I believe JDT is sorry and feels embarrassed. Not convinced the players feel the same. How many winners in that team who are genuinely sore if we lose compared to passives who shrug their shoulders and forget about it soon afterwards?

That one still sticks in my craw too, although I was genuinely surprised how many didn't seem bothered that a Rovers team did not show up to compete against Burnley. Sign of the times perhaps. The 4-0 against Rotherham shortly afterwards was almost as bad. Preston smashing us 4-1 at Ewood around that time was similarly embarrassing. We ended up putting that period behind us, and hopefully we'll do so again this season, but it's hard to trust many of the players who were a part of those performances again.

Huddersfield haven't won at home since October when they beat QPR. I believe this is also the first time in the entire season where they've scored three goals.

I assume Telalovic has looked as useless as in all his previous outings?

We'll stay up this season, how comfortably I'm not sure right now. Probably depends how fortunate we are with injuries in the second half of the season. Have to assume if JDT is offered anything remotely decent in the summer (or before) he will be off sharpish. Venky's will still likely only be able to cover costs at best and refuse/be unable to provide anything meaningful for transfers. At that point we are probably fucked. Next season could be really grim and make this season look like sunshine and rainbows in comparison.

No worries though boys, we have Gallagher and Hedges returning soon. Plus JRC for a few matches before he inevitably gets injured again.

Make that 43.

Goes beyond the last 3 games tbf, we've let in 42 goals in 24 games. Worse than Sheff Weds, worse than QPR. Second worst in the division behind Rotherham who are bottom. We are terrible defensively.

Could have done this as soon as they went 1-0 up tbf. Game was over from that point onwards.

What a sad situation we are in. Just feel sorry for the fans who travelled to watch this.

Leeds really don't want to go up automatically, do they? Imagine doing the hard work of beating Ipswich (handily) only to then go and lose to Preston. A good chance of Ipswich dropping points again today against Leicester, too.

I'm in Finland this year so a proper white Christmas for me for the first time in my memory! A good one to you and yours as well 👍

