Tony Mowbray has a fresh and welcome selection dilemma as Blackburn Rovers prepare for their Championship trip to Portsmouth. The manager's bench is now packed with senior options after recent injury issues, forcing him to decide whether to tinker with a winning system or leave a big-name attacker out.
Mowbray switched to a three-man defence for the 3-1 win over Millwall, a move designed to solidify a backline that had conceded too many soft goals. "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," Mowbray said, referencing the added physical presence from set-pieces. He believes the 3-4-3 shape suits his defenders better than a flat back four, offering natural width through wing-backs. Ryan Alebiosu is seen as ideal for the right wing-back role, while Harry Pickering is now preferred to the sidelined Yuri Ribeiro on the left.
The formation change also accommodated the attacking trio of Ryoya Morishita, Todd Cantwell and Dapo Afolayan from the start. Afolayan, in a rich vein of form, scored twice against Millwall, and Mowbray is reluctant to disturb his momentum. Cantwell provides leadership as skipper, and Morishita is viewed as the team's primary creative outlet.
Impact from the bench
The real shift, however, came from the substitutes. Andri Gudjohnsen came off the bench to score a late third against Millwall and is developing into a talismanic figure for the side, leading the team's scoring charts with three goals this season. Mowbray was also able to call upon two first-team defenders and a dynamic winger to freshen the play, a luxury not always available. This depth means he now has twelve players competing for eleven starting spots.
"It doesn't change how we try to play, passing the ball through the lines," Mowbray said of the system. "The formation is irrelevant as long as we have width on either side which wing-backs give you." The return of Hayden Carter, considered a play-off level defender by his manager when fit, further bolsters the defensive options. Youngster Moussa Baradji was an unused substitute last time and could be in line for a cameo at Fratton Park after the three-week break.
Blackburn head into the game sitting 16th in the Championship with eight points from seven matches. Their next challenge is an away fixture against 18th-placed Portsmouth, a team they drew 1-1 with in March. The return of several players from injury provides a timely boost, with the current squad showing greater depth. A victory at Fratton Park would give Rovers back-to-back league wins for the first time since February, a target that will shape Mowbray's final team selection on Saturday.
Further reading: lancashiretelegraph.co.uk
