I think Rodwell has done enough to deserve an 18 month contract.

Very impressive cameos from Buckley and Butterworth - they both look like they’re going to be top players. Buckley looks very good technically and his first thought is to look forward and find a pass, rather than playing a safe backwards or sideways pass. Butterworth looks like he can pick the ball up and take players on. He will be an edge of your seat kind of player. I’m sure there are ppl on here who follow the U23s far more closely than I do, but they look ready to e regulars in the first team set-up. I would be very fearful if I was Smallwood, Rodwell, and Evans. Smallwood will almost certainly be sold in the summer, he can’t even make the squad anymore. With the likes of Dack, Rothwell, Brereton, Armstrong, Chapman, Graham, and Butterworth we have some real talent in those forward positions. Very exciting to watch and it doesn’t feel as though we’re just reliant on Dack now to create some magic, we have danger all over those forward positions. It was a training session today really. Although they gave us stick when we went down, I feel for Bolton. They are a million miles from being even a half decent team and things will probably only get worse despite their new owner.

We have a good player on our hands here. It’s a mystery why he hasn’t been played more. He’s better than Armstrong.

It looks like two cbs will be signed in the summer then. I think TM has given up on trying to turn Rodwell into a CH. He had a few good games in that position but also looked very lost in other games. The “big money” will be spent on a striker I’d imagine. Dack will likely go so we’ll need an “in the hole” player too. Reed will have bigger ambitions than being at a mid table championship club. I can see one of the relegated clubs spending big on him. He won’t stay here. An interesting summer ahead.

Danny Graham will get it and deservedly so. He’s been good all season, whereas others have been in and out of form.

I can see where you are coming from but the fact we have been well clear of relegation all season and even flirted with play off places until the end of Jan represents a lot of progress in the two years he has been in charge. The Coyle team was so far off the pace, it was scary. I’m therefore very impressed with where we are now. I fully expected a relegation struggle this season as I see a lot of “tryers” in our team but not a huge amount of quality. Yes, we spent £10m in the summer and that hasn’t reaped dividends yet but there’s a lot of promise in the players that were signed: Rothwell looks like he has something, Brereton will come good, Chapman is an exciting signing, and Armstrong has shown flashes. No idea about Davenport but he came highly rated. Add that to some of the young players that TM has developed - e.g Nyambe, Raya - and the younger ones he’s bringing through, such as Travis and Buckley, there are clear signs of a plan for the future. £10m is a lot of money by our standards but not a lot by Championship standards. Look at Norwich - they have Hanley and Rhodes who can’t get a kick for them. It shows the gulf in quality at the top and bottom at the moment. He deserves criticism