roversfan99

How so? After yet another game that he was totally ineffective in playing in a position that makes no sense, surely as good a time as any to ask the questions he did.

How many times have you seen Carter? Moving Nyambe removes an important and on form player to a position he struggles in, and also means Bennett comes in to a position he cannot play in, so its a double whammy. No matter which way we go, its hard not to be apprehensive.

I think you are definitely underplaying our weakness regarding playing teams near the bottom at home, losing to Charlton and Luton and drawing with Wigan, Stoke and Huddersfield is not particularly befitting of a promotion challenging side. Interestingly, our form against the top 6 is really poor, 6 points from 10 games, only 1 win, so we must be particularly efficient against teams in the middle of the pack. You touch on a reason why though, a lack of craft and magic. Ultimately I think the frustration is that we have an attack worth over 15m and we are totally reliant on one man to get us goals. Totally appreciate that any side without its best player will struggle to replace them, add in Holtby too, but we should have more threat considering the money invested in our forward line. I cant remember Armstrong scoring many left footers either, but thats just being pedantic!

Would probably have to agree there. He hasnt totally ruled out Williams but the fact that a half fit Williams may be our best bet is pretty embarassing!

Seems a bit far fetched to me to bring in a young centre back, but rather than like for like, overcompensating by changing the whole formation to one the players arent really familiar with, still having Nyambe out of position, moving Downing out of position and expecting another young lad to come in and play from a different position, even if he has played it for the kids. The change has to cause as little a disruption as possible as far as I am concerned which is obviously difficult. There are seemingly 3 options. If Carter is one, he needs to be at least able to slot in without having to revamp the whole side just to get him in. I cant say either way because I dont go and watch the reserves, up to others to judge. Another option is seemingly move Nyambe to CB, Bennett to RB, but that involves moving 2 players out of position to make 1 change so I am against that. The third option is to slot Mulgrew in but he is clearly past his best and presumably rusty, and perhaps Adarabioyo is not an ideal partner. That being said, he has played quite a few games at this level this season.

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.