Ho ho ho, the festive fixtures have begun. Two games on Friday 22nd... Liam Manning has had a rocky start to life as Bristol City manager, but his side secured a second win in a row for the first time since February as they beat Hull 3-2 at Ashton Gate. The Robins were 2-1 down at half time, but a spirited second half showing ensured they came away with all three points. Post-match Liam Rosenior claimed his side were by far the superior team, but BC's 19 shots to Hull's 15 suggests this might have been some sour grapes on his behalf. The result leaves Bristol City in 12th, whilst Hull manage to hold on to 6th spot for the time being, but three defeats in their last five matches will be a cause for concern. Swansea have a pretty terrible home record, so were thankful that PNE were up next, and they duly recorded just their third home win of the season with a 2-1 victory. Even better, the Swans scored in the 95th minute to win the match. Swansea have been without a manager since Michael Duff's departure eighteen days prior. There were chants against the owners at the Swansea.com stadium from the disgruntled home support, but ultimately they were sent home happy courtesy of the ever-hospitable Preston. Three points lifts Swansea to 16th, having taken eight points from the last fifteen available. Preston tumble all the way down to 13th, their dismal form finally starting to be reflected in their league position. They have picked up just four points from the last fifteen on offer, and their GD of -11 is the worst outside of the bottom four. They also have the joint-second worst defence in the division with 40 goals conceded in 23 games... a record they unfortunately share with us. Saturday's games began with 3rd placed Leeds taking on the team above them, 2nd placed Ipswich Town, at Elland Road. One would have expected a tightly-contested match, but what transpired what very different. Leeds dominated Ipswich and ran out deserved 4-0 winners, delivering what must be a heavy psychological blow to an Ipswich team who have been massively overachieving thus far this season. Leeds seem to have Ipswich's number, as they also put four past the Tractor Boys at Portman Road earlier in the season, and of Ipswich's three defeats, Leeds have inflicted two of them. One does wonder if it gives some credence to the suggestion of certain teams raising their game for bigger clubs, as it's somewhat odd that Ipswich have been handily beaten twice by Leeds and yet no other team in the division except WBA has been able to defeat them, despite Leeds having lost one and drawn two more than Ipswich. Anyway, whilst this was a good victory for Leeds, their failure to capitalise on Ipswich's slip up against Rotherham last week means that they are still seven points behind the Blues. Ipswich fall six points behind Leicester at the top of the table, but remain in 2nd. Normally when Rovers go a goal up at home it ends well for us. Against Watford, however, goals in the 83rd and 87th minute meant that we slipped to our seventh home defeat of the season in a 2-1 defeat. Any suggestions of luck for Watford should be tempered by the memory of our early season encounter at Vicarage Road, which was the definition of a smash-and-grab as Rovers somehow walked away with a 1-0 win despite being dominated. A fourth defeat in five matches means that Rovers descend to 14th place. We've now lost four of the last five matches, have the second worst defence in the division, have lost more than any team outside the bottom three, five points from the playoffs and probably have no transfer budget to work with in January. Happy Christmas. Watford in contrast are seeing their season revived, and ten points taken from the last fifteen sees them rise to 7th, just two points from the playoff positions. Three second-half goals from Leicester secured a routine victory against bottom placed Rotherham at the King Power Stadium. It was an embarrassing mismatch, with Leicester having twenty-four shots to Rotherham's two. It was very much a Premier League versus League One clash, and as of next season that is most likely where both of these clubs will reside. Leicester are thirteen points clear of Leeds in 3rd and pull eight points clear of Ipswich in 2nd. They also draw level with Ipswich as the league's top goalscorers with 47 goals. Rotherham's Leam Richardson continues to wait for his first win, having seen his side lose all three of his first games in charge. The Millers have not won a match in the league since October 25th - a run stretching eleven games. They play us on Jan 1st though, so their run probably won't go beyond thirteen games. Boro continued to pull out of their recent nosedive with a second consecutive win - narrow 1-0 home victory over a WBA side who have found themselves having a bit of a wobble as of late, with this being their third defeat in five games, having only won one of those five. Boro climb to 11th, three points from the playoff spots. WBA remain in 5th but have seen their advantage over the teams below them eroded, now looking over their shoulders as Watford and Norwich are within two points of them. Speaking of Norwich, they are another team experiencing a revival from a poor early campaign. Their rejuvenation continued with a comfortable 2-0 victory over the ever-dismal Huddersfield, and eleven points from the last fifteen available has propelled Norwich to 8th, just two points from the playoff positions. Boss David Wagner will be especially pleased with a rare clean sheet, with Rovers and Preston now overtaking the Canaries in terms of having the second-worst defence in the division. Huddersfield have collected just three points from the last fifteen, but remain in 21st simply due to the sheer ineptitude of the teams below them thus far. As far as inept teams go, Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City™ continue to fear nothing but winning matches as they threw away a 3-1 lead away to Plymouth, drawing an entertaining game 3-3. Plymouth began life after Steven Schumacher in concerning fashion as they found themselves 3-1 down by the 62nd minute. However, Krystian Bielik had given them a lifeline in the 48th minute by getting himself sent off for Big Club, and it was enough for Plymouth to rescue a point, scoring the equalising goal in the 86th minute. Two wins in twelve paints a dismal picture for Rooney when it comes to his impact as manager at Birmingham, and his team drop to 18th in the table. Plymouth drop to 17th, remaining ahead of Birmingham on goal difference. QPR have shown major improvement since Gareth Ainsworth's removal as manager, but Marti Cifuentes' men were unable to overcome Southampton at Loftus Road, falling to a narrow 1-0 defeat in a decently contested match. Southampton were reduced to 10 men, but it was so late in the match - 89 minutes - that QPR did not have much time to take advantage of their numerical advantage. The Saints remain in 4th, level on points with 3rd-placed Leeds and seven points from Ipswich in 2nd. QPR, for the third match in a row, fail to take a chance to move out of the relegation zone and stay stuck in 22nd. Sheffield's Wednesday's victory over Rovers a few weeks ago sparked somewhat of a resurrection, as they went on to win another two of their next three matches. Danny Rohl's men looked like they were on their way to making that four wins out of five, 1-0 up at Hillsborough against Cardiff with the match drawing to a close. However, Karlan Grant equalised against the run of play in the 74th minute for the Bluebirds, and a cruel 88th minute own goal from the Owls' Akin Famewo meant that Cardiff ultimately took all three points. The Welsh club had lost three of their last four, and performance-wise deserved to lose this one too, but a fortunate victory lifts them to 10th in the table, three points from the playoffs. Wednesday stay in 23rd, six points behind Huddersfield in 21st. Steven Schumacher couldn't have asked for a much better first game as Stoke boss, as his side took on a Millwall side who had not won a match in seven games, and did so at home. Stoke themselves have not won in eight, however, and there was no instant magic touch from Schumacher as his side shared the points in a 0-0 draw. With that said, Stoke had 19 shots compared to Millwall's 2, so they certainly should have won. Their goal haul of just 21 this season is one of the lowest in the division and something the new manager will need to address if his side are to pull themselves up the table from their current position of 19th, four points from the relegation zone. Meanwhile Joe Edwards continues to struggle to make much positive change at Millwall, with his side in 20th place and three points from QPR in 22nd. Sunderland's owners made what seems to be a unanimously unpopular decision, from the supporters' perspective at least, by appointing Michael Beale as Tony Mowbray's replacement. It's difficult to really make sense of the decision, honestly, but I'm sure that there's a data model somewhere with an algorithm that pinpoints Beale as the man to take the club forward. He didn't get off to a very good start here, though, as the Black Cats succumbed to a desperately poor 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Coventry. It was a second victory in four games for the Sky Blues and moves them up to 15th in the table, ten points from the relegation zone and six from the playoffs. Sunderland fall to 9th, having now lost two in a row and with little prospect of a new manager bounce occurring as the mood at the club remains dark following Mowbray's sudden departure.

