The difficulty for a new manager to compared to the job Mowbray had is that under Coyle he had pieced together a squad filled with cheap shite on short term contracts and substandard loans. At the end of the season much of that crap (Brown, Greer, Byrne, Hendrie etc) plus a few longer term shit players like Lowe and Akpan all were due to be out if contract. Even if a new manager came in Mowbray has signed loads of sub par players on long term contracts that it is so hard to rebuild. Mulgrew, Bell, Williams and Bennett were given extensions, so theyll be sticking around, Johnson, Gallagher, Brereton, Rothwell etc are all sat on decent contracts im sure and I bet Mowbray is already pushing deals over the line for our out of contract rag tag bunch. Big money players meant as promising assets are now sat taking a considerable wage as costly liabilities. A further problem is the fact that a normal club would now be planning for next season. With our disinterested owners no budgets will be discussed until the end of the season, if in any possible with Mowbray in India. Any competent free agents perfect for us in these economic circumstances will go elsewhere and we will again lag behind. Theres also a good chance now that we might actually finish on less points than last season. The season is again over with plenty of games to spare. Considering that weve signed 3 expensive loans this season, 3 big earners on frees and of course a 5m signing who is now probably our biggest earner, and we are no nearer to getting a successful way to get this totally imbalanced squad to work efficiently. I am struggling to see any reasons why we should continue with the current manager. He has wasted our money and our squad is still all over the place. His recent use of an experimental system to terrible effect shows that he is no closer to piecing things together. @chaddyrovers what is your methodology behind thinking that we are going in the right direction considering how his squad is so imbalanced and so strewn with financial liabilities. He may even be unable to claim progress this season. As it is, its so frustrating that we know our owners dont give a shit, no thought will be given regarding budgets etc for at least a month, we will try and fail to play catch up with a limited budget and our squad will still be full of shite next year.

Have to have a number 10 because Dack and Holtby play there. Absolutely scandulous that there are NO players (for either system) that can play those wide roles. None at all. Shambolic. An area that needs fixing in the summer as much as any. With no money its gonna be hard. Good chance we wont even beat last years points tally of 60. Progress? What progress.

Do you agree that the false 9, wide striker experiment needs to be put in the bin and kept there?

Suspect theres more chance of Sam Hart being number 1 on the opening day of next season.

The main purpose for these last 6 games has to be to work on next season. It wont be because Mowbray wont be as proactive as that. Then you have our absent owners who still sont have an inkling to get a budget sorted for another season in this division anytime soon and any frees will go elsewhere. We know that Lenihan, Nyambe, Evans, Travis, Downing, Dack, Holtby and Armstrong are good enough. I suspect that they are the only ones but a key objective needs to be to see if any of the younger players are good enough not even necessarily to play major roles next season but as part of the squad. Problem being Rankin Costello and Butterworth are injured and Wharton is presumably ineligible. Buckley, Davenport and Chapman all need plenty of game time between now and the end of the season just to see. If one shows hes good enough then its worth it. The likes of Bennett, Mulgrew, Williams, Bell, Johnson, Gallagher and Brereton are all drains of our now small resources, if I am being honest even for free most of them wouldnt attract suitors. Rothwell is the same, a load of shite. I think id take a free for any if someone was willing to take on their wages. None of them can be close to that opening day side next year. Sadly i suspect 3 will be starting and itll be the same old story. In terms of out of contract players, Mowbray wont be but he needs to be ruthless. Samuel, Leutwiler, Hart, Smallwood, sadly now Graham and if theres any chance at all that his contract hasnt been extended then Bell all need to go. The only extension should be Downing. Totally fed up tonight and the manager has so much responsibility for that woeful performance summing up so many of the self inflicted problems due to his management.

But he signed 7 of them. Gallagher and Brereton the less said about the better. Rothwell has been fur coat and no knickers since he joined. Samuel as bad as any of them and always has been. Holtby for some reason playing as a focal point in attack. Armstrong our only threat subbed off. And Chapman the most pointless signing ever. Ultimately its his own bad recruitment.

