Would have personally brought in Rodwell and Williams for Smallwood and Bell but cant complain with an unchanged team and glad to see Graham and Reed fit.

Its a difficult one. You could argue that signing a third striker will compromise his development further though.

I really hope that is not the case and Brereton is being groomed to be a number 9, but obviously one that will be behind Graham for the forseeable future. Forest fans, including the one who came on this board, stated that he is really poor from that position, and needs to be used centrally. From his cameos in that position, I can understand why. You would, youve been deriding Grahams ability to play 3 games in a week for ages now!

He is indeed. Not scored in 1 game, thats a drought for him!

Yeah he is tall but so was Sam Gallagher and he jumped lower than he stood! No way can we play only one central midfielder and then Dack behind 2 other strikers. Dack is a second striker himself. The only way to get all 3 central would be 3 at the back I would suggest. Something that clearly doesnt suit us. Lets hope not! I agree that it is a big gamble but I would be very surprised if a 6 million signing regardless of age could potentially be further pushed down the pecking order by another new striker. Cant see Mowbray (or most Championship managers) being given such a financial luxury! I disagree with the last bit. Hes never been the most athletic player but personally, id argue that Dack has visibly tired in my opinion more obviously than Graham in quite a few games. Obviously he probably cant play every minute of every game all season but on the flip side I hope we arent over cautious over one of our 2 primary attacking threats.

I think Mowbray may struggle to convince the owners to spend more on strikers considering he spent over 8 million on 2 of them in the summer. Grahams fitness at the moment looks far better than people give him credit for. As you said though age will catch up with him at some point, hopefully no time imminently. While he is as fit as he looks we need to get the most out of him. And the other 2 should learn from him. Brereton is not a classic big man though. Not reknown for his aeriel prowess. That said, such a partnership would require moving or dropping Dack.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16999726.rovers-striker-danny-graham-on-playing-three-games-a-week/?ref=mr&lp=7 nd of the three games in a week debate, the striker said: “It’s getting a bit boring to be honest. “I’ve played three games in a week already this season. “Everyone goes on about me being 33, it doesn’t matter how old you are as long as you keep yourself fit and right. “I feel as though I’m fitter now than I ever have been at this football club so I think three games in a week is fine for me. “If other people want to talk about it then that’s fine." Myth dispelled.

For me, thats incredibly harsh. While there was an obvious section of our crowd who moaned and groaned, any dissent towards the manager wasnt a touch on how widespread and hostile it was to McCarthy. Fans didnt force Allardyce out at all. What a terrible list! Only Moyes would be remotely appealing and hed never go there. Any other club in that position, the irony is McCarthy would be first choice!

I dont feel that the quality within the League is as good as people seem to imply. It is intruiging and it is competitive but there are a lot of poor teams in it, Hull, Ipswich, Reading, Millwall, Rotherham, Bolton, QPR and Birmingham. Its why I was never of the opinion that wed be in a relegation scrap. The reason its so fascinating is that you could probably put a blanket over the majority of the other teams. There is quality in it of course but thats not where the intrigue comes from. The same Forest manager that got Boro promoted?

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/september/bad-news-for-rovers-pair/ This season, wonder where his career will go from here.

Apologies for reading your post in a slightly cynical light, my mistake. I dont think we have hoards of boycotters missing out to be fair.

Out for the season according to Mowbray.

Mid table consolidation would be fairly acceptable but theres nothing to fear in a competitive but at times, slightly overestimated league. From what we've seen so far, there is nothing to stop us from having half an eye on the play offs as an ambitious target, as long as people dont see that as the minimum expectation. There are a lot of teams in the bottom 7 or 8, Ipswich, Hull, Reading, Rotherham, Reading and Bolton (Preston should eventually move upwards) that are exactly where they are expected to be and, barring a collapse from ourselves, should provide a comfortable buffer above safet You look at teams like us, Wigan, Sheffield United, Norwich and Brentford, all teams in the top half who seem to be clubs looking up, working towards their full potential, but perhaps without the resources of Derby, Nottingham Forest, West Brom etc propping them up. Also, your final comment has been debated in depth in other threads, but needless to say that is an unfair representation on what most consider to be the main reasons as to why we arent drawing in more respectable attendances.

Disagree with your point regarding centre backs. Players who can fill in for half an hour mid-game or for 1 or 2 games max in someones absence, thats one thing, if Mulgrew or Lenihan are out for say a month or longer then you cant rely on someone out of position, as their lack of familiarity with that position will become abundantly clear. From the 3 you mention, Williams has experience of playing as one of a 3 at Bristol City, if he was to fill in here he wouldnt have that luxury. Rodwell has not played there regularly since his youth career and Nyambe only once or twice (I recall Hull at home and also a checkatrade game) and he looked like a fish out of water, for one he cant head a ball.

Theres no way that if Brereton started scoring goals and playing well, that people "wouldnt warm to him." The only reason that many arent convinced is because in his very limited cameos, one thing im keen to stress (limited game time), he has done nothing to suggest that he is going to stake a claim to be a regular in the side. What I have seen from Forest fans online has not been unanimous I must say, been split positive and negative, but one thing that is massively different, as much as we may want to pretend it isnt, is that at Forest, he was one of quite a few players (Worrall, Burke etc) that came through the academy, and I have seen a lot about "giving youth a chance" so Brereton would have been a torch bearer for the clubs academy. Here, he is a 7 million signing after a number of years of incredibly limited spending. Therefore the expectations/background is totally different.