For me the transfer and wage budget element alone is why it's not realistic to expect a top half finish. I'm not saying it's impossible, but JDT shouldn't be judged harshly if we finish lower mid-table. Until the owners back the club properly, or ideally sell up to somebody who does have some ambition, we are at the mercy of having a manager who can get a small, underfunded team to significantly overperform. The fact only Plymouth and Rotherham have lower wage budgets than us, for me at least, says enough about what is realistic to expect. It also means, as far as I can see, that as soon as we appoint somebody who cannot get the team to overperform we are in big trouble.

You could argue top half of the table is unrealistic is because we have a bottom six wage and transfer budget - in fact, according to here - https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/championship-wage-bills-2023-24-leeds-leicester-southampton - we're bottom three for wage budget - no squad depth, shit, disinterested owners and constant injuries to key players. Nothing to suggest any of that will change in the second half of the season. I don't foresee the return of Gallagher or Hedges giving us any significant boost as both are bang average Championship players who have only come to first team prominence on the back of having no transfer budget to replace departing players or bring in suitable players for positions (striker) where we desperately need better. Tomasson overachieving with what he has available is why we've been doing well up until now, and why him leaving is a fearful prospect. We have an okay first eleven, even with injuries taken into account, but no squad depth and no reliable goalscorer beyond Szmodics.

Late or just first. I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of points we've accrued over the past five years, after going behind first, are in the single digits or very close to.

Probably the season where we had Kean and Eastwood in nets, pretty much guaranteed a catastrophic mistake every game. Fair to say this hasn't been our finest season in terms of goalkeeping mind.

