With difficulty! That's sort of my point. He's had three seasons where he's managed to play enough to be properly judged. One, with everything in his favour, he looked brilliant. Two, with everything going against him, he looked well short. What we can say is that he has obvious shortcomings with his game (mobility, accident prone on the ball. Although he can pick a pass when he gets it right). But as a Championship centre back, there are lots of players who you could put in that bracket who do perfectly well in the right set up. Because of injuries and him having a slightly weird career with the managers he's played under, we still don't know if Wharton would thrive in a more ordinary system, and we don't know how Ismael is going to get us playing next year. I wouldn't be quick to write him off, that's all I'm saying.

He did, but it caught up with him eventually. Largely because I think he basically has the same strengths/weaknesses as Wharton. I should say too that I'm not suggesting that Wharton's the better player, or that I don't rate Hyam. But I'm saying first that we shouldn't be too harsh in judging Wharton, because the vast majority of his appearances have either been i) in easy street in a back three where he looked great, or ii) where he looked very shaky in a system almost custom designed to leave him exposed. We've basically never seen him in a 'normal' set up for more than a few games here and there. Let's wait and see what Ismael wants. If he wants mobile defenders then his lack of pace will be a serious issue. But then again it's only really Carter who would get away with us layer a high line at present.

That short spell was the longest time he's spent in the side, isn't it? You're right than playing in a back three made his job easier, but then again there's probably not a manager in world football that would make his job harder than JDT. Zero protection from the midfield, playing on the half way line, being judged for your work with the ball as much as defending. If we're saying his good spell under Mowbray has caveats, then his struggles under JDT should have at least as much, if not bigger ones.

I'd put them both in a pretty similar bracket to be honest, in that they're both massively impacted by our style of play. They lack pace (this will likely be a huge issue for Wharton now) and can cause us problems if we're asking them to do too much with the ball. Both though, have looked really impressive at this level when they've not been asked to do what they don't have in their kit bag. I've always liked Wharton and I think the Eustace set up this year would have got a tune out of him had he been fit. I'd definitely like to keep him and see him stay fit and get back to his best, but if Ismael wants to play a high line then he's an accident waiting to happen. As are Hyam and Batth too, in fairness.

Perhaps they did. But we'd only have evidence for this if they were picking him over other decent options. Which he wasn't, because we didn't. There definitely are. In fairness to a lot of them (maybe not Lowe!) second division footballers are usually those who can look fine if you play to their strengths, and can look almost semi-pro if you don't. We've had heaps of them at Rovers - our current Head of Football Operations being one! And it's not even as though I think Hedges is without his good points. But he's played well over 100 games now and his numbers have been just as poor in a range of systems, from playing on the counter to more possession based.

To be fair Chaddy, that would only tell us something if they were picking him over decent players. The reason why he has played so much has had far more to do with the him having no decent competition - not his fault admittedly - than him deserving the shirt through his own form. Hedges has aspects to his game which are fine. His attitude is good. He's is reasonably athletic and a decent size which is more than you can say for most of our other attackers, and that helps in and out of possession. Him being left footed can balance the team etc. But his attacking output is abysmal for an attacking player. Really poor. I don't hate the idea of keeping him as a squaddie, but there will have been players in his position with as many goal involvements in a single game last season as Hedges managed in 42. Not acceptable I'm afraid.

Not fit to lace Holtby's boots in my view!

Lad is an excellent finisher. Didn't see any other aspect of his game which was up to scratch - be it through ability or attitude. Wish him the best, but he was the obvious casualty if we had to trim the squad by 1.

Can see the logic, but I disagree. An underappreciated problem we face is that we're down three first team coaches, not just Eustace, so I'm not sure it's realistic for us to keep carrying on without standards slipping somewhere. That's before we get onto the question of whether those who remain are good enough. I think the longer we carry on, the less likely any siege mentality will compensate for not having a proper coaching set up, so whilst getting someone in by Swansea isn't essential, I wouldn't leave it until the summer either.

I think Boro would work nicely for him in fairness. It's unlikely that he'll get a prem job - fairly or not - and so he can join a club that if they can sort their form out have every chance of a top 6 finish this year. If they fall short, fans won't hold him responsible and he has a good chairman and decent squad to start again with next year. Other than a recently relegated club, it's as good as he's likely to get for me.

Absolutely. It would be a sentimental move, and you can't afford to make those for such an important role. If it we were using 'blind' CVs, Duff's wouldn't put him much beyond Boateng or Boa Morte in most fans' eyes. Great to see him doing well, but we have to be going for a manager who we think is capable of leading a Prem side in a few months.

It would be harsh on Forshaw, but I think Buckley should play. Mainly because we're likely to have about half of the 74%(!) possession that we had vs Plymouth, so younger legs are what's required for this one.

You'd basically be looking at either i) go full Nottingham Forest and buy a new team to stay in the league, or 2) pick up a few of the best young players in the Championship and bank the rest of the money to be strong in the Championship. The way that we've operated over the last 10 years or so strongly suggests the latter. I think if we were set up to be hard to beat, frustrate teams and be direct, then perhaps one or two of our players could compete with some better quality around them. I'd be interested to see how Travis & Tronstad go especially. But like most teams coming up from the play offs, as things stand there's a massive gulf in quality and we'd do well to even to lay a glove on most teams.

He did. Nice lay off, but until then he was struggling to impose himself like he often has done when he is denied space. Lots of effort on show as always. Second half was a totally different story. When he can isolate defenders Dolan looks really dangerous, just as he can do when he's playing with another forward with feet as quick as his, like Kargbo seems to have. To be clear, I'd be delighted if he were to sign an extension, as unlikely as it seems now.

I think like most Championship attackers, Dolan isn't good enough to excel if you don't play to his strengths. When he has a bit of space to play with he's very handy at this level. Without it he can be totally anonymous. Yesterday was a perfect case in point - he struggled in the first half, then looked top drawer once we scored and they started leaving a bit more space. I'm really hoping that Kargbo's pace alongside Gueye's form could be a catalyst to bring more from the rest of our attack. Dolan's an obvious one who would benefit from the extra space, but Cantwell hasn't really had anyone running in behind to aim for until now. We've seen that Ohashi has a quality finish on him but can be easy to defend against if all you're doing is hitting it long towards him. We've been lacking a decent blend for as long as I can remember, but all of a sudden it seems like we've got a nice mixture of pace, power, finishing and hold up play. A lot of that is relying on Kargbo kicking on from his promising cameos though.