S-Clarke

I thought the first half was as good as we've played this season, we caught them cold and they were half asleep - we weren't. Sharp, snappy and clinical is how I'd describe that first half. We could have potentially had another goal in there as well, I thought Charly should have done better with the header. I really enjoyed Sullemana's performance, he's not all about pace - he's got great vision and ability when he's on the ball as well, as shown by his two assists. He had their RB for toast and he will do that to a lot this season if we play him. The second half was as conservative as we've been all season in my opinion. Leeds were always going to come out and try, but we defended so well and closed off all the channels. I've been critical of how open we've been against the likes of Leicester and Sunderland, but today we got the distances right and there weren't huge holes everywhere. We didn't sacrifice football for it, as we still played some good stuff. Overall it was a much more measured performance, we played when we could but we were careful and took calculated risks rather than risks at every moment. It was more of a conservative effort I'd say. Defensively outstanding and that is the THB we were getting - he was unreal, the ball was a magnet to him. Onto the proverbial cold, wet and windy Tuesday night in Stoke. Get a win there, get a win against Rotherham next week and in the space of a week we'd have turned it around.

Which is why FFP is so wrong. Smaller clubs punished by something that is meant to even the playing field. Meanwhile Chelsea have spent over a billion in a year.

The change next season will be just as much as this year, but with less money to play with and with less ability to attract high calibre players. That's why I've always believed that promotion this year is huge and not getting out this year could confine us to lower league football for quite some time. You have to wonder if failure this season will make SR just drop and run, nothing they touch seems to work - at any of their clubs. So we could even be talking about an ownership change.

True, but they haven't been scared to invest - that's one thing you can't put on them. But there is being able to invest and then actually investing correctly and knowing what the hell you're doing, and sadly they don't seem to know what they're doing and it feels to me as if they're a bit in over their heads. You'd think priority 1 is build up the 'flagship' club of their group, get that on a sound footing, then start looking around - but no, they've just gone in like a bull in a china shop grabbing other clubs whilst Rome burns around them. They seem naive to extreme levels.

That is really scary to be honest. There's no way we should be performing worse than that shower of a team, not with the finance behind it. I think we can probably confine this season to a 'rebuilding' season if we lose on the weekend, then just hope next year we are able to compete with Luton.

Personally I'm still blaming Eric Black.

If we hadn't been losing at home, every week, for the last 4 seasons then I'm sure the atmosphere would be better. We're ready to get behind a team, they just seem incapable of showing anything.

On paper this team shouldn't have any problems, but as you've put above it's all about playing people in their natural positions and providing the structure around them. We're doing neither and no matter how good a player you are, if you're asked to do something you're not familiar with - with no structure around you - then you've got no chance to look any good. Add the fact that these guys are mainly young kids, it's a recipe for disaster. When we last tried to experiment in the Championship it went horribly wrong under Port and Wotte - that was based on a philosophy of playing football with kids. They sunk. When we became successful after that ill-fated experiment it was because we filled the side with Hammond, Harding, Jaidi, Lambert, Butterfield - proper experience through the spine, and didn't fart arse around with a philosophy - we just put players where they play. That allowed the kids from the previous season to grow inside a structure, and we saw Lallana, Morgan etc grow into the core of our side. I have no doubts that Charles, Edozie, Larios, THB, Sulemana, Charly etc are really, really good young players - but we're not giving them a chance with how we're setting up.

Next season: ''The teams coming down from the PL have so much money these days, it's hard to compete. We will have to be perfect to be in amongst Burnley and Luton, but we will try''

This is the worry I've had in every single game we've played - our full backs get way too exposed. I think this system makes Manning look a hell of a lot worse than he actually is, which is really weird as he's someone Martin supposedly knows the strengths and weaknesses of. I'm pretty sure Swansea didn't do the inverted full back nonsense though, that certainly isn't helping things as the space down the flanks is just ridiculous. Every team we have played, even Gillingham, have targeted that.

Exactly, we cannot afford a transitional year as nothing will be the same next year. Adams, KWP, Bednarek, THB, Fraser, Holgate, Downes, Sulemana, Alcaraz - it's basically starting all over again, like we did this year, but with less $$ and a lower reputation as we won't be a recently relegated side. Failure to go up this year, IMO, will confine us to the lower leagues for many, many, many years. Some of us may never see PL football again.

