DE.

I don't think we'll be worse over the season than at least three other teams in the division, so I don't see us going down. I think JDT will win us enough games at Ewood to ultimately keep us around mid-table. It's just very frustrating to see a team that had potential to push on from last season being so brutally hamstrung by the owners' negligence and failure to give the recruitment team a suitable environment to work in.

The big question is how we do this, though. We have the players we have, so it seemingly requires a change in approach from JDT?

How do you see things changing as things stand? JDT has made it clear he's sticking to his principles and philosophy. 20% into the season and the players aren't looking capable of doing what's asked of them. Unless there's a pretty big change in mentality from JDT I don't see how this gets any better. Can't really understand people being happy with 18 goals conceded in 9 games and saying "this is fine", just reminds me of that meme picture with the dog sitting in a burning house.

We're one of the worst teams in the division for goals conceded and games lost so far, and moreso if we lose again today. We're also 18th as it stands. It's as simple as that, regardless of how much you enjoy the football.

Doesn't matter how well we play if we're repeatedly conceding multiple goals. They've had two shots on target and scored both of them. It's just not good enough.

They just need to stop now. It's clear they don't have personnel with the capability to implement the system correctly and it's just getting a bit embarrassing now for all involved. They obviously won't do this as there's too much invested in VAR and it'd promote claims of unfairness in earlier games from certain teams if it was suspended/scrapped, but you either implement it properly or not at all. It totally kills the credibility of the league when obvious decisions are being called incorrectly by a system that is literally supposed to be there to stop that from happening.

Klopp isn't exactly well known for being calm with officials in-match, so I imagine the fourth official is preparing himself for some choice words.

