He did previously, but on social media (or at least my echo chamber) you can't say a bad word about him without being latched upon. Even something innocuous. I think he's too good a manager not to turn it around, but worried him and the players aren't on the same wavelength currently. But yep, mid table is the best we can hope for. He's been sold a dud and barring some sort of Christmas miracle will be let down again in January. I'm surprised he didn't walk in summer to be honest.

I must admit whilst we are sometimes easy on the eye a lot of what you said is spot on. The issue is if you dare question anything tactically (even as someone who fully backs JDT) people - especially on Twitter - will latch on and defend him as if their life depends on it. My main criticisms lie in the lack of adaptability and the performances in 'big' games. Bullied in every local game, let down in front of decent home or away crowds. A lot of it is our thin, young squad, but there has to be some accountability from the coaching staff too. I think that's what is making me most miserable. Yes, we have no hope with these owners. But we can't even comment on any tactical shortcomings as it isn't JDTs fault. What are we all doing on here talking about the games then? It all feels pointless doesn't it? Coming as close as to packing it in as I have in years, I just don't have the love for it anymore. That being said, I do like JDT and certainly don't think we can attract better. A part of me wishes he would walk and firmly shine a light on those idiots in Pune. It would certainly rip the plaster off anyway as it's going to happen soon enough. But then again nothing will happen. We will appoint some no hoper undoubtedly this time (no chance they get two appointments right consecutively) and the cycle will start all over again.

Mowbray was rightly planned for our poor performances. A not overly dissimilar squad and considerably worse performances and suddenly JDT is a genius and isn't remotely at fault and we are doing well to be 15th. We (me included) didn't have the same generosity when Mowbray, with a squad not much better than today, was doing better than we are currently. No doubt I'll be told the squad was miles better before - but there's no way we should suddenly have the 2nd worst defence in the league behind the truly dire Rotherham. He's better than Mowbray but he isn't the messiah some (me included) have made out. That being said there is no future until Venkys go. I am personally finished. Players, managers, owners - none of them care about us.

Remember in Ince's reign we beat Everton1-0. The goal came from Warnock smashing into one of their players with a cracking tackle, then flew into another one. Got everyone up for it and next thing we scored a late goal. Seen Bellamy mentioned. Someone from Cardiff mentioned they played him in a charity football game quite recently, 5 a side. Apparently he was a nasty, overly competitive bugger even in that. Got kicked from pillar to post for us and always got back up. 2004/2005 was a team full of battlers for us. Loved that time under Hughes - it was very Labore at the start but really Arte et Labore by the end.

It does if it affects their ability to play the full 90 and the style of football we want. Dunny and Rooney both had stamina that defied their 'fuller' frames

Ennis looked overweight to me when I saw him warm up vs Swansea. He had a reputation at Plymouth as a bit of a partygoer as well. I don't want to cast aspersions on him and might be totally wrong but perhaps he's not quite got the commitment and fitness required for a JDT side right now? If we weren't so short he'd probably be playing for the ressies.

It seems their business model is to buy young players and sell on for big value. However, that business model could end up failing if they underperform, go down and their young players don't show enough to warrant a bigger club taking a chance. I remember last year there was talk about financial issues due to the leveraged purchase of the club, but they allayed those concerns by spending a load of money, recruiting and hiring well and getting out of the league. Given they've spent big again, I hope that if they go down then they could end up in a spot of bother, especially if they don't come straight back up. Sheffield United could be another club who struggle to come back up - they've had some well documented financial issues. I hope the Americans at Burnley lose interest as the overly-romanticised 'journey' back (over-exaggerated as some form of miracle) descends into weekly hammerings. Kompany did a decent job last year, although with their spend were expected to go up. I genuinely thought he had something about him, but wouldn't be shocked if he jumps ship to protect his own reputation if things threaten to get too embarrassing. That being said, the standard of the bottom of that league is dire and they could easily put together a run and stay up. It's looking increasingly difficult, though. Wolves and Everton are much improved and it feels like it will be 3 from the promoted sides and Bournemouth. The latter have also spent a bit of money and got a new manager and will expect to stay up. Also fantastic to see the best fans in the land resort to hired drummers, anguished letters and collective head-scratching to explain why their 'passionate, vociferous' supporters are quiet as mice when they're getting pasted every week at home. They were similarly quiet at Ewood Park* until they found their voices at the end. *no, I'm not bitter (maybe a little bit 😆)

I was quite complimentary about Kompany on here not long ago and got some stick. Hopefully that was me giving them the kiss of death, as they look absolutely shite. Naive, easy to play against, soft. Absolutely delighted. Hope they continue to get thumped. Even last year they struggled sometimes when teams had a go (Sheffield United for example), which made our Turf Moor red carpet roll out even more infuriating.

We look so much better now than earlier in the season. We are much more pragmatic and less kamikaze than before - we seem to have a steel about us defensively that we didn't before. Hill has played a major part in this, but so has Tronstad sitting in front of the defence. Previously we had Wharton roaming a bit and Travis bombing in, whereas now we have someone sitting, allowing JRC to play box-to-box (in his own fluid way from right back when in possession). I thought Dolan was absolutely superb.

https://x.com/kieranmaguire/status/1716472141812551695?s=46&t=Z0z9cI_hOf4gAbKDB_gYrw Concerning

Does anyone have a video of the big Leo save? Thanks in advance! Delighted with 3 points. Very important we back it up next week - 4 points will do me but no reason we can't get 6.

