I have no objection to tomorrow's game being postponed, albeit I recognise it's a matter of personal preference. I wasn't intending to go & have sympathy for those who will lose out financially. To me this is such a historic moment for the nation. 70+ years of dedication to the country, never shirking her responsibility, right up until 48 hours before her death. We need to take a step back sometimes & reflect on the significance of events outside of our day to day. This is one such occasion IMO.

But that's just it, I don't think the next 3 games will tell us anything definitively about whether he will be successful overall or not! 10 league games in 8 weeks, only 4 of which will have been with his complete squad post transfer window (and even that shorn of 1st teamers like S Wharton, Brittain & Gallagher for close to half of them), isn't a big enough sample of games to draw firm conclusions as to how the season will go, imo,given the situation he inherited.

REM - The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight

For goodness sake, with stretched resources and from a starting point of 8 first team squad departures, we've got 12 points from 24 and are in 7th place, plus 2 decent cup wins. We would all have taken that on July 30th. There've been some great performances, some average ones, and some poor ones, with results to match; that's what thus league does!! We've won some matches in style, & been hugely underwhelming in others. The bad results & performances (Bristol C, Sheff U & Reading) have been balanced out by impressive wins that we didn't achieve last season (Swansea, Blackpool & W Brom). I find this talk of "He's not his usual cheery self, has he bitten off more than he can chew" & "he can't lose too many more games or he won't get chance to continue the project" quite premature & overly critical. He probably is a bit tired after the chaos that is the transfer window, coupled with full midweek fixture lists, but that doesn't mean he's suddenly regretting his choice to come here or is not up to the task! He & his team need time to adapt, to implement their ideas, to grow the players. If whilst doing that it takes another few weeks of WLLWWL (whether we win or lose by 1 goal or 3) then that's more than fine by me for the first half of his first season.

I get what you're trying to illustrate gav but that's not an entirely fair comparison imo. This was a Tees / Wear derby between 2 clubs in big towns in an area where there's only 4 or 5 clubs of any note within a 100 miles radius, happening for the first time in 5 years. Middlesbrough has a population of 150,000, Sunderland nearly double that. Both have large catchment areas beyond their boundaries with not much competition for fans. The towns of Blackburn & Burnley have combined populations of about 200,000, and 3/4 world renowned clubs within about an hour's drive of each, plus maybe a dozen others. If you compare last night in that context to the E Lancs derby to come, I have no doubt that there will be as much passion, pride & bouncing on show at Ewood as there was at the Riverside.

I've just read online that apparently Wout Weighorst was drop kicked on the pitch by an opposition fan whilst playing in Turkey at the weekend. How the mighty fall...!

I'm not sure our poor run of results there over the last decade or so is much of a factor. How many of our current squad have experienced defeat there? 4, 5 players? Not enough for it to be thought of as a bogey ground for them. Moving on, it's a game we should win. I'll be disappointed if we don't, but at this stage what would be more important to me would be to see a solid performance where we can look back and say we deserved 3 points from the game, whether we get them or not. It's far too early to be writing the season (or JDT, or any individual player) off if we lose. Having no midweek game for the first time since week one I think, should allow time to get some good training in re patterns of play, set-piece development, transitions etc. & to bed in the JDT way into the squad. Plus further time for injured players to get fit. I'll plump for a 2-0 away win.

Likewise.

The only way I can agree with you is if you mean consistency within a range of expected performance levels, eg. mostly between 5 out of 10 to 8 out of 10, with the odd outlier above or below that. But I suspect that's not what you mean, that you expect 7s or 8s week in week out. That's what I believe is unrealistic as there are just too many variables to expect or demand consistency at such a high level IMO. Form, confidence, the opposition, your teammates' performance, off-pitch issues, manager's instructions, weather conditions, the playing surface, the list goes on. This is not making excuses, but rather accepting reality. If such things didn't impact performance, then the game would be far more predictable and all the less enjoyable for it IMO. Minimising the negative impact of such issues & maximising the positives is part of the key role of management & coaching, to know the person that is behind the player. It'll take Tomasson & his team more than a couple of months to work that out.

