The Coventry handball should not have mattered as much as it did. We left ourselves vulnerable to chance and injustice, just like the Huddersfield reserves the season we went down. If we had just turned up for one of those hiding, had a marginally better conversion rate, turned up before he last 10 mins vs a fragile Stoke, heck even just managed the Preston game better then the Coventry injustice would not have mattered. If we had got the basics right in recruitment, even just submitting paperwork in on time, it would not have mattered. Sure its a fine margin but we left ourselves totally and needlessly exposed to that.

The delight in TM failing isn't because of the job he has done at Sunderland which has been pretty impressive. You do feel Neil backed the wrong horse going to Stoke No the dislike is due to Him constantly lowering expectations and taking down about our club, his insulting the fan base, his ignoring big elements of the squad, its his arbitrary reset of the project 3 years in, the idiocy of playing players out of position thinking he's a managerial genius when its plainly stupid, it's playing Walton a whole season and questioning if Raya is a PL goalkeeper, it's encouraging our backroom staff to go to other clubs, it's based on 4 years without playoffs, it's the death spirals, the never taking responsibility. Apart from that I struggle to see why supporters may dislike him.

Delighted that the only manager - and there's been some right duffers and dodgy ones - to say Rovers fans expect 95 hasn't gone up.

Given none of the clubs in the playoffs had parachute payments, and given Rovers and Millwall almost did it also sans payments I don't think that this is the case.

In isolation one of the most entertaining games I've witnessed and cracking entertainment. However I do feel its a sticky plaster over some big wounds. For starters even before considering the wider context of the season no team will succeed giving 2 suicidal goals away. They were terrible terrible goals and don't speak well of the players manager. The Dutch disease is in full swing whilst it reinforced that the weaker keeper is starting. As did the Wharton starting and JRC in midfield leave you feeling why didn't this happen sooner? Brereton shows what he can do when he puts in effort. Shame he couldn't be bothered for the previous half dozen. The biggest thing it showed for me is that due to the neglect of the squad a lot of players are being asked to do roles that are beyond them. Travis useful squad player and does a role, but midfield enforcer and guy to grab the game by the scruff of the neck - definitely not. Pickering OK at full back but really isn't first choice material. Not that this aspect is on JDT, Rome wasn't built in a day, he was left with a hovel to start from and got no support in January. Still there are positives. The academy continues to churn out an array of talent. that should geberate income and allow well spent resources to be spent on good signings allowing us to mount a promotion push without parachute payments. And the team showed there is some fight and ability meaning we can look up instead of downwards. There's lots of work still to be done and everyone including JDT should learn from this season. However if we were this close with all the issues we have, if we can improve on some of these playoffs should be doable.

Well it's eventful...

Agree with the first 2. Which is enough in and of itself to ask the manager what's he thinking. why do we keep on playing substandard ez boro keepers when they drop to third choice at our rivals? Not sure this team has 3 goals in 3 games in it much less in a half Said to my wife today that results would go our way and we would mess it up

We're an elephant away from a circus . Two of the worst goals I've ever seen

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65498068 Lamport getting his excuses in. Although whichever way he cuts it and no matter what excuses he makes ifs still an abysmal run. When you do markedly worse than your predecessor excuses ring rather hollow imo.

The third sentence clearly isn't a fact, especially when you consider his general composure in front of goal. Equally that both teams equalised is also a fact. So I don't think facts support that it was the right decision. Bare in mind too that they can only score - lucky or otherwise - if they are near our goal! Our third of the pitch. So if they hadn't been sitting so deep inviting pressure they'd have struggled to get lucky.

The reason the relationship hit rock bottom was Tuchel wouldn't let the owner and a bunch of friends into the dressing room at half time! That's just sheer lunacy on the part of the owner driving out a very good manager for the sake of his ego. That's a massive criticism and idiocy by the owner who deserves everything he's getting for such incompetence. That can't be held against Tuchel at all.

Excellent post. One of my main worries. Clearly something JDT has inherited but equally something he hasn't tackled. Perhaps unfair to sort in one season, given its deep rooted nature, but how long should he have? Had hoped for improvements in this area but in fairness it's a big ask to change a culture in a year. If it's not tackled over the summer and a marked improvement seen by the halfway point of next season I'd be worried he can't change it or hasn't seen the danger.

A far from ideal result for us. Not that you can rely upon other teams doing it for us. Tell you what this season shows though - can't compete because of finances is bull. Sure top 2 were parachute payments but look at the make up of the playoffs. At least 1 probably 2 plus who have smaller budgets than us. Y

Agree. Very surprised Bournmouth will be staying up. Had them and Leeds as going down with Southampton. As we near the business end of the season I'm feeling that my predictions are as accurate as a Hedges shot. It's a tough call. Leicester have a softness i've not seen in a long time, despite some very talented players. Everton are toothless up front and have a horrific run in. Leeds were for a while playing well and still losing, which is a very worrying sign. (For them that is, I mean I rather like it.) They've picked up some points but had heavy losses of late. Forest fluctuate from showing the quality of their expenditure to looking like a disjointed thrown together mess, both of which seem true. Never sure which one will turn up. Blimey you can make a case for any of them. Will be fascinating to see who goes down. Incidentally I think Palace were wrong to get rid of Viera when they did. They'd had a tough run of games and had some winnable ones coming up when they sacked him. I feel they'd have done similar to how they have done with or without the managerial change. Other end of the table City must be sleeping well knowing big clubs like manure and spuds can't mount a challenge. (spurs aren't that big, but you get the point )

Another factor to add in is previous form to this season. Prior to then Pears looked very weak whereas Kaminski has looked solid if not particularly special. As Bereton has shown us anyone can have a decent run of games but form is temporary and all that...

