Did you agree with Rich Sharpe printing the article in the first place? And did you agree with the opinions, criticisms and questions raised in the article? I felt the question was very balanced and fair and Mowbray has been given a very easy ride over the signing to be honest.

It is a difficult one. I dont think that our squad is top 6 quality necessarily maybe even with Dack and Holtby. It is lacking in too many areas and I dont know how many of our current squad would get into many if any of the teams above us. Part of it is down to not necessarily just the managers utilisation of the current squad, it is with the recruitment that has led to certain areas being desperately short. For example, the wide strikers rubbish is probably the worst possible thing that Mowbray could do to come up with a solution, but he has recruited that area for a couple of years now so we dont have many if any reasonable alternatives either way. At left back we have an absolute liability, Mowbray did find a massive upgrade, unfortunately he got injured so got sent back but wasnt replaced. We should be a real danger with 15m+ plus of attacking talent going into the business end of the season, something 2 or 3 of those above us would love in terms of the resources, but ultimately we feel a little toothless.

To be fair, im not sure on that. Constant mistakes like the wide strikers rubbish are to the detriment of the team. But I dont think the current squad is a top 6 squad by any means.

Absolutely no evidence of that being the case, never in the top 6 and I think youd struggle to have this squad down as top 6 quality individually, especially with Dack and Holtby out. Ultimately we do have weak positions which are down to Mowbrays transfer recruitment, but I dont think we are underachieving with the players we have.

Our home form this season is the 8th best where we have won 10 more points than our away form which is the 11th best.

A very fair article about a poor striker being asked to do a job now with regularity that he simply cannot do.

We never ever looked like we was going to win the game though. With Gallagher spending much of his time on the wing again any hopes of balance were instantly lost. We are dying for some natural width to stretch teams as with Rothwell wanting to come inside we are reliant on 2 full backs to provide the width who between them have less assists than our goalkeeper.

I am not sure that it is a perfect midfield especially if the aim is to control the games through midfield as neither can dictate the game.

Middlesbrough now level on points with the last relegation spot.

Ability is the missing ingredient.

Would just go Mulgrew if Williams is out. Not ideal but an actual centre back.

Hes dismal isnt he. People have been suggesting that hes a different player lately, I must be watching different games! His excellent is average to anyone else. I just hope we dont give him a new deal.

They must have all missed this part of the team meeting. Just got the bit about sticking a poor striker out wide when his place is unmerited.

So frustrated after a dismal display against a team understandably fighting at the bottom, with us predictably messing up another chance to really push ourselves up as genuine play off contenders and also against a poor team at home. Tonight, Huddersfield, Wigan, Charlton and Luton at home, 3 points from 5 games. Unsurprisingly the worst player was Gallagher whose form and performances are irrelevant with Mowbray desperate to play him regardless. Do feel sorry for him somewhat because this winger bollocks does not work and he shouldnt be there but he lacks basic footballing competence. Awful signing, hopefully get shut in the summer. We are totally devoid of any width, Rothwell often with urgency but achieving nothing buzzes inside so we are reliant on the full backs providing width and neither have any assists. Nyambe is a threat with his powerful running but he cant cross and Bell is absolutely awful, embarassing how many crossing opportunities he wasted. Lenihan with a moment of absolute idiocy leaving us in a defensive nightmare ahead of the next 2 games. The logical step is to swallow your pride and although hes not that good now, stick Mulgrew in with the added set piece threat. That being said, he will no doubt stick Nyambe there and bring in Bennett and go with 2 players out of position. I though both centre backs and central midfielders were sloppy on the ball. Armstrong was totally ineffective, Downing did little of note and the subs were too late.

Obviously Gallagher has to play. I just hope its a 4-4-2 and hes up front.

4000/1!

Just very much a wind up merchant. When he comes to Ewood like most grounds there is always a pantomime villain aspect and I think he is a bit nasty at times too. Seems very arrogant too. Agree that hes not very good but I remember him scoring in the 4-3 win at the end of the season when we were going for the play offs under Bowyer, I remember him also scoring at the DW in a 1-1 draw, both for Wigan, so I am glad that he isnt playing.

Thankfully one of the biggest bell ends in football is injured and thus cant score again v us. Played Powell left at the weekend.

