Wow, how on earth did we get a point out of that. No centre halves, no strikers, a central midfielder in goal, and 10 men for the last 15 mins. Great team spirit. 4 points from those three games is impressive. A lack of centre halves and strikers is now starting to bite. Where on earth is Downing? He’s not that bad.

When it’s not your day...

Think we’ll get well beaten in this one. We’re at our best when we can keep things tight and nick a goal. WBA are a difficult team to stop scoring and we’re not a team that finds scoring easy. 3-1 WBA

3-1 flattered them massively. I think a draw would have been a fair result. Potter made some good tactical changes at HT. He tried to pull our defenders out of position more and play the ball in behind to expose our lack of pace back there. Pace is the one thing our defenders can not cope with and he exposed that. Still no complaints about the progress we’re making as a club though. Promotion would be a dream but mid table more of a reality. Personally, I thought a relegation scrap before the season started, but I don’t think we’ll be anywhere near the drop zone. On the pluses from last night, more game time for Rodwell. He will be a big player for us when fully fit. Rothwell looked excellent when he came on yet again. Brereton did ok, but that final pass or shot is not quite coming off for him yet. Surprised that Williams has been frozen out recently and did not come on when Lenihan got injured. He was once one of the first names on the team sheet. Palmer still cannot find a way into the team. I actually agree with TM on that decision, I’ve not been impressed by him at all. Smacks of a deal that will be ended in January.

Rodwell showing his not a centre half. Being pulled out of position too easily and Swansea playing it into the space left by him being out of position.

It’s a nice feeling going into Monday after an excellent win at the weekend. What a team TM has built in such a short space of time. It’s clearly not the most talented side in the division with lots of flair, but we must be the side with the most passion and desire. That can take you along way. Still think our squad is too thin to have a sustained promotion push but this season was all about stability and progress. We’ve already seen that in abundance. On the game on Saturday, Armstrong looked outstanding. Caused absolute havoc. Let’s snap up chapman in Jan and we’ll have a very dangerous forward line.

I personally think he’s quite a shrewd operator in the transfer market. The signings of Dack, Armstrong, Smallwood and, to a lesser extent, Downing were excellent last season. So far this year, I’d say Rothwell and Reed look excellent. Brereton is an exciting signing who will come good in time. Davenport and Rodwell haven’t featured yet so hard to say. I’m not convinced about Palmer at all and the jury is out on Armstrong at this level, but I do feel he’ll be useful with his pace.

I think the issue with Smallwood is that, yes, he’s very good at harassing players and closing down the space but, on the other hand, he plays a part in inviting pressure from the opposition by lumping it aimlessly upfield so often. I do like Smallwood but if we are to progress then I think he has to become a sub player and brought on to protect a lead. Reed, Rothwell and hopefully Davenport are far more talented than him. He’ll always be an ewood legend, though, for his passionate displays last season.

We have to remember that we are a work in progress and that we did go to one of the hardest places in the division last night and came away with a point. Plus, we've played two of the other promotion favourites so far (Brentford and Villa) and come away with 4 points. We've also kept 4 clean sheets in the process. This season was all about being competitive and building the club back up; I've seen great progress in that sense. We were so far off the pace 2 years ago in this league, it's nice to see that we are at least competing and are a difficult outfit to beat now. We do need a bit more magic in the final 3rd but that will come in time as we progress and add better players, and as our young players like Armstrong and Brereton evolve and develop. All of our best managers in the last decade or so (Hughes, Bowyer and Allardyce) have first and foremost made us hard to beat and then added the quality in forward positions. That's exactly what TM is doing as well.

Crikey, that was shambolic. He could have taken anyone off so I feel Conway was a little unfortunate.

Palmer, Dack, and Armstrong will be a handful for them. I don’t think their defence is the most mobile; I can see those three players causing real problems. Equally, I can see their front players causing our defence problems. Williams at CB is a bit of a worry and I’m not a huge fan of the Smallwood/Evans combination at this level; I think we have better options in there. I think home advantage may prove to be the crucial factor here.

Bennett is an interesting one. He’s become “Mr Blackburn Rovers” in the current set up, but he’s really ineffictive in an attacking role. He’s got so much passion and desire, which is what playing for this club is all about, which makes it impossible to drop him. Whenever he switches to a central midfield role, he is absolutely immense but I can’t see him ever getting a regular starting spot in CM. I do think there will come a point in this season where those players who are in the team mainly for their desire and passion, such as Bennett and Smallwood, may be replaced by more talented players, such as Reed and Palmer.