Friday night's game saw a demoralised and beleagured Sheffield Wednesday team comfortably beaten 3-0 at Hillsborough. The Owls' owner Dejphon Chansiri gave Sunderland a boost by announcing he would no longer put "additional funds" into his club due to the behaviour of a portion of the fanbase. This, I'm sure, was exactly what the Wednesday players wanted to hear on the morning before the match. The result leaves Wednesday rooted to the bottom of the table, having only scraped a measly two points from their opening nine games. They are the only team in the league without a win, and have also scored the least with a paltry five to their name thus far. Sunderland meanwhile bounced back from defeat last time out and move up to 4th, now joint-second top scorers in the league alongside Ipswich. The lunchtime kickoff today saw Southampton beat a lacklustre Leeds 3-1 at St. Mary's. The result lifts a little pressure from Russell Martin, whose side did not enjoy the lions share of possession, with 47%, but nonetheless picked up a much needed win. It was their first victory since August 26th and halts a losing streak of four games. The result takes them up to 10th place, although they are still the worst defence in the division with twenty goals conceded. Leeds had been on a decent run of two wins and two draws, but today showed their flaws have not been completely ironed out. The result drops them to 9th, having only won three of their opening nine matches. Stoke's five game winless run came to an end away to Bristol City. Despite being 2-0 down after just 15 minutes, they fought back to earn a 3-2 victory, with an 89th minute winner. Despite a decent start to the season, it was a disappointing result for Bristol City and their second loss in a row. They fall to 11th. Stoke meanwhile jump to 16th in the table. Cardiff recorded their fourth league win in a row as they handily dispatched Rotherham 2-0 at home. Rotherham have now failed to win in eighteen away league matches, stretching back to last season. Three points for Cardiff sees them creep into 6th spot, whilst defeat for Rotherham keeps them in 23rd place, with only one win in their first nine matches and the second worst defensive record in the division behind Southampton. Their goals scored tally of eight also places them joint third-worst for attacking, two very worrying statistics if you're a Rotherham fan. New Huddersfield boss Darren Moore nearly got off to the perfect start as his side took a 1-0 lead against early high-flyers Ipswich Town at the John Smith's Stadium. However, an 87th minute goal from Man Utd loanee Brandon Williams rescued a late point for the Tractor Boys. Ipswich will surely see this as a point gained in the circumstances, and it is a point which, for the time being, takes them back to the top of the division. Ipswich remain with just a single loss on their record so far this season, and this was in fact their first draw of the campaign. It was Huddersfield's third draw in a row, but they are unbeaten in five and sit in 18th place, two points clear of the drop zone. Hull maintained their recent unbeaten streak with a draw at home to Plymouth. The Tigers were by far the better team, but Plymouth defended in a resolute fashion and came away with a point they'll be quite happy to take. The result leaves Hull in 5th and Plymouth in 13th. Millwall suffered a surprising 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Swansea. It's evident that Millwall are lacking in firepower, having only managed seven goals from their opening nine matches. They had been fairly resolute defensively up until today, which put a bit of a dent in their goal difference, dropping them to 15th in the table. It was a second win in a row for the Swans, having not won any matches beforehand. They climb to 19th in the standings. Norwich got back on track with a comfortable 2-0 win at Carrow Road against a Birmingham side whose early season momentum has rapidly vanished. It was a welcome three points for a Norwich side who had lost their last two league matches, but they remain just outside the playoffs in 7th, just behind Cardiff on goal difference. Birmingham have now failed to win in five matches, only picking up two points from a possible fifteen. They still have a decent defensive record, but just eight goals scored so far is proving an increasing cause for concern for Big Club, who have only netted twice in their last five matches. Nonetheless for the time being they sit in a relatively stable 12th place. The only remaining unbeaten record in the Championship fell in brutal fashion today as Preston were whomped 4-0 at Dumpdale by West Brom. How sad. Preston were thoroughly outplayed and outmatched, making a mockery of the league standings. Thanks to their good early form Preston are still 3rd with a four point cushion between themselves and Sunderland in 4th, but that won't last long if there are many repeats of today's attempt at a performance. WBA had not won in their previous four matches, losing one and drawing three, so it was a morale boosting result for them and lifts them to 8th spot in the division. QPR's struggles continued as they were beaten 3-1 at Loftus Road by Coventry. Having not won since the second match of the season, it was a much needed three points for Coventry and lifts them to 14th. QPR meanwhile sink into the relegation zone in 22nd, having lost five of their opening nine matches and only managed eight goals thus far. Finally, Middlesbrough's revival continued as they recorded their second win of the season and their second win in succession as they took maximum points from Watford at Vicarage Road. Boro were 2-0 up inside twelve minutes, but by the 52nd minute Watford had clawed the game back to 2-2. Despite seemingly being in the ascension, however, they then contrived to concede again in the 63rd minute and ultimately succumbed to a 3-2 loss. Two defeats in a row for Watford means they've now only won once in their last eight matches. Ominous signs as the club drops to 20th in the table. With Watford's owners not exactly being known for a patient approach, one imagines Valérien Ismaël is already preparing for a new challenge in the near future. Michael Carrick meanwhile will be seeing some light at the end of a dark tunnel, and will be setting his sights on a repeat of last season's swing in fortunes which saw the Teesiders rise from the depths of the table to the upper reaches. For now Boro will simply be pleased with being out of the relegation zone, ascending to the heights of 21st.

He'll probably be upset because they only had 47% possession. Almost like possession isn't the be all and end all when it comes to getting results.

Mowbray must have been delighted at the helping hand from Chansiri this morning. Not that they really needed it as Sheffield Wednesday are awful anyway, but they've looked beaten from kick-off tonight.

Well, we technically got the excuse of "muh government taxes" from the club but serious question marks over that. At least Chansiri is being upfront, regardless of how rational his reasoning is.

JDT has been needling Waggot for a while now. After Waggott did that stupid interview about the bus and other nonsense, JDT referenced it mockingly in practically every interview he did for weeks afterwards - especially in regards to the fabled bus. Seems clear to me that JDT has little respect for Waggott and doesn't believe our beloved CEO has the guts to fire back in any meaningful way.

I assumed by cutting off funding he meant anything additional to basic running costs. Would be cutting off his nose to spite his face otherwise - arguably he still is, but even more so.

Great result and a nice boost after a couple of difficult league results. Expect the likes of Siggy and Moran will be a lock for starting places now, and hopefully there will be a lot of confidence taken from tonight from the likes of Markanday, Tronstad and Garrett who have only been on the fringes of the first team thus far. IMO we need a few of the established names on the team sheet to feel some pressure from players behind them.

