A ‘year like no other’ is the well-worn phrase of 2020, but on the pitch for Rovers, it’s been what we’ve become used to, a change in style yet to bring the desired consistency that has been their Achilles heel ever since promotion from League One.

The curtain came down on their year at The John Smith’s Stadium, their 17th defeat of 2020, and put alongside their 15 wins and 11 draws, their points-per-game over a full season would equate to 60, the same as in 2018/19, two fewer than last season.

The fear is the stability Rovers had craved for so long becomes a comfort zone on the back of reputation and routine. Tony Mowbray is six matches short of 200 in charge, six weeks shy of four years in the job, while six of the starting line-up at Huddersfield Town are into at least their third season at the club.

Mowbray has built a tight-knit group and developed strong relationships throughout the club, for which he deserves credit, the mood lifted immediately upon his arrival.

But in recent times, Rovers have lost some big characters. Danny Graham, Craig Conway, Richie Smallwood and Charlie Mulgrew have all departed, while Elliott Bennett’s place in the side wasn’t a regular one before injury struck. While they have more than replaced them in terms of quality of player, have they done similar with their dressing room presence?

Everyone has their own unique characteristics and strengths, and while Darragh Lenihan has assumed the captaincy in Bennett’s absence and Bradley Johnson is an experienced campaigner in the middle of the park, there aren’t many ‘leadership types’ in the ranks.

Lewis Holtby was a constant voice in the early weeks of the season, but whether owing to a dip in form personally, or his place now not being as secure in the side, that hasn’t been the case of late.

Mowbray stated the dressing room was angry place after the final whistle had blown at Huddersfield, but during the course of the 90 minutes, there wasn’t much to suggest that strength of feeling, one more of resignation at the fact things weren’t going their way.

Mowbray suggested as much afterwards. In a similar way that he previously touched on the absence of Bradley Dack when Rovers fell short when needing moments of magic in games, the manager reflected upon the loss of Lewis Travis after the Terriers reverse, believing the all-action midfielder wouldn’t have accepted defeat in the way he clearly felt some of his squad did. It felt a damning verdict.  Yet with Travis’ return around the corner, there will be one less absence to rue.

Mowbray said the two goals shipped at Huddersfield came as a result of players not doing their jobs. All it would have taken was for some to assume responsibility from two set plays and danger would have been averted. Instead, a dereliction of duty cost them dear.

Their equaliser seemed unlikely when it arrived, but given a lifeline, they handed the initiative straight back to the hosts, thinking more about pushing for a winner than switching on in defence.

One thing Rovers need to do for now is park talk of the top six. They’re firmly entrenched, as things stand, in mid-table. Their numbers of wins to defeats have never been far from each other, with defeats now outnumbering wins nine to eight, while the number of games played is catching up to the number of points won at a worrying rate.

While the manager has pushed to raise ambition with talk of the top six, what that can do is cloud the thinking, merely focusing on the league table. Sucked in after every win to looking ‘how many points off the top six’ and every defeat with a ruing look at how many the gap has grown to, without digging deeper into the performance.

Put simply: Rovers will be out of top-six contention before they’ve ever been properly in it unless they get back to putting in performances that will give them a better chance than simply edging tight games and not leaving themselves vulnerable to it going the other way, this their sixth one-goal defeat of the season.

While they need to find a result to get back on track, they need to find a performance that makes them almost certain to win, rather than unfortunate to lose. When was the last time they played well over a prolonged period? The opening quarter at Brentford was impressive, the final hour a real dogged effort, but small bursts apart since, they’ve flattered to deceive, under-delivered and underachieved. Three 2-1 wins over Rotherham United, Millwall and Barnsley were more about getting over the line than they were a reward for the performance.

Previously you could lean on the statistics for hope, their performance metrics suggested they were unfortunate not to have more points than they did. However, in the last six matches they’ve conceded first in each of them, scored just five times, and not managed a first-half goal, their earliest being in the 59th minute. It’s now over two months since they kept a clean sheet.

An unbeaten run of seven matches becoming one win in seven is the perfect way to encapsulate this side. Equally, that’s why there will be no real panic. They are well capable of emerging from one of their troughs to hit a peak again soon. History would tell us that. We’ve been here before.

A talented squad should be doing much better though, and Mowbray must find the root cause of why things aren’t going his side’s way, why they’re on the wrong end of the fine margins.

