I didnt see the positive feedback, but if you think a front 3 of Chapman, Armstrong and potentially Sam "worst strike rate in the league" Gallagher can fire us into the top 6, I suspect you are setting yourself up for a big fall. I think my team would be Walton, Nyambe, Lenihan, Adarabioyo, Downing, Evans, Travis, Holtby, Chapman, Armstrong OR Rothwell, Graham. So it is not massively different to yours, I am not necessarily saying that your team is massively wrong, I just think our attacking set of players is piss poor without Dack. It is ok to say move on from him, but the quality isnt good enough. Only Wigan have less goals than us if you take Dacks goals out. Brereton, Gallagher, Samuel, all shit. Rothwell, never scores or assists. Armstrong, occasional contributions, more poor games than good. Chapman, you have slagged him off all season, talented but again unproven. Graham, our best bet, but very old.

Midfield playmaker? Hopefully he can slightly improve on his record of 2 assists last season and 0 this then... I think we are miles away without Dack and will finish roughly where we are now, no real improvement on last season.

That would have only been a potential workable game plan with Dack in the side. Gallagher and Brereton couldnt score in a brothel.

A left back to replace Cunningham and free up Downing and someone to score some goals to fill the Dack void are the 2 priorities. Our attack is statistically worse than our defence and thats even with Dack in. In an ideal world some one would take Gallagher and Brereton off our hands but Christmas has past sadly.

The problem is that our other strikers are so bad its untrue. Wont find 2 worse strikers in the division. Graham didnt start at Forest, he has played 10, 60 and 18 minutes in the last 3 games, a third of the time available. Agreed that we could ideally rest them players but its a winnable cup game in a season that is unlikely to have much riding on it in a couple of months so its creating that balance with no midweek game.

Don't want to see Gallagher, Brereton, Bell and Bennett anywhere near if at all possible. Not ideal to not rest Lenihan, something I would strongly consider, and also without our only right back we are always struggling in that area, I would go for the following: Walton Travis Lenihan Adarabioyo Williams Davenport Rothwell Johnson Chapman Graham Armstrong

We desperately need some firepower. In Brereton and Gallagher, we have 2 of the very worst strikers in the League, the former looks totally lost on a football pitch and the latter has the worst goals per minute ratio in the league. We are solely reliant on a 34 year old who perhaps is on the wane to score our goals. Our wide men all flatter to deceive most of the time. Meanwhile our only competent back 4 contains a 35 year old who is needed in midfield, and the rest is injury prone, with any alternative options being well out of their depth, especially Bell and Bennett. Our goalkeeper meanwhile is regularly responsible for goals conceded. Our central midfield options of Travis, Evans, Johnson, Holtby and if not needed elsewhere, Downing probably make up our strongest area. If we did sign a number 10 who is a kid with little first team experience on a short term contract allowing time to adjust and get used to the way we play, it would be a little strange at face value. Seems to be a random bit of gossip at the moment though so will take with a huge pinch of salt.

No but I am saying the most important defensive stat is goals conceded. I dont rate Raya much either and he has obviously been helped by a good defence and not working with a novice coach. Walton is crap although you seemingly agree hence you saying we need a keeper.

Surely goals conceded is a more useful stat than clean sheets?

Whilst he should never play wide, he hides behind the fact that he is sometimes played there, when indeed as you imply he mainly plays up front. In either position he is crap.

He has played mainly down the middle, even allowing for the fact that he has played wide too on occasion, that is a dreadful stat for a very poor player and a waste of money.

The stats show that it is a goalscorer that we need more than anywhere else. 8 clean sheets in 26 but take Dack out of the equation, which he is, and only one other player has more goals than Derrick Williams.

There is a myth that we are terrible at defending and competent in attack. Only 10 teams have scored less than us, and Dack has 9 of our 34 goals. Take them away and only Wigan have less. There is no evidence that any of those players can come close to matching the tangible goal contributions that Dack brings to this team.

