I'm increasingly thinking that if we insist on a back 4 our CBs aren't good enough but having splashed on Mills I can't see the club accepting that fact easily. If we haven't got the money to buy quality at the back, we have two forward thinking youngsters in Alonso and Riley who are not that good at defending but can add to the attack, so to give them cover and licence to push on the obvious solution would be to play 3 CBs a la Wigan and dump Mears and Andrews.
A back 5 e.g. Riley Ream Knight Ricketts Alonso (with Wheater and Mills to slot in) would reduce the dependency on a defensive mid meaning we could have 5 attack minded front players supported by 2 wingbacks and would change the dynamic of the team and provide more options.
Bold move, but times are tough.