I have found it a little distateful to see so many people rather than themselves concentrating on the win yesterday smugly going round taking the moral high ground trying to dig people out for what they have said in the past. The manager has specifically been criticised for very tangible and fair reasons, the majority of the money being spent on failures etc and very fairly, these criticisms remain. Of course you will always get exceptions on both sides of people sticking to their guns unfairly but in the main even those perceived to have been quite negative have given the manager some praise yesterday and prior. Sorry to single you out @Bbrovers2288 but I felt you was very harsh after the win midweek with your criticism but you followed it up with plenty of praise yesterday rather than sticking to your guns so fair play to you. Ultimately, our aim is the top 6 and as of yet we have not at any point reached that so I suspect it is a little premature for smugness. Of course there are plenty of mitigating circumstances and progress is not measured solely on finishing in there or not. For what its worth, I have been critical at times of Mowbray this season, questioning his job several times. I have been impressed and very much have seen a plan coming to fruition in the last dozen or so games, we have dealt with injury misfortune and whilst of course I am not totally 100% convinced by everything he does, which wouldnt be healthy, we are picking up results. But i find it just as strange that peoples first instinct is to gloat and take the higher ground just as much as it puzzles me to see people unexcited even when we win.

Hes undoubtedly been a very good signing but talk about him going back into the City team next season and being better than John Stones is incredibly far fetched. There are very few Premier League clubs at this moment in time that he could have a good chance of securing a regular slot at centre back.

Can see very clearly with my eyes that Gallagher offers nothing out wide. We have looked far more balanced without him in these last 2 games. To be fair it isnt his fault. We should go with the same team next week but Rothwell, Chapman and Rankin Costello should all be picked ahead of him if and when needed.

Was dissapointed by his predictability when running at the defender but his defensive willingness was there which surprised me. If he got 2 starts back to back at some point as did Rankin Costello I would suspect that he would have more involvement.

I would personally have Winks, Henderson and one of Maddison or Grealish, probably Maddison, with Winks as the pivot and Henderson and Maddison ahead. Sancho would be right, I think he is better than Rashford plus Sterling is better on the left. Henderson Arnold Gomez Maguire Chilwell Winks Henderson Maddison Sancho Kane Sterling

Somewhat agree on Bennett but I think its unfair on Mowbray to give anything but praise regarding Travis who has consistenly been in the team since Sheffield United, something many including myself did not expect. Its unfair to say he was only picked because of this or that.

Be interesting to see who if any of him, Maddison, Chamberlain and Alli miss out. With them options I think the likes of Mount should be well off.

Its very harsh to suggest that it is a blessing that he got injured. The game v Wigan followed a run of 16 points from 6 games in which he had been critical and contributed 4 goals. Ultimately, a lot of other things came together which have continued in his absence, the centre back partnership, Nyambe back in the team and thriving, Downing stepping his performances up, Armstrong playing a more central role etc. Dack firing in goals with regularity on top of that would have only improved us further. He has 24 goals and 8 assists in 1 and a half seasons so surely your expectations were very high indeed.

It isnt about me not understanding, it is about you making massive insinuations about big clubs circling over the player and potentially bidding a massive, massive amount, even implying and name dropping City, without any detail from where you have supposedly got this information from, how you would have got it, and any questions are batted back with the same cryptic and at times patronising answers. If you are going to make comments like that people are going to be skeptical, especially when academy regulars suggest negative comparisons with our other young lads and all you do is patronise them with laughing emojis before admitting that you have never actually seen the player in question play! If you are going to try and play ITK, people are not going to just accept big assumptions without further questioning and if that is then responded to by simply patronising then it will rub people up the wrong way. @bluebruce hit the nail on the head I cant think off the top of my head of many players going to Prem clubs for 8 figure fees straight from someones under 23s without any positive exposure to first team football (yesterday was Buckley's first effective game and you made these comments a few weeks ago), but happy to be corrected on that,

You say fact, how do you know that hes being scouted by "massive PL clubs" and if so, which? Today was his first game at senior level when he didnt look totally out of place so I cant see it. Not sure how you could merit the 8 figure bid you wouldnt be surprised by considering his first team appearances thus far and obviously his games with the kids which pardon my ignorance, but like myself you havent seen?

The first time in a Rovers shirt that he hasnt looked massively out of place. More central and tried to get between the lines and often very neat and tidy with a couple of very nice passes. Lucky deflection but deserved it.

I would say he has been a liability more often than an asset but he either tends to be really impressive, the last 2 games, the opening day, Bristol City away and maybe 1 or 2 more. A lot of the time he has been really poor on the ball, constantly giving it away, albeit he is asked to receive the ball off the back 4 and he cannot play on the half turn like that. Its just frustrating because he certainly has the track record of a top 6 Championship midfielder but needs to be like he was today most weeks.

Both central midfielders are absolute bell ends in footballing terms. I mean that in a good way when they are playing for us, wind up merchants, if need be, cheats, hate them if they play for the other team.

