As I said, most of the shots were no-hopers so it didn't matter yesterday, but our goals conceded column shows it has mattered against better teams. Even Rotherham, who are worse than QPR this season, put a couple past us. It was fantastic to keep a clean sheet yesterday and there's nothing to complain about as far as the result or overall performance is concerned. Just a minor concern.

The only thing that concerned me yesterday was the amount of shots QPR had at our goal - 21. Now obviously QPR weren't very good and quite a few of those shots were no-hopers anyway, but we need to try and reduce the amount of shots teams have at our goal, as we've seen better teams have been punishing us for that.

Only Watford on the opening day have put four past QPR, and Leeds only managed one in QPR's last match, so we shouldn't sell ourselves short. It was an impressive display of goalscoring today and exactly what we needed to boost morale at a time when it could have started dropping after repeated defeats.

Friday night's result saw Birmingham continue to bounce back from their recent poor run of form, as they beat WBA 3-1 at home to record their second win in a row. Albion had been on a decent little run having not lost in four and won their last two, but this match was a bump back down to Earth - even moreso after today's results as they fall from 5th all the way down to 11th. Birmingham meanwhile creep back into the playoffs in 6th spot, having improved their goals scored and maintaining a fairly solid defence. Sunderland's recent good form counted for little as they found themselves heavily beaten 4-0 at the Stadium of Light in the Teeside derby. Old Tone watched on as his boyhood club ran rampant, recording their largest ever win against Sunderland. The game was goalless at half time, but a sending off for a second bookable offence (dissention) for Dan Neil gave Boro the impetus to push on in the second half, and did they ever take the initiative. Post-Match Mowbray suggested that 'gesticulating' at the ref should not result in a booking/sending off. Nonetheless, the result doesn't do Sunderland too much immediate harm as they remain in 4th place, although the result has put a bit of a dent in their goal difference - which still stands at a decent +8. Boro fans must feel like they're watching a rerun of last season, as their team storms up the table after a dismal start to the season. It was Boro's fourth win in a row and they now haven't lost in five matches, with their last defeat being to the mighty Rovers. They are now 16th. Watford's run of defeats came to an end as they battled for a point away to Cardiff, with the match ending one a piece in an evenly contested contest. Despite this Watford are still without a win in five, and have only taken three points from two matches this season. They are now 20th. Cardiff sit in 8th, having picked up two points from the last six available. Draw specialists Coventry once again found themselves sharing the points, this time at home with a 1-1 draw against Norwich. It's their sixth draw of the season and the highest amount of draws in the division. They'll likely take this point gratefully though, as it was an 88th minute own goal that saved them from a narrow defeat. Coventry remain in 13th and Norwich in 7th. Preston's nightmare run of form continued in earnest as Ipswich handed them a 4-2 defeat at Portman Road. It means Preston have now conceded eleven goals in their last three matches, decimating their goal dfference and leaving them on -2. The fact they somehow still remain in third, with a single point from the last twelve available, is a testament to how inconsistent the teams in this league not called Leciester or Ipswich have been and continue to be. Ipswich are now eight points clear of Preston in third, are the top scorers in the division with 25 goals and have won nine of their first eleven matches. It's a start to the season no Ipswich fan would have dreamed possible, but that's the Championship. As teams like Luton and Brentford have shown in recent years, a sensible plan, a good manager and reasonable owners is all you need to have a good shot at going up. Most clubs in the division fail on at least one of these, and often all three, making the division wide open every season. Leeds secured their second win in a row with a 2-1 victory over Bristol City at Elland Road. It's their third win in four matches and lifts them to 5th in the table, just a point behind Preston in 3rd. One imagines Leeds will ultimately be the team that is likely to really put pressure on Ipswich, although there's a hefty gap of nine points between the two sides at present. As Rovers fans know all too well though, a gap like that can vanish surprisingly quickly when the team hits a sticky patch. Despite a win last time out, this result means Bristol City have lost three of their last four matches and slip to 14th in the table. Leicester picked up their tenth win in eleven matches, with a 2-0 home win against Stoke City team who rarely troubled them. The result keeps Leicester top of the division, two points ahead of second placed Ipswich and ten ahead of third placed Preston. It was a sixth win in a row for Leicester, who look set to bounce back to the PL with ease at the first time of asking. For Stoke it's now three defeats in four, and they sink to 21st, two points clear of QPR in 22nd. Despite being 2-1 ahead, Hull were unable to secure maximum points at the Den, having to settle for a 2-2 draw against Millwall. Hull's recent poor form, with only a single win in their last five matches, has them falling further down to 9th in the league. Millwall's form remains erratic, and they sit in 15th. Despite taking an early lead, Plymouth ultimately fell to a 3-1 home defeat against a resurgent Swansea City side. It was the Swans fourth win in a row, and they haven't been defeated in five matches. Their good form has pushed them from the depths of the league into a secure 12th place. Four points from the last fifteen available has seen Plymouth drop to 18th in the standings. Rovers broke out of their recent slump in style as we hammered QPR 4-0 at Loftus Road. The stats make for dismal reading if you're a Rangers fan, and I'm not just talking about this match. One win in twenty home games. Failure to score in 50% of games so far this season. Since Ainsworth took over they've failed to score in 11 out of 25 games and from those 25 games have a goal difference of -28, with just 18 scored and 46 conceded. Basically, QPR are in major trouble and have to be considered massive candidates for the drop unless something changes very quickly. Rovers, so often hospitable to those on horrendous runs of form, were merciless today and piled on the misery in emphatic fashion. It ends a run of four straight defeats for Rovers, lifting us to 17th in the table. A clean sheet also helps our goal difference, taking us from -8 to -4. QPR meanwhile remain second worst attackers in the division with just eight goals scored, and have only collected two points from the last eighteen available. Sheffield Wednesday's winless start to the season continued as they drew 0-0 with former boss Darren Moore's Huddersfield at Hillsborough. The result underscores Wednesday's inability to put the ball in the net, as they have still only managed five goals this season and remain the least potent attacking force in the Championship. This result takes them to three points for the season overall, seven behind Stoke in 21st. Huddersfield were similarly toothless up front today, not managing a single shot on target. Moore remains winless since his appointment, with Huddersield having drawn four of their last five matches, losing the other. The result leaves them in 19th. Southampton will be hugely disappointed to have been held to a 1-1 draw at St. Mary's by a Rotherham side who picked up their first away point of the season. Despite dominating the match with 22 shots, 10 on target, the Saints were unable to make the pressure count and will be left to rue the chances they missed. Rotherham meanwhile will be thankful to have escaped with a point. The draw leaves Southampton in 10th position, a point behind Birmingham in 6th, whilst Rotherham remain in 23rd with the worst defence in the division and a solitary win to their name after eleven matches.

