Not sure if its been mentioned but why has the goal music returned? It was put to a fan vote a year ago, conclusively voted against yet has now returned. At least we had the goals in the first place!

Didnt both Bobby and Harrison Reed play today?

After the first 7 games, how would people judge our transfer window with a added element of hindsight? Cunningham as I felt at the time is a superb signing, I just wish it was permanent. Dissapointed by his error at West Brom but his general level of performance has been terrific. Walton looks better than I had anticipated. Seems far safer in terms of commanding his box and deals with most things with minimal fuss. Adarabioyo has barely played but in his 2 games has looked pretty good. We do look lacking in options behind him though. Downing has been the one that has surprised me the most. Bar Cardiff when he was shocking, he has looked very good technically as youd expect. Ineffective wide right and should never play there, left or central he looks very good. Johnson coversely has dissapointed me somewhat. Really poor on the half turn and often loses possession needlessly. Obviously a goal threat but needs to be much better than so far. Certainly has the pedigree. Gallagher was not a player I wanted us to sign and has done nothing sadly to convince me that I was wrong. Another 5 million spent and no closer to finding a striker that can at some stage take the mantle away from the increasingly out of favour (but still by far our best striker) Danny Graham.

I would say its been average. 3 losses in 7 is not that of a top 6 team. We have really picked up after a shocking start however and theres room for cautious optimism. Defensively we look a different team to last year for the better. 4 clean sheets is very impressive, albeit the sudden glut of goals against at West Brom is a warning that weve always got a collapse in us. Attacking, we look even more impotent with a lack of cutting edge. Dack with 2 in 2 hopefully will be somewhat of a trigger to some more goals.

To be fair, you yourself said that you wouldnt have signed Downing when he was being linked to be fair. So not sure you are in a position to question others that have done likewise. I dont think the balance in the first half was right at all. Buckley is not ready to be playing Championship football IMO. Dack is also not a striker and comes into his own in the 10 position. The split striker experiement should be abandoned. Seems to be a bit too much changing of formations at the moment. We looked so much more threatening in the second half as a 4231.

Disagree on Rothwell, he has only been given one league start, but he showed in a regular spell towards the back end of last season that with regular starts he puts in high levels of performances. His link up with Dack is terrific too.

Fairly comfortable win today against a really poor side, our players were simply better than theirs, and we built again on a solid defence. Have to say that I feel that Mowbray is somewhat tactically confused and no nearer to finding a consistent solution. 3 at the back only works if used consistently, it was obviously done to help us play from the back which strangely we opted against on a few occasions, with Walton waving his defenders away to hoof it to Armstrong or Dack. The balance of the 5 in front was not right at all, we looked toothless aside from Williams' screamer. Then we went with this Dack false 9 split strikers nonsense, and it was when Rothwell came on, Gallagher went up front, Dack back to the 10 position that we seemed best. He deserves credit for some things, the improved defence and some of his signings have undoubtedly improved us but we need to have more of an identity. Thought Walton, aside from his strange kicking choices (its not like Raya repeatedly slicing them into touch, but makes no sense hoofing it to Dack) looks so much safer in general and dealt with things with minimum fuss. Centre backs again a huge plus, Lenihan was the pick for me and his assist was superb, Williams again impressed and scored a worldie and Adarabioyo was good at breaking the lines with his passing and slightly unfortunate to come off. Bennett should have scored but in general, coming from a big critic, I thought he put in a good performance in both aspects. Cunningham is a superb signing, would love him to sign permanently, I can't believe some people thought Bell was good enough but Cunningham is a major upgrade and a very accomplished left back at this level. Johnson I thought had a poor game today. As much as he is a proven central midfielder at this level, he is a strange signing for a manager who professes to want to play from the back, he cannot play on the half turn and is not good on the ball. Buckley was again whilst tidy at times totally ineffective and weak, and was understandably taken off. Downing showed some real quality throughout, so economical with the ball and technically good, and if Mowbray chose to go 3 at the back and wanting to play the ball out, then for me Downing and Travis are perhaps the best choice in there, much better on the half turn and a nice mix. Dack deserved man of the match, in spite of playing in a role that doesnt suit him at times. Did a few things today that made people get off their seats, was a pleasure to watch and deserved his goal. Armstrong was really poor again, his finish in the second half was simply not good enough. Rothwell on the other hand was a breath of fresh air when he came on, full of energy, technical ability, has a lovely chemistry with Dack, 2 good players on the same wavelength, I would love to see him, Dack and Downing all linking together regularly. Gallagher I thought was pretty poor again, doesnt hold the ball up or win enough headers for me.

Bang on regarding forfeiting of the cup, particularly bugs me when teams do everything to get into Europe and then forfeit their chance. Burnley did it last season but its a potentially once in a lifetime chance. Wolves taking it much more seriously.

We could not cope without Graham even now, none of the other strikers assembled for plenty of money can hold a candle to him. Why Mowbray even considered it is a worry, and why he is seemingly excited to see Samuel back is equally worrying!

