DE.

I said before the match started that a defensive pairing of Lenihan/Williams worried me. They aren't necessarily to blame for tonight as the entire team looked bereft of confidence and belief, but I agree that we should have been spending our money on defensive reinforcements rather than gambling on a youngster. That's the kind of purchase you make when you're established and already have a strong team, not when there's still areas in genuine need of improvement. I have some pretty grave concerns over the Brereton signing and really hope I'm proven wrong because right now it seems like that money needed to be spent elsewhere. Now granted we did need striking reinforcements too, but I don't think Brereton was or is the answer. He doesn't look like a hold up man, and that's how we primarily play, so what was the thinking behind that deal? It doesn't look like we're changing formation or style any time soon.

He hasn't been great but in fairness to him he has been trying. Far worse performances from the likes of Dack, Evans and Smallwood I'm afraid. Brereton looks lost out there. I know we have to give him time to adapt and settle in but if we're spending £7m on the bloke we should expect more than this. Six goals conceded in our last three games, nine in four if you count Bournemouth. I would say something has gone wrong, but we were conceding goals last year too, so I think it's just a weakness Mowbray hasn't been able to fix. Keep this up and we're in for a difficult season. The defence must be tightened without losing the ability to score goals to win games. Not an easy task but as it stands we're making it very difficult on ourselves. Dangerous imo to already be looking to next season. We've got problems in the here and now that need to be addressed first. Fortunately there are some terrible teams below us and despite only winning three games so far this season we're already nine points off the relegation places. That gives us enough time to get things sorted, but there is no question we do need to start looking at what isn't working.

Our slow, defensive tactic only really works if Graham and Dack are playing well. Graham was largely ineffective whilst he was on and Dack hasn't been at the races tonight so far. Armstrong has been our best player and looked lively, but he's had very little support. You can see why we draw so many games. The better teams in this league tend to overrun us in attack, whilst the poorer teams play a similar defensive game which often leads to the points being shared. A little more bravery needed, especially at home. We're beginning to fall down the table and it looks like it's going to be one win in six. The warning signs are there, Mowbray needs to figure this out.

It was a matter of time I'm afraid. We've been asking for it all night.

He's not been good enough all season, a constant weak link. He gives the ball away so often. Did a job last year but just isn't cut out for this league. It's a shame but Mowbray needs to be realistic about the detrimental effect Smallwood's performances are having on our play. Loyalty can only take you so far.

A little fortunate to go in level, Sheff Utd definitely the better team that half. We're trying but they are doing a good job pressuring us off the ball and are defending in numbers when they need to. We're standing off them too much when they come forward, and because they know how slow we are on the break they're confident enough to throw a lot of players into attack when they're in our half.

We're still too open defensively. Giving Sheff Utd opportunities to work themselves into the box and shoot. Need to try and get tighter. Part of the problem is that we're extremely slow on the break. There's so little pace in the team that when we win the ball back in our own half Sheffield United are already completely back into a defensive shape by the time we get it into their final third. Sometimes we don't even get that far and give the ball away. Some of that comes down to Smallwood. Our players seem reluctant to pass to him as he keeps giving possession away. This is obviously a problem when he's supposed to be one of the links between defence and attack.

Looking better now. Weathered the pressure and have started pushing forward a bit.

Armstrong busy on the left, trying to make things happen. Haven't seen much of Dack or Graham yet. Graham's won a few headers high up the pitch but hasn't had any runners to head back to.

This is tough to watch. We're being battered. Need to calm things down and stop giving the ball back to them.

Under the cosh at the moment. Sheffield Utd have a lot of space on our right hand side.

A decent enough team, although that centre back pairing really worries me. Disappointing that our future £7m signing is still warming the bench, but then I wouldn't put him ahead of Graham and there isn't anywhere else in the team for him really.

Tbf he was doing it last season with League 1 teams as well. As you say, it just seems to be the way he operates. Maybe he sees it as a way of reducing the pressure on the players. If we win then nobody cares, if we don't then it's seen as Mowbray being over-cautious. I don't pay too much attention to pre-match comments, the only thing that matters is getting it right on the pitch.

Can't see Dyche dropping a division tbh. Allardyce is a possibility though. There's a lot of talent in that squad - with a bit of defensive steel they'd climb the table pretty quickly imo. Would be interesting to see how Villa fans would react to that appointment. Moyes would be the funniest choice. Interesting, too, as it would probably be the last chance saloon for him.

