Do you realise the hypocrisy of trying to play the role of portraying others as "doom and gloom" merchants by trying to make out that you are analysing the full season, only to then mention individual games to try and dismiss concerns about our overall away record? I have never said that I wouldnt have taken 15 points at this stage, but that tally doesnt obliterate the potential to find areas of weakness (and strength). Our home form is perfect, easier games on paper but to win every one is brilliant. No debate to be had with anyone as no one could possibly argue that our home record is anything other than fantastic. But 3 points from 5 away games is definitely crap, in my opinion anyway. So without mentioning our overall record and deflecting away from the question. Are you happy with our away record so far this season of 3 draws and 2 losses from 5 games, with 0 wins? We need to build on and continue with our excellent home return so far, with harder games to come. Away, I see big red flags. I feel like Eustace's approach is counterproductive, even admitting that he left our better attackers on the bench with a gameplan to try and get them involved from the hour mark. Overall points tally is good, broken down into a perfect home record and a crap away record.

Why is it strange? He was never going to walk into any other club in the Premier League and be a regular. So its either take probably his last chance at experiencing Premier League football, or stay at a middling and unambitious Championship club that he single handedly kept up from relegation to League 1 but where he is guaranteed to play every minute.

I dont think that issues fall around expectations. Any attacking players who contribute as infrequently as he does and ones who lack the intelligence to develop their game, reduce their weaknesses and show signs of increased consistency will naturally frustrate. Maybe he will have a sudden increase in productivity but over the course of his Rovers career, he has been tried wide, up front and now in attacking midfield and none of the changes have yet managed to allow him to be more consistently productive, and he still keeps trying to be over elaborate.

He has got what is likely a last career opportunity to experience Premier League football. Thats not factoring in the massive increase in wage. It doesnt in any way make it a case of the grass not always being greener just because he isnt starting every game. He has already scored at the Etihad, put it this way, he wont regret moving even 1%. Im not sure he is better than that, he isnt of a standard where he is a Premier League player at a club as a key player. No one in their right mind would have chosen to stay as the main player at a club with no ambition or imminent likelihood of promotion when a chance comes to fulfill a dream move. Even if he doesnt start again this season, he was right to make the move because it wouldnt have come again.

Its not some sort of scapegoating. The ratio of poor to good performances is still far too heavily weighted towards the former and that balance hasnt really improved over a number of years. Despite a number of different managers he still is prone to over elaborating and still produces very little in the final third. He would only ram it down peoples throats if he became more productive not just in occasional games or spurts but over a period of time.

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I never saw Carter as a long term solution at right back. We kept 3 clean sheets with him there but even then, 2 were against 10 men and he hadnt truly been tested by a quick winger, although Saito did get past him with ease once or twice prior to the red. But after those clean sheets, keeping that back 4 at Coventry was reasonable. But he faced Haji Wright who may have been out of form but because he is quick and direct he ripped Carter to shreds. I called for JRC to start at Plymouth, you have previously said that Duru should play when Brittain is out. Either way, Eustace got it wrong sticking with Carter who again was ripped apart by a quick winger in Cissoko. The idea of having your better attackers on the bench purposely and giving them half an hour rather than most of/all of the game makes zero sense. And we werent defensively solid, and I feel that some of that was down to our absence of an attacking threat and our attitude of just hanging in rather than trying to impose ourselves on the game.

Its a way of trying to make it seem like your opinion is reasonable and others arent. Whereas you are reluctant to criticise even when he makes decisions that lead to bad losses and/or when you wanted him to do different things. Cliches (often used on Sky Sports to promote the league) about anyone beating anyone else aside, obviously they can otherwise we wouldnt watch it but there are games that are harder/easier than each other. Our home games so far have been favourable, all games we have been favourites to win and the games that have to be the bread and butter where you pick up a big chunk of your points. Its not a criticism of Eustace to say that, and to win every single point in those games is a big positive and a big credit. But equally, away form has been crap. His approach in away games seems to be different in those games and it clearly hasnt worked hence the lack of points. His quotes yesterday summed up his overly negative approach which hasnt worked. It has not only stunted us going forward (4 goals in 5 games) but it has allowed our opposition to dominate us and attack more freely. It was an excellent result at Burnley but our overall record away is not good enough. Im guessing you think it is hence why his overly negative tactics are ones youll defend.

That would be a strange centre back pairing, if they are number 6's.

Nothing about the game plan worked. The way we set up purposefully leaving our better attackers on the bench meant we offered nothing in attack which invited pressure and we were lucky to keep it only to 1 nil, down to a mixture of poor finishing and a few saves rather than by design. The idea that we cant go to Plymouth with the intention (carried out with some convinction) of getting a win is ridiculous. His overly negative gameplan was counterproductive. The thing is the tactics subsequently made us more vulnerable defensively because we were so passive. I wouldnt expect gung ho attacking but we should be starting our attackers with more quality to try and impose an attacking threat rather than just trying to cling on. They could have had a number of other goals though. Its counterproductive to have such a negative mindset where you purposefully leave your better attackers on the bench. Their attacking players certainly did influence the game moreso as a result of the tactics. Cissoko had a field day running at a centre back playing out of position.

I think the opposite, recency bias has made people think Gallagher is worse than he actually is. Last season, he had a particularly difficult season with numerous injuries, but before that, we all thought rightfully that we could improve on him. He had scored 8 or 9 goals in each of the 3 seasons prior. I dont rate Gallagher, he is very much low end Championship standard when he stays fit. But I am unconvinced that Gueye can even get the 8 or 9 goals that prior to last season, Gallagher gave us and that is saying something.

