So far we've conceded two or more against Walsall, Rotherham, Hull, Plymouth and now Sunderland. JDT has to find a way to make us better defensively - whether it's midfield or defence, something needs to be tweaked. Even with better strikers a solid defence is really important. We aren't going to score as many as we'd like this season because we don't have any real quality up top, so it's imperative to focus on keeping the ball out of our net. Especially as we struggle so badly with getting any kind of result if we concede first.

We've conceded two (again). They've had two on target and scored both. Doesn't really matter if we defend well generally but continue to give away goals.

Because we just aren't good enough defensively. JDT spoke in his press conference about preferring to win games 5-3 rather than 1-0, but that philosophy only works if you have goalscorers in the team.

I remember watching the first 45 minutes of Ipswich's opening match against Sunderland and saying they were overhyped and with the squad they had they were going to do well to finish mid-table. The next 45 and 6 games since, Leeds aside, have proven that to be a foolish take indeed. Whilst their squad isn't anything special individually, as a collective they are far more than the sum of their parts. McKenna has them set up in a way that perfectly suits the squad they have, and every player knows their role and what's expected of them. This will be a tough match and our defence is going to need to be very solid to avoid defeat. With JDT in charge I always feel like we have a chance of winning matches, but it'll come down to which Rovers turns up on the day, and how well we start. We still haven't shaken the inability to pull ourselves together when we go behind, so I think the first goal in this one will be crucial.

Probably the most worrying thing from Southampton's perspective is that their defence and attack have essentially collapsed at the same time. They've conceded ten goals in the last three games, and only scored one.

Had a quick look on a Plymouth forum and they all seemed absolutely baffled by the amount of changes, so it doesn't seem that there was a reason beyond tactical/rotation. Probably best not to do that again.

Plymouth's recent struggles continued as they were given a bit of a hiding from Bristol City at Ashton Gate. The home side won 4-1, thoroughly dominating the match. City have had a quietly solid start to the season, having only lost one of their first seven matches, and now find themselves in 5th, having won two and drawn two of their last four matches. They've also only conceded six goals, making their defence one of the tightest in the division thus far. Plymouth meanwhile have lost four of their last five matches. No prizes for guessing who was the one win in their last five matches. They drop to 17th, with their GD having taken a bit of a battering tonight. Cardiff built on their victory at the weekend with a 3-2 home victory against Coventry. It's their third win in four matches and lifts them to 9th in the table. Coventry meanwhile still only have a solitary win to their name so far this season, and their succession of draws is followed up by a defeat. They are now 15th. Preston's momentum continues to build as they recorded yet another win, this time a 2-1 result at home to Birmingham. It sees Preston back in top spot for now, having won six and drawn one of their opening seven games. Conceding just five goals makes their defence joint-best in the division alongside Leicester and Watford. Birmingham meanwhile continue to drop points after a good start to the season. It's their second defeat on the spin, and means they've only picked up one point from the last nine available. They slip outside of the playoff spots into 7th. QPR and Swansea recorded a 1-1 draw which does little for either club. Swansea were a goal ahead until the 92nd minute when QPR snatched an equaliser, and Swansea's misery was further compounded with a 98th minute sending off after Ollie Cooper managed to get himself booked twice in the space of a minute - not for remonstrating with officials, either, just two reckless fouls in succession. He'd only come on in the 73rd minute. This result means Swansea continue to wait for their first league victory, and are condemned to their worst start to a season in 32 years. They remain in 22nd position in the table. It was QPR's first draw of the season, and considering how the match went they'll likely be grateful for the point, having likely been initially targeting this as a three pointer. Russell Martin continues to work his magic at Southampton, as they fell to a third successive defeat, this time at home to Ipswich. Whilst they didn't concede a hatful of goals this time, it was a defensive error that gave Ipswich their goal. By all accounts Ipswich were the better side as well, suggesting that Southampton's confidence is faltering, whilst Ipswich will no doubt have had their morale boosted further by yet another victory. They've made an outstanding start to the season, with six wins from seven, having won their last three, bouncing back admirably after their 4-2 defeat to Leeds. Some job McKenna has done there. Ipswich are joint-second for goals scored, with fierce rivals Norwich remaining the division's top scorers. They climb back to second, putting pressure on Leicester to keep up. Southampton meanwhile drop to 11th, and questions will surely be asked now about Russell Martin's future at the club. Finally, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough played out a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough. Rovers' old boy Darragh Lenihan was on the scoresheet for Boro, claiming the equaliser which ended up being the last goal of the match. The match was otherwise notable for Sheffield Wednesday's supporters engaging in a tennis ball protest against their owners, causing a brief early stoppage. The result doesn't do much to help either team, with Wednesday remaining in 23rd and Boro still rooted to the bottom of the table. Both sides are yet to pick up a victory thus far in the campaign, and have an equal record of five goals scored. Boro fare slightly worse on goals conceded with 14 to Wednesday's 11. The draw does stop a run of defeats for Boro, but that won't lift many spirits as they find themselves still waiting for a sign of hope that they can revive themselves as they did last season.

