Right back woes

[robinrover]

It would appear Nyambe is out for the season following yesterday's hamstring injury so who would you have step in?
Bennett filled in ok but not entirely sure he is the man for the job his intensity would be missed in midfield
So caddis or Travis
Caddis has the experience but with it comes the lack of pace/attacking intent
Travis is the opposite but as shown against Portsmouth inexperience can sometimes work against you.
I am not sure maybe caddis to start with and see how we go but Travis would remain in my thoughts.

[backofthenet]

Travis gets my vote also

[AucklandRover]

It would appear Nyambe is out for the season following yesterday's hamstring injury so who would you have step in?
Bennett filled in ok but not entirely sure he is the man for the job his intensity would be missed in midfield
So caddis or Travis
Caddis has the experience but with it comes the lack of pace/attacking intent
Travis is the opposite but as shown against Portsmouth inexperience can sometimes work against you.
I am not sure maybe caddis to start with and see how we go but Travis would remain in my thoughts.

If it's Caddis, I'd be happier if Bennett was wide in front of him, which would mean Travis or Evans alongside Smallwood.
That probably disrupts the team too much, so maybe Travis is a better bet in what was his original position.
Still leaves a bit of a dilemma, though. Mowbray definitely prefers two holding players and Evans looked good after he came on, so we now have Smallwood, Bennett, Evans and Travis all very capable in that role.
Perhaps it will be Bennett at right-back, after all!
That leads to another point: is Payne a bit redundant when Dack and Armstrong are playing so well? It goes completely against my normal preferences, but maybe we don't need a "creative" central midfielder at all with the players we've got - especially in away games.
So, at Gillingham, that would look like this:
Raya
Travis Lenihan Mulgrew Williams
Bennett Smallwood Evans
Dack Armstrong
Graham.

Idle speculation, I admit, but Bennett and Evans provided lots of good passes against Blackpool.

(I'll probably post the same idea on the Telegraph site just to wind some of them up!)

[champs95]

If it's Caddis, I'd be happier if Bennett was wide in front of him, which would mean Travis or Evans alongside Smallwood.
That probably disrupts the team too much, so maybe Travis is a better bet in what was his original position.
Still leaves a bit of a dilemma, though. Mowbray definitely prefers two holding players and Evans looked good after he came on, so we now have Smallwood, Bennett, Evans and Travis all very capable in that role.
Perhaps it will be Bennett at right-back, after all!
That leads to another point: is Payne a bit redundant when Dack and Armstrong are playing so well? It goes completely against my normal preferences, but maybe we don't need a "creative" central midfielder at all with the players we've got - especially in away games.
So, at Gillingham, that would look like this:
Raya
Travis Lenihan Mulgrew Williams
Bennett Smallwood Evans
Dack Armstrong
Graham.

Idle speculation, I admit, but Bennett and Evans provided lots of good passes against Blackpool.

(I'll probably post the same idea on the Telegraph site just to wind some of them up!)

I hoped to chat with you about Payne. I've been thinking about this lad for a while now. What I've ended up considering is, Mowbray had a chance to sign him, and went for it. Had we lost Dack for for any length of time, we would have been in big trouble. There is one player in our 11 who if fit, simply starts, as he's the best player by far in the division. Payne I really do believe, was signed incase we lost him. There would'nt be many that could step into his shoes, and TM is aware of that, and also maybe concerned had we lost him, we'd have really suffered. Payne's best position is the number 10. As it has turned out, we have only missed Dack the one game vrs Walsall. Payne did very well in that match, made a goal etc.
TM has tried him RM and centre mid and realised neither are his most effective positions.
Now with us losing Nyambe for the season (which is a blow) I think Bennett will be moved to RB and Payne into RM. That or Travis will be brought into the line up. I like Caddis, but I don't think he will rely on him.
So all in all, it looks like we have underused Payne. In reality it was an assute move from TM, to bring in quality, 'just in case' we lost Dack.
Having been vocal about Evans, I though he had his best game for Rovers this season on Sat. While I though he was also decent at Walsall, he was excellent on Sat.

