DE.

I bet you couldn't believe your luck. First that team sheet, then we come out and play the first fifteen minutes like we've been on a week long bender.

Dack is obviously not a striker, he's an attacking midfielder who happens to be good at finding the net from that position. I don't remember Lampard ever playing as a striker - although if he was managed by Tony he may have started up front with Drogba out on the wing to try and counter the threat of Bolton's right back or some stupid nonsense. That said I don't see Dack as a top tier PL player. Not even close. He might be decent at a club like Palace, Southampton, Bournemouth, Everton, etc. That said I'm sure those clubs could get better for £25m, if that's what we're demanding.

Did anybody ask why we seem to have no alternative to a 33 year old who we knew well before the season started wouldn't be up to playing a full 46 games? I mean, we apparently had £7m to spend so you'd think we might have considered it a priority. Instead we've brought in more strikers to convert to wingers (does Tony know there's a difference?) and we're left to play midfielders up front with predictable results.

I like Mowbray as a person, but we've never had a period under his leadership where I've thought "yeah, he's cracked this". Points wise we smashed league 1 last season, but it didn't really feel like it. We've technically had a decent start this season but I'm never confident as I just don't know what to expect from the manager beyond overthinking and extreme caution.

I just can't understand what possesses Mowbray to persist with this false nine nonsense. We've looked shit every single time we've tried it. If not for a worldie from Reed WBA would have beaten us trying the same bollocks. Enough already. We aren't Barcelona. More like fucking Bromley today.

We can only hope this result acts as a major wake up call to the manager. It's been coming. He needs to stop fucking around and get serious.

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.