Mowbray was quoted afterwards as saying that Barnsley are "an athletic young team and I didnt think it was a day for Stewy Downing." Now I dont think I had him in my 11 for the game but hes picking and leaving out players in fear of the worst team in the league at home after not winning since the opening day. You just look at some of the consistent sides who play almost unchanged sides, feed off their consistency and are now successful in the Premier League, Sheff Utd and Burnley to name but 2 and you just have to shake your head.

But Armstrong is ineffective no matter where he plays almost everytime he plays. Width is something that people try to downplay but it is still effective. But Armstrong isnt even a winger, our only winger is the disused Chapman.

Ive no idea, Id presume and hope not baring in mind its not until Wednesday. If hes fit, surely he starts, the useless teachers pet is dropped? He has played wide almost exclusively for the last 18 months and has been shit 90% of the time. Like I said, we dont really have an alternative so we have the useless Bell. Easier said than done when the players arent very good and the manager cant organise defences. Brentford dont score many but dont concede many either.

On what planet do Bennett and Armstrong deserve to maintain their places? Nyambe and Holtby every day for me, Holtby back in a more advanced position. Walton is a flip of a coin with an equally incompetent Leutweiler. Bell cant play either, massively hamstrung with him, but sadly we dont seem to have an alternative. Benrahama if he plays on that side will have a field day. Sadly, Mowbray will pick most of if not all of his teachers pets, Gallagher, Armstrong and Bennett.

Again, to clarify this is in no way defending Mowbray because he signed them but I think you are being generous on the players you have mentioned. Armstrong played wide for the vast, vast majority of last season, he almost exclusively starts full stop, and he was rubbish for the vast majority. One superb month aside he was very poor. Ultimately this was the same role that he succeed in League One, which may be the 2 most important words. A lack of influence/output and often a lack of effort from him. Theres a bit of a myth that I sometimes see that Bell is a good attacking full back (or wing back) and just poor defensively. He is as bad as youll see going forward too, the countless amount of times he has space ahead and he just checks back, very rarely does he get a cross in and even rarer a successful one. Technically poor too, 18 out of 44 passes apparently made successfully yesterday, considering his penchant for turning back and playing it safe thats incredibly poor. The amount of times the ball comes into his vicinity especially in the air and he just heads or kicks it in the direction he is facing is unreal. Such a poor player.

To be fair, him being on the pitch doesnt work. Hes crap as a striker too. Awful, awful signing.

But ultimately hes the only player consistently scoring goals in an offensively dysfunctional team and every player has off days, it says more about the rest of the players that they are unable to muster up goals when he isnt at his best, they should receive the criticism. I think people underestimate the value, importance and difficulty of just "popping up with a goal or 2."

Brilliant post I almost unanimously agreed with regarding your player summary. Not sure this is fair on Travis though. I do actually agree with Mowbray that he is often too loose on the ball, he was a breath of fresh air since he came into the team and Mowbray has done right by since that moment, having him in almost every single game in the centre of our midfield. Like a few other of our players, I dont think it suits a player like him to try and out pass teams as he isnt that great on the ball, his chasing, harrying and winning the ball back is his key asset. Im not sure he really had the flair you mentioned or a particularly good passing range, maybe you could say that the new "style" is hindering him but I think he has been treated pretty well by the manager since he broke in. Look at Johnson, a far more experienced player who has fallen right out of favour, and Smallwood has never come close to re establishing himself since that watershed moment.

He was struggling to dislodge Lowe and Akpan when he broke through in midfield. Not very good on the ball, his assets are his bravery and his ability to win headers, he is very much a centre back, just in terms of quality, far too rash to be a top 6 quality one.

Absolutely no chance, especially on the back of a fairly hefty deficit already. I think you overestimate the quality of them players. I thought you wanted Brereton to play? Armstrong has repeatedly been shite, why is he in your team? Bennett and Walton youve made a note that you want replacements in January which is fair enough, but we are handicapped with them in the team until then. You think Williams can play a part as a top 6 quality left back. You think that the midfield partnership is top 6 quality?

Or play our best and only competent striker who won player of the season last season? Apologies to who it was but someone had stats showing that Gallagher and Armstrong in the same team rarely ends well. 2 underperformers that need a spell out of the team.

Mowbray would be gone today if I was in charge, I wouldnt trust him to further improve any area and there are quite a few areas in which we are lacking!

Stop being a child, he was very good in that first half but its been very much the exception to the rule. One thing is for sure, when you said that he would best suit the passing football Mowbray wants to play, you was totally wrong. Technically a very poor player.

Totally disagree. None of Brereton, Gallagher, Samuel or Armstrong have proven that they can score goals anything other than very irregularly at this level. Only Graham has done what you have said. I have just made a thread on the state of our squad.

