Andy

JDT won’t be leaving anytime soon. But when he does, he’ll be going to a much bigger club than Boro.

No, I wouldn’t say that. Preston at home, Burnley away off top of my head. Performance was frustratingly good today, but nothing at the top end. The result is abysmal, but we created enough chances to beat these four times over. Once the new lads can come in, hopefully we’ll see a difference.

The absolute single positive from this game is that it’ll be Pears last as first choice.

Absolute disgrace. Plymouth are League 1 standard and they’ve still managed to beat us. Some nice play in sections, but means fuck all if you have nothing up front.

That early miss from Hedges was incredible. Travis does a lot right, but then his actual technical ability lets him down when it matters. Wharton hasn’t been good today either. And as for the short corners…

That was the gameplan though, as JDT confirmed after the match. We allowed them to have possession and chances, being confident that our backline could handle it - which they evidently could. Szmodics should score when 1-on-1 in the first half, Moran had a good chance to score in the second and we had a few other chances on the break also. Very good away performance and we'll play like this again many times this season, particularly away to the stronger teams. I think the result and performance deserves all of the credit it gets.

I can't honestly say I've seen them play, possibly ever. But they're Plymouth and have just been promoted, so I expect 3 points. I'll go 3-1 Rovers.

Suspect we'd have been waiting on Brighton to decide whether he could leave or not. Prem loans often drop into this last week of the window for that very reason.

One complaint I do have from today (in addition to my platitudes from earlier) is our set pieces. Understand that we need to think outside the box (literally) when we're playing bigger teams than us, but today's were woeful. Not to mention the wasted journey upfield for our CBs. Need to do better.

Agreed. I’ve seen a few comments saying that our performance was poor (but the result was good), which I don’t agree with at all. In away games like that, you actively submit possession, soak up the pressure and try to take the chances you get. Textbook away performance and result for me.

Agreed Moran didn’t do much, but what he did he did well. Showed more in that cameo than Dolan has in several games so far this season. And agreed on Gally. Honestly think he could score 15 if he’s a regular this season. But we still need another body up there, obviously.

Fantastic result. Fancied to us to win 1-0, but had the scorer wrong. Credit to Pears, one top drawer save today and generally good. The goal was an incredible piece of skill. Thought Moran and Gally looked good when they came on. Hyam, Carter and Brittain also really good as well. Really pleased with that.

Decent half imo, against a decent side at this level. Hyam and Brittain have been really good, but Dolan has again been a waste of a shirt, unfortunately. Hopefully Sigurdsson isn’t too far away. Wharton has flitted between wasteful and brilliant, which is to be expected at this level. Get Moran and Gallagher on for Dolan and Leonard and we can win this one.

SkyBet gave me a free £5 for a Request a Bet, so popped it on this. Approx 0% chance of it coming in - and in truth, I meant to put over 1.5 goals (not under), but popping it here in the remote chance it comes in. * Don't condone gambling / please don't take this as a tip / etc / etc.

I’m not a fan of Pears being our number 1, though I do think he’s a sound enough stand in. He was definitely at fault for goal number 2; I’ve played as a GK myself long enough to know that - and I’m sure Pears would acknowledge that on watching back. But in the interests of balance/fairness, he made 2-3 excellent stops in the first half to keep the tie at 0-0.

My thoughts also. Head says defeat, but I’ve seen enough from the opening few games to hold some optimism.

No, I had to watch on telly today (work commitments). When the note reached Hyam, he was holding 3 fingers up and telling the other defenders that they would play with 3 CBs at various points of play. He didn't even appear to look in JDT's direction (the note was passed from player to player).

In fairness, GB did his job in identifying the right players and agreeing terms with them. The club's total inability to then get the deals over the line was not his failing.

For as long as they don't allow equal rights for women and imprison (or outright murder) those who happen to be homosexual, a country like Saudi will never be taken seriously and will always be several decades behind the rest of the civilised world.

He was shit for their second, but other than that he had a very good game. The saves early on were superb. And I'm not particularly a fan of his.

Gutted to lose, obviously, but really pleased with that performance. They were on top before the red, but we defended well for the majority of the match and even after they equalised, we should have gone 2-1 up just before they scored their second. Even with 10 men we created plenty today. Couple of additions and I think we'll do alright this season.

1-0 - Hyam. 7 points from the first 3 games 💪

Both Russia and China have tried it (albeit to a lesser degree) in the recent past and I expect the Saudi project to follow a similar path - ie fade into obscurity. I haven’t met a single person who is interested in watching the Saudi league, irrespective of who is playing in it, so it will effectively become a rich men’s plaything and little else.

That team wins this match, simple as that 👍

No matter how old you are, 30 years ago is flipping miles in the past 😄