V Bristol City, Birmingham and Huddersfield, started up front in a 2, and scored in none of the games. Whilst it doesnt account for examples such as Huddersfield away when he did play a small chunk of the end of the game wide, @JoeH backed up what I was saying with some stats that proved that he plays mainly central. Playing him wide at all is a bizarre idea that Mowbray thinks works but still it doesnt excuse his incompetence even when he is down the middle. Another poor signing by Mowbray.

In 2 of the 3 games we crossed less than our opponent. As an aside, we got 1 point from these 3 dismal performances!

Yeah it was, I am a bit surprised considering in particular the influence of Adarabioyo but it does show that perhaps old habits die hard and a move to a more possession based approach has not been a smooth one!

According to whoscored, we put in the 23rd highest number of crosses per game in the League, and the 12th this season. Hardly remarkable. Unsure if thats successful crosses or just crosses in general. Downing is our best crosser undoubtedly, but sometimes plays central. Bennett, Nyambe, Armstrong, Rothwell and (although he did put one good one in yesterday) Bell couldnt cross if their lives depended on it! Smith would have been better than Brereton (as would you or I) but so would most. Surely we can do better than either them 2 or Gallagher with 12m! Interesting to see that behind Preston we have the 2nd highest number of long balls per game this season. Hardly a passing masterclass!

I thought we was supposed to be playing passing football, and trying to control games? Im as confused as I was yesterday when Mowbray said we had too much possession and it made us relax! (Im not saying we should play passing football or not, my main issue with Smith is that he is not particularly good. Hes just a lump really)

I remember it. Graham, Evans, Williams, Lenihan, Nyambe and Bennett were all here. Raya for all of his faults was better than Walton, and he was ours. Mulgrew was here, pre decline, Adarabioyo is perhaps slightly better. We had Greer, Hoban, Ward and Brown, none of whom were up to it and only played in an emergency, but all of whoms contracts were close to expiry. In terms of numbers, they were all in addition to what we have now, no depth at all. We have added Bell since who is shockingly poor. So goalkeeper and defence, we are pretty similar. Raya and Mulgrew, swapped for Walton and Adarabioyo. 4 dreadful hangers on as back up on short term deals then, only 1 dreadful longer term player who plays quite a lot. Midfield, Evans played regularly until injury (pre Mowbray) and is a regular now. We had Lowe, Guthrie and Akpan, a dreadful trio, again all of whom were on their last year. Travis is the main improvement, someone who Mowbray hasnt signed so someone who would have been either without him, but he did give him his chance and keep him in the team. Johnson is an obvious improvement on the dross but has still been a huge dissapointment here. Davenport has done nothing. Holtby has a good pedigree and has impressed in flashes but has yet to do anywhere near enough to be considered a success. Out wide, we had Conway (heading towards a decline) and as a short term deal Downing is definitely an upgrade. Mahoney was overrated due to being local, and Feeney wasnt up to it. That said, neither Rothwell or Chapman have produced at first team level here. Our midfield is definitely better, but not as much as it should be. Up top, I would suggest that we are worse off. Emnes scored 4 and assisted 8 in his loan spell, Armstrongs stats arent too disimilar but I would rather have the latter, plus he is our player. Gallagher we had on loan and he has actually regressed since his average loan spell (often painted as being better than it actually was) plus we are lumbered long term with considerable wages. And Joao on a loan deal is much favourable to a dud like Brereton on a long term deal. Plus we have Samuel too, another waste of time. I would say we havent developed as a squad since then, if we have, very little. Considering most of our deadwood was on contracts about to expire, and Mowbray has had 3 years and 20m to re-mould it, it really is unacceptable to have the squad we have now.

I am not sure we do without Dack. Slightly at best. Travis is undoubtedly an internally generates upgrade. Adarabioyo and Downing are good short term signings. Armstrong perhaps. Johnson, Holtby, Rothwell, Chapman, Davenport, Samuel, Hart, Brereton, Bell, the first 2 could perhaps, but have they as of yet improved us?

A below average striker with a poor goal record?

One things for sure, he doesnt play in any of the 3 positions you have prioritised! I dont see a player in there at all. Goalscoring (both anticipating and finishing chances) certaintly not a strength and wont be prolific as long as he has a hole in his arse, technically poor, deceptively passive in the air, fairly quick but seldom breaks the line and is often offside, cant hold the ball up, I am struggling to find a player! You could look at it like that, alternatively you could say in 3 years and with plenty of money, unfortunate injury to the one gem he has found in Dack aside, is our squad any stronger now really with all the crap he has added? I would say no. So surely it is time to give someone else a chance.

Them 2 being our first 2 choices is like being presented with which bollock youd like to be kicked in!

I am also not into believing all the conspiracies about our owners only allowing the manager to spend on certain positions or forcing him to play certain players. I judge Mowbrays transfer business at face value, which in the main has been dismal. Also, whether Mowbray rates Buckley or not, I can see with my own eyes that he is nowhere near being Championship ready.