Sorry but that's completely unrealistic Rigger, way too black & white. Players are human, not robots (Haaland aside!). They have good days when they feel & perform at their best, and bad days when nothing seems to go right, just like you & I do. Even at the top table the same thing applies. Look no further than Rashford today, who scored 2 excellent goals after a number of dire performances. Or Pogba, or Koulibaly, or Grealish to name a few.

I agree with the first two lines. However isn't the the last line just entirely indicative of the Championship? Reading got stuffed by Rotherham, but despite that are sitting pretty in 3rd. Norwich lost their first 3 or something but are now 2nd. I'm not saying everything is hunky dory or that Tomasson is a tactical genius; imo he got the subs wrong at HT, he should've removed Morton & moved Travis into midfield with Buckley going to RB, as we missed Travis' bite in midfield, and got Dack playing further forward as he was too deep 1st half. But as I've said before, there's too much overreaction to each defeat. We're weeks into his 3 year tenure, we've won 4 of 8, won 2 cup games, & most of that was with a very thin squad. We'd all have taken this on the day of his appointment, yes? He's got a lot to learn about the Championship, about the club, the players, support staff. I'm sure he knows that more than anyone & imo he shows the attitude, aptitude & intelligence to develop & adapt.

Poor 1st half that. Miss some bite in midfield with Travis at RB and Wharton on an early yellow. Dack too deep and not supporting Hirst, so any knockdown or flick ons give possession back. Tighten up midfield & we can turn the tide. Take off Wharton for Buckley, put Buckley at RB and move Travis inside, and get dack playing further forward. Give them more to think about defensively.

I agree, Dolan's pressing ability will often draw a foul or a turnover, much more effective than hanging around waiting for a window of opportunity.

I am seeing on other recent threads an increased amount of criticism being leveled at him, which I believe is mostly unwarranted. Some have even written him off completely here. I do agree he has flaws; he overplays, makes poor decisions, flatters to deceive re his speed. He tends to shoot high, often lacks the technique to get over the ball. All of those things are, however, coachable. He is only 20 years old. Players develop at different speeds. If he had the awareness of say Wharton, he would be infinitely better, but that can come with time & patience as he has shown an ability to learn. He is still very raw, hopefully working with JDT he can mould him and improve all those flaws. He has all the basic talent to achieve highly in this game. He is not a CF, or a false 9, as he has often been deployed almost out of necessity. His best position IMO is a winger, and can prob play either side. He can harass from there, beat his man but then needs to learn to improve his delivery. Hopefully having Hirst to aim for high, or Dack / Szmodics / BBD / Wharton holding deeper, the improved options he has for an outball will improve his assist stats. I do agree that, at this time, he is probably better as an impact sub whilst he is learning. But he certainly is beyond needing to be loaned out IMO, or indeed released.

We can't afford to sell BBD now unless the buying team has something to offer us. I wouldn't want anyone from Everton as a make-weight.

1. 4th 2. Wharton 3. Wharton 4. Watford 5. 3rd

I am bracing myself for another filling in the sticker book, then we can give these poor tooth puns the brush off.

Just been listening to Paul Barber on Talksport, he's Brighton's CEO. Was really interesting to hear what he had to say and the way they've handled things in the last few years to become a stable & progressive club from being at the point of extinction. I hope Waggott, Suhail or anyone else with influence was listening (I doubt they were, even less so the owners).

Alright Mike, no need to get all Hyam mighty about it.

I feel his display second half yesterday warrants the commencement of a thread of his own, as he clearly has talent and will be more & more involved this season as it progresses. He was excellent; his first touch, his vision, his range of passing, his desire to go forwards, and get stuck into a tackle. It was all there, really promising. Let's hope he can push on, gain a bit of strength & be a real asset. Mr & Mrs Wharton must be over the moon.

