DE.

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.

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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.

Managed one ?

Bell, Tosin and Walton all almost contributing to a monumental fuck up there. Bell the worst culprit playing Tosin into a difficult situation.

Just as a friendly reminder please don't post any dubious links to streams in this thread

I had forgotten about Mulgrew, and apparently Mowbray has as well. If he can't get a look in with our options so thin on the ground then I think he's done here. I doubt we'll ever see him in a Rovers shirt again. It doesn't bother me as far as on-field is concerned as I think Mulgrew brings more negatives than positives at this stage of his career, but what an incredible waste of a big wage.

It wouldn't be so bad if Nyambe and Lenihan weren't both so injury prone, but we're playing with fire going down this route imo. Do we really need Samuel, Brereton and Graham all on the bench? It's already been shown before that just throwing six attackers on the pitch doesn't equal goals, so I don't really see the lack of balance as a positive. It worries me.