The manager has issues to address in the squad. He must either find some faith in one of his young centre halves or a way of bringing one in when the January transfer window opens, as currently, it’s an area of the pitch not fit for purpose.

The goals they are giving up are desperately poor, not least for a team who have ordinarily struggled to pick up points when forced to come from behind.

Less can be more when it comes to substitutes, the thinking a little muddled in the closing stages, huge gaps appeared between back and front as things began to get a little bit desperate, while Huddersfield seemed to have the whole of their left flank to attack given the inverted role John Buckley operated in when replacing Ryan Nyambe.

And there has been a theme of over-complicating things at times, Harvey Elliott playing as a false nine and moving top scorer Adam Armstrong out to the left for recent home games, just one of those.

Mowbray must too find a way of getting Armstrong back on the track. One goal in seven games isn’t the way he would have wanted to finish a year in which he’d scored 27 times and assumed the role as Rovers’ main man.

He was given a gee up after first-half missed chances at the break by both Dack and Thomas Kaminski, and while far from a crisis in front of goal, having had a hand in the equaliser scored by Sam Gallagher, Rovers desperately need him back firing. Not that you can lay criticism at his door, his 15 goals and three assists mean he’s been involved in half of Rovers’ 36 league goals, the most in the division, albeit Bournemouth have played two games fewer.

Based upon Armstrong’s numbers, and development of some of the club’s younger players, the fear for some supporters is the time has to come now for Rovers. In their heads they are already seeing this side broken up in a similar way to the 2014-2016 group were after failed play-off bids.

That side relied more heavily on individuals, with this the best group Rovers have assembled since relegation from the Premier League in 2012 and the most credible squad to challenge at the top end of the table. That will only add to the pressure that Mowbray has brought on himself by being so outspoken about Rovers’ ambition.

While allowing people to dream big and bid for success, supporters will judge the manager upon his own aims and expectations, though owners Venky’s would appear to judge success in a wider context.

One thing Rovers have done under Mowbray is pulled out a win when they have most needed one. Only 13 months ago against Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley, late goals saved them as the disenchanted voices began to grow.

It will never be plain sailing for any manager in charge for a length of time that is simply against the grain of the modern game, Mowbray has been in football long enough to know that. He too would acknowledge another season of mid-table football will lead to a growing sense of apathy among fans.

Rovers have been through tough spells of results under him before, four defeats in the opening 11 matches of the League One season, one win in nine in late 2017, nine defeats in 11 matches in early 2018, one win in nine in 2019, but throughout his tenure, he has enjoyed large scale support from fans, and also the owners, particularly in the transfer market, enabling Rovers to hold onto their key players.

It would be interesting were fans to have been inside stadiums so far this season, what the reaction would have been to some of the performances, and results.  Bar those two aforementioned Ewood games, the two defeats at Preston in consecutive Novembers, and the 1-0 reverse at Oldham Athletic way back in October 2017, it is hard to recall too many times there has been an outpouring of anger directed from the stands.

Much of that comes down to the job Mowbray has done and the faith put in him. However, as Rovers gravitate away from the chasing play-off pack to the mid-table bunch, there is a growing sense of frustration, particularly on social media, a place where gauging reaction isn’t always as straightforward as it seems.

There we appear to have reached a point of no in-between, when Rovers come out on the winning side it’s a victory for those in support of the manager, while every defeat is jumped on for those on the other side of the fence. 

A transfer window to celebrate on paper brought an optimism not felt for some time, yet the lack of football for Daniel Ayala and Barry Douglas prior to their arrivals has shown with their fitness and form respectively, while things just haven’t clicked for Tom Trybull as yet, substituted in his last six starts, and having not completed 90 minutes in two months.

Kaminski has been a success, Elliott has shown his class, while Tyrhys Dolan has proven to be a real find, though the teenager has felt a little under-used of late, fewer than 100 minutes amassed in the last 12 matches since his last start against Middlesbrough on November 3.

The swashbuckling early season style has evaporated, things have become a little stale, and Rovers are in need of a reaction. The schedule settles down as we enter 2021, and Rovers must do so with a renewed focus and new lease of life. They threatened as much earlier in the season, and are well capable of doing so again.

Heading into the second half of the season Rovers have it within themselves to make it what they want, continue to drift either side of the halfway mark or strive to deliver on their promise.