S-Clarke

We have definitely had our slice of luck in the last run of games, but....you make your own luck in many ways, we're racing into leads/scoring goals through our own play at the moment. Two of the goals we scored against WBA were just simply good football, nothing lucky about them. I don't think we've had too many pens either, just the one I can think of. So that's a big positive I can take, we're scoring goals through good football in the main - not through it hitting the arse of players/bobbling over the line etc.

He was down at the arse end in the Belgium league too, when he was there for a tiny period. I know some people hate stats and don't think they actually mean anything, but you can still ignore the stats and look at what's in front of you - and that tells me more than stats, the stats just back it up!

Positive, especially given their other forward is a doubt too. We always struggle against Sargent, well we do against any tall/physical CF. I'm not sure who else they have? I'm sure their Danish CF is injured too. These games do make me nervous though, on paper they are depleted, 23rd in the league pretty poor. We did an easy job against them in the league cup, but this is a different context.

I guess we'll see what happens with Jelert first. A strange loan really, looked like he came with pedigree and has actually looked capable when played - but that's what, 1 or 2 games? I imagine he'll go, as well as Bree, so we'll have a full back slot to fill.

Absolutely, Kelvin Davis was what you'd describe as fine and decent for the Championship. He won us games, that Leeds away game won't ever be forgotten...! Bazunu isn't capable of pulling that out, we all know it. It's false hope to think otherwise. I just wish the club would cut their losses, 4 years is enough.

I think Leo drifted out of the game in the 2nd half early doors to be honest, he wasn't as influential as he's been in recent games. He looked a bit leggy. The biggest problem we have at the moment, IMO, is a lack of a proper Right Back. We've lost both Jelert and Mads at the same time which is mega unlucky, so we don't really have alternatives when Fellows needs to be subbed. That's an issue for us at the moment, I hope Mads is back soon to give us an option there. With Charles as an option we'll have stronger midfield depth too. Downes as really good yesterday, Jander dipped quite a bit - so having a Charles rather than two out of condition players come on would have been better. We're not far from having solid sub options, just unlucky with injuries at the moment.

The way 'decent' is thrown around with Bazunu in the context absolutely bamboozles me. 'He's decent for the champ' 'He's fine for the champ'. It's horrible complacency, because neither are true and never have been.

He struggled massively to integrate these guys, he was flapping around so much at the end to find a formula - none of which made sense, as Azaz and Leo were on the bench. I kinda felt sorry for him, I didn't expect him to be as out of the depth as he was, but seemingly he was.

I don't think people are saying he was the direct problem yesterday as such, but he does create problems for us. Luckily it didn't actually harm us yesterday. But we won't keep getting lucky with quick fire 3 goals in the first halves. I'd want my goalkeeper to compete for that 2nd goal, every single time. It was awful, so, so bad from a professional goalkeeper. We don't often talk about his lack of presence as being a flaw, it's usually his shot stopping, but the lack of presence is certainly up there too.

Goalie is up there for sure, most people can see it. McCarthy is OOC in the summer and George Long leaves - Ramsdale will come back for a week and then go again, so if we've upped our game (as shown with Leo, Jander etc) then we need to start scoping for a new GK, and I'd like to see one in January. Realistically we won't though. I expect Bazunu to sign a new contract shortly, and in the summer we'll spend the time signing 2nd and 3rd choice goalies again.

Exactly, his first goal yesterday was really tidy - a little dink finish. The 2nd one was really well directed too, like an arrow. Good movement to boot. He's a confidence player, but he also does thrive on space. That's less forgiving in the PL and it's harder for him to stand out, so his confidence takes a battering up there - and he loses his instinctiveness, which is there when he's confident.

I'm with you on Quarshie, he scares the living daylights out of me. He's like a rabbit in headlights out there when put under any form of pressure. Sometimes you can spot a good player - like Fellows, Azaz, Jander, Leo (irrespective of age), but this guy looks like a bit of a dud.

He's looked well off it so far, will probably take him a month or two - if he ever does get there. He's never going to be the player we had in the PL, miles off it nowadays.

I think the players need to take their share here - they were 3-0 up, they shouldn't need a manager babysitting them on the touchline. They pissed the game through their passiveness. I sensed it from around 55 mins - the subs were too late, but then we don't have RB's at the moment which makes it tricky. Fraser at RWB when we were against it was a poor move - should have been Edwards really. I hope he gets some experience around him, because the Championship is not forgiving. Some moments require experience and having seen it before.

