That wasnt a result of Graham playing away from home, more an example of how he isnt suited to being an impact sub. He has to start to make an impact. I dont recall 2 clear chances against Charlton for Gallagher? And I have personally not seen any evidence that he will become a "top top player" for us and wasnt surprised to see that hes gone 21 games without a goal. He doesnt look at home on that right hand side either. A big question mark at the moment for me is getting a return from these 14m worth of forwards that Mowbray has signed. A lot of the rest of the puzzle seems to be coming together but for that sort of output we need a cutting edge and some goals from those 3 very soon. Armstrong I felt was quite ineffective as a central striker, repeatedly being caught offside and when he was played in, let down by a heavy touch. I certainly wouldnt doubt that Johnson was a very good signing and a massive improvement on our central midfield. Has plenty of qualities that we lacked But giving the ball away isnt "because hes trying to pass forward" he seems to struggle picking the ball up on the half turn when we play it out from the back and it has happened at least once in each of the 4 games this season. He is somewhat cumbersome and clumsy taking the ball on the half turn and at times lacks awareness as to whats over his shoulder.

Really. Commented on his work rate but looks a fish out of water out wide as an attacker. Offered no goal threat so far. Out of our 6 signings, the one ive been least impressed by.

An imperfect but very impressive win. Walton with a couple of excellent catches and a superb penalty save, otherwise well protected. Defence was superb, difficult to seperate the central 2, both excellent. Cunningham again terrific, looking an outstanding addition although very lucky in injury time, switching off to allow their RB to blaze over before a clumsy challenge that somehow wasnt a penalty. Bennett beaten once or twice but still think he was much improved on normally and im usually a big critic. Johnson a massive asset and at times a liability in equal measures. Stupid challenge for the penalty and repeatedly guilty of being a huge issue with any attempt to play the ball out. That said, a monster who offers a threat going forward. Travis brilliant, composed and tenacious with one particularly superb tackle. Though Dack showed some superb touches and turns to knit things together and technically superb but needs a goal perhaps, Rothwell impressed when he came on and Downing was brilliant, great game management and his decision making and quality from open play and set pieces was great to see. Lovely bit of pace at one point too. Armstrong and in particular Gallagher very poor. Gallagher without a goal in 21 now and cannot play wide, thought for all his effort he was ineffective there on Saturday but far worse today. We lack a cutting edge and the worry is with a team around it starting to seemingly piece together, we need our 15m worth of forwards to give us an extra dimension. Very lucky in terms of the ref too. Our goal shouldnt have stood and they should have had a stone wall penalty at the end but we will take it all day. Hull bottom half fodder reliant on the wide 2 to keep safe an otherwise really poor side.

We dont have the quality to play from the back. Causing us problems, Johnson repeatedly caught. Going forward, think Dack and Downing look good, and further back I have been impressed with Lenihan. Good save from a poor penalty by Walton. Armstrong non existent, poor again in that position, and Gallagher has been the worst player on the pitch by a distance. No goals in 20 and you can see why.

Agreed that Gallagher needs to start scoring. Hasnt really looked like coming close so far.

Graham proved a few times last season that he CAN play the vast majority of minutes in a 3 game week.

Dont agree with Graham being dropped. Hopefully its Downing left, Armstrong right and Gallagher up front.

Nothing that he said suggests that he doesnt want him to succeed. It seems ultimately his thoughts eminate from a belief that he is not the most suitable person to bring success to the club. That doesnt mean that his primary objective is Mowbray failing, it means his primary objective is Rovers succeeding.

They were 4th, but closer to 8th than 2nd and struggling for form and consistency, especially at home. I remember being shocked when he was sacked and thinking it was harsh so looked into it and found that West Brom fans were actually surprisingly understanding of the decision compared to the media who perhaps are speaking from a far less knowledgable perspective. Certainly far better off with Bilic now. Interesting article below regarding the up turn after sacking him. https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/west-brom-sacking-darren-moore-mistake-championship-play-off-promotion-premier-league

Hull are no great shakes aside from their obvious 2 threats out wide. Their signings in the main this summer have been very uninspiring. Obviously wont be easy but we should be going there targetting back to back wins if we do genuinely have ambitions of challenging at the higher end of the division Dont see why we would drop our most effective striker either.

