Totally missing the point I am making. If we dont have a direct alternative AT THE MOMENT, ie Brereton and Armstrong are not considered to be strikers in the here and now, then we have less room to manoeuvre in terms of resting and managing Grahams game time. Its nothing to do with what you perceive to be a sudden generation of impatience as to the point I was making. I'm sure people years and years ago used to complain about things in the same way, but not via the method of a messageboard. Grabban is reportedly on a big contract and may well be out of our wage bracket, but the key word is "reckon" we dont have the foggiest really in terms of how much players earn.

IMO, that would be an illogical move based on blind loyalty towards an admittedly committed player who doesnt really offer an attacking threat. Bennett on one wing and Conway on the other for me is far too conservative. I would like to see Reed central in an ideal world. Next week should be the same midfield again. If Bennett is fit, he can be sub. I'm not sure by his ball retention as a central midfielder in anything other than a short term role. Im not sure he warrants a starting place at the moment.

Then it comes back round to the problem of imbalanced recruitment, if we are unable to do that on the assumption that Mowbray doesnt see Brereton as a striker, in the absence of any back up. I'd like to think that Mowbray is coming around to the idea that Brereton can be played centrally when Graham is unavailable. That being said, I think we underestimate Grahams fitness. Look at that incredible run he did right at the end yesterday, out sprinting his man with the added barrier of needing to run around the linesman. Whilst it seems fairly sure that Grabbans wages are perhaps beyond us, your assumptions on our top earners are total unsubstantiated guesses.

Don't think Bennetts recent form as a wide man is enough for him to stroll straight back into the side.

They are the goals that boost the numbers too, anyone who thinks Graham has been anything but excellent for the majority of the season has been watching different games to me. Considering the poor service he has got and the number of aimless long balls at times this season as the stats show, his hold up play has been exceptional and now his record of 7 league goals and 3 assists in 15 starts (4 sub appearances too) is decent too. Before this last week, its his goals tally that has let him down. We are too reliant on him and Dack but they are a joy of a partnership.

He was central for them 2 cameos.

Quite a lot of posters praised him for his team selection, for example Conway and Downing, after initially fearing for it.

Again, not true. Bad performances I suppose do require more of an autopsy as to whats gone wrong, plus frustration will be multiplied when for example spent good money travelling in all weathers to support the team. That said, theres been plenty of praise on the Sheffield Wednesday thread alone. Regarding your last sentence, thats totally not true. Think of the stick that Dack has got, that Bell has got, that Williams has got, that Rodwell has got, that Nyambe has got etc in the last week. The manager takes the brunt of everything of course either way but lets not make it out to be a witch hunt.

If anyone did put that then they are obviously talking shite but I havent seen anyone and remain unconvinced. Fed up of this need people have to imply that masses of our fan base want the manager out or have asked for it etc, its quite clearly not true and people only do it to seemingly shield any criticism from him or to try and make people look stupid.

Who said that he isnt good enough and should go? If City got hammered 4-1 and then 3-1 in a matter of days, regardless of Guardiola and the job hes done, hed get criticised. He made some very questionable subs and tactical choices (no striker v PNE, subbing Williams for Graham at Wigan, playing Rodwell at centre back) that warranted and brought on criticism. Either im missing people directly calling for a change of manager or its being manipulated that theres loads of people wanting a managerial change to try and make people look stupid and remove any scope for criticism at all. I dont feel like we are fighting above our weight either considering the resources Mowbray has had, that being said he is doing a good job as the vast majority will echo. Where are these quotes? Mowbray got plenty of praise yesterday, and post match I personally didnt see anyone saying it is in spite of Mowbray at all, in fact a lot of people including myself held their hands up. Mowbray has received plenty of praise, after games such as Leeds and Brentford are obvious examples.

Who should be embarrased? I dont understand your post in that any team will always court criticism if it hits a drop in form. Too many people on here manipulate those criticisms to be judgements about Mowbrays overall position.

Nyambe was much improved in the second half but much of his play in the first half was pretty clumsy and brainless. Overall id say 6 out of 10 which would probably be the worst rating. We looked so dangerous playing between the lines, we were creating chances from open play and it was a far cry from most of the games recently. The front 4 all on the same wavelength. Agree totally on Conway. Thought his intelligence and some of his clever touches anticipating the ball before the full back to take him out of the game showed how cleverer he is than many of the alternatives. We were right to doubt him, he was really poor and leggy all last season and it was only a one off but today took me back to the days when he was easily one of the best wide men in the league. His decision making was superb too. I think you are overestimating the achievement in that they have lost their way since then dramatically. Many players are injured, have left or have been frozen out. That said, for me as much as the result is always the key, the performance and the way we beat them deserved credit regardless of how poor they were.

