Gallagher probably wouldn't have been fit for Yuki or Mak to benefit from tbf, so I don't think it matters much. Losing Szmodics was definitely the major blow we suffered, and I imagine we'll be increasingly feeling that loss as the season goes on. The thing is Mak looked the part in his first few matches. He was getting into good positions, was making defenders uncomfortable and created some good chances. Still didn't really look like scoring, but didn't look out of his depth either. Since the red card, though, he's been struggling massively. The last thing we need is yet another player who can only contribute when he's feeling confident. We need players who, even when things aren't going their way, can give us a 7/10 performance in most matches. I feel that Yuki is capable of this, but Mak is becoming an increasing concern.

I watched MOTD last night and it was pretty pathetic how Guardiola and the pundits were lavishing praise upon Martin as some kind of visionary. Southampton are bottom and haven't won a match ffs.

I'm not sure about Mak. He's a striker by trade but he's not very good at scoring, which isn't ideal. 3 assists so far is OK, but he'd need to contribute a lot of those to negate the lack of goalscoring. He started off well but the red card really seemed to derail his momentum. There is talent there, but a non-scoring striker is rarely a good thing in the long run. Yuki is a solid, hard-worker. He'll chip in over the course of the season, but he's not a regular game-changer in the way Szmods, Arma or BBD, for example, could be when they were on form. When we lost that in Arma, BBD unexpectedly stepped up (for half a season per season anyway). When BBD left, Szmods unexpectedly stepped up in a massive way. We're finally at a point where the unexpected hero just isn't there anymore, so, as you say, we need to adapt - and that means everyone has to contribute more and we need to remain defensively resolute. Eustace seems to have, for the most part, got the defensive part nailed down. We aren't conceding many as of late. Unfortunately, offensively, we aren't getting the 'everyone contributing more' part of the equation - instead we have people missing chances they should be taking, and at best playing at their level rather than above what we're accustomed to. The only person who's scored more than 2 goals so far is Yuki, with 4. In terms of assists Mak leads the way with 3, but Cantwell and Brittain are more impressive with 2 from 7 and 6 appearances respectively - Mak's had 11 apps and his 3 assists all came before his red card - he's also never completed a full game for us, with 65 mins the longest he's been on the pitch for. If we're relying on Yuki as our main scoring threat then we will probably struggle unless we keep a very, very tight defence for the rest of the season. It feels like Cantwell, Brittain and Dolan will be the main source of assists. Cantwell is still an unknown quantity at the moment whilst Brittain and Dolan have not exactly been consistent performers over the course of their careers here. I think we've overachieved based on the team we have thus far, and will need to continue doing so to be comfortable. Eustace seems to have found a working formula, at the moment, for our matches at Ewood. The issue will be if teams find a way to compromise that formula - and in that case we will need to make sure we've found something that works on the road too in the event we need to readjust what we're doing at home. There's nothing to panic about at the moment, but I think the warning signs are there and there's work to be done to ensure we stay stable. Eustace has a lot to think about and it'll be a real test of his abilities as a manager. If he places us in mid-table by the end of the season I think he'll have done a very good job. I don't consider playoffs realistic, regardless of our start, so I'm not going to judge him based on us being in the top six. I appreciate the limitations he's working with, and hope that he can find ways to get the absolute best out of what he has to keep us safe for this season. For the record, I don't like that this is my level of expectation, but... Venky's.

To be honest I can understand wanting to upgrade on Hladky as I'm not sure he's PL quality... the problem is that neither is Muric and it was indeed looks like an egregious waste of money. It seems to be a case of relying too much on whatever data model they have. If they'd sent anyone to do some serious scouting on him I can't believe anyone with working eyesight would have recommended signing him. With that said I don't think they've necessarily wasted the £100m they've spent - if the goal is to yoyo between divisions and come back stronger next time. They've signed some players with potential that could come good for them over time, assuming they keep them if they go down. If the idea was to stay in the PL then their transfer strategy was probably not the right one. Depends on what the wage structure looks like really. Assuming Palace lose tomorrow against Spurs then somehow despite not winning any matches in their first 9, Ipswich will remain outside the relegation zone, as the three teams below them have also failed to register a single victory thus far. They can't rely on all of the teams below them being this bad for the entire season though.