I dont think hes necessarily getting the best out of the squad but especially without Dack, to get in the top 6 would be a massive, massive overachievement from anyone. No manager could get very many goals out of a expensively assembled and ultimately poor set of attacking players. No area of our team is top 6 quality. Over the Christmas period, albeit not to the level Mowbray has tried to, rotation was always going to be needed. The problem is that our squad is littered with crap players. None of our goalkeepers are up to it. Both senior keepers were signed by Mowbray. Defensively, our only back 4 of any promise includes a winger in his mid 30s who we also need in midfield. Defences should be less prone to rotation but our competition is particularly dire. Bell, Bennett, Gallagher and Brereton are stealing a living. Many of the others are at best patchy and ok, and at worst totally ineffective. I am not trying to absolve Mowbray of blame or suggest that his job should be anything other than under strong consideration. I just thing his main fault is not necessarily at massively underachieving with a set of players that another manager could do far better with, as I do not think that is the case. It is because with plenty of money and time the squad is well off where it should be and the blame lands at Mowbrays door.

Do you think the squad, without the injured Dack and Cunningham, is one that could genuinely get into the top 6 under a better manager? A squad lacking in so many areas? I think we are well off, down to the managers poor recruitment. Where do the goals come from?

Absolutely. Out of the 2, Lenihan for all of his faults is the important one back there. We have kept 8 clean sheets this season, all with Lenihan starting, 4 of which have been with Williams, 3 with Adarabioyo and 1 with both. Lenihan has played 21 games, in the 5 he missed we conceded 9 goals, 1.8 a game, albeit it is a small sample size. We have conceded an average of 1.19 per game with Lenihan in. (Still not very good) Adarabioyo is the better of the other 2 but neither are leading defenders, and when they are played together we are far more vulnerable.

I do think we are lacking in the wide areas, but lets not reinvent history, Conway was unable to justify a place in our team for his last couple of seasons here, his abilities had clearly waned with age and he was ineffective for at least his last 2 seasons. As others have said, theres a reason hes had to go to League 2 to get a contract.

I thought Chapman made a difference, he should play on the right but he was positive running at his man and won a fair few set pieces, one of which he took and put in the most dangerous delivery for us all game. I know you dont seem to like him but he was an improvement on our performance. Downings performance was a solitary positive but you are right that we are lucky to have 36 points, not that we dont deserve too as the table doesnt lie but without our sole attacking threat we are not going to worry teams.

Mowbrays quotes in the Lancashire Telegraph suggest that any deals are fairly unlikely and that we have no money. Suspect with his horrendous transfer record, a play off finish seeming so unlikely and of course our accounts looking so grim this is of little surprise. We have been linked to cheap players from Blackpool, Oxford and Gillingham amongst other clubs so nothing to be excited about.

To be fair, his problem is that he very rarely does have involment in goals. His goal and assist tally in his games played is really poor. Yesterday albeit he didnt directly score or assist he deserves credit for 2 very important passes in the build up. That of course doesnt remove any blame for the third goal when he lost the ball. He does need to start contributing far more when he does play and yesterday he was much better in that regard.

Even during that run though, it was Dack that was our difference maker when we was nicking games. He scored 2 of our 3 v Barnsley, the only goal v Brentford, the first v Stoke before making a key pass to set up the second, and he was key in creating Grahams goal at Swansea. There were a couple of isolated wonder goals in there too from Downing and Armstrong but usually to edge games built often on organisation, we rely on one man to sniff out a goal or create a bit of magic. Of course then followed the win v Bristol City which was very much the anomaly within that run of success. I am not defending Mowbray but I dont think a new manager could necessarily manage to get this set of players much higher in the League, not least a manager whose only experience is in a kids league whereby results are of secondary performance. Our squad is lacking in many areas, notably in attack whereby Mowbrays only proven, consistent success of a signing succumbing to injury has really brought to head how poor our recruitment has been under Mowbrays tenure, with considerable resources and time. For me, the managers job has to be questioned not because he is massively underachieving with a talented squad of players, because it isnt, but because the squad is not much better (without Dack) than the squad he inherited 3 years and 20m pounds ago.

