firstdivision

Yep, two wins in four or seven points from eight games, which is relegation form. Depends how you look at it. Although I’m sure the fans of Huddersfield, Cardiff, Boro, Stoke, Blackpool, and Wigan will also be fretting. I think Cov and WBA will be fine.

I would take 13th - 16th. My concern is that the poor performances are stacking up and the bottom three is not as far away as our (false) 12th position suggests. Look at the points and games in hand, not at the position. It's a weird league this year with so many quite even teams. That could spell big danger for one or two clubs who might not have gone down in a more normal season. We'll see. Be nice to get a couple of wins before the WC break. A poor four games and we'll have a month of fretting. I know I will be.

This league is mad. And unpredictable. Only two teams have lost more than Blackburn and they are top (won nine, lost seven).

I’ll be interested to see the mood around the club if we get done twice on the road this week. Also, we have six very tricky games before the World Cup break. Our more ‘favourable’ streak of games has just come to an end.

This is the potential problem. As many as three teams might end up feeling a little hard done by to finish below the dots.

You make a good general point about our lack of wing backs. Mark Sykes is starting to look an emperor's new clothes player to me. Silvio Dante's description of him being 'just there' is an excellent way of expressing something that's been rattling around in my head for a few weeks. Let's hope he can change that growing impression.

If you come that far for the ball, you have to get it (catch or punch). Seems pretty simple to me. I actually think MO has been excellent since his recall (apart from that, admittedly, key moment).

Performance: poor. Mitigating factors: the injuries to Klose and Kalas disrupted us + Millwall had a free week. We looked flat, especially in the first half. Milllwall: an average but organised team with a clear way of playing - a set-piece team. The immediate future: getting Kalas, Naismith and James back will give us some options. Winter prognosis: unpredictable, concerning, potentially bleak. Manager: no cash for a change. But would he still be here if we did have? Defending set pieces: hopeless, embarrassing. Tuesday night: well, we always concede 3 or 4 at West Brom. Prediction: we won’t be far above the relegation zone by the World Cup break.

Great result obvs. But the determination was there tonight. We’ll lose games in this league but we must not lose them like we did at Birmingham.

As the late Tommy Doherty said: 'A good contract and a bad team, and you're made for life.'

As I said, people react emotionally. It’ll calm down (well, possibly ?). A 3-0 defeat like that away to Birmingham on the back of four without a win is going to get some people’s beans jumping.

Not for one moment did I think we were promotion contenders. But I can see a scenario (mainly injuries) where we can get sucked into relegation trouble. I wish I had your certainty and I hope you are right. But it’s a season in which all 24 Championship clubs are competitive. Three are going to be very disappointed. And one of them might have 50 points. Also, I think a bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth is inevitable after yesterday. It brought back horrible memories of last season. And the season before. People care and hated what they saw. Emotion - as well as the need for calm heads - is part of football supporting.

Yep, one of those ‘everything is a foul’ refs. Utterly tedious. Means players just go down the whole time. Constantly breaks up the game. The other thing that spoiled the match - apart from the obvious from our perspective - was the lack of a crowd in the lower tiers. Took ages to get the ball back when it went out, also slowed the game down. Added to the frustration on a truly dire afternoon.

Once we start to lose the players that we brought in on decent money from decent clubs - when we were able to - then we will most likely be fishing for players at a lower grade (see Tanner, Atkinson, Sykes and Wilson) out of financial necessity. As you say, if the recruitment isn’t spot on and doesn’t pick up a couple of hat rabbits (eg someone like Albert), we could be in big trouble. And that’s if we’re not already in L1, which I wouldn’t rule out. Btw, I noticed that Birmingham had five loan players in their starting line-up yesterday. If he’s still here, NP might have to go there a bit to find some quality next summer. I know he’s said he’s open to a loan now, which is sensible and pragmatic. I don’t particularly like having loads of them, and it will be interesting to see how they serve Birmingham as the season goes on, but sometimes you have to go there.

I remember coming away from the Millwall game, Mr P, and thinking I felt sorry for all the fans that travelled from Bristol. In fact, I might have written something to that effect here. We barely created anything. The score line was close but it was still a wretched evening and pointed in the direction of a season of excruciating struggle. Same with Blackpool. Outmuscled and out thought. Wells’ late goal gave the score line a very patchy coat of gloss. All the games I mentioned were a variation of dire. Yesterday’s game was right up there with them. An awful performance against team with only 13 points before the game and that had played at Boro on Wednesday night.

Perfect summary (although Birmingham fans obviously haven't been paying any attention at all when it comes to the weak defensively and Nigel Pearson bit. We've become used to it over the past 18 months. Not that he's to blame in any way, of course.)

That's exactly how I saw it. I'd have made seven changes at half-time: Moller for Bentley; Kalas, Merrick and Hunter for the back three; Barnard and Sweeney for the wing backs; Gow for Massengo. Might have considered Andy Cole for Wells or Conway, but forward players weren't necessarily the problem.

Think I heard roughly the same interview last season after Blackpool (a), West From (a), Millwall (a) Birmingham (a), Coventry (a), Sheffield United (a), Barnsley (a), Swansea (a), Forest (a). Those performances were all variations on dire. My particular 'favourites' were conceding three times in the second half against ten men v Coventry and, er, a 3-0 defeat at Birmingham. I sincerely hope today was a 2022-23 outlier. If not, we're in for a long winter.

Our fans "must be thinking... 'what the hell was that?' " Certainly are. But it's not as if we haven't seen it all before, Nige: most games in your first season. Last season: Blackpool (a), West From (a), Millwall (a) Birmingham (a), Coventry (a), Sheffield United (a), Barnsley (a), Swansea (a), Forest (a). Yes, I saw them all. (I didn't see Fulham (a) but we did lose 6-2.). He makes it sound like something unusual.

I was extremely sceptical when I saw some fans saying we’re good enough for the top six. You’ve only got to see how easily we concede (and our small squad) to conclude we were always far more likely to be battling to avoid being sucked into a relegation fight. I hope we we’ll be ok. We were missing a few today. But this is going to be a brutal Championship this season - no obviously dire sides. All competitive. Capable of a result. So are we. But a couple of teams (perhaps three) are going to think they’re a bit unlucky to go down. I hope it’s not us. Today’s performance, though, was a relegation performance. 18th, I see.

Indeed. Having said all that, I thought he looked dangerous in the first half. Nearly scored one (from Wells' cross) and nearly created one with a cross (for Wells). It's not an exact science, is it?

He didn’t have a pre-season and that was his first start. He’s still building his match fitness and getting his general sharpness back. It’s not like flicking a switch.

I agree. Far more likely.

Ten games gone. We’ve all had a look. Who are the three teams you think will be promoted; who are the teams you think will go down? Relegation seems much harder to predict for me. Birmingham? Huddersfield? Blackpool? I always start the season with the question: who are the (three) teams we’ll definitely finish above? So you can do that one if you like. Promotion: three from Sheffield United, Watford, Burnley and Norwich.

Not sure of the maths there. Tuesday night is roughly the mid point between Saturday and Saturday. If you finish at ten to five on a Saturday, you have three days (72 hours approx) to recover. If you play Tuesday night, you have a little more than 72 hours to recover for the next game. (And pease don't say 'they are well-paid professional footballers, they should be able to play every day of the week if required'. You can't pay a body to recover.)