StrangelyBrown

Please no more Smallbone and no more Manning. Fingers crossed Downes and KWP can play...

Smallbone and manning combine to demonstrate how utterly shit they both are FFS. We've played quite well for a lot of this game, but the same old problems continue to haunt us.

Rest Smallbone??? He's been resting on field for weeks

I'm not sure why anyone is talking about this when the hot topic should be about RMs inability to address specific weaknesses that have crept back into the team - i.e. being far too vulnerable on the break, lacking urgency with the ball, central midfield being immobile and poor against the ball and an astonishing inability to turn dominance into goals

Any hopes of automatic promotion must surely be over unless we put together an incredible winning streak! Shameful really considering the position we were in.

What's worse still is it's Millwall at home - a game we should win comfortably.

How have we turned 80% possession into only 1 goal. Clearly I'm some sort of dinlow for not getting it...

Whoscored.com underlines everything that is wrong with a stats based view. Just compare Smallbone and Downes... Smallbone apparently is the better player according to the stats. Eyes and a simple grasp of the game will tell you otherwise. Anyone who has studied stats knows that you can use stats to prove almost anything you like - the interpretation of the data is the important thing not the data

If we don't go up, is Wilcox really such a success and is this really something to worry about???

Foolish it was ... Martin has learned important lessons along the way. Hopefully he learns the lessons from tonight - for once and for all Manning simply isn't good enough, Rothwell shouldn't start and we need to have some defensive cover in midfield.

Wow. Brave line up - no defensive cover at all. Can't help but think we'll concede a few.

Or maybe he's just found his level...

Quality performance. Dominant aside from that shit 10 minutes before half time. Bloody tater going on and on and on about the handball that wasn't a handball and ignoring the fact that west brom were in our pockets all night and didn't really do anything to threaten us. Stuey was absolute class tonight.

I'm not sure why Baz is getting such a hard time, the first and second goals were symptomatic of the crap way we were playing - defenders/midfielders letting them shoot - the first was non existent marking on a runner, the second was cowardliness from KWP and Smallbone who both failed to close the guy down. The third was just a flukey deflection. Goalkeepers will concede goals - yes Baz may have done better for the first one but the rhetoric that every goal we conceded is somehow all his fault is utter nonsense.

7 for me. 2 good (at this level) players in Charley out which is a bit disappointing but understandable. KWP still in the building - which is far better than I expected McCarthy still in the building - a shame considering his wages No temporary replacement for Stewart which could be costly although if Che can keep his form up may not be an issue.

Spot on. I was very much one of the doubters, but fair play to RM he has a vision, he's implemented his strategy, stuck with it when things weren't going well and more importantly seems to have recognised the failures and has fixed them. The latter part I wasn't convinced he was going to do, but something seemed to happen when calderwood was appointed and we now look like a frighteningly good side.

Perhaps he's competition for Smallbone?

If he doesn't let players glide past him with ease he'd be a huge upgrade on smallbone. Sounds like a decent prospect to me, but difficult to judge without seeing him play

Fantastic result - well done RM!! Keep this run up and 2nd place might be a possibility afterall. Edozie seems to be proving some of the doubters wrong - end product very much there!

Perraud is an interesting one - I think he'd be really good in the championship, but wasn't that great in the PL. Would be useful now but not really a starting player if we go up. Perhaps he's one of those that RM spoke about thinking they were PL quality when they probably aren't.

Away win, clean sheet and against a side whose form has been relatively good. A nice way to go into Christmas.

I think this about balance. We can afford to have a risk taker at the back, but need to have some pace alongside that to recover from those mistakes. Bednarek and Stephens at the back has historically been a bit of a problem because they both are error prone (in different ways) but neither has the pace to recover. Having said that Bednarek this season is a different player so who knows. Throw Manning into the mix of Stephens and Bednarek and we'll leak chances for fun...

He brought Manning back in when Bree had clearly shored up the left back position...

Could be the best thing to happen to domestic football... It would get rid of the big clubs with their massive budgets and their plastic fans. Like the champions league it would be a vastly over rated product and we could just enjoy what would be left, which might just be competitive for us and give us a chance of winning something.

Is he any good at passing backwards?