If we stop up I’d give him the first half of next season despite having reservations. If we go down then , considering where we were when he took over, I have little confidence he could lead us back up and I would prefer to be shut of him. 
 

Would I renew my season ticket at existing prices? I honestly don’t know. It’s easy to be knee-jerk and say no, but with the prospect of either loads of unfriendly kick off times in the championship or the likes of Lincoln, Stevenage and Northampton to look forward to its not appealing.

8 minutes ago, M_B said:

If he does stay, what do you feel would be a good finish? 

That’s a good question, albeit we don’t know how the summer will pan out. If we are in the Championship then with what little I expect us to spend , he will have done a good job if we end up about 13th. 

We have 24 points at home this season. The same as QPR and (surprisingly) Watford. Only Rotherham (20 pts) are worse in our league.

Worst in the football league is Carlisle with 15 points (just 3 wins).

8 minutes ago, arbitro said:

The intensity has gone out of our game under Eustace so I don't think that the amount of games Coventry have played will be any advantage to us. We aren't a pacy team by any stretch of the imagination but under Tomasson the intensity made up for some of this. We really look like plodders and as such easy to play against.

That what was so noticeable on Sunday. The Wednesday front four and midfield closed and harassed from the first whistle. By the time they were tiring, they were 3-1 up so could then sit back and rotate some of the players. We haven’t hunted in packs like that for a long while.

3 hours ago, Tricky said:

10/1 still on us to go down, anyone on?

I think it’s waaay too big. We could be in the bottom 3 by teatime on Saturday.

Having said that, if we draw and Huddersfield win then we are safe.

Its a funny old game.

58 minutes ago, AspRover said:

 

Pears

JRC - Wharton - O'Riordan - Gent

Garret - Buckley

  Hedges - Markanday - Gilsenan

Leonard

Thing with that side is we have no idea if that back 4 is any worse than what we are currently fielding. It’s probably got more bottle.

Hedges, Leonard and Gilsenan may well be better than recent pairings of Dolan, Gallagher and Moran / Ayari.

I look at that team and the only real misses are Szmodics and Tronstadt.
 

22 minutes ago, J*B said:

and our Manager said 'a big away following has an impact but we won't use it as an excuse' (whatever that means)

Did he? FFs. He likes to point out excuses and then say “we won’t use it as an excuse”. If it’s not an excuse then don’t flippin mention it in the first place. 
 

1 hour ago, Groundhog said:

Tronstadt 

Trojstadt, JRC, Carter, Wharton, Hedges and Pickering would be ok as a mainstay of a league one side. It’s how many of them would stop? 
 

We would still be woeful short up front even at that level. 

Just noticed this is £15 a ticket. If Coventry beat Hull and still have a chance of playoffs they will pack that full Darwen End and hospitality out.

Waggot be like…

Hyam. He will be like the League One Beckenbauer. As long as we don’t boo him.

I’ve finally watched the highlights.

Hyam could have played it a bit slower and a bit more in front of Pears. However I think Pears is trying to get it upfield. As it’s coming at a bad angle to him, he’d be better launching it into the Riverside and bollocking Hyam. Pears really needs to deal with it better.

And I don’t want to dig him out too much, but when he heads it to Hyam for the first goal he stands there and admires it for a second or two. What is he waiting for? A one-two? The minute he heads it he should be retreating back to his goal at full speed.

I said it before but Hedges is a big loss. He shouldn’t really be, but it’s because he offers something different. A bit of presence.
 

The squad is littered with lightweight ‘ball playing’ midfielders who can’t compete physically and seem to shrink when the going gets tough - Ayari, Markanday, Moran, Dolan,  Buckley. You start trying to pick a bit of a different formation and wonder who to put out wide and you are just swapping one non-entity for another. 

JRC would be the only other  option out wide who may have more presence, but you’d really want Travis to then go alongside Tronstadt (enough said there). Otherwise you have to choose from one of the above-mentioned lightweights in midfield, or toss Garrett back in who, after showing glimmers of promise, was poor last time we saw him.

