Aucks.

[Saxo1man41]

Norwich were 14th last season, 19 points ahead of Barnsley, relegated with 41. That would definitely be "comfortable" as far as I'm concerned!

Really? Obviously I'd believe it'd be tighter than that.

[champs95]

I

Not being negative, Champs. I think you have to take a step back and take a look at some of the other squads as if you were not a Rovers supporter at all. Doing that, you'd have to say that Villa, Stoke, Derby, Middlesbrough, Forest, Swansea, Leeds are all ahead of us in terms of overall quality. Then there are a few teams who are battle-hardened in the Championship. That's not to say all of those mentioned will finish above us, because there are a few surprises every season, and I think one of Mowbray's greatest achievements is that he has made this group of players better than the sum of its parts. All the same, the bookies' odds are probably a fair guide to the "probabilities".
As for the Millwall game, I am not sure why we sometimes have this "rabbits in the headlights" spell at the start of home games. It happened on a few occasions last season as well.
Overall, we edged it in terms of chances, and we more or less dominated the final 50-55 minutes.
Rothwell did his prospects no harm at all. On that (limited) evidence, Freeman or McGinn might not turn out to be such big "misses" after all.
We will hear a lot about about Graham's missed chances, but I thought his general play was very good, Strangely, both Dack and Armstrong were a little below par.
Lenihan and Evans both excellent. I'm sure Nyambe gets physically stronger every week. I bet he'd make a very good rugby player.
Palmer too was promising, once he'd settled.
The big decision for TM is, does he stick to that tried and tested 4-2-3-1 (with minor variations on that theme), or does he look to play a more attacking central midfielder? For the moment, we don't have the extra complication of a winger like Chapman, but we still have the problem of a quart in a pint pot. Is there some formation that doesn't drop Bennett which could accommodate all of the following:
Graham, Dack, Armstrong, Palmer, Rothwell?
Very difficult. Leaving out Bennett and Smallwood, we could field:
Raya
Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams (or Bell)
Rothwell Evans
Palmer Dack Armstrong
Graham.

That would have enormous attacking potential, but would it be solid enough? I doubt that Bennett could be dropped anyway, to be honest, so we could try:
Raya
Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams (or Bell)
Bennett Rothwell Evans
Dack Armstrong
Graham.
What do you think?
Incidentally, I quite enjoyed watching Millwall playing a nostalgic 4-4-2!

Spot on with the game Auks. And bringing in Saxo for a second. All I'm saying is Millwall are a decent Champ side who finished 9th. Not a poor side. And we more than matched them. We had the better of the chances and on another day, we sneak a 1-0. We didn't, we move on. That doesn't materialise as - we are going to struggle this season. Based on Millall beng a poor side and us not being able to beat them at home. It's not as simple as that. I'm just trying to give you some balance. I do accept you will not change your stance. And it's your opinion. But I'm just showing you mine.

Aucks, I do take on board the relative budgets. The likes of Leeds, WBA, Stoke, Boro all have huge ones, and will all likely all be around the top positions. Derby, who spent a lot, I will watch closely. Did Lampard spend it wisley? He spent £7m on Waghorn. That's almost all our budget, on one player. This is where Tony plays a blinder for me. As we want throw all our money in one window on a panic buy. But we will use the loan market I think. Overall, I think there will be 3 or 4 sides who will be relatively consistent. The rest can and will beat & draw with the rest. It's a very tight league. I think we do just fine and more than hold our own.

It's interesting with the formation. I don't it's that, I think over 90mins it works. Even at this level. I think it's the pesonell. Devein port, or Rothwell may come in for Smallwood. He is too similar to Evans. And we do need Palmer, Dack and Armstrong supporting Graham/another. I think he will stick with 4 at the back.

[champs95]

I liked Bell today. Nyambe (your correct about him aabout him getting stronger game by game) and him ate both great full backs. I do like Williams, I just prefer Bell to be playing. He offers more.
Going back to your formation Aucks, I think some games he will change it. Let's see if he gets any loans. Chapman (fit) straight away gives us another option. But then you can't have too much flair, and not balance. Chapman, Dack, Palmer, Armstrong. That would be great. But would need so much defensive stability behind it.

And to weigh into the 14th debate. That in no way would be considered a struggle.

[Saxo1man41]

To either of you two.. Its hard to comment seeing so little of the game. I saw a fair part of the first half on a terrible stream. It looked one paced. I took the dogs out second half.

