Think that is somewhat of an unfair and antiquated criticism. We all expected Travis, the missing person within your post, to instantly lose his place as soon as Smallwood returned from suspension. Indeed, since Travis came in v Sheffield United, he has played all of the game apart from v Bristol City, when he was taken off for his own protection after losing his discipline, and at home to Boro, when he came on at half time but rather than Evans and Smallwood, we went with Evans and Reed in the middle. The Rodwell centre back experiment has been a farce from day one, in that he came as seemingly an alternative to a natural centre back that we couldnt afford for a fraction of the price that we paid for a sub striker yet to score. Unfortunately, Mowbray's imbalanced recruitment has removed any potential to put him in his natural position in the absence of one solitary centre back.

But hes played his whole senior career in midfield. He earnt England caps and a big money move to City as a midfielder. And he looks as flimsy as anyone in defence, because hes never played there as a senior player with any regularity. It was a stupid project which was stupidly seemingly an alternative to signing a blood and thunder centre back.

For me, an open and shut case. With very little service, minimal crosses, and aimless hoofs regularly and blindly played up to him, hes been excellent. Has done everything to dispel myths about a perceived physical wane with consistently impressive performances, a competitive goal and assist tally and some text book leading of the line. Dack would have to be second, despite a lean couple of months his goal and assist contributions are still impressive. Armstrong has had one excellent month amidst a season of mainly poor performances, Travis is young player of the year but his performances have dropped to the mean following a superb few initial performances, and Reed and Evans have had decent seasons. Aside from that, nothing else of note.

January was just a 4th opportunity wasted in a constant neglect in regards to our defence. Signing a top class striker wouldnt have solved it. The fact that we seemingly wanted a striker shows what Mowbrays attitude is towards our defensive woes. We will make do.

Ultimately he came out and went all guns blazing on the players post match, but ultimately the team he put out had absolutely nothing in the way of competent defenders on the pitch. If Raya had been taught all week how to finish and he played him up front, would Mowbray have any place calling him out for not scoring. No. Playing that flimsy defence and keeper will always struggle to defend as a unit. Mowbray needs to look at himself and how hes ended up with such a defence. He bemoaned the lack of our one player on Saturday who enjoys heading the ball away. Behave Tony, its hardly an injury crisis to be without one centre back, that shouldnt leave you with no option but to go with a tired and tested Rodwell and Mulgrew combination that simply doesnt work. This is your squad now, why do you still only have one centre back who will head the ball away? Mowbrays most staunch supporters will point to the potential of a Bauer deal not going through last summer. Why was Mowbrays plan B to sign a midfielder on a year contract to try and "convert" him into a defender? And its ok saying he "knows what we need" in the summer but what evidence is there to suggest he is the man to fix it? Calling for more time and resources shouldnt be at all required. Hes had 2 years, 4 windows and well over 10 million. Whereas a good manager builds from the back, hes spent less than 500k on defenders. The only centre back hes signed was for peanuts, and is very much a steady League 1 defender and no more, the very fact that so many are bemoaning his absence now weve carelessly loaned him out says plenty about whats still at the club. Its a slap in the face to have a 7m striker twiddling his thumbs on the bench as we chase a goal due to poor defending. Its negligence over a long period of time under Mowbray thats ended up in the sorry state we see today. We seemed to be a well drilled team in many aspects last season, often capable of winning when not at our best. It seems that was solely based on having superior attacking players.

The players in defence arent good enough, and Mowbray has neglected this in the transfer market and blown all of his money on attacking players. Rodwell is an automatic pick at centre back after one solitary injury, and he is a midfielder. All whilst we have a 7m striker on the bench. Why no acknowledgement of him seemingly seeing our defence as unworthy of improving over the course of 4 transfer windows?

I am bordering on having lost my patience with the manager. But implying that a win would be unwelcome and suggesting Coyle could do a better job, you are showing yourself up, again.

