Saint Pete

Even Haaland seemed confused it was going to be given!

Wow, Cov really struggling! No goals scored in 4 games more than a little worrying for them. That Lewis Dunk goal was a bit tasty though!

And yet we still can't keep a clean sheet?!

Well yeah, but who knows what machinations the FA goes through in deciding these things, it's baffling how it could have taken this long to come to a decision and what exactly they have been doing all this time! I personally think a ban is inevitable purely because of all the furore that has surrounded this, it's just a case of how long.

Yes of course. But it's also important not to get too carried away thinking "it's another thumping home win" when on another day if Bristol were a little sharper up front, it could have been a very different scoreline. We have started sluggishly in a few games now, we need to improve that when we play the real top contenders like West Ham, Wolves etc or we will likely be punished. But great result and a lot of positives too of course.

Scored the winner tonight for Auxerre, 2 goals in 2 league games so far.

It's good that it sounds like Mubama did much better today in his sub role and his assist for Azaz's goal should boost his confidence. It's going to be so important to our season overall that we have a good enough option to sub on in that position that it gives confidence to the manager that he can give Larin a longer rest sometimes.

Haven't been watching but stats certainly don't look great, we shouldn't be allowing them that many shots and chances to score in a home game. Some kind of tactical tweak needed at half time?

Yep, I don't think those comments infer anything ominous as such. Clearly, he's going to get a ban of some sort as he has admitted his guilt. Let's hope common sense prevails and it's not any longer than the one you suggest.

Yeah, that's what I reckon. An appealing Prem move never happened and he's not keen on abroad move with his current family situation, which is fair enough. I think we are still very keen for him to go as we need wages off books so nothing will change until all windows are shut.

Yep, West Ham should go up with what they have but it's a long season and you never know in the Championship. If anything, hopefully Tonda can use that result as motivation for our players as that is the standard we are competing with now.

I think playing as a lone striker and fighting against 2 CBs IS more onerous than the other positions you list. Most other teams playing lone strikers also want to use fresh legs off the bench in the latter part of matches to keep up intensity. Our problem is not Larin being able to play 90 minutes, it's that our options off the bench to replace him have so far not been good enough. Mubama needs to improve (and/or the team need to improve in adapting to him when he comes on).

That's your opinion, not fact. Downes is a fine midfielder at this level and he's back to his very best form now. But when he had the opportunity to play in the Premier League he was found wanting and had a poor season for us and also never made it there with West Ham. Jander is a promising player no doubt and is one of the few players in our current team who have the potential to one day make it at the higher level, but at the moment, potential is all it is. He is far from the finished product and as a reminder currently has the grand sum of 2 goals and 1 assist for us at Championship level. JWP, whether you like it and choose to acknowledge it or not, has proven himself to be a Premier League player, you don't get to play over 400 times at that level and score 57 times if you are not that. Granted it's debatable whether he could still do a job at that level now (so he's in the same boat as the other 2 there), but at 31, he can absolutely still do a great job at Championship level for us and I'm sure he will. I suspect Tonda will interchange the 3 of them once they are all fit throughout the season with Bragg there as another alternative when needed. But if we are posing the question of who will be in the top 2 for the biggest of games once they are all available, settled and fit, I would absolutely back JWP to be one of them based on the respective records and what I have seen of all 4.

Don't think we had a prayer of keeping him once Villa were interested unfortunately.

I don't think there's anything wrong with assessing the condition of the players when deciding if and when players need to be subbed, he does need to think about the bigger picture of the whole season rather than just 90 minutes. But agree it should certainly not be so rigid as to ignore what is happening in the match. Today, I felt it was fair for Larin to come off early given he's started every league game and his form has dipped a bit in the last 2 (the merits of his replacement and how we are playing to him is another debate). But Scienza should have stayed on for longer as he was the danger man at the point he took him off and may well have scored or created the vital 2nd goal. Tonda was too rigid in sticking to his pre game plan with that one if that's what he was doing. We need to remember sometimes that Tonda is still a very young and inexperienced manager and still learning. If you go for such a young manager, you need to accept they won't get everything spot on, but of course they do need to be humble enough to learn their lessons.