DE.

It's really quite simple and something we've known for a long time. Mowbray is generally a very smart bloke but often overthinks to the point of idiocy. He's gotten away with it more often than not during his time here - but that's in part due to the fact the majority of his reign has been spent in L1 where our superior quality protected against tactical negligence. We aren't afforded those protections now and it always feels like we're on the verge of a really poor run of form, yet we grind through it. At some point Tony has to start being more sensible or we're going to throw away any hopes of a playoff place.

Plenty of shots, but no striker, so ?

Clearly not!

Nope, that's just because Mowbray has never been able to stop us leaking goals. We've just been good enough attacking wise for it not to matter as much as it should. Now we're messing around with this false nine bullshit there's going to be problems.

To be fair it's not like we've got £7m we can just spend on a... Oh, wait.

Jeez. If we don't get back into this Mowbray has to start explaining these ridiculous starting line ups. He's been getting away with it recently but today could be the day the proverbial chickens come home to roost. Could be a good thing in the long run if it stops him handicapping us from kick off.

Well at least we've had our usual defensive lapse early this time. Gives us plenty of minutes to get back into the game.

AA has never been on the boil in front of goal (this season at least) so that's not much better!

I didn't think WBA or Ipswich looked great last night. That said I'd agree with Chaddy that Ipswich are definitely playing better so far under Lambert. The probem is that recruitment was so bad under Hurst that the club now have a League 1 team trying to compete in the Championship. And I'm not even convinced it's a L1 team that would be in the top two or three. Ipswich desperately need strengthening to survive, but if they keep dropping points they'll give themselves too big of a hill to climb even if the cavalry does arrive in January. Lambert needs to grind out some wins very quickly.

I really don't see Ipswich getting out of this. Their defending is just embarrassing at times. Lambert is going to need some serious money to invest in January, but by then it might be way too late. They'll be starting with a hell of a handicap if they don't start picking up some wins between now and Jan 1. Also considering the size of the crowd, it was extremely quiet at Portman Road tonight. Lambert's right, most of them have given up. I guess now they don't have a manager they want to bully they're lost over what to chant.

A better summer window would have seen us nestled in a playoff spot right now, imo. If we make the January window count then this season could really take off in the last few months. If our recruitment drive is well underway already then I assume we won't be panic bidding on the last day of the window again.

I hope you're right. After almost five years of being a total passenger (when not in the treatment room) including large portions of last season, it'll take more than this latest purple patch to convince me that Evans is a reliable long-term investment. I very much hope he does keep it up, though, as the ability in undoubtedly there. It's just a question of motivation.

We can look forward to Evans' performances going back to normal imminently then. Good news regarding Bennett though. Limited ability but he knows what he does well and gives his all in those areas. His attitude and commitment is a shining example to everybody at the club.

Good news.

The wifi on my PS4 is pretty poor, but if it's wired I get good speeds. I've got a slim though and it's not that old (I've had it about 2 years).

Bookies seem to think it'll either be Bowyer or Hurst taking over at Shrewsbury. Could potentially be a good move for GB, although he's never actually worked in a stable environment so it remains to be seen how he'd fare at a relatively normal club! Hurst going back would just be sad for all involved.

Being miserable and shit at his job by the looks of it. At least he was only one of the two before he left us. The old Rovers' curse kicking in again. Leave at your own peril. Interesting article re: sacking PL managers: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/4614694 I strongly believe that if we'd gotten rid of Coyle earlier and brought Mowbray in around November time we would have stayed up in 16/17.

Tbf Ipswich and Shrewsbury both did that and it didn't get them very far either. To some degree I think it's just luck and circumstance, outside of the really terrible candidates who should never have been considered (Steve Kean). Interesting that there have been no PL sackings yet, especially considering the dire form of most clubs in the bottom half. I guess because they're all as shit as each other it doesn't make any of them stand out as being really shit.

