Tony Mowbray has a new but welcome Blackburn Rovers dilemma

2
Skip to next photo
1/1
Show caption
1/1
This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald.

Tony Mowbray has a fresh dilemma heading to Portsmouth and it's a welcome change after Blackburn Rovers' recent injury issues.

The head coach is hoping his side can record successive victories for the first time this term when they go to Fratton Park. The last time they achieved that in the league was February, winning Michael O'Neill's first two games in charge.

Mowbray's switch to a three-man defence has opened debate about Rovers' most effective system yet again. For the last 12 months, it's been a constant discussion as to which formation is best suited to this squad.

The Rovers head coach had previously downplayed the prospect of the switch, claiming he felt it made the team too defensive. But against Millwall, off the back of giving away too many 'soft' goals, he made the switch.

"I wanted to give a young 19-year-old centre-back, who has lots of development in him but is doing well, a bit of help," he explained.

"Sean McLoughlin, is one of the leaders in the dressing room, but I wanted to give them some physical presence from set pieces.

"It doesn't change how we try to play, passing the ball through the lines. The formation is irrelevant as long as we have width on either side which wing-backs give you.

"I thought it would give us more stability against a direct team. We did it at Preston but with Montgomery and Yuri (Ribeiro) there. Against Millwall, we had three proper central defenders."

The 3-4-3 shape suits the defenders better than a flat four. As Mowbray referenced, Atcheson is still developing and it allows them to get Hayden Carter in the team, who Mowbray believes is a play-off level centre-back, when fit.

At wing-back, Ryan Alebiosu is well suited to bombing up and down, though there's less of a natural fit on the left. Harry Pickering is more comfortable than Yuri Ribeiro, I'd argue, and has appeared to get forward more in the early knockings of this campaign.

The dilemma for Mowbray is how he fits four attackers into three spots, or whether he alerts a winning team.

Ryoya Morishita, Todd Cantwell and Dapo Afolayan were the triumvirate that started against the Lions. They combined well but the impact of Andri Gudjohnsen from the bench was obvious for all to see.

Gudjohnsen is quickly becoming a real talisman for this side. We knew he could score goals but his hold-up play is improved, having perhaps bulked up during his first 12 months in England.

So to accommodate Gudjohnsen, who comes out? Dapo Afolayan is in a real purple patch and you would not want to disturb his momentum.

(Image: CameraSport - Dave Howarth)

That would leave Todd Cantwell, the skipper, or Ryoya Morishita, largely thought of as Rovers' most creative player. Either would be noteworthy, especially after a midweek without a fixture and with the extended international break looming.

It is a nice problem to have and one Mowbray hasn't had since matchday two. The bench was far more senior against Millwall and the substitutes made a big impact.

Mowbray was able to call upon two first-team defenders, a dynamic winger and a striker to freshen things up. A far cry from what was at his disposal in recent weeks.

They even had the luxury of easing Moussa Baradji back by keeping him as an unused substitute. He might get a cameo against Portsmouth but it's after the three-week pause that he'll be able to really make a difference.

So the dilemma for Mowbray is whether he tinkers with the system again or leaves one of his big-name attackers out. In many ways, he's got 12 starters for 11 places.

It's a nice problem to have, with most of the first seven games focused on a crippling injury list.

Get involved
with the news

Send your news & photos