Despite Ipswich having been in top form for pretty much the entirety of the season thus far, the visit of Norwich was always going to be a tricky tie. The East Anglian derby hadn't come to Portman Road in five years, with Ipswich being stuck in League 1 for a prolonged period and Norwich having brief stints in the Premier League. Ipswich have been significantly better than Norwich so far this season, but hadn't beaten their neighbours since 2009. The curse seemed to be lifting as Nathan Broadhead put the home side ahead on 34 minutes, but goals just before and just after half-time by Jonathan Rowe put the Canaries in a familiar position of being in the lead against the Blues. Wes Burns equalised for Ipswich in the 60th minute, and they dominated the match from this point onwards, but were unable to further breach the Norwich backline and had to settle for sharing the points. Norwich are now four games unbeaten, having collected eight points from the last twelve, and sit in 10th place, five points from the playoffs. Ipswich remained in 2nd place, level on points with Leicester and eleven points clear of Leeds... However, Leeds would now have an opportunity for the first time in five games to actually gain some ground on Ipswich. Having lost their last game away to Sunderland, a home match against lowly Coventry represented an excellent chance for Daniel Farke's team to close the gap a little. Considering Leeds play Ipswich at home on Dec 23rd, picking up three points here became even more imperative. Alas, despite going a goal up in the 58th minute, Leeds were pegged back in the 66th minute and squandered their opportunity to pull closer to Ipswich as the game fizzled out into a 1-1 draw. Daniel Farke bemoaned Coventry setting up to be compact and defensive, but whilst I'm sure he'd love every team to set up like Rovers last week, this is how teams without parachute payments get results against teams who do have them. Failure to win means Leeds are still ten points adrift of Ipswich in 2nd and Leicester in 1st, but Leicester have a game in hand on both clubs - played away to Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City™ on Monday. Coventry are 15th, with the second-most draws in the division behind Huddersfield. Sunderland had won their first two games under interim manager Mike Dodd, following the sacking of Tony Mowbray, but the honeymoon period came to an end at Ashton Gate as Bristol City beat the Black Cats 1-0. A 20th minute penalty decided a game which Sunderland otherwise dominated and arguably deserved at least a point from. Bristol City boss Liam Manning won't be feeling hugely sympathetic though, as he desperately needed a win having seen his side lose three and draw one of the last four matches. A win here lifts them to 14th position, whilst Sunderland fall outside of the playoffs into 7th place. It was Hull City who benefited from Sunderland's slip-up, with the Tigers recording a comfortable 3-0 win over a lacklustre Cardiff City at the KCOM. Hull have bounced back from two defeats in a row by recording two wins in succession, lifting them back into the playoffs and putting them three points clear of Sunderland in 7th. The general poor form of the inconsistent teams below 6th means that Hull have a four point gap from Preston in 8th and a five point gap on Watford, Norwich and Rovers in 9th, 10th and 11th respectively. As far as Cardiff are concerned, four defeats in the last five matches has bombed them out of playoff contention, as they now sit six points from 6th position, falling to 12th place. Bluebirds Boss Erol Bulut admitted post-match that there was a gulf in quality between his side and Hull, and that he had put too much expectation on his team by previously suggesting they could be in playoff contention. Joe Edwards looked set to pick up three points as Millwall manager for the first time in six matches at home to struggling Huddersfield, with his side 1-0 up and the crowd baying for the final whistle as the game drew to a close. Their opponents, however, are the draw-specialists of the division and enhanced that reputation by salvaging a point with a 97th minute goal - and even worse for Millwall, it was a penalty, given for a handball against George Saville. The draw does very little for either team, with Millwall failing to win in nine of their last ten matches and Huddersfield only winning once in twelve matches. Such horrendous runs of form would typically see teams plunged into the relegation zone, but the quality of the bottom three has somehow been even worse, sparing both teams such a fate thus far. However, that could all change depending on the result of... Sheffield Wednesday Vs QPR, taking place at Hillsborough. QPR would have been able to escape the bottom three in midweek had they beaten Plymouth at home, but a disappointing goalless draw kept them in 22nd. They had a second bite of the cherry here, with a win guaranteed to take them out of the relegation zone due to Millwall and Huddersfield playing each other. For the second time in a row, however, the Hoops spurned the chance to give themselves a huge psychological boost by taking themselves out of the bottom three. Things were going well, with QPR a goal ahead and the game coming to a close, but an 86th minute equaliser from Bailey Cadamarteri changed everything. Anthony Musaba would dramatically seal all three points for the Owls with a 94th minute winner. The result ends QPR's four game unbeaten run, and means Sheffield Wednesday have somewhat implausibly won three of their last four matches. Before beating Rovers a couple of weeks back, Wednesday had only won once all season. Now they've won four matches, but remain in 23rd. They pull to within four points of QPR, and six points of Millwall and Huddersfield - who thanks to this result continue to survive on the fringes of the relegation zone in 20th and 21st respectively. QPR stay in 22nd but lose some ground on the teams directly above them, going from one to two points adrift. Having had a huge opportunity to get themselves into a solid position with games at home to Plymouth and away to Wednesday, QPR instead still find themselves in trouble. If they'd managed four points from those two games, they'd be in 20th right now. Six points would have lifted them to 19th, ahead of Stoke. Daniel Ayala continued his one man mission to have Christmas and New Year off, as he got himself sent off for the second successive game. He's the first player to achieve that this season. At the point Ayala was sent off, Rotherham were already 2-1 behind away to Plymouth. Despite Ayala's 55th minute sending off giving his team mates far more work to do, the Millers found themselves level in the 77th minute and appeared to be on their way to earning a respectable draw against a Plymouth team who have a decent home record. In the end it wasn't to be, however, as Plymouth scored a 96th minute winner to doom Rotherham to yet another away defeat. They've lost nine of their eleven away matches and drawn the other two. Plymouth are in fact the only other team in the division not to have won a single away match, but they have the 5th best home record in the league, winning seven of their eleven home matches. Rotherham meanwhile aren't much better at home, only winning twice at the New York Stadium this season. This is why Plymouth sit in a relatively comfortable 16th place, in spite of their away form, and Rotherham are rooted to the bottom of the division, nine points from safety. Preston went 1-0 up against Watford after 27 minutes, and from that point onwards their afternoon became a nightmare. It was only 1-1 at half time, but a second half blitz from the Hornets meant that the game ended 5-1 in Watford's favour, as PNE boss Ryan Lowe saw his team crumble in embarrassing fashion. Not for the first time this season, either. It's a third home defeat in a row for Preston, who every so often look like the may be getting back to something resembling decent form before inevitably collapsing again. PNE have only picked up four points from the last twelve available and fall to 8th, four points behind Hull in 6th. Their GD of -10 is the worst in the division outside of the bottom four. Watford, on the other hand, are building up a head of steam with ten points from the last fifteen available pushing them up to 9th in the table, five points from the playoff positions. Rovers failed to restore any pride to Lancashire, losing 4-0 to Southampton in a game we barely even competed in. We looked beaten from the first whistle and so it came to be, although as the game came to a close, 2-0 didn't seem quite so bad - especially considering we had been reduced to ten-men in the 55th minute thanks to Callum Brittain leaving his brain in the dressing room at half time. Unfortunately goals in the 97th and 99th minute piled on the misery for our poor, hardy away fans. Can't say we deserved anything other than what we got, so a big thanks to Venky's for leaving us in a position where we can only hope not to get utterly smashed by the bigger clubs in the division. We aren't even capable of fighting it out Sparky/Big Sam style. A third defeat in five sees us drop to 11th, the gap to the playoffs increasing to five points. Southampton remain in 4th but are now level with Leeds in 3rd, both teams on 42 points. Michael Carrick's Boro put a three-game losing streak behind them as they fought for a 2-1 victory against Swansea at the Swansea.com Stadium. Another astonishingly creative name there. The Swans, still without a manager, were unbeaten in three, having won one and drawn one since Michael Duff's departure, but they tasted defeat here to bring that run to an end. It leaves Swansea sitting in 18th place, five points clear of the relegation zone. Boro move up to 13th, six points from the playoff positions. Sunday's match saw another managerless team in Stoke give a spirited away performance against West Brom, fighting to earn themselves a point in a 1-1 draw at the Hawthorns. It was a second 1-1 draw in a row for caretaker manager, former Rover Paul Gallagher, which represents a small improvement over the four-game losing streak that former boss Alex Neil had departed on. QPR's defeat on Saturday means that the additional point pulls the Potters three points clear of the relegation zone. WBA's form has been rocky lately, with just four points gained from the last twelve available. They still hold on to 5th position for the time being, but Hull are now level on points with the Baggies. Both are some way behind Southampton and Leeds, though, so one would imagine it will be a fight for 5th and 6th between the remaining teams during the second half of the season. I will add Leicester's match against Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City™ here after tomorrow.

