The Mighty Chaffinch

The wheels to well and truly come off in this one. 0-3

My Wifi was iffy in the second half...maybe I missed all Davenport’s best bits.

The scary thing is...despite yet another pitiful showing we are still only 3 points off 7th place and 7 points off 6th! This league is poor. Somebody from the chasing pack is going to challenge the play offs but alas, it won’t be us. Ratings: Kaminski: 6 - not a fan of short balls to feet on that pitch, his long game didn’t impress either. Still inspires more confidence than any of our keepers since Robinson. Douglas: 5 - gave the ball away far too much. Set pieces aren’t living up to the billing. Solidish defensively Branthwaite: 7 - solid debut, fairly confident on the ball,

O’Neill is a proper coach. It isn’t by luck that Stoke are first to every loose ball, hungrier, faster in closing down, more organised. I doubt we’ll create much in the second half as they’re so resolute. Basically the polar opposite of us. Yes, the offside decision was shocking but we have to be mentally stronger. Since that we have conceded and could have conceded about four more. We crumble in these situations. Elliott clearly can’t play in this pudding of a pitch but that’s irrelevant as Stoke have about 3 men round him as soon as he gets the ball. Douglas seems to exist to give the ball a

Game over

I can’t see us getting anything against Stoke if we play anything remotely like that dross today (besides the fact we haven’t beaten them at Ewood in the league since 2008). On today’s match...the Pears signing (and performance) is reminiscent of Miles Anderson...absolutely criminal that he’s even near the squad. What must the Greek lad be thinking? Surely today would have been the day to give him a chance. Brereton was almost back to the pre-improvement days today (although he at least put a shift in)...pretty much everyone stank the place out. That’s 4 consecutive third round defeats for Mow

We seem to be out of the blocks quickly in most games at the moment but then after the first 15 minutes we start to go backwards. Against a dire Birmingham side we dominated the first half but then the second half was a complete contrast. Why? I just don’t think we have the ability to change our approach when the opposition start to get on top. The game drifts. Today we got away with it...a Birmingham leveller with 15 to go and we could have been staring down the barrel of another 2-1 reverse.

Pearson, Monk, Pulis all available. All have got experience of working for erratic ownership. I’d go for Pulis...he’d sort out the defence (with a few January recruitments) and although his style isn’t everyone’s flavour I think he’d iron out some of our problems. We need a solid defence...there are plenty of goals in this squad.

Fully expecting a tame 1-0 defeat tonight. We will dominate possession but create little of note, Arma will have about 6 shots to no avail. I really hope I’m wrong and something miraculous happens. Apart from a 4-2 win when Rhodes scored 3 we have a pretty grim record at Huddersfield....although a certain Nathan Delfoneso managed a goal there...I suppose anything can happen!

Just a bit frustrating that we have been twice the victim of managerial shenanigans this season. Firstly, Hughton rolls up at Forest with his long standing hex over the Rovers...wins 1-0 at Ewood then fails to make a strong impression after...then Pulis. I genuinely can’t think of a victory over a Pulis side since the 3-0 over Stoke in Big Sam’s first match...in 2008. Correct me if I’m wrong.

What worries me at the moment is the lack of personnel to change our style if the going gets tough. We are incredibly light in the striking department since DG’s departure. If Mowbray plays the likes of Brereton, Gallagher and Dolan as wide players then that leaves us with Armstrong as the only central striker (and even he is likely to move wide during matches). Anyone who can hold the ball up and give us that get out (for Lenihan’s aimless long balls mainly) would be a welcome addition...not necessarily as a sure fire starter but certainly as back up

Douglas, Johnson, Holtby and Gallagher were all abysmal today. You can’t have 4 of your 11 players off their games so badly against a Pulis team. I’m also getting fed up with Arma’s general play around the area. Far too many shots with his left foot that a randomly placed snowman would save comfortably. His first touch lets him down far too often as well, the chance in stoppage time being a prime example. As for Mowbray...I’m done.

On another note, after struggling last season against the promoted sides...we’ve beaten all 3 of them this time around.

Johnson has been awful but there’s no one else to play his role, so I’d probably replace Buckley with Holtby and hope Johnson miraculously finds some form in the second half. Gallagher needs to be moved centrally with Armstrong playing on their lad who’s been booked. Elliott needs to be given the ball more (Rotherham have done their homework) and Rothwell just needs to run at them. Bell (reluctantly) for Douglas as well.

It’s hard for Buckley as he hasn’t really been given a run of consecutive starts. 10-20 minutes here and there won’t help him build momentum. I think he has real potential and could one day cement a place in the team, but at the moment he will have to compete with the many other options we have in that position. Good luck to him tonight.