I find this snobbery towards being slightly more direct, reading Mowbrays post match comments especially, very strange. I was entertained today and as always the win is key. At times we went to Graham and played off, but there were good bits of interplay between the lines between the midfielders especially. We were defensively solid, good performances throughout the pitch, always seemingly in control, and offered far more threat than we did "attempting" to play out from the back in the first 2 limp performances. Bar a couple of awful Bennett passes, the whole defence was terrific today. Cunningham is so much better than the inept Bell, technically very good but also far more defensively solid. The middle pair were colossal, especially Lenihan for me, and Bennett himself was far better than normal in that role, very solid defensively. Johnson and Travis were terrific in midfield, worked really well together, good on the ball and horrible to play against. Downing improved us technically, his effort in the second half if it was a shot was unlucky. Also gives us good set piece deliveries in the main even though there was the odd poor ball too. Gallagher gave absolutely everything but I thought (as to be expected) he looked rather clumsy in a wide role and it is clearly unnatural to him, but cant fault his effort. Graham is the absolute master at what he does, Mowbray has spent so much on strikers and seems desperate to move away from Graham but he puts in great performances every time he starts, he cannot be dropped. Dack worked his socks off and threatened on occasion, the pair are excellent together. Rothwell was also impressive when he came on although perhaps should have scored. Walton made a massive error in that second half which could have really cost us, and Buckley looks quite a bit off, physically a liability, one attempted tackle in particular showed this.

Is that the actual team, as I know youve named teams before even for behind closed doors friendlies, or just your opinion. Gallagher wide over Rothwell, Chapman and Armstrong would be an outrage.

Walton Nyambe Lenihan Williams Cunningham Travis Johnson Rothwell Dack Downing Graham Subs: Leutweiler, Bennett, Evans, Chapman, Armstrong, Gallagher, Hart

That didnt lead to a goal, but he played an absolutely superb reverse pass near the end from the left hand side that we should have scored from.

Thought it was a poor performance and a stark reminder that amidst 12m worth of strikers, the most effective is the 34 year old written off by many. Dack changed the game when he came on, his link up with Graham is critical when Mowbray hasnt come close to finding another reliable source of goals regardless of the money hes thrown down the drain. Brereton on the other hand had an absolute shocker. Failing to score from 3 guilt edge chances, 2 of which he failed to even make close to proper contact with. Also when he was put through Downing offered a glimpse of quality and a great strike, but cannot play right wing. Chapman and Rothwell offered a new sense of pace and energy even if their end product was mixed, we looked more dangerous with them on. Cunningham was steady enough, Nyambe lacking confidence which is unsurprising. Evans and Smallwood not up to it, again. Didnt think it was a good night for our academy players either, none suggested that they are close to the first team. The 2 centre backs are nowhere near, obviously Platt couldnt get on Stanleys defence and Grayson was no better. On a night when Mowbray said that Tosin is also a doubt for Saturday, leaving us with only Williams, the grimly predictable eventually of not having enough CBs could come into play in the third league game which is embarassing for the manager. People rave about Buckleys talent but every time I see him he looks a million miles away. So soft and flimsy and ultimately totally ineffectual and lucky to last the game.

Its definitely not abysmal but somewhat uninspiring would be a fairer description. His good work was done in League 1. His first season, he came in with the (very difficult) remit of keeping us up. Survival was success and relegation was failure, even though when it comes to apportioning blame obviously Coyle takes far, far, far more. It was of no consolation that we displayed x form so ultimately it was a failed season albeit as mentioned a tremendously difficult task to begin with. He took over with us 23rd in the table, three points from safety with 15 games remaining this season so it wasnt mission impossible. The form certainly wasnt top 6 form either, that it "would have had us 10th over the course of a season" rings a bell but ultimately its impossible to make such statements as we were facing many teams with nothing to play for. You cant take 2 months of the season out and then say we were a top half team without those squad depth issues. They were as self inflicted as say the Dack signing, and you couldnt say we would have come close to or even have gone down had Mowbray not signed him either, as that wouldnt be fair, Mowbray chose to spend 7m on a sub and not improve our defence, likewise he was responsible for signing Dack. Last seasons finish was ok, not great but not disastrous, comfortable survival.