[AucklandRover]

It all comes down to the fact that we are spoiled for choice in certain positions, Champs, which is probably what every manager wants!
I have always thought a creative player in central midfield (Tugay-style) was essential, but with our current line-up, I'm not so sure.
Football seems to be returning to the concept of the "No. 10" forward. The problem is, we have Dack, Armstrong, Payne, Samuel and Antonsson who would all prefer that role!
In fact, creatively and in attack, we really DO have overload. In addition to the five mentioned, we have Graham, Nuttall, Bennett, Chapman, Whittingham, Tomlinson, Conway, Gladwin and Feeney. Of course, we don't know how many of the loanees we will retain, or how many players will be shipped out in May, but we will still have lots of options - especially with the Under-23 squad to take into account.
In the forward players, Dack has been the star of the season, with Graham and Bennett (in whatever role!) not far behind. Now Armstrong is looking very good too. I fear some of the wealthier Championship clubs will be sniffing around soon. I wonder if Venky's will resist.
As for Payne, he would have walked into the team before Christmas. Now, he might have to accept a half-hour per game role. Who knows? Mowbray has refused to be harried into the notion of a "best XI". He has stuck firmly to his horse-for-courses policy. A bit hard to argue against it now!
Incidentally, do you think TM will ask for a postponement for the Doncaster game?

[champs95]

It all comes down to the fact that we are spoiled for choice in certain positions, Champs, which is probably what every manager wants!
I have always thought a creative player in central midfield (Tugay-style) was essential, but with our current line-up, I'm not so sure.
Football seems to be returning to the concept of the "No. 10" forward. The problem is, we have Dack, Armstrong, Payne, Samuel and Antonsson who would all prefer that role!
In fact, creatively and in attack, we really DO have overload. In addition to the five mentioned, we have Graham, Nuttall, Bennett, Chapman, Whittingham, Tomlinson, Conway, Gladwin and Feeney. Of course, we don't know how many of the loanees we will retain, or how many players will be shipped out in May, but we will still have lots of options - especially with the Under-23 squad to take into account.
In the forward players, Dack has been the star of the season, with Graham and Bennett (in whatever role!) not far behind. Now Armstrong is looking very good too. I fear some of the wealthier Championship clubs will be sniffing around soon. I wonder if Venky's will resist.
As for Payne, he would have walked into the team before Christmas. Now, he might have to accept a half-hour per game role. Who knows? Mowbray has refused to be harried into the notion of a "best XI". He has stuck firmly to his horse-for-courses policy. A bit hard to argue against it now!
Incidentally, do you think TM will ask for a postponement for the Doncaster game?

Its out of his hands anyway Auks, its been postponed. Williams and Lenihan have both been named in the Eire squad, Mulgrew Scotland, Evans NI and the Canadian keeper who's name I cant spell! It's only 4 call-ups that takes a postponement.

I think there could well be clubs sniffing around, especially Dack. But a Champ club would have to come in with a huge offer to get him. What I do believe, is things have calmed down at Rovers, and I think the penny has dropped with the owners. The more they leave things to run smoothly, and invest, their investment is starting to look much healthier. I'm not so sure we will sell if we don't need to. I actually think the opposite, once up, I think they will get Armstrong and Chapman and look to sign others. I know 100% that Sheff Utd offered £2.5m for Lenihan in the summer, and they discussed this with Mowbray. It was turned down as they don't need that money, and TM advised them not to sell their best players. Unless we get a really silly offer for Dack, which suits us, then I think he will want to stay aswell. I know we are meant to be scared of clubs with money, as they are perceived to be strong. From 5th down in the Prem right down to the bottom of the Champ, I see a lot of crap. And I mean, ALOT! Arsenal, Everton etc are awful. The likes of Stoke, WBA are actually woeful. Most the Champ, Leeds, Sheff Wed, Bolton etc are nothing to be scared of. We will be on a level playing field, and I think we need to build on what we have. As most of the sides I see up the Champ are poor, same with the Prem.