I'm glad there was positives to take, and of course our start last season should tell me not to jump the gun.

I'll hold back now until I've seen more of the games.

[champs95]

Davein port (which I wrote above) is a new French player we are about to sign ��
Not to be confused with Dvenport

[champs95]

To either of you two.. Its hard to comment seeing so little of the game. I saw a fair part of the first half on a terrible stream. It looked one paced. I took the dogs out second half.

I'm glad there was positives to take, and of course our start last season should tell me not to jump the gun.

I'll hold back now until I've seen more of the games.

What kind of dogs?

I'll calm down and chill, if you'll be happy a bit more?!!

We ain't that great mate, it's a slow building process. One that may take a few seasons. Equally, we won't be pushovers. We will hold our own. Sometimes we'll lose, other times we will get 3 points. Other than a few teams at the very top, even them maybe? .....we will give everyone a decent game.

[AucklandRover]

The other player we don't want forget is Travis. Hard to make a call on yesterday's ten minutes, but he looked assured, as usual.
In a sense, we have four holding midfielders, without Bennett having to do the job: Evans, Smallwood, Travis and Davenport.
It will be interesting to see which two head the pecking-order by the end of the season.
On the Williams v. Bell debate, I'm neutral. We are lucky to have two such good left-backs.
Bell is more attacking, but - having said that - the way Williams delayed the pass to set up Dack's goal last week was top-notch.
Saxo, you can watch some games on iFollow in the UK this year, although why it costs you more than me to watch one is a puzzle!

[AucklandRover]

I liked Bell today. Nyambe (your correct about him aabout him getting stronger game by game) and him ate both great full backs. I do like Williams, I just prefer Bell to be playing. He offers more.
Going back to your formation Aucks, I think some games he will change it. Let's see if he gets any loans. Chapman (fit) straight away gives us another option. But then you can't have too much flair, and not balance. Chapman, Dack, Palmer, Armstrong. That would be great. But would need so much defensive stability behind it.

And to weigh into the 14th debate. That in no way would be considered a struggle.

I think we're going to have to use the subs a lot, Champs. Because we have so many midfield options, and an attacking three who all ought to be on the field, it may well be a case of playing for an hour and then changing things significantly, if necessary. If we do get Chapman and another striker on loan, I'll be very glad that I'm not responsible for picking the starting XI!!
Incidentally, I thought the attendance was a bit disappointing. I suppose Millwall are not the biggest draw, but even so...

[Despair]

I think we're going to have to use the subs a lot, Champs. Because we have so many midfield options, and an attacking three who all ought to be on the field, it may well be a case of playing for an hour and then changing things significantly, if necessary. If we do get Chapman and another striker on loan, I'll be very glad that I'm not responsible for picking the starting XI!!
Incidentally, I thought the attendance was a bit disappointing. I suppose Millwall are not the biggest draw, but even so...

Even though I've not actually seen any of the game, but now read up on proceedings. My first thoughts are : 'oh dear, here we go again'.
It's only two games in, but we do have an unbeaten start albeit two from six poss points.
But straight away the squad is being 'questioned', and opposition so far is deemed as 'poor'.
This upper league was never ever going to be a cakewalk, so this is far too early to start finding fault.
I know I will be told that this is constructive criticism (which is something I am always saying myself when I comment). However, I am cautious in doing so when I'm taking my prompt from reports.
My nature is by and large realistic scepticism, but no way would I see this as a 'poor start'.
The attendance did not surprise me in the slightest, and I have no idea what the mood/atmos was like over the first period/second period / overall (Champs?). We are going to really need that home support to be ultra positive this term and shy away from any negativity getting to the squad. We are going to see a number of defeats this time around at Ewood, so the support needs to be prepared for that. I'm none too sure that there is sufficient reasonably minded individual numbers there to stem the negative element from making this even more difficult.
This is a team / club in recovery mode, always was.

[robinrover]

Both games marred with a tinge of disappointment
Ipswich was because of the late equaliser and yesterday our conversion of the many chances we had however lets look at the positives
Offensively we look strong and add a striker asap and honestly the results will be more wins than draws and losses
We move on to the next with encouraging displays even if the results havnt matched that
Tony Mowbray is building a bright future for this club,it's just a shame a certain few want the success now rather than patiently wait for a few seasons.