I thought they had the best support in all the land?

I hope Vale bounces back, but one moment that stood out for me was Burnley away. He came on for Gally at 0-0 and never broke out of a jog. He didn't close down their centre backs and it was like playing with 10 men.

Absolutely crazy. How can any manager be expected to succeed with that sort of managerial turnover? I know 'projects' aren't trendy, but you can't build anything as you're one bad run away from the chop,, so constantly have to adopt a short-term approach (potentially at the expense of greater long term success).

I must say I love the football we've been playing recently. We've lacked a finisher up top but it's far more pragmatic than it was in the first half of last season - it's direct when it needs to be and we pass less often to players who are in no position to receive the ball. I've noticed football at every level has changed. Playing it short from the keeper was so rare once upon a time - now you'll see it at semi pro level. The movement towards a Pep style of football has killed off individualism in some cases though. Look at Grealish - he was so exciting to watch, but is now just very functional and is part of a well oiled machine. As mentioned on the thread, the old ways aren't gone completely. The Dingles had some success in the Prem in the last decade playing a more 'old fashioned' style, and of course Luton went up. I do miss seeing chalk on the boots wingers though, they're largely a dying breed now. More generally, football discussion now is dominated by stats. You'll see people talking about players like Tugay, Scholes and even Xavi and Iniesta. They'll talk about 'assists' and their lack of them (compared to other midfielders), not knowing that these players often had matches on strings for 90 minutes and basically orchestrated the entire game. I remember Tugay making Gerrard look like a muppet, playing it to MGP who set up McCarthy. Of course Tugay didn't get an assist, but we all know who was the key man in that goal. Stats are clearly important, but sometimes the 'eye' tells you a lot more, and some of the more modern fans will do well to realise that! Styles come and go in football. I reckon in 10 years a big team will use traditional wingers and they'll be lauded as a maverick/genius.

Anyone have an indication of ticket sales? Want to know if it's worth chancing it until open sale or whether I need to get a membership to buy one quicker. Cheers

Fully agree on Brittain. I thought the same about Ennis, but by that point we were going through the motions and not playing with the same intensity or creating chances. There was no real service or urgency from that point, so felt a bit sorry for him tbh.

A baffling decision unless there's more to it. Reminds me of when they got rid of Rowett.

A great day out. Whilst QPR were a very poor side, I was delighted to see us looking comfortable on the ball (no shock there) but also pretty solid defensively. You can't grumble at a 4-0 win! Sigurdsson is going to be some player for us! Dolan also showed a welcome return to some sort of form, whilst the defence continued to look solid. Brittain looked bright after coming on, Hill looks to be a find and we were so dynamic and fluid positionally. Szmodics continues to rack up goals too. A really enjoyable day out capped off by a vocal away end!

Yet many of our own fans will try to convince you our support is shite.... Great support in trying circumstances, cannot wait!

To be fair I would certainly blame him if he deliberately lost to make a point - not that I think he will! I like to think the away fans attending are worth more than settling a few scores (whilst making himself look worse in the process). I'm going this time. Bringing my fiancee, who currently has a good record of 3 wins, a draw and a defeat in her 5 games. The one loss was on our doorstep in Cardiff so hoping her good luck continues. I think we get the balance right and win this 2-0.

The differences are stark and that's not even taking inflation into account. Horrible.

On the Newcastle point - yes they might be good owners in football terms, but some people would have a moral objection to it due to their extra-judicial murder of civilians, including journalists. I personally *would* have a problem with that type of ownership, as I'd very much struggle for my club's success to be paid for by the blood of innocents. You might not do, and that's fine. I'd be intrigued to know at which stage owners would be considered unacceptable. It appears a country that performs executions and murders dissidents is absolutely fine, so I suppose the bar must be pretty high in that regard. In a slightly different vein, I'd feel the same about criminals like Lee Hughes and deviants like Mason Greenwood representing the club. At different points they may have contributed on the pitch and made us better, but I'd sooner have a cleaner conscience, even if it means we win less games (and yes, I know I'm naïve holding up footballers as bastions of morality). I also wouldn't want us to sign a neo-Nazi or racist, even if in football terms they'd likely do well. I'd struggle to stop supporting Rovers and would likely still do so, but it would certainly feel dirty and I'd struggle morally with it. The Premier League also happily let Venky's take over and they were even more useless back in those days, so I'd take that with a pinch of salt. They clearly have the money - they're bankrolled by the Saudi state!

That's with good reason - otherwise it isn't a fair reflection of the game itself. The logic is that better strikers outperform their xG and thus show their value. What the xG shows above is that we are often not creating more chances than our opposition, which does undermine the 'unlucky' label many have attributed to our recent form. If xG was updated to be based on the player the chances fall to, I imagine it would look even worse given our lack of striker. Agree on the smashing the ball across the face of goal though, that won't show up on xG - it's why you can never really look at it in isolation (like with any stats). I imagine there were games last season when our xG was really low and you'd think we were never in it, when in truth we probably had heaps of possession and no killer ball. Feel like a massive geek talking about xG and whilst I think it's flawed, I do think there's merit in using it (like we do with possession, shots on target etc). It usually ends up being quite predictive.

It's silly talk, some people never got over him leaving. On the whole, I'd say most Rovers fans were happy to see him go and are much more patient with JDT than they were with TM (with good reason), but that might be my own echo chamber at play.