SWLondon Saint

I don't think he can be much worse than Archer today tbh who was basically invisible except for that terrible finish against the keeper, but my preference would be Azaz as a false 9.

I just don't see how we can play more direct with the 3 miniature amigos up front? Honestly for me I think we have to try Azaz as a false 9 or even Downs, Archer is just not working out as a central striker and Armstrong was completely anonymous as soon as he moved to the middle too.

Bloody hell that was depressing - 3 absolute giveaway goals by them, just ridiculous luck for the first 2 and then a shit pass for the third. Why don't we seem to get any lucky breaks? There's just a cloud of bad attitude and luck over the club and players. THB, and Downes when he plays, just seem to be in some kind of giant sulk, guaranteeing yellow cards. As soon as things go against us we just mentally flop. Manning and Fraser offer absolutely nothing on the flanks going forward. Jander and Charles were actually good except for Jander's brain fart bad pass for the 3rd. Archer might as well have not been on the pitch. Scienza a clear class above everyone on both sides. I think if we lose at Blackburn Still is gone, but I'm actually not sure sacking the manager solves the problem, we could easily get worse instead of better.

I just don't get why Fraser is on the pitch, he just gets totally dominated every time the ball is in the air near him and seems to have absolutely no attacking intent anymore. Has given the ball away a few times too, he's not great in tight quarters.

They will definitely double up or more on Scienza second half, big chance for someone else to step up here.

Bloody hell, can someone just shin it or chest it into the goal ffs. Scienza absolute mustard, they know he can beat any of them on the deck and are bricking themselves every time he's on the ball.

Honestly I don't get why people get in such a flap about the formation, it's always a question of how you play more than 'formation' these days. 3-4-3 putting the WB on their full back can be very attacking. 4 at the back with 2 CBs marking 1 central striker can be very negative.

Another way to look at it is if we win and QPR beat Millwall, we'll go from 17th to 7th before the 3pm games. That's how tight the league is.

Just read it here: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/06/rugby-union-lewis-moody-england-diagnosis-motor-neurone-disease Didn't realise he was Lewis Moody's kid! Hope he's OK, in an ideal world Lewis gets to see him make a first team debut with us before the MND takes too much from him.

Still has to realise Manning and Fraser cannot play as our wing backs in this formation. They offer absolutely no progression or threat to take people on and always turn back. Also, they should be pressing up on the full back, not standing in space 30y back. Against Norwich when Roerslev was at WB he was right up on the fullback which is where he should be, Fellows did that too the last couple of games. Having those 2 on makes it impossible to play out unless you're hitting a forward from the back line which only happens if Stewart is playing. I appreciate Fraser puts in a shift and actually defends better than Manning but hopefully we never see him in that position again.

As soon as Stewart went off, we went to pieces, up to that point we looked so much better going forward, I thought this was where the season was getting started. Scienza also has to play, without him we looked so pedestrian. Azaz had a couple of moments, good pass to Fellows at the end but need more from both of them. Armstrong should never ever play in the centre again, he has no presence and he is terrible on the ball in the middle, no idea how to play all the little flicks and chest downs. Well taken goal though. Downs invisible, should be in the reserves not in the 1st team. Scienza-Archer-Armstrong would have been better 1st half. We have big problems stopping crosses especially from the left. I think Jelert or Fraser should be playing.

Scienza impressive, can't believe Stewart really is made of glass, but should have rested him, and Manning you twat. Fucking amateur hour, arguing with the ref instead of defending.

Yes Quarshie was at fault yesterday for their goal but he was excellent against both Liverpool and Boro. He's 20 and relatively inexperienced, he is going to make mistakes. He has to realize at this level players are technical enough you can't just lunge in and nick it, they will go past you - but when they try to push it past to open up space to shoot, that's when he can use his speed and power to get the ball. He did that against Ekitike and Isak, just needs to treat every opponent like that. But if he was getting all that right already, we would never have got him, he'd have been £15M+ and gone straight to B'muff or somewhere in the Prem. He has the potential to be an absolute beast, unfortunately there's also a learning curve and he's on it with us. Keep him in, I think he's learning and building a partnership with Wood.

