No surprise that we're losing and others around us are picking up points. If QPR turn it around against Rotherham and we lose to Norwich, both of which I expect to happen, then things will be looking grim come 5pm. 

We're so bad, it's beyond belief. Norwich will go on to get a second and possibly a third. 

Can't see us getting anything out of this game. Our game plan at the moment is to keep it tight and nick a goal, but Norwich have too much attacking quality for that to work tomorrow. Josh Sargent is one of the best players in the league and will rip us to shreds.

Buckley has to start. Interesting that he is getting rave reviews after his cameo against Cardiff. He was no doubt a standout player but I think that is also largely to do with the lower quality in our squad now that he looks a standout. The fact he can actually trap a ball and pick out a simple pass puts him head and shoulders above the likes of Ayari and Garrett. 

10 hours ago, philipl said:

A month on from the McGuire debacle and nobody senior taking responsibility.

I can only conclude that Pune pulled the plug not only on McGuire but O'Brien last year also.

If you are reading this, I managed to hit "submit reply"

Much as I have an extremely low opinion of Waggott, I don't for a moment believe he is incapable of supervising someone hitting the right computer key...

 

I completely agree. I'm not a conspiracy theorist generally but this one just doesn't add up. Three similar mistakes in one year, two happen to be very expensive transfers. Yet any freebie or cheap loan is done without a hitch. 

The club would rather play the incompetent card rather than "we have no money" card. 

Take the point and move on. The sole aim today from how we were set up was to get a clean sheet and everything else was a bonus.

Ayari and Garrett in particular were awful. Buckley good when he came on  

1-0 Cardiff written all over it. I thought we couldn't get a worse loanee from Brighton than Moran but GB has come up trumps again with Ayari.

😂 

Was that a joke or something? That half cannot be real. Awful. 

Big chance for us tonight I sense after seeing the team news.

Our starting 11 and bench looks average but Cardiff's looks awful. 

5 at the back, 3 in midfield. Fair to say we're aiming to nick a 1-0. 

Garrett was chasing shadows at the weekend so I'm not surprised we've thrown another body in there. 

The only hope I have is looking at Cardiff's line up and bench which looks very poor. 

The style of play has been pretty awful so far but it's all about results at the moment so I don't really mind. We were heading down playing pretty football under JDT; I'd rather stay up and play ugly football under Eustace.

I don't think it will be until next season that we see the style Eustace wants to play. It's very much back to basics at the moment which we need to try and get out of this situation. The problem is, we're not very good at the basics as that was coached out of the team.

We're fortunate that there are a lot or very bad teams between us and the relegation places. This season is our worst one since we were last relegated from the championship, no doubt about that.

I actually think our first 11 when everyone is fit is half decent. It's the squad that is dreadful. 

Very happy with a point. I thought we'd get battered today so a point is a bonus. Us being 2-0 means nothing as we all know how bad we are, but ultimately its a tough away game and a point is decent. 

The teams below us look woeful so we may just get away with it this season. Let's hope so anyway. Millwall are the ones I think could go down.

Feel like a last minute Preston goal is incoming 

6 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

The most predictable thing to happen now is that we will go on to lose this. 

It's absolutely typical of Rovers. 

We will 100% go on to lose. We are the softest team in the league and have the weakest mentality. 

I'd be shocked if we even got a draw. I actually backed Preston to win at pretty big odds when we went 2-0 up. I knew the game was far from over.

Jeez we are so bad 

Gally! Let's not mess it up from here. This would be a huge result.

1 minute ago, Waggy76 said:

It is not going to be easy to avoid the drop...At least Sheffield Wednesday lost.. Rotherham have gone , 4 more wins 12 points should be enough ....

Where are 4 wins coming from? That's the concern. We are so bad. 

Just now, davulsukur said:

Telalovic should have nicked that at the death.

The guy isn't a footballer. 

Well done to Brum. At least they made an effort tonight and actually tried to win the game. Fully deserved 3 points.

Disgraceful from us. Not enough effort or desire at all. 

Two tough away games to come. We're in deep trouble. 

This is the worst we've seen. About 10 mins left to play and I've got zero hope that we'll even have a shot let alone score 

Telalovic is on. Game over.

Deserved. We've been awful.

Tough game this one. Win and we have good breathing space; lose and things get nervy again. 

I think we may get a result with our better players now back and our more direct style of play. 

Overall, much more confident we will stay up now that we have Eustace in charge. 

Interesting that the players are already taking a slight dig at JDTs style of football. The quotes from Brittain are interesting this morning and probably reflect the majority of the squad. 

When you have someone like Gally upfront and try to play passing football you are doomed from day one. Get it up to him quickly and ask him to be a nuisance and he'll do fairly well.

The players we have will be far more suited to Eustace's style of play. 

We must get Dolan tied up to a new contract. I've never been a huge fan but I was wrong, he's becoming a very good player. We missed him a lot when he was out injured. Telalovic, on the other hand, is someone I cannot believe we paid a fee for. I honestly cannot think of a worse striker we've had. Even Chris Brown was better.

Massive win. I wasn't able to watch the game but pleased to hear the tippy tappy football has been ditched already. 

If we'd have lost that then we'd been in big, big trouble. We're not out of the woods by any means but to win a six pointer is always significant.

6 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

So in the space of 4 hours he has gone from being an upgrade to a big upgrade and being compared to Sparky and Sam. I think you are getting ever so slightly carried away with a man whose sole managerial achievement to date is finishing 17th in his one season as a manager. 

Also given that Birmingham's new owners had planned all along to replace him with Rooney I highly doubt that he was responsible for those summer signings.

I don't rate JDT, so he's an upgrade or a big upgrade. You can choose which option you prefer.

Eustace would follow the same blueprint as Hughes and Allardyce, which I think is the right approach. Following the same blueprint doesnt mean he is a peer of those two or a direct comparison, simply that he would build from the back. You can Google what blueprint means if you're not sure! 

3 hours ago, Ewood Ace said:

Based on what? He has had one full season in management where he guided to Birmingham to 17th. If in the summer we had sacked JDT and appointed Eustace no one would have said it was an upgrade, Eustace has only developed a reputation thanks to Rooney doing such a dreadful job at Birmingham.

He's very pragmatic who focuses on getting the basics right and then evolving the playing style from there. If you speak to Brum fans, they will tell you he started by getting the defensive side of the game right and being strong at set pieces. That's 💯 the right thing to do. Compare that to JDT, we are the worst team in the league at defending set pieces, cannot do the basics at all, and are way too open. Yet JDT continues trying to play champagne football.

Our two best managers of recent times - Hughes and Allardyce - they have both followed the same blueprint of making us us solid first. 

Eustace came into an extremely poor Birmingham side in his first season who were strongly tripped for relegation and kept them up easily. He had some money to spend in the summer and they signed well, with a focus on exciting wingers. We desperately need those kind of players too. He had them in 6th place and should never have been sacked.

Eustace also knows the championship far better than JDT and understands what it takes to get out of a relegation scrap.

All in all, a big upgrade for me.