Not seen one person say Mowbray needs to go. This always happens when people criticise him, others chirp up and claim that they are being unreasonable and calling for his head. If anyone is saying that, then IMO they are wrong to do so, but I havent seen anyone say it, and the fact that you "havent got the time" to show me suggests that you havent. No one wants him to fail. Everyone is frustrated at the crap that has been served up in the last few days, that over 7,000 tickets have been sold to see, that I have spent £50 on tickets and travel etc to watch embarrassing performances. Im still scratching my head as to why he made the sub. It was a stupid sub and I'd love you to explain it if you know as I havent a clue.

Goals were always the main thing last season and hes carried on this season, but we werent as reliant on long balls last season, we had more goals from other sources last season, we had far more consistency and far more of an identity once we got going, and thats why he was allowed to thrive. I dont think we are in the position where we can just remove our one chief goal threat and best player out of the side because we dont have the alternatives. Mowbrays conundrum should be how do I revert back to getting the best from him, getting an identity in general in the team, becoming less reliant on long balls and getting our flair players involved far more.

He played some of them games out of position, but he has been poor even yesterday as a 10, he is out of form but im not subscribing to it being a sudden egotistical thing on the back of a Soccer AM appearance or whatever. Everytime we play 3 at the back it doesnt work. Also, Bennett isnt a wing back and Nyambe isnt a centre back. And Bell isnt a footballer.We only have 3 centre backs and one of them is Downing. It will just be a scattergun approach, making a few personnel changes, but it is the way we play that needs looking at. Its hoofball, its aimless, its boring, regardless of who plays, regardless of what formation, and thats the worry.

So are Amarii Bell, Richie Smallwood, Derrick Williams, Ryan Nyambe all thinking theyve made it after their recent form? I think that you are potentially making a massive assumption in regards to his recent Where do our tactics come into play, most long balls in the league, the ball often thoughtleslly sailing over his head, do they not contribute to his form? Where does him being moved from a 10 to a striker and back again come into play as to his poor form? Is there no recognition that he has an excellent goal record this season again, which is the most important thing and has always been the key aspect in his hame, and no one else steps up to the plate when he doesnt score? I'm not saying his form in recent games like many others has been really poor and he has to take the blame for that. I just think peoples reasoning behind it is a case of adding 2 and 2 and getting 5.

His version of not scoring has led to him proving to be our primary goalscorer this season in the absence of anyone else bothering to contribute. I dont think we can afford to drop him, just as we couldnt afford to drop Rhodes when his form dipped or he had a bit of a dry spell, because no one else is scoring in his absence. Sheffield Wednesday are rubbish, anything less than a win is a poor result. Raya Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams Reed Evans Palmer Dack Rothwell Graham Subs: Leutwiler, Bennett, Conway, Armstrong, Brereton, Downing, Rodwell Couldnt pick a left back, both terrible, Nyambe plays in spite of his terrible recent performances due to a lack of alternatives, Downing to play even though hes not very good if Lenihan isnt fit as none of the alternatives are centre backs and he is.

Who has said he should go? No one wants him to fail. Grow up. And how is taking off a striker for a left back chasing a game? Thats the worry. A total scattergun approach. Wheres the consistency in team selections, wheres our identity, whats our plan bar lumping the ball in the air? Its just make 3 or 4 changes, but there is more than one position whereby I remain unconvinced that there is a solution to in our current imbalanced squad. No, I have not seen on person say it. He is being criticised for 2 horrendous performances and results in which his management played a huge part of. Thats not any more fickle than praising him after the Leeds game or after the Brentford game. Thats commenting on an individual game or games. I dont see that plan at all in terms of our style of play, in terms of our summer signings and how they have/havent been fit into the side, or in terms of his scattergun approach to selecting a side.