Dodgy pen but fuck me that's a terrible miss from AA. - Quarshie has got to be more sensible and not dive in there on their goal. Just no need to, wait for help. - Manning needs to come off, apart from that last long ball he offered so little over there. Get Jelert on. - Fellows the main attacking threat. There's just not enough movement from Stewart and AA. Azaz has picked the ball up nicely quite a few times but not enough movement around him. - Very cagey game overall, they're clearly set up to counter us and force us to have the ball at the back. One of the defenders probably needs to step into midfield to make the extra man.

Agree completely with this. I think a lot of people forget when we had the unbeaten run last time round, we had Bree at LB for most of it. I would expect to see Mads back at RWB and Jelert at LWB at some point if we are setting out to defend. Yes Mads was crap at Hull, but when he played with Edwards-Wood-Quarshie at Norwich he was fine.

We're 6 points from 2nd, 5 behind Leicester, 2 behind Ipswich! This Championship season looks incredibly close so far, definitely more than enough time to get in some decent form.

We stopped them from playing really, our press was dominating.... Until we scored and we just dropped back. I know Fellows had the assist, but right now I think Scienza-Archer-Armstrong should be our front 3. Fellows and Azaz don't look as sharp.

Good - Jander - best midfielder on the park, winning it, using it well, won free kicks when we needed them. The CBs did well. Bad - Azaz really didn't do much all game, he seems to be struggling. Stewart did very little too. Ugly - we went SO PASSIVE after we scored. If the players can't respond the manager has to make changes and get some energy on. Downes for Charles, Archer for Stewart could have worked, anything really. We just went into our shells and invited them on, you could see the equaliser coming.

Obviously Archer and Scienza will come on for the last 20-30, looking for the rugby-style 'finisher' group.

How on earth is that Azaz chance not a 'clear-cut chance'?! They don't come much better than that...

CBs all looking good, good challenge by Edwards, Wood too strong and quick on that through ball, Quarshie following his man into midfield and great challenge when he tried to nick it past him and turn. Wood and Quarshie have recovery pace and it just makes so much of a difference.

Probably happy leaving Quarshie to cover as he has more pace than Manning anyway! Fair play to Still, this is what we all said we wanted and the defence earned it Tuesday. Jelert a bit unlucky to be on bench, Downes too though I thought he still played too many backwards passes without thinking. Only 1 Russ-ball regular left on the pitch! 👏

I also don't buy the 'lazy' player thing in that the game in general has reached a point that there are simply no 'lazy' players, they'll never get to the professional game anymore. He has been poor without question so far, but all we can really do is hope it's just difficulties in adapting and confidence. Playing upfront as a lone striker means you get far less time on the ball and time to see the game moving in front of you compared to, say, a defender like Quarshie has had. I think Still is right in saying he needs to get his aggression up. Yes, be a good team player and show for passes and stuff but also don't forget your job is to make life hell for the opposing defenders.

For me Quarshie and Wood have to play and ideally Edwards too. The 3 of them seem to be building a good understanding and I thought Quarshie did really well the couple of times Isak and Ekitike managed to get him 1 on 1, he just has the acceleration and strength to not have to panic when they knock it past him. We also saw Edwards carrying it forwards a few times and he's clearly better than THB or Cap'n Jack at that. Rest of the team honestly think we have good selection problems. Not sure Azaz or Fellows have shown they deserve to start and think Downs needs some time in the reserves till he learns to be the bully he should be and not the bullied.

I'd put the rest of the blame on a Russ-ball 'automatism' as McCarthy clearly decided where the ball should go without looking, thinking or even checking the other player wants it like everyone is taught in what, day 1 of football training?