There doesnt have to be blame directed at our players necessarily to be frustrated to go from 2 nil up away at a direct rival to only getting a draw. Indeed, much of the frustration would be externally apportioned to the referee for falling for a dive. The first goal I personally have not blamed anyone for, I am not sure you can. You could blame Armstrong for missing a one on one, but he scored 2 before that. Maybe thrown away is a harsh way of putting it but I am just a little surprised that there wasnt a little more frustration, indeed even if it doesnt have to manifest to blame, that we were 2 nil up against a rival and didnt win. You can be frustrated at a loss of a 2 nil lead without being angry at the players or the manager for making specific mistakes. Regarding the 23 points, of course within a stat like that, there will be occasions or individual games whereby perhaps we arent to blame but obviously it is the overall theme that is a concern.

At 2 nil up in the second half, standing mid game in the top 6, you wouldnt have taken a 2 all draw. I felt frustrated that we had thrown away our 22nd and 23rd points of the season, a big concern of mine and passed up a huge chance to break into the top 6. I also felt very frustrated about their penalty. There is nothing wrong with being frustrated in such situations.

He was complaining whilst they were in the top 6 to be fair. Dont like Lee Johnson at all. They do have the firepower though, Nakhi Wells has 14 goals overall this season, albeit 13 for QPR, and Diedhiou has 10 goals. Their deficiencies are in other areas.

I wasnt criticising the mentality of the players. Perhaps its a result of years and years where we have spent most of the time ambling along in the Championship, often with outside chances of success without ever actually even breaking into the top 6, maybe people think it is unrealistic and unfathomable to suddenly start being ruthless, to start going to top 6 rivals and potentially winning games. I also think some people as @PeteJD13 says dumb down expectations purposely to ensure that if they are not met, there is that defence mechanism in place. There is nothing wrong with for example being frustrated not to be able to see out a 2 nil lead (not for the first time this season) against a top 6 side, especially when a portion of the blame is at the referees door. Its very difficult having been in that position to just coldly revert to, well I would have taken a point beforehand. Equally, when you play 5th bottom at home, and you want the top 6, you should expect a win, it goes without saying that it wont be easy, but a top 6 team would eat up an opportunity like that 9 times out of 10, if not more. Also, every match day, any dropped points will likely be capitalised on by our rivals, if we want top 6/promotion, we should view every game as winnable. I felt that there was an inferiority complex on here going to Brentford on Saturday. It is understandable but if we are to move from mid table fodder to promotion challengers as we seem to be doing, that mindset must change, we can beat anyone.

100% Pete. Nothing wrong with feeling disappointed when, as a top 6 challenger, you go to a fellow challenger, go 2 up and dont win the game. As you say, the expectations are dumbed down so that whatever does play out, it is seen as acceptable. We are going for the top 6, are seen as genuine challengers and have the right to feel disappointed when we hit bumps along the way or if we dont make it. We should have a mentality of expecting to win games we are 2 up in, or v 5th bottom at home.

Theres no easy games but thats not the same as games a team going for a top 6 finish would expect to win. V 20th at home is a prime example, wont be easy but should be winning if our aspirations are genuine.

Just because one neutral opinion agrees with you doesnt make it a fact chaddy. My opinion was that ours was harsh and theres was not even a doubt about it being a dive but ultimately both were debatable to varying degrees. The second penalty being dodgy surely only adds to the feeling of disapointment and feeling aggrieved. Whether we would have taken the point prior to kick off was irrelevant when we went 2 nil up in the second half, we certainly wouldnt have taken a point then. I didnt understand the amount of pessimism on here in terms of the fear of playing a top 6 rival. If we want top 6, we should be relishing these games, we shouldnt have an inferiority complex and we shouldnt be content drawing games we go 2 up in, partly because we commonly throw away points and partly because we can feel hard done by regarding the penalty. Our record v the top 6 rivals so far is very dissapointing to be honest, 6 points from 10 games. It could have been so different considering we were 1 nil up at home to Preston, 2 nil up away at Preston, 1 nil up at West Brom and 2 nil up away at Brentford and collected 2 points from 4 winning positions. Could be make or break at the end of the season.