What makes your opinion one of "proper" perspective and those who are more critical just bringers of "doom and gloom?" It is a valid point that our fixtures at home have been favourable ones, thats a fair point to make. That being said, he couldnt win even a single home game when we had some favourable ones last season, and those games have to be your bread and butter, so to win all 4 deserves a lot of credit. His approach to away games is becoming a big concern, purposely leaving out players with flair and creativity trying to "stay in the game" against the mighty Plymouth. It didnt work, and I think he needs to have a major think. The question is, can he get the best from those players or will he choose to stick with his favourites in Dolan/Hedges etc who like to run around but dont do anything.

Their commentators wont have seen much of him though to know about him either way. He has shown signs of attributes that could make him useful, he holds it up at times. But he needs to at least contribute a reasonable amount to justify playing time. I think a Belgian football expert who did an interview in the LT when he signed showed with stats that he misses a lot of clear cut chances and as we have seen is not a good technical player or striker of the ball. As you touch on, the worry is that who is going to score goals to sustain us over a full season. Ohashi is the one who has shown a knack of having that instinct but they seem unlikely to play together. We know that the likes of Hedges and Dolan dont score many, Cantwell is not a natural scorer, Weimann was but he is clearly not the player he used to be.

You keep mentioning the Watford goal as if its a strong argument in his favour. The fact that you do so suggests that as is the case, he doesnt score very many. In most games, he does what he did today, practically nothing.

Things change. When we are really poor in a certain area, then of course it becomes concerning. You would have more of a point if I had refused to acknowledge our home record but I have praised Eustace on a number of occasions for it this season. But away from home, 3 points from 5 games is not something to brush over IMO. I found his comments strange that basically the gameplan was to go to Plymouth and "stay in the game for 60 minutes" and hope that subs can get us over the line. I would understand more at one of the top clubs but I dont feel like its constructive to be so passive and so it proved. We dont have that approach at home now, but we just invited too much pressure and were lucky to even be in the game when the subs came on. I feel that we need to be more aggressive, I am all for trying to build on a solid base but not only do I not think that you can wait two thirds of a game before really looking to attack, but inviting pressure made us anything but solid and Plymouth kept picking us apart.

Would they both be seen as first team regulars? Why is Hedges living off that one goal a year ago? He doesnt do enough often enough.

I know he apparently was nursing a knock in the first game but hes made every squad.

I do have reservations about how Eustace will try to get the best out of any flair players. He has a reputation as a pragmatic manager and as I mentioned, his quotes about just trying to stay in the game for 60 minutes were pretty telling. We naturally were more defensive last season with a limited squad and being in a scrap, but Birmingham fans also had reservations about him pushing on due to his negative style of football. The 3 potential players who can hopefully give us something a bit different are Cantwell, Cozier Duberry and JRC. Cantwell still clearly isnt fit but I did find it counterproductive that he played him wide on Tuesday, we need to build the team around him. Cozier Duberry has been left only really with cameos but he at least can run with the ball and he also played a few nice passes inside. JRC has really fallen out of favour having been turned into a utility man but he feels like a waste of a good player that the manager doesnt know what to do with. The likes of Hedges and Dolan seem to be favourites but while they will try their best, we have seen over a long period how limited they are. The defensive side also is not as solid as I would like. We conceded 2 at Norwich, 2 today which could have been more and 3 on Tuesday which again could easily have been more. 2 of our 3 clean sheets came against 10 men and we dont look defensively strong.

Football fans react positively to good results and badly to negative ones. Who would have thought.

Exactly. If either does stay then I think they still have to prove their worth and it would likely be as squad players. Players like that wont take us anywhere if we have a slither of ambition.

I expect him to start v Swansea as he seems to be a favourite of Eustace. Even on Tuesday, Cantwell was stuck wide to build the team around him. Ideally he and Hedges will leave at the end of the season and we will make considerable upgrades across those attacking areas. That being said, we will only have Cantwell contracted into next season so I expect they will stay and again feature regularly with a small budget only allowing us to bring in more squad players.

I also have big concerns about him. Technically really poor and I wonder if he will even get up to 8/9 goals which even Gallagher got to in most seasons here. Just looks like a lump.

Eustace mentioned post match that the game plan basically was to rely on the subs to change the game. I found that a bit alarming, we shouldnt just be going to away games to teams like Plymouth without much intention to attack initially, and we played like a side trying to cling on and hope to be in the game towards the end. Our away form is very poor this season and I am not convinced that our fans spending good money following us across the country are likely to see too many wins without a change of tact.

Ohashi would probably come back in up top. Cozier Duberry would come in on the right wing, Cantwell for Dolan, JRC at RB, Beck at left back. Dunno who would play left wing, maybe give Sigurdsson a go. Probably Hyam and Carter CB, Tronstad and maybe Travis or if not then Baker. I want to see Toth in goal but Pears did well today in fairness. Regarding your service point, I think 2 things. Firstly, its not a case of a striker being solely reliant on service, obviously there is a big element of that but also you dont seem to consider that an attackers movement and anticipation mean that natural goalscorers almost create their own chances. Take Szmodics last season, we had a poor team that created little but he knew how to make clever runs, sniff out chances and ended up top scorer in a poor side. But obviously better service and more attacking gives them a better chance. You have regularly defended Dolan and Hedges but they have repeatedly shown that they arent very effective in the final third. I am certainly not convinced on Gueye though. He is technically very poor and clumsy and he clearly isnt a natural goalscorer. He had a good opening in the first 30 seconds that he wasted. He does have some potentially useful attributes but the more I see him the more concerned I am. He initially benefitted from the fact that our strikers were so poor last season that it felt like anyone was an improvement but that alone wont be enough to sustain high opinion of him.

Does anyone forsee big changes ahead of the next game? I think the front 4 should all be replaced, as well as new full backs. But I would predict maybe one or two changes.