Jack Payne

[champs95]

Just signed him on loan from Huddersfield until the end of the season. They recalled him from Oxford. Attacking centre mid, just what we need! Let's hope he's decent. I haven't seen him personally.

[robinrover]

Brilliant champs
Bags of pace and play anywhere across the midfield
Looked a proper handful when we faced Oxford.

[AucklandRover]

I wonder what this will mean for Whittingham. Do you think Mowbray has decided he is not up to the job, or is Payne just cover?

[Saxo1man41]

Know nothing about the lad, but picking up the leagues better performers can't be a bad thing..

[champs95]

I was hoping you'd say that Robin, as I remember you went to that one. Without going on and on, I trust Mowbray. So let's see what this lad can bring. Hopefully get this Bell over the line before Sat.

[robinrover]

Signs for us and I for one are very happy with this
Rapid and intelligent player who I am sure will slip into the Chapman role of 30 minute damage of tiring opposition
Also without sounding pessimistic but if dack were to leave in this window we have a player in Payne who can play that role so we don't have the mad PANIC of finding a replacement.

[AucklandRover]

Interesting points, Robin. Perhaps that 30-minute role IS what Mowbray has in mind, with Whittingham (when fit) playing for the first hour.
I still feel we could do with an out-and-out winger, but TM seems quite comfortable with playing people like Samuel, Armstrong and Antonsson in that role. Perhaps he is content to wait for Chapman, and I am hoping we are looking to sign him permanently, given that he can prove his fitness before the end of the season.
Looking at how well Bennett played in a central position on Saturday, and given that we have a queue of U-23s who also favour that "holding" area, I do wonder if Evans has much of a future. I think the fans have been a bit hard on Evans at times, but Smallwood definitely seems to have the edge.
Further forward, it has become obvious that Mowbray really likes the versatile No. 10 type. We have Graham and Nuttall to play the more traditional role, but Dack, Payne, Antonsson, Armstrong and Samuel all seem able to fit in between the centre-forward and the midfielders. I suppose Armstrong and Payne could also be counted as attacking midfielders, rather than forwards. The line seems to be quite hazy in this case.
When Mowbray arrived, I thought of him as being the "traditional" type, but he is proving to be quite flexible and innovative.

[Saxo1man41]

Interesting points, Robin. Perhaps that 30-minute role IS what Mowbray has in mind, with Whittingham (when fit) playing for the first hour.
I still feel we could do with an out-and-out winger, but TM seems quite comfortable with playing people like Samuel, Armstrong and Antonsson in that role. Perhaps he is content to wait for Chapman, and I am hoping we are looking to sign him permanently, given that he can prove his fitness before the end of the season.
Looking at how well Bennett played in a central position on Saturday, and given that we have a queue of U-23s who also favour that "holding" area, I do wonder if Evans has much of a future. I think the fans have been a bit hard on Evans at times, but Smallwood definitely seems to have the edge.
Further forward, it has become obvious that Mowbray really likes the versatile No. 10 type. We have Graham and Nuttall to play the more traditional role, but Dack, Payne, Antonsson, Armstrong and Samuel all seem able to fit in between the centre-forward and the midfielders. I suppose Armstrong and Payne could also be counted as attacking midfielders, rather than forwards. The line seems to be quite hazy in this case.
When Mowbray arrived, I thought of him as being the "traditional" type, but he is proving to be quite flexible and innovative.

Yes, a 'tinkerman'. Normally I'm not too fond on this approach, think its more fitting of a top flight team with more talented flexible players, but TM seems to be getting results right now, so I'll lay off the criticism.

[AucklandRover]

Yes, a 'tinkerman'. Normally I'm not too fond on this approach, think its more fitting of a top flight team with more talented flexible players, but TM seems to be getting results right now, so I'll lay off the criticism.

Saxo - it's the new way. I remember Howard Kendall using virtually the same team every week, but Mowbray is of the school that argues for picking a team to suit the particular match. Hard to disagree at the moment.
Having said that, injuries and form mean that eight or nine players are virtual certainties at the moment.

[champs95]

Mowbray won us that match vrs Shrews, which was very important to our season. He did so by picking a specific side to beat them, which was also totally unexpected.
Im surprised you have totally forgotten Dalglish's time as Rovers manager Sax? He would do that most weeks. He never went for the obvious. Never really played the same team, always surprised the oppo manager. I used to always turn up to Ewood, and there was always at least one player on the team sheet who was a complete surprise. Like Kenny, he looks at a game, and picks a side to win. Last week was last week, a totally different opposition, different manager, different tactics. This week away at Fleetwood, we face a completely different challenge, totally different manager, different players and tactics. Hence we will slightly change things to try win this one. Early in the season, he DID think we could turn up, play the same 11 and we would just win. That's when we got caught out. So like any decent manager, he adapted. And its worked, it will keep working and we'll go up.