Ultimately our 7m striker doesnt get into our matchday squad on merit, think thats fair to say.

Why do you have such a desire for him to stay? Surely its better for more of our rivals to be struggling. Found his team selection baffling yesterday. His stubbornness with a midfield diamond that clearly isnt working. Continued attempts to turn McLean into a left back and Ince into a number 10. And the likes of Mark Duffy, Sam Vokes, Stephen Ward, Tommy Smith and Peter Etebo all not playing. Ultimately he did a great job at Luton but 2 wins in 22 is not good enough to expect to keep your job.

Main decisions are clear, left back, up front and right hand side. I would have said bring Tosin in at CB and push Williams to LB but on the back of 2 clean sheets its impossible to justify splitting up a CB partnership that has shown promise. So its between Bell and Hart, both significant and worrying downgrades, I'd go for Hart. Gallagher doesnt deserve to start for all of his effort based on his lack of goal threat and incapability to play wide, and Armstrong has not done much to demand a shirt. Graham is a given up top for me, easy decision. Would go Rothwell right. Gallagher, Armstrong and Chapman as subs.

Agreed, Gallagher has got a lot of plaudits for his willingness and effort but its 4 games, 0 goals and hes not looking like scoring. Theres no point playing him wide when we have Rothwell, Chapman and Armstrong all far more adept there. We need our 14m strikers to step up to the plate this season, the moneys been spent and we need to become far more threatening in the final third. We are totally reliant on Dack and Graham because the rest have yet to show they can be relied upon. And @chaddyrovers whilst the final ball definitely needs working on it is always a concern when a striker is not really getting into goalscoring positions, and when a striker hasnt scored for 21 games. I dont doubt his work rate but we havent or shouldnt have signed a 5m striker for his ability to run back as a wide man. He shouldnt be played out wide, he IMO didnt look totally comfortable there or offer an attacking threat in either game, he needs to step up and start offering an attacking threat and a goal threat. He definitely has more to work with than Brereton in terms of his power and his aerial threat but we need to get some goals back on our huge investment in that area. Armstrong needs to step up too.

Gallaghers main attribute so far bar undoubted work rate has been his ability to beat primarily full backs to longer direct balls and flick them on, either way he needs to start scoring. Hes not offered a goal threat so far. Very poor decision yesterday to head the ball back across. I dont understand this myth that Gallagher would be right at home playing technical passing football. We need far more from our expensive strikers. Brereton has consistently been out of his depth. Gallagher has offered an outlet but simply must not be used wide, he should be Grahams main competition. Armstrong in a Rovers shirt has undoubtedly been the most effective of the 3 but was poor last night and too often looks half arsed. He needs to improve on his numbers this season. Between the 3 of them we need plenty of goals because whilst the puzzle is coming together we still lack a goal threat so far.

That wasnt a result of Graham playing away from home, more an example of how he isnt suited to being an impact sub. He has to start to make an impact. I dont recall 2 clear chances against Charlton for Gallagher? And I have personally not seen any evidence that he will become a "top top player" for us and wasnt surprised to see that hes gone 21 games without a goal. He doesnt look at home on that right hand side either. A big question mark at the moment for me is getting a return from these 14m worth of forwards that Mowbray has signed. A lot of the rest of the puzzle seems to be coming together but for that sort of output we need a cutting edge and some goals from those 3 very soon. Armstrong I felt was quite ineffective as a central striker, repeatedly being caught offside and when he was played in, let down by a heavy touch. I certainly wouldnt doubt that Johnson was a very good signing and a massive improvement on our central midfield. Has plenty of qualities that we lacked But giving the ball away isnt "because hes trying to pass forward" he seems to struggle picking the ball up on the half turn when we play it out from the back and it has happened at least once in each of the 4 games this season. He is somewhat cumbersome and clumsy taking the ball on the half turn and at times lacks awareness as to whats over his shoulder.

Really. Commented on his work rate but looks a fish out of water out wide as an attacker. Offered no goal threat so far. Out of our 6 signings, the one ive been least impressed by.

