I actually agree regarding consulting fans first. But when I and others complained when we was moved from the Darwen End without consultation, you was very dismissive and defended the club on making such a decision. You can't be inconsistent on your opinion dependant on whether the decision affects you directly.

Today was the last chance for us to make direct ground on one of the teams in the play offs, although that may be a positive thing as our record against these teams is poor, winning only 1, drawing 3 and losing 4. Also throw in 2 losses v the top 2 and our record v the top 6 is not something to be proud of. There is little margin for error now, we need to put a run of results together in the last 12 games that earns us at least 5 or 6 points more than a team in the top 6, at least 2 points more than the team in between and enough points to ensure no teams come from our blind side and overtake us. A long shot and one I suspect will be beyond us especially with our injury problems but theres no reason to fear it considering our form in the last few months.

Cant remember which teams were beneath us, Wigan were the only team ahead of us on a massive 31 points, we were second when it showed the stat on 21 points prior to us losing a 2 nil lead.

Lambert as we know doing a terrible job, a bizarrely huge contract will possibly unjustly keep him there. Would expect Bolton to sack Hill sooner rather than later too. I appreciate that it is a difficult job but he certainly isnt getting anything based on results from a squad that definitely isnt the worst in the league, and has a very aggressive and disruptive personality, often criticising his players in public.

To be fair, he has only been putting this level of consistent performance for 2 or 3 months. For the first 18 months of his time here as a permanent and Championship player, he was poor far often than he was good and his goal and assist contributions were very underwhelming. He does need to keep doing what hes doing, add more "bread and butter" goals and then as you suggest, Prem clubs may take a serious interest. Interestingly, out of all the Premier League teams, the one that he could possibly break into are the one that sold him. If they ever did come back for him, I doubt we would be able to keep him.

Absolutely. As you say, he has stepped up into the void left by Dack and co. He has contributed with some assists and some particularly eye catching goals but in terms of improving his numbers further and adding sustainability in terms of consistency of goals he needs to start showing composure when one on one and also anticipating tap ins amd scruffy goals.

You havent proven anything, youve stated your opinion. It certainly wasnt as clear cut as the decision against us which was a dive but I think we were lucky to get ours. I dont think I have ever seen you agree with a decision against us or disagree against one that has gone our way so if you want to view it from a position lacking neutrality then fair enough. The throwing away of 23 points from winning positions will be a huge regret if we do miss out on the top 6.

Amazed if Woodgate keeps his job until the end of the weekend, doing a dismal job. Looks like the top 2 are starting to peel away again, the 4 behind are very much in pole position for the play offs but it would be interesting to see what happens to Fulham and Parker if they fail to go up with that squad.

A lot of people with an inferiority complex on here prior to the game, trying to be accepting of a defeat before the game had taken place. As it happened, we were competitive, and ultimately from a 2 nil lead should be very frustrated to have thrown the win away. A game of a very, very harsh penalty that were lucky to receive, and a joke of one given to them. Ultimately, 2 of the main themes are that we never actually get into the top 6, and that we constantly throw away points from winning positions (now 23) and they were both prevalent today. I suspect obviously the former but very much the latter will be a big regret at the end of the season. I just feel that in terms of quality, with the injuries, we are a little short of quality at this stage to be honest. Downing and Johnson were unable to use their experience today to really control the game in any way and Brentford were very much the dominant side. Our attacking play is very reliant on the resurgent Armstrong although he did miss 2 one on ones today, his goal was arguably the hardest of the lot, his technical ability is there but he needs to be more clinical when one on one.

To be fair, Mowbray didnt sign Lenihan, Travis or Nyambe, our other 3 saleable assets. That being said, both managers still worked to make the players better than when they joined. Being linked with one tenuously in the media doesnt make a player worth 18m, but you are right to imply that Armstrong and Dack would yearn massive profits on the small fees that Mowbray managed to get them for. Almost certainly more than Gestede, Cairney and Duffy, albeit the first 2 were sold the summer we went into embargo I think, so were reduced fees, and Duffy obviously was shall we say exceptional circumstances. Mowbray has spent close to 20m, something Bowyer could only dream of, and I am unconvinced that any of Brereton, Gallagher, Rothwell, Chapman, Davenport, Samuel, Hart, Bell etc would even yield a 7 figure fee, so I dont think his record in terms of adding value is actually that good in the market, and his eggs are in 2 baskets which is problematic when you consider that one has a serious injury. That being said, an additional year in his contract does protect most of Dacks value. Most of the assets have been brought through the ranks and Mowbray and his coaching staff have developed. And I think Mowbray is a better manager than Bowyer, just to clarify. I think comparing their transfer records is difficult, Mowbray has had much more money, I think Bowyer got more out and out successes, but partially due to a lack of resources, some of the cheap squad fillers were absolutely embarrassing. Mowbray has signed quite a few for small fees that have not really necessarily worked out yet to the level we had hoped, but even so, there are no Varneys, Browns, Akpans, Petschis, Koitas, Delfouensos or Taylors (Paul or Chris) in our squad.

