Wide player, inside forward, wide striker, however you want to describe it, you havent clarified your position at all.

Do you think he is an effective wide man and would you play him there?

We had brief hot spells from Antonsson and Armstrong from out wide in League 1 but aside from that, the wide positions are a blind spot and a real achilles heel for Mowbray. Maybe a brief spell for Rothwell last year but wasnt much more than the 2 good goals he scored. Strikers like Brereton, Gallagher and Samuel have toiled there without achieving anything, and players like Bennett and Reed were last season often asked to do a defensive job, but I doubt full backs come into games with us with any major worries.

The reason that Chapmans stock is high even though hes not played since being a very promising wide man (primarily from the bench) over 2 years ago is because we have had problems in wide areas for a while, with the inside forward/wide striker experiment never working. Weve been heavily reliant on Dack and Graham in central areas until recently when Armstrong has stepped up playing in the middle, all the while, our wide men have contributed very little.

Whatever title you want to give to him playing out wide, it doesnt change the fact that out wide/as an "inside forward" it just isnt working. A question you usually divert and deflect away from; do you think he should ever be played in a wide position? (Or as a inside forward if you prefer!) Are you implying that a journalist of a local paper should only write "positive" articles and not critical or questioning articles whilst the season is still on? Thats not telling the truth or the full story. The manager has paid big money for player, often played him out of position and he has not performed. As @Tom mentioned he missed out v Hull and Charlton and we looked far better balanced. I think a very tame article questioning the plan around an underperforming, big money signing whilst acknowledging his work rate should be allowed at any time, if you want only positive only propaganda then youll find that on the official Rovers site.

We can see with our eyes that Nyambe is a strong point in our team at right back (with improvement to be made) whereas Bennett is a liability there. Seems a little presumptious to be stating where it is more logical for Mulgrews family to live! Maybe he is settled and happy where he is.

I dont even think the article was at all critical. Asked the genuine question of what the plan is with a player who cost big money, has been almost exclusively ineffective, often playing a position that doesnt suit him. If a player is playing poorly, it is a journalists job to point that out, just as they would praise a player playing well. To be honest, it was more of a general column about his use rather than a personal assasination. You hit the nail on the head with the post before this one.

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.