Very true. I had absolutely no confidence at half time that we would go on to win which is a sad state in itself. Part of it has to be a mentality thing. When we beat Hull earlier this season and ground out a successive 1 goal win I think some people got a little bit carried away as if we had turned a corner in this regard. That horribly flimsy and spineless nature to our game in particular away from home continues to haunt us. The manager continues to be unable to rectify this. Its very easy for Mowbray to pin point individual errors as he also did last year with Raya in particular but ultimately they will not be eliminated when the quality of our defensive players remains incredibly low. When we have poor players like Walton, Bennett, Bell and Williams amidst our defence then they will continue to make regular mistakes.

I still fail to see on what basis this team can be judged as a top 6 one. You are massively overstating the quality of the players. Of course the foibles of the squad are down the manager but as much as a new manager is needed, I see the current squad and dont see solutions in more than one area in terms of having a top 6 challenging quality team. Walton is horrendous, its generous to suggest he is bottom 6 quality. There is certainly no chance that the defence is anywhere near that quality, Cunningham excepted although hes a write off with injury. Lenihan is the best of the rest but injury prone and makes far too many errors and the rest again are nowhere near good enough, Bell, Williams, Nyambe and Adarabioyo, as well as jack of all trades master of none Bennett. You cant get top 6 with a defence and keeper like that. Midfield and up front, theres an imbalance there. Travis a good player, top 6? Not yet no. Dack I think youd have to say yeah, he is pushing top 6 quality with his numbers. Holtby might have that quality too, but obviously hes only started once and he wants to play where Dack is. Rothwell an enigma, should play more but (partially as a result of management) hes not proven yet as that quality week in week out at this level. Johnson, Downing and Graham all at one point perhaps but to varying degrees are subdued by age. And down at the younger side, at huge cost, Armstrong, Gallagher, Samuel, Brereton etc all certainly cant be considered top 6 players. I also think Alex Neil is a little more than decent, at this level hes up near the top.

But what is quite clear is that Bauer WOULD have been a huge upgrade on the crap we already had. Williams has been here for years and has had more than enough chances to prove that hes good enough and hes failed to do so. Shocking again yesterday. Adarabioyo is flimsy, weak, brittle, hes not a good enough defender. Bennett always seems to give away "soft pens." Hes a liability yet forever the first name on the team sheet. Hes nowhere near good enough. Preston as a team were awful first half. Waltons main weakness is goalkeeping sadly.

Didnt you say in the summer that we was right to move on from Bauer as he wasnt of the required quality to get into our starting 11? Views on Williams and Adarabioyo being not of the required quality as Championship defenders? Views on Bennett the liability continuing to give away penalties? Surely you would that Raya for all of his faults is better than the useless Walton?

Stop banging on about Cooper.

Possibly not but he certainly could influence the owners, and lets put it this way, hes hardly going to be currently trying to convince them to sack his chum. You also are implying that Venkys are logical, reasonable people. He wont be going anywhere. Dont get your hopes up.

I think he is incompetent for the work he has done off the field, as shown by a repeated failure to hit sales/attendance targets for example. He also is somewhat biased in his role, if he has any impact in potentially sacking Mowbray, because he is his friend from a previous job.

He isnt going to be going anywhere. Holding false hope that he will sacked will sadly only leave you dissapointed.

Mowbrays mate, the incompetent Steve Waggott was telling fans yesterday that basically Mowbray is going nowhere. Naive to think otherwise.

Typically predictable and cowardly collapse by a team lacking ability and character in equal measure. Walton is an absolutely horrible signing, a truly woeful keeper, probably the worst in the league. Makes the erratic Raya look like Alisson, and possibly as bad if not worse than Jason Steele. If only our sub keeper wasnt equally dreadful. No matter which of the 2 goes in net, we will concede goal after goal. Mowbrays obsession with Bennett is incredible, stuck into a new position as the weeks pass, the same conclusion, another penalty conceded. A waste of space but a teachers pet. Derrick Williams still continues to steal a living in our defence Bell continues to be incredibly passive, when the going gets tough he goes into hiding. Adarabioyo is the flimsiest, softest defender you could ever wish to see. No wonder West Brom fans mocked us when he signed. Good to see Gallagher get a goal. Sadly, the manager wont be going anywhere I dont think and anyone who thinks he will does so out of pure hope.

Venkys wont know or care if the fans turn. Think sadly his job is safe as houses under Waggott and the only chance of him going is like at Coventry if he walks.

I dont understand this fascination many have to custom build a whole management team with ex players shoehorned in. I agree with your agreement that we shouldnt appoint a manager based solely on who he supports, that shouldnt come into it. However, Ainsworth should be an option solely on his credentials ie the job he is currently doing. Javi Gracia is an interesting choice. I am very skeptical that he would come but I certainly endorse that sort of ambition as his appointment would be a real statement. Lee Bowyer has to be a consideration too, again maybe a doubt over whether he would come, but hes at a basketcase club with no budget, and is doing a superb job. Hughton is the obvious choice, him, Gracia and Bowyer are all managers who possibly wouldnt come, but theres no point settling for an average manager straight away.

So theres a bit of petulance in there when he isnt having the impact he wants, but surely the fact that he is regularly scoring and assisting proves that he is impacting games at that level.