The throwing of blame at the fans is lazy, and usually done by supporters who think they are much better than anyone else. We have been utterly shit for many years, especially at home - we've got relegated, and rather than walk away, we've come up with the money and sold a really high number of season tickets - sell outs in our home games so far. We are here and we are desperate for a team we can get behind, we are trying all we can do from our position, but it never seems to change. We have been tortured for what feels like too long now, so having no patience isn't something you can really label at us - we've stuck with this for years now and I know I for one am totally at a loss with it all now. I have no idea where this club goes now, but as fans we'll go wherever it goes and it won't be our fault it's there.

More chance of Harry Potter.

Manning is a weird one, he didn't look this bad for Swansea. He got stacks of assists, he was up there with Ryan Giles as the most effective LWB in the league and in a few team of the seasons. But again, we've made him worse. As expected. I don't think it's the players, it's just the club. Broken.

That's the key thing with him - his touch is just inept, I've never seen a pro player with as poor a touch as him. He's a hit and run merchant, throw him down the channels and he'll chase the ball. For a club priding it's self on becoming the next Man City/Barcelona that seems an incredibly basic player to have as part of it.

It's like working in the public sector, rewarded and promoted for failure. I imagine there is a new contract on the horizon for him as well.

Another guy who has done well elsewhere, notably Brentford and was lauded for what he did there, who ultimately fails here. It's a recurring theme now and I'm bored of it.

Absolutely, I wouldn't even just say it's the playing side which needs to get back to basics, it's the club as a whole. There doesn't seem to be a single element at this club which functions well these days. We bring in proven people from elsewhere and they fail, we try again, they fail again - there is something deep and fundamentally broken and I'm at a loss as to how to fix it. Going back to basics on a footballing side is a good start, but there is so much more wrong here it's impossible to know where to start. It looks to me as if SR are totally in over their heads if I'm honest.

None of what they have done has helped a single jot, but it was all pretty toxic even before they came in - let's not forget that.

We came down with Leicester and Leeds as level-pegging, but it's pretty obvious that they're now both levels above us whilst we've regressed to Championship fodder in record time. Well done to all involved in that. Must be a trophy to win there.

When we were relegated, myself and a few others were of the strong belief that we needed an experienced head to guide us through. It was going to be a summer of immence change and we needed someone in place who is used to that and is able to manage the egos, unhappy players and all that malarky which goes on. We didn't need someone who is everyone's mate. These players need guidance from experienced people, the club is bereft of any experience. This summer was not the time to play with the vanity project again. It was pretty simple. All of this philosophy bollocks is so overdone. You build a football team to win games, by hook or by crook. We just seem to be someone's experiment and I've totally and utterly fallen out of love with it all. People were saying it will be good to get relegated and have a reset - but if we got the decisions wrong post relegation it would end up being a miserable existence, and that is exactly what is happening. We may turn it around, sure, but any hope of a fun promotion season are all but gone - so what is there to look forward to in this cesspit of a league now?

He's another player we've managed to make worse. He should get out of here whilst he's still young enough to recover from our toxicity.

There is always one of the 3 relegated teams who become a bit of a car crash, sadly that is us - it shouldn't be in any way, but it is. To be 11 points behind the top 2 at this early stage is nothing short of horrendous. We had a decent start, but it's moved quite quickly into a catastrophic first 7 games. 15th in the Championship with a -7 goal difference is the thing of nightmares. I have no idea what is wrong with this club. The team put out today looked better, but we just don't know how to play football. Take any of those players out of our team and put them in another side and they'll be able to play football again - guaranteed. There is something toxic at this club and it's been the case for many years. I'm losing the will to live with it all now. Not sure where it stops, but we're on a pretty nasty slope right now and I'm sure Leeds are going to have good fun next weekend.

Pray tell - who plays up top if Che isn't in the side as you want?

We'll probably be proven wrong with the performance, but that looks a much better team and a much better potential shape. Smallbone more advanced, with two deeper CM's behind him. THB and Bednarek in CB. Harsh on Edozie, but defensively in the last few games, right at the start of the games, he has been inept. He's a threat in an attacking sense, but if he keeps switching off covering then it's all a bit pointless.