In fact, I’d go with Garrett in the middle and JRC wider. At a quick glance, our record with him on the pitch looks better than most of the others and he doesn’t seem to have started many of the pastings except of West Brom. Otherwise it’s just rinse and repeat.

26 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

They might win 1, but I don't see them winning both.

I never said they would. 🤔🤔

People are saying we are probably safe on 49, but we really aren't. Birmingham need to win 1 of two very winnable to go above us.

Wednesday need to win one of 2 tougher games to go above us, but after yesterday it's difficult to say that won't happen.

A point against Coventry (or Leicester) might save us but I really think if we lose both games we go down.

4 minutes ago, ElTwis said:

You're right of course but that's deliberately an attempt to scrape together the necessary points

I mean personally I'd rather we went for 3 necessary points  against one of the worst teams in the division rather than cling on to one.. But we should have learnt what the approach would have been after we did the same against Millwall.

It's proof Eustace didn't take the Stoke game. We actually attacked them from the first whistle that day.

43 minutes ago, ElTwis said:

I know how this will be received but I feel like someone needs to defend Eustace to an extent.

 

The tactics yesterday were straightforward - don't lose.

Exactly. Negative.

51 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Birmingham couldn't even beat an already relegated side at the weekend, why are they all of a sudden going to beat both Huddersfield and Norwich?

They don't need to. They only need to beat 1 of them - either a Huddersfield who were shambolic at the weekend or a resting Norwich reserves. You seriously can't see them possibly winning 1 of those 2 games?

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

It been problem all season tbh. Here are some examples for you

Under JDT we had over 50% possession in games and lost like QPR at home, WBA away, Hull away, Huddersfield away, Watford at home, Sheffield away, PNE at home

draw like Huddersfield at home, Rotherham at home, 

won at Stoke away with less 50%, Norwich away.

won at home to Bristol City, Birmingham at home with more than 50%

Difference being JDT had spells where he won a few. 

12 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I stand by my point and ain't arguing with you cos its pointless. 

and the it was 54 minutes by the way. Majority of the game. After we scored the atmosphere was quiet for rest of the 1st half. 

That second half was a party atmosphere for their fans. They roared their team to a massive victory. Best fans at Ewood all season, including Leeds and the Geordies.

If Waggot doesn't open the whole tier for Coventry (which I'm not sure he will now) it will be a massive admission he fucked up by giving Wednesday the whole Darwen End.

Still, he serves nice coffee and scones I've heard.

18 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Also another point to say we had 60% of possession yesterday and lose. In the 4 other games under Eustace when we had more than 50% of possession we have lost 2 and draw 2. 

Bristol City away and Ipswich at home were the 2 we lost

Millwall at home and Cardiff away were the draws 

So you are saying in the 5 games we have dominated the ball, we have gained only 2 points and have a -8 goal difference.

More damning stats against the manager 'head coach '.

9 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

So for most of their game then like a said? 

I wasn't actually arguing with you, but as you seem to be spoiling for a fight then no, they werent quiet for "most of the game."

Look at the times of the goals, look at the amount of time played and do the maths.

4 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

and they weren't that loud for most of the game only when winning. 

They did go very quite when we equalised until they went infront again. However early on and throughout that second half it was exceptional support. Loudest following at Ewood for some time I thought.

Imagine being relegated because someone couldn't click "send".

1 hour ago, philipl said:

If Birmingham win at Huddersfield I think we are certainly down.

Birmingham will beat Norwich at home last day. Norwich will already be in the play offs and will make tons of changes like Huddersfield did last time we went down.

With Wednesday having gone WDDW, I easily see them getting 4 points from here.

I'm not even that confident another point saves us anymore from here unless QPR lose both.

47 minutes ago, dallydally said:

Hopefully the game today knocks the stuffing and any belief out of them!

Yeah I’m sure they'll be coming off Wembley no longer believing they can win at Ewood.

On 04/09/2023 at 11:15, booth said:

13th place after 5 games will seem like dizzy heights at the end of the season. The caveat being unless Leo is a super keeper and Semir is a super striker.

They weren’t.