Mowbray and as soon as Armstrong inevitably goes there is reason to fear. Set pieces are a good barometer of the manager and again they were embarassing. All short, all disorganised, all totally wasted. We had no attacking threat so surely use the set pieces to get something into the box. I have been told that Rothwell has been such a miss for us, his second half performances can be added to the majority of appearances that he has made and donr absolutely nothing. Dolan looked again like a little boy lost, Elliott was really quiet again, Holtby again achieved nothing and Trybull can be rather ponderous, a major upgrade on Evans? Not so far. Of course the main positive is the defence even if the defending was very last ditch. Pears made a couple of good saves although he may aswell stand outside the penalty box from corners such is his lack of presence. We have to win on Saturday, our start has been really poor and we cant just write games off to hide behind injuries.

We have lost the 27th most matches in the league in 2020 from 30 teams that have been involved. Dismal.

Its the level that Stergiakis has played at being assumed to be high enough to be relevant to the standard of the Championship. In regards to playing at a level equal to or better than the Championship, Kaminski ticked that box. Between the other 2, I suspect that the only relevant experience of any competent standard is Pears' 20 games at Championship level. His loan spell at Gateshead obviously is too low to be very relevant. But the Bulgarian league is 27th in the coefficients as I mentioned, behind the leagues in Kazahkstan, Azerbaijan and Belarus. I am not really sure that games in that league are warranted "credentials."

Again, I am not defending Pears individually, his first 2 games have really not given me much faith especially around his stature and also his positioning. But I do think that sometimes there is a little bit more intrigue and excitement comes around signings from abroad than sometimes is necessary warranted. Kaminski didnt have Championship experience but he had played hundreds of games at the top end of the Belgian League which is the 8th strongest top league in Europe. He is also in his late 20s and has plenty of experience full stop. Stergiakis was playing in the Bulgarian league which is considered the 27th strongest top league in Europe, considered weaker than the leagues in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Belarus. He did also play in the Europa League this season when they were knocked out 2-1 in the first round to Albanian minnows Kukesi. Even if "that level" was a seemingly high level Mercer, which it isnt, then surely you know that many players play beyond their level, Jason Lowe played hundreds of games for us.

I think hes including Vale and Butterworth who have a cameo in a dead rubber each.

Im not sure he really does, they have played a similar number of games in their careers if you include Pears loan spell and half of Pears' games came at Championship level, I have no idea on the standard of Bulgarian football but I would be surprised if it is on par with Championship standard. That isnt a defence of Pears who instilled no confidence in either game and looked like a little boy really, but I dont see how it can be baffling not to play a kid who has come from a backwater of European football who none of us had heard of prior to signing. As someone with a season pass, it does actually rankle a little when the red button is regularly an option for the home games for which essentially I have paid a tenner for to be fair. I didnt know that prior to the season. A happy medium would be that the games are a fiver a pop.

Im quite surprised to see a fair few suggest that he doesnt have the required quality, he gets into the team over most of our midfielders on quality. The only 2 question marks surely are the fact that he has only signed now and has missed the games in which we have been short, and also the risk (not helped with a 4 month gap) that age will have got the better of him. If he is the player we had last year he is right up there fighting with our first 11.

I think they are both as bad as each other at the moment. Some is down to personal responsibility, some is down to the current tactics exposing them. At least Lenihan has a track record of improving our results with him in the team.

I think that "hindsight is a wonderful thing" has seemingly lost its literal meaning. I know that I was not alone in willing Mowbray to sub Armstrong as soon as I saw him clutch his hamstring, not as something I only became wise to after the game, indeed Armstrong DIDNT tear his hamstring so it didnt go as badly as it could have done. It was not the same situation but Travis got a serious injury after continuing having taken a knock on an area of pre existing injury.