Why is it a daft comparison? League 1 is actually league 3, ie it is not doing what it says on the tin, just like the Champions League. If its that much of a big deal, call the Championship "Division 2" call League 1 "Division 3" again and likewise rename the Champions League the "European Cup." They ae in the competition because they massively improve the quality of it. Id personally much rather watch teams like Liverpool, Spurs, Dortmund and the Madrid clubs in the competition over say AIK (Sweden) Ludogorets (Bulgaria) Sarajevo (Bosnia) and Dundalk (ROI). That may seem arrogant to you but ultimately the quality of the teams I mentioned, with players like Salah, Van Dijk, Kane, Son, Eriksen, Sancho, Reus, Hazard, Modric, Felix, Koke, Saul etc will ultimately create far better games than winners of smaller nations, who of course still do have a chance to qualify anyway. The proof is shown with the superb games right through last years competition. That included the group stages (Liverpool V PSG, Spurs v Barca, Juve v United, and with plenty of very competitive groups) through to the last 16 (Real Madrid V Ajax, PSG V Man United) through to the quarter finals (Ajax v Juventus and City v Spurs) then to 2 semi finals that were as good a set of games as I can really remember seeing. The final was quite boring but thats often the case with finals and no format change would improve that. I know that your main issue with the Champions League from previous conversations is that it is on a channel you dont have, thats the main reason for your dislike of it as you dont watch it so arent really in a position to critique the quality of it. That brings us on to an issue of affordability of football on TV, with there being Sky, BT, Premier Sports and now Amazon Prime etc all having rights to show football pricing fans out. That is something wrong with football but its one of them, the demand is clearly there.

I dont understand why the name is such a big thing. Was being in League One such an issue bearing in mind it is actually the third division? Also, do you think that limiting the competition to only Champions would improve quality? Removing Liverpool, Spurs, Dortmund and the Madrid clubs to be replaced by champions of smaller European nations?

If this is about me then please can you explain. I just enjoy watching high quality football and saw it in spades in last years competition. If others choose not to watch based on principles then thats fine but I think they may miss out on great football as a result. I dont at all see my opinion as greater than anyone elses.

Yeah I mentioned the semi finals, you are bang on, and to have that game you mention and then the Spurs one the next day at Ajax was absolutely remarkable. Back to back nights of football that wont be forgotten for a long time. People choosing not to watch partially because of the name not being strictly accurate are only missing out IMO. If it changed name back to the European Cup, would those who dont watch it suddenly start watching it out of interest?

Anyone labelling the Champions League as boring last year can presumably only do so in a position of ignorance having not watched it. The Ajax v Real Madrid and United v PSG last 16 games, the City v Spurs and Ajax v Juventus quarter finals and both semi finals were all games packed with quality, drama, stories, comebacks, entertainment, everything you watch football for. The group stages I can somewhat understand people suggesting a change to the format but even then there was some excitement and it was far from the foregone conclusion people are making out. Spurs in a group with Barcelona, Inter Milan and PSV had to get a result in the Nou Camp to secure progression on the last day. Liverpool needed a win at Anfield against Napoli, another very good side and United needed an incredible result in Turin to ensure they went through ahead of Valencia. Many people seem to take issue at the fact that it isnt just Champions, and even at the pedantic naming of the competition issue. But it undoubtedly improves the quality of the entertainment to see some other top teams, the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool, Dortmund, Real and Atletico Madrid etc over having additional champions of more obscure countries.

Really good to hear that Graham is putting in the application in. Gallagher has quite simply not taken his chance of 6 consecutive starts and should be dropped for him on Saturday. How were the likes of Chapman, Nyambe and Rankin Costello?

The stat was a league one, ie only league games. Stats just back up my view that the football we have played so far in the league in an attacking sense has been both boring and ineffective. Im guessing you disagree.

Dont get how Keane started, or Rice's now automatic selection, as well as Barkley. Winks has to be in there to dictate, and Maddison and Mount are far better than Barkley.

The stat was a league one and pretty conclusive IMO. Either way, do you think we have played attractive and/or effective attacking football in our first 6 league games?

The rest of my post stands, and in all 4 league games youve sent weve played more long balls than our opposition?! Do you think weve been playing the short passing style Mowbray promised, or more importantly effective attacking football? If so to either we have been at different games.

Believe it or not, no. The long ball stat I have shown doesnt surprise me to be honest. The football this season has been terrible to watch, with Gallagher his main signing if anything adding to the long ball style. I havent seen any signs that we have either moved to a passing style to carve teams open through the thirds, or that we are any more threatening compared to last season. Ultimately, theres nothing wrong with direct football if it is strategic and effective but ultimately the quality of chances created and the goals scored from open play so far has been pretty dismal.

We have to win this really, not a particularly good start overall with minimal goal threat and 3 losses out of 6 but some slightly better games on paper coming up. Walton Nyambe Lenihan Williams Cunningham Travis Johnson Rothwell Dack Downing Graham Subs: Leutwiler, Adarabioyo, Evans, Buckley, Chapman, Armstrong, Gallagher

I agree with much of your post, im not saying that the Champions League may not benefit from a removal of group stages (or for the more trivial issues, a name change) but I think its foolish to not watch it as ultimately it is the best players conjuring up some incredible games.

@arbitro and @chaddyrovers you both seemingly dislike it mainly because you dont have the channel that it is on, ie lack of accessibility? Group stages are always far less dramatic than knock out games, gows with the territory and is the same at World Cups etc. What I can say is as 2 football fans you missed out on some incredible drama and top class games last season. Some top quality games and some unbelievable comebacks. And chaddy to suggest the technicality of the name is a major negative is incredibly petty, the competition was far better last season for quality teams such as the 2 finalists being in it. Football as a sport is obviously a money making product but its obviously down to the individual whether you still choose to enjoy it.

The Champions League last season was absolutely brilliant. The best players making some truly remarkable games.