Theres some laughable defences of Mowbray with some people seemingly swallowing the blame he put solely on the players. Sorry Mowbray but it is entirely your fault. You have had 4 transfer windows, 2 years and have spent well over 10 million. You have not remotely improved our defence. As individuals, the defenders and goalkeeper are not up to it, even if they were well organised (they arent that either) then they would still make too many individual errors. Rodwell isnt even a defender, your negligent attitude towards our defence has meant that youve signed a midfielder on a free and thought "he'll do." You say that we only have one central defender who likes to head the ball and enjoys the rough and tumble on defending, its your squad! I also think we were really poor going forward again, our one dimensional tactics do not get the best out of our attacking players. Furthermore, Smallwood has again joined Bennett as players who are automatic picks regardless of ability and form. I am fed up of seeing the same things week in week out, it feels like we are stagnating and serious question marks are arising as to whether we are indeed progressing under the current manager. People keep saying he knows what he needs to do. How do you know?

If he is going to be pushed into midfield at some point then get that deal done ASAP. If hes solely a centre back in Mowbrays eyes then its an experiment that hasnt worked and we should leave it.

If I was a Rotherham or Barnsley fan and they were claiming to want higher attendances, I would be equally critical. No one has suggested we are unique in our approach. Anyone who does it is jepordizing the hope of getting as many additional fans as possible into the ground.

Raya Nyambe Rodwell Mulgrew Bell Evans Travis Armstrong Dack Rothwell Graham Subs: Leutweiler, Reed, Bennett, Smallwood, Nuttall, Brereton, Chapman/Butterworth Need to get a win considering recent forn and Rotherham are poor hence their league position. Reed has been out of form and Bennett doesnt provide anywhere near enough so id give Rothwell a game, perfect chance for him. Very hamstrung defensively.

Of course as paying customers do we "have the right" to question the manager. Thats essentially part of having an opinion which is the whole point of having a messageboard. Mowbray for all the good he has done is certainly not above questioning or criticism when it is warranted. Our defensive record this season and our record of throwing away leads is very poor and warrants criticism, and his very mixed recruitment is also very much open to debate, something you yourself have done when questioning Breretons signing. People have to realise that you can question and criticise whilst also being very appreciative of the work the manager has done so far. Signings such as Dack and Reed, getting the best from Graham and Evans and ultimately a promotion. Individual criticisms and appreciation can be mutually exclusive.

Ahead of our best player? Or wide as you suggest he played tonight?

I dont think especially financially we would come close to affording them 2 players with Dack proceeds, but I feel like you are being unnecessarily pessimistic regarding a potential drop off in value and also underestimating quite how important he is. I am against any plans that involve selling him as we will be so much weaker without him, and selling him would be the opposite of progress. I disagree with a dodgy full back being not much of an issue either. Amarii Bell has been directly responsible for goals at Reading and Birmingham, and hes allowed cross after cross in all season. To hear our manager saying stuff like this "He’s pleasantly surprised us with his defensive qualities" is incredibly worrying, on a par with saying Raya "has found some form in recent weeks" following mistakes v Newcastle, Brentford, Birmingham and Bristol City. I just hope that these comments are purely motivational and indeed Mowbray is lucking for quick and considerable improvement or change in the summer. I would much prefer Lenihan and a new centre back and left back over 2 new centre backs and Bell at left back.

I think its fair to say that his recruitment has barely improved the starting 11. Downing was only ever going to be a temporary League 1 move and he was going off the rails when Lenihan made a very welcome return last season. Improving players is totally seperate to recruitment but I would certainly agree on the 2 you mention, especially Graham, and it seems they are much fitter than they have been in the past. His work with Dack following his signing has also proved very effective. Whilst using Jason Lowe as a benchmark is a incredibly flawed measurement, I do agree that Smallwood is fine to have as long as Mowbray sees him as a squad player, I suspect his slightly more limited involvement lately suggests that he in particular is one Mowbray was referring to when he said about realising players have been given enough of a chance and we need to progress beyond them. I think Bennett deserves the same treatment too. Samuel on the other hand is nowhere near up to it. He was poor last season, he didn't score after November. We wont progress giving players of his standard anything other than the smallest of roles.

