DE.

I don't know, we started off similarly against Rotherham with this aimless passing around nonsense. Main difference there is that we scored quite early and that changed the game. Score a goal and we become a different team, concede a goal and we might as well forfeit.

Didn't we start with the same team tonight that beat Rotherham 3-0, though? Hirst/Gallagher aside (and why this change was made is beyond me) it's the same team that easily beat Rotherham. One change shouldn't produce such a drastic dip in performance levels, regardless of how poor Hirst is.

I'd say the death spirals were more demoralising as you knew one loss meant we were in for weeks of nul points, but the current situation is more frustrating as it's hard to make sense of how we can go from looking OK to looking like utter garbage. You could say for the death spirals that we just had very fragile confidence under Mowbray and the team struggled to get form back after being defeated, but it's more difficult to explain what is going on here.

Not sure if WLWLWLWLWL OR WWWWWLLLLL is more frustrating.

Guess the detractors had a point after all. Not convinced this is going to help much, mind, but nick a goal and I can see us scraping a 1-0.

Terrible half. Fortunate that Wigan have been lacking the quality to capitalise. Massive rethink needed at HT.

So we bought Brittain to be backup for an out-of-position wide player at RB? Honestly JDT is just as bad as Mowbray when it comes to selections. First red flag was when he persisted playing with Gallagher on wide right, but it's getting worse as time goes on. With that said if we win I couldn't care less, pick whoever you want and play them wherever you want. If we lose then it would be pertinent for our resident journos to raise a question or two.

Bruce showed at Newcastle he'd put up with pretty much anything to get a payout. Imagine it'll be the same at WBA. His stock will be incredibly low after bombing there, and he knows that better than anyone. He'll be seen by most clubs at this point as a manager whose methods no longer work in the modern game.

Our 2-0 defeat under Kean against Spurs where we had no shots immediately comes to mind. Fulham destroying us 7-0 at Ewood was obviously embarrassing. Emotionally for me probably the 1-0 defeat against Wigan which officially confirmed our relegation in 2012. That night almost felt apocalyptic for the club. Don't think I've ever felt so utterly depressed and heartbroken over Rovers as immediately following that match.

Great result, much improved performance once we went ahead. Score first and we're a different side entirely. Can't really have any complaints but do need to work out why going behind has such a crippling effect on the lads as it's been holding us back for 5+ years now and needs to get sorted.

Sometimes a manager and a club just click, and for a few years we were lucky to have that happen with Souey. Things went badly wrong at the end - I still occasionally have nightmares over witnessing Dominic Matteo as a left winger - but even then Newcastle gave us decent compo to take him off our hands and we moved forward with Hughes.

... Steve Cooper signs a new deal at Forest to 2025 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63172328 Guess he wasn't so close to the sack after all!

£5m optional fee for Hirst, lmao. Wouldn't take him on a free.

Surely Bruce can't have long left, 1 win in 11 for WBA so far this season.

Take the win happily, but certainly doesn't change my mind that we'll finish mid-table this season (which I'm ok with, assuming towards the end of the season we're showing some level of consistency in playing style).

Seems clear at this point JDT doesn't see Dack as being a part of our future. Imagine he'll go in Jan if we can find a buyer. Sunderland perhaps?

Yeah it's a very well put-together series. I think it's on hiatus now - from memory an increasing number of the series' regular talking heads were becoming annoyed with how their quotes were supposedly being used out of context.

Correct, go to literally any other football forum and it's exactly the same if not worse. It's cute that people think it's a phenomenom specific to this forum but the reality is that fans across the footballing sphere are made up of the same types. Nobody is unique in playing devil's advocate, there's a version of this type of poster on practically every remaining active forum. As humans I'm afraid we aren't as unique as we like to think.

It can be used to mean both things technically. One a historic/archaic meaning and the other a more modern understanding of the word. I think most dictionaries will list both definitions.

Cardiff sack Steve Morison: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62947486

Yep, although we can't keep giving up like this. If we're going to lose let's go down fighting at least.

Disappointing. We have a long way to go unfortunately. Mid-table for this season is going to be about right.

Exactly. This place is a very small section of the overall fanbase, it's not a barometer for how Ewood will react and never has been.

I can see McKenna getting poached before too long. Ipswich P8 W6 D2 L0 as it stands, and McKenna had a good reputation before signing with Ipswich, so there may be a few Championship clubs casting an eye to him in the near future.

Lack of draws make a huge difference.