Absolutely embarassing capitulation. No doubt Mowbray will blame a perhaps harsh red card rather than look at why we was already 1 down and absolutely pitiful. Season over. In a team full of shit performances Samuel stood out. Absolutely pathetic. And some think hes worth a new deal?! Rothwell, totally ineffective, as he always is. Holtby and Armstrong our only sort of threats. What was that quadruple sub about, taking them 2 off? Gallagher pointless. Graham past it. Davenport full of petulance even though he did seem at least arsed. Brereton not a red but absolutely idiotic to do what he did. Johnson a lumbering oaf, no doubt on a big wage. Downing seems to have aged a couple of years during lockdown. Our bizarre makeshift defence eventually crumbled and ill be glad when that clown in net is sent back. How we sort out a horribly imbalanced squad full of immovable shite on good contracts, beats me.

Opinion on Mulgrew playing? I know youve always been staunchly against his return, and have even said youd prefer Carter before. With Mulgrew and Bennett in the defence, we could be in for a long evening. So hard to see the shape we are playing. Must win, thats for sure.

You are an advocate of the under 23s but for some reason if a player has had first team experience especially elsewhere they arent cut the same slack which I dont understand. For example, despite being a few years younger, you claimed that because Davenport had already spent time on loan (successfully) in the Championship and had come through at City, he shouldnt be treated in the same way as Tom White, a few years older and who had come from non league. You also didnt want Chapman playing for the under 23s even though he was around the same age as the players alongside him in the under 23s. Wharton is clearly in the best place of all of our centre backs regarding competing for a first team place having had 3 promotions from League 2 and 80 games. None of the others compare, Magloire has had 2 appearances for us and really struggled physically I felt, Grayson a cup game in which he really struggled v a League 2 team and Platt who has been in non league. I dont think anyone could realistically expect Wharton to come into our first team but surely hes worth at least considering and looking at to be 3rd or 4th choice if he has grown physically baring in mind the quality of our defenders aside from Lenihan and Nyambe and of course the current economic situation. If he did come back and didnt make a squad for example he could dip back into the reserves as and when necessary. Obviously the comparisons to Armstrong are nonsensical.

I very much doubt that League 1 clubs will be able to afford him permanently, or pay any fees.

He definitely does spend too much time chasing back but his lack of selfishness is partly a lack of a strikers instinct. Neither him or Brereton possess one at all and whilst Mowbray is right to say when one is running forward the other should get in the box, it is somewhat removing personal responsibility regarding this wide strikers experiment.

The very definition of must win tonight. No excuses about them fighting for their life, obviously wont be easy but they are bottom for a reason. Dont win and I suspect we can write off our play off hopes with 6 games to go, Cardiff likely to go 6 or 7 points clear and it becomes almost impossible. Win and we apply some pressure, Cardiff should win but we go temporarily 7th and at worst 8th by 7pm tomorrow if we get the job done.

Regarding Nyambe, wasnt it earlier this season that you was championing the inclusion of Bennett (who has never been a competent right back) over him based on flawed stats due to Bennett playing in various positions? That being said, it is undoubted that it is this season in which he has kicked on. His passing is fine but his final ball (aside from that great cross v Swansea) is not there as you say. Certainly dont see a Premier League team going for him at this point. Dont agree with your comparison of Wharton and Brereton however. Neither of us (I presume) have seen Wharton much this season but he presumably has done a little more than put in "competent performances) at League 2 level, hes played a key role in getting promoted from that League again. I've seen some silly suggestions saying that he could replace Adarabioyo but in the main the question is can he play a role as 3rd or 4th choice, and considering that we have only the critical Lenihan and the back up option of Williams who is not particularly good, its not that much of a far fetched question really. You also championed Tom White based solely on his performances for the under 23s after coming from league, so it seems strange to be dismissive of a player of the same age who has achieved 3 promotions and played 80 games in League 2. Regarding Brereton, its a huge stretch to say that hes putting in competent performances at Championship level just yet. He has looked incompetent up until the last few games, in which he had a bright cameo v Swansea and earnt/dived for a penalty. He was then absent v Derby, and post lockdown has been fairly bright in both games but not really achieved anything. His one chance that could have built on his 1 goal in 2 years tally, he slipped on his arse!