Can't see any of our players getting double figures. Would be nice for Gueye to get at least one league goal, but he can't shoot properly so it'll have to go in off his arse or elbow. Won't be through any kind of technique or skill. Yuki is decent but he'll never be a Szmodics, an Arma or even a BBD. This is probably the season where our improbable luck with a player randomly having a storming season in front of goal runs out.

It does seem that way unfortunately. Awful afternoon again for Ipswich. Let a 2-0 lead slip, at 3-2 go down to 10 men. Have the fortitude to keep going and draw it back to 3-3... then throw it away in the 96th minute. Deary me. Burnley have absolutely robbed them when it comes to Muric. Terrible keeper. Walton would be an upgrade.

Think the club may see the season as a free hit to a degree, but from a fan perspective never winning will wear thin quickly.

As Eustace said recently, 50 points is the goal. With this squad it's the only realistic ambition, as sad as that is to say. Venky's Out

Szmodics and Hirst putting Ipswich 2-0 up against Brentford. Hirst with an assist as well.

2 goals in 5 games is a very worrying stat. We've stopped scoring and will go into November winless away from home. Better hope our home form stays strong or, much like last season, we're going to go tumbling.

You can generally always tell purely AI generated prose. It has a very specific kind of structure to it that's recognisable immediately if you've used AI enough in the past. Just that uncanny valley sensation of almost being real, but not quite. What I have enjoyed doing recently is letting AI generate insights into things that I've written. It digs out themes and observations that I hadn't even considered, and helped me refine my focus when adding to that narrative in future. For the analysis side of things, AI is very good. Also for repairing or reconstructing things. From a generative perspective, mostly derivative at this point in time. Fun, but kind of soulless and loses its appeal quite quickly.

Problem is he's had his chance plenty of times before and rarely shows up when he's a regular starter. Not too dissimilar to Dolan in this regard, except Dolan will actually chase and harry even if he's having a poor game. Siggy is a total luxury player and we aren't strong enough as a team to afford playing with 10 men for 80 minutes of each match, on the off chance every so often Siggy might actually do something useful (appreciate you didn't mention starting him, but I've certainly seen it suggested elsewhere). When he leaves at the end of the season (or January), frankly, little of value will be lost and we'll continue just fine without him. It's a shame as I had high hopes for Siggy, but the work ethic isn't there and it's the one thing you arguably need most in this league to be truly effective. In regards to the game, OK result, little more to say. Performances are still a concern but if we keep picking up points then I won't complain. Our sudden lack of goal threat should be flagged as a real worry though - we've only scored 2 goals in our last 4 matches. Fortunately in the last two we've kept the back door shut, and two clean sheets is great, but it's worrying how our goals have dried up so rapidly.

Feels like it is after you mentioned that stat 😅 but yeah, we seem to know how to get results at Ewood so in theory no reason we can't beat West Brom as well. I'm mainly relieved that we've cut off the downward spiral before it got going. Gives me some hope that Eustace is the one to finally get a grip on our tendency to collapse when things start going against us.

I'll take that. Not a great performance at all, but after the last two results especially we just needed three points. A clean sheet even better.

I'm still a long way from feeling like I can judge Eustace definitively yet. Last season was a survival job and he managed it, one way or another. This season we were among the favourites to potentially be relegated and our start has been better than expected, albeit with a couple of recent performances which show we're a long way from being a solid team. I feel like the next two home games - both in terms of performance and team selection - will give a better idea as to where we are, but it's going to take a while before I'd be confident in saying extend his contract or get rid of him. Too early to say one way or another at the moment, and I still have the overwhelming sense that until the ownership changes we're doomed to tread water, at best, no matter what.

