Yeah I tend to agree... We could start Gueye but we will run out of legs second half and bringing him on really helps. Buckley at 10 would give us the ability to pack the midfield which is useful. I guess game plan will be to not concede and bring Gueye and ACD on around 65 mins to make something. Shame to approach a home derby that way but we cant risk going down to an early goal.

Gueye for me already offers more than Gallagher. His finishing is hopeless but his link up play and quality in the air is pretty good. Dont think Gally got anywhere near Gueyes level of assists. Gueye causes defences problems whereas Gallagher just didnt really. Sam is real conundrum - a big lad who hates playing back to goal, is rubbish in the air, and much prefers to be wide running with the ball at feet despite not really being able to dribble or cross. Couldnt fault him for effort but he is a fish riding a bike. Gueye stays central, gets his head on things, causes issues with his size and strength. So while similarly goal shy he at least is trying to fit the job description of a target man with some decent results

Hes like Lazarus. I think Ive had three rounds now of thinking hes finished at Rovers, but each time he comes back somehow looking better than he was. Till he blows it all up again. Any neutral observer who watched us this season would think we have a really top Championship keeper.

We're out of the top six but actually the only poor result we've had in a quite tough run of 10 games is Hull. Every other one has been decent enough, losing at Millwall narrowly away disappointing but happens. If we can get a result on Saturday then we have a softer set of fixtures across January. Actually not got too many really daunting matches from now till start of April, but then things do seem difficult for the run in.

Thats how to tell the death spiral to f*** off! Theres not a manager we've had since Allerdyce who would have got us back into that game after going behind. Go into Burnley on a high now!

This is the most baffling additional time I have seen ever i think. We should be writing into the football league for an explanation.

That forward line is more about pressing than attacking. The front four will work their nuts off. Have to hope we can force a few errors from Leeds. Championship rollercoaster makes this really seem like a nailed on loss to continue our fall after our rise... Basically will come down to the first goal. If we concede early could get ugly, but if we can hold out then we will have a chance.

In our history we've signed a lot of players for very little who have turned out to be consistently great. Its not impossible, although a bit of a gamble.

Like Sunderland what was remarkable was how solid we were at the back until we conceded then completely fell apart. Hull probably should have scored a few. Continuing the pattern really of recent managers where getting the first goal is so important. Cant believe Cantwell missed that opportunity, hes been brought in to score exactly those sorts of goal... Overall he we probably our worst player, very wasteful. I am a bit worried about him, doesnt seem on it. Two massive games now. If we can come out with a couple of results Ill be quite confident about the playoffs. Does feel like we could be looking at two losses.

Yeah, but I think he would probably choose 10 as his first choice role. I think hed do okay there too if he got a run of games. Still Cantwell and Wieman ahead of him in the queue. Think hell be off in January.

Ohashi has an incredible engine though and is very strong for his size. Id be surprised if Leonard can match that. However given we have 3 strikers and Leonard is one of them he is going to get minutes no matter what. Look forward to him showing how he has come on. We have to use him as a 9 as we are short of numbers there unlike at 10 when we have a lot of options (Cantwell, Wieman, Dolan, ACD, Sigurdsson, Buckley).

Cant see how you would come to that conclusion. We were 1-0 up and well in control - for the wide players the priority for them would have been to continue the excellent cover they gave their full backs in the first half into the second 45. For Hedges to isolate Beck once is maybe a bit unfortunate/ loss of concentration. But twice in 15 mins totally unacceptable. Im sure Eustace will give him both barrels.

And then both Sunderlands goals came down their right, Hedges nowhere to be seen...

Yeah a couple of poor final passes / shots but overall hes been great. Think Hedges as well has done very well, completely nullified them down their right. To be honest everyone has had a good game so far.

Agree with most of this but Baker not really mobile enough for me. Quality on the ball, but struggling to close his man down. The way we are setup to counter attack its not so much of a problem today but not convinced for when we are more open.

