Part of that sentence was. "Defending against inferior opposition..."

Jim... In the words of KC and the Sunshine Band, please don't go.

And that Sorba Thomas at Hudds to replace Diaz's running at defences.

Dodgy keeper. If Diaz tests him he'll score.

Play Adam Wharton in the midweek game and he'll be out at the weekend. The lad can give an excellent 45-60 minutes per week at the moment. I'd also keep Scott W for the weekend too. Blackburn lads should be in the derby.

Yes he must be pleased with the defence, which we all should be considering how long it's taken. Pickering is looking a lot better now too. And the really good thing is that all of the defenders are ours, not loanees. How many transfer windows did he say he'd need? I imagine he'll go all out for a striker in January, I hope so anyway. Then perhaps address midfield in Summer when Morton leaves.

I think he's identified we can't see games out with the players we have/fitness levels, so gets them to dig in when we're 1-0 up and looking tired and uninspired. I see it as a hangover from five years of Mowbray and a way to get through games till these things can be rectified. We desperately need more firepower as I can't see Vale or Hirst coming on and extending leads. Dolan disappoints more often than not. Maybe I'm that jaded from Mowbray that I'll take an annoyingly cautious 1-0 victory, over being 2-0 up and drawing 2-2 in injury time. I found Allardyce's defending against inferior opposition frustratingly agonising at times. We had a better, fitter squad then too.

There were times when I felt a life sentence wouldn't be harsh enough.

He certainly won't get five years.

I've seen us play exactly like that and lose under TM, so I'm taking it as a positive.

Maybe big tanker was cockney rhyming slang.

Speaking (or typing) as someone who witnessed wins like that under Dalglish, I'm hoping we're seeing a similar canny and intelligent manager who is learning about what his players are capable of when pushed. And hopefully not just luck. It didn't feel like it against Coventry but feels like it today.

That's exactly what boring Arsenal did in the 90s. I do think JDT will rely on the defence less if we have better attackers to call on, and it's good that the players can do it. Under Mowbray I had no faith in the defence at all.

Nah, nowhere near as bad. It was only near the end that Huddersfield threatened to nick a point but it was clear that every Rovers player was ordered to get behind the ball and defend it. The player that looked dangerous for them was Sorba Thomas, what a good winger he is. Every attack went through him. In the first half Huddersfield were hear to defend a point and make it difficult for Rovers to get forward. The Coventry match mirrored Wigan.

And... It was clearly by design. Rovers allowed Huddersfield to come at that them with the gameplan of defending the 3 points. It's been done a few times and is how JDT wants to play. Maybe if we had more firepower he'd be less defensive.

We definitely need to play with width, they don't like crosses or any height in their box.

It's a beautiful day!

I'm not sure if that was a poor performance. No urgency in the first half but Hudds had every man defending, the pitch wasn't ideal and we ended up going in 1-0. Second half JDT got them to grind out the result again. Bad management or is he testing them? Mowbray attemped to grind out results and continually failed.

Phew... Sign Sorba Thomas in January, he can run at defences. And a striker.

He's missed when he doesn't play.

Haha, me too.

DIAZ! I said he was due a goal.

Frustrating to be goalless but even more frustrating to have not forced a save once after 30+ minutes.

No urgency again. Get it forward, then two passes back, lose it. Get it back, 30 passes at the back later long ball it, lose it. Etc. Hedges makes a big difference to the team retaining the ball. Some creativity needed going forward .

Yep other teams rise and fall. It's what we do that matters.