An imperfect but very impressive win. Walton with a couple of excellent catches and a superb penalty save, otherwise well protected. Defence was superb, difficult to seperate the central 2, both excellent. Cunningham again terrific, looking an outstanding addition although very lucky in injury time, switching off to allow their RB to blaze over before a clumsy challenge that somehow wasnt a penalty. Bennett beaten once or twice but still think he was much improved on normally and im usually a big critic. Johnson a massive asset and at times a liability in equal measures. Stupid challenge for the penalty and repeatedly guilty of being a huge issue with any attempt to play the ball out. That said, a monster who offers a threat going forward. Travis brilliant, composed and tenacious with one particularly superb tackle. Though Dack showed some superb touches and turns to knit things together and technically superb but needs a goal perhaps, Rothwell impressed when he came on and Downing was brilliant, great game management and his decision making and quality from open play and set pieces was great to see. Lovely bit of pace at one point too. Armstrong and in particular Gallagher very poor. Gallagher without a goal in 21 now and cannot play wide, thought for all his effort he was ineffective there on Saturday but far worse today. We lack a cutting edge and the worry is with a team around it starting to seemingly piece together, we need our 15m worth of forwards to give us an extra dimension. Very lucky in terms of the ref too. Our goal shouldnt have stood and they should have had a stone wall penalty at the end but we will take it all day. Hull bottom half fodder reliant on the wide 2 to keep safe an otherwise really poor side.

We dont have the quality to play from the back. Causing us problems, Johnson repeatedly caught. Going forward, think Dack and Downing look good, and further back I have been impressed with Lenihan. Good save from a poor penalty by Walton. Armstrong non existent, poor again in that position, and Gallagher has been the worst player on the pitch by a distance. No goals in 20 and you can see why.

Agreed that Gallagher needs to start scoring. Hasnt really looked like coming close so far.

Graham proved a few times last season that he CAN play the vast majority of minutes in a 3 game week.

Dont agree with Graham being dropped. Hopefully its Downing left, Armstrong right and Gallagher up front.

Nothing that he said suggests that he doesnt want him to succeed. It seems ultimately his thoughts eminate from a belief that he is not the most suitable person to bring success to the club. That doesnt mean that his primary objective is Mowbray failing, it means his primary objective is Rovers succeeding.

They were 4th, but closer to 8th than 2nd and struggling for form and consistency, especially at home. I remember being shocked when he was sacked and thinking it was harsh so looked into it and found that West Brom fans were actually surprisingly understanding of the decision compared to the media who perhaps are speaking from a far less knowledgable perspective. Certainly far better off with Bilic now. Interesting article below regarding the up turn after sacking him. https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/west-brom-sacking-darren-moore-mistake-championship-play-off-promotion-premier-league

Hull are no great shakes aside from their obvious 2 threats out wide. Their signings in the main this summer have been very uninspiring. Obviously wont be easy but we should be going there targetting back to back wins if we do genuinely have ambitions of challenging at the higher end of the division Dont see why we would drop our most effective striker either.

I find this snobbery towards being slightly more direct, reading Mowbrays post match comments especially, very strange. I was entertained today and as always the win is key. At times we went to Graham and played off, but there were good bits of interplay between the lines between the midfielders especially. We were defensively solid, good performances throughout the pitch, always seemingly in control, and offered far more threat than we did "attempting" to play out from the back in the first 2 limp performances. Bar a couple of awful Bennett passes, the whole defence was terrific today. Cunningham is so much better than the inept Bell, technically very good but also far more defensively solid. The middle pair were colossal, especially Lenihan for me, and Bennett himself was far better than normal in that role, very solid defensively. Johnson and Travis were terrific in midfield, worked really well together, good on the ball and horrible to play against. Downing improved us technically, his effort in the second half if it was a shot was unlucky. Also gives us good set piece deliveries in the main even though there was the odd poor ball too. Gallagher gave absolutely everything but I thought (as to be expected) he looked rather clumsy in a wide role and it is clearly unnatural to him, but cant fault his effort. Graham is the absolute master at what he does, Mowbray has spent so much on strikers and seems desperate to move away from Graham but he puts in great performances every time he starts, he cannot be dropped. Dack worked his socks off and threatened on occasion, the pair are excellent together. Rothwell was also impressive when he came on although perhaps should have scored. Walton made a massive error in that second half which could have really cost us, and Buckley looks quite a bit off, physically a liability, one attempted tackle in particular showed this.

Is that the actual team, as I know youve named teams before even for behind closed doors friendlies, or just your opinion. Gallagher wide over Rothwell, Chapman and Armstrong would be an outrage.

