Give over, Lowe couldn't lace Travis' boots. As for the 'without an engine' comment, I think A. Wharton is a vastly superior player to Travis, but I bet Lewis destroys him in any sort of fitness challenge. The problem with Travis is that he had the creativity hammered out of him by Mowbray who wanted him to be another Smallwood - a midfield destroyer. At his best he's a box-to-box CM, i.e. he's a runner who can tackle and support. What he's not, nor will ever be, is a passer - which is what JDT wants his CMs to do. We desperately need another CF, someone with power and pace who can hurt teams on the break / chase balls down in the channels and generally just put the fear of god into teams.

I think the second we drew a PL team away our cup run was over. We've been using the competition as a chance to play our second XI, I don't think he'll change from that plan.

I reckon we'll end up selling him to a L2 team for a decent price. He gets bullied in the Championship, but he'll have more time to play at lower levels.

We're crying out for pace upfront. Neither Vale or Dolan are a threat to run onto a long ball. We're very easy to defend against when they're on in that situation.

I'd play with a back 3 just to get after them on set pieces. That extra height causes havoc.

I suspect their Board and fans won't stand for that. It's why Mowbray had a face like thunder for his last 6 months here when it was clear the Venkys weren't going to re-new his contract. He's never had it so good and he knew it.

Yes, but he can't play 90 minutes twice a week - 60 minutes a match appears to be his limit at the moment. I'm surprised Buckley is so out in the cold, he'd be ideal for this style of football.

I'd probably go with the 3-5-2 formation against Burnley and look to frustrate them in attack and score from set pieces.

Any big, strong, fast and direct PL striker loanees on offer? We'd be a much different proposition if we had someone to bring off the bench (or indeed start in place of Gallagher) that troubled defences on the break.

I don't know if it even is playing 'badly' - by my count Huddersfield had one chance and that was a blocked cross that their winger toe poked back into the box. We looked very, very good in the first half and on another day Brereton could have had a hattrick (how he missed that chance that Hedges put on a plate for him I'll never know). At some point in every second half JDT reverts to a very defensive look to see the game out - it's clearly by design, but it's certainly not enjoyable for the fans.

Ah, now I know why JDT can do no right in your eyes.

All this with a 5 week dead period between Mowbray leaving and JDT coming in during the summer, leaving us very little time to get our transfer business in order - Mowbray left him a very weak, inbalanced squad. From my seat in the Jack Walker you can see what style of football he's trying to play and the players he's missing to play it consistently. You can also see him adapting to the situation and getting the team to work hard for each other to put in professional performances. Hyam, Brittain and Szmodics all look like very good permanent signings. We haven't seen Mola yet and the less said about Hirst the better at the moment, but Morton has become the rock of our midfield on loan too. Added to that the improvement in Pickering, Gallagher and Hedges (he's literally a key player for us now) in such a short period of time is astounding. Not to mention he's sensibly blooding some very impressive Academy graduates in Phillips, Garrett and A. Wharton (I'm hoping Batty and Leonard join them soon). I'm excited to see what this side looks like in August 2023.

I hope Broughton has a quality loanee in mind. Someone with strength and pace would bag a hatful in this team.

The lad behind them isn't bad too.

I genuinely think he's just got nobody to bring off the bench to win us a game, or indeed change it. What he does have on the bench (which is ironic considering the last guy promised them) is a plethora of quality Championship defenders, so he knows he can shut up shop. At the moment Gallagher can't last 90 minutes and you'd be loathe to risk Hedges for the full 90 coming back from injury - and their backups are miles off their standard. I'm clearly in the minority here, but I think JDT is doing an incredible job managing the meagre resources he's been handed (he keeps referencing 12 out, 6 in for a reason!) and continues to eke out results, even if it's not the prettiest for the full 90 minutes (there are passages of wonderful play in there).

He has good feet when he gets the ball under control. It's the rest of his game I worry about - too slow, too easily bullied off the ball and his movement is poor.

Another professional performance in my opinion. The strength of our team is that back 3 (albeit I'd very rarely start with all 3 of them on the pitch at the same time). JDT loves shutting up shop and has confidence in those 3 (and Kaminski) seeing the game out. It's our 8th clean sheet so it clearly works. Personally think we squandered a few golden chances to kill the game off, but another comfortable win.

We lack any sort of quality from the bench. It was most stark against Sheffield United. They emptied their bench and most of them would have started for us.

There's that wayward Wharton pass I was talking about - he's good for a couple of those a game at the moment.

Nope. He clearly prefers Vale and Dolan to Dack. He'll be gone in January, probably the moment the transfer window opens.

Brereton HAS to score there. Shocking miss.

Sam Barnes.

You miss the third CB when defending set pieces (and attacking them to be fair).

Screw £15m for Brereton, I'd want £15m for Hedges.

I still think we can do better (he's not athletic enough), but he's come on leaps and bounds this season. Credit to the coaching staff, we're seeing the range of passing that he was renown to have now.