Conversely, surely if they played at the expense of our best player and only goal threat, the pressure would only increase? Gallagher has had plenty of chances this season, hes started 14 out of 17 times, more often than not up front, and ultimately has been really poor in all but 1 game. Brereton hasnt had that amount of chances but when he did play last season he looked, if it was for any other team, laughably out of place. Dack scored 2 goals in the last game, dropping him would be ridiculous. We are playing 8th place Brentford at home, yes they are in good form but theres no way we should be writing a game like that off. I dont understand how only in November, and yes I personally think that theres a large chance that the season could fizzle out, but that we can treat tomorrow as anything other than a "must-win" game, its not like near the end of last season when our fate was mathematically certain and we was experimenting. I and many others have paid money to turn up tomorrow on a cold Wednesday night on the assumption that the manager will at least try his best and put his best side out to try and win the game. For all his flaws and misguided opinions id like to think he is putting a little more importance on a potential win than you seem to be doing.

Why dont we have much to lose in this game? Its an important game. I think the value of them 2 players is far lower already than what we paid. Ultimately Gallagher has played many times this season and not impressed at all bar for one half. I dont understand how he deserves another game ahead of Dack or Graham. Brereton has never shown any glimpses to suggest he should be thrown in tomorrow ahead of 2 proven performers. It is very difficult to "give up" on 2 players who cost us so much but its also counter productive to play them at the expense of our chance of getting results. Dacks attacking output at the club has been consistently excellent, backed up statistically. To drop him (if hes fit as Mowbray hinted at a major player having a tight hamstring today) would be absurd.

That quote was from ages ago and whilst of course goalkeepers can play well in struggling teams, Walton isnt playing well. Theres not a 100% correlation between goals conceded and goalkeeper performance but there is a strong one. Hes made major errors leading to 4 goals in 6 games lately. He has not filled me with confidence all season, bar the penalty save I dont recall many really good saves that hes made, his kicking tends to stay in the pitch but it has really poor accuracy, hes made judgement errors notably at Preston coming to catch, hes just not very good and is a downgrade on the unreliable Raya.

That Preston game was the only game he has been anything other than poor to be honest.

Against Preston? Isnt that it?

In the league, 1. In the cup, 1. So 2. He never gets into goalscoring positions, he cant anticipate where the ball will drop. Dack has 7 goals and all seem to be poachers goals. Either way you are just playing devils advocate as your team has Graham and Dack up top if im not mistaken.

You can find extreme examples of most things working sometimes but they started in Leagues One and Two so essentially worked their way up didnt they?

Scapegoat is an unfair tag, he gets no stick at games but he gets criticism because hes repeatedly a particular weak point. But no one is attacking his character and ultimately people can see that hes not good enough. Hes been directly responsible for 4 goals in 6 games and has also made mistakes that hes got away with, for example v Boro when he tried to claim, totally misjuded it (again) and they could only hit the post.

Gallagher has played at least half of his games up front. Repeatedly offering no goal threat. Why would we drop our best player and our only competent striker at the cost of our goal threat to attempt tp justify price tags. Makes no sense. Dack and Graham, and 9 others.

Is that front 2 a genuine suggestion? To drop by far and away our best goal player and scorer, as well as continuining to leave out our only competent striker to play them 2? You would also have to imagine that Downing will play after his impact on Saturday. Williams is injured, goalkeeping wise I think its flip of a coin as both are dreadful.

Why when Ainsworth got a team on a small budget promoted and top of League 1?

Baring in mind its for a lower half side with no one else bar the now sidelined Graham contributing they are incredible stats. How people can constructively claim that we could move him on and get stronger is beyond me.

Doubt it personally.

He lacks intelligence, theres no counter attacking threat if he cant stay onside.

Whilst as "good as any in this division" might be a push for them 3, I dont think that whilst we have some decent midfielders that it is anywhere near balanced enough to be top 6 worthy. Ideally all 3 would be playing in the same position. We dont control games and we dont create many clear cut chances. Our set of strikers bar Graham is really poor. Agreed on defence.

How could you say that Armstrong played well up front? He broke down nearly every attack by seemingly not understanding the offside rule. To be fair, being better than that trio is nothing to be proud about, Graham should be the first name on the team sheet.

Thats a cop out to the rest of the underachievers.

Bennett cant cross a ball to save his life. From the sound of it no one is playing well for the under 23s at the moment. Armstrong and Bennett are consistently playing poorly. On one hand you are saying we are 2 or 3 players from being a top 6 contender, then you are advocating playing players who are repeatedly coming up short.

Mowbray was quoted afterwards as saying that Barnsley are "an athletic young team and I didnt think it was a day for Stewy Downing." Now I dont think I had him in my 11 for the game but hes picking and leaving out players in fear of the worst team in the league at home after not winning since the opening day. You just look at some of the consistent sides who play almost unchanged sides, feed off their consistency and are now successful in the Premier League, Sheff Utd and Burnley to name but 2 and you just have to shake your head.

But Armstrong is ineffective no matter where he plays almost everytime he plays. Width is something that people try to downplay but it is still effective. But Armstrong isnt even a winger, our only winger is the disused Chapman.

Ive no idea, Id presume and hope not baring in mind its not until Wednesday. If hes fit, surely he starts, the useless teachers pet is dropped? He has played wide almost exclusively for the last 18 months and has been shit 90% of the time. Like I said, we dont really have an alternative so we have the useless Bell. Easier said than done when the players arent very good and the manager cant organise defences. Brentford dont score many but dont concede many either.

On what planet do Bennett and Armstrong deserve to maintain their places? Nyambe and Holtby every day for me, Holtby back in a more advanced position. Walton is a flip of a coin with an equally incompetent Leutweiler. Bell cant play either, massively hamstrung with him, but sadly we dont seem to have an alternative. Benrahama if he plays on that side will have a field day. Sadly, Mowbray will pick most of if not all of his teachers pets, Gallagher, Armstrong and Bennett.

Again, to clarify this is in no way defending Mowbray because he signed them but I think you are being generous on the players you have mentioned. Armstrong played wide for the vast, vast majority of last season, he almost exclusively starts full stop, and he was rubbish for the vast majority. One superb month aside he was very poor. Ultimately this was the same role that he succeed in League One, which may be the 2 most important words. A lack of influence/output and often a lack of effort from him. Theres a bit of a myth that I sometimes see that Bell is a good attacking full back (or wing back) and just poor defensively. He is as bad as youll see going forward too, the countless amount of times he has space ahead and he just checks back, very rarely does he get a cross in and even rarer a successful one. Technically poor too, 18 out of 44 passes apparently made successfully yesterday, considering his penchant for turning back and playing it safe thats incredibly poor. The amount of times the ball comes into his vicinity especially in the air and he just heads or kicks it in the direction he is facing is unreal. Such a poor player.

To be fair, him being on the pitch doesnt work. Hes crap as a striker too. Awful, awful signing.

But ultimately hes the only player consistently scoring goals in an offensively dysfunctional team and every player has off days, it says more about the rest of the players that they are unable to muster up goals when he isnt at his best, they should receive the criticism. I think people underestimate the value, importance and difficulty of just "popping up with a goal or 2."