Saint86

Agreed Dusic. It's defending errors for all of the goals yesterday. It's repeatedly defensive errors - and the fans need to stop blaming the keepers for our absolutely atrocious defending. The first 2 yesterday were once again due to the defence going to sleep and leaving attackers unmarked and under no pressure - it was obvious both were going to "hit it" even as they received the passes. I was watching it waiting for the net to ripple both times - they were in acres of space and the defenders were in a mess, losing their men, not knowing who should close them down, and essentially losing all concentration shape, and urgency. Then for the 3rd one, the cross is allowed in, gets all the way to the back post with our defence seemingly like statues, it's shot back across goal through the defenders legs and about 1 foot in front of baz as he himself is coming back across goal to cover the post - so he has zero time to react, and even then THB decides to kick it into his own net despite being behind it on the line already, behind baz, and with more time to react than baz. No, baz isn't a brilliant keeper, but I don't blame him for yesterday, and I actually thought he had a decent enough game. He made two fantastic saves (one reaction one from Ivanovich at the back post), as well as being quick to react and rushing out twice when the attackers were put through on goal (once by our defence and an awful back pass), he was sweeping up to nearly the halfway line a couple of times - which he does very well, and made a couple of notable good punches in the box to get the ball clear... There is also a limit to what you can expect the keeper to do when the defence just plays like melted butter all game.... End of the day we played 5 at the back and allowed Millwall 21 shots. But seemingly, against those 21 shots, only a clean sheet could have spared bazunu criticism on here 😂🤣🤦‍♂️ And the other criticism I've seen leveled at him post Millwall is the "he makes the defence nervous" and that's why we concede goals/shots. For real? Were our defence so nervous and scared that they lied down for a nap rather than press the attacker for 1st and 2nd goals? Did bazunu make wood hit an undercut back pass from 30yards out to put the defender through on goal, did he make THB mishit umpteen basic passes through the middle of the pitch? Alternative narrative - we concede goals because our defending is atrocious... Sod the goals, we conceded 21 "shots against" vs yesterday. Millwall had scored 19goals in 17 games going into that match, they aren't some tremendous attacking force... When they beat west brom 3-0 or scored 2 Vs Oxford they managed 11 shots in each... But we rock up playing 5 at the back, and concede 21 shots.... Our defence just goes to sleep, they decide not to do the basics of markiny/pressing, holding a disciplined shape, or to do ridiculous passes and half hit back passes (that either lose possession or put their attackers through on goal), and they seemingly lose the ability to win defensive headers... You cannot blame the keeper because we give teams 21 shots.

I'm still not convinced he's ready for it yet, and I am not sure I see the rush to give it to him full time - he isn't going anywhere. I also cannot shake the fact that we've got issues in the dressing room (re effort / player power / attitude), and that specifically some of those players have been some of the most vocal at bigging him up.

You can't blame bazunu for any of those goals. Bizzare narrative. He also made 2 very good saves and a great rush of his line to cover another awful back pass.

Shocking game from our cbs today... Marking, passing, closing down... Like FFS, this is the basics of the game that they get wrong time after time after time, so many times today we gave Millwall chances - with largely unforced errors as well. Poor!!! Thought we also looked tired and lacking in ideas / bravery - and that is party on Ekert - the aribo sub in particular made us worse as had even less out balls, and we stood off Millwall and tried to defend, and in effect we gave them the game to win. We do have injuries though, and he is a young manager that needs these kind experiences to learn.

There is talk of Pope being dropped and Ramsdale starting at Newcastle soon... But there is zero reason for Newcastle to make that deal permanent in January (unless we offer them a discount - which could have pros and cons), and similarly it means we're unlikely to be able to cancel his loan or sell him elsewhere. So buckle up - its Baz for the rest of the year.

Yes, its brilliant. Also takes the pressure of the CBs and GK situation - and means we can also utilise baz's distribution and sweeper keeping a bit more - which actually plays to his strengths.

Automatics: Coventry on 40points (13clear of ipswich, 16points clear of us) are already most of the way home and dry, let alone with a +30GD after 17games. I know they'll suffer a blip, but i can't see them not finishing top 2. The other place i suspect will go to one of Ipswich, ourselves, or maybe Brum. Ipswich are looking ominous now, consistently grinding out results and already in the mix for automatics. Birmingham have a solid team, should keep getting better and better, and have the ability to significantly strengthen again in January if needed. And saints, i think we have a very good squad for the division - need to keep going as we are now and we have every chance of getting the 2nd spot. I don't fancy boro or stoke - i think they'll both ultimately fall away. Playoffs: Whoever doesn't make it for the automatics out of us / ipswich / brum, and then stoke and boro, then pick another - Bristol city perhaps? I am writing Leicester off for promotion. They're getting at least 1 set of points deductions (possibly 2), and i just don't think their squad is good enough for promotion.