Please do explain?

One of my main points about whether the striking ranks needed to be improved or not is regarding the actual quality of strikers. I dont think either Gallagher or Brereton would get in many if any other Championship sides, nor am I convinced about their potential to make us a profit in the future. Whilst I maintain that we certainlt didnt need both ahead of a defender or 2, even with both we seem short of quality up top. 12m down, thats not good enough. There arent "simple fixes" thats why different qualities of managers tend to improve their respective teams to varying degrees but thats not an excuse, managers are judged on their abilities to develop their teams and the results that follow. And going back to League 1 windows, his best signing came in one of them. To have 3 centre backs and one right back in the squad is unexplainable. You mention signing wingers, hes signed 2, one whose age and loss of pace has made him more of a utility man, and the other is nowhere to be seen.

The way he inherited the club is not really an excuse that justifies the shape of his squad after spending over 15m over the space of 5 windows. You touch on the centre backs issue, it is criminal that firstly we had last summer, where he got Rodwell as our third centre back, obviously that backfired, but hes had 2 summers since to fix it and add quality and depth to that position, hes simply not done that. Lenihan is injury prone so we are left with 2 centre backs backed up by a kid who couldnt get on Stanleys bench, and another who has made 8 senior appearances, all in League 2. But its not just that, we are imbalanced throughout. Right back, blind loyalty to a poor midfielder playing there, with only one natural RB on the books. Out wide, plenty of strikers shoehorned there and unable to make an impact there. And £12m on 2 number 9's who have not suggested that they are a patch on our veteran.

Its not just clicked now 7 years in, he got his style implemented very quickly and has been very consistent with it, as has been the effectiveness with it. I posted my views above in a long post on how imbalanced we are, 3 centre backs continuously leaking goals, ineffective wide forwards and 12m on strikers for whom goalscoring is alien. Dyche has a role for everyone and everyone knows what they are doing, as has been the case throughout.

To be fair, Dyche has a squad that he has built that doesnt have the same imbalance to it that for example ours does. Every piece fits the puzzle.