If Villa are smart they'll get McCarthy in. I think he'd guarantee them top six at the very least. I don't think they are that smart though. We'll see. In some ways it's harsh to sack Bruce considering his record and the fact they are still only a few points off a playoff place. On the other hand, one win in the last ten matches in all competitions is very poor for the team they have, and if they were performing at the level they should be they'd probably be in the top two and wouldn't need to be making up ground. One of those decisions that could easily go wrong, but if the right decision is made it'll be seen as removing a manager who had gone stale and bringing in a new spark. If I was Marcus Evans right now I'd be calling Bruce ASAP and offering him whatever he wanted to come and save them. Doubtful they could convince them to come, but it'd be worth a shot.

The problem for Villa is that I doubt their ownership would get the next appointment right. Much like Ipswich they'd go from relative stability into the unknown, with decisions made by people who really don't have much of a clue. They apparently wanted to appoint Thierry Henry in the summer so we aren't talking sensible decisions here.

We're certainly not down with the likes of Ipswich, Rotherham and Preston in the financial stakes, as you say we're somewhere in the middle. As such I'd say we're doing just fine. Villa fans on the other hand have a right to be disappointed imo. With the money they've spent they should have gone up last season, and I wouldn't bet on them going up this year either. A lot of money spent and wasted. To some degree we've been there in 2012/13, but Venky's swiftly started cutting their losses after that abject failure of a season. Villa have just kept ploughing money in at an unsustainable level, making huge losses and barely improving. From what I was reading in the summer it could be a pretty bleak scenario if they don't make it back to the PL this season.

I was primarily talking about wage budget when comparing ourselves and Villa, but if you look at the cost of building each club's starting eleven from our match a few weeks ago: Rovers Raya - £0 Nyambe - £0 Lenihan - £0 Mulgrew - £0 Bell - £250k Smallwood - £0 Evans - £800k Bennett - Unsure but unlikely to be more than a few hundred thousand Dack - £750k Graham - £0 Villa Nyland - undisclosed, transfermarkt has it down about £2.5m. Hutton - £4m Tuanzebe - Loan Chester - £8.4m Taylor - £0 (swap deal) El Mohamady - £1m Jedinak - £4.1m McGinn - £2.8m Adomah - £3.1m Grealish - £0 Abraham - Loan And keep in mind Villa's first team there doesn't include Scott Hogan (£9.5m), Henri Lansbury (£3m), Connor Hourihane (£3.1m), Bjarnason (£2m), Kodjia (£11.8m). Add in the wages for the likes of Hutton, Tuanzebe, Chester, Abraham, and Yannick Bolasie and it's clear Villa are operating on a completely different financial level to us. A suicidal one, but even if they have been more prudent this season their overall squad is built on financial levels we haven't ever seen under Venky's.

Would be below us if not for that bloody 94th minute free kick. They started the season fairly well but have hit a poor patch of form. 1 win in their last 5, drawing far too many games. Similar to us except they have a much, much bigger budget.

Ended 3-3... can't fault the Championship for entertainment. If we get our act together defensively (ideally stop giving away penalties) there's no reason we can't have a shot at top six. There's a lot less to fear in this league than I thought at the start of the season.

OK, now 3-2 Preston

Villa go from being 2-0 up against Preston to 2-2, at home. Can't see Bruce surviving much longer. Regardless of what you think of him as a manager their performances are nowhere near good enough with the players they have available.

Boro haven't even been that good. Been pretty shaky themselves at the back, and misplaced a number of passes going forward. They've just been gifted two ridiculous early goals.

Ipswich fans being taught a harsh lesson that the defensive side of the game isn't an automatic gimme that any manager can achieve. There's a reason they weren't trying to play free-flowing attacking football under Mick - you need the personnel for that, and if you don't then you need to be solid as possible at the back and nick goals as and when possible. We're fortunate in that we have a lot of decent attacking options to stick goals away even if we are at times defensively suspect. Ipswich have Nolan and Jackson. Enough said.

My God Ipswich are terrible. 2-0 down to Boro already, their defence makes ours look absolutely stellar in comparison. Both Boro goals came from defending you wouldn't see from a non-league side.