Let me address your points individually: Give the young lad time - I only dont like this when its used as a counter-argument to people commenting on for example a poor performance. Yes hes very much a long term project, but as with anyone, we judge players performances as they go, on a game by game basis. If people think hes not playing well, then they think hes not playing well. The vast majority are aware that he is only young and bare that in mind. But obviously age alone is not a reason to spend such a massive amount of money, he has to offer something now. (Which I feel he did yesterday) Hope we have some way of wiggling out of the deal/that it isnt a done deal in January - That is constructive and a valid point, its clearly based on the assumption that the 7m can be spent on other players, and whether Ben Brereton was worth that amount or whether we should have spent it elsewhere. It has and always will be the big question because its such a big amount of money for us relative to spend in the last few years. The new Kevin Davies - I havent seen this used, but taking your word for it, I would agree that this is a lazy comparison based solely on price tag and reputation. I reserve my right to call them negative - Absolutely. Its just not a constructive criticism, nor does it add anything to the debate. The reason that I imagine that it riles people is that Brereton and everyone else receives total backing in the stadium, this is a messageboard where we can give an honest opinion without it impacting on the team.

I thought he was pretty good personally yesterday. I dont think he looks particularly good technically, and I think hes fighting a losing battle in that hes never a winger in a millon years. Bennett was often left 2 on 1 going backwards, and I dont recall him posing any threat to Peacock-Farrell at any point. That being said, he showed good intelligence and game management at times in a way that has been totally absent in his game prior to yesterday. He got us up the pitch a few times, he won a few free kicks (he loves throwing himself over) and I came away much more optimistic about him. My main point was regarding your second paragraph. "Stop being negative" and "Trust Tony" are not valid comebacks to anything said about Brereton, or indeed anyone else. All they do is shut down debate, which on a messageboard isnt ideal!

You've again missed my point which is that people should be able to comment on a messageboard freely without having shite like "stop being negative and trust Tony" shoved down their throat. Its an internet messageboard. I think he did pretty well, same as you, but seemingly I'm not as arrogant to pass that off as a undeniable fact, like you have.

If thats the case, which is an assumption rather than a fact. Then we should have looked into a more temporary addition to that position, as if either centre back gets a serious injury then we are goosed, and reliant on either sub par replacements (Downing) or players who arent centre backs. (Rodwell, Williams) Reed has not proven himself there yet to be fair. I wonder who will play when Nyambe comes back, as presuming he comes in at right back, whether thats instantly or after a few weeks, it looks a straight battle between Reed and Bennett for that "defensive winger" position unless Reed is pushed back into central midfield. An area where he will have competition. (Evans and Smallwood are 2 of Mowbrays favourites, and with Rodwell and even Davenport already in the mix) My point was not what his best qualities are. I feel that sometimes, due to the number of strengths that he has, (set pieces, composure on ball, reading of the game, leadership) his ability to actually do the dirty side of defending, stick his body on the line and head crosses away etc, is underestimated by our supporters. I also think in general, he is our most underrated player, and we will struggle to replace him when the time comes.

You do wonder what his position is long term. Norwich fans seem to think hes best at RB, whereas here hes making his name wide. He is, but the 2 arent mutually exclusive.

Looking around at 2 of the names frequently mentioned at the time of us signing Brereton, Windass who went to Wigan, and Marriott who went to Derby, I see both are starting to hit their stride at their new clubs.

I think that Mulgrew is just as capable of the "dirty stuff," he sticks his head in and his body in more than hes given credit for, and his leadership brings out the best out of at times a naive Lenihan, who is prone to an error or a rash decision much more than Mulgrew is. Obviously, Mulgrew has the extra dimension to his game in terms of his composure on the ball, and his set pieces, which I feel at time outshine the fact that he is a very good defender into the bargain. No one is more important to us than Mulgrew bar Dack I would say. That said, agree regarding Lenihans atheticisim and feel like they are a good match for each other. Basically, I dont think we could do without either.

Swansea are nothing to fear, a draw wouldnt be disastrous but theres no reason not to go there to add to the 3 wins weve got on the road this season. Raya Bennett Lenihan Mulgrew Williams Rodwell Evans Reed Dack Armstrong Graham Subs: Leutwiler, Bell, Smallwood, Conway, Palmer, Rothwell, Brereton

I wish people wouldnt keep resorting to this boring narrative of calling people negative, and to give people a chance and support them. "Trust Tony" is not a valid shut down of any arguments either. Hes earnt plenty of trust but creating an environment whereby any opinions contrary to what he does, or any criticisms of any of the players, are not permitted, would make this messageboard very boring indeed.

Surely Mulgrew must come under the category of severe worry should we lose him due to injury? Both of the centre backs were excellent yesterday, and the decision not to sign a centre back as a matter of urgency in the summer I fear would really bite us should either get injured. But Mulgrew is the main man and the steady hand back there.