To be fair, Dyche has a squad that he has built that doesnt have the same imbalance to it that for example ours does. Every piece fits the puzzle.

I had a quick think back over Mowbrays overall time here. Firstly, he was brought in to perform an admittedly difficult task of survival. No matter how thats dressed up, he failed, often failing to turn draws into wins etc, and coming up short. Early the season after, he had the first of for me his 2 major rough patches that he has experienced. Even though he was lucky when we went down that much of the crap that he was lumbered with, Lowe, Akpan, Greer, Brown etc were out of contract, he has only had one window and there was still lingering shite (a couple of whom he added himself) in the squad, and he was struggling to develop any sort of identity. He quickly settled on being quite direct, Graham improved us no end, him and Dack fired us to promotion and Mowbray deserved the adulation. Last seasons dodgy patch was much more prolonged and, in terms of the manager, much more self-inflicted. He had failed to bring in any defenders, we were heavily reliant on a rash injury prone CB (and still are, his sole injury has left us with 2 options) and a liability in Mulgrew. All the money was tied up on a striker who looked out of his depth, often stuck wide with his only goal coming as a central striker. He publically admitted his faults and insisted to fans that "defenders were coming" so off the back of a season that had highlighted an incredibly troublesome achilles heel but ultimately was far from disastrous, he had the platform to right his previous wrongs and fix what he acknowledged was our major reason. I think one thing that is clear is that we have never had an exciting brand of football in terms of pretty passing under Mowbray. Not that its essential I must add. Even in our promotion season, we rarely blew teams away, we were quite attritional but it ultimately gave us a platform for our better players who were a class above the poor standard in League 1, and worked very well. Last season was as bad in terms of entertainment as I can remember in recent memory, but it was less effective at a higher level. @chaddyrovers I dont understand why you turn your nose up at "boring" football, if that was number 1 priority then Mowbray would have been potted long ago. However, its the effectiveness that counts because fans criticise "boring" football only if it doesnt yield results. If we bored ourselves into the top 6 and went up no one would complain at all. But you just look, 5 windows in at very much his squad and how imbalanced it is and that far down the line it really is inexcusable. The main 2 problems, a big money non-scoring striker and a dearth of quality and quantity in defence, have both been doubly compounded this summer. Gallagher never convinced me, we was told this is Breretons break through season, but in both games so far, he was left sat on the bench in game 1, and yesterday, again Mowbray hasnt learnt that he cannot play wide. I still think Graham should be first choice, but you cant really have 12m worth of strikers (the jury is massively out on both) sat on the bench so I think he likes to try and shoehorn them in to the detriment of the team. He has signed 2 wingers, one of whom is seemingly too old, the other has pace and spreads the play but for some unknown reason is nowhere near even the bench. Whereas Armstrong has a free pass despite regularly underperforming. Defensively, Tosin and Cunningham have the potential to really improve the defence, but theres simply not enough in the way of options. One injury in that position and we have a kid on the bench who couldnt get into Stanleys squad last season. Meanwhile, Bennett continues to monopolise the RB position, and again yesterday was responsible for a goal conceded. Will he start v Boro? You bet he will. Raya was a constant liability last season, have we improved on him? Seems not. The question you ask is, are we progressing or stagnating?

Saw only the second half but the same meaningless attacks conjuring up absolutely nothing meaningful and questions all over the pitch. Walton is a bag of nerves in net, rooted to his line at crosses. The defensive situation is unforgivably negligent. Lenihan with yet another injury and we are left with 2 centre backs (who looked ok but concentration is a constant issue regardless of personnel) backed up by a kid who couldnt get on the bench at Stanley. Full backs useless, Bell hasnt got a brain and Bennett at fault for yet another goal. Need Cunningham and Nyambe in right away. Thought Johnson was as bad today as he was impressive last week. The wide area is a dilemma in itself. Why is Chapman so far away from the squad? What is Mowbrays obsession with strikers who cannot play wide being stuck there? Armstrong is a constant but again he was really ineffective. The striking situation is a joke, 12m for 2 non scoring strikers. Gallagher incredibly ineffective yet again. Subs a major problem again, we was left with an imbalanced mess that offered nothing by way of a late goal.