I had a quick think back over Mowbrays overall time here. Firstly, he was brought in to perform an admittedly difficult task of survival. No matter how thats dressed up, he failed, often failing to turn draws into wins etc, and coming up short. Early the season after, he had the first of for me his 2 major rough patches that he has experienced. Even though he was lucky when we went down that much of the crap that he was lumbered with, Lowe, Akpan, Greer, Brown etc were out of contract, he has only had one window and there was still lingering shite (a couple of whom he added himself) in the squad, and he was struggling to develop any sort of identity. He quickly settled on being quite direct, Graham improved us no end, him and Dack fired us to promotion and Mowbray deserved the adulation. Last seasons dodgy patch was much more prolonged and, in terms of the manager, much more self-inflicted. He had failed to bring in any defenders, we were heavily reliant on a rash injury prone CB (and still are, his sole injury has left us with 2 options) and a liability in Mulgrew. All the money was tied up on a striker who looked out of his depth, often stuck wide with his only goal coming as a central striker. He publically admitted his faults and insisted to fans that "defenders were coming" so off the back of a season that had highlighted an incredibly troublesome achilles heel but ultimately was far from disastrous, he had the platform to right his previous wrongs and fix what he acknowledged was our major reason. I think one thing that is clear is that we have never had an exciting brand of football in terms of pretty passing under Mowbray. Not that its essential I must add. Even in our promotion season, we rarely blew teams away, we were quite attritional but it ultimately gave us a platform for our better players who were a class above the poor standard in League 1, and worked very well. Last season was as bad in terms of entertainment as I can remember in recent memory, but it was less effective at a higher level. @chaddyrovers I dont understand why you turn your nose up at "boring" football, if that was number 1 priority then Mowbray would have been potted long ago. However, its the effectiveness that counts because fans criticise "boring" football only if it doesnt yield results. If we bored ourselves into the top 6 and went up no one would complain at all. But you just look, 5 windows in at very much his squad and how imbalanced it is and that far down the line it really is inexcusable. The main 2 problems, a big money non-scoring striker and a dearth of quality and quantity in defence, have both been doubly compounded this summer. Gallagher never convinced me, we was told this is Breretons break through season, but in both games so far, he was left sat on the bench in game 1, and yesterday, again Mowbray hasnt learnt that he cannot play wide. I still think Graham should be first choice, but you cant really have 12m worth of strikers (the jury is massively out on both) sat on the bench so I think he likes to try and shoehorn them in to the detriment of the team. He has signed 2 wingers, one of whom is seemingly too old, the other has pace and spreads the play but for some unknown reason is nowhere near even the bench. Whereas Armstrong has a free pass despite regularly underperforming. Defensively, Tosin and Cunningham have the potential to really improve the defence, but theres simply not enough in the way of options. One injury in that position and we have a kid on the bench who couldnt get into Stanleys squad last season. Meanwhile, Bennett continues to monopolise the RB position, and again yesterday was responsible for a goal conceded. Will he start v Boro? You bet he will. Raya was a constant liability last season, have we improved on him? Seems not. The question you ask is, are we progressing or stagnating?

Saw only the second half but the same meaningless attacks conjuring up absolutely nothing meaningful and questions all over the pitch. Walton is a bag of nerves in net, rooted to his line at crosses. The defensive situation is unforgivably negligent. Lenihan with yet another injury and we are left with 2 centre backs (who looked ok but concentration is a constant issue regardless of personnel) backed up by a kid who couldnt get on the bench at Stanley. Full backs useless, Bell hasnt got a brain and Bennett at fault for yet another goal. Need Cunningham and Nyambe in right away. Thought Johnson was as bad today as he was impressive last week. The wide area is a dilemma in itself. Why is Chapman so far away from the squad? What is Mowbrays obsession with strikers who cannot play wide being stuck there? Armstrong is a constant but again he was really ineffective. The striking situation is a joke, 12m for 2 non scoring strikers. Gallagher incredibly ineffective yet again. Subs a major problem again, we was left with an imbalanced mess that offered nothing by way of a late goal.

Overall, has to be considered a failure. The primary objective was to fix the defence and we lack both quality and quantity there even after the window. In goal, underwhelming. Sold a prospect who always made me feel nervous, replaced him with what seems to be a very similar keeper with the same flaws on a temporary deal. Defence, left back was a big area that needed improving so I am delighted with the Cunningham deal and wish it was permanent. Centre back, we are horribly light, with the rash Lenihan, very average Williams and Adarabioyo who has very minimal first team CB experience as our only 3 options. He for me doesnt fit the remit of what we needed from a centre back. Right back has been neglected due to the managers total blind spot towards a player who is neither a right back nor Championship quality, but will now be captain. Johnson is a huge boost in midfield, very impressed by that signing although Reed will be a huge loss. Downing is a very underwhelming signing and I feel his arrival is going to halt a key player in Rothwell in his tracks. My main gripe with Gallagher is his price tag but hes not a player I particularly rate anyway and hes a lazy and average addition for a big fee. Allocation of money is a concern too, firstly Waggott was proved to be talking shite when saying we had a similar budget to last year. The defensive signings are short term sticky plasters and the only long term deal was for a player who I dont rate and one where we already have a supposed prospect thats going to break through this season. Either 3 or 4 out of 10 for me.

So you would be happy with them as the only choices we have? Nyambe cant play CB because if he does we dont have any other right backs. We lack quality and quantity.