I would be shocked if Netflix does any kind of follow up. Considering they are now in a deep partnership with WWE, they'll be aware that any further digging into the worst aspects of McMahon and WWE could damage the brand as a whole. This documentary was designed to bring casual fans up to speed on WWE history, whilst painting Vince as a piece of shit - and emphasising that he's now gone from the company, so no need to worry about that anymore. Dark Side of the Ring has done a lot more to expose WWE and Vince's truly disgusting behaviour, and there's also a six part Behind the Bastards podcast on Vince which I'd highly recommend, as it goes into far more detail. As far as the recent charges against McMahon are concerned, Janel Grant's lawsuit is online in painful detail and if you can stomach it, then it's worth reading to get the full picture of how depraved Vince (and those surrounding him) are. It's pretty horrendous though, so not something you'd want to read if you can't deal with stuff like that. As far as Ashley Massaro's suicide is concerned, the details are much more horrific than just Massaro refusing to go along with storylines, unfortunately. She was raped on an overseas tour whilst she was drugged by somebody in the US military, and WWE covered the whole thing up. No charges, nothing. Funnily enough the documentary didn't cover that. I would imagine her suicide had a lot to do with that incident, and Vince is far from the only one with her blood on his hands. Fact is plenty of people inside and outside the industry knew what Vince was about for decades before the recent allegations finally took him down. He benefited from the media largely ignoring wrestling because it's always been considered low-brow and unworthy of serious reporting. In a way, WWE's ascension into a more respected form of entertainment over the past decade or so laid the groundwork for Vince's downfall. Not to mention the fact that the current allegations were so horrific that even Vince couldn't escape the fallout this time.

A good management and coaching setup can do it - or if not, move the player on and bring in a more suitable option. At a normal club, anyway. Not all players are capable, but I don't see Dolan's flaws as something so deeply ingrained that they couldn't be improved with some serious coaching. But then, we don't seem to have too many players in the team who have improved their game at all. Pears has always oscillated between looking reasonable and looking awful. Brittain has always been crap at defending and sometimes decent at attacking (before him, Nyambe was the opposite). Carter hasn't really improved noticeably. Hyam has actually gone backwards. Pickering continues to be a 6, occasionally 7/10 performer who occasionally has a stinker. Trav inconsistent but ultimately not really any different to the player he was 3 or 4 years ago. Dolan continues to be very inconsistent. Gallagher never improved during his time here. Hedges hasn't added anything to his game since arriving. Adam Wharton had obvious potential and should have been tearing this league apart, but we never really got the best out of him and as a result he had to go to Palace before bigger clubs realised he could fulfil his potential and started circling. It should have been obvious here, and it could have led to a bidding war which meant we got a lot more than the £18m we sold him for. As it stood, only a single PL club was seriously interested, which is ridiculous but seemingly Rovers weren't doing enough with him as a player to make his best attributes obvious. Not even going to get into the likes of Vale, Leonard, Buckley, etc who have gone absolutely nowhere despite being highly regarded at youth level. There will be plenty of others in that category. Now, you could just say we have an entire squad of players incapable of any improvements or changes to their game, but I don't consider that very likely. What often happens is that the players we have with potential (going all the way back to the likes of Josh King and Tom Cairney) get bought by other clubs and significantly improve, having never really progressed here. Brereton is perhaps the one exception I can think of in recent times, but the Chile situation arguably played a bigger part in that than Rovers did,. and he still often reverted to BB from BBD when his confidence was shot. Armstrong basically left us with the same attributes he came to us with - pace and good Championship level finishing ability. Ash Philips was stolen from us before he ever got to the first team. The players deserve criticism to some degree, but when I see lack of progression in the vast majority of them year after year (at least at senior level), and this mentality issue that has been around for a decade now, I have to conclude that the club's structure is a bigger problem than the players on the pitch. Some players with potential will play well enough, irrespective of coaching, to get a move elsewhere. Players with capped potential, which is inevitably what we're left with these days, need strong coaching to be effective. It's been a long time since I've seen any evidence of that. Granted, JDT did try, but he was attempting to get most of them to play at a level that was beyond them so it was unlikely to work long-term without backing from the owners to reshape the squad - which, obviously, was not forthcoming.

