DE.

Competition for places is never a bad thing. We've had a long stretch where many of our first eleven have been default selections, due to our bench being so weak. We're finally in a position where a number of players have challengers for their spots, and that can only motivate everyone to perform better - and it'll weed out any who can't handle the pressure of competition and shouldn't be starters anyway.

Ohashi's first goal was a superb finish, but lots of credit to Dolan for a fantastic assist, Second goal was all Yuki. Picks it up in a fairly unthreatening position, charges into the box, befuddles the defender and then curls a picture-perfect shot into the corner of the net. Brilliant stuff.

Yuki taking his chance with Gueye suspended. You love to see it.

We look very solid. Bristol City so far totally nullified. Can't deny that Eustace is doing a fantastic job so far this season, and Park/Rudy seem to have really come through under difficult circumstances as well. Eventually Venky's will pull some rabbit out of the hat to wreck our momentum, as they always do, but if we had decent owners I'd be very optimistic under the current setup.

One imagines he goes out on loan to a couple of PL clubs over the next few seasons to get him regular game time and see how his progression goes. Worst case scenario, based on the current market, he doesn't improve as hoped and gets sold - most likely for more than the club brought him in for. Best case scenario he fulfills his potential and becomes a regular fixture for the club he originally signed for. Barring a catastrophic injury, which is a risk for all players, or a sudden attitude problem, I'd say buying a talent like Wharton for £18m is very low risk. If the Man Utd version of Casemiro and McTominay can be regulars at a supposedly big PL club, Wharton definitely can be.

Bizarre that a bigger club didn't take a punt on Wharton at the price he was being sold for. English, young, cut-price, tons of upside and the price we were willing to sell at was a drop in the ocean to these clubs. Especially for a player who was ready to be a part of a first-team squad, even if only on the bench initially.

Why top 4 when 3-6 ultimately compete for the same prize at the end anyway? If Parker finishes 6th and goes up in the playoffs then it's the same as finishing 4th and doing the same. You're either aiming for autos or playoffs, in terms of ambition - and if it's the latter then it's a case of playoffs and promotion being minimum target or just playoffs.

Just a reminder that personal attacks against individuals or perceived groups on the forum aren't welcome. You can make a point without resorting to insults.

It wasn't a fair result, as we were disallowed a perfectly legitimate goal. Everyone except Burnley fans acknowledges this. With competent officials it's a completely different game. And for the record, in terms of "fair result" it can be balanced to either side. Maybe if we go 2-1 up the Burnley players fire up and pull it back to 3-2. Maybe they collapse and it ends 3 or 4-1 to Rovers. We'll never know, but it should have been 2-1 before half time, so 1-1 is not a fair result.

We really need the same for Brittain as well. Maybe in January.

Honestly I'm fine with that. For too long players in our team have been able to coast on just being "okay". A little competition for places is a good thing and might even give Pickering incentive to improve.

Incredible result against 13 men. We win that with competent officials. Well done to Eustace and the lads on a display that puts to rest the embarrassing memories of our last two matches against this lot. Ref and that linesman should never officiate at this level again. Disgraceful.

Figured he'd just announce "next goal wins" and disallow any we score until Burnley fluke one.

Him being their manager is giving us a chance today mind, so, grateful to see his gormless face in their dugout.

Feels like LB will be Beck's to lose now. What a performance he's had, thrown into a derby with a totally new team.

I don't usually single out referee performances either, but this one has been dire. There's poor standards, which sums up refereeing in the Championship in general, and then there's whatever this is. Beyond the pale and ruined the game irrespective of result.

Because the ref is completely biased towards Burnley. So much so that's it's laughable. Surprised he didn't rule out Weimann's goal for a high foot.

Eustace should have had Mak off at HT. Literally all of us saw this coming.

Beautiful. Nice sucker punch. Now get at them whilst they're stunned.

I think JDT tried the 'take the pressure off' approach by trying to treat it as just another game, as annoying as that sounded to us. He likely felt that was the best way to try and alleviate the mental pressure from a group of players well known for being unable to handle it. Eustace has made a point of how important the game is, almost the opposite approach. JDT's approach didn't work, and Eustace's doesn't seem to have done much either based on this start.

For all the positive additions we've made to our front line, the defence is still a big problem when it comes to seriously challenging at the top end of the division. Just nowhere near the level required, but passable against clubs in a similar position to us. Feels like we're guaranteed mid-table at best until we address almost the entire backline.

The main concern as last season ended was whether we'd be able to cobble together a squad that could survive the 24/25 campaign. With Wharton having departed, Szmods almost certainly leaving, the court case in India and an inexperienced former player brought in as head of football operations, I was certainly worried that we would go into this season without much hope. Especially factoring in the past four dismal windows. However, overall I would say I'm confident the squad assembled along with the manager in situ give us enough to continue treading water in the division. I don't like that this is my main expectation, but realistically under these owners it is what it is. Park, Gestede and Eustace have, imo anyway, done a good job in the circumstances to give us a solid chance of staying clear of another relegation scrap. I think our weakest area continues to be the goalkeeping and CB positions. We're in a similar position to last season in hoping an obscure foreign recruit can make the position between the sticks his own. Just have to hope Toth fares better than Leo, as another season with Pears in nets is a depressing prospect. At CB we're a couple of injuries away from a really scary scenario. In fact, I'd say so for most of the defensive line. We'll need a bit of luck there. I don't see our defensive record getting massively better (although I expect an improvement on last season, where midway through we had, from memory, leaked the most goals in the division), but hopefully our frontline will balance this out and the manager will find a way to make us more solid at the back without sacrificing our goal threat. It's difficult to say that I'm 'pleased' considering what Venky's have done and continue to do to our club, but I do think the manager and recruitment team have done the best they could with what they have available. Fingers crossed it's enough to give us a relatively pain free season.

Probably as good of a window as we could have had with the owners giving us scraps to work with. Will be impossible to judge for a while yet, but on paper at least the signings look decent. Difficult to compare with Gregg due to the budget shenanigans during his time here, but on the surface at least Park's wider knowledge of the footballing world and likely significantly deeper contact book seems to have given us a boost this time around.

On the other hand, Brittain is crap at defending and JRC is made of glass, so you could argue it's a sensible signing.

Too many players who looked at about the right level tonight. We'll have to move on, but a disappointing night for sure. Not sure what's going on with JRC, but he's looked off since game one. Worrying. I don't think Vale is even good enough for League 1. Why is he still here? Buckley will be 25 in two months and is regressing for every year he gets older. Sad state of affairs. Oh well. Roll on Saturday, I guess.