I agree that the attacking side of his game has diminished the longer he has been in the side.

Lowe was terrible, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing the first time I saw him play. I thought an England U-21 captain would have something about him. He had nothing apart from decent athleticism. His contributions were minimal. I never saw him have a good game.

That’s true. Lots of pacy players are.

I don’t think Newcastle would be prepared to loan him out, it wouldn’t be a question of wages. After all they hardly need the money do they ?

To be honest that was the signing I was hoping we would make in the window. We need a Travis with more ball skills. They don’t come cheap but they are out there.

Which one ? There’s been a few.

Something has to change.

Buckley’s the nearest we’ve got to that.

Players like Khadra don’t really give any thought to passing the ball, if they do pass they just “ lend you the ball”.

Every team needs a Travis but he’s need somebody near to him that he can pass the ball to that will do the business. I’d have Buckley playing next to him and Dolan up front in Buckley’s place

We could have just kept Carter. We knew Ayala would go missing, we also knew Lenihan would get more than his share of cards.

I wouldn’t want to go into the play offs in this form.

I suspect that Ayala is one of those players who has to feel he is absolutely 100% fit to play. He’s not one to turn out when he’s carrying a little niggle or a slight knock. Some of those players you mentioned would play on one leg if they had too. Moran and Hendrey were the same.

Khadra hasn’t got a pass in him. He’s just a runner with very little end product. I’d rather have Dolan in the team personally. Van Hecke I’d have back, Khadra - not for me.

Not been a good day all round has it ?

Me too, the bloke was a genius with the ball at his feet.

Yes, the sort of player I’d have hated to play against, strong, fast, determined. He’d give you nothing.

Out for the rest of the season.

I’d swap Wharton with Van Hecke.

I think he’s more suited to centre half than Nyambe. If they managed to get Carroll jumping with Nyambe there’s only going to be one winner. In fact Carroll won’t have to jump.

Yep, sending Carter out on loan was a really smart move. I’d say he would have been on the bench tonight.

How do you get injured in the warm up ?

He pulled up in the last game.

Given the circumstances of us playing away against a team that are likely to be on the attack I’d persist with the 3 centre halves system for another game at least. Especially with Carroll playing. We should be able to play our normal game tonight. I’d play Kaminski Van Hecke, Ayala, Wharton Nyambe, Travis, Rothwell, Giles Buckley Dolan, Brererton.

Is everything as it should be behind the scenes ?