No I never said that others didnt also underperform but specifically to Dolan, he didnt have "one 6/10 performance" before being dropped. He had a couple of exciting cameos, one in which a needless skill led to Bournemouths winner, a decent start at Newcastle, 2 impressive starts with goals and then 2 (not 1) games in which he was invisible. His initial start had dipped, it had fizzled out. Thats why he was then not playing, and he has struggled to get involved in his 3 cameos since. So a mixed bag, but thats not crirical, hes shown far more promise and provided much more contribution though than we would have expected for a kid released by PNE and signed for the kids team. Anyway, my main point was that with Dolan we can dip him in and out, off the bench etc, we cant do that at CB with the kids in that position.

No it is not based on hindsight, I said at the time that I wanted him to come off. Not only would a serious injury be catastrophic but he was clearly hindered by it and wasnt his usual self. I presume you want him to play tomorrow and to take the risk again? Or is that a different situation because Mowbray wont be playing him?

He's torn his hamstring.

Whether its warranted or not im not sure that criticism on a forum can be deemed "abuse."

Its not, I was saying at the time that we needed to take him off, he didnt look right and I spent the game worrying that he was going to get seriously injured. It was a stupid risk because if he is out long term, we are fucked.

But we didnt get anything. Surely we should play him tomorrow again risking serious injury because he is just as crucial to us getting anything then?

To be fair, Travis is a tough tackler and Johnson certainly isnt a playmaker, he cant pass wind yet he often sits in front of the back 4.

The problem with having that mentality is that Mowbray wont be here for ever and it is essentially accepting that we arent progressing too. I certainly agree with your statement that is is small time to have such a stance although I dont think Potter is the best example, he did an unremarkable job at Swansea (which Cooper did better than) and he hasnt improved Brighton on Hughtons time there. Fools people thinking they play out from the back. As you say Reading have managed to think outside the box even though I would not necessarily agree that their side is "nowhere near better than ours." They have some very good players throughout their team, Rafael Cabral is a keeper as good as most in the league, Moore and Morrison are very accomplished CBs at this level, their full backs are young and talented, Ejaria and when fit Swift are very talented, Olise is a real wonderkid and Meite heads a very decent stable of attackers. Im not convinced that our squad is better.

Im not sure about that, he had a few bright cameos where he looked promising without doing much substantial. He then played v Wycombe when he looked really good, not quite as good v Derby but still dangerous and got another goal then totally ineffective v Forest and Cardiff (with a few skills in counterproductive places ) and correctly taken out of the team. Im sure his time will come again.

"Financially, things are tight and we had to fill in some positions and Stewart knew that pretty early. We needed a centre-half, we needed a goalie, we needed a left-back and we needed certain positions and we couldn't spend the money until we filled the positions needed." Seems that Downing was very much down the list of priorities.

Calling him a mercenary is somewhat discrediting him, especially when none of us know what happened in terms of any negotiations.

In them games, Lenihan and Williams were totally fine so no need. The only reason to go beyond that senior trio of them 2 and Ayala is if injury forces our hand. We cant be dipping kids in v weaker opposition, its a risk that we shouldnt be taking. I am not writing Magloire off, hes very young. Loan spells would really help him. To be fair, Dolans immediate rawness and impact in his first few games seems to have tailed off slightly, but he is in an attacking player, so you can use him sparingly and in rotation. Defenders can also mature later on. You cant do that with your defence. Elliott is a player that Liverpool were reluctant to lend out so thats a different kettle of fish.

Theres a kid with 3 promotions and 80 plus league appearances under his belt and id even be reluctant to chuck him in. You dont want to chuck kids in the heart of defence in a poor run of form.

In a friendly. That is the key word. If he did it against Vardy in a competitive match rather than going through the motions in a glorified kick about, fair play. He played at Sheffield Wednesday and looked totally lost against limited but physical players. No shame, hes a kid and needs a loan spell or 2.

Again, massive assumptions seemingly to discredit him as a person. "A likely inflated value of his own worth!" He said that he probably would have retired had he not signed here again.

Downing was very good last season. Assuming that age hasnt caught up with him, he is very much around the first team. Lyons has never played a minute for us, Bennett is out for months and not up to it, Johnson was massively inferior to Downing last year, Evans is very limited, Chapman is a winger and Buckley isnt ready. As previously mentioned, the timing is the problem.