Putting the managerial situation to one side for a second, as this could easily be applied to a new manager. How good is our current squad and what is our best side? I think our fans massively overestimate how good it is, in my opinion it is no better than a mid table squad full of flaws and weaknesses. Even in areas where we are stronger, ie in midfield, we may have some talented players but they are either all wanting to play similar roles, or their best position is somewhat a mystery. To clarify, this isnt me defending Mowbray, because I still do think he is underachieving in a underwhelming league in terms of quality if not competitiveness, the blame goes to Mowbray in terms of building this squad in the first place. In goal, we dont have a competent Championship goalkeeper so thats not a good start. I think with the impressive Cunningham written off, our obvious back 4 is Nyambe, Lenihan, Adarabioyo and Williams. Which isnt great, full backs (Nyambe has scope for further improvement) are both very low end Championship full backs, and there is promise in the middle 2 but still to prove they are capable of keeping the goals out. Problem is that all of them has fitness question marks to varying degrees too, so that even if the manager didnt have blind spots to the pair, as I very much doubt that Bell or Bennett would get in any other teams in the league, they would still feature fairly regularly regardless of who the manager is because of a lack of depth. Midfield is a curious one. In players like Downing and Holtby, you have potentially capable players but ones whose exact position is an unknown. With Downing slowing down perhaps his best position is in central midfield, but I am unconvinced that he can have full control of a match from that role. Holtby I feel is somewhat restricted from a deep role and hasnt impressed me there. Hes a natural number 10, but cant play there as our best player plays there, so for me the best best is to shoehorn him wide right, far from ideal but ultimately we dont have any competent right wingers. Rothwell is a definite for the left wing but again, is he more of a number 10? And has he been given a chance to prove that he can consistently provide goals and assists? And I think Travis for all his energy is a little overrated because we dont have anyone else like him, he has to play I think. I think we have the best choice/depth in midfield but are miles away from having a balanced midfield and I think we will be searching for the correct mix throughout the season. Up front, pretty simple, and it is the same in regards to playing any of them wide. Gallagher, Armstrong, Brereton and Samuel arent up to it. Graham starts every game he physically can, end of. We need a new manager, but it will take another few windows run competently this time to get this squad near the play offs.

That performance v Forest is his equivalent of Brett Emertons v Wolves. One game is not enough to suggest that he is a competent striker. His goal record admittedly at a young age at Forest was incredibly low and obviously he ended up out of the team and that led to an improvement in their league position. Everytime he has featured in a Rovers shirt he has looked, like Gallagher has, to be well, well out of his depth sadly.

People at times focus far too much on our defensive inadequacies in that our attack isnt great either. We still certainly do need a striker as Gallagher, Brereton, Armstrong and Samuel are all shite!

No major mistakes? Had you gone for a piss when they made it 2-2?! Dont recall any saves that werent anything other than routine either. I do think Rothwell was good today but I remember that goal v Derby being very much deserved and being delighted for him based on his performance up until that point. He adds tempo and urgency, won the ball back a few times and makes things happen.

Think youve been incredibly generous to Gallagher and in particular Walton and Armstrong. Rothwells best game was at home to Derby last season.

Id give Gallagher, Walton and Armstrong 2's, Travis, Bell and Bennett 4's, Holtby and at a push the 2 centre backs 6's, Rothwell a 7 and Dack for winning the game an 8. Graham and Downing 6s, Buckley N/A.

I was there and I found the first 85 minutes to be incredibly frustrating, the performance was undoubtedly shite and I still am of that opinion despite the late winner. The same things time after time aggravate and annoy me and I want the manager out still. But I was delighted to get the late winner and that was the main feeling I had. I am not optimistic about our overall situation but when the ball hit the net and when the whistle went I was momentarily elated. I think the main factor is people suggesting that it has saved Mowbray which I dont believe is true. With his mate running things his job is safe regardless.

Thats unfortunate, I can understand the belief that our season is fizzling out, if youve fallen out of love with football then that is unfortunate but I think many are over simplifying it by suggesting that we either win or Mowbray goes. I want him gone but I still love a late winner.

I do find it really strange that people cant enjoy a late winner at Ewood. For a start, he wouldnt have been sacked regardless of the result. I am very much in the Mowbray out crowd and wasnt impressed by the performance at all, with predictable shite performances of Walton, Gallagher, Armstrong, Bennett and Bell never ceasing to amaze. But I was still elated when Dack put in the winner.

Still delighted to win, impossible not to enjoy a win regardless. But doesnt in any way change my opinion that we urgently need a change of manager, it was a really poor performance, hes built a squad laughably short in certain areas considering he claimed with a straight face that we can hit the top 6. The performance lacked quality, ability, urgency and passion. Start with the useless drip in net, 4 huge errors leading to goals in only 6 games. Absolutely dreadful. Miles more error prone than the incredibly error prone Raya, and his kicking is shocking too. Bennett is absolutely terrible on the ball, every cross is overhit, passes often astray and I think his first touch is so bad so that he can slide tackle for the second. Bell possibly not quite as bad as he can be but typically docile and sluggish, no use going either way and often kicks or heads the way hes facing rather than taking a touch. Not sure how much blame you can attach to the central pairing but you could have got a double decker bus through the middle for the first and no reaction to our goalkeepers inadequacies for the second. Travis gives us some energy and he was involved indirectly in 2 goals but his use of the ball is often horrendous, gave the ball away so often, no matter who we play in there we cannot keep the ball so why try and play that style if we simply cant. Rothwell was probably our best player, he just gives us that urgency and increase in tempo that the others dont seem to want to exit their comfort zone to play at, the antithesis of Armstrong who I will come on to. Also often switched on defensively. Holtby is the other one who tries to speed things up at times but it doesnt seem right him playing central, he often played clever penetrative passes wide (for Bell to usually stop and turn back) but hes wasted playing so deep. Dack justifies for me Mowbrays claim that he always plays. Hes our talisman, often our only goal threat. Not overly involved but scored 2 poachers goals that again were invaluable. Gallagher on the other hand, admittedly today somewhat hamstrung by another Mowbray masterstroke to play him wide, is a woeful footballer. He lacks intelligence, repeatedly gives the ball away and adds nothing at all. Useless. Armstrong also doesnt seem to understand the offside rule, another footballer lacking any intelligence yet plays every game. Infuriating. The pair would be lucky to make the bench. Subs wise, Graham a big difference, has to be first name on the team sheet, actually knows what he is doing unlike Mowbrays batch of expensive no hopers. Downing adds a touch of class but Buckley added the square root of nothing.

Armstrong, Gallagher and Bennett all deservedly keeping their places in the team.