I would say their chances of survival are so remote it isn't really worth debating. The team they have now isn't going to hit playoff form. They'll do well to surpass relegation form. They should however continue with the great escape mentality. It's not like they can really do anything else.

Remember when Jason Lowe was 'the scapegoat'? Now he can't even get into Bolton's starting eleven. When players are regularly criticised it's usually because they are continually failing to contribute. Armstrong's stats prove this so the idea that he's a scapegoat is laughable. He's just not performing and it's rightly being pointed out, particularly because we have other options that aren't being used to try and address that issue. Worth noting that it isn't necessarily Armstrong's fault. It might just be that he can't play effectively in the poisition/role the manager has assigned him. Look at Williams. Poor at LB for most of his tenure here, but suddenly looks like a totally different player at CB in a role he's clearly much more comfortable in. My feeling is that Armstrong would be most effective playing with a target man with two up top, but I can't see that happening in the near future so it's fair to question whether he should be in the starting eleven with our current system.

Was Lowe actually dropped in favour of these free transfer plodders they've brought in?

Stoke lose again. Granted having somebody sent off after 12 minutes doesn't help matters.

Tony and his bants. What a card.

Maybe Williams is our answer to DG? Top goalscorer now isn't he?

Last few times we've played 3 at the back it's failed miserably and disappeared for months. Will be interesting to see if the new personnel make things any better.

Wtf.

But we started the season with Gallagher up top and Armstrong/Rothwell on the right, so if that is his answer then he seems to have come up with it ad hoc.

We aren't really playing a new system though. Not yet, anyway. The only difference is more passing along the backline and occasionally a hoof to the right as opposed to solely down the centre. Still a long way to go before we're playing a style that doesn't suit a DG type target man, imo.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49687098 Boro set to sue the EFL over Derby's stadium-sale FFP dodge.

Based on our lacklustre attacking threat without Graham on the pitch so far this season I wouldn't be particularly keen to let him go now. At the end of the season, sure, but I see no benefit in mutually terminating his contract when he's currently still an important player for us. Not convinced Gallagher or Armstrong would be able to fill the void.

Basically the same as last season then. Only difference is that sometimes the long balls are pinged to the right wing as opposed to only down the centre, and it's more from the defenders than the goalkeeper. Not exactly a sweeping change in style. With that said if we win matches we could have played a thousand long balls and I wouldn't care. Not convinced the way we play is going to have any long-term success though.

Venky's chose to go with their own "advisers" - whomever they were and still are - over the likes of John Williams, Tom Finn, Paul Hunt and countless other experienced people (including our fans) who tried to warn them that they were driving us off a cliff. Their arrogance and stupidity has destroyed the club and "badly advised" doesn't even come close to being a good enough reason to forgive and forget what they've done. As recently as 2016 they took what was essentially a done deal for Warnock and intervened to replace with with former SEM client Owen Coyle, effectively relegating us before the season had even started.

Every team in an elite competition should have a chance of winning it, but the likes of Red Star Belgrade, L. Moscow, C. Moscow, AEK Athens, Shaktar, Hoffenheim, Viktoria Pizen and Young Boys from last season's competition never had a hope in hell of winning it. Most of them are worse than a fair few of the teams that qualified for the Europa League. These aren't elite teams and whilst one of them may pull off the odd surprise result most of the time they just get steamrolled by the better teams. It's only when you get to the knockout stages and the poor teams have been weeded out that you get a genuine, elite competition.

A risky move, but it'll be interesting to see how the Cowley brothers get on. There haven't been too many managers who have come up from the lower divisions in recent times and had success. Hurst failed at Ipswich, Jones is having a tough time at Stoke. It's a big challenge for them but Huddersfield have a good squad so there's a chance they can turn it around there.

I usually only start watching the CL in February when the knockout stages begin. The groups are extremely boring and largely predictable.

OK, thread now locked.

They've only done a few PPVs and don't have a TV product until October so it's understandable that the matches would be more style than substance at the moment. You can only do so much with YouTube as a promotion tool. They're trying to make a huge impression with the matches to get people to tune into the regular product on TNT. The ladder match between The Young Bucks & Pentagon and Fenix at All Out was sensational. So much so that it kind of overshadowed the main event (which I thought was a bit of a disappointment).

Honestly I think with the coaching we have in place Raya would likely not have improved much if at all. His career will likely benefit being somewhere that better suits his strengths rather than his weaknesses. It sounds like he's doing more short distribution at Brentford rather than the long punts he was doing here. Ironically we seem to be attempting to play from the back more this season so he might have actually improved on this aspect, but we'll never know.

In fairness when Joe expanded it was more like 95% hated or disliked Kean, and you can call the other 5% an outlier as trolls or oddballs.

Yep. I've had some people suggest to me that it's only because Rovers aren't in the PL, but it isn't that. I was still watching MOTD and PL games long after we were relegated. It's only been in the last couple of years (particularly as the City/Liverpool axis has started to make the rest of the league look especially embarrassing) that I've just totally lost all interest. I'd obviously take some interest in it again if by some miracle we got promoted, as I'd have no choice, but unless that happens I don't see myself getting back into top flight football for some time.

The current Premier League is so sterile that I've lost all interest in it. I haven't watched MOTD or any PL highlights for months, possibly even nearly a year now. I still enjoy following the lower leagues and watch the EFL highlights on Quest, but I have literally zero interest in following the PL beyond the absolute basics. Also the FA, EFL and football authorities in general. Incompetent, lying, arrogant fools who are only interested in lining their own pockets - and they don't even do a particularly good job with that, as the Championship TV rights are imo highly undervalued.

Sheff Weds set to appoint Monk as manager. So much for his long exile from football!

I'm really enjoying AEW tbh. Can't wait for them to get started on TNT. The biggest benefit to AEW starting up is that it's kicked WWE up the backside and got them moving in a different direction. They reportedly even had a few promos that weren't fully scripted this week.