The players undoubtedly take a share of the blame for these 2 embarrassments, but the manager takes a lions share too. Why is he playing Rodwell as a centre back, something youve defended before? Because of imbalanced recruitment. Why when he is one goal down did he take off our striker and bring on a crap left back? How can you do anything but ridicule such stupidity? Why after spending close to 10 million in the summer are we still left with players like Smallwood and Bell (that Mowbray signed, who did their job in League 1) regularly playing in the Championship out of their depth? Dack was crap again but to put Soccer AM down as the protagonist for a drop in form is laughable. What is Mowbrays style of play, wheres our identity, why are we so toothless and disorganised? Last season we got promotion through consistency of team selection, we had an identity, look at Burnley when they got promoted, barely used any players, everyone knew their job. Its terrible to watch, these 2 defeats have been coming and our performances for most of the season have been horrendous to watch. Most long balls in the league, simply in the absence of any constructive attacking play. Dack out of form but no one else stepping up and scoring goals. Mowbray with no clue of his best side.

It would have been. It was expected to get promoted but we did get promoted and you have to give him credit for that otherwise its harder to take your valid points about our more recent performances at face value.

Much of your criticism is fair on this season and in particular the last 2 games but you cant discredit what we did last season.

The thing is, Mowbray has had plenty of money, 3 windows, plenty of time and surprisingly plenty of flexibility from the owners to mould his own side. He signed 7 players alone in the summer for around 10m. Even the most staunch person defending Mowbray, can you say that whatever selection will be made for Saturday will be anything other than another random assembly of players with the hope that something clicks? And can you honestly say that the squad has any real balance to it? Raya will start, our only acceptable player tonight. Nyambe had his second appalling game in a row, as bad as even when he looked so nervous breaking into the team. Do we have a feasible alternative? No. Mulgrew and Lenihan are our only decent centre backs, the latter in particular has been inconsistent and both are brittle. We have absolutely NO backup. Rodwell showed himself up as a midfielder playing in the back 4, that second goal was as bad as it gets. Should never play there again. Why has he not signed a centre back bar Downing a year ago who is not trusted? (understandably) Both left backs are absolute shite, one he signed in Bell is a joke. He will pick one on Saturday and just hope that he doesnt embarrass himself again. Thats all he can do. Central midfield, we are well stocked in terms of numbers. Evans is ok usually, Rodwell was always a big gamble, Davenport hasnt been off the injury table, Smallwood is a League 1 player, and Reed has been good but is often shoehorned out wide. Out wide, a particular source of frustration. He seems to hop between the likes of Bennett, Armstrong, Palmer, Rothwell, Conway, none of whom are doing anywhere near enough to guarantee a place, none of whom are contributing to our attack, and its as if he picks 2 out of a hat and hopes something comes off. 3 he signed, so far he has got 2 goals from all 5 of them. Dack is off the boil, although we may aswell not play him if we are just going to kick the ball in the air all the time. And up front, we have Graham who cant play all the time, and Brereton who is the luxury we simply cannot afford with the rest of the squad as lacking quality and imbalanced as it is. We dont seem to have an identity, we havent really had any plan in terms of attacking all season, the most long balls in the league, a pitiful number of goals from open play, Mowbray doesnt carry the same stigma or stereotype as Allardyce/McCarthy but the football barring one or two exceptions this season has been painful to watch. And before its misconstrued, Im not saying he should be sacked. He does need to sort things out starting Saturday though.

Embarrasing performance. Mowbray has had 2 weeks to prepare for 2 local derbies and we have been embarassed in both. He signed 7 players, none of which were centre backs. Rodwell again gave away a penalty in the most pathetic way ever, beaten by a long ball from their keeper. The sub at half time, to bring on a shocking left back for a striker at 1 down summed the manager up. Shocking. Why does he keep persisting with Smallwood. He is nowhere near good enough. Both of the left backs were as bad as anyone, Bell is an absolutely shocking player and Williams was easily beaten again as he was at Preston. Armstrong was shocking yet again, where is Rothwell? Even Palmer? Dack was shite again too although all of our attackers are not going to thrive if we have no attacking plans aside from hoofing it in the air. Brereton was rubbish too when he came on. Over 9m spent and has it improved us? The team didnt seem to have a plan, was disorganised, disinterested, didnt seem to know what it was doing, just shocking and Mowbray has to take the blame for that.