I never said this window, I said in general our squad is lacking in all of them areas. So you would surely agree that this Schmidt would be, if rumours are to be believed which at the moment I have no real reason to expect they necesarily are, would be a bizarre choice of signing? If you are happy with a player as bad as Sam Gallagher getting regular game time, then presumably you are not serious in your top 6 hopes. Although you seem to have reverted following a brief blip in this regard to be again trying to empathise, understand and defend every decision Mowbray makes, even though we are hamstrung in rebuilding our squad lacking in many areas littered with crap the manager has signed, especially 2 dollopers which have wiped out the budget although your analaysis is simply "we bought the players we have bought."

Any hope that we are even thinking of signing a striker no matter how questionable his record is gives me the slightest hope that I wont have to endure watching Gallagher and Brereton providing no goal threat for the rest of the season!

As much as Freeman is a good player, we need so many playees before him. Thats why I dont want us to waste resources on loaning a young attacking midfielder, we need a goalscorer, at least one winger, a left back (which in turns frees up Downing to be a full time midfielder), a goalkeeper all of first team pedigree, as well as an alternative to the injury prone Nyambe and a centre back before even considering a number 10. Holtby and Downing can give us creativity from the centre.

I am not sure how you can be so sure or he could have proven that this is the case, but ultimately he is absolutely nowhere near Championship level so I suspect the answer is somewhere in between. I havent seen anything about him that makes me overly excited about the player he can become, I would suspect that League 2 may be the answer, because I am unconvinced that he could get regular football in League 1. I am not saying necessarily that he should be brought back but it is a little hypocritical and ironic that Scott Whartons potential return to help ease our lack of defensive depth has been rubbished, because he needs to "become a man" when he has played over 50 games in the football league and has recently won the player of the month in League 2, whereas Buckley, a player quite clearly far less physically capable in comparison is immediately in a position to be regularly featuring in the Championship, in Mowbrays mind.

Gallagher has mainly played up front for us, its a myth to suggest that hes spent all season toiling out wide, although the fact that he has played there at all is bizarre. As @RevidgeBlue says he is a poor player and ultimately, having had him before, the blame falls at Mowbray mainly for actually signing him in the first place.

The thing is, Breretons goals record (obviously at a very young age) was very infrequent at Forest. A video can make anyone look good, albeit I do appreciate that some attributes seem to be on show that have been nowhere to be seen here. I lose a lot of sympathy with Brereton because I am unconvinced that he is busting a gut to succeed, he often appears half arsed like he is going through the motions. Gallagher is really poor too but he does try his best. To be honest, I would take any sort of fee for either of them, a loan to come back a different player still seems a bit unlikely to me, I would be prepared to take my losses on either player as I dont see potential in either.

Impossible to get excited over the rest of the season to be honest. Our squad is horribly lacing without Dack and with mid table status almost certain and our FA Cup position meekly surrendered, our season feels like it has little riding on it already in early January.

Where is this from? Not a particularly encouraging record although better than Brereton and Gallagher on account of not being Brereton or Gallagher! So get him in.

Mowbray said he will be training Tuesday. Considering how bad everyone else is playing JRC may be worth a go. Cant see us winning tbh.

We created some chances but missed them all because our strikers are shit. Theres no way that we can do without signing a striker. Defence wasnt good enough either specifically that idiot of a keeper for both goals. For the first much of the blame goes to our absent midfield. Armstrong was our biggest threat but outstanding is a massive exaggeration. Was a depressing watch. Both teams had no quality and to say neither side is a bottom 3 Championship side says a lot about the league in general this season.

We need them all back and I hope they will be. Rothwells trial run in CM as you suggested was not a success. Regarding Bennett, that would be good news in terms of removing the option for Mowbray to play a player not up to it. Although I wouldnt be surprised to see him on crutches still playing!

Agreed. He was dreadful yet again. Glad to see you acknowledge a point you have previously disagreed with regarding anticipation. That being said, he actually did have 4 or 5 very good chances today and didnt take them. Useless. He is absolute shit, is he even better than Varney? I cant see him developing to anywhere close to a competent level and he shouldnt be anywhere near the team. Badly need a new striker.

Its more, people can clearly see that the player is well out of his depth, and can you believe it, are stating that on an internet messageboard.

Based on the players we have now, I would have to go with the following, we need some in this week: Walton Nyambe Lenihan Adarabioyo Downing Travis Evans Armstrong Holtby Rankin-Costello Graham Subs: Fisher, Williams, Johnson, Davenport, Chapman, Rothwell, Samuel Dont want to see Brereton, Gallagher, Bell or Bennett near the squad, all absolutely awful. Buckley nowhere near up to it either. Chapman poor in todays cameo, and Rothwell has been all season, and Samuel is shite full stop, but there is no alternative bar 2 strikers no better than Varney and Brown, so they can be on the bench. Ideally a new manager by next weekend too.