I'm not going to slate this by TM. We are likely not to go down (mainly because we have such a large cushion and will scab a couple of draws to make sure) so no need to rush him back. Goodness knows how many players we have rushed back only to get reinjured, so no need to add Travis to that list. Heck Travis has already been thrown in when not fully fit this season. A bit of caution and making sure we have the best chance to have him fully for next year is more important. As for the game, two crap managers bailed out by the quality of their players. I think their manager may be worse, but their players are better. So going for a Rovers draw showing "we can compete with anyone in the division." Never will such a draw be heralded as such a heroic result. And the point will edge us comfortably towards safety.

I doubt they could score even if they were in the car in question...

In fairness TM ALWAYS says he won't hide from a result (or run away from or other such words.) Problem is he then spends the rest of the interview doing just that offering every excuse under the sun. Lousy human being imo.

Were we ever realistically in for him? If so huge miss by us. Edit my recollection was we were outbid by Villa, so some excuse there as you say. Bauer though - no way Preston should be able to get players before us.

Well given we got much worse in Walton I wouldn't put that down as a correct decision at all. How good Raya is, is another debate but even with his clangers he is miles better than Walton who had more clangers in him and less of the superb saves as well. Kaminski for Raya ignoring the Walton debacle (although it really isn't possible to do) seems a decent swap on the face of it for the fees involved. But even Kaminski has looked a bit error prone of late and less of a strong swap than earlier on in the season.

You missed out Bauer who we chased for ages and still ended up missing out on (to Preston...) despite being on a free. Have repeatedly said he was imo our biggest miss transfer wise under TM.

Personally I'm wondering what would have to happen for TM to get worried. I'll admit I've a morbid curiosity as to what might cause that as it's clearly not defeats, lack of goals or performances.

What got me about it was that it was obvious that two of the three would need replacing within a couple of years. I said it, others said it - their age made it obvious. He spent £12 million on not replacing Graham. His attempts at replacing Mulgrew were a one season loan and Ayala! One he didn't try to replace, the other he couldn't at great cost. As for Dack could perhaps argue Holtby as cover but that's hardly been a raging success either.

That's a good point. I'm not too convinced although when a few dead rubbers come up for opposition we might just do it. But to finish around where we got relegated after 3 years in the league and £15 mill plus in investment - my word, that's full circle stuff. And a terrible indictment of TM.

Worryingly the most forward thinking he has done in the last 3 years is to get next year's excuses in early... As for today - once again showing he is out of his depth when can't beat the whipping boys of this division.

Decent first half, poor second imo. Anyone decent will be very confident playing England. Yes we were missing some key players but I think that's the nature of the season - all teams will have absences. Also feel our centre backs always have an error in them which doesn't help and we aren't as ruthless as we should be. Both big obstacles to any success.

Yeah heck of a shock that one. I mean I appreciate Ireland aren't that good (although they were pretty decent when I was younger) but Luxemburg is a whole other level. Would expect a change of manager soon there as it's a devastating loss on top of some other poor results.

That is a very tough ask for them. Especially since they don't have the biggest squad. Could be what determines the relegation places. Not a fan of it but could see them targeting certain games due to the congestion.

If he does that we will get relegated. Three waste of wages right there.

Not my first choice to take over but doesn't play strikers at right back which is a start! Probably had Preston punching above their weight for a few seasons, especially given their resources. Success at Norwich too. So seems like a step up from TM in my book.

Think I agree with this. Well exciting might be pushing it given our finances but attractive. They can get players - even limited ones - who suit the system they want. Which is a big contrast to now where most players don't fit together in the same system. Of course that assumes that they have control over transfers (unlikely) and TM goes (very unlikely).

I would imagine it's quite easy for Waggott to defend TM at present. Given our perchance for arbitary and random resets, Waggott will be arguing that 1 loss in the last 5 games (roughly I think this is) pretty much all against top of the table opposition, shows how tough we are to beat. Of course this ignores the previous 6 matches and 3 seasons, but then they are quite skilled at rewriting or ignoring history. My point is that I think the recent run of draws will probably be able to be spun as a positive sign to our clueless owners.