Whilst I disagree that he has done OK in his cameos wide (barring v QPR a d Rotherham when he played far more centrally) theres total disregard towards the alternatives to Brereton when Graham is unavailable. I dont think that anyone would or has doubted Grahams importance. He is the master at making the most of what has been, this season especially, a more often than not rather thoughtless process of getting the ball forward, with us playing more long balls than any other team. In 2 of the 3 examples you give, v Swansea and Preston, we undoubtedly missed Graham but we had Dack up front v Swansea and both him and Palmer centrally v Preston. It quite clearly didnt work, and hasnt worked on the other occasions we have tried to play Dack up front. It also blunts our best player in the process. Brereton came on at Bristol I admit but was totally unfit as that was his debut. Quite simply, imbalanced recruitment has left us over reliant on Graham but we have to weigh up what the best alternative is when he isnt fit, acknowledging that he wont necessarily be the same replacement. Brereton hasnt shown here bar glimmers in 2 cameos that he can play as a lone striker as he simply hasnt had a chance. He did impress and garner the reputation he had to warrant us paying the money we did playing as a lone striker. And crucially he is naturally a striker. Its ok being "not convinced" he can play there but the alternatives are far, far less capable of playing that role, and not even naturally strikers. Yes we will need to tamper with our tactics and approach regardless of who plays when Graham cant, but your theory is invalidated by its alternatives.

I dont think its something that can suddenly be introduced on a match day. But I hope we see some improvement soon as I don't feel like we are playing to our full potential in terms of some of our players in forward areas. I'm not convinced that any of the old guard (the likes of Bennett and Smallwood) will be eased out any time soon in terms of starting every week in favour of the likes of Rodwell and Rothwell to give us more technical ability in our team.

Seen absolutely no signs that this process is in anyway progressing. As others have pointed out, we are still a long ball team even when Graham is out. We have bar a couple of games this season been full of committment sure but boring to watch. Danny Graham is as important as anyone is to us at the moment.

He was a top player but he seems to be an arrogant tosser of a human being.

May I ask why you said good luck to Campbell? The man is an arrogant, self-obsessed bell end who bleats on about his brilliant CV and seems deluded enough to think that its his skin colour thats stopping him from being Man City manager. Id be amazed if he does well. Bradford have been shocking since they appointed Hopkin and he clearly isnt the man for the job. Yeah they have Payne, Akpan and also Paul Caddis

Few things: - You say why question the logic after Mowbray has explained why hes treating Brereton as he is. I and many others feel that Mowbrays explanations are illogical, its as simple as that. Not considering a striker to play as a striker due to a lack of physicality, then playing tiny midfielders there instead. Even you have said that is something you disagree with. - Your defence of Mowbray on how Brereton is used is totally hypocritical in that you believe he should be used centrally, and have asked more than once for him to be started, I encourage you to be stronger in that opinion, rather than shutting down people who actually have a more similar view to yourself than Mowbray may! It doesnt mean you dont like Mowbray. - Its natural for us to be compared to other clubs in our division. You have to get used to that and have never complained about it before. - Its easier to not take Mercer on when he says Coyle. You are providing the reaction he craves.

No, hes not snapping at Grahams heels in that Mowbray doesnt even consider him to be a striker at the moment,

Was Paul Cook being intended to fill in at left back for them?

I don't trust his current judgement on Brereton in that what I see with my own eyes seems to suggest that this judgement is flawed. Especially when quotes about Brereton not being physically capable of playing as a central striker are coupled with playing diminutive attacking midfielders there. I don't think it can be possibly attributed to potential effort or attitude as to why he is played wide rather than central. This is a messageboard for us to discuss our opinions and thoughts, so not really interested in platitudes about trusting and remaining calm. You mention him getting the best out of players, there are a few notably Dack, (up until playing him up front) Nyambe, Mulgrew, Lenihan, Raya etc that he has got more out of than previously or has notably improved them. Mowbray deserves credit for that. On Brereton, he warrants criticism.

I doubt that occasional cameos in a wide role are great for his confidence either. Theres no way anyone can come in on the luxury of playing when we are a couple of goals up. This is a player with over 50 games of Championship experience. There are no suggestion that he cannot handle the pressure.