I wouldn't be too worried about Sunderland's goalscoring prowess. 5 of their 12 goals came against a Southampton team who basically don't have a defence, and 3 of those came against 10-man QPR. They won't find it anywhere near as easy at Ewood as they did in those two matches. At home we very rarely concede that amount of goals.

Considering the level he's been playing at and the fact he must have been a very cheap signing, I don't really have any expectations for him. If he scores a few then great, if not then it was a cheap punt that hasn't paid off. My main focus in terms of who I'm expecting goals from are the likes of Gallagher, Dolan and Hedges who have plenty of experience at this level and need to stop missing easy chances. If they're getting plenty of assists then that's fine too, as it means at least someone else will be scoring the goals. If we started policing this place like RAWK we'd barely have any posters left, so probably not in our best interests.

Sometimes it's okay to be annoyed with what somebody posts. If a day or two after the match, for example, somebody is still commenting that Telelovic's debut shows that he'll never be up to it then it's fair game for criticism. If it's just something posted during the match... eh, personally I'd just leave it be and assume it's an emotional reaction and not necessarily indicative of that person's genuine view. Obviously people can do as they please, that's just my take on it.

Have done it plenty of times myself tbf. Sometimes you post something during a match, especially if we're losing or things seem to be going against us, and later you realise it was an unfair comment. If it was muttered in a pub or when you were sitting at Ewood nobody would care or even remember after the match, but obviously on here people can go back through the match thread afterwards and pick out posts to criticise. Such is the internet.

