We either need to drop another body into midfield or push up the defensive line,

Only a matter of time. 433 is really not working with a deep defence.

Like the team - as good as we could do in the circumstances. Reckon we will get a right doing sadly though....

Ah okay, well day pass on sky is £10 so same as ifollow Bad for those with season tickets...

Is it not on iFollow tonight???

That quote is very Alan Partridge .

Bloody hell. If we were going to do this why not a month ago?? Think he's a quality player on the ball, retains it and uses it intelligently. But what we need are midfielders who can cover the yards in midfield. Downing can't do that..... Feels a bit desperate.

I can't see the sense in playing Brereton through the middle. He will not get in the box, his pathologically opposed to it.....He'll end up drifting out wide and man marking Dolan.

Yes, Brereton is clearly not a striker by any interpretation of the role. His best asset by far seems to be dribbling and holding onto the ball to allow others to join the attack. I get why he plays where he plays, and he has started to look quite effective last few games to the point where he has consistently been one of our better players. It is quite noticeable whenever he comes off the ball stops sticking to the front line. Gallagher on the other hand I just can't see on any level what the thought process is to have him on the wing.... he continually just loses the ball. I pray to god if Armstrong is out we see Gallagher through the middle and not some mad concoction of Elliott through the middle and Gallagher wide right.....

Have to say all our options look pretty bad at the moment. I would give up 433 till Kaminskis back at a minimum. Team for me, assuming Armstrong won't make it but Rothwell does, and Bell makes it too because I can't face JRC at left back again... Pears Nyambe. Lenihan. Williams. Bell Holby. Trybull. JRC. Elliott. Brereton Gallagher Nailed on loss this one.

To be fair I think all of the changes have been forced due to injury/coronavirus.

Watched the full game on playback as I had family stuff on yesterday A few notes -It was very noticeable that we were playing 20 yards deeper compared to the Reading game. Obviously Pears did not have the confidence of the defence and vice versa. Playing deep is not a bad thing of itself, but combined with 433 it basically meant we surrendered the midfield to Swansea as they outnumbered us. -Also the midfield personnel did not look effective either. 433 needs real athelticism from the midfielders to physically impose themselves on the game through constant pressing. While he looks an okay player generally Trybull is cut from the same cloth as Evans and Johnson - he wants to sit in position and not really move too much. We can afford one of those players in the three mids but not two. Again this led to us surrendering the midfield. -It goes without saying playing JRC at left back made us vulnerable down that side, and the second goal was a direct result of that. -Lenihan had another poor game and was easily beaten for the first goal. -Gallagher was atrocious when he came on, Dolan not much better. We looked totally beaten by the 60th minute All that said we could have scored a couple and maybe got a point. Swansea were not really that good so it feels like an opportunity lost as opposed to say Reading where we were beaten by a much better team. My general feeling is this losing run will continue until we get Kaminski, Douglas and Rothwell back in the side. I am also worried that Mowbray is going to persist with putting Trybull and one of Johnson/Evans in the midfield three which I think will completely destroy the dynanism that looked so good first few games. All in all pretty depressing. Put Kaminski, Douglas, Rothwell, Travis and Ayala into the team and I think we would be having a good run atm but as it is with the injuries and omissions mounting up its looking pretty grim.

From what I've seen having Rothwell back will be a huge improvement as he can run the yards but whats an absolute killer is not having Kaminski. He is critical for us. Without him I fear for us in every game.

To use the 433 we need Kaminski, one of Bell/Douglas, Johnson and Rothwell back. Without them we simply don't have the personnel to make it work. Keeper is too uncertain and weak with his feet, full back way too vulnerable, and the midfield can't cover the ground effectively to press. Does anyone know if they will be available on Tuesday? If not we need to change something. I do feel for Mowbray, injuries and ommisions have been horrendous. But it's his job to react, and why couldn't he batten down the hatches and play a more counter attacking game, grind out some 0-0s, until you have a squad available who can play the system?

With the players available 4231 would have been a better shout. Then Trybull and Evans could sit and it wouldn't be a problem. Maybe we will do that? Could be Pears Nyambe. Lenihan. Williams. JRC Evans. Trybull. Elliott. Holtby. Brereton Armstrong I would be more confident with that than 433.

Really don't like the look of that midfield. 433 depends on at least two of the midfielders covering a lot of ground. Evans and Trybull way too static for me. Not feeling very confident.

