Yeah I meant slow for a wide man, probably should have made the distinction. Compared to the likes of Arma, Nyambe or even Chapman he's pretty sluggish when running with the ball. I'm not sure I've ever seen him beat a man to be honest. He tried a few times tonight and it was embarrassing, he usually just ran straight into them and instantly lost the ball. It's just not one of his strengths in any way, shape or form. Some aspects of his play on the wing must be pleasing Mowbray as he continues selecting him there, but I'm lost as to what those are. Yes he wins headers pumped up to him in that position, but 99% of the time those headers bounce to an opposition player so what is the point? It's not like we even set up to try and take advantage of it. I would like to understand what the manager is thinking but I just can't.

If Del is still unavailable and Mulgrew is persona non grata then I think that might be the only choice we have.

Agreed, Gallagher doesn't have the attributes to play out wide - dem diagonal aerial headers aside. He's slow, cumbersome on the ball, can't cross and can't beat a man. Putting him in that position is just nonsense, but Mowbray keeps doing it so at this point I'm beyond hoping the penny will drop.

Personally I would have started Armstrong out wide tonight. I know he's been scoring goals playing as a striker but if we're going to play Gallagher (and I hasten to add I would not) then he needs to be playing up top. He's useless when out on the right, and when we switched to 4-4-2 tonight when attacking we were left exposed on the right as Rothwell was not covering the position Gallagher was leaving open. Arma can score goals from the flank anyway, and a lot of his goals come from outside of the box. He would have been much more of a threat on the wing tonight than Gallagher. Ideally Downing would have started centrally from the beginning (much more effective there in the second half) with Rothwell on the right, AA on the left and SG up top. It may still have ended goalless but I think we would have been more of a threat lining up this way than how we set out.

I can kind of understand why Mowbray held back on the subs for a bit as we were in the ascendancy for much of the second half, and truth be told there isn't a whole lot on the bench these days to change things. Unproven youngsters, aging/poor strikers and that's about it. Squad depth is lacking and it shows in games like this when we need a change but have nobody to bring on who will 100% have an impact on the game. First half was shocking tbh, other than the first 10 mins as bad as Wigan for me. Second half better but the same lack of quality, guile and ingenuity to force a breakthrough. We just don't have it in us to beat teams who come for a point, unfortunately.

A repeat of Wigan at home all over again. I said before the match we'd see how far we've come by the end, and the result gives us that answer.

Another game where we can only play one decent half. First half was dreadful, totally insipid. Second half much better in terms of endeavour but unfortunately very little quality which meant we never really looked like scoring. Walton - 7 - did nothing wrong, made a couple of good stops and claimed the ball well when he needed to. Another solid performance. Bell - 4 - looked nervous at times defensively, especially in the first half, and was terrible going forward. Attacks broke down often down his flank. Tosin - 6 - some wayward passing at times, as is normal, but overall did OK. Lenihan - 6 - struggled with Campbell at times but other than that did alright. His inevitable booking puts us in a difficult position. Nyambe - 6 - drove at the Stoke defence to try and make something happen but nothing came off. Some poor passing too which would have cost us against better teams. Johnson - 4 - lethargic, didn't look interested. Travis - 6 - worked hard as usual. Rothwell - 5 - largely anonymous. Downing - 6 - played better in the second half when moved central, but no major impact on the game. Gallagher - 4 - won headers but they went nowhere so as usual absolutely pointless. Was playing a hybrid of striker/right wing, but wasn't particularly effective in either role. Watching him out wide in the first half especially was painful. Can't understand why Mowbray persists with this. Armstrong - 5 - ineffective. Big Dom - 5 - he was on the pitch briefly. Rankin-Costello - 5 - he was on the pitch briefly. Graham - 5 - he was on the pitch briefly. Swansea on Saturday pretty crucial now. Fail to win and I think we can forget the playoffs, although the reality is we aren't going to make it anyway. Not good enough when push comes to shove.

Bell really isn't up to standard at all.

Johnson off, Graham on.

We've lost our momentum now. Looking like it's going to end goalless.

Rankin-Costello on for Rothwell.

Gallagher off, Samuel on.

We've looked much better this half, just haven't been able to break them down.

Messing about at the back now and causing ourselves all kinds of problems. Keep it simple lads, for goodness sake.

A long diagonal ball to SG on right wing straight from kick off. Sigh.

£5 deposit and 50p bet on Skybet will give you live coverage if you have that option.

Boro losing and Wigan winning means the former are only out of the relegation places on GD now. Barnsley also winning.

We're playing a fluid 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 formation at the moment. Out of posession it's 4-2-3-1, which is a problem when we attempt to counter as we have nobody in a decent position up top and Gallagher is out wide. Gallagher moves into the centre when we get possession in their half which becomes 4-4-2, but the problem is when we lose possession there is a gap on the right which Stoke have exploited more than once to break away. It isn't working.

That was shit. The only positive I can take from that half is that we aren't losing.

Because he keeps going out wide, especially when we don't have the ball. His default position out of possession is right wing, but when we're in possession he moves between the centre and the channels.

Cross goes in, Gallagher is actually in the box but manages to trip over his own feet. ffs.

Watching SG toil pitifully out wide is soul crushing.

We look incredibly disjointed and empty going forward. There's a total lack of presence when we're moving towards their goal. A ton of players out wide or in the centre but nobody in the opponent's box. Going to be hard to score playing like that unless Arma scores another worlie or we score from a corner/free kick.

Is it me or is Gallagher on the right fucking wing again? Useless as usual too.

Feels like the Wigan game all over again. We need to wake up.