Rovers 2-1 defeat of Boro at Ewood ensured Boro's miserable start to the season continued after the international break. Both teams had chances, but whilst Rovers' defence was solid, Boro often looked all at sea at the back. It's no exagerration to say Rovers could have scored four or five in this match, and if not for a shocking decision from the linesman we would have kept a clean sheet. The result pushes Rovers up to 8th, a point outside the playoff spots. Meanwhile Boro are left rooted to the foot on the table, still without a win, having lost five of their opening six matches, conceding 13 goals and only scoring 4. Some big problems there that need to be addressed rapidly. Bristol City and WBA played out out a 0-0 draw at Ashton Gate. The home side are yet to win this season on their home turf, but are sitting in a reasonable 10th position as things stand. WBA's inconsistent start continued, with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses leaving them in the logical position of 12th, dead in the middle of the table. Huddersfield followed up their first win of the season last time out with a solid 2-0 home victory against Rotherham. There has been speculation that Warnock will resign on Monday, but in the post-match press conference he claimed he would be in the dugout for the game against Stoke on Wednesday, so time will tell. Former Rovers loanee Sorba Thomas had a fantastic match, with an assist and a goal to his name. The result lifts Huddersfield to 17th, whilst defeat for Rotherham puts them in 21st, narrowly outside the relegation zone. Norwich inflicted a third defeat in three games on Stoke, with a 1-0 victory at Carrow Road. Stoke sink to 19th, having not only lost their last three matches but also failed to score in any of those three matches. Just five goals scored from their opening six games places them as one of the lowest goalscorers in the division in the early stages. Defensively they've been slightly more impressive, only letting in seven, but it's looking like it might be another season of underachievement for the Potters. Norwich meanwhile have won four of their opening six matches and sit in 4th place, leading the division in goals scored with fifteen notched thus far. Preston's surprisingly good start to the season continued with a 2-1 win over Plymouth at Deepdale. Their first goal came after just 45 seconds. The result puts Preston back on top of the pile with five wins on the spin coming after their opening day draw. Having conceded the least goals in the division with just four let in, Preston seem to have built on their defensive mindset from last season and then found a way to add goals, as they've netted a healthy ten goals thus far. They are also now the only team in the division without a loss on their record. Time will tell how long they can keep it going. Plymouth meanwhile are in 13th, and despite today's result will surely be happy with the start they've made to life in the Championship. Things seemed to be going well for QPR, a goal up against Sunderland at home, before Jack Colback's sending off in the 21st minute completely turned the game on its head. Sunderland went on to win 3-1. Despite a slightly concerning first couple of matches, Sunderland have quickly bounced back and have now achieved ten points from the last twelve available, lifting them up to 7th. QPR meanwhile have lost four of their opening six matches and hover outside the relegation zone in 20th. Ipswich's dream start to life in the Championship continued with a 1-0 away win against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. The two clubs promoted from League 1 last season have had contrasting fortunes at the beginning of the season, with Ipswich riding high in 3rd with five wins from their opening six games, and Sheffield Wednesday languishing in 23rd having lost five of their opening six matches and still with only a single point to their name. After Birmingham's winning run came to a halt in their last match, their momentum continued to stutter as they were beaten 2-0 at Vicarage Road by Watford. Birmingham are still clinging on to a playoff spot in 6th, and this was in fact their first defeat of the season. It was a much needed win for Watford - their first since the opening day of the season. They move up to 11th, mirroring WBA's record of 2 wins , 2 draws and 2 defeats. Watford do have a solid base in terms of only conceding five goals, and have scored a reasonable nine, so they can look at their current position with some optimism. Finally Swansea's nightmare start to the season showed no signs of abating as they were beaten 2-0 by Cardiff at the Cardiff City Stadium. The result moves Cardiff up to 15th - having scored ten and conceded ten, their games certainly aren't lacking goals. Swansea are yet to win this season. This was their third defeat in a row, and they've only collected two points from their opening six matches. Plenty of concern there for what has been a dismal first few matches.

No, just perhaps not worded 100% correctly being a late night post just before bed. By "none of the posts in the match thread" I meant none of the silly/dramatic posts made during the match, rather than all posts. Apologies for the misunderstanding.

Not exactly uncommon for silly takes - positive and negative - to be posted in match threads, often in the heat of the moment with heightened emotions. Unless the poster continues to repeat it for days afterwards none of the comments made during matches should really be taken seriously. Hardly unique to this mb either. You'll see the same kind of comments on any other football message board during and after matches, as well as down the pub and in the stands.

Is it me or was O'Brien playing on left wing? I thought he was a CM. Shocking defending from Boro for our second, it's incredible how they stood there and let Sammy tee his shot up before belting it in. Little wonder they're on -9 GD. Dolan's miss looks even worse watching it a second time. It's a shocking lack of composure. Head it anywhere other than upwards and it's going in.

We would have won that easily if we had any strikers at the club, and the officials weren't amateurs. Nonetheless, I'll happily take the three points and thank goodness for Sammy.

Watching this I really don't think Boro are in a false position. Sammy one of our few goal threats, wrap this lad in cotton wool.