Would be as good a lineup as we could do with those available. Our left side will be very very vulnerable to the counter.

I guess what I am saying is he would do it with anyone. That he paid 5m for Gallagher doesn't make that much difference. He did the same with Samuel, Nuttall etc. It's a tactical belief he seems to have.

I don't really buy this. Even if you don't agree with what he implements, Mowbray is a tactically involved manager who sets out the team in certain ways because he genuinely thinks it will be effective. He's also got history in this wide striker approach - remember Antonsson? He plays Gallagher on the right wing as he thinks it works for some bizarre reason. I suppose in Mowbray's defence he has persisted with Brereton on the left and that has actually started looking good, so miracles can happen. But still - will lightning really strike twice? And with with Elliott, Dolan, JRC does even Mowbray himself want Brereton on one wing and Gallagher on the other? I really don't think so. From a personnel perspective there is no need to play Gallagher wide right at all (as we have Elliot, Dolan and JRC) whereas through the middle we literally only have AA. So let's just commit to Gally being a central player, give him a solid role centrally to come on for the last 30 minutes of a game we are chasing to get on the end of crosses and put himself about. Do it for half a dozen games and see how it goes. I think he will look a decent option. It seems very straightforward....

Start of last season we hit it long to Gally at right wing. Sort of worked for a couple of games but turned out to be an abysmal soul destroying tactic in the long run eventually abandoned. I just dont get why we don't play Gallager up top late in games when the opposition is deep. We could even go old school 442 with him and Armstrong through the middle. Would make far more sense than Gally right wing.

Looking at the squad and the matches at the start of the season what we are obviously missing is a quality centreback with a lot of pace. We need one with the high line. Who would be amazing in this system is Chris Samba. But I guess there aren't many of him around.....

Nah, Nyambe is a shoo in. Definitely will start after JRCs defensive horror show.

I agree there's a decent argument for dropping the 433 if we don't think we can make it work with the available personnel. Mowbray saying Pears isn't used to a high line or playing outside his box is a big worry, as is Lenihan and Douglas being all over the place recently another. Should we go blythly into another tricky game with half our first team out injured and play an ultra high line and three forwards.... Hmmm. I would have a different 4231 lineup though. Pears Nyambe Lenihan Williams Douglas Holtby Trybull JRC Elliott Brereton Armstrong Subs : Stergiakis, Wharton, Evans, Gallagher, Dolan, Chapman, Davenport Looking at that you think there should be less chance of us getting turned over by Swansea. We could just sit deep and try and hit Brereton, Elliott and Armstrong on the break - all pacy players. With 433 you feel if they suss it out (and it's been shown not to be rocket science) they could annihilate us.... Once the confidence in the high line goes it gets very very messy.I What does without saying is if we do go 433 has to be Nyambe back in. Pears Nyambe Lenihan Williams Douglas JRC Trybull. Holtby Elliott Armstrong Brereton It's actually the exact same personnel just arranged differently so if Mowbray fancies himself a Bielsa master tactician type we could maybe start 4231 and play a deep tight game, then go on the offensive with 433 later. But then again....

I've been ruminating on the game yesterday. I think the message is now pretty obvious that against good counter attacking teams we are in trouble with the 433. Our lack the pace and physicality at the back makes us vulnerable. Douglas obviously has brought a lot of attacking quality to the team but he doensn't have pace we really need to recover. And JRC at right back is reminiscent of Ben Marshall at RB a few years back. Great if you are dominant but mad if you actually expect him to defend. We do at least have Nyambe who we can bring back. Boils down to us needing a plan B. 433 fine - in fact I absolutely love it - for where we can out work the other side physically and have more pace (Wycombe, Coventry, Derby etc) and they intend to come out and play. But if we are playing a proper counter attacking team who are stronger physically and quicker than us we need to be smarter, play a deeper line with two deeper midfielders and don't get caught out. Probably something like Kaminki Nyambe Ayala Williams Douglas Holtby. Johnson/Trybull JRC Elliot Brereton Armstrong Looking at the fixture list next game with a proper counter attacking team is Boro game after next. I would seriously consider changing the system for that game.

Armstrong is an absolutely fabulous player. Can do everything really at this level except play a target man role. Can drop off and link up, get in behind, run the channels, cross,, score from distance, get his head on it and score. What's amazing is that he probably can up his goals scored by 20-30% through improvements to his finishing.