Well once again I am baffled by our team. Nayambe clearly on his way out - if ever a game calls our for a stronger defensive rb it was this one. Evans 4 years, 8 transfer windows on and he's still on the team sheet that is sheer negligence and incompetence. Buckley - like the lad but needs a run in a settled position and team to see if any good. Up front is utter madness. Not sure of the logic with this team whatsoever. Also damning is one of this season's better players Elliott is regressing/not getting game time and Armstrong is injured for being rushed back too quickly. He can't get anything right at the moment.

Each interview gets worse with a mix of the bleeding obvious and blatant lies. We're where we are because we have lost a lot of games - well stone me, who would of thought it? If you don't win many games you are lower in the table. With such visionary insight who doesn't feel confident for the future? Wonder if Pep knows of this secret yet? Then there's the bull - we've been unlucky in so many games. That's not true. It's also logically untrue as unlucky suggests an unlikely occurance, which if it keeps happening isn't that unlikely or unlucky. And word play aside the fact is we have played badly in many of these games. And whilst we are on luck theres no mention of good fortune from Brathwaite's boot to the face, nor our volley ball attempts Vs Millwall. Because of course luck only runs one way round our parts. Honestly we are at the same level as Coyle for me. Just as little integrity if not less, and is now undoing any good work he has done previously. He has to go.

It is an accumulation - of his tactics, his team selections, his recruitment and his injury management. Very much death from a thousand cuts and he is holding the knife.

I think this is my take on it too. Well not Rotherham beating us (that could well happen if they are up for a fight) but that they don't have the ability or consistency to get near our current points total. Remember even the shambles of the other night yielded a point for us, dire though it was. We have 2 points more from this run of fixtures than feared already. Don't think that it is at all likely we will go down this season. Next season however - now that is grim. No Arms, Elliott or Dack. There's always another Walton or Ayala lurking in TMs recruitment. All in all without a change next year i would be very worried.

Aside from the very worrying approach to fitness (all those injuries are looking more and more inevitable by the day) it's his latest praise point that gets me. He's boasting of the fact we haven't lost by more than a single goal in ages. I had to do a double take on this. An achievement isn't winning, or being undefeated, but not loosing by more than a single goal. I mean talk about low standards. Am not sure they can get any lower.

Comedy gold. The unintentional self diss at the end was painful “I hear every week from other managers how good our team is, but generally that is on the back of a 1-0 defeat.” Thats the kind of quote you find in sitcoms like the office from clueless managers with no self awareness. Rather fitting really. Glad to hear we have got 90% of the game sorted and goals only consist of 10% of the game. If 90% of our efforts go on pointless possession (I don't think it's defending as we still have a few howlers in us every game) it explains why goals are so hard to come by. He's right we have an identity though - pointless possession based football that doesn't result in goals or victories. It's an identity all right - just a shame it's a crap one.

On the positive side I wasn't expecting a point. Surprised with how poor Bristol were and that we got something from it. Mind you, even with exceptionally low expectations, I'm always surprised by how how boring we can be. If Big Sam got the pitchforks out for negative football, napalm should be cracked out for this dross. Sadly I am not surprised by how frankly bizare the team selection and substitutions are, even though they continue to be mindbogglingly random.

Don't worry it's another positive result against one of the top teams. Possession stats show we dominated the game and on another night we'd have got what we deserved from it, all 3 points. We're on a decent run over the last 4 games, very few losses, we are hard to beat. We are still only about 40 games into our journey and have unbelievable luck with injuries. It's a young team that's only going to get better. Have I got the post match presser right? We are dross and next season is looking very grim indeed if TM is here. My main 2 gripes are: 1) Stop playing the hokey cokey with the team. A player starts and is dropped, no continuity whatsoever. Also some of those selected - urgh poor, poor players. 2) Stop changing their sodding positions. Buckley starts to do ok so we shift him round. Seriously do we want players to fail?