Positives: Luton aren't that great and with playoffs secured whether they rest players or not you feel they won't be at full throttle. Other than a midtable team with nothing to play for you can't get a better ask for a game. Well maybe a relegated team, but even so, it's the kind of game you want at this stage of the season. I also wonder if it not being in our hands will help our mentally fragile team. Pressures off with it being out of our control. Negatives We are toothless. Bereton can't be arsed, Dolan and Hedges industrious but limited. It'll be hard to get the goals we need to win games. The horrible run we are on combined with even fewer options available from our very limited selection leaves us struggling. I've no idea what team to play. Bereton deserves dropping for phoning it in yet no one else is fot and can play striker. Maybe Leonard up top with Dolan and Hedges on the wings. Far, far from ideal but feel the other options are no better. Best hope is a tight game that we nab 1-0.

It's a shame there's so few games left or Lampard didn't come in a few games earlier because on current form they would get dragged into it. As it is there's too many points gap and too few games for it to go from funny to hilarious as they get embroiled in a relegation battle.

Is it no goals and no wins for Lampard now? I get 2 games were against Real but even so it's pretty poor going. He's making Potter look good there and not even a modicum of new manager bounce. Refs still want Liverpool to get into Europe. City are strolling to the title. Good win for Forest as it's really hotting up in the relegation battle. A much needed win.

For me there's a number of people to blame for this year likely falling short. TM leaving us a bunch of grafters with no end product. Dolan up top only works Vs nervy defences, prefer him on the wing. Lad has energy but less end product. Hedges can do some really good stuff, till it gets to the box. Gally too falls into the grafter over clinical if you have to put him somewhere. Teams need graft but they need end product. Nothing wrong with having one of these players in your team, teams need energy and graft. A couple or all three and it unbalances it and leaves you with very little goal threat. Likewise at CB. Carter and Wharton have made some errors but I do wonder what would have happened if we had a seasoned centre back who played over half the games. In Ayala we've been paying good money for very little leaving us overly reliant on young players coming through. Then there's Bereton - don't know whether it's TM, Broughton or Venkys but not selling him and watching him coast has cost us a decent transfer fee and meant we've had a player at half his effectiveness. Last season part of the reason Bereton got so many goals was he worked his socks off. Without that he's not got enough talent to influence games. Then there's Broughton. Any fool could have seen we needed strikers and goals. We get none. Vale and Hirst clearly weren't good enough and yet no effort is made whatsoever to get in a decent striker. Words fail me on this one. It's the biggest negligence for years even in our club. Even when we did make an effort, of kind, with the Forest lad, we still criminally arse it up. What's galling about this is that even with his negligence on the striker front, even just a seasoned quality pro in midfield could have massively been the difference. Not hard to imagine with him in cm we would have held on in at least one of the Preston or Coventry games. Every little hinders seem to be our motto. My other big worry is how mentally fragile we are. A hangover from TM days, because we are a young team, something else I'm not too sure. But it is a very worrying trend. The quarter final loss has knocked all stuffing out of the team. The fact we took forever to get a point from going behind. There's a fragility about us which I find really concerning. As for JDT I fluctuate. On one hand with what he was dealt, the squad he was left with and Broughton messing about, you can only praise him. I do however have big reservations about how we have sat back on leads at times, his use of Morton, and the daft passing it round the back needlessly. All are worrying signs. Not sure why I'm more reflective on the season than the game - probably because I don't want to think about another, and unfortunste, loss to that lot. An undeserved loss and painful seeing them do well. Strangely I've far less time for this iteration of the Dongles than the lot under Dyche that we played. A win or even a draw would have been a consolation to a disappointing end to the season. Think playoffs are gone now as too many teams need to mess up. But stranger things have happened so I'll keep hoping.

It's one of many muck ups this season but undoubtedly one of the biggest. There's been a fair few others mind but the negligence regarding the squad, especially up front, has to be one of the biggest contributors And yet despite all this we still have a chance that isn't reliant on other teams.

It's still in our hands. Can't ask for more then that.

We are really fortunate that despite slip up after slip up that we are still in with a decent shout. Last 2 games are ok ones to have. Millwall are feeling the strain and in poor form - albeit with a lot to play for so not ideal - whilst Luton will definitely have an eye on the playoffs making it very winnable. What's keeping me going is how many teams are flopping just as much as us, and may well carry us through.

Overall a good set of results for us. Millwall losing is massive as it could have taken two good results to catch up with them had they won. Feel like their small squad is feeling the strain now. Norwich blew any chance of getting in the mix. Only negative result Coventry but we were in a better position starting this round of fixtures than them, so it's not the worst thing in the world, if not ideal. We couldn't rely on every result going our way.

Nice to see there are some bigger bottlers than us. Not a fan of Arteta and City always winning puts paid to the idea the Prem isn't skewed to favour the big clubs. Entertaining game mind.

Surely there's still the requirement for this sort of keeper to y'know catch the ball or stop a shot on the odd occasion? Given Steele can do neither I'm a tad surprised he's in. Mind you his kicking was pretty poor as I recall too. Remember number of goal kicks/clearances going out for throw ins.