Exiled_Rover

Did he do anything yesterday besides score from a wonderful corner kick? He wouldn't be getting that service here...

I think losing Toth for three months really fucks us over. However I don't think those three wins in a row were a fluke like many of you seem to.

Ok and who are you playing out wide in the 4-2-3-1? And which of our two strikers are you ineffectually playing as the 1 in said formation?

He's clearly not up to much if he can't even get off the bench in the MLS - but yeah we need an athletic body to spell Alebiosu at RWB. I don't know who else we could turn to besides Duru.

There's a line though, isn't there? Derby went well beyond it yesterday - a decent ref would have stamped it out immediately. Granted a decent ref would have given us a penalty at the end too, so there you go.

I didn't forget him, I just don't know what to make of him yet. He's a willing runner and a very quick player, but his final ball is a liquorice allsorts - which I think is down to his lack of skill. Quite similar to Dolan in a way, although that was down to his lack of a brain. LWB suits him, especially when rotating with Hedges, and I think he's growing into the league, but he's clearly pretty limited. At the moment I see him as a useful player that lets us play our best formation - we'll see if he pushes on from there.

Would you be happy with Batth and Weimann here this season? You saw yesterday (and last year) that Weimann's legs have gone. I suspect Batth's have too if he's on the bench at Derby behind the cloggers we saw yesterday.

Let's wait until the end of the season until we start writing our obituary, eh?

Our best formation is clearly 3 at the back with 3 in midfield and 2 upfront. For all of the criticism Ismael has received for playing Hedges at CB yesterday, he didn't let us down - and you just have to look at my post history to know that I'm one of the biggest Hedges haters on the planet. We don't have any good wingers, nor do we have a striker good enough to play in a lone role - so 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 just simply doesn't work for this squad.

No chance of relegation - barring another rash of injuries. This is a lower mid-table side on paper - and one that could flirt around the playoffs if things start to click. If our spine is out long-term however - Toth / Carter / Wharton / Tronstad / Cantwell - then like pretty much every team in this division we'll struggle.

The jury is still out for me. I need to see more of them - realistically they should all be slowly being introduced into the side, rather than thrown in at the deep end. I've seen flashes from Henriksson, Gudjohnsen and Morishita, but we've also seen three players overwhelmed with the pace and physicality of the league. I think Alebiosu is better than Brittain - mostly because he's just a much better athlete and he's asked to patrol an entire flank on his own. Brittain couldn't get up and down like that and was often caught out for pace. I don't see much difference between Gardner-Hickman and Travis - both limited, but dogged footballers. Selling Hyam I'm ok with - I don't think McLoughlin is a worse player (and I think Miller is a better player) - but selling him and then shifting to 3 at the back is suicide long term. Not unless you recall O'Riordan or you really fancy Pratt / one of the U21 CBs (which they clearly don't). Tavares seems to be the only 'dud', but he also might just need time. Who knows what Schrodinger's Baradji will bring to the party, if he even ever plays for us.

Derby were dirty as hell yesterday. Pushing, pulling and obstructing (their no.6 twice made a beeline for Ohashi on a break and blocked him like they were playing American Football) their way through the game. Their #32 pussied out of a 50/50 with Miller then disgustingly swiped at Miller's feet once he'd got the ball under control - he got a yellow, but there was zero intent to play the ball and it was an incredibly cowardly act designed purely to hurt our player.

As always with this board - quick to pounce on any negatives. Three wins on the bounce brushed away in an instant. It's clearly somewhere in-between. There was too much turnover in the summer (due to cost cutting / selling assets / a new 'project' - however you / they want to define it), but at the end of the day the quality of the squad hasn't changed much. Much like last year, we still lack depth. If four (or five - depending on what you think of Carter / Wharton) starting players were missing last year under Eustace we'd have struggled to get results too. We didn't lose any world beaters in the summer and we evidently didn't replace them with any either.

The fan base is there - you saw it yesterday and you've seen it for the Burnley game. The quality of the game isn't really a problem (losing it though), it's the fact that there's just no direction and no connection to this club anymore. I go because it's a social event with my parents. I've no real love for what this club has turned into.

I don't think they intended on playing with three at the back - look at the makeup of the squad: Ribeiro and Pickering have no place in that formation (neither will be cheap, relative to the rest of the squad) We only have three CFs for two positions (and he basically refuses to play Gueye) We only have one RWB in the squad We only have four senior CBs for three starting CB positions It's pretty clear he's stumbled upon this formation (or perhaps reverted to it as I know he's played it before) and we're trying to make do with the players we have. I actually think it suits most of our players, we just don't have the required depth to play it when injuries inevitably hit. If I was in charge of January recruitment I'd be looking at a RWB, a CB, a CM and a CF as an absolute minimum. I'd also be looking to shift Pickering and Ribeiro on.

If the ref wasn't so blatant today I'd suggest he was on the take. I simply list it down to incompetence. He needs to find another career because he's in well over his head refereeing at this level.

You've seen from Henriksson, who's come from what you'd imagine is a very physical Swedish league, and is struggling to get up to the speed and physicality of the game - it just isn't. The Championship is full of the best paid cloggers on Earth. It's unbelievably physical.

The question is; are any of them good enough? If you're throwing youngsters of the standard of Montgomery into the starting XI you're on a hiding to nothing.

Who's buying an injured GK in January?

It's the current 'project'. As Broughton and JDT found, it's liable to change on a whim.

Yes, our fans do not listen. They explained there'd be a poem, then a minutes silence, then the last post. They cheered through the last post because they're morons.

Curious you'd say that - consensus around me was they were a very thuggish side that were fortunate to have such a weak ref and were lucky to leave with all three points. Eustace has spent a hell of a lot of money to be playing that style of football.

He literally didn't make a save today.

If my defender had been beaten and like that and then tried to pull the shirt off the player's back I'd have been livid. Absolutely stonewall penalty.

Time wasting / slowing the game down / doubling up on Alebiosu is fine and clever tactics. Sending your players out to foul from minute 1 until the ref calls you up on it (which he never did - what a weak individual he is) is beyond the pale. It clearly took a half time teamtalk for our players to start giving some back as we were much more physical the second half.