Walton Nyambe Lenihan Williams Cunningham Travis Johnson Rothwell Dack Downing Graham Subs: Leutweiler, Bennett, Evans, Chapman, Armstrong, Gallagher, Hart

That didnt lead to a goal, but he played an absolutely superb reverse pass near the end from the left hand side that we should have scored from.

Thought it was a poor performance and a stark reminder that amidst 12m worth of strikers, the most effective is the 34 year old written off by many. Dack changed the game when he came on, his link up with Graham is critical when Mowbray hasnt come close to finding another reliable source of goals regardless of the money hes thrown down the drain. Brereton on the other hand had an absolute shocker. Failing to score from 3 guilt edge chances, 2 of which he failed to even make close to proper contact with. Also when he was put through Downing offered a glimpse of quality and a great strike, but cannot play right wing. Chapman and Rothwell offered a new sense of pace and energy even if their end product was mixed, we looked more dangerous with them on. Cunningham was steady enough, Nyambe lacking confidence which is unsurprising. Evans and Smallwood not up to it, again. Didnt think it was a good night for our academy players either, none suggested that they are close to the first team. The 2 centre backs are nowhere near, obviously Platt couldnt get on Stanleys defence and Grayson was no better. On a night when Mowbray said that Tosin is also a doubt for Saturday, leaving us with only Williams, the grimly predictable eventually of not having enough CBs could come into play in the third league game which is embarassing for the manager. People rave about Buckleys talent but every time I see him he looks a million miles away. So soft and flimsy and ultimately totally ineffectual and lucky to last the game.

Its definitely not abysmal but somewhat uninspiring would be a fairer description. His good work was done in League 1. His first season, he came in with the (very difficult) remit of keeping us up. Survival was success and relegation was failure, even though when it comes to apportioning blame obviously Coyle takes far, far, far more. It was of no consolation that we displayed x form so ultimately it was a failed season albeit as mentioned a tremendously difficult task to begin with. He took over with us 23rd in the table, three points from safety with 15 games remaining this season so it wasnt mission impossible. The form certainly wasnt top 6 form either, that it "would have had us 10th over the course of a season" rings a bell but ultimately its impossible to make such statements as we were facing many teams with nothing to play for. You cant take 2 months of the season out and then say we were a top half team without those squad depth issues. They were as self inflicted as say the Dack signing, and you couldnt say we would have come close to or even have gone down had Mowbray not signed him either, as that wouldnt be fair, Mowbray chose to spend 7m on a sub and not improve our defence, likewise he was responsible for signing Dack. Last seasons finish was ok, not great but not disastrous, comfortable survival.

Please do explain?

One of my main points about whether the striking ranks needed to be improved or not is regarding the actual quality of strikers. I dont think either Gallagher or Brereton would get in many if any other Championship sides, nor am I convinced about their potential to make us a profit in the future. Whilst I maintain that we certainlt didnt need both ahead of a defender or 2, even with both we seem short of quality up top. 12m down, thats not good enough. There arent "simple fixes" thats why different qualities of managers tend to improve their respective teams to varying degrees but thats not an excuse, managers are judged on their abilities to develop their teams and the results that follow. And going back to League 1 windows, his best signing came in one of them. To have 3 centre backs and one right back in the squad is unexplainable. You mention signing wingers, hes signed 2, one whose age and loss of pace has made him more of a utility man, and the other is nowhere to be seen.

The way he inherited the club is not really an excuse that justifies the shape of his squad after spending over 15m over the space of 5 windows. You touch on the centre backs issue, it is criminal that firstly we had last summer, where he got Rodwell as our third centre back, obviously that backfired, but hes had 2 summers since to fix it and add quality and depth to that position, hes simply not done that. Lenihan is injury prone so we are left with 2 centre backs backed up by a kid who couldnt get on Stanleys bench, and another who has made 8 senior appearances, all in League 2. But its not just that, we are imbalanced throughout. Right back, blind loyalty to a poor midfielder playing there, with only one natural RB on the books. Out wide, plenty of strikers shoehorned there and unable to make an impact there. And £12m on 2 number 9's who have not suggested that they are a patch on our veteran.

Its not just clicked now 7 years in, he got his style implemented very quickly and has been very consistent with it, as has been the effectiveness with it. I posted my views above in a long post on how imbalanced we are, 3 centre backs continuously leaking goals, ineffective wide forwards and 12m on strikers for whom goalscoring is alien. Dyche has a role for everyone and everyone knows what they are doing, as has been the case throughout.