Absolutely, he has looked a class above Smallwood who has been evidently lacking in quality for much of the season. The composure and energy of Travis and also the intelligence really stood out. Was just a point about West Broms midfield.

I agree with you on your analysis on Travis v Smallwood, but West Brom's midfield isnt the best in the league, Barry and Morrison are both well, well past their best and lacking in mobility and Phillips is a winger shoehorned in there to give them mobility.

They have been riddled with injuries but still I am very surprised as to the extent of their struggles. Neither team has been particularly improved by their summer business to be honest.

To be fair, even though I agree that Smallwoods performance levels dipped during the second half of last season, it would have been a needless risk to change him at that point and his selection was justified by promotion. That being said, Smallwood this season has already received far too much loyalty when he has often come up short. I felt it was premature in the summer to give him and Williams new contracts as rewards, and they were decisions lacking ruthlessness with both very much carrying question marks over their ability at Championship level. Now is the acid test for Mowbray, if he reverts back to Smallwood (assuming Travis' performance levels dont nosedive) then he is going to face some flak. Not sure Jason Lowe was a direct competitor to Alan Judge either, I'd argue Chris Taylor woule be a better example of a poor player who seemed to be ahead of Judge.

Hes a liability at right back however you dress it up. His tendency to needlessly dive in coupled with his poor positional play leaves us massively exposed in that area, with Harvey Barnes and Enda Stevens the latest two to run amock down that side. His crossing was also particularly poor yesterday. Thats not his fault though, he simply isnt at right back. He tries his best there as he always does but we are a poorer team with him filling in at right back.

My maths may be wrong but I think so far in the league, Lambert has 6 points from 11 league games (0.55 points per game) and Hurst collected 9 points from 15 league games. (0.6 points per game) Hes actually performing worse.

The partnership of Graham and Dack has scored 18 goals between them. Where do you fit this third striker in?

I even think that "showing the signs sometimes" is doing him a disservice, it feels like hes getting better with age, he appears and claims to be fitter than ever, his charging down compared to Breretons half arsed chasing is evidence of that, hes been better this season than in his previous 2 and a half in a Rovers shirt for me.

May I ask why that is the case? We are in a league with some real rubbish in it, notably the likes of Bolton and Ipswich. We have a wage budget of between 10th and 16th place in the league according to our chief executive, so offer very competitive Championship wages. Yes we got relegated (primarily down to I have been stopped from posting this by moderators. Coyle) but since we have spent comfortably above 10 million on our squad, and are carrying the momentum from a promotion. Do you not think your expectations were far too low?

Difficult one to approach, really would love a cup run, enough scope in the league to do so and potential to knock out a Prem side who will name a weak side, but also a chance to give some players a chance. Raya Nyambe Downing Mulgrew Bell Travis Rodwell Palmer Rothwell Conway Armstrong Subs: Leutweiler, Lenihan, Williams, Reed, Dack, Brereton, Bennett Would potentially start Brereton but hes not showing enough in his cameos to warrant a start, and would like to see Armstrong as a striker.

He does that so often, when long balls are hoofed up to him, and he uses his intelligence to turn them into a free kick. He does it especially well when we need someone to run the clock down, like today, when the game is becoming frantic and we need to hold on. I dont get how holding the ball up and winning free kicks becomes an unappreciated skill. And hes not just about hold up play. He has 9 goals which is a healthy return half way through the season. He is also the best person in terms of getting the best out of Dack, the pair of them are so intelligent with each other. Graham chips in with assists too, his assists for Dack in the Forest and Sheffield Wednesday game were absolutely brilliant, leaving Dack with a tap in on both occasions. Probably our player of the season in my book.

