If his back injury means he cannot play then he cannot play. His actual fitness levels aside from this injury seem very high indeed. His fitness has not been an issue playing game in game out with consistently high performance levels. You keep peddling this myth that he cannot play 3 games in a week. He has proven this season that he can. And if hes fit enough hes first name on the team sheet.

I said if he is fit. He has played 3 games in 9 games before and describes himself as being as fit as hes been at Rovers. If he isnt fit id play Rothwell left and Armstrong with Dack.

Surely its illogical to leave out our (IMO) best player of the season, someone who scored again last week, in such an important game for a player yet to score for us?

He did score 2 crucial goals to get a win away at West Brom at the weekend.

Even if Graham is fit?

Raya Nyambe Rodwell Mulgrew Williams Travis Evans Reed Dack Armstrong Graham Plenty of ifs and buts with that team. If Evans is injured, Smallwood in. If Travis is injured, Bennett in wide with Reed inside. If either of the front 2 is injured, Rothwell wide, Armstrong moved inside. Hopefully at least one of them are fit, especially with Chapman out.

Isnt that normal though? Wouldnt you rather win the Premier League with Rovers than with Newcastle, to spin it?

Hurst got 9 points from 15 and Lambert has exactly the same. Plus throw in cup embarassment at Accrington Stanley. You can dress it up how you want but in black and white hes not remotely improved at all upon the results of Hurst who was sacked for the same set of results. Lambert is lucky not to be under serious risk himself. With the same group of players (plus now some of his own players) he hasnt improved at all. Harrison and Jackson are not Championship players but scored a fair few in Leagues 1 and 2, and Will Keane is just as bad if not worse, so what benefit is there to loan him in and play him instead? Nsiala and especially Nolan were 2 star performers in League 1 last year, and Edwards was excellent at Peterborough, surely they should be played with an eye on next season? He signed Callum Elder on loan who showed how bad he was at Ewood, but he has in the main blocked the progress of Kenlock in the team. Pointless signing. As @DE. correctly points out, hes saying one thing and doing another, and playing Judge wide is senseless. Part of your argument defending Lambert is that he is or needs to plan for next season. With a lorry load of short term deals he is clearly not doing that. Your own personal high opinion of Paul Lambert the person is clouding your judgement as to how bad he is as a manager.

He doesnt have a story.

They have plenty of players proven in League 1 and some youngsters but their game time has been restricted following Lambert thinking only of his own job security and signing a lorry load of loans and players on short term contracts. So hes clearly going all out to survive and failing miserably!

Its typical Nixon, hedgeing his bets and ultimately talking out of his arse. If hes missing so many key details why write a story?

A nice cryptic special, missing key details. Of course, could only be Nixon.

Like I said, Mowbray took over a problematic job but his results showed an obvious and stark improvement on the failing manager who was sacked prior, in that case Coyle. Lambert was unable to improve upon the failing Hughes and Hurst, showing win/point records that were as bad if not worse than the managers he left behind. It was obviously not an easy job at Ipswich or at Stoke but the fact that he came in, there was no new manager bounce, his record was as bad if not worse than the managers he replaced (2 wins at each club) and you start to realise that a bad manager rather than bad situations are the main factor. His only skill is cleverly absolving himself of any blame but after so many failed jobs it starts to show. The only reason you seem to have taken such a shine to him is that youve met him a couple of times and he seemed a nice bloke. Which he may well be but a shite manager at the same time. As a side note. I see that your return has coincided with using the laughter button as a way of attempting to deride posts you dont agree with without any actual debate.

I'd have to disagree. He was constantly injured and has been throughout his career. He was at best average with some shockers in there, notably v Barnsley at home.

You mention the difficulty of the jobs at Stoke and Ipswich, but their previous managers were doing particularly poorly, amidst allegations of dressing room unrest. Lambert came into both jobs and has had absolutely no impact at all, hes won 2 in 15 and 2 in 16 which is embarrassing, matching or perhaps even worse than those sacked for incompetence prior. You compare that to Mowbray, he inherited a shit situation and he failed in his first task of survival, as Lambert did at Stoke and will do at Ipswich. Differemce being there was a notable difference between the results of Mowbray and the previous failing manager, his win and point accumulation was markedly improved. His one skill is to manage to deflect any blame elsewhere.

