Agreed, the whole wide forward thing is bollocks really. To be fair, Gallagher has been really poor up front too where he has played plenty as well, so I suspect it is a mixture of being reluctant to drop his big money signing and a lack of proven quality out wide, but it is illogical and is vocally getting the fans irritated now.

Mowbray is currently playing the wide forward system, and has done so, but that doesnt mean that he is right. The wide areas in my opinion have been an achilles heel throughout Mowbrays tenure. Antonsson had a bit of a hot spell there, Armstrong in very small patches, but aside from that, many of the other players that have been tested there have quite simply not been comfortable or effective there, Gallagher, Brereton, Samuel etc. Even more talented players like Holtby or to a far less extent, Jack Payne have been tried there with no success. It is ok to go against the managers opinion and state that Gallagher is quite simply not fit to play wide, no matter how many videos he watches or "information he takes on board" it is not only hindering the team having him offering nothing there, but it is also disrupting the players development to be trying to mould him into something (at the age of 24) that he is never going to become a success at because he doesnt have the skillset or the subtlety to do that. Whether we sign a winger or not this week, and if we dont get at least one that is a failure on the club and the manager, then Gallagher STILL should not be on the wing. It has been trialled and failed many times. All of the analysis and training for Gallagher should be based around him being a more effective striker than we have seen so far. In terms of wide positions, we are not strong in terms of proven quality in these areas, but whether it is the youth and natural width that Rankin Costello and Chapman can provide, the more proven outlets of Downing and Armstrong, (the main issue with these 2 is that we need the former in central midfield or left back and the latter up front) the pace and dribbling but ultimately repeatedly flattering to deceive Rothwell, or even in an emergency someone like Bennett (who I would hope is one that could be moved on in the next 5 days but doubt the manager will) they are all better options than Gallagher lumbering up and down and frustrating us all. Regarding the cash bids, basically all that has been confirmed by the manager is that we are nowhere near the price tags that teams have set for their players, we may have some money but clearly it is barely any. And our players futures should have been sorted by the start of the month then they knew where they stand. I am not sure it makes much sense to keep involving Smallwood and Samuel around the first team squad to be honest.

If that is correct, why do them so late in the window?!

But he cannot play wide full stop. You dont have to defend it when youve said previously that you disagree with it, you are trying to justify it because Mowbray has done it. If he cannot get in the team in his natural position, then he should play at all. This wide forward bollocks doesnt work either. Its neither helping the players development or more importantly benefitting the team.

Usual guff, dont get your hopes up!

Mowbray is coming out with the same platitudes about the rest of the window that we have heard before, that theres nothing imminent, we cant afford fees being banded, reliant on clubs releasing players on loan, all in hope rather than expectation unsurprisingly. Dont think hes been chased up on the deal he had lined up over a week ago.

Playing Gallagher wide is not effective in any way shape or form. Saying "he has a role in the team and wants to get better in that role" is just a smokescreen for that. Theres no positive angle for him playing there, you have yourself said that you dont like him playing there. You talked about his development being stunted at Birmingham, if he is spending hours trying to become slightly better at a position he quite blatantly isnt suited to nor has the attributes for, his development as a striker is again being stunted by Mowbray.

Thomas Muller doesnt just provide aimless toil, he is a very intelligent player and regular goalscorer.

Aimless toil over goals?

Weve not spent any time in the play offs in the last 18 months and have spent very little time in the immediate vicinity of them, and when we have, we instantly fall back down. Chuck in a couple of major injuries and no money to make reinforcements and its realism rather tham negativity as to why people consider our top 6 chances to be very slim. Armstrong and Nyambe are important players but certainly would not get into every team in the league. Downing has been good, Holtby has yet to consistently impress for various reasons. I suspect that neutrals would not consider us a major threat.

What does that even mean? He was consistently playing football, what more can managers ask? Its not their fault that Gallagher is not very good, Mowbray has also played him regularly and he has scored even less goals. The alternative for Buckley is to continue to just play kids football because hes a liability when he plays in the first team. And money makes it unfeasible but we dont want a goalscorer anyway, who needs goals?

Would be amazing but cant see any chance.

I think you are stretching it by saying 2 years. He played 33 times for Birmingham, so was playing regularly. Managerial changes are common place but he still played plenty of game time, especially for a very limited player who was not scoring goals. He spent half of last season injured so it was only half a season that he spent not playing.