So why not mention any of those in for example the Championship, rather than constantly mentioning one of the best players in the world? Age is a factor, and you have to appreciate his age, and the fact that he is always going to be someone to develop at that age. On the flip side, the situation seemed perfect in that we have an ageing but very experienced, effective and knowledgeable striker already in the team who in theory could slowly be eased out, with Brereton learning from him in the meantime, and snapping at his heels desperate to take his place for as many games as possible, as soon as possible. I suspect that your expectations of him are too high, in that you see to have expected him to be the game changer straight away, which his price tag may justify, but his credentials etc perhaps dont. That being said, many seemingly have expectations that are far too low of him. Theres no way that we can have the luxury of such an expensive player ONLY for the future. He has to offer something now, we understand he will improve but he has to and can offer a lot now. Some people seem to have lost sight about the fact that Brereton has played over 50 Championship games, mainly and most impressively as a central striker. He isnt a youth player. He has shown very small glimmers, he played more centrally v QPR and Rotherham and looked better when he was in central areas, he looks clumsy when he moves wide and it removes any semblence of a physical presence in the box. I had hoped that these cameos would have made it clear to Mowbray that he belongs centrally, but following the quotes he made during the international break about him, and also on Saturday when we needed a goal and Brereton was only the third choice sub, dumped wide again, has removed that hope. Use of the name Coyle is to provoke a reaction, but my point is that Mowbray has been criticised plenty about the Brereton situation, so lets not pretend that Mowbray is getting off free of criticism. I would agree had you suggested that he should be starting more games or playing more minutes than he is, but my expectations are lower, in that if I could see him pushing Graham, eased in but clearly with the intention of one day dislodging him, then I would understand.

He should have started the games that Graham was deemed unfit to do so, he should be second in line in my opinion. My points are not based on any expectations of him scoring goal after goal like Rhodes did. My main point is not based around the amount of game time he has played, although it has been less than I would have liked. It is based on how he has been used. I expected him to be number 2 behind Graham and to be slowly phased into that position, playing at first when Graham is tiring or unavailable. You mention my gripe on positional use and imply that I would moan regardless but that is unfair. I agree he should be eased in, and from the start Graham and Dack were the key partnership. But I feel that shoehorning in Dack (or Palmer) as a number 9 requires far more of a tactical adjustment than playing a striker with experiencing of playing as a lone striker at this level, with someone playing off him. Whilst I think that spending so much on someone not ready made is a potentially valid point, his age isnt irrelevant and you have to appreciate that he will improve over time. Constantly namedropping Mbappe (a world class player) just belittles your own point. I am not sure where the suggestions have come from that he lacks the bottle to handle the big money fee either. Mowbray has been critiqued at length just as anyone else would for the signing of Brereton (correctly IMO) so youve just put that last line in to try and provoke reactions, which I'm sure you will manage to do.

He may be the manager but that doesnt mean that we should always agree with him, or even that he is always right. I stand by my assertion that Brereton should be at least in contention to start games, and crucially that he is not being used correctly by playing fleeting cameos, most often as a wide man. Mowbrays quotes about him are of particular frustration in that a change is unlikely in the near future. His reasoning for this is flawed as discussed. The only logic to any of it is the fact that Brereton has been somewhat (albeit IMO overly cautiously) eased in. My main gripe is to do with positioning, and it seems that is the same with most people. The budget thing is a two pronged point. I think you would have to be pretty pedantic to not admit that he was obviously the majority of our budget, we signed 2 loans, a free agent and 2 players for nominal fees. The other 2 were Armstrong and Brereton and it was universally acknowledged that the fee for Brereton will be far higher than it was for Armstrong. Also, signing Brereton was as a result of a summer wide, patient search for a much needed striker. Seeing as Mowbray didnt sign a striker, Brereton was presumably seen as that striker, so something has gone amiss in the short term if he is now not considered to be that man. It should be clear that he lacks the physicality unlike the titans of Dack and Palmer to play that role, no?

All of those comments are the standard claptrap that any manager comes out with when he signs either a young or an expensive player, or both in Breretons case. They dont explain the illogical way that he has been used, and totally dismissed as a player in his natural position despite a lack of alternative to Graham. Did Mowbray say or did you say that signing Brereton was too good an opportunity to miss out on? Such an attitude may explain why he seemingly doesnt know how to use him properly. You have many times aired your thoughts that you disagree with Mowbrays treatment of Brereton so youve no need to defend him if that is the case. I dont think most managers would spend the vast majority of their budget on a player that they still havent started in late November. Its a fair point, its an individual point that you have childishly lashed out at in your second paragraph.