He was instrumental in our winning run, no one was calling him to be moved then, for me it allows his main strength to be maximised which is nicking the ball off people, and also playing through balls. Conversely, his main weakness is his shooting which is blatant when played there. Gallagher hasnt played as an orthodox striker for a long while barring maybe the odd cameo that doesnt immediately come to mind. I have never subscribed to the idea that he is a natural centre forward wasted, I just dont think he is very good full stop but he is probably no less effective as one of 2 wide strikers compared to as the main central striker.

Buckley has played as an attacking midfielder all season including throughout our winning run. Gallagher has played either wide of a 3 or as one of 2 wide strikers in basically every appearance too.

Correct. If you said that footballers are as versatile as theyve ever been or something along those lines, fair enough. To imply that formations and set positions dont exist is blatant nonsense.

Apparently positions in football are a thing of the past. All about dimensions.

*it's likely to be. Past performance (more this season specific to the 2 teams in general than over previous seasons at Ewood Park when both teams looked very different) is always a useful barometer but only up to a point.

Of course, its a game we should be expecting to win, at home v a mid table side, anything less than 3 points would be a huge source of frustration. We are third in the table so any dropped points should be a source of frustration, in our position we should feel capable of playing any team in our division and beat them, the table doesnt lie. This game coming up did stand out however amidst a block of 5 games as the easiest on paper and thus the one with perhaps the most pressure but it will not be easy.

A really important game in getting us a bit of confidence ahead of 3 tough games in which we certainly need to be continuing to pick points up. It might be a big banana skin, if Brereton is injured that could be a crucial blow and Millwall have won their last 2 having picked up since Jed Wallace returned to the team following doubt over his future.

Hes only played an hour of football in a Rovers shirt. We cant get rid of the 3 centre backs in the formation as they are not conceding goals. Just need to tweak ahead of that.

I would stick with the 5 at the back, our defence is ensuring that we gain points even when not scoring many. I would perhaps change things slightly and have 2 wide men either side of a striker but that would be Brereton if fit. Hedges and Dolan either side, see if we can get a bit more spark. I certainly wouldnt be desperate to give Gallagher a run of games in the middle, although Breretons injury may make this a necessity.

If you would play Brereton as the false 9, based on your recommendation, I don't get how Gallagher would be played in any different a position to where he plays now ie as one of the 2 wide forwards? The formation would need altering to bring in out and out strikers.

There is a common myth that Gallagher is a potentially effective forward being totally misused as a wide man. The current position is sort of a hybrid between wide man and striker, and in a counter attacking team, is probably not far off the best utilisation of a very limited player. I also feel like he performs better without Brereton as was the case when Gallagher was very good v Boro the other week from this current "wide striker" role, the balance of our team looks more natural playing this way when we have one of Brereton and Gallagher playing (always the former if fit and available) and then a winger as we saw with Khadra. Whenever he has played up front in the past, many of his primary weaknesses become magnified, he cannot hold the ball up, he cannot bring others into play, his touch is horrendous and as the main striker he will never be prolific enough.

Every single time one of our players gets injured, you come on here and imply that they are likely to be out for a long time.

Where is this from and what is the injury?

Kaminski Lenihan Van Hecke Wharton Nyambe Travis Rothwell Pickering Hedges Brereton (if fit, big if) Dolan

There is such an obsession at the moment with the current tactics, for some reason people have forgotten that it is the current system that was key to us going on such an incredible run to push us so high up the table in the first place. Wide strikers and Buckley as a false 9 are apparently idiotic experiments on behalf of the manager, implying that they have only come into place since the run of incredible form. They were cornerstones of that very same form. Talk of Mowbray being "lucky" or that "everyone knows it but the man in charge" in regards to his tactics makes absolutely no sense, you credit when things go well and criticise when it doesn't, not just choose which side you prefer to best suit the fact that you have an agenda and your mind has already been made up. Ultimately, its impossible to argue against the fact that we are struggling to score goals at the moment, and that is becoming more and more of a worry. The aspect that is not getting the credit that it deserves is how the current system has overcome the constant achilles heel that we had prior to this season, our defensive record. People have constantly cried out for us building from the back and being solid and now we very much are. In the last 8 games, we have scored 2 goals which is really poor. That being said, those 2 goals were in 1 nil wins, and there are also 3 nil nil draws in there, 9 points in 8 games is not a promotion chasing run of form, but it is not as disastrous as focusing on the attacking woes may make out, and it shows that when you are hard to score against, you can grind out results even when you are misfiring in attack which will happen to all teams, and it even has to Fulham and Bournemouth. The above is why I can understand the tactical conundrum regarding how we change things up. The natural first change people may recommend is to move from the 5 at the back but as shown above, we are defensively solid, Wharton and Van Hecke were again outstanding last night and Lenihan who himself has been superb this season returns on Saturday. So for me, it is about changing things ahead of that, a serious injury to Brereton would be a huge blow to that. And @RevidgeBlue we have "quite enough dung thrown our way over the last 10 years" you are certainly not wrong. That is due to the owners that you repeatedly defend, and we are currently at our best point within those 10 years (shows how poor those years have been) thanks to the man that you cannot bring yourself to praise no matter what he possibly does!

Very true. Any cap would have to come externally and that wont be happening.

Very true. Any cap would have to come externally and that wont be happening.

Such extortionate prices cannot be justified.

More laughable and biased nonsense against a manager for apparently blowing apart our promotion chances by playing the same system that has seen us overachieve and be in such a great position in the first place.

Its is clear with quite a few that going into this season, that Mowbray is beyond being judged fairly and without bias now. Last season was a major disappointment, and was down to him, yet this excellent season so far seems to be judged as a lucky one. Also, "burnt through £120m of the owners money" @RevidgeBlue is blatantly untrue.

You've assumed that it is solely down to his contract situation. Considering that Rothwell, Lenihan, Van Hecke, Khadra, Giles and indeed Zeefuik all only have the rest of the year on their deals here, it is clearly not the stance that he has taken. Was just a selection decision, one that I would agree was the wrong one, but no need to look so deep into it.

Is there any scope in your mind that dependant on the rest of the season, that could change? If we go up, it would be an outstanding achievement, of course he would deserve one. Even if we got in the play offs and didnt go up, that would be an achievement and would for me warrant an extension. I think you have to take a step back and put aside a seemingly inflexible opinion of Mowbray as a person. Say for a different club with our comparatively low resources, say we finish 4th and lose in the play off finals. If we had a vacancy in the summer, we wouldn't believe our luck if someone with a recent season like that was available, you talk about credentials, yet seemingly if Mowbray took us to that, close but just missed out, he would be binned mainly based on opinions held prior to this season. If we stumble and finish outside the play offs, then I think you go for a fresh start.

Are you able to reveal the tangible changes publically yet which have totally changed your mind?

In what way? What particular aspect of behind the scenes has been accused of being bad that this disproves?

As long as any striker could play within the current system then yes. Someone like Brereton, like Armstrong, someone with pace rather than a lump, then yes we could have done with someone.