No complaints from me. Fantastic result and a clean sheet.

Lovely to see us finally give someone a pasting in the league.

When can we get Siggy signed up longer term?

Wage bill is about a million higher, which sounds like a lot but compared to other teams in the division is still small. Similar for transfer spend. The comparison wasn't directly to Rovers, as Venky's are obviously starving their "baby".

They're in a proper tailspin at the moment. Ipswich meanwhile starting the season like a parachute payment club, despite having one of the lower wage budgets in the division and no significant transfer outlay.

Just keep it steady at the back. Not trying to be greedy but let's grab a clean sheet too.

Delighted for Dolan, he really needed that.

Just comes down to the lack of quality. With a decent striker on the pitch I think we win the game Wednesday comfortably. That system would work if we had a proper finisher at the club. Unfortunately we don't, which is why JDT is being less pragmatic with his approach in most matches. He knows we need more chances than normal to score, and that puts huge pressure on a defence which has unfortunately not been able to cope, hence being joint worst in the division for goals conceded. Just a shit situation really, and it's all on the owners.

In fairness even his strongest team would highlight the problems created by those above him, so he doesn't need to make an effort.

Eh, Millwall away was a low pressure game as there would have had to have been a lot of results in our favour to come 6th. In the end we would have had to have won 16-0 or something to come 6th. The matches that mattered were before then, all of which we either lost or drew. A run of eight games without a win before that is where we threw everything away. By the time it got to the Millwall match we'd firmly placed ourselves in our favourite position of underdogs with a minor chance of sneaking in, but relying on other teams to do us a favour.

Indeed, people seem to forget sometimes he's a young and inexperienced manager. The way we play shows he has impressive coaching skills, but there's a lot more to management than coaching a team to play a certain style well. You only learn those things through experience, and one of the pitfalls of hiring rookie managers is that their growing pains will also be yours as a club. Occasionally it clicks immediately, as with McKenna at Ipswich. but more often than not time and patience are required. Goes without saying that the above becomes much harder when the owners are at best passively useless and at worst totally destructive.

It would also be an FU to the fans, and I don't think JDT would do that just to prove a point to his bosses. I think he has more integrity than that.

I know you will mate. Reach out if you need to vent or have somebody listen, my inbox is always open.

Really sorry to hear that mate. Take care of her and take care of yourself.

That's strange, a bit of a 180 from their usual stance of get rid at the first sign of trouble. Maybe they're changing stance, or just don't want to keep throwing away money on sacking and hiring managers and coaching staff.

Since Chansiri said he isn't putting any more money into the club, does that mean their next manager has to work for free?

I think that's the concern for me as well, this has been going on for a while. People talk about it 'clicking' but I think that's a fundamental misunderstanding of why we're struggling. The team clicks fine and plays good football. We just don't have the quality of players to make the current system effective, as we struggle to score and defend. That's an issue with setup and player quality, which won't magically fix itself by the team suddenly 'clicking', as much as I wish it was that simple.