Who in our squad could you say is a top 6 quality player at this time? I think the squad Mowbray has expensively assembled is lacking in many areas.

I dont think we were anywhere near as bad as we were v Huddersfield, but still another poor performance and very disappointing defeat. I would challenge how without Dack how even the most positive of supporters could suggest that this squad of players built by Mowbray could get anywhere near the play offs. I thought central midfield was the most functional area of the team, with Downing easily our best player. Superb goal, some brilliant passes although his set pieces are not particularly good and there were a couple of examples of either tired or quite simply lazy play, notably in the build up to the third. Evans is a neat and tidy player but hes not a leader or a player who grabs a game by the scruff of the neck, and he should have scored in the first half, poor finish. Travis was ok too until he went off. Its either side of this where we have a problem, mainly ahead for me. Our attacking players without Dack simply do not score nearly enough, yes in the last 4 games (in which Dack played just over half of one) we have scored a penalty, a scruffy own goal and a good goal by Downing but he wont score more than 4 or 5 a season. Brereton was totally anonymous, like Gallagher people will focus on the short period he stupidly was played wide but he was non existent in the first half, he doesnt get himself involved at all and often when we had the ball in attacking positions, he was out near the touchline or nowhere near the box. Armstrong was fairly non existent too, he does chip in with occasional goals and to be fair got another handy assist today but otherwise he goes into hiding. If he increases that goal and assist output then maybe he could get away with it more. Rothwell is an enigma, constantly giving the ball away, notably leading to the third goal and he laboured back for the first too. That said, something he doesnt usually do is contribute to goals and whilst he didnt directly today, he was integral to the build up to both goals so fair play for that. Gallagher is shite and didnt do anything, no surprise, and I dont know if Graham had a kick either. Chapman was much brighter but frustratingly on the wrong side, put in our best corner and was just much more positive, running and getting crosses in. Full backs are just diabolical, Bell constantly puts no pressure on wingers allowing them to get crosses in, as demonstrated perfectly for the first goal. He is also brainless going forward. Bennett is rash, often dives in and gives away fouls when we are on the attack ruining any momentum, and often out of position. I dont think the centre backs were necessarily directly responsible for the goals but neither can say they had a good game when the side conceded 3. And of course Walton was directly responsible for 2 goals, shocking. The Birmingham game represents a big conundrum, after that it isnt a busy schedule, and I definitely want to progress in the cup for 2 reasons, of course to end our run without a win and mainly because with no chance of the play offs realistically IMO and with little chance of being dragged into a scrap, we could do with some excitement in our season. But then again, on the back of the run of games we have had, 2 or 3, notably Lenihan and Downing may need a break, and Holtby and Travis IMO belong in our best 11 without Dack, but even if they could play it may be better to not risk them from the start. Equally, I dont see the point in starting the likes of Buckley and Brereton, who quite clearly arent capable of contributing at this stage, so I think I would go for something like this: Walton Rankin Costello Adarabioyo Williams Bell (no alternative, unless Hart could play?) Travis Evans Johnson Chapman Graham Rothwell We need to strive for consistency, I think this is the best side we could name as it stands going into the PNE game, but we need a couple of signings before then, someone to get us goals, and someone to play LB: Walton Nyambe Lenihan Adarabioyo Downing Travis Evans Holtby Armstrong Graham Rothwell (maybe Chapman in for Armstrong)

Elliott Bennett comntinuing to let his team down, rash challenges, being massively out of position. Bell just as bad on the other side. Rothwell keeps giving the ball away, poor again. Brereton looks lost. Armstrong has done nothing. A depressing watch so far. Only Downing can take any pride, a couple of superb passes and a great goal albeit a little flimsy for their third.

Im watching and hes barely got involved, hes out of his depth. As for Walton: 2 v Forest today, 1 v Huddersfield, 1 v Preston, 1 v Stoke, 1 v Barnsley, 1 v Sheffield Wednesday, so 7 off the top of my head. Absolute dog shit.