S-Clarke

We're 5th on 13 points...? I think we've started pretty well? Bournemouth were third on 10 points after 6 games last year.

It's all very bizarre trousers. What are the chances of 'Salisu joins x on loan until end of the season' in January? The club can stop all this speculation if they wanted to by just saying it how it is. If he arrived with a bad injury, tell us. Job done.

Sounds like it's option 1 for Ings? Who knows, just trying to find positives in the news! Feels like our season has been totally derailed.

I think Theo and Che through the middle is the most obvious change up. Redmond on the flank. (Drifting in as he does etc). Long will stick to his bench role, I hope (he's not going to score goals if he plays, as we all know!) It's not just Ings goals we'll miss, it's his movement up top and his build up play. We'll look a totally different side without him in my opinion and it's going to be a struggle over the next couple of months. Any team will go backwards without their leading attacking player. Such a shame, it was promising to be such a good season, but this may have just derailed it totally.

Well that took a bad turn then. Could have been worse, but still not ideal. Doubt we'll be seeing him until 2021. Nightmare. He is so important to how we play and what we do, I cannot see us sustaining our heights without him. Let's hope our start has given us enough of a cushion.

I think it was a really mistaken expectation though, not helped by the governments statement that they'd 'hope to remove all restrictions' by November. I think for most people they could see that it hadn't 'gone away' in the summer and winter would see a resurgence. So based on that alone I think we should have - at the most - charged a small holding fee for your seat, but no more than that until they were definitive set in stone dates. Just my two pence.

I don't think that's fair, it's a bit of a discredit to them. There was always a lot of fanfare and uproar when Benitez wasn't kept on 'for what he did', but if anything Bruce has done just as well - if not a bit better. They look like a genuinely established PL side now and he's quietly developed quite a tidy outfit. They're certainly not poor and this won't be an easy game.

And managers. Let's not forget Hughes treatment of him. He was about to ship him off to Watford for £15m.

I dunno, I'm of the belief that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You also have to factor in that we have Forster, Gunn and Lewis on the books, you'd need to lose two of those before we even broach the idea of a new GK. I'm not sure GK is a position we need to fiddle with too much at this moment in time though tbh. For the first time in a long time it 'feels' as if we need to focus on adding a little bit of squad depth rather than replace first 11 players.

What has McCarthy done wrong?

Maybe a little rusty, but I'd have to say that his best form for us was in the 'restart' games, as opposed to over the entire course of the season. It looks as if that was nothing more than a purple patch really. if you look at his influence on our team over a consistent period (a few years) then we concede lots of goals when he's in the side, it's just a general theme. He's improved, don't get me wrong, but he's still not good enough to be a starter for a team with aspirations to be in the top 10.

They are without Kalvin Phillips today, and he is crucial to their midfield. Their stand-in (Shackleton) is a young lad and probably not ready just yet. Rodrigo would add quality as well and he's not playing either. It just shows that they don't quite have the squad, no surprise just yet. They'll have enough to stay up I think (going by the dross down there this year) but they'll need to baulk up that squad for next season.

West Brom could threaten Derby's record. I've not seen such an ineffective team at this level for such a long time. Incapable of defending or scoring.

Or just refund everyone the entire ticket price now and admit their mistake in even selling them from the outset.

This would automatically make it feel a much better weekend!

Yep, that's the one! Quite a miserable result all told. Think it was Saint Maximan who scored, he likes a long range hit.

Yeah wtf was that all about? 12 mins they should have had, apparently. Good sign of your teams quality and managerial ability if you need 12 extra minutes on every game to ensure you get something. Not quite sure I'd use that angle if I was a manager. He should have been fair that they were well beaten and the end scoreline flattered them, as it did.

I think that's what he's cut out of his game, as I said he's simplified it. He used to try and do stupid things with the ball or get caught in positions he shouldn't be in, but he's just using his brain more now.

Brighton strike me as one of those sides where everyone compliments their football, but they never actually pickup the results. They look very blunt, but their build up through the middle is tidy.

It's a tiny bit hysterical but also a little bit of realism. Ings is crucial to us and how we play, how we counter press, how we pull the channels etc. Take him out of the site we are all of a sudden less clinical and less dangerous in the final third. If it wasn't for Ings, we'd currently be sat in 16th/17th on 3 points. If it wasn't for Ings last year, we'd have been relegated. He is absolutely critical to us which is why I fear every time he gets tackled.

Why is Pogba so highly rated? He may be technical, but he has no idea about positioning on the football pitch. He is brain dead as a footballer. Baffling why teams like Real Madrid wanted him at one point.

I'm pleased with how he's picked himself up, he was a calamity at the start for us. But he's simplified his game, he has better positioning and is now actually able to use his genuine advantage in defending (his height/power).

He certainly earned his money worth in that 2nd half. It's a shame we left him so exposed at times though!

I like Vokins, I thought he came in well last year (esp. against Brighton at home) and didn't look out of his depth. I'd have no issues giving him a game there, I'm fully expecting that to be the case. I'd agree with Redmond for Ings a well, thus putting Walcott through the middle. Maybe playing just off of Adams. Walcott is probably the 'closest' replacement we have for Ings. Chances of Bednarek? I guess if it's concussion he won't be. I'd rather throw Salisu in than have to witness another Stephens 45 mins, he was awful today.

If the caveat of that was a 'bad injury' to Ings, then I don't think as many would have bitten any hands off!