Afraid it isn't. After next season I believe. Edit: confirmed https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46405156

Mars is a lot better at football than we are, tbf. (See, I'm at it again) Edit: and to be clear, I mean that whether it's Mars the planet, Mars the Roman God of War, or Mars bars.

The remark last week, I forget what specifically it was about, but where he said something like 'those who are less knowledgeable about the game will say that' ...was really patronising, and arrogant. Tony knows a lot less about the game than Tony thinks Tony knows, or we wouldn't be where we are.

It will be another opportunity squandered. In that regard, Venkys and our shooting have a lot in common.

I know, but I'm pedantic and will take any opportunity for a cheap joke. Obviously.

Would it matter what colour the drone was?

It made you laugh, but it gave me a brain tumour.

1 win, 3 draws, 7 defeats. The next game likely to make that 8 defeats. Anybody else at any other club would be out on their arse. TM to get a contract extension.

Commentator: Hopefully it will be better on Saturday. Yes. I'm sure that away to the best side in the league will go better for us.

Yep that's precisely what we do. There's just no incisive movement, barely any movement at all, in that last third. And it has been obvious for the whole season, the promising start aside. There has been a blueprint for beating us since what, November? Every team has it. And Tony has done fuck all to adjust.

12 shots. ONE on target. Pathetic. From 73 percent possession no less. And I can't even remember that one on target.

When will Tony learn that we do worse when we control possession? Probably never.

He played fairly well overall in the last 3 games in CM. So I know, now he is finally settling in his actual position, LETS SHOVE HIM IN A POSITION HE ISNT SUITED FOR! Mowbray 101. Absolutely fucking had it with him.

Oh jesus christ, where is he playing Buckley? Looks like one of the front 3. I just cant be doing with this anymore

Worryingly, the more reassuring answer would be that he just couldn't be arsed...

Did they record a finger banging? Asking for a friend...

Commentator just said it would have been criminal if we conceded because of Kaminski's blunder just then, in 'a game like this', ie one where we have controlled most of the possession. No mate, it would just be like every other week.

In normal times I'd suggest a divorce. But she may have a point.

Proper nostalgic 90s kit this keeper has on.

Armstrong doesnt offer a goal threat in some games either, the ones where he smashes it against defenders all match. I think you judge players too directly on assists and goals. Dolan put it on a plate for BB the other game early doors with a brilliant bit of work, they pulled BB down and we should have had a penalty and played the rest of the match against 10 men. Dolan didn't score or assist in those two games, but the latter isn't always his fault. He makes things happen and is well worth a place in the first team.

Playing right into the hands of a counter attacking side by having no real 'spoilers' in the middle. No, Johnson doesnt count. For a man who usually spends too much time worrying about the opposition, and has been talking about their counter attacking threat, I'm a bit surprised by that. Also not sure why we are taking the risk with our only other major asset and goal threat now Dack is paggered, just to try win a dead rubber.

Wow, that post is going to be absolute message board gold in time. In fact, now - he's already clearly better than L1.

Yeh he was decent against Brentford. Somewhere between the last game and the one before that in terms of level. He is in good form over these last 3 games, long may it continue. It's nice to finally feel I can be a bit excited about the lad and his future here.

Are you suggesting there is no link between the amount of possession we have and the results? Because the data, and last season's data too, suggests there is, but that it's an inverse relationship. I get what you're saying that at the end of the day what matters is what we do in the opposition's box and what we let them do in ours, and ultimately that's largely true and there have been numerous individual errors, I don't know if any more than a normal season though. But possession does matter, because it ties into what happens in both boxes. But it isn't the quantity of possession that counts, like TM seems convinced of, but the quality, and that's where our inability to pick up points when we have most of the possession comes in. We look crap in the final third as you say, because of how we are more focused on keeping the ball than going for the throat quickly. We have some quick players, and that's more of an advantage when there is a lot of space to run into. We should focus more on countering quickly, and sometimes you need to take risks to do that, but instead we slow play down until the opposition have tons of bodies in the box. Then, space is at a premium, and we ineffectively tap it round the box waiting for the opponents to make a mistake, opening a gap. We also fail to really move inside the box, since everybody seems to be trained to want the ball to feet, so those mistakes and gaps rarely come. The chances we do create this way are in a more congested box, and again space is at a premium. Decisions need to be made quickly, shots taken at short notice, making them a little harder to execute, more bodies in the way, tighter angles etc. If you look at even a game like Wycombe at Ewood, one where we did dominate possession with 70% and played about 35 minutes against 10 men, most of our goals came on the counter attack, as did the red card. 3 goals were counter attacks, 1 was a penalty that came from a moment of Dolan brilliance and risk-taking, and the other came from the risk of shooting from outside the box. At the other end, we ship quite a lot on the counter as we over-commit bodies forward, including fullbacks, trying to break through that wall that opponents set up for us frequently as we are so poor at breaking it down. Same principles for why it's easier to do a counter apply for trying to defend one. There's a lot more space, we can get pulled out of shape more easily, and we don't have the quickest centre halves around. I'm not suggesting that having possession means defeat, nor that having less means victory, more that these heavy possession games tend to signify games we approached the wrong way for the team we have. And of course that TM's assertion that having high possession will result in success is blatantly, and statistically demonstrably, wrong.

Did I name Dack specifically? No, but as soon as I saw the lineup, and before the game started, I highlighted the general risk of most of these lads playing 3 games in 6 days. I didn't bother going into specifically who should sit out, I was a little busy at the time, but I'd say it stands to reason that the top-end asset lad who had fairly recently recovered from an ACL and was only just looking like he could handle a full game at anything like his old level would be a prime candidate for not starting a third game in six days, if I'd had the time to go into who to rotate.