Overall, has to be considered a failure. The primary objective was to fix the defence and we lack both quality and quantity there even after the window. In goal, underwhelming. Sold a prospect who always made me feel nervous, replaced him with what seems to be a very similar keeper with the same flaws on a temporary deal. Defence, left back was a big area that needed improving so I am delighted with the Cunningham deal and wish it was permanent. Centre back, we are horribly light, with the rash Lenihan, very average Williams and Adarabioyo who has very minimal first team CB experience as our only 3 options. He for me doesnt fit the remit of what we needed from a centre back. Right back has been neglected due to the managers total blind spot towards a player who is neither a right back nor Championship quality, but will now be captain. Johnson is a huge boost in midfield, very impressed by that signing although Reed will be a huge loss. Downing is a very underwhelming signing and I feel his arrival is going to halt a key player in Rothwell in his tracks. My main gripe with Gallagher is his price tag but hes not a player I particularly rate anyway and hes a lazy and average addition for a big fee. Allocation of money is a concern too, firstly Waggott was proved to be talking shite when saying we had a similar budget to last year. The defensive signings are short term sticky plasters and the only long term deal was for a player who I dont rate and one where we already have a supposed prospect thats going to break through this season. Either 3 or 4 out of 10 for me.

So you would be happy with them as the only choices we have? Nyambe cant play CB because if he does we dont have any other right backs. We lack quality and quantity.

I agree that he has gone, but out of interest, would you be happy with only Lenihan, Adarabioyo and Williams as CB options, and only one right back?

Dack scored I think more than any midfielder in the league despite playing for the 15th best side who played monotonous football. Safe to say that our best player is the least of our worries.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17676487.rovers-chief-executive-on-budget-talks-with-owners-venkys/ Still waiting on evidence that we have a similar budget. Spent about 1.5m net and theres no way (after signing 2 less players) the difference of 8.5m has been swallowed by wages. Why make these comments if theres no substance to them, just admit if the budget is less.

We must have been watching a different Bell, I certainly wouldnt say he is pretty good on the ball!

The priority for me has to be LB. Id much rather have someone like Cunningham at LB with Tosin or Williams partnering Lenihan than Bell playing. Cant see him asking for stupid wages considering hes been out of a job for over a month and the season has started.

We conceded 69 goals last year. QPR conceded 71. Is Lynch in for talks then?

If as Waggotts comments suggest we are not going to further improve the defence after signing a kid with minimal experience at CB at professional level, and a keeper who doesnt seem to be an upgrade, both on loan, then for me that is the final straw in terms of having faith in Mowbray for all the good he has undoubtedly done in pushing us forward, because we quite simply wont get near the targets he has set with this defence. And theres no excuse, whether individual targets have got away or whatever, when hes not spent a penny in fees on the defence seen we came up, but has spent 14m on attackers. Hes also gone back on a promise he made when he was far from ambigious in stating that our defenders were not good enough. Waggott himself also has a lot to answer for. He quite clearly said we have a similar budget and unless his comments in the LT today are a smokescreen that was a total lie. We signed 2 loan deals this season and last season, all from Prem clubs that you cant imagine there being a huge difference in between, and weve spent around 1.5m net this year and 10m last year. Without factoring in senior pros like Conway, Raya and Rodwell leaving, theres no way that surplus has all been eaten up by the difference between this years permanent signings wages (Gallagher, Johnson and Downing) and last years. (Brereton, Armstrong, Davenport, Rothwell and Rodwell) If we have very little budget pre sales then just say that rather than lieing.

Been plenty of players that have moved that would have improved us at CB. Pinnock, Lindsay, Jansson, Kalas, Bauer, Barbet, Elphick, Clarke, Flint and Morrison to name 10. Maybe some are unrealistic, not all 10. Bidwell at LB too. Still players out there if we have the money as Waggott and Mowbray would have us believe, Hector, McKenna, Cooper, Olsson, Clark, Max Lowe, Curtis Davies etc. No excuses.

Excuses may well be valid about one potential target to be fair, but certainly not over a continued inability to improve the defence over a length of time, when weve spent 14m on strikers in that time. I suspect that if Mowbray doesnt bring in a left back and centre back before the deadline then hes essentially writing his own death warrant as we wont get anywhere near the top 6 that he and the team have repeatedly publically stated is the aim.

Wheres that from? Hope not.

I think our fans seemingly grossly underestimate how much we will miss Dack. Hes a constant source of goals and assists. Our best player. A left back meanwhile has to be number 1 priority.

Bennett lost his head once he lost the ball and charged right across to the left hand side. Had he ran back into his position rather than chase the ball like a dog bounding after a tennis ball, their left wing back wouldnt have been totally unmarked.

As bad as Bennett at full back for me without the excuse of being out of position to compensate. They are both incompetent in totally different ways. Bell is cowardly and flimsy, and also slow of mind and dimwitted. Bennett is all action, but rash, positionally negligent and ultimately tries to disguise his tactical inability by sliding in everywhere to show himself as committed.