As per the pessimism thread, optimism thread is just for optimistic posts. Literally every other thread on the board can be used for pessimistic takes or discussion.

Birmingham broke out of their recent slump in style with a 4-1 hammering of Huddersfield at St. Andrews. It was their first win in six matches, and having been struggling for goals recently, they'll be delighted with the scoreline. Having conceded a late equaliser against Ipswich in his managerial debut, Darren Moore will be very disappointed with this performance in his first away match at the helm. The game was marred by alleged racism towards Huddersfield's Juninho Bacuna from a home fan. Victory leaves Birmingham in 12th, whilst defeat puts Huddersfield in 19th. Ipswich showed no signs of slowing down as they handed Hull only their second defeat of the season with a comfortable 3-0 win at Portman Road. It means Ipswich have won eight of their first ten matches, only losing one so far. They remain tied with Leicester as top scorers in the division. Hull slip to 9th, as despite only having two defeats to their name, they've also only won one of their last five matches. Boro continue to climb up the table, recording a third win in three matches as they recorded a 2-0 home win against Cardiff. Their sudden upturn in form coincides with much better defensive displays. The result hauls them to 17th. Defeat for Cardiff ends a run of four successive league victories, and they drop to 8th. Plymouth's inconsistent form continues as they fell to a 2-0 home defeat to a Millwall side who have been struggling with their own inconsistent form as of late. Millwall 14th, Plymouth 16th. Southampton will be very pleased with a second win on the bounce and a clean sheet, as they edged a 1-0 victory at the Bet365 against a Stoke side whose form is failing to pick up. Stoke 18th, Southampton 10th. WBA condemned the division's worst team to another defeat, with a 1-0 win at the Hawthorns against a Sheff Wed side who already looked doomed for the drop. bottom of the table Wednesday have still only scored five goals this campaign and are already seven points adrift of Watford in 21st. WBA's win meanwhile pushes them to 5th - their second win in a row and undefeated in five. The bad times for Rovers roll on as Coventry stole a 1-0 win at the CBSA. Rovers continue to spurn chances and concede goals, equal with Rotherham as the competition's worst defence. It was Rovers' fourth defeat in a row and leaves fans increasingly looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone. Rovers drop below Huddersfield, with only Watford and QPR between them and the bottom three. Next match - QPR. Meanwhile it was a second successive win for Coventry - albeit only their third win of the season - and moves them up to 14th. Leeds bounced back from defeat last time out with a 1-0 home win against QPR, keeping QPR in 22nd and moving Leeds up to 6th. QPR have only collected two points from the last fifteen available, and just eight goals from their first ten matches suggests issues at the attacking end of the pitch. Leicester made easy work of Preston, who suffered their second defeat in a row with seven conceded and none scored. Tragic. With other teams in the Championship playing catchup, with a number of clubs recording lukewarm beginnings to the season, Preston cling on to 3rd spot for now - but they have fallen five points behind Ipswich in 2nd, and seven points behind Leicester who top the table with nine victories and a single defeat. One of the teams creeping up on Preston is Sunderland, who recorded a fourth win in five matches as they dispatched Watofrd at the Stadium of Light. I'm shocked Ismael remains in post, honestly, but maybe not for much longer as Watford succumbed to a third successive defeat, leaving them just outside the relegation zone in 21st. Sunderland meanwhile are now 4th, just a point behind faltering Preston, but with a significant number of teams only three points behind them. Swansea's third win in a row lifted them to 15th in the table, as they were able to overcome Norwich 2-1 at the Swansea.com stadium. Norwich have lost three of their last four matches, and despite a strong start to the season now find themselves just outside the playoff places in 7th. Twenty goals scored is a great return, but eighteen conceded will be a huge concern, as they register as one of the weakest defences in the division. Much like Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham also continue to look League One bound as they once again lost, this time 2-1 at home to Bristol City. All goals came in the closing stages, with Bristol City going ahead in the 81st minute, Rotherham equalising in the 86th minute, and the winner being scored in the 95th minute. The result leaves Rotherham in 23rd, with a single win, two draws and seven defeats to their name. They share most goals conceded with Rovers. Bristol City had lost their last two, so this was a welcome three points for them, and leaves them 11th in the league standings.

We can keep changing managers, but until the root problem is addressed we will remain on this path to slow oblivion - and we all know what that root cause is.

With better quality we win that match, but you can say that about a lot of our defeats. The fact is the quality is not there, and Szmodics is the only fit player capable of scoring at anything resembling a regular pace. If he gets injured we are completely sunk. Venky's have absolutely destroyed this team with their summer shenanigans. What I fear is that, with these repeated defeats, the confidence will drain from the players we do have out there. They aren't really good enough as it is, but without any confidence it could get very grim. Huge game against QPR now.