I see Swansea won again thanks to another ref deciding to make himself the centre of attention by sending someone off after 5 minutes, ruining the game. QPR benefitted from it during the week. Very annoying when you're trying to put some distance between yourselves and the pack.

The football Birmingham played when their #10 came on yesterday is what you saw at Ewood under Allardyce - it's dire to watch, but hugely effective. Our back 3 are all over 6' and have dominated aerially for the last couple of games. Jutkiewicz came on and suddenly every cross into the box was filled with danger and every lump forward resulted in a knock down.

I'd argue the biggest improvement has come from Gallagher - he now looks like a good Championship CF. He's scored 1 in 3, which is huge progress and as we all know goals win games - we've desperately needed another consistent goalscorer in this team for games like yesterday when Brereton-Diaz is off the boil. Travis has been fine, although his lack of passing ability has been exposed in this system and Buckley is currently being taught a lesson - fingers crossed the lesson takes as he's a talented player. To me the fact that we're sat 2nd considering the situation the club was in during the summer (5 week search for a manager AFTER Mowbray eventually walked, 10 players with first team minutes leaving for free) is dreamland stuff. Game to game you can see the system and the style of play JDT and his coaching staff are drilling into the team taking positive effect e.g. the A. Wharton goal came from playing it out of the back and we're MUCH harder to score against now. So are we a good team? The table suggests we are. We're heavily reliant on a handful of key players staying fit (Kaminsky and Brereton-Diaz being the two irreplaceable ones), but if we continue to progress I don't see why we can't be in the Playoffs at the end of the season. That would be ahead of schedule for JDT too as he knew this was a massive rebuilding project.

We're 3rd regardless of how teams do with that extra game they have on us.

He genuinely didn't know - it feels like he's only now just getting a handle on who our best players are and what their potential is.

Garrett played 90 minutes on Tuesday and like 20 minutes today. Is he that much further along physically? Not complaining, just find it curious.

It's not that he's playing more central, it's that he's full of confidence and putting himself about that's the difference. He's a very big, athletic CF - he should be a NIGHTMARE for defenders to handle at this level. We're actually finally starting to see signs of it.

Unfortunately his bench options consist of Vale, Dolan and (when he's in the squad) Hirst. Who do you bring on there to 'change it up'? We badly need a mobile striker in January.

Does anyone know why A. Wharton can only last 60 minutes? We're a much worse team when he goes off. Also interesting to see that Garrett has passed Buckley in the pecking order in midfield...

We were comfortable until they brought that #10 on - he won everything in the air and completely changed the game. Delighted to win this one, could very easily have been a draw on another day.

Inject it into my veins - especially after their moaning on Tuesday.

Or he really dislikes Dack's mentality and is using him to prove a point. By some accounts Dack sulked when he wasn't made captain. If JDT is trying to send a message to the squad (especially the younger players) that even the most senior pro has to work his bollocks off in training (which I bet he isn't) to get a sniff then this would be the outcome.

If he's desperate to play why would he waste 6 more months of his career sitting on his current contract? He's already missed 2 years.

It'll be about getting his wages off the wage bill too - I bet he's our best paid player. That'll give Broughton and JDT some flexibility - bet they can bring in two very good players for what Dack is on.

I don't think it's a coincidence that we look at our best when we have Hedges dropping into midfield or A. Wharton in there. The way JDT wants to play you need at least 2 CMs who can turn on the ball and pass. Morton is 1 - and seems to have solidified his starting position. Buckley CAN do it, but he's currently learning the lesson that he has to do it more consistently (and be braver with the ball) or he'll be playing for the U21s. As much as I like Travis as a player, he can't do it at this level and hinders us somewhat. It'll take time to get everything clicking - in the meantime we're joint top!

Vale has never offered anything when he's played in the Championship. I'd rather have Hirst on the bench.

We're literally joint top with a rag-tag squad of whatever players Mowbray deigned to offer a new contract to and kids. What more do you people want??!

Neither will QPR.

Just seen the QPR highlights - the referee has ruined that game within 20 minutes. Never a penalty, never a red card. The standard of officiating at this level beggars belief.

We'd need another goal scorer to really push for promotion. I wouldn't be surprised if Brereton goes in January and Gallagher / Dolan / Hirst isn't a consistent source of goals - they'll chip in at best.

I thought their wall played Wharton on and it was never a penalty. Went down too easily - even with multiple replays it's not clear if there was any contact. We absolutely bossed Sunderland and they can have no qualms about the result.

Garrett was much, much better in the second half to be fair to him. He was nowhere near MOTM, but he didn't look too out of place at this level after 90 minutes. He hasn't done his cause any harm.

I think you need to give some more credit to Hedges, he was brilliant tonight. Szmodic was very, very good too.

Yep, we're crying out for another good option upfront. Vale did nothing again when he came on - how far way is Leonard from the first team?

Silence in the first half (he wasn't introduced as a homecoming hero to the crowd and he barely left the dugout). A few mocking chants of "Mowbray, what's the score?" and "Mowbray, sort it out!" when they were down 2-0. Slunk off down the tunnel after the final whistle too.