In many ways Qatar and FIFA are perfect partners.

Just shows how insanely out of touch those at the top of the FIFA chain truly are. It was like something you'd see on a sketch show as a parody.

I will personally always have ambition and high expectations of Rovers - which is why I'm still genuinely upset when we have performances like Reading, Wigan, Burnley - but at the same time from what I've seen so far I simply don't think we'll finish in the top six and could go into a spiral of defeats/draws pretty quickly if morale dips. I get the feeling there will be clubs who get their act together from January onwards and it'll push clubs like us who are overachieving based on our performances thus far out of the picture. I'd love to be proven wrong and we actually finish in the top six for the first time ever under Venky's, but what I've seen so far doesn't give me the belief it'll actually happen. We'll see though.

Mid-table is about right for me this season. The concern from my perspective is that I simply don't think we'll ever have the budget to bring in the players JDT requires to make his style of play effective enough to get promoted. There aren't many Championship sides without parachute payments who have tippy-tapped their way out of the division (in an upwards trajectory, at least). This 'project' just doesn't seem like it is realistic within our constraints. I desperately hope I'm wrong, mind.

Man Utd becoming a soulless corporate machine has been evident since day one of the Glazers' reign - it only became a problem for the majority of their fans when they stopped winning trophies, and it only became a problem for Ronaldo when he wasn't first choice anymore.

Surprisingly enough, no, I'm not happy that we just got smashed by Burnley in the limpest derby performance I've seen from any team. Shocking but there you go. Being 3rd and in the 4th round of the league cup is scant consolation when I simply don't believe our form will last much longer. Obviously you do so great, but there are legitimate debates to be had about yesterday's capitulation and our previous defeats, and answering "we're 3rd, I'm happy" is simply adding nothing to the debate.

I imagine you were doing the same last season when people were raising concerns over Mowbray whilst we were 2nd. Sometimes perspective is about looking at the bigger picture rather than what is staring you in the face. There are some obvious problems with the way we play, and it's clear if they aren't sorted we won't come close to finishing 3rd.

What's strange is the obvious issue with being told "We're 3rd in the league, everything is great" to "we can't compete with Burnley". I mean, one of these clearly needs to be examined a lot deeper if they are both true as a team 3rd in the league after 21 games should be able to compete with anyone in that league.

And frankly, that team being 3rd in the league says a lot more about the league then it does the team in question.

Fair warning now, if you can't post without having a pop at other people you'll be taking a time out. This isn't the time or place to ride a high horse.

Probably because we quite literally never come back from going behind and we've been fucking atrocious so far today? I mean it's not impossible for it to end 1-1 but you can't blame people for being realistic.

"The plan" of having no shots and defending the entire match goes up in smoke. Who'd have thought it.

Would be nice to have a shot mate. You can't win the game without having at least one. Keep in mind we're 3rd in the table, not 23rd.

If this is the plan working then I'd hate to see what it looks like when it doesn't work.

Kaminski the only player to come out of that half with any credit. The rest have been collectively dire. Wrong team selection and tactics from JDT, which shouldn't have been a surprise to anybody casting an unbiased eye at the starting lineup. Massive rethink needed at half time, this isn't what the manager promised we'd get. The only reason we aren't behind is Kaminski and the fact Burnley just haven't been particularly good in an attacking sense.

Not really sure the players understand the point of what they're doing when it comes to passing it around at the back tbh. Hard to explain why we have been doing this for months and if anything seem to be getting worse at it.

Nah, if they're good enough age doesn't matter.

Not a single shot and 22% possession... this isn't a 'wait and hit them on the counter attack' style, it's just a 'wait until we concede' style. 31 minutes and we've done absolutely nothing. Fortunately for us Bumley haven't been up to much yet either.

I've also spotted Garrett slip over three times now, did he forget to put studs in his boots?

Why attempt to pass the ball out from the back if nobody is going to make space? Total lunacy.

We can't keep the ball past the half way line. Really poor so far.

In fairness to Trav whilst he picks up his fair share of yellows I'm not sure he's had a red since he got sent off in L1 many years ago?

On the contrary it has to be a factor, as youngsters don't have the experience to always make the correct decisions in difficult situations. Particularly when there's significant pressure involved. That's especially critical in high-emotion games like today. JDT clearly trusts Garrett to put him in ahead of Buckley or Dack, so let's see if that faith is repaid. It goes without saying that I hope he's made the right call!

Well no, a lot more goes into selection than that. If it was that simple anyone could be a football manager. I just hope JDT has spoken to Garrett about being sensible and not lunging into tackles unnecessarily.

I don't understand this. Why would Mola be starting ahead of Pickering, and is this really the right game to start Garrett? We can win this one but those are two risky decisions.