Interesting how one of the female journalists went immediately to the point of asking about the defensive side of the game. She's clearly seen our goals against column.

Whilst last night's match was a fantastic performance, we were even better last year against Leicester and actually won that match. We then proceeded to win just three of our remaining twelve league games. Cup matches are ultimately just one-offs and against higher opposition players inevitably raise their game for the occasion. The Championship is a different beast as one win in our last thirteen games shows. I very much appreciated the effort put in last night, but it remains to be seen whether the players who have let us down for much of the season can continue to apply that motivation to league matches. If this game does inspire a great run of form then it'll be hats off to Eustace, and he'll have earned some backing in the summer. Not that I'll expect him to get it, mind.

Gutting. Better performance than I thought was possible from us, though.

Whether we go through or not, the players have raised their game to incredible levels and set the bar going forward.

That was the chance. Fuck.

Pears having the game of his life.

Lol, they should be more concerned about the fact they've only won 3 games all season and are 9 points adrift, having conceded 17 more goals than Luton.

From what I just read, Sweden's first ever foreign manager. Good luck to him and hopefully he can mould a team truly in his image. They'll be a joy to watch if it works out for him.

A shame that since 2014 the league cup is just another trophy to be passed around between the usual suspects.

Whilst I think Brittain does have decent ability at times, I'm not convinced by his mentality. I don't think he's reliable when the chips are down, and I don't really want those kinds of players in the team. He's not the only one but fairweather players are only ever going to get you so far.

At any normal club JDT would have left in the summer. As soon as he offered his resignation, saying this isn't what he'd signed up for - offering to walk away for nothing, as well - it should have been a case of "OK Jon, give us some time to get things sorted from our end and we'll let you go". Instead he was, seemingly, told he'd be held to his contract whether he wanted to be here or not. He could walk out but wouldn't be able to work anywhere else until his contract expired in summer 2025. Whilst the owners are technically within their rights to do that, it's complete stupidity as we then go into the season with a demotivated manager who doesn't want to be here, and players who no doubt were well aware of that fact. It's a miracle that we got the results we did until November with all of that factored in. It all leads back to the same place - we're a dysfunctional club owned by people who should be nowhere near any football club.

This time last season we'd just beaten QPR away 3-1 and were sitting in 4th, unbeaten in 7. Now we argue about our team being shit or slightly less shit with a single win in 13 matches. Thanks Venky's.

After the past 12 years I'm out of patience or hope. I just want Venky's and all associated with them to fuck off and never come back.

Another result to add to the rest where we go behind and can't come back to win. Finding it difficult to be thankful for a point at home to Norwich, who we handily dispatched at Carrow Road only a few months ago. How the tables have turned. They've gone from strength to strength whilst we've transformed into one of the worst teams in the league. Can't wait for the season to be over, regardless of the outcome.

Pack ye bags and head home boys, 1-0 is game over for our soft lads. (happy if they prove me wrong mind)

Interestingly in 2014/15 when we finished 9th, 11 points off the playoffs, we actually conceded less than the previous year when we'd finished 8th and only 2 points of the playoffs (59 conceded in 14/15, 62 conceded in 13/14). We also only scored 4 less goals (66 in 14/15 and 70 in 13/14). The division was just a lot stronger in 14/15. The teams above us scored more goals and conceded less than the year before. Brighton took 6th spot in 13/14 with 72 points, whereas Ipswich took 6th with 78 points in 14/15. We didn't really decline, we just didn't improve whilst other teams around us did. Adding Gestede to the mix for a full season didn't really help improve on 13/14 (when Rhodes was the only player we had in the top ten Champ goalscorers) as others evidently did not contribute as much as they had the season prior in terms of putting the ball in the net. I consider 13/14, when we didn't have Gestede in the top scorer charts, as far more of a wasted opportunity than 14/15. The 0-0 at home to Yeovil will always stick in the memory as particularly infuriating. Ultimately even if we had won that match we still would have lost out on GD, assuming results went the same way for other teams in the run in, but if we'd won that game then more pressure would have been on the teams around us and who knows what happens next. With that said, considering we've been a soft touch since Venky's turned up, we probably would have found a way to blow it anyway.

Way too early to be talking about Eustace's "style", he's barely been at the club five minutes. What we're seeing is a back to basics approach to try and reduce the amount of goals we're conceding and stop losing. For the most part that has improved things, and we'll probably be in this firefighting mode until end of season, so expect plenty more turgid performances. If it scrapes enough points to keep us in the division then that'll be job done for Waggott and Venky's until they continue operation oblivion in the summer and decimate what's left of the team. I'd say we'll likely see more what Eustace is about next season (much like it took six months or so before we really starting seeing JDT's footballing philosophy coming through properly) but lord knows what he'll be left with to try and survive again, assuming we don't drop this season.

These last few months are going to be a slog.

https://90sfootballparty.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/home-too-soon-hodgson-at-blackburn/ Really good write up here of Roy's time with us.

Very much an underdog manager. He knows how to get a team punching above its weight. His methods simply don't work when there are significant expectations and dressing room egos involved. At the time he came to us we were very much in that category. If he'd come to us after Hughes left he'd probably have done well here, as we were a completely different proposition by then.

Jack had offered him the chance to resign a little while before, and Roy confirmed that even in resignation Jack was willing to pay his full contract up. I believe Hodgson later admitted that at the time he was too arrogant to realise he couldn't turn it around. He said he held no ill will towards Rovers and very much respected how we handled the situation.

All the best to Mowbray, hope he recovers and takes time out of the game if he needs to.

Roy had totally lost the plot by the time he was sacked. Behaving strangely as well, to the point where players were openly mocking him. Can't come back from that realistically. Sacking him was the right call, but we made the wrong one in who we chose to appoint next. The first half of 97/98 was excellent and feels like what could have been, but the second half of that season was really poor and we never recovered. Between Jan 11th and May 10th 1997 we lost 10 of our 17 matches. Extremely poor purchases in the summer and the likes of Hendry leaving doomed any chance of returning to form the following season. With our budget we should never have been close to a relegation battle, let alone actually being relegated. One season's worth of poor decisions cost us dearly, in a time period where teams weren't afforded that luxury. Compare to today when multiple teams can make horrendous decisions year after year and survive (Everton especially) just because there are three teams who either can't bridge the gap between the Champ/Prem or are imploding at an even greater level. With that said, we came back strong in the end and I wouldn't trade the Souey/Hughes years for anything.

Replacing TM with Beale was so obviously a stupid move that it makes you wonder how Sunderland are 10th with decisions like that being made. Then you remember we've been just outside the playoffs a few times under Venky's, and realise the majority of the league has incompetents at the helm.