Dack and Brereton both back on the bench. Keep both fit and we won’t see much of Gallagher in 2021. Be nice to have a decent lead and see them both today.

What a bizarre list of clubs. Why are we comparing to Luton, Wycombe, Coventry and Barnsley to a certain extent? They’ve spent majority of the time in L1 over the last 4 years. Wycombe comparison is laughable Regarding the others they’ve spent plenty of the last few years. Swansea just the £55m in the first year Mowbray was with us. Another £6m the year after. Of course they had to cut costs they were relegated 3 or so years ago. Cardiff £45m in 18/19 also been up and down so will inevitably cut some costs Preston are massively underfunded, and have been for a while. Their fans are always seething about it. If these clubs are making cuts it’s because of the ridiculous fees paid in previous years. We were all a bit worried about the £7m on Brereton and £5m wasted on Gallagher but Brereton is starting to look a bit better and we can cut our loses on SG and call that a loser but sell Armstrong for £15m (signed him for £1.5m?) if we were desperate. Where I stand is that yes he has had a nice budget since we came back up, but I also think he’s gained some assets which we haven’t sold (yet). Mainly Armstrong and Dack who both he signed for a couple of million would be £30m now (if Dack is the same player he was). We can’t hold it against him that he hasn’t had to sell players to make our net spend look nicer, that’s the owners doing as well. We CAN hold it against him though if he holds onto them AND also fails to progress us into the playoffs as a minimum. I think that’s fair now as at the end of the season we’ll have 2 years and 1.5 years out of our £12m investments.

Great news and hopefully shows the commitment to other players that we’re still intent on progressing, leading to them signing too (Nyambe primarily)

Anyone watching got any view on how Dack looked?

Weird with Douglas isn’t it as he’s left footed. His first touch always seems to take him inside onto his right. I can only assume it’s as he knows he doesn’t have the pace to ever take it past the opposition so it’s always a negative first touch and a pass back to CB or CM

Because despite the fact we’re cowards we’re still 5 points off top with Sheff Wed, Hudds and Birmingham next to play to take us to playing each team once. You can be cowards and still finish 6th. You can’t win the league though or get remotely close to that. Likewise, there’s a very small chance Mowbray addresses it in January (I doubt it) or Dack/Travis give us that bit more bite especially Travis when they’re back.

I’m less deflated by this than some of the other performances recently. We deserved more from that than Rotherham, Millwall etc. Few things do stand out though: - Has to be the end for Gallagher, can only be a bit part sub for time wasting in the last 10 mins now, if even that. Surely when Dack and Brereton are back he doesn’t start (shouldn’t now either) - I’m usually a defender of Buckley but he isn’t there, too slow for our style with 3 midfielders. Needs a loan in January to a L1 team. - Mowbray has to take a lot / all of the blame for this, he didn’t need to change the whole midfield, no game until Saturday, they’ve been rotated a lot recently anyway so all fully fit. Only the Gallagher change was needed. It’s not over, 6th is to play for easily, but we need to put away these ‘easier’ games coming up. We’re cowards and have been for years, you see it when we concede, Lenihan always looks around at everyone when we concede and they all walk away heads down. No motivators. No Nelsons, Sambas, Hendrys, Battys, Savages. Same with the manager. Is Tony gonna give the defenders a bollocking like Big Sam or Hughes would in recent times? No chance, more likely to make a bizarre comment on one of our youngsters

Not sure this is the game for Buckley, Chapman, Butterworth. 1 change was needed. Dolan/Davenport on for Gallagher. Week until our next match, didn’t need the full overhaul.

Commentators are horrendous aren’t they. Dolan has a bad touch on a pretty average pass and they’re picking at him but not a word on Gallagher and his shocking control every week.

Fletcher playing very Danny Graham esque for them. Nyambe is getting loads of space down the wing. We need to keep feeding himself and Elliott

Have they done anything to stop Armstrong? We’re creating chances, just no composure to put it in the net.

Armstrong had to take it round him there

How many have you had? 😂

- Stoke are not good, we always have 1 or 2 clangers in us and they were clinical when we offered it to them. They’re the perfect team for us to play against, we just need to stick it in the net. - Gallagher needs hooking off at HT, he is our weakest attacking link by a mile. Offering nothing and giving the ball away at every occasion. - Trybull superb, very mobile, good pressing and good technically. Dolan for Gallagher or Davenport for Gallagher and move Rothwell up there and carry on as we are.

Gallagher is weak as piss too. Would understand it if he was a proper unit but he’s always out strengthened and look at that rebound. Prancing around with a hurt foot. Get stuck in! Trybull really impressing me as he did before the Lenihan red card vs Brentford.

Gallagher is absolute plop. Our left hand side of him, Douglas and Johnson LCB. Jeez. Trybull playing well, a huge upgrade on the Johnson we’ve seen over the last month

Absolute amateur hour. Very predictable with the LCB and LB combination

A win could take us as high as 7th depending on the Boro result, with 5th and 6th playing each other we could go into Boxing Day with a win taking us into the playoffs, so it’s obvious really, we win today, end up touching distance of the top 6 again then lose at home to bottom of the league on Boxing Day.

Kaminski Nyambe - Ayala - Wharton - ???? Dack - Travis - Rothwell Elliott - Armstrong - Brereton Bench: GK, Lenihan, JRC, Johnson, Holtby, Dolan, Gallagher Hard to accommodate so many and it feels like injuries will dictate it. If Armstrong was to leave in January I’d play Dack in that position and Holtby in the middle, and reinvest every penny into LB and CB and new contracts. Dack is potentially too deep, though I feel he is good enough to play in any of the attacking 5 positions.

Pretty much agree with this, not seen much of Stoke this year so no idea on how they shape up, I'd imagine Mowbray will go with Gallagher over Dolan for 'physicality' (not that I think SG has much myself). Outside of the obvious starters I think Ayala has to keep his place and Trybull should come in for Johnson (passenger for 4 or so games in a row). LB - who knows!

Yep, Buckley didn’t work in a midfield 3, especially with a non-existent Johnson next to him. He needs a rest. Holtby and Trybull in for them on Saturday.

Do I eat humble pie now?

Someone said that at HT and look what happened 🙈

I know you absolutely love him, you make a statement every time he scores, but he’s ridiculously wasteful, 8 shots per non-pen goal has to be one of the worst conversion in the league. Never Prem quality in a million years.

Armstrong has found his level now anyway, bottom half of the championship. I’d snap anyones hand off for £15m+ for him.