And Bell is just as bad. Turns his back on crosses, cowardly, and often looks lost dawdling on the ball rather than driving forward. Useless and needs replacing as much as anyone else.

He wasnt at his best, but what about that brilliant turn that was followed by a slide rule pass which Gallagher should have done far better with in the second half? To be honest, Graham, Dack, Gallagher and Brereton are all central players, none of whom can play wide. Dack and Graham, especially Dack are the ones who you would want any chances to fall to, of that there is no doubt, with Dacks goal record it is incredibly difficult to justify taking him off when we need a goal. We could do with an alternative formation perhaps that could allow 3 of them to play central when we need a goal, but ultimately the main alternatives (diamond in midfield or wing backs) are totally unsuitable because none of our full backs can cross a ball. I don't think Mowbray could have got his tactics any more wrong yesterday to try and force a late goal. Taking off 2 wide men who were starting to influence the game, and that nonsense with Dack central and Graham and Gallagher either side. We had our 2 main headerers of a ball out wide, and absolutely no actual width anyway. Sadly with his comments about not having strikers down the middle that he made in pre-season, I suspect that we could see repeat perfomances of that system that provided absolutely no sign of a fightback or creating a chance whatsoever.

The first goal summed up the 2 full backs and exactly what is wrong with the pair of them. Bennett if I recall was at least partially responsible for an attack breaking down deep in the Charlton half, fair enough. Charlton countered but he charged right across the pitch to the point where when Williams crossed the ball in, he was not there in time but he was essentially a second left back. Their left wing back meanwhile drifted in unmarked from the opposite side and had a simple finish to put them 1 up. It summed Bennett up to a tee, horrendous positionally, and often feels the need to be rash and desperate to retrieve the ball rather than allow the defenders already on that side to try and deal with preventing the cross and if not, he should have been back into position anyway to deal with the danger comfortably. Bell also summed himself up in the same move, he was responsible for trying to prevent the cross and typically he turned his back on it. Its a bit of a myth too that hes good going forward, hes so lackadaisical and him dawdling on the ball is such a regular occurance. I genuinely dont think theres a worse pair of full backs in the league than those 2.

Sorting the full back positions has to be number one priority this week. We do need a centre back and another keeper, but we cannot have them 2 jokers at full back for a game longer.

There was plenty of support and noise at the ground, this is an internet messageboard, if you expect such a drab performance and poor result mainly due to the same repeated mistakes is going to be greeted positively on an internet messageboard then you really are deluded.

Utterly depressing and sadly inevitable way to start a new season. Charlton are shite, playing essentially 5 at the back and only Taylor and maybe Williams who could be considered attacking players. The full backs are as bad as any in the division, make no mistake. Bell looks repeatedly lost as to what hes supposed to be doing on a football pitch. Messed up a 2 yard pass at one point. Bennett is teachers pet but his performance was summed up by slipping them in on goal near the end. Both cannot continue to play if we want top half, never mind bloody top 6. Neither are Championship players. We know Mulgrew is finished, its not a surprise. Lenihan loves a pass into touch still, and Walton doesnt inspire much confidence but made a good save at the end. The defence is a repeatedly neglected shit show, we need a left back, centre back and right back in this week, plus a keeper. It needs overhauling. It hasnt been. If Mowbray wont do it then someone else should come in and do it. Gallagher didnt impress me either, ran in behind a couple of times but didnt really achieve anything with it, mind you when we needed an equaliser he was practically stood in the Riverside. More square pegs in round holes. Dack was quiet again, although his turn and then through ball which Gallagher couldnt do anything with was a delight, looked frustrated. Armstrong wasnt great either, always feel hes better right than left. Travis wasnt at his best either. Johnson was by far our best player barring once when he surrendered the ball in a stupid position. Played some lovely passes, a few great turns and added some bite. Downing was poor on the right first half, our whole right side was non-existent, when he moved onto his natural left he was much better and I thought it was a strange decision to sub him. How Rothwell and Nyambe didnt start I have no idea, and the Brereton farce continues to baffle.

I meant Mears, but hold my hands up that my slip of the tongue does make me look rather stupid. I obviously saw him in person when he was excellent at Ewood, and of course in the return fixture and whenever they were on tv but it is pretty common knowledge that he is a very good Championship defender so I was just surprised you hadnt heard of him, more than knowing him inside out. My point of contention was more that theres no evidence that Pep neecessarily wants him around, big teams loan players out with very few coming back, most are sold on. I stand by my comments about Tosin playing right back for half a season as first choice due to squad imbalance and chronic lack of alternatives. I have also said that although West Brom fans did not seem impressed, and I wasnt particularly especially at Ewood when he was taken off, I hope this is due to being forced to play out of position.