Tough one to call. Derby are going to be one of those teams that is great one week but terrible the next. Pride Park is one of the toughest away games in this league, though, so I would take a point. Sadly, I think Derby may be too strong for us. There's no chance Graham will start this one after he played the full 90 on Saturday. I would expect AA to go up top with Palmer coming in on the left. I thought Reed looked excellent when he came on at the weekend, but from reading those comments from TM it doesn't sound as though he will be starting him just yet. I'm not convinced at all that Smallwood is good enough for this level, but you can never fault his desire and effort. Brereton looks a little short on match fitness and confidence so I don't expect him to start for a while yet. The one thing you don't want to do is throw him in before he's ready and then everyone writes him off as a dud before he's even properly got up to speed. Rothwell is very unlucky not to be in the starting line up, he's been excellent every time he's played. I think the problem with Rothwell is that I'm unsure what position he actually plays; he's full of energy and running but perhaps his positioning is not disciplined enough for TM to start him.

Disappointing end to the game to say the least. I thought Villa deserved a point so a draw is a fair result. Would certainly have taken a point before the game, Villa have some top players. Reed looked very good when he came on.

Decent side with a strong bench. I’m surprised that Bell and Smallwood have kept their places,; not surprised that Palmer has lost his. Dack is the key man as always.

A shocker of a second half, we went a bit too gung ho when we went 2-1 down. We just didn’t compete that well today, which is unlike us. I still feel like we have a really exciting young squad being built here; one bad result won’t change that. I think TM was waiting for a defeat before dropping one or two players and bringing in some of our summer signings. Williams will almost certainly come in next match for Bell and Smallwood will be dropped for Reed. There surely has to be a regular starting slot for Rothwell, he looked excellent again today.

£15m for a player that’s only played three games in the championship is a good offer tbf. But we won’t sell this window. £15m-£20m in January from a premier league club may be a different story. He will most certainly leave after this season if we don’t go up; he’s a premier league player.

I think ppl are reading too much into the picture Chapman has put up. If he leaves on loan, I would be shocked if we’re not the club he joins. He loved it here, he’s well loved by the fans, and he seems to be good mates with the players. Plus, TM has already said he’s desperate to re-join the club.

Wouldn’t be surprised if a couple more came in and a couple went out before the deadline. Surely Whittingham will follow Caddis in leaving by mutual consent. Perhaps loans for Fisher and Nuttal if we can get a couple in. I reckon we may pull off the chapman deal.

Hopefully we can bring in one or two more before window closes but, even if we don’t, I think we’ve had an excellent window and gone up a couple of levels. I can’t see any reason why we can’t have a promotion push this season. i would like to see Chapman come back but don’t think it’s essential, we have lots of competition for those forward places. Plus, he’s out of contract next summer so we can re-visit then. I think Bauer from Charlton will also end up here eventually. I do think we’re a bit light at centre back, though, so that could be where we fall down a bit. If we get an injury there, we’re then relying on Downing, Rodwell, Williams to cover - none of them are proven centre backs at this level. We are struggling if Raya gets injured too.

My interpretation of those comments are that it’s pretty much a done deal but Forest have erratic owners so anything could happen until it’s actually signed and sealed by all parties.

Down to the bare bones in the attacking areas. I don’t see any creativity in that side so we’ll be relying on set pieces. Despite the injury problems, Whittingham still can’t make the bench.

Rodwell is a no brainier on a cheap short term deal. If he gets anywhere near the levels he’s capable of then he’ll be the best cm at the club by a country mile. Signing Reed as well on loan means we are very overloaded on central midfielders. Travis will go out on loan, Whittingham will probably go, and Smallwood will become a reserve. Not sure where this leaves Davenport, I can’t see him getting a look in. Rothwell will most likely play further forward. We neee a new striker (or two) and a wide player and then I think we’ve got a good squad. Dark horses for the play offs?

It was sheer desire and spirit that got us a point in that game. We were pretty poor going forward - not surprising when we were missing Dack, Armstrong and Palmer - but we kept plugging away and never gave up. Fantastic resilience this set of players have. Rothwell outstanding. Nyambe, Bennett and Evans very good too. I thought Nuttal did really well when he came on. Looks like Anichibe will be coming in on a free then. Not a bad freebie.

I expect Armstrong to come in for Palmer in the only change from the starting 11 against Millwall. I think our starting 11 will look a bit more dynamic after the loan window has closed, but I expect a more cautious side until we’ve got a few points on the board and bedded in the new players. This game is a tough one to call. Hull City are a club on the slide and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them relegated in the next couple of seasons. They still have 1 or 2 talented players at their disposal so it won’t be an easy game. If Dack is on song, I think we’ll win. If not, a draw or Hull win.