You say that 5m is not a lot for an English striker, but it is if he is ineffective which in the main I feel he has been. With Gallagher, we paid 5m for a striker who has scored 3 in 29, partially down to sometimes being played out of position but that just compounds the fact that he has been IMO a poor signing, because if we wanted a wide man, dont sign a 5m striker. Didnt the stats show that we won more with Gallagher out of the team? It is not that he is a failure as a conclusive word, in the same way that Gladwin, Whittingham and Harper are, as things could change. It is very much as we judge today. If Gallagher this time next year has scored another 15 goals for example then he would then be a success. Im not saying its conclusive, I just think hes been really poor, his goal comtributions are not good enough up to now, hes not been used well at times, and we spent 5m on fees, all on him. My judgement on him might be a bit more lenient had he been bought for a similar fee to a Rothwell or a Samuel. I think that is fair. Also, is it not inconsistent based on your definitions of failure to judge Brereton one? You could say about basically any player that we got results with them in the side, both positive or negative. Based on your analysis of Antonsson and Downing, fair enough, success is a term I can somewhat agree with as individuals, mainly in the first half of the season but still played a fairly significant part so fair play. But could you not argue then that Caddis, Whittingham and Gladwin were successes. You can have a good signing in a bad season (Coyle signed Mulgrew and Graham) and equally we are having a good season but at this time, and I am really hoping it changes and not saying that it wont, but Gallagher would be in the failure category IMO, partly based on price.

Theres an obsession by quite a few at the moment to try and portray people as being negative, even to the point where their opinions are being somewhat twisted to suggest that they are solely focused on critising the manager. Armstrong was one of the 4 or 5 "superb" signings that I referenced. Ultimately, he is also a perfect example of how everything is based on the situation at the moment. 3 months ago, Armstrong may well have been deemed an ok or satisfactory signing, but he has stepped up and shown that he can significantly impact on games with more consistency at this level, that we can build around him, that theres a player with an increased value. When I look at our team next season and how it is developing, its around Nyambe, Lenihan, Travis, Dack and Armstrong, they are the 5 I think are key. Only 2 are Mowbray signings. What I also did is credit the manager for developing the other 3, especially Travis. With Bell, Rothwell, Chapman, Davenport, Samuel etc, none of them have displayed any significant impact on the team or many tangible signs that if we sold them we would make a profit on meagre fees to sign them. Therefore, it is impossible to justify a success tag for any of them. Key is, we are judging now, I think Davenport and maybe Chapman could perhaps be deemed failures, the former in particular more down to injuries than anything else. Because we are judging now, and we have seen little to suggest that they could be a success at some point, one or two could suddenly burst into life and have a prolonged impact on oue developing team. Judging now, they range from being neither outright successes or failures, to in particular Davenport and Chapman, failures if we are judging now. Bell for example has been a continued weakness for 2 years but he was a cheap signing from League 1, the manager tried to replace him, succeeded monentarily and was unfortunate with injury. But hes not been bad enough for me to deem him a sure fire failure. There are also a few, Paul Downing, (very shrewd loan, pointless and premature permanent deal) Antonsson (6 or 7 goals and then nothing in the second half of the season) and to a lesser extent Payne, who played fairly minor and passive roles along the way at the beginning of the journey, who I think an outright success tag would be a stretch but are not failures either Gallagher has to be deemed a failure at this time in my opinion because he is categorized with Brereton in terms of the money spent. He might go onto to score plenty of goals as you say, surely the same logic would apply to Brereton? Im basing on what I have seen now, neither has done or come close to suggesting that they could do or will do. Both have contributed precious little whilst costing us the majority of Mowbrays fees in his time here. Both have also fallen victim to for me the tactic that Mowbray deserves the most questioning and criticism for, wide strikers. It has not worked and perhaps not helped the development of either player. For the interest of fairness and to ensure that I am not seen as simply slating the manager, he was correct overall with his initial tactical compromise of going more direct to Graham, and I have seen evidence of his change in style working too.