Well, if your ambition and expectation for the club is to avoid relegation from this league for the next ten years then technically it's an optimistic take and you could post it in the optimism thread. Otherwise it probably belongs in this thread 🙂

It's some wave of momentum Ipswich are riding right now. It'll be interesting to see how they respond once they hit a sticky patch, but for the moment they're absolutely flying.

Just realised I forgot to include Friday's match... Birmingham's momentum continues to dissipate as they laboured to a 0-0 home draw against QPR. After the weekend's results this means Birmingham now slip down to 10th, having only picked up two points from the last twelve available. They've also only managed eight goals so far this season, which will be a concern as it ranks pretty low in the overall competition. QPR meanwhile are 18th having picked up a slightly better five points from the last twelve available. As for today's matches... Stoke continue to struggle as they were soundly beaten 3-1 at home by Hull, who are flying at the moment. Defeat for Stoke means they've lost four of their last five matches, drawing the other. Much like Birmingham, their tally of eight goals scored is amongst the lowest in the division, and they currently sit in 20th position. Hull meanwhile move up to fourth, having only lost one of their first eight matches. Sunderland's recent good form came to an abrupt end as a resurgent Cardiff City side stole a 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light, with an 87th minute winner. Sunderland had dominated the match, but seemed to have learned some of the wrong lessons from Rovers in midweek, as they spurned their chances and were made to pay late on, having left themselves open to a sucker punch. Despite the defeat, Sunderland remain in 5th, whilst Cardiff's fourth win in five matches pushes them up to 7th in the table, only outside the playoff places on goal difference.

My understanding is also that Smackdown was very good during this period, but I wasn't really watching any wrestling between mid-2002 to mid-2005, so I missed the majority of it. I've seen some of the better matches from the PPVs and such, but not the actual Smackdown shows.

I think regardless of how JDT tweaks things, we're probably looking at 10-15 shots being registered against us per match if we want to continue creating enough chances to score. If the opposition has poor strikers or doesn't hit the target often then it isn't such a problem - as it was in the case of Watford and Boro - but in situations where that isn't the case I agree we need a better goalkeeper between the sticks. We really have to hope Leo is capable, because I I think Pears has too many mistakes in him to deal with that kind of sustained pressure on our goal.

A lot of our defensive issues come down to how we're being set up to play. I don't think it really suits the personnel we have. I get why JDT is going with this attacking style - he knows we typically need a lot of chances to score goals due to our limited firepower - but it's leaving big gaps which exposes our defence. Our standard midfield duo of Travis/Wharton don't seem capable of doing everything that is being asked of them. This is borne out by the amount of shots registered against us in games so far this season. Hull - 19 shots Watford - 24 shots Plymouth - 23 shots Boro - 21 shots Ipswich - 29 shots I feel like most defences would struggle with this kind of bombardment, and we need to reassess our gameplan.

A question for the tech fellows.... I moved some posts from the optimism thread to the pessimism thread, but as some posts came before Jim's original post it's now changed the thread starter to the person with the earliest post. Is there any way to amend this to put Jim's post first and/or label him as the thread starter, or does it just have to stay like that?

Moved the above post to this thread, as it was originally in the optimism thread but doesn't really fit in there. It was in response to @JohnD commenting that we scored three goals.

Nitro from 1996 - 1998 and WWE from 1998 - 2000 are my all-time favourite years. After that it gets a bit spotty. WWE in 2001-2002 was alright, but losing steam. TNA from 2005 - 2008 was pretty fun. Smackdown's August 2016 - March 2017 run was great. I enjoyed AEW until around autumn 2022 when the CM Punk brawl out stuff started. Nowadays I keep up with the news via reddit, mostly, but don't watch any of the shows.

Hedges is alright as a squad player. He's not especially consistent but he has his moments. For a £250k purchase from Scotland he's done quite alright. The fact he's considered one of our main men these days, however, seems to simply be a sign of how much our squad has regressed. Appreciate Moran started ahead of him today, but even so - his competition is a 21 year old lad from Brighton who's just getting his first taste of senior football.

OK, evidently I hadn't been keeping up with the optimism thread, so I've moved a bunch of pessimistic posts to here instead, hence the sudden additional posts. Apologies to Jim whose first post is now bumped down by a few, even though he was the thread starter.