Suspect with the number of linked teams that it is agent talk.

Even if Downing as preferred was at LB, Bennett would be behind Travis, Johnson, Davenport, Holtby, Rothwell etc in CM.

Surely you would go with the 433 tomorrow then and work on it consistently rather than go back to the 4231 you endorsed that i had recommended.

You initially strongly criticised the club for not offering the option of a refund if they did not have value from ifollow, lets have it right. Within the hour granted you had gone 180 degrees and was staunchly defending the club.

I think it is difficult to come up with a formation to suit an imbalanced squad full stop. Defensively, we have 2 good centre backs, one on loan, and one very injury prone third CB also needed at LB. We have one solitary good full back, a fairly defensive right back. We have 3 or 4 who can play in central midfield, a position of strength in the number 10 role too, absolutely no competent wide men, and one goalscoring pacy striker who can also play wide. Some good players in there but overall, how on earth do you play them!

To be fair, that assumes that all players through our academy are of the same standard, which of course isnt true. Buckley is obviously rated much higher than Thompson. Left back is a neglected area of our team, but of course it is seen as a perfect opportunity for our captain to be shoehorned in unfortunately. That being said, if Thompson isnt seen as an option at this point he must be considered a fair way away, The most obvious option does lie in the form of a member of our senior squad who has played left back more competently indeed than Bell has when he has filled in this season, Downing.

And financially are at the stage of begging the fans not to claim small refunds in terms of funding this necessary surgery!

The 4-3-3 should be ditched, 2 of our only 3 competent attackers are number 10s so why come up with a formation that doesnt include one? Gallagher cannot play that wide striker role as much as Bennett cannot play at left back.

Really, bottom of the table at effectively a neutral stadium for a team gunning for the top 6 should be one to tick off, take 3 points and move on. We will see.

Definitely. If we could ever get them on the pitch at the same time, the front 6 in an ideal world would be Evans, Travis, Downing, Holtby, Dack and Armstrong, thats a good 6. Problem being there is absolutely no balance there. Need to come up with a way of fitting together our most technical players in a balanced way, we need 2 actual wide men which I doubt would have happened even prior to the pandemic.

I dont think any of our players are Premier League level to be honest. We need to keep Dack, Holtby, Armstrong, Travis, Nyambe and Lenihan together if we can. Problem being having the first 2 in the same team effectively. Ive not seen any justification to this point that any of Brereton, Rankin Costello, Bell, Gallagher and even Rothwell are even low Championship players in terms of impacting games and Graham and Johnson seem well past it sadly.

I do think that he has signed some players in Holtby, Downing, Adarabioyo etc who can enable us to become a more technical side and I do think there is probably some logic in trying to become a side that is able to control games better, especially with Graham coming to the end and I suspect a very difficult player to replicate in terms of doing what he is good at. My issue is that the transition is done without any real clarity, consistency or conviction. The squad is built lacks any real balance. Mowbray has flirted with a couple of alternative formations but they dont suit the current squad and he would need more patience anyway. 3 at the back has a few times been trialled, not really worked and been instantly ditched. The false 9 experiment has an element of logic and even on Saturday our technical players often interchanged nicely but it offers no goal threat with Holtby and when fit Dack not suited to playing with their back to goal. We need to have a number 10 in our formation to play Dack/Holtby in their best position. We have absolutely no players who have shown any competence out wide, and playing wide forwards especially Gallagher ensure that you have no subtlety with those players. Our full backs (Nyambe lacks end product although can be a big threat) dont offer much threat overlapping either which means everything must come centrally. There are also strange exceptions in his transfer policy which suggest that there is an element of confusion in his mind. Sam Gallagher is as technically lacking as any forward you will find in the league. Bradley Johnson is a midfielder who gives you hustle and bustle and a real goal threat (when hes in shape that is) but again technical ability is not his strong suit and at least once a game gets caught on the ball near his own net. Why make 2 of your main signings in a summer in which you publically declared a desire to move to a more controlled style of football players who are not suited to playing that style?