Sheaf Saint

One of those draws was when Doucoure literally punched the ball into the net for a late equaliser (pre-VAR) and not one of the officials spotted it.

We don't have any control with him either. His propensity to give the ball away cheaply in dangerous areas is one of the reasons our defence is so frequently on the back foot.

Downes doesn't give us any physical presence either, so I'm not sure him dropping out last minute really made much difference.

We definitely need another LB though. Manning is such a liability in defence, as demonstrated by Watford's first goal today. Having him on the pitch is like giving the opposition an invitation to attack down our left and get balls into the box.

Honestly, despite his limitations, I would promote McCarthy to be first choice. He made 3 or 4 good saves against Norwich in midweek and kept a clean sheet. One of the shots he saved was virtually identical to the second one we conceded against Stoke last week, and he made it look like a routine save.

Hmmm. Poor result in the end. Far too many sloppy mistakes in the second half. Should have scored more in the first half when we were well on top. Disappointing that an incorrect offside call robbed us of a golden chance to go 2-0 up. We really need to be ditching this 3 at the back ASAP. We showed in the first half how good we can be when we have some control in midfield. I'm usually one of Baz's biggest critics but he had no chance with that FK, and to suggest otherwise is absurd. The finish for their first goal was hit with power and accuracy, but I can't help but feel that a keeper with better positioning and quicker reactions might have done better with it from such a tight angle.

Oh Manning. Can we maybe convert him to an attacker so he doesn't have to do any defending?

Clearly got a good eye for a forward pass or a through ball. Looks to be a great addition.

The 'big' Ronaldo was actually how Blackmore described him.

Have to say - I like this kit much more than our home kit.

There's less channels (obviously) but it's been near perfect for me so far.

Nah, the Watford player clearly held Baz and stopped him from coming for the ball. He tried to make it look innocent, but it was clearly intentional.

That's our best half we've played so far. The formation doesn't seem to be hurting us today and there's been some really good individual performances. Archer looks like a different player now he's got his confidence back. Fraser and Robinson working really hard and putting them on the back foot. Roerslev has really impressed me at RB. What an upgrade on Sugawara. Azaz hasn't got on the ball as much as I would have liked so far, but not a bad debut by any means. How refreshing it is to see Saints dominating a game. Feels like so long since I've seen us playing confident, fast paced attacking football.

Our 3 at the back very nearly caught on the break there.

Poor challenge from Wood. Totally unnecessary.

ARCHER!

Ooh close from Robinson. Good save.

Danny Ings on for Sheff Utd now.

Matt Targett providing the assist for Boro's goal.

Indeed. Quite how the ref decided that Peck's challenge in the Boro v Sheff Utd game earlier was only worth a yellow is beyond me.

Yep. That was never even a foul, let alone a clear and obvious error.

Well I think we can discount Sheff Utd as title contenders this season. They look fucking awful against Boro. So open at the back, and posing no attacking threat whatsoever.

I wouldn't be so quick to if I were you. Once again, Whitey has demonstrated that he doesn't actually understand how PSxG is calculated, despite having had it explained to him on numerous occasions. This statement, for example, is absolutely untrue:

Nasty challenge that. He'll argue that he got the ball, but the follow through was a potential ankle-breaker. The pundits are blowing sunshine up Leicester's arse, but Birmingham put them under plenty of pressure and it was their lack of quality rather than great defending that kept them out.

Probably knows from his time there as a player that he's far more likely to get his heed kicked in if he tries gaslighting the fans in the way he did with us.