If JDT has seen Pears and Wahlstedt in training and genuinely thinks Pears is the better option, then that's concerning. Not in the sense Pears is bad, but more that Wahlstedt isn't showing himself to be better in JDT's eyes than a guy who should really only be our backup goalie. Really hope it's just a case of needing time to settle in for both him and Tronstad. Not confident with that attacking line, but sneaking a single goal from somewhere might be enough.

There was a lot made of the three signings being made in June, but the reality of Ennis not being in contention until at least October, Siggy still not being fit in the middle of September (and it'll take longer for him to get to proper match fitness), and Tronstad seemingly being below Travis and Garrett in the pecking order so far is pretty concerning. We needed reinforcements and the main three brought in all seem to be some way off. As far as strikers go, we're essentially hoping Gallagher at 27 finally learns how to be somewhat prolific in front of goal, Leonard rapidly adapts to being a first-team regular, or Telelovic hits the ground running having spent most of his career playing at a level far below this one. Fair to say I'm feeling pessimistic and concerned at the moment. A handy 4-0 win tomorrow with a couple of goals from any of the aforementioned strikers and a couple from elsewhere in the team would ease that somewhat, though. Boro are bottom, conceding a lot of goals and in terrible form, so if we struggle to score against them then I think we'll be looking at a very tough season ahead.

Hull and Coventry share the points with a 1-1 draw at the KCOM. It keeps Hull's momentum going, albeit they probably would have been eyeing a win here. Considering they were a goal down until the 87th minute, though, they'll probably gratefully take a point. Coventry really could have done with a win, having now drawn their last four games in a row and are still without a win since the opening day of the season. Still 11th as things stand, but they'll drop a few spots after tomorrow. Hull are in 5th for now, and Southampton's defeat tonight means they'll likely remain in the playoff spots irrespective of how results tomorrow play out. Another incredibly damaging defeat for Southampton, torn apart defensively by a Leicester side who, much like Sunderland, haven't been banging in the goals so far this season. Their defeat last time out against Hull aside, though, Leicester have been winning matches and are, for now at least, top of the table. It remains to be seen whether tonight will be the catalyst for Leicester to really start hammering teams, or whether it's just a case of Southampton's defence being mislabelled as such. After being embarrassed 5-0 by Sunderland, a 4-1 drubbing at home is exactly what Southampton didn't need. They continue to leak goals like ending in negative GD is the target - and if it is then they're well on their way to achieving that. Their -5 GD and 16 goals conceded is by far the worst in the division. Somehow they remain 7th for now, but will inevitably drop a few places after tomorrow, and two big defeats on the spin must already be putting some immense pressure on Russell Martin. Losing games is one thing, but getting repeatedly humiliated is far more problematic. Next up for Southampton is a home match against Ipswich, who are currently up there as one of the top scoring teams in the division, so that could be fun... for Ipswich.

Russell Martin will be out by the end of September at this rate. They've shipped four or more goals in three out of six games so far. They've now conceded nine in their last two games. Absolutely shocking and should not be happening to any club at this level, let alone a team who have only just come down from the PL.

If we only get a fiver from Raya's sale then either Brentford have had a mare or Waggott's comment about it being the highest ever sell-on fee he's negotiated won't much much of a brag!

Good read, Nelsen comes across as a top bloke, and I'm sure he is. Can still vividly remember his interview on SSN after Allardyce was sacked - you could tell he was absolutely gutted. Interestingly he seems very guarded in what he says about Kean and Venky's, despite being quite forthright on standards dropping under Ince. The way he was let go is absolutely disgraceful, but expected under this lot. No respect for any of the values the club embodied before they took us hostage, and they've continued in that vein throughout.

It's sad to think there are younger fans nowadays who only know of a Rovers owned by Venky's. At least those of us of a certain age at the very least have great memories of the 90s and most of the 2000s to keep us going. Some will have fantastic memories far before that. I can't imagine what it must be like to support the club without those memories, only knowing them as stories, pictures and videos - which must seem like a totally different club compared to the one they support now.

No experience with the treatment, but hope it goes well mate. Good luck.