Hes manipulated the results of an admittedly vague poll to use those who have implied they do not want the manager out but want to see more to suggest that he can take us to the next level as evidence of a majority not backing him full stop. As you say, 95% have suggested that they would like Mowbray to stay but with various caveats and time scales on what comes next. Its the nonsensical viewpoint that commonly is used by quite a few that almost implies that the manager shouldnt be judged on results that irks the most. Id like to think that no one doubts his integrity or is ungrateful for promotion but its in no way disrespectful to judge a manager on his ability to progress regardless of his character or previous achievements.

Lenihan has played a big part of it, indeed he has made the most defensive appearances out of anyone. I look at for example Bristol City, and none of their defenders are warriors as you described. Middlesbrough were missing Flint against us but looked incredibly well drilled regardless. Good defenders dont need to be thugs or even overly aggressive. Unfortunately, Rodwell isnt a defender full stop, Bell and Williams are simply not competent defenders and Mulgrew is past his best. With our goalkeeper regularly directly responsible for goals too its little wonder we concede so much.

One central midfielder?!

This agenda driven article lost any remaining credibility with the line "I heavily suspect though that there are some agents provocateurs who would relish further turmoil." Seems that suggesting doubts and worries as to the managers ability in terms of a thus far inability to rectify a terrible defensive record stemming from under the inept Coyle and also questioning an at best mixed record in the transfer record is paramount to wishing the team to fail.

Graham is now on 12 goals and 4 assists. Even if he hadn't contributed anything else, which everyone but yourself agrees that he has contributed plenty as a focal point in attack. Surely he deserves to still be around just for that level of goal contribution? Evans has had a good season too, no way should he be let go. Mulgrew and Bennett should be no more than squad players, and Conway and Williams can certainly go along with Bell and a few others.

Surely left back is as urgent a priority as anything? Even the best 2 centre backs would struggle if the full back is constantly allowing the ball to come into the area. I also don't think that defensive midfield is anywhere near a priority for the summer. Travis is blossoming in there, and compliments Evans nicely, Smallwood should be very much a squad player, but also for me Rodwell could be the answer. Him and Travis would be worth a shot together, one thing is for sure, he is not a centre back but could add the ability to keep the ball. Doubt there would be any chance of signing them 2 for £15m, nor do I see why they would come here, but we need to keep Dack for as long as possible. I would now agree that he is our best centre back, but he is often rash and makes poor decisions. Mulgrew was at one stage IMO our best centre back but unfortunately it seems that age has really caught up with him, although having a similar player next to him doesnt help. Lenihan does have the most raw materials to become a good centre back, but I wouldnt hang my hat on him yet.

I'm surprised you mention Lenihan as someone who you see as consistently good enough to take us forward. For the most part this season, he has been poor, obviously I would like him around but I'm unconvinced he can be considered someone trustworthy enough to take us forward. With Rodwell, the question has to be whether he can contribute going forward as a midfielder, and whether Mowbray can see past his defensive experiment which for me has failed. I know we differ on our opinion on Bennett in the main but I would agree that he cant be anything more than a squad player, but unfortunately he is the first name on the teamsheet. Only the last 10 minute removal against Millwall at home and coming on 10 minutes into the second half away at Derby has he not played the full 90 minutes when fit. Even when we are chasing a goal, he is never sacrificed for a more attacking player. Yesterday he didnt have a single shot and put in a solitary cross according to Rich Sharpe. We definitely need a new right back to provide an alternative to Nyambe, and for me 2 centre backs rather than 1.

He was certainly a captain last season when he led us to promotion. I have heard him at games organising and he has been a better defender overall than people give him credit for. Granted his form recently has been really poor and I am unconvinced he is any longer a competent Championship centre back. Captains dont have to be thugs. Tottenhams captain is Hugo Lloris. David Silva is regularly City captain when Kompany is injured. Tom Heaton is Burnley captain and Harry Kane England captain. In the Championship, Sheffield Uniteds captain is Billy Sharp, Brentfords is Romaine Sawyers and West Brom Chris Brunt. Captains come in different shapes and sizes.

Bell was the main problem for the first but the pair havent covered themselves in glory. Stand by my comment that both should be dropped, Bell let go in the summer, and neither will get us near promotion. Sadly weve no one to put in.

May i ask for clarity on this as I have not seen the initial post? @arbitro