You said it in response to someone claiming he had a major impact. The only really way that could be interpreted is downplaying his hat trick. Graham has been excellent for most of the season, hes ahead of Brereton on merit but Brereton should be solid second choice, no more faffing around with midfielders there. Grahams intelligence makes his partnership with Dack a dream.

I cant believe you are deriding Graham for the type of hat trick goals he got. He was outstanding in general as he has been almost all season. More goals is what he was missing.

Prestons keeper wins the gaffe of the day award. Another day, another defeat for Lamberts Ipswich. Starting to get detached.

Many peoples argument was that it was a luxury that we couldnt afford, baring in mind imbalances in the squad elsewhere. Its impossible to forget the price when judging him.

No need for the gloating, I am happy as anyone with the performance and the result, and am happy to heap praise on Mowbray just as I was criticising him after the last 2 games. We set our stall out in the first 10 minutes with some superb pressing, which is always when we look at our best, hunting in packs. After the very much deserved goal, the quality of the game in general dipped until half time really and become very scrappy. One of the most pleasing things for me was that the goals were from open play, Dack and Graham are two incredibly intelligent footballers and were right back on it today. the 2nd and 4th goals in particular were superb team goals, showing that our players are technically capable if we dont resort to aimless hoofing. Downing was absolutely excellent, he is a very average player but hes an actual centre back and it really showed, bar one suicidal pass. The run and pass for the second goal was absolutely brilliant and he was a colossus in the air. Mulgrew was good but I felt he was a bit weak for their second. At full back, Williams was much, much better, Nyambe I thought was our weakest player but improved after a poor first half. I hope Conway wasnt the man doing the doping test, felt like he must have taken something to play like he was 5 years younger, a terrific performance by him and I was willing him to get a deserved goal at the end. Mowbray has mentioned putting him central as he gets older but again whilst there is a twinge of logic I dont think he is the type of player best suited as a central midfielder. The middle 2 were pretty solid and efficient with the odd forward pass, helping with the pressing game too, albeit they are chief perpetratetors in the aimless kick over the shoulder stakes. Overall though, much better in there. Reed was as good as ever, should have scored but his energy levels and his quality are obvious. Dack was back to his best, absolutely superb, goals, assists, technique, and gave his all. Him and Graham are so key to us. A very good day.

Absolutely appalling team named. Not looking forward to this game at all with such uninspiring line up. That midfield has absolutely no creativity to it. Prove me wrong.

I disagree that he is capable there, and if he plan B, I dread to think what plan C was, a striker?! If our 2nd choice signing to fill the centre back void in our squad, baring in mind only Mulgrew and Lenihan are competent natural centre backs at the club, so it was an important signing, is not even a natural centre back then theres a problem. I believe that Sunderland at a point last season thought similar, that maybe Rodwell could be reinvented as a defender, and abandoned the project pretty quickly. I said at the time that its illogical to suddenly try and reinvent a 27 year old midfielder at that stage of his career, lacking in confidence and having not played there since his youth career, was always almost certainly going to backfire. Mulgrew played much of his career in Scotland at centre back, and I remember Celtic fans saying when he joined that if he plays anywhere other than centre back then we might have a problem. I think Mulgrew is underappreciated even now but in his first season much of the calls to get him into midfield I believe were borne out of frustration at the state of our midfield with dregs like Lowe and Akpan playing in there. I appreciate that Brereton surely will eventually become a centre forward here but seemingly no time anytime soon. The whole incapability to play wide is a whole seperate debate that I dont really want to get back in to. Obviously we are basing it on a snapshot of where we stand now, how the balance of the squad looks now I have acknowledged that I would prefer the squad we have now any day over the squad Mowbray inherited, but considering the 3 windows he has had, the resources he has had, the freedom he has had, do I feel like the squad AS IT LOOKS NOW is anywhere near as balanced as I feel it could and perhaps should be? No.

Dack and Samuel I believe were also signed as projects, Mowbray I'm sure said something about signing players with their profile to develop, so with much more than solely a short term objective of promotion. One of those players didnt work out, one is worth many times his cost now, either way, they were not just signed SOLELY for promotion. I have never said that we are massively underachieving, I have never implied that I want Mowbray out anytime soon The whole team was pathetic in both displays, as was the manager in terms of his selections, substitutions and tactics. They were 2 pathetic overall displays by everyone. My point as I have explained in my previous post was about the balance of the squad, with us struggling to find an adequate solution in various positions. I feel like the summer window was quite a poor one in spite of some decent players being brought in, I have explained window by window why I dont necessarily concur with the "we are 2 windows from competing for promotion" based on the success of past windows. That doesnt mean that I am not happy with Mowbray in charge.