Staying true to their identity - wouldn't have it any other way.

I assume the game plan at Preston was similar, as from memory by the 35 minute mark neither side had a shot on goal. I think we do need to be a little more attacking on the road, although I can understand Eustace's attempt to be pragmatic as our defence is susceptible to bring breached. It's a difficult balancing act but we do seem to need a bit of adjustment somewhere.

Lol yeah indeed, I lumped him into the wrong bracket there. With him it's more general question marks over professionalism.

I'd be okay with Dolan and Hedges continuing as squad players with a wage that reflects that. I think both are good options to come off the bench, for different reasons. I wouldn't want them re-signing as first team players with wages reflecting that, as I just don't think either are in that bracket if we have any serious ambition to ever get out of this league. Now, if you're factoring in Venky's, our lack of budget and the chances of us signing worse than Dolan and Hedges as replacements... well, it's a different conversation. Depends how much faith you have in the recruitment team continuing to work with what is likely to be a minuscule budget.

Ultimately whenever he gets a run in the first team, he's usually struck down by injury soon afterwards. It's been a common theme in his time with us and. as you note, even at the beginning of this season he was struggling and put in a couple of pretty poor performances which were attributed by most to him not being fit. If he can keep himself injury-free then he's one of the few players I'd be happy to keep, as I like his versatility and think he's a great player when he's fit and on form - but I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that his fitness issues are a big part of the reason he hasn't nailed down a place in the team or on the pitch. One of the other issues we have with JRC is that he wants to play CM - by his own public admission - but his best performances have come from RB/RWB. There could also be a clash there between him and Eustace, if JE would prefer to play him on the right but JRC is adamant about being in the centre. I imagine JRC would play on the right if he had to, but, we keep playing Carter there with JRC on the bench, so... I don't know.

His injury record surely plays a part in that. Very difficult to have a position nailed down or be relied upon as a central part of the team when you're out of action as often as he has been. Obviously not his fault, but it is what it is.

As I say mate, when it comes to Rovers we've seen this script before. There's still a lot of players - Pears, Hyam, Brittain, Pickering, Travis, Dolan, Hedges, Sigurdsson, JRC - who have been a part of our regular collapses. It isn't Eustace's fault, as he doesn't have the scope to completely remodel the team, but I'd need to see a lot of these players go before I'd be optimistic about our chances of bouncing back from setbacks. I can't just reset my memories and forget what they've been a part of in previous seasons. Raising hopes only to completely destroy those hopes time after time. A lot of the players in the team have burned me as a fan too many times before. I don't really trust or believe in them. I know they have talent, which they occasionally show, but the mentality isn't there and for many of them probably never will be. Most of them could get away with it in a team of stronger personalities, but in one where they make up a significant portion of the first team... not so much. I like some of the players we've brought in and think many of them do have a better mentality, but not enough of them are regular starters. They're either veterans in and around the fringes of the first team (McFadz, Weimann, Batth, Baker), youngsters (Duru, Beck, ACD) or relative unknowns in this division (Cantwell, Gueye, Ohashi, Toth). If at least some of them could push the usual suspects out of the team then that would be a start. I suppose we'll see as the season goes on. I would absolutely love to be wrong and see the lads steel themselves and put these past two poor results behind them, showing the fans that things have changed. Maybe that will happen - we live in hope - but past experiences just leave me in a pessimistic place at the moment.

Honestly can't see him getting more than 4 or 5 with the way he shoots, and I'm sure I read before we signed him that he wasn't much good with his head either. We don't really play in a way where he'd have a lot of chances to fire a header towards goal anyway. He's got 3 league assists so far and I think he could get into double figures there, as he has shown capability for an incisive attacking pass. In terms of goals, though... I'd love him to prove me wrong, but I don't see him scoring many. Other players are going to need to step up there if we're going to play him as our primary striker. Goes without saying that's a bit of a concern.