Very impressive performance and result almost sullied by a needlessly nervous last 15 minutes. Thought Travis was absolutely outstanding, reading the game far better than Smallwood, composed in possession and tenacious in the tackle. Has to stay in the side. Mulgrew was colossal in defence and hes more of a goal threat directly from corners than our 7 million striker! Captains performance. Lenihan alongside him was excellent and played a couple of lovely drilled balls into Dack, Evans was good alongside Travis in midfield too. Armstrong looked right on his game in the first 10 minutes but I thought he became stale, laboured and predictable prior to the second goal in which he was brilliant. Dack was a bright spark as always, his goal was superbly taken with the arrogance that makes him who he is. Not sure about the sub, hes the master at game management but it worked out just about in the end. Graham was superb as per usual in terms of his all round game but should have scored. Reed was tenacious and full of energy as always. Bennett had an absolute shocker, he is blatantly not a right back. Diving in, always out of position and given a torrid time by Barnes. His crossing was terrible too. Bell is really flaky too, doesnt utilise his pace well enough and is technically poor but wasnt as bad as Bennett. Conway did a job when he came on as youd expect, Brereton showed nothing bar some half arsed pressing and a bizarre exchange with their keeper. What does he really offer at all? Palmer used to wind down the clock. Thought West Brom screamed of a team not particularly well drilled, but in Phillips, Rodriguez and mainly Barnes, some superb individuals.

There was a sole comparison to a statistic under Coyle in terms of goals conceded at this point of this season. An irrefutable fact. If you choose to take that out of context its up to you. Mowbray was showered with praise after getting us promoted. We are in really poor form, our summer signings have in the main failed to really have an impact as of yet, we are conceding goals, these are all things that will cause people to be critical on an internet messageboard. And ive seen us home and away all season. Just not being Coyle or not being Kean is not worthy of a free pass. Supporting the manager at games and hoping he does well in general, and criticising certain decisions he makes are not mutually exclusive.

Or because it was never a red card in the first place?

I agree. We play on average 14 more long balls even than Pulis' Boro. He has suffered relegation at West Brom in the past after sticking to his principles and playing passing football. Maybe he has been burnt by that and is overly cautious as a result?

I always think we look so much better in the spells when we press high. We have plenty of energy in attacking areas, sadly a high press doesnt go hand in hand with our direct and at times aimless tactics; you need to retain possession far more than we do, guilty as we are of the most long balls, because it is impossible to keep the energy up towards the end when you spend more time chasing the ball than on the ball. His choice of strikers signed is really strange. He has signed Samuel, Nuttall, Antonsson, Armstrong and Brereton, none of whom are remotely like target men, a key point in his percentage based football, yet he seems reluctant to move away from these tactics even when they dont work.

It requires less thought, less composure, less ability, to just punt it in the air. Lenihan is particularly guilty of this. We have a striker who is probably unparalleled at this level in terms of turning literally the most aimless hoof into some sort of attack, Graham is brilliant at it, but it is only our most common attack form in the absence of something more strategic and intelligent. Its why whenever he doesnt play, none of the alternatives are ever going to be effective up front. The thing is, this tactic hasnt been working for a couple of months now. Surely now is the time for change? Mowbray said this recently: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/17259862.mowbray-wants-rovers-to-evolve-their-style-of-play/ Mowbray added: “In League One we pressed every team really high, but in this league playing against players who can play through, round, or over that you have to be careful of being a team that only plays one way. “We’re trying to develop that but as you develop it you can have some teething problems." As with many of his soundbites lately, they have not been borne out by what has been seen on the pitch. I have seen no signs whatsoever of any attempt to modify our one dimensional method of play, even though it hasnt been working.

If our benchmark is I have been stopped from posting this by moderators. Coyle then we are going to have some very, very low standards going forward. Every manager and every player will be judged throughout, I don't understand why some people, like with Brereton, cannot judge as they go along. It goes against the whole point of a messageboard. Whats the alternative, to only open threads about individuals after x amount of years of being at the club? If we haven't been judging Mowbray up to date then his promotion would have also not affected our opinion of him, which again would be totally unfair.

Lenihan was rubbish when he played as a central midfielder when he broke through. He struggled to dislodge Hope Akpan and co! Nowhere near good enough on the ball.

I disagree, I was annoyed when he was sold because he was our best player at the time. When he came into the team, we were a Premier League side very much in disarray and he was very raw when he came in but during our time in the Championship he matured into a very good centre back at this level. I felt like he ironed out his clumsiness and massively reduced his proneness to errors, and was also far more intelligent than people gave him credit for, he was a master at winning a free kick when under pressure for one. Shane Duffy is an established Premier League centre back but here I felt that Hanley was better here. Both made the right decision to leave but we would love them back.