"I hate that when people raise genuine questions whether it be about players out of position, what the style is, where the goals will come from etc, that they are shot down by people who will not allow constructive debate about the manager if it involves and doubts or constructive criticisms." I'm not trying to shut any debate down, but I hate that when people try to see things less bleak than others they're labelled "happy clappers" or Venkys apologists who lap up everything the club says and will always be happy with mid table mediocrity (not necessarily you roversfan). That 2nd half showed plenty of evidence of what JDT has spoken about; of skill, endeavour, talent, belief, one-touch round the corner passing & lay offs. I've just seen the v brief highlights, the evidence is there for those who care to see it & themselves be constructive, quite apart from the disallowed goals that aren't shown. We were poor yesterday first half, no doubt. The players' attitude was all wrong. JDT saw it, changed it at HT using young blood mixed with experience, and thereafter we ran the game and on any other afternoon would've got at least 1 goal. It's just too early to be saying "I'm beginning to think JDT isn't all that" or that he can talk the talk but not walk the walk. Discussing individual decisions is fine, but judging his overall managerial credentials after 6 games (8 if you count two comprehensive cup wins) is just plain wrong & unfair. Edit: you can tell my wife is out with the in-laws today, I have free reign to let loose on here!!

I would absolutely beg to differ on "long before". There were seconds in it on both occasions, both created clear goal scoring situations and their keeper still attempted to save them but failed iirc (I've not seen any replays). A competent referee would see the foul, note the advantage and wave play on, not whistle straight away. 8 time out of 10, we would score at least 1 goal from a performance like that 2nd half. Things really aren't as bad as people are making out, I just don't get the desire of so many people to over-criticise. We know this league is full of ups & downs, inconsistent performances. To expect consistency from us at this stage with a young, thin squad under new management is, quite frankly, bonkers.

It was, twice, from open play, after good one touch football opened up a tight defence, but in his infinite wisdom the ref disallowed them due to 2 fouls on us about 3 seconds before the ball crossed the line. We'd be top if the ref had half a clue about how to do his job and had let the play go. That doesn't excuse an abject 1st half showing, which was not down to tactics IMO opinion but a combination of a thin squad & poor individual performances from Buckley & JRC in particular; we were effectively playing with 9 men, and others made poor on the ball decisions. If stats don't matter, why do football coaches & management teams have so much invested in analytics? I get they can be analysed to the nth degree to the point of becoming meaningless, but I do think certain stats can be telling, xg amongst them.

But here's another stat that indicates that we should've got something out of yesterday, despite many opinions to the contrary & such a poor first half. And that doesn't count the goals ruled out. So my eyes didn't deceive me... things really aren't as bad as is being made out by many!

I'm sorry, but those questioning JDT's managerial credentials, pls give your heads a wobble. He's 8 games into the season, W3 L3, won 2 cup matches albeit against lower league. Hardly disastrous. All done with what we all know is a paper thin squad inherited halfway into the summer from previous management which has been further stretched due to more-than-average injuries in defence and loss of form of a couple of key players. It's not perfect; it never will be perfect, quite apart from it not yet being 2 months into his tenure. We've lost two away games 3-0, deservedly so it sounds like; one of those sides is many peoples' favourites for automatic promotion (we beat another one in WBA), the other is sitting pretty in 1st position (yet still only 3 points ahead of us). Yesterday, without 3 regular starters (Gally, Hedges & Brittain), after an abject 1st half he recognised the problems, switched systems & personnel & we were relentless in the 2nd half. We had the ball in the back of the net twice which shouldn't have been pulled back for fouls (I presume @arbitro would agree), plus a nailed on penalty denied. Stoke defended well TBF, blocked shots at source (which I think don't get counted as on target, even if they are), and Dolan & BBD fluffed their lines a couple of times. I'd have been much more worried if the 2nd half continued like the 1st, but they were chalk & cheese. Someone said why play BBD out wide, it's ridiculous; but we know how effective he is from there, not just for us but for Chile too. It's his best position to make use of his abilities. To criticise JDT in that respect is, with respect, what's ridiculous. It takes time to build a squad, for new ideas to sink in, to put it into practise on the pitch, to build fitness to play aggressively in and out of position. When JDT came in most people were urging patience, yet that seems to be in ever shorter supply. He needs time & he needs backing.