I havent at any point doubted that as individual players, the players we have brought in are of a decent calibre. My issue and criticism has always been with the balance of the squad. I actually think one thing that was strongly in Mowbrays favour straight away was look at the players you mention, Emnes, Joao, Gallagher, Hoban, also Hendrie, none of whom we would have particularly cared about losing I would argue, all of whom their loans expired so he didnt have to struggle to offload them. Lowe, Akpan, Mahoney, Guthrie, Brown and Greer were the obvious ones who are examples of my point though, he was able to start a clear out with most of those obviously expendable out of contract and those remaining players we had of value all under contract and able to build around. Signing players fit for purpose in certain positions is something that is just as important as the player himself. Kasey Palmer is a very talented player but he impressed especially at Huddersfield helping them to promotion playing as a number 10, hes not played there at Rovers. Jack Rodwell is obviously a talented midfielder albeit one with baggage but playing him as a centre back is not something he is suited to or used to and he is not effective there. Ben Brereton was signed at a time when we desperately needed a striker, we didnt need a wide forward. We signed primarily midfielders but we have no real centre back or right back cover (barring those filling in from elsewhere or a poor Downing) and the whole wide midfielder thing is obviously a big problem, last season there was a certain balance to our team but thats deserted us following the mass of players signed for those positions. My issue with Mowbrays recruitment is not that some havent worked out, theres Hart, Gladwin, Samuel, Bell etc but everyone makes poor signings. Its the imbalance of them.

So Dack was signed solely to get us promoted, and not as an asset, as Samuel was, albeit he turned out to be crap? You're doing that thing again where you are just blindly agreeing with Mowbray regardless of what you see with your own eyes. He may have tried to justify why he likes his wide men doing x and y, but is it working? A chronic lack of goals from open play, especially at home, suggests its not entirely working. A total reliance on the most long balls in the division to create attacks suggests it is not entirely working. The players he has played wide, goals wise, Reed has 1, (his one at WBA came from a central role) Palmer has 1, Bennett has 0, Rothwell has 0, Brereton has 0, Conway has 0 and Armstrong has 1. 3 goals from wide positions from 18 games. None of the wide men have shown anything like enough quality or consistency to nail down a spot, none of us have a clue who he will pick today, that suggests that his recruitment in those areas is perhaps slightly questionable. Same with signing Rodwell as 3rd choice centre back. I know, his new contract doesnt change the fact really that he isnt going anywhere anytime soon and thats totally irrelevant to the point I am making. I am just saying that thus far his recruitment has been imbalanced and very mixed and needs improving. Am I saying he should be sacked for it? No.

The one thing that I find perplexing is the focus on the extra windows required. Surely thats only a strong argument if past windows had highlighted a consistently strong window by window improvement in terms of recruitment? Im not convinced it has. The first window, he signed Dack which proved as a catalyst for improvement. The overall summer was mixed but the likes of Smallwood, Downing and Antonsson were all useful short term in League 1. There were a lot of players that have fallen by the wayside since, Whittingham, Samuel, Hart, Gladwin to name but 4. The second window, Armstrong was a particularly good short term signing, Payne and Bell where much less successful, the former wasnt played in his natural position. The latest summer window was possibly the worst for him in terms of he had ample resources, he signed 7 players and only really Reed has established himself, and even then he is moved from centre to out wide and back too often. Rodwell isnt a centre back, Brereton, Palmer and Rothwell arent wide players and Armstrong likewise and hasnt been good enough. Considering hes had 3 windows. We look really poor at left back, we only have 2 competent centre backs, one right back, one trusted centre forward and no one anything like securing the wide positions. Thats a chronic lack of balance in the squad. If you look at the team Mowbray would naturally revert back to, Raya, Lenihan, Mulgrew, Nyambe, Williams, Evans, Bennett and Graham would almost certainly be in it. Im not sure that the team has improved much since he joined nearly 2 years ago. In terms of building and progressing window by window, thats a concern. Obviously he has done a lot of good for the club and certainly shouldnt be sacked anytime soon or anything like that but its just a point that I felt needed raising on the constant bleating for patience as he needs x more windows. He should have done better/more in the windows hes already had and he needs to be better in terms of player recruitment.

The main thing that Kean and Coyle had in common is that they were bloody hopeless managers. If they were doing well do you really think people would have disliked them? He signed 7 players, with only Reed (a loan) so far proving to be an unqualified success. The squad has certainly more quality than when Mowbray arrived and he gets more from those who he inherited but it is also too imbalanced with many players struggling to find any consistency. Wilder signs players for their specific positions. Mowbray in the summer didnt.

I think the contract is a year too much personally but he deserves it considering the job hes done. Lets hope he can iron out the recent blot on his copybook so to speak. Plenty of credit from last season.