Youve been insistent that he shouldnt be in the squad?! And what about Holtby when hes back? (For me he should possibly play alongside Travis)

I am asking someone who attends more than a couple of games a genuine question. Chapman from an outsider is regularly scoring and assisting, which is what attacking players ultimately get judged on, and getting nominated for an award only last month. Most of our attacking players in the first team do not score or assist goals anything other than incredibly infrequently. Thats why I can't get my head around the implications that his performance level is unacceptable, and am asking a regular attendee from what I can gather and one who is particularly criticial of Chapman to shed more light on the situation, speaking from a more educated position than myself.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2019/october/were-searching-for-consistency/ “The performance levels of the team have been good in stages, I think back to the game against Nottingham Forest and it was really encouraging against a team who were second in the league at the time," I find this quote quite concerning, if that Forest game is the benchmark then we are in trouble. That game was typically dire and dull. “I want to try and finish in the top half of the table, hopefully the top six. We’re trying to be a better team, control games more and earn the right to win matches." I feel like hes trying to tamper expectations, but its too late after bleating about pushing for the play offs so much, as well as players that have signed doing likewise, it wont wash.

Few questions/points: - How many times have you seen the 2 centre backs you mention, as I have never heard of either? What are they like, are they likely obtainable? - You mention the 4 young lads. Buckley seems to be closest but every time he plays, he looks a million miles off being up to it IMO. Could do with a loan. You also said in the academy thread that Vale is incredibly lightweight too. Butterworth and JRC could be worth game time however. - Do you really think its realistic for whoever is manager to spend so much money? 10m on Assombolonga, Darlow and a CB permanently, then another 10-15m in the summer. No chance sadly. - Who would take any of the crap you mention in advance of their contract expiring? - Sadly it just shows how far away we are from even threatening the top 6. We essentially needed a new back 4 and goalkeeper in the summer, and a new striker. We got an inadequate goalkeeper, a very good LB whose temporary deal will now be covered by injury and a flimsy plaster over the cracks in the middle of our defence who again doesnt seem up to it. We also signed a striker who is horrendous.

I keep hearing that and as I have said, I dont attend under 23 games so forgive my ignorance, but he seems to be scoring and/or assisting almost every week, and he was nominated for player of the month last month, see below, so how can he be "looking lost?" We would take him looking lost and scoring or assisting every week for the first team! https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2019/september/harry-nominated-for-monthly-award/

Walton has been good? Must be watching different games, hes absolutely crap. Rothwell hasnt looked at the races mainly because hes been sat on the bench.

Pretty good "excuse" to not start any games to perform, rather than be given 20 minutes at the end even though he was outstanding last season. Walton is a bag of shite. Nowhere near good enough.

You keep saying that but hes started 2 games all season I think. He has gone from being superb in the last dozen games of last season STARTING games and now having to make do with dribs and drabs, little cameos when it is very difficult to do anything. Your team looks very slow. Pretty depressing how limited we are. Walton is a joke in net but he keeps his place due to lack of alternatives. Even worse than Raya. Names like Evans and Bell coming back in is enough to fill me with dread.

That team is shocking but im not sure theres many alternatives. Preston will batter that defence. Suprised by your exlusion of Bennett? Rothwell has to be given a start, as obviously does Holtby if fit. Walton Nyambe Tosin Williams Downing Travis Evans Holtby Dack Rothwell Graham Subs: Leutwiler, Bell, Chapman, Rankin Costello, Johnson, Armstrong, Butterworth Chapman to start if Holtby doesnt make it.

We dont want consistency with the current set up, its grown stagnant, we need a new way of thinking. I cant agree with the sentence "The first XI is good enough to challenge for the top 6 imo" something I disagreed with to @JoeH albeit I think he said top 10. Its a myth that our team is as good as people say, albeit that is very much down to the managers recruitment. Looking at it, Walton is to be quite generous, a bottom 6 quality goalkeeper. I can see why he didnt even maintain his number 1 shirt for the full season at Wigan last year. Defensively, at centre backs we are no better, the 2 that played yesterday are certainly not top half quality, and Lenihan isnt much better plus is constantly injured. A repeated area of neglect at the club. Cunningham I think you could argue is top 6 quality but is unfortunately a write off with injury, leaving Bell and Bennett at full back who I would argue in their respective positions are bottom 3 quality, really poor. Nyambe is a little better but I suspect will be dropped shortly for Bell. In midfield, I think people at times slightly overstate Travis' ability. A very good prospect and a key player but hes not a patch on genuine top 6 central midfielders of his ilk, Kalvin Phillips, Ben Pearson etc. Maybe in time he will get there and stamp his authority more on games. Johnson has been a huge disappointment, seemingly has fallen well away from his Norwich days. Downing for all of his technical ability I don't think stamps his authority on games enough or has enough tangible impact. Holtby could potentially be of that quality, but obviously we have only seen him have one start for us, but he needs to return as soon as possible. Rothwell is an enigma in terms of the usage of him, has to be playing games but not sure we have seen enough to be sure he is top 6 quality, but that may be more down to the manager. Up top, Dack as a 10 is certainly top 6 level, you look at his numbers. With Graham seemingly written off, Gallagher, Brereton and Samuel would probably not get in any other team in the division, and Armstrong flatters to deceive 9 times out of 10.

Just seems strange to start pre picking assistant managers. It should be a new manager and the assistant should be at his own discretion. Rarely does a cherry picked assistant, often done to either appease the fans or aid an inexperienced manager pay off. If Reid hadnt played here he wouldnt have got a mention.

Why the random shoehorning of a former Rovers player as Johnsons number 2?