Weve looked really good, solid in defence, threatening on the break. Should probably be 2-0 up on balance... Under most of our managers of recent times i would now expect us to lose all our confidence and have a real torrid second half. But with Eustace feel quite secure..

Think this might be one of the best attended games ive gone to in years... Does anyone have any parking tips? My current way of doing it is a bit of a gamble, wondering if anyone knows a way to guarantee somewhere decent to park? Dont mind paying a little and walking up to around 20 mins to the ground.

I feel like this season (and in stark contrast to recent years) through luck or design we have ended up with 2 decent players for every position on the pitch. So we've been able to ride out what seemed a catastrophic loss in Carter, and I am optimistic that we have the quality to replace Travis and Pickering, despite both being really excellent for us this season. Trav has been player of the season so far for me. Baker goes straight in, Beck to left back, and I guess Dolan or Hedges go on the left and that's the team pretty much. Still will have an okay bench assuming one of Ohashi or Geuye is on it with Wieman and Sigurdson if he's back from injury? Leonard as well. It's not galaticos but something there to influence a game in the second half. Where we are really vulnerable imo is if one of the two CBs are taken out. Pickering was our viable cover there really, so we will be forced to used Faz who really does not look mobile enough to me to play football at this level any more. We need a CB in first day of Jan.

City is such a bizarre one... An all conquering team going on this sort of run when they were the champions and clear favourites at the start of the season has never even remotely happened before. I LOVE it! And I hope it is sign of things to come. The Premier League had become way too predictable, but now Utd, City, Spurs, and Chelsea last season have all had really poor runs recently. Just hope some other clubs can really start muscling in on the CL places and put a cat among the pigeons. What the league needs. Godspeed Bournemouth and Forrest, would be hilarious if one of them made CL, and give us all hope.

Yes, theres nothing wrong with having a philosophy and approach when it works but you have to be realistic when it doesnt. Ange hasnt been, he continued to plough a furrow long after the wheels have come off, and that will cost him his job and probably a shot at another similar level job. He'll be pigeon holed quite rightly as way too defensively naive for a top job.

Yeah £100M for a player who couldnt even establish himself in a pretty average England squad at the time seemed absolute madness.

Ange I think has to be the most offensive manager in prem history, puts Keegan in the shade. Cant be long till he gets sacked, shame as Ill miss his kamikaze games. Always entertaining.

He's doing really well, and while we have been very defensively solid we haven't been boring to watch in any way. We pass the ball well, have a lot of energy, counter attack nicely, got a lot of variation to our play. A lot of 1-0 wins but they've been more entertaining than the score lines suggest. Most players from the GK, defence, midfield look to have significantly improved in his system also, I guess through the confidence and support the solid foundations provide. A bit early to judge but he could be the best manager we have had since dropping from the Premier League. He's the first one in thirteen years to implement a truly effective defence.

Travis and Tronstad have been so consistently good I could see championship clubs with big resources going for them in January to knobble us as much as anything else. If their form continues I wouldn't be surprised if either of them got prem interest the summer. Travis particularly has looked really top drawer and I am sure bottom half teams are thinking he could do a decent job in the prem. Never thought I'd say that, but he's had such a good run it's possible. I'd actually be surprised if we don't get offers if he continues in the same vein tlll the end of the summer.

Yeah I absolutely agree... only thing that gives me doubt is maybe Wolves or Southampton decide they are down already and go for a punt on a Championship manager to minimise their costs and build for the future rather than go for a Prem recovery specialist like Big Sam or someone. Southampton are so far adrift already it feels like that could be their strategy. But then I suppose if expect relegation is the brief it's possible that Eustace would not fancy having his reputation trashed by getting thrashed every week. Hmmm. Still reckon we have a good shot to keep him this season as he really hasn't achieved anything concrete yet. If he makes playoffs it becomes a different story.