Red-Robbo

The evidence is our own ******* eyes. These players HAVE played better. They HAVE been more organised. They HAVE been able to close down attackers better. They HAVE been less wayward in passing. They HAVE made better runs off the ball. They HAVE linked up better. But - with what I consider only a temporary and very marginal improvement in their ability at the start of this season - it has been a slow decline in their ability to do the basics. Until you get a game like tonight, where we end up looking like pub players. So, given that they weren't always this shit, what can you blame the decline in their footballing ability on? Yes morale can come into it, but ultimately we don't seem to be coached to do basic things. Bloody Yeovil standard players would've been embarrassed by that third goal. Stuff like that quite simply should never be happening.

You have to wonder where we'd be if NP had managed to buy the striker he was looking for. I understand the reasons he couldn't, but a half-decent goal poacher up front would have given us momentum and, although there are still lots of weaknesses in the squad, we'd be in a much better place. You cannot complete a jigsaw with a missing piece - and so we are... incomplete.

I actually think the coaching is as much to blame as the players. These guys are not all "L1 standard" as some claim. We've seem most of them perform far better, both here and at other clubs. Lets face it, we've seen most of them play better earlier in the season. It's in this respect, I wonder if Pearson isn't someone who talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk. As Leicester fans have told us, Craig Shakespeare was crucial to his success there in their opinion. Do we need better replacements for Simpson and Downing?

Yep. As has been posted already tonight: Still waiting for that first "good" performance.

We're one of those feckers that drives past with "Sorry: Not In Service" on the front.

What concerns me is that we seem worse than we were at the start of the season - and we weren't very good then.

The lad on the bench.

I think James needs to be rested. Good player. Not a 46 games a season one anymore.

Knowing the employers in this case, it'll be risibly small. Given the hours you'd be expected to put in, you could earn more driving a minicab.

Because we've looked pretty terrible for weeks now. However, benefit of the doubt, maybe the uninspiring looking set-up will turn out to be a masterstroke. Brum aren't all that, and if we get a hold on the game early on, who knows....

Reach are utter *******, but to be fair, all journalists writing copy that goes on the internet need to have awareness of search engine optimisation.

Why do you think he was still on the force when he was clearly in his late 70s? Collecting all those bungs with a cheery "evening all".

The tiny percentage of people who don't consider themselves masculine or feminine. Not most of us, but there are some.

Well I'm sure 99.9% of us knew what we were from an early age. For me, I had a flash of inspiration at the age of 8 in Backwell Primary School playing field: "Why am I running from the girls in kiss chase? I WANT to be caught by them. Especially that Louise Owen!!" There are people who find things not so clear cut however. Not so binary. Different strokes for different blokes, n'all that.

A) Consider themselves a bit male and a bit female B) Consider themselves to have no gender and are not interested in physical sex.

Read that on the weekend. A really interesting yarn. Well worth 5 minutes of anyone's time to click on.

I must go on holiday more often. Clearly we'll win the f-ing league if I'm not there!

I think it is impossible to say NP didn't make a cock-up there. I think the biggest mistake with Simpson was not including him in the released list this summer. Strikes me, Nige us living in the past with his ex- Leicester players. Only James still has what it takes at this level, really.

I don't think we can say - based on a few incidents - that Tanner would have had "a 'mare" throughout the match. Against the decent forward line of Bournemouth he was our best player. At any rate, using up a sub to bring on Danny "desperately underwhelming" Simpson WAS a mistake. When has Simpson ever looked impressive for us? Never. Perhaps if he a decent defender on the bench, your argument might hold some water.

While I agree with lots you say, Southampton, Leeds, Wolves, Forest and WBA have been bigger clubs than us for most of my lifetime. In fact, we've never been peers with some of them, though all have spent time in the doldrums. In terms of years in the top flight, trophies won and even average attendances there is no comparison.

The bloke's a ledge. He has his own Facebook fan club https://www.facebook.com/letsgetdowntoitbaby/ and you can even buy Lake Palmer merchandise. I believe he is still living in his bungalow in Great Yarmouth although at least two Far Eastern ladies have passed through and left with some of his money. Mind you, he still has some way to go before he can catch up with Somerset's own "Lake": https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/britains-most-married-man-somerset-3559657

It's one of the bitter ironies of this club that since it started calling the training ground the "High Performance Centre" the majority of its performances have been shit.

You can take I more nuanced view than a black and white: "Pearson is great" or "Pearson must go". I think we need to keep faith and see where he takes us, how he can develop the club over a few seasons. That doesn't mean I think the sun shines out of his behind. He's made numerous mistakes. I don't feel we should feel shy at calling those out. By any reasonable estimation he inherited a shitshow. sorting it out was never going to be quick or pretty, and I think he can probably do it as well or better than most managers out there.

When we slate younger players because "Pearson watches them in training and says they aren't ready" we have to remember this is the same Pearson who hooked off George Tanner over a mistake on 30 minutes and then put on a near-35-year-old defender who made considerably worse howlers. I sometimes wonder if his opinion on the supposed fragility of our young players and the supposed reliability of the old crocks he's recruited is to be trusted.

Indeed. It was Tuesday's result that was disappointing, not today's or last Saturday's. I am a bit concerned at how lethargic we seemed in the first half. How off the pace. Maybe Nige needs to have more faith in younger, pacier players? The veterans aren't doing it ATM.