Shrewsbury have sacked their manager. Wonder if Hurst will end up back there? Bowyer a possibility too.

Can't disagree with any of that really. The pyramid is clearly broken and as far as I can tell the fracturing is getting worse rather than better. Even with increased parachute payments relegated clubs are struggling to stabilise themselves after being relegated. League 1 is becoming increasingly distant from the Championship, but that's only because Championship clubs are overstretching themselves to the point where it's no longer uncommon for a club to be tens of millions in debt, if not hundreds. The only reason clubs aren't going bust left, right and a centre is because football operates in its own, bizarre ecosystem where money is an incredibly fluid commodity that only really exists when HMRC come calling. In theory there's a lot to like about the Championship, but the current model is not built on a solid foundation and realistically could collapse quite rapidly. You wonder what happens to the likes of Aston Villa if they don't go up this season. Bolton are still in all sorts of trouble. Multiple clubs have been hit with embargoes over the past few years. Clubs like us and Ipswich are 100% dependent on our owners footing bills that constantly increase insane debt levels. Almost every club is operating at a loss, and if you aren't then you're probably not going to survive. The whole thing seems completely unsustainable. How much debt can clubs accrue before it becomes too much? Us and Ipswich must be getting close to the £200m mark now?

Can you imagine how boring it would be? The allure of big club playing big club would wear off pretty quickly when it becomes a regular thing. That's what these geniuses putting forward the idea don't seem to have come to grips with. Eventually the so called Super League would fall into the same state as every other league - you'd have the teams at the top, the middle of the road teams and the lower end teams. A couple of clubs would swap around every season but you'd end up with the same basic pattern as you have in every other league around the world, rendering the whole thing largely pointless on top of being a logistical nightmare. The Championship should be bringing in far more TV money, really. It's a good quality league with a ton of interesting, diverse teams and plenty of good quality players scattered across the division. Chuck in genuine competitiveness from top to bottom and a full schedule almost every week and it should translate to a strong market. It's surely by far the best second professional tier of football in the world? It feels like the FL are just happy to trundle along under the radar rather than aggressively try to push this league as something unique.

The Championship has developed into an exciting league, but with almost every club losing money something is going to have to change.

Those in charge of the football league are clearly doing a bad job marketing the brand. The Championship is significantly more entertaining than the Premier League but has none of of confidence or swagger that the top division possesses. Even the highlights package is stuck on some barely known freeview channel. I'd say all of the FL divisions, even going down to L2, offer the viewer plenty of drama and intrigue. Unfortunately instead the lion's share of investment and wealth has been ploughed into the Premier League, bloating it to the point where it's become a parody of itself. Mourinho complained yesterday that Man City had "two home friendlies" before facing United, but the reality is that practically every home match this season has been a friendly for Man City. This is the first PL season ever where after 12 games none of the top three teams have been beaten. The gap between the bottom half of the PL and the top half of the Championship is, imo, closer than it's ever been. Teams getting relegated from the PL rarely have an easy ride in terms of getting back up, whereas in recent years the likes of Watford, Bournemouth, Brighton, Huddersfield, Leicester and Burnley have either kept themselves up or established themselves as mid to lower table fodder for the bigger teams. As it stands few if any Championship clubs seem able to turn a profit or break even. Most are operating under a loss underwritten by the owner. 19 of the 24 clubs in the league in 16/17 made a loss. It's not a sustainable model, so it's understandable if clubs are pushing for the league to do a better job of promoting itself and getting better deals. As it stands they don't have a viable long term business model so that should be causing concern.

WBA only had 28% possession but had 20 shots on goal, whereas Leeds had 72% possession and had 15 shots. Not sure I've ever seen a side with only 28% possession over the match have 20 shots on goal. Really weird.

Pretty much exactly the same as last season tbf. We raise our game against the better teams and allow ourselves to be dragged down against the lesser teams. I guess that's where a passive managerial approach logically leads to.