Don't shoot the messenger, but some chatter doing the rounds that Bazunu is about to sign a new 4 year deal.

He saved 1 or two efforts, but they weren't worldies. Let's not ignore the 2nd goal though, he was bullied out of the way. He has no presence in the box. He makes everyone nervous. This is another huge limitation in his game, ignoring the first limitation in that he struggles to make saves. We will rely on pure luck to win games if we continue with him. But we've all said this for 4 years, so what's the point. Broken record, he'll get a new contract soon.

First half - decent, took our chances, pressed them high and were very clinical. I don't think WBA were poor in that first half per-say, we were just sharper and pushed higher. Leo/Fellows are causing teams all sorts of problems at the moment with their movement and running. Armstrong is just scoring goals as he does at this level, top scorer in the league now I think. Second half - dear oh dear. That was as bad as we've played all season, and I've watched some shit. We surrendered any control we had, WBA sensed it and pushed high. They pressed us, we dropped off, went all passive and from that point on we'd surrendered the game and it was theirs to win. And they probably should have on that 2nd half, that's how bad we were. Mentally this team is still damaged goods - just look at the mistakes they started making as soon as it went 3-1, and then 3-2. THB was solid with his passing first half, but all of a sudden he was shanking it left right and centre - that's not ability, that's just pure phycological and nerves. It's still ridden throughout the side. We were very, very, very lucky to win that - make no doubts. We got out of the woods here. We need to take this as a very 'fortunate' lesson, because if we play like that in the coming weeks we will tumble back down that league like a pack of cards.

Credit where it's due, this may be the first window where we have actually seen a legitimate return in SR transfers. Jander Leo Fellows Azaz Those 4 have lifted the level of the team in key areas. There are still a couple of oddities in our transfers from the summer, but that's not really unusual. No team ever gets it right 100%, but for the first time I can remember we've got it right more than we've got it wrong. Positives to cling to, maybe.

This month is going to change this league a lot I think, injuries starting to show - as Coventry are stretched squad wise a bit at the moment. This is where the likes of ourselves and Ipswich can certainly make up ground, and where you may start to see the likes of Stoke, PNE, Millwall and such drift off the pace slightly as the amount of games stretch their smaller squads. Be interesting to see how it looks in a month.

Jander held that midfield together today and I think he's really grown into this side, but you can't underestimate the work Leo does up and down that left. He never stops. He helps Manning out so much, which is crazy to say for such a maverick style player. He's fairly unique in that sense, skill in abundance but he works his arse off in equal measure. The team is 10x weaker without him, and it shows.

The Birmingham win was a big one for me, showing that he's been able to lift the squad after a defeat is something other managers have struggled with. Now this is his gig, his team. I want to see how he handles January and what he does with the squad, I think we're still missing 1 or 2 - but you cannot argue with what he's done since he came in. QPR - A really poor showing in terms of game management, but got the win Wednesday - Decent, not amazing, but comfortable. Charlton - totally blew them away. best we've played in many years. Leicester - again - blew them away in a short burst. Game was done. Millwall - We let it slip, poor game management in the second half. Similar to that QPR game in the end. Birmingham - Our toughest test because they played well I thought and are a good team, but we still came out comfortable winners. The two best teams, on paper, that we've played in this run have been Leicester and Birmingham - and we won both, scoring a combined 6 against them. It's a pretty impressive 6 game repertoire, you have to say. The biggest thing he's changed is by playing our best players. Getting the best out of our best players. Playing our best players to their natural strengths. Still was lost at the end and couldn't put an 11 together if it hit him in the face.

Yeah he should have scored, I don't think he's someone you can truly rely on to score goals at this level. His pace and running strength was good though. I don't think we'd score enough goals with him as the up front guy, but he could compliment the attack with his pace.

Yeah he wasn't very good, we lost the entire control of that midfield once Jander went off and he came on. He was awful. That tackle by the way - red card worthy, no idea wtf he was doing. He's so off the pace it's unreal.

Prime Oriol Romeu. I don't think many of us appreciated how much he held our midfield together in those topsy turvy PL years. I'd also probably say Tadic, he wasn't the quick/pacy player that Mane was in that team - but on his day, too good for us - as he proved at Ajax.

This is what confused Nathan Jones/Still etc - getting it forward quickly doesn't mean lumping it. It means deceive and accurate quick passes, on the ground, through the lines. That's what getting it forward quickly means in our context.