Think Kompany is doing a top job at Burnley personally. Keep up the good work.

JDT has said as much in his press conferences, he'd rather lose 5-4 than scrape a 1-0 win, or something. It's how he wants to play, for better or for worse, and I guess it's why we go through periods where we hardly ever draw.

Maybe Rotherham are a little more thorough with checking injuries, so this is the only way for him to get his usual winter break in.

Certainly raises some question marks around the medical advice he's been given.

These days you have to accept us losing the moment we concede first, but would have been nice not to have our GD smashed in the process. Especially as we'd kept it to a somewhat respectable 2-0 until the last couple of minutes. With that said, when you lose 4-0 and your goalkeeper is still PotM... yeah. This was one to forget.

I appreciate Southampton are far ahead of us as far as resources and talent are concerned, but it's disappointing to feel like we haven't even put up a fight today. Even against Leicester and Leeds I felt like we gave it a go, but today it's like the lads haven't wanted to be there, JDT set up up for a 0-0 at best and Brittain epitomises the whole thing by seemingly purposefully getting himself a boxing day suspension. Really disheartening.

Extremely poor in terms of professionalism from Brittain. If we had any kind of squad depth I'd be sitting him on the bench for some time to come in JDT's shoes, but alas, he'll be straight back in once his suspension is served with no consequences as we have no backup.