[Despair]

Quite agree, from what I can gather we have a wealth now of offensive players. And with DL back we are looking mighty strong.
If the whole squad have bought into the true squad ethic with TM picking on merit and game by game tactic all is well.
This makes us formidable competitors.
Like yourselves IF this squad is maintained beyond this year I do not see all that much to be concerned over.
I have felt for some time now that Venkys have finally 'twigged' and are now happy enough to let the people who know what they're doing get on with things.
My continuing concern is however the still lack of swell in the attendances. It would seem to me that the very major proportion of the stay away's, are far more deeply embittered than I have imagined.
There's a upturn momentum within the club ongoing and a major upturn and growth of supporter numbers would only assist in this.
As said earlier, it may well be that a good number of them are simply 'good time' supporters who could appear and then disappear just as quickly, but that's the same at the majority of clubs. My own wish is that the ones of my 'vintage' who are just 'sticking to their principles' finally recognise that the club is well worth supporting again.
I do not think for one moment that they are all away supporting other clubs in BRFC's stead (not very many anyway).
The other reason is a basic one of, they have just gotten out of the habit with it being so long now.
Having said all that, as has been voiced before, given our E Lancs location / town status / demographic etc. A regular attendance of circa 14/15 thou is not all that disastrous.
The gate for the Pool game was pretty disappointing though, and that is what has triggered my ongoing concern. If Venkys are aspiring to gain the return to 20k+ / mid 20k attendances once again in order to justify their continued 'support', this could spell trouble up ahead.

Just recently seen goals from Pool game, and that was a cracker from Armstrong (his first). Goal of month?

[champs95]

Quite agree, from what I can gather we have a wealth now of offensive players. And with DL back we are looking mighty strong.
If the whole squad have bought into the true squad ethic with TM picking on merit and game by game tactic all is well.
This makes us formidable competitors.
Like yourselves IF this squad is maintained beyond this year I do not see all that much to be concerned over.
I have felt for some time now that Venkys have finally 'twigged' and are now happy enough to let the people who know what they're doing get on with things.
My continuing concern is however the still lack of swell in the attendances. It would seem to me that the very major proportion of the stay away's, are far more deeply embittered than I have imagined.
There's a upturn momentum within the club ongoing and a major upturn and growth of supporter numbers would only assist in this.
As said earlier, it may well be that a good number of them are simply 'good time' supporters who could appear and then disappear just as quickly, but that's the same at the majority of clubs. My own wish is that the ones of my 'vintage' who are just 'sticking to their principles' finally recognise that the club is well worth supporting again.
I do not think for one moment that they are all away supporting other clubs in BRFC's stead (not very many anyway).
The other reason is a basic one of, they have just gotten out of the habit with it being so long now.
Having said all that, as has been voiced before, given our E Lancs location / town status / demographic etc. A regular attendance of circa 14/15 thou is not all that disastrous.
The gate for the Pool game was pretty disappointing though, and that is what has triggered my ongoing concern. If Venkys are aspiring to gain the return to 20k+ / mid 20k attendances once again in order to justify their continued 'support', this could spell trouble up ahead.

Just recently seen goals from Pool game, and that was a cracker from Armstrong (his first). Goal of month?

Re the attendances. I think slowly but surley folk are returning. We get around 11-12k home fans, which all things considered isn't too bad. That will hover around 13k in the Champ if we are doing well. What makes a huge difference at this level is away gates. We barley have anyone who will bring over 2k. In the Champ we'd get 4-5k from loads of sides. Maybe more. Leeds, Preston, Villa, Bolton, Sheff Utd, Sheff Wed, West Brom will all get the crowd up to over 20k.

Armstrong is in fantastic. Just won player of the month, that goal vrs Blackpool was immense. He has been excellent since arriving. I hope we can get in if we go up. I think he'd quite fancy coming here and playing under Mowbray who gets the best out of him.

[Saxo1man41]

Nobody has considered it on here, but I expect our mk dons loaned to fill in at right back..

Sorry, forgot his name!

[Saxo1man41]

Downing!