I still feel worried even though Sunderland have hardly done anything that half. This second half is huge.

Excellent first half after the first 10 minutes. Szmodics, Hyam and Dolan all very good and JRC immense,

In which case JDT was an absolute genius for having Gallagher and Hedges regularly in a side at the top of the league last season. That side is a lower mid-table championship side lacking a bit of firepower. It’s not a 0 wins in 16 games side.

I don’t look at that team and think it is a team that , if applying themselves correctly, should be going 16 games without at a couple of wins. If this was in November I’d be genuinely hoping for a win with that line up. Even the bench is looking stronger than the last few months albeit without a striker.

I’ve just posted on the Sunderland thread but I backed us to go down at 15/4 yesterday on betfairs exchange. As fans you generally know far more about the situation at Rovers than all other sporting event. You know the injuries, the form, everything. You should always be betting with your head rather than your heart. Does anybody realistically think we have only a 21% chance of going down. It’s far higher than that. It doesn’t mean I want it to happen, nor that I won’t still cheer rovers on as loud as ever whenever I watch them. Just I think it’s overpriced. I really don’t get why people have issues with it.

They’re done. We’ve just forgot to click send.

Hadn’t seen that. Another one that’s spineless then.

Or Leonard. I know he’s not the answer but it was mid-Jan last time he was sighted. He’s better than Semir.

Edited - moved it to another thread.

Don’t be daft. Before the players downed tools on JDT he got 10 wins from 22 games with this squad. Admittedly he had Wharton but also had a lot of injuries and was forced to play Wahlstedt. Eustace has come in to a run of very winnable games and has failed to win any. He had plenty of time to turn this around and still potentially does. On paper our defence is not the worst in the league, and we have the leagues top goal scorer. However Eustace approach has led to us scoring just 6 goals in 9 league games, against some of the lowest sides in the division. He’s had plenty of time to turn this around and if we go down it’s because he has been a very poor manager.

JRC is the only one. No surprise he popped up and put the ball in the back of the net Friday. It’s just keeping him fit.

Might have been. I only flicked through and get the two mixed up.

If you watch the sky coverage it shows that replay during the main the game from 38.40 onwards. I can't post the video on here (on which Don Goodman actually changes his mind about whether he's offside when he sees it), but can only post the stills in sequence. If you still think this clearly in the keepers line of vision then fine, but I disagree. edit - I'm just going to crop and repost these to make them bigger.

In the keepers eyeline? This is as JRC hits it and Szmodics has never crossed the keepers view of the ball at all, even in the build up. I've seen far worse examples of goals allowed after these kind of incidents even after being reviewed by VAR. I'm not sure. 13:55 onwards on this video.

One positive from yesterday. At least JRC was back and looked a goal threat from midfield. Hopefully we can keep him fit cos I think he has more bottle and bite about him than a lot of these.

Hopefully that's the last time we see Chrisene anywhere other than LB. He as shocking and it wasn't even like he was offering much protection to Pickering who was constantly getting ran at.

Letting Travis go and then letting Wharton go is they key moment this season for me. That was just stupidity. However with all the JDT bashing going on, let's not forget JDT hardly picked Wharton till towards the end of last season. We spent most of the time in the top spots picking from a midfield of Travis, Buckley and Morton. As everyone keeps telling me Tronstadt is levels above Travis, the loss of Wharton shouldn't be an excuse for no wins in 10 (against relatively easy opposition) by Eustace. @aletheia has nailed it above. JDT had to go as he'd "lost" the dressing room, but he achieved far more with this group of players than Eustace currently is. People unfairly blamed Mowbray for relegation, but if we go down this season it's heavily on Eustace.

Problem is Birmingham have got Rotherham and they also play Hudds. Quite a few teams play each other. I still think it's more like 5 or 6 points we need.

Games against other relegation teams in red. Games against teams in with a chance of promotion or play offs in blue.

That’s like saying do you think any DOF could succeed at Ewood if he had to play Wahlsted, Telalavic, Ennis and Mola. He wouldn’t. He would just clear the decks.

Also, how many times does the ball drop to us around the box but we decide to take a touch before we shoot. Inevitably we get closed down.

If that’s what you think having looked at the replay that is from behind JRC when he shoots then fine. But I disagree. He never crosses the keepers line of sight at any point and is behind the defender.

I never said he hadn’t been one of the better players. I said he’s been ok when most of our players this season have been poor. Im just not sure he’s any better Travis. Numerous times today they played a ball to a man and he was stood 4 yards off him when he should have been tighter. His general positioning is not great. However he is far tidier on the ball than Travis.

Why on the JRC goal? Szmodics isnt in the keepers line of vision and he doesn’t impede the keepers movement in any way.

If you think Tronstadt is the best CDM in the Championship “without a shadow of a doubt” like @BankEnd Rover then you are on something stronger than glue. Hes been one of our better players, but he’s not hugely better than Travis. This isn’t his fault and he’s in our starting XI currently quite easily but he’s just, decent.