Raya Travis Downing Mulgrew Bell Evans Reed Bennett Dack Palmer Graham Subs: Leutweiler, Lenihan, Rodwell, Rothwell, Brereton, Armstrong, Williams Travis has to start, but assuming Nyambe isnt fit, it has to be at right back as Bennett is simply not competent there and Enda Stevens had a field day. I have also assumed that Conway wont be back, otherwise he would be in over Bennett. Palmer deserves a start after Saturday much more than Rothwell. Downing and Bell both in simply due to their alternatives being in shocking form, but both positions require the transfer market. Bell in particular is a big weakness in himself.

Why do our supporters have such negative opinions of him? If only we had him now. Was superb towards the end of his stay here when he really came of age, culminating in deservedly winning player of the season. His move to Newcastle didnt work out but he still got a title winners medal and his move to Norwich has been a very successful one, finishing runner up to Maddison in their player of the year award last season. No way that Norwich will loan him out so think its a moot conversation but still.

Gave the ball away so often, once or twice in silly areas. Palmer was far better.

Often buzzwords of time, faith and patience are used in the absence of constructive reasoning behind why things will turn around. I would stick with Mowbray for now but sadly that is not remotely based on any signs of progression or overcoming this long run of poor form that I have seen this season. It is solely based on his achievements prior to this season and the credit he still has in the bank from that. There seems to be a lot of talk about moving to a back 3 on here. If that what Mowbray has in mind in terms of this supposed tactical amendment to see us play possession based football, he needs to have the balls to implement it consistently. He needs to decide exactly how that will look, ie 2 number 10s off 1 striker, 1 10 off 2 strikers or even 3 central midfielders. Look at Sheffield United, everyone knows what they are doing, they play it week in, week out, everyones a perfect fit for their respective role. It is a very specialised formation that requires constant training and people who know what they are doing. Its not a formation to flick to and from with regularity. He also needs to then recruit for it. No point signing wingers afterwards and doing it half arsed. He signed Rodwell apparently to play as a centre back in a 3 and never has. Its mystifying. We would need new wing backs, Stevens and Baldock are hardly 10m signings but they know their jobs to a tee. Bell and Williams arent good enough and Bennett is not a wing back in a million years. We would also need reinforcements in central defence. There would be undoubted growing pains with such a change but I suspect that supporters would give such bumps in the road far less worry with an obvious underlying plan beneath it all.

Absolutely. People use the fact that we arent in immediate relegation danger as a badge of honour, and I would say that 15th place is the stat that matters and as a result his job shouldnt be in immediate danger. That being said, survival alone is not enough to justify a successful season, so he needs to be careful. If people want to consider survival a successful season, they should consider our wage budget and our transfer expenditure first. Mid table would potentially be progress IF there are obvious signs of longjevity, of a plan, of a base to build on. All have been totally lost within these last few months. It has not only been our recent form over a couple of months in terms of results but also the manner of the results, the performances, the fragility following a set back, the defensive disorganisation, the over reliance on Dack and Graham to score all of our goals (bar Mulgrew set pieces) and also the lack of impact from our new signings. So many stats back up the fact that the direction we are heading in is totally unclear. Mowbray has often implied that his loyalty to Smallwood and Evans and a more conservative set up is down to trust and reward from last season, but such a set up has led to a goals conceding column marrying up to our season under Coyle, as @blueboy3333 pointed out earlier. Why is he so reluctant to change? Mowbray has often talked about phasing into a more possession based approach. I appreciate that Graham is good enough to faciliate at times the most aimless of punts forward, but it doesnt suit the numerous attacking signings Mowbray has made to be trying to scratch around playing the percentages, and Graham himself is technically sound. There are some direct teams in this league, teams like Millwall and Bolton who dont have budgets like ours. To have (when I last checked) played the most long balls in the entire league is pretty startling. Why mention these philosophies if you have quite clearly no intention of even moderately phasing them in? He also occasionally flirts with the idea of 3 at the back. He tries it out seldomly, plays it for one game then reverts back straight away. Whats the point?! Its a complex formation that relies on the whole team knowing their jobs to a tee. He also signed Rodwell and bigged him up as a potential part of a back 3. Has he played him there once?! As I mentioned earlier, Wilders signings at Sheffield United are signed with quite clear capability of slipping into their progressing side with no real adjustment. They are signed specifcally for the role Wilder wants. Ours arent.