We played better with Dolan out there. For me, JDT has got to be brave now and bench Morton for A. Wharton and bench Brereton-Diaz for Dolan.

The detractors are going to hate to hear this, but the downturn in form coincided with Morton coming back into the team to replace the injured Buckley. For all his faults, Buckley is able to play on the half turn - I don't think I've ever seen Morton turn his marker. A. Wharton came on for the last 20 minutes and caused them all sorts of problems 'cos he's willing to pass, move and turn on the ball. JDT and Reijnierse have already determined that Travis can't play on the half turn - that's why whenever we're playing it out from the back now they have Travis either alongside Szmodics (running into space), or switch him with JRC. Sadly you can't hide both of your non-ball playing CMs.

You'd be in profit if you had £1 for every time Messi gave the ball away too.

Well that's the playoffs gone I'm afraid. As I said when the January transfer window closed, our inability to sign a striker would be the death of us. Once again a good Championship striker scores a couple today at least - I can't fault Gallagher's effort, but his instincts, first touch and finishing are diabolical at this level. As for their goals, they're just the symptom of playing two slow FBs - done for pace on the counter and clinically finished. Hopefully Brittain retains his place at RB now and they try JRC elsewhere. Sadly there's no replacement for Pickering on the bench.

Interesting - that would never fly under a Wenger or Bielsa.

I just don't think we have enough firepower. Losing against Birmingham was the kicker for me - that was our chance to put a big gap between us and the chasing pack. I can only see a disappointing loss today against a fired up (and more talented) Norwich.

I've just rewatched his highlights from the Hull, Stoke and Blackpool games. He really must be sandbagging it in training because he's light years better than everyone else!

Notts Forest are properly in the mire. I'd love it if they went down.

I mean there's no conspiracy theory - JDT is an ambitious manager, he's not freezing out A. Wharton because he thinks he's a prick. Dack, JRC, Carter etc etc have all earned playing time after starting on the fringes of the squad - there's clearly some truth to the rumours that he simply doesn't apply himself in training.

LOL you literally couldn't make a video that long for Morton's entire season.

Give over, it's not a physical game anymore. If he's good enough those 'animals' wouldn't be able to get near him - which they couldn't at Blackpool.

It doesn't work that way. Much like Conte he has a style of play and a system - you know that before you hire him. You can't just throw players at him and expect him to make it work.

Morton has been an ok loan - I'd have no complaints if he was sat on the bench bolstering the squad behind Travis, Buckley, Garrett and A. Wharton. Unfortunately he seemed to be undroppable for much of the season. Thomas has been a very good loan - he provides pace, physicality, excellent delivery and width to the team. I've no idea how many official assists he has, he's been a big contributor in his short time here.

People are acting like every other team has a Vinny Jones patrolling the midfield. The game is soft as fuck these days - there's no excuse to shirk a tackle. Nobody is going in with a leg breaker.

You say he's better than Garrett, but only one of those has taken a game by the scruff of the neck this season and it wasn't the Liverpool loanee.

There's loads in Lancashire too. I play football on a Tues / Weds night in Wigan - half of them are Utd fans, half are Liverpool fans. You have to drive past about 6 clubs to get to either of their home grounds. Never understood that mentality.

Genuinely two teams I could not give less of a fuck about.

They don't, they have one top PL club and a team that's made up the numbers since about 1995.

I imagine he's a phenomenal trainer. As silly as that sounds, the reason Man Utd didn't sign Tevez after his loan was because he half-arsed it in training - Ferguson (THE best manager I've ever seen) had standards and didn't drop them for anyone.

Even if he was our player we'd be complaining that he hasn't kicked on at all this year despite playing the majority of games. He's still soft in the tackle, he still lets players run by him from deep, he still would much rather play the ball back to the CB who's just given it to him than be brave and turn on it. I've no issue with the loan - at the time we had Buckley, Travis, (technically) Edun then two kids. He should always have been third choice, but Buckley and Travis have both taken time to get used to the system / get over injury / suspensions / indifferent form (but both HAVE kicked on under JDT).

I've rarely disliked a player as much as I dislike Morton. You have to go back to the days of Murphy or Andrews to find a player that elicits such a reaction from me. He's so ineffectual, but judging by his interviews "it's not the Champions League, but I need it" he's a legend in his own lunchtime and that just annoys me.

Sure, apart from the 5 weeks without a manager in place...

It's a bad, bad loss - albeit a disappointing performance, rather than a poor one. It would have given us some breathing room going into a tough final month. We've handed that advantage back now to the chasing pack, which is why it's so disappointing. Can't afford to slip up again.

He's an excellent signing, he's just currently been supplanted by a player in the form of his life.

The forward line is the weakest area of the pitch. If we had a proper #9 we'd be pushing for automatic promotion (albeit I still think we'd fall short as it's not a great squad). Dolan / Hedges / Thomas / Brereton-Diaz in the wide areas is fine, but there's very few match winners there that the opposition is scared of.