That formation would be so heavily reliant on the fitness of 3 injury prone centre backs with no back up. Armstrong has been superb from a wide position lately as he was last season, Chapman is a wide man and Rothwell is capable there.

He is obviously doing a good job. But that team is not a true representation of what Mowbray inherited to be fair. Mulgrew, Lenihan, Conway, Evans and Graham were all injured that day, and of all the crap that came in, Hoban, Mahoney, Feeney, Lowe, Gallagher and Akpan all were only at the club to the summer.

Due to poor defences. All being said Id rather bring Gallagher on than Brereton or Nuttall.

So it was the wrong sub? And therefore he opens himself to criticism. Conway is a busted flush now. Bringing him on is not an attacking change. It was more about the "if he did x and we lost he would be criticised" argument I see quite regularly. Im not sure why that is an issue!

That team is particularly weak that day due to injuries. No Mulgrew, Lenihan, Conway, Graham and Marshall sold. For much of the season under Coyle he had the privelidge of a strike partner in Graham (or Emnes) and Marshall and Conway providing crosses from outwide. He had Jota and Maghoma doing likewise last season and scored 6. We didnt struggle for goals under Coyle, his tactics left our defence exposed.

- Bennett should never be considered at right back and shouldnt be guaranteed a place full stop. - Rothwell for all his talent gets better each time he doesnt come on and Palmer is a better player. - Dack is underrated in that our fans take his goal/assist return for granted, as they did with Rhodes. - Mulgrew is our best centre back defensively but thats overshadowed by his set piece ability. - Brereton has not had a hard time from our fans and they are behind him.

Im not quite sure what your point is here. Yes, he will be criticised if he makes subs whose impact on the game is in the opponents favour. Thats being a manager. Conversely, if he brought someone on (Conway is no longer an attacking sub) who impacted on the game positively he would have been praised.

Rothwell is a strange one. Hes definitely got something, hes always positive, hes direct and hes quick. He could argue that he hasnt been given enough game, but then again I dont recall any goals or assists from him. Hes come close with a few good shots, he hit the bar v Reading, the post v Ipswich and had a good shot tipped over Millwall, but I cant remember much else. He does get people off the edge of their seat. Any repreive in terms of Palmer going back potentially opening a passage to the first team may be temporary until Chapman is fit.

The whole argument is based around something we dont know or wont ever find out about. @Biz is right to suggest that compared to players who cost similar fees, Bamford, Waghorn and Grabban will be on considerably higher wages. I do think however that he has over-exaggerated his assumpton on how low his wage is likely to be. This is a player who cost a considerable sum and whose deal was reported to be orchestrates by an agent. Im sure he is on a wage very much within our wage structure but not at League 1/League 2 levels. The crux of the matter is he did cost a considerable amount and even if we only had 4 or 5 million combined with more competitive wages, its fair to say that this season, it would have been not difficult (albeit not a 100% sure thing) to find a player or 2 to have a far more signifcant impact on a season we are in touching distance from the play offs. Conversely, Brereton is meant as a long term project and as of yet ive yet to see the raw potential to suggest he will some day justify the fee. If Dack and Graham are missing next week, I would suggest that the stage may be set for 2 Mowbray signings (Brereton and Rothwell) to contribute to our season and show us what they can do. If they dont or arent even trusted to start then questions shall increase further.

To be fair, quite a few posters have claimed a lack of support behind Brereton witbout backing them up with quotes or examples, only stating they are not to be repeated on a forum. Your reasoning in bold is totally unsubstantiated however. I am not on my own in having expectations as I have repeated of him not to instantly come into the team and score x goals and take everything by storm right away. But to push Graham, impact games off the bench when Graham tires, come in when Graham is unavailable, and show raw potential of what he is all about. Accepting inconsistencies and frustration along the way. Quite modest expectations of an expensive signing with over 50 Championship games under his belt, as well as plenty of appearances for England youth teams. He hasnt even come close to doing that, hes not scored, I am still unclear as to what his attributes are, even Mowbray doesnt trust him over Nuttall it seems, who was destined to go out on loan. Quite interestingly, quite a few on here including myself have suggested that he was better than usual yesterday. Seemed a bit more desperate to impress, a couple of nice touches and turns, mind you absolutely no goal threat. If that was Dack he would have been criticised for being "anonymous."