Andy

Dack has spent the last 2 seasons out with a couple of major injuries. He might not like the idea, but we have to manage him back to fitness, then ease him back into the team. He’s simply not there yet. If he doesn’t throw his toys out of the pram - and I’m sure he won’t as he seems a good lad - he will get his chance this season. Too many hats of the tin foil variety being worn.

Oh, absolutely - looks a very decent player and I was excited when we brought him in. But he was pretty poor in whatever position he played for us. Seems to be a view that he was always played out of position at Rovers, which really wasn’t the case. He was out of position in some games - right forward was a bizarre move - but he was undoubtedly poor when he was at left back for us.

In fairness, he was still shit in the games he did play at left back.

It sounds like we wanted JPvH on a permanent deal and had been working towards negotiating that. Sounds like Brighton decided that they’d rather keep him. Sunderland is a very bizarre place for him to go though, unless theres a regular ferry route from that region across to Holland.

Rumour doing the rounds is Brendan Rodgers being sacked tonight. Nothing official yet, but some bookies have stopped taking bets...

Agree on Davenport - thought he was very tidy and shows bit of talent in the fleeting appearances he had. Would have been a huge improvement on Buckley in the last 2 games. If he's still on a free, might be worth seeing if he fancies coming back...?

Of course Jack saw us as a project - he even admitted himself that we won the Prem a season or two early to plan. Even us being self sustainable was part of his plan for us. I would be worried if there wasn't a plan/project in place at any stage.

Bit of an embarrassment to be even talking about relegation after 5 games (of which we've won 3...). Literally serves no purpose.

We can't afford to lose this one, however disposable the tie seems at face value. It would mean 3 straight defeats, including being knocked out of the cup by a lower league team. I think he'll pick a strong a team as possible to get some positive momentum back.

Anyone talking about relegation after 5 league games (of which we’ve won 3 of) needs to have a word with themselves. I’ve described our fans as the footballing personification of Bipolar disease - and I stick by it. A LONG way to go this season; let’s see how the transfer window ends.

Ball was well out of play, wasn’t even close. But I can’t honestly say that we deserve anything from this match.

He really does and that was always the frustration when he was with us. He is still young enough to learn, but he lets himself down so often.

Superb from Pickering to beat his man down the left there. Cross wasn’t the best, but nice to see him do something really well.

Anel looks a player though, shame we missed out on him.

Just not good enough. I’m fine with the sitting deep and counter attacking plan, but we need to be much, much better on the ball. Look a soft touch.

The owners don’t identify players and negotiate with them - they basically approve and sign things off. The manager at the time is the sole person responsible for not utilising the funds made available to him. And in terms of what’s happening this window, the only thing that seems certain is that nobody really knows. Club is doing a good job of keeping things under wraps.

If we’re a million or two short on the JPvH deal, ship Carter off to Portsmouth - they think he’s the second coming down there. If the other Van from Merseyside pulls up as well, we will have plenty of quality cover to play either a 4 or a 5, with Ayala’s annual injuries also covered. In short, it’s a deal that needs to happen.

Whilst I like BBD and 2 goals in 4 isn't a bad return so far, if any scouts were watching him tonight, we'll be lucky to get £3m never mind £30m.

Nope. We were excellent at Swansea; gameplan executed to perfection. QPR was fits and spurts, but we did enough to win. WBA was probably the worst performance (before tonight), but we still found a way to win. Doesn't take away from how pathetic we were tonight, but to suggest we've been poor all season...well, that's just not true.

I doubt the owners are the stoppers here - funds will be available. It's identifying the players, then convincing them to sign for us that's been the problem so far...

Once I've calmed down, I'll admit that Reading did a lot of things right tonight. But right now, I couldn't tell you the last time we were this atrocious.

Absolutely horrific. Nobody can say that this isn't worse than anything from last season - against fucking Reading as well. Diabolical, front to back.

Quite possibly because we'd won every single game so far this season and Reading have been shite, getting dicked 0-4 against Rotherham last weekend?

That was with 10 men, to be fair - and in any case, I'm not convinced it was any worse than that first half. Fulham being the best team in the league at the time and Reading, quite possibly the worst before today...

In a game like this, Gallagher up top is vital. We had zero outlet up front and nobody able to hold onto the ball. Vale looked totally out of depth, I wouldn't have noticed that Dolan was even playing and BBD dreadful. Dack, Hedges and Gallagher on at HT and we might have half a chance.