I was just saying that my first reaction was not to randomly criticise Gallagher as you implied. He should be well down the pecking order at this moment in time. The 3 forwards who featured today and Graham who is miles more likely to score should all be ahead of him and it is very difficult to justify having 5 strikers in a matchday squad. The side should be the same with Rothwell introduced to the bench.

Totally agree. I appreciate that using young players warrants patience and can often compromise results in the short term but thats why it should be done incrementally and you do wonder if he has tried to do it far too quickly. He hasnt had loads to spend but his recruits have not really improved the team. They didnt lose loads of important players either, Downing couldnt start games for most of last season and Flint was poor for them. Pulis had them in 7th and was sacked so to drop so far down the table makes it nigh on impossible to warrant more time.

I didnt. My initial response was a detailed post in which I shared my views of the game I watched, with praise across the board for both players and manager. I then interjected into 2 ongoing conversations, firstly about mentality and going to Brentford targetting a win, followed my a conversation about Gallagher amidst the best way that we can line up upon his return, in my opinion without him. So please get your facts straight, I didnt mention him first.

Fulham really should be top with the players they have, Mitrovic, Knockaert, Cavaleiro, Bobby Reid, Cairney, Hector, Bryan etc and all that money spent. I also see that Middlesbrough have gone into another tail spin, cant see much to justify another year for Woodgate.

Its still very unlikely and impossible to believe properly until we spend some time in the top 6 but with the injuries I have been very impressed by the last 2 performances and results following a meek surrender at home v Fulham in which I felt the lack of quality on show was a sign of what was in store for the rest of the season.

Both true but if you are genuinely implying that Mowbray wasnt showered with praise and adulation when we got promoted then you are re writing history, whether it be on here or in person with 30k fans turning up to sing his name v Oxford, people turning up in town to see him and the team and celebrate, he got plenty of praise for it. I just think that theres a general undercurrent of people trying to imply that the fanbase is either unwilling to praise the manager when warranted or being unsupportive to the players and its untrue.

Its not really fickle, its just judging players based on their performances. Samuel overall has been a poor signing, one very underwhelming season in League 1 with no goals post November, 18 months out, common consensus is that he isnt up to it. Comes off the bench Tuesday and gets a goal and puts in a very impressive display today, some good hold up, worked hard (he hasnt always) and rather than saying no hes not up to it and trying to dismiss his impact, people have praised him. Buckley has been nowhere near up to now, justifiably surprised to see him start, puts in a very good performance and praised for it. Brereton again people are getting excited over 2 cameos when hes done very little in terms of tangible impact but people desperate to see him do well. Much of the criticism regarding Gallagher has been at the manager for playing him in a position in which he clearly cannot operate in but even as a central striker in the main he has been particularly poor. Yet the only disdain shown at Ewood was a brief chorus of "why the fucks he on the wing" followed by singing his name to show that they were not getting at him. To go off on a tangent, not aimed at you, theres also a lot of myths peddled about players not getting support and it becomes quite tiresome to read and you do question why people are so keen to criticise their own fan base. @Hasta has it bang on regarding Bell, hes going to get plenty of criticism on here because hes been not up to it so many times but its painted as if hes publically scapegoated and hes not. Brereton apparently gets all sorts of stick, and to be honest hes not been anywhere near good enough, but you see all these claims about him breaking down in tears due to the fans and constantly people berating fans "not getting behind him," people were singing his name on Tuesday for doing things if any other player did people wouldnt bat an eyelid just because they were desperate for him to do well.

He did at the time, 2 years ago. Strange time to take this approach considering hes getting plenty of praise for today and rightly so.

Gallagher being in this side plugging up and down the wing would make us worse, make no mistake. Sounds harsh but its a very valid point IMO.

Need to go to Brentford targeting a win. Wins are the main currency, such a win would be a statement plus it would put us into the top 6 at least for a couple of hours which would be a first and massive psychological.

Right up there with the best performances of the season. The 2 old heads doing exactly what we needed and leading the way, Downing and especially today Johnson were superb. Well done to the players and well done to Mowbray who got it spot on. Buckley shut me up by putting in a performance a million miles from what we have seen prior. Samuel as good as ive seen him with some very intelligent hold up, Armstrong has had better games and not quite as sharp as he can be but of course a threat. Adarabioyo so composed, Nyambe had a shaky first 10 minute them back to his usual recent self afterwards, Bell far more composed than usual, Lenihan made a few really needless rash challenges and one yellow away from a 2 game ban but a leader back there. And Walton bailed us out with a few excellent saves and was generally very dependable. Travis gave it away a few times and got sloppy but got through plenty of work. And the subs came in and just slotted in nicely.

Good half but weve been assisted with the wind in the same way that they will be second half. Have to make sure we dont mess this up now. Been on top but bailed out by a couple of superb Walton saves. I think the Samuel incident could have gone either way. Buckley lucky with the deflection but his overall performance has been by far his best in a Rovers shirt. Downing is a class above.