I think history suggests that he is very unlikely to be able to sadly. Of course I would love to be wrong, he deserves to start at the moment but barring a late season goal glut I would move him on in the summer.

I never said that hes a big success or a failure, I think that list proves that less than half of his signings can be deemed success. Antonsson and Payne were ok, think the former in particular is maybe neither a success or a failure, Payne did precious little. Nuttall a poor player but made a small profit so not awful. Johnson has had 3 or 4 good games and has been poor the rest so far, hence public criticism by Mowbray, being dropped and questions about his living arrangements. Harpers form post Rovers has involved barely playing but is irrelevant. Paul Downing has not got into Pompeys team but doesnt mean he wasnt a good loan signing here. Gallagher is undoubtedly a failure and there are quite a few in that top half, Bell, Samuel, Rothwell etc that cant really be deemed a success, nor a disastrous failure. Missed out Gladwin too in your failure list. For me far less than 50% of his signings have been successes but there are 4 or 5 superb signings and its not solely dependant on his transfer record whennjudging him and his team, a few of the younger lads have become key players under his development so there is no need to be quite as defensive regarding transfers.

To be fair, the most important word there is friendly, I think Everton were a couple of weeks behind in terms of preperation, they played a weakened side which they changed at half time. Samuel was very poor for most of the League 1 season, he didnt score after November and he often was very languid and lazy. He ended up below the poor Joe Nuttall in the pecking order prior to his bad injury. Barring a late season goal flurry perhaps, which gives him that motivation, I would not want us to give him a new contract. That being said, he certainly deserves his place in the side at the moment. His composure to score v Hull was very good as was his all round performance at Charlton, he offers a threat in behind with his pace and his hold up and link up was very impressive. Hes another player who shouldnt be stuck on the wing however.

Who is injured? Canos and Karelis who have been out all seaso, Forss who was out on loan anyway and Mokotjo who is decent but they have a few central midfielders of a similar level. No major losses unless ive missed anyone?

Found this opinion piece on Mowbrays signings an interesting read: http://roverschat.com/ranking-tony-mowbrays-signings-15-to-1/ http://roverschat.com/ranking-tony-mowbrays-signings-29-to-16/ You look at the first list, and I think even within that top half, the likes of Holtby, Rothwell, Cunningham, (due to injury) Samuel, Antonsson, Bell and Gallagher range from the jury still being out and difficult to judge them as an out and out success as of yet, to potentially even failure. His transfer record is very flaky, albeit the top 2 are big assets. I think during his time in charge, his main work aside from man management has been relying on the likes of Lenihan, Nyambe and Travis, all of whom he has developed, especially Travis.

How did you end up in this thread then?

Brereton should be removed from the bench despite his slight improvement in the last 2 cameos?

Champions League is often full of entertainment, thought Leipzig looked very slick and should knock out a depleted Spurs, cant see Bayern not beating Chelsea, I suspect Liverpool will come back though and City could go either way, should be a great game.

Dropping who from the bench? Same team and weve got striking cover in Graham and Brereton, why need a third striker?

Wouldnt bring Gallagher or Rankin Costello into the squad. Starting 11 should be unchanged and Brereton, Graham and Chapman should continue to be the attacking alternatives.

Chaddy wrote off Bielsa in English football from the start so I suspect he is justifying that initial opinion. Think he was dismissive of sacking Paul Heckingbotham too! Done a brilliant job there really, they finished 13th the season before and had become Championship also rans. Hes transformed quite a few players who were very average or not even featuring before he came, Klich, Dallas, Alioski etc and they are the best team to watch in this league on their day, as much as I dislike their fans. I dont really understand the outrage regarding a manager on a high salary as arguably he is more important than any individual player.

I appreciate the the phrase "Mowbray out brigade" proves that you are just provoking and on the wind up but your comparison makes no sense. As you said, Brentford havent had the same manager all the way through so how can you compare? People wanted him out because at one point there were serious questions about the scope for progression under Mowbray, the big money twice thrown away created huge doubts and before the last international break we were looking no better than last season.

He was earlier in the season. Against Charlton, Fulham, West Brom, Reading, Luton, Forest, Birmingham, Preston, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds, Bristol City, Birmingham, Huddersfield and v Birmingham in the cup. Not often seen that rocket of a shot either sadly.