I've been broadly impressed by him and have said it previously on one of the other threads. I'd give him a 7/10 so far. Scienza, fellows, azaz, jander are all excellent buys. Quarshie looks a prospect. I also rate Jelert and rooerslev, although acknowledge that for whatever reason they aren't in favour currently. Still didn't work out fine (perhaps should have done, we created loads of chances but for whatever reason it didn't work - could be dressing room antics/respect from the players). He looks to have made a very shrewd decision in bringing Ekert to the club for the U21s and as part of succession planning, and in fairness, credit where it is due to ignoring all the noise, not hiring another manager, and giving his man the chance as interim manager. There must be pressure on him behind the scenes manager wise to save the season. Downs is the only significant blight on his copy book - not sure what is going on there but that one bit of business looks to have been a bad one.... Although on balance, he's done well overall. I think it also goes under the radar that we have almost entirely rebuilt the squad in an effort (i think) to expunge the memory / mentality of last season. So all in - he's overseen a lot of change, and the squad we have now is probably stronger than last season's. I know some fans will hold the Stephens, Bazunu, Macca decisions against him. But frankly i think Stephens is good enough for our level and does love the club. And i think Bazunu works if we want a sweeper keeper and someone we can use to play out from the back with or who can launch counter attacks etc with his distribution. Macca is a good shot stopper, but the rest of his game is severely lacking. Sure we could get a better keeper, but not convinced it was feasible to do everything else over the summer and address the GK position as well. Eitherway, we are now playing at the level i'd expected for the quality of squad we have, and i would expect us to be play off contenders for sure now - its unfortunate that Coventry have built up the headwind they have otherwise i would still say we have a good chance at both automatics. But Ipswich are looking ominous and picking up points regularly now, and Birmingham could still well become a threat by May.

Slight cautionary note was the post match comments from THB (in particular - he struggled to give a coherent reason why he wanted him to get the job other than umming his way to implying he was better than Still) and Scienza. Its a fine balance between having a manager the players like and respect, and having one they are comfortable playing for because things are chummy behind the scenes. Obviously we don't know the true situation, but there is no ducking the point that several first team players clearly weren't playing for Still and there are possible echoes here of when Selles got the job after being popular with the players. That said, i like our play under JE, and at a certain point (if form continues) he has to get the job surely. I'm just not sure i trust some of our players enough to have reached that point so far - if he gets the permanent position will they just relax again?

May have gone under the radar, but Lallana's u21s lost heavily to Sutton United last night. The change in 1st team performances and U21 performances with/without JE is evident. (Not trying to dig Lallana out with this comment - he's got to learn the ropes somewhere and he's walked straight into the u21s at this point.)

Both 9-0's had some utter crap officiating... So as far as Leicester are concerned they can cry me a river.

Bazunu... What save that was.

Looking forward to the next TE masterclass this evening

Precisely this. It may sound harsh, but he's essentially achieved the minimum for the past 3 games: Wednesday are a club in crisis. QPR are a poor championship side, A newly promoted Charlton with multiple key injuries in defence are of a comparable standard to Wednesday (certainly when compared to our squad). We're clearly playing better, and the mood music has changed. But that shouldn't change the fact that he's achieved what should be the minimum expectation for a promotion contending side out of those 3 games. There are posters on here and on social media saying "he's earnt the job full time" etc. etc. But i find i have to disagree with that, because quite simply he hasn't been stretched enough to prove he's right to be the manager that can deliver promotion for us. Don't get me wrong, i am happy enough to continue with Tonda in the interim (and i think the early signs are very good), but i wouldn't rush to give him the full time contract either yet - he just hasn't really been tested, and that isn't his fault - but its games like Leicester and Birmingham, and to a lesser extent Millwall and WBA that will really show us what he's made off. We can't just be giving the managers job to someone because he beat 3 of the weakest sides in the league with a team that includes the likes of Fellows, Azaz, AA, and Scienza. That would be hasty in the extreme.

I guess i am just saying to remain balanced - i.e., for fans not to overact one way or the other to results. We've played Wednesday, QPR, and a depleted Charlton (newly promoted side lacking in championship squad depth).. Team sheet wise, that is 3 of the worst sides in the league and you would expect a recent premier league side chasing promotion to beat all of them, and with relative ease. We've been poor for so long, so its easy to be very happy with the results (and i am), but it doesn't automatically make Tonda the Messiah. How we manage in the next 2-3 will give a much clearer idea of where we stand - if Tonda is going to clearly stamp a mark that he is the/a manager capable of delivering promotion, we should really be getting 7points out of Leicester (h), Millwall (a), Brum (h). The absolute minimum anyone on here should be borderline happy with is 5points.