Nixon doing his usual trick. Spending every week outside a transfer window adding a new supposedly interested team in a player we know will likely be sold, an easy article for any idiots who pay their hard earned money to have access to his weekly nonsense. Come the summer, he will go to one of the then considerable list of supposedly interested clubs, then he will pat himself on the back and his disciples will point out how he broke the story first.

We certainly would be worse off with Telalovic in the team. Gallagher did pretty well yesterday, some good work getting other players into good positions, Szmodics had one shot saved from his hold up and got in on 2 or 3 other occassions through Gallagher only to dither and fail to take full advantage on a rare off day for him. Gallagher also had a powerful shot well saved in the second half. Had we sold him, none of the money would have been made available to do this straight swap, if £22m of Wharton money couldn't be touched due to the owners, a couple of extra million in the owners back pocket wouldn't have been either. A functional set of owners might have allowed a Gallagher sale and then a few million to be spent on a couple of strikers, but here we are.

Did we thrive against the big teams who liked to attack us? Against the top 4, we lost all 4 and conceded 14. "We might avoid defeat." Not an ideal mindset considering we finished 7th last season, Ipswich were in League 1, shows how far in opposite directions both sides have gone. We are at home and we need wins but as it is, it seems a small chance.

For 200k, I think hes been a shrewd addition overall at that price. Youll more often than not get far worse for that amount.

The only good one really.

Eustace said we were "outstanding on and off the ball" post match. Obviously a pinch of salt needed as its obviously partly aimed to motivate but whilst we were well set up off the ball, on the ball we certainly weren't outstanding. We gave the ball away quite a lot and didn't create much in the way of clear cut opportunities.

Im pretty sure that even Haaland wouldn't "likely" score from a ball curled up high in the air 25-30 yards from goal, slightly wide and with a defender not too far away. Hardly on a plate, was a good pass but to bring that down, run on and finish is low percentage stuff for anyone.

Ive written off Rotherham outside that mini league so 3rd botton would leave us 21st. Not that such a season would warrant any praise.

Another drab watch, in isolation a decent point but yet another failure to win for Eustace. We have a good chance of survival purely because of the number of teams down there, in a mini league of 8 you just have to avoid being in the bottom 2 and we already have a buffer even though its been cut since Eustace came in. But it shouldn't be heralded as an achievement. The team looked far more balanced with a back 4 and I just hope that Eustace doesnt revert back and put in McFadzean who we looked much better without. Scott Wharton would probably go down as our man of the match and did very well. Hyam wasn't quite as solid but still the pair did very well all the same. Brittain was also good and slightly better than Pickering who uncharacteristically gave the ball away once or twice. But overall the back 4 did well. Tronstad was a huge bonus and is our only convincing midfielder, Buckley was tenacious but is not good enough on the ball and conceded possession too often. The attacking players dont play as if they are well coached as to what to do, that was an area that Tomasson clearly coached them well at. Under Eustace it is a regular occurence to see players playing on different wavelengths and passes not made at the right time. Gallagher was far more effective as an out and out striker even allowing for his usual clumsiness. Some of his link play got Szmodics in particular in a few times although he was well off his usual levels. Hedges tired badly and his end product can flatter to deceive but we are better with him playing. Sigurdsson again was pointless.

I think you are clutching at straws perhaps due to a dislike of Tomasson. I dont doubt that Eustace came into far from ideal circumstances. I also think that Tomasson's time came to an end. But we have seen zero new manager bounce and displayed relegation form in a run of games which has been favourable. It wouldnt be a remarkablr achievement to keep us up considering where we were when he came in.

Broughton's transfer record is poor but the 500k release fee had to be negotiated across the month because we couldnt afford it and no doubt his wages are dirt cheap. Even Suhail who is just a worm of a middle man for the owners and Waggott aren't THE issue.

We was 7 points (I think) clear and about 8 teams clear when he came in. Hardly some turnaround.

An average of less than a point a game and 0 wins with none of the games being against the top 6 is not good foundations for anything.

Not good news for us. Even if he avoids injury, he needs a rest.

Hard to judge on his time here, struggled for his first few cameos then put in a brilliant performance v Sheffield United and one or two other good cameos before injury. Has been very good for Sheffield Wednesday now hes getting a run of games. But wil probably want above minimum wage.

Until?

He can.

They dont want to send money badly enough. I suspect those expecting a Wharton/Raya funded summer spending spree even of a few millions were beyond naive. The focus should solely be on Venkys, they have and always will be the issue of all of our problems. Focusing on Broughton or even someone as incompetent as Waggott is missing the point. And yet they still wont sell up so we will still suffer.

@Mercer implied that he 'knew' that Broughton was on gardening leave in his cryptic way but stopped short of confirming as such despite being asked more than once.

A direct rival below us in the league lost. That is better than them winning being supposedly offset by Boro being any less or more difficult at the weekend. The one thing that is in our favour and makes relegation still far from a foregone conclusion is the number of teams around us. From a mini league of 7, we only have to not be one of the 2 worst and that doesnt factor in a 3 point buffer over 2 of those teams (one with considerably worse goal difference) and a 2 point buffer over a further 2, and assumes that both Millwall and Swansea arent in it who themselves are only 2 points ahead of us. Not that I have any confidence of us not being one of the 2 worst teams. It will be interesting to see how many points are needed.

Obviously was a short sighted move to sell him for a knock down fee, but I suspect he wouldnt be close to the keeper he now is had he not moved on to Brentford who unlike us had a proper structure in place to go up and where he benefitted from playing at the top level under well regarded coaches. For us, Kaminski was much more reliable and better for us, after a sad year of Walton. Now both of those keepers are playing in the Premier League and consistent with the rest of the squad under these owners, we have been left with inferior rubbish.

Has there ever been a game where you have predicted anything other than a convincing win either way?

In a home game against a Plymouth side with 4 points from 6 games, you cant just write it off as them being outstanding, it doesnt wash. If we cant beat them at home and are clinging on against wave after wave of attack, then we need to look at ourselves. The managers tactics (not only starting with 5 defenders, one being 37, but wanting them to play a high line and not changing it at the very least at half time when it clearly wasnt wotking) led to the red card so he doesnt deserve credit for clinging on when we lost a player to that.

Armstrong appears to have become a more rounded player as he has aged. He has 11 assists and often plays from a wide position. I never fully was having the criticism of him being greedy in that last season, I dont think you can question someone too much who scores 28.

A mixture of draws and losses are of little use to us, so probably not.