The confidence will be solely from the last game as we are in poor form in the last 6 games.

Its unreasonable to expect a player to be fit to play in every single game, missing half a dozen games is not enough to raise it as a major reason as to why we arent in the top 6. I dont think there is any tangible evidence to suggest that we are top 6 quality considering we have never been in the top 6.

Im not saying that he isnt really important, I was correcting the implication that hes missed a high proportion of our games and its cost us. Same with Dack, we never once spent a day in the play off places even with him playing. He will be spending the rest of the season playing on the wing I suspect with Armstrong up top and reinforcements not coming in wide. Wherever he plays he doesnt have the knack of sniffing out chances.

Lenihan has missed 6 games, Cunningham was a blow I will concede. Gallagher was scoring goals at a (career best) 1 in 4 ratio and Brereton was performing at a level that had seen him drop out of the Forest matchday squad. Id love you to be right on that but I dont see any chance.

There was absolutely no logic to expect them 2 strikers with their respective ability and records to even come close to scoring goals with that level of consistency. To have a 40 goal strikeforce is incredibly difficult to get though, especially with 12m, a decent amount of money but not to afford a striker with a record of scoring that amount of goals, fee or wages, for example Dwight Gayle. I understand that Gestede was an unexpected gem but Rhodes had scored 36 goals in League 1 the year before. You say Gallagher was successful, he was average and thats the best hes ever been. And Brereton couldnt make the Forest bench. The Cunningham injury was a certain blow but Dack and of course Evans have only just got injured, and Lenihan has only missed 6 games. Even up until now, we have been at best a couple of results away, and at worst deep in the bottom half, with the injured players being fit. Neither our attack nor our defence is top 6 quality do even if you add one of sufficient quality the other would let us down.

To say we "would" have been is a huge logic leap. Both Dack and Lenihan have played in 22 of 28 games and we have not once been in the top 6.

Danny Graham has footballing intelligence and a goalscoring knack that Gallagher simply does not. He is the master of putting his arse in or giving a gentle sly shove to get a yard to hold the ball up, and he knows where the ball is likely to fall and has the composure to capitalise on that. Gallagher lacks both of these and they are hard to coach.

Theres a very small chance, but im saying that weve never at any point been in the top 6 since promotion. There are a few teams ahead of us and we are without 3 key players including our very best one. To suggest that we have a squad capable of a top 6 finish is a bit of a logic leap.

Because like I said, he is playing with his mates. Hes not just suddenly become only capable of playing at the 12th level. I very much doubt it, it is a job at the end of the day. As far as they are concerned they are fighting for their places here. My point was that you can with planning and obviously with funds available sign players prior to the last few days. Regarding other signings, Scott Sinclair in particular and also Patrick Roberts would be a massive improvement on our bunch of non scoring and assisting wide players. I dont think its going to be an exciting last few days signing the 3 players youve earmarked. Seems like the kitty is dry. Hopefully its all a ploy and we have massively strengthened by next week. I doubt it.

What makes you think that the current squad is capable of a top 6 finish? Have we been in the top 6 at any point since we got promoted? Just seems totally wishful thinking to me. Would agree with most of this, the Dack signing gives scope for a couple of the cheaper failures. The problem with Smallwood was giving him a new contract when we came up. There was no need, he dished out new contracts like confetti. There is no way that Johnson came in with the intention or indeed the wage to be a competent back up but im not sure he even qualifies as that. Was really impressive on debut then dipped into a consistent below par level of performance that eventually led to the usually patient Mowbray having enough and dropping him. He came back in for that Bristol City game when he was again excellent, he then had I think a decent game following that, then his performance level dipped again v Huddersfield and Birmingham. He has had 2 or 3 good games but aside from that hes been really dissapointing.

Marshall is a very peculiar comparison. I have seen suggestions (unsure if true) questioning his professionalism in terms of alcohol, he actually didnt sit on his contract at Norwich, he seeked loan moves in both seasons to Millwall for regular football so he didnt sit on his contract. He could quite clearly get a contract in the football league but has chosen to play with his mates at a really low level, surely thats something that you massive approve, putting his enjoyment at playing football over being paid? Put it this way, neither Smallwood or Samuel would be unable to get a football league club. Also, I suspect you are building yourself up for a fall if you are expecting a late flurry of transfer business. Youve always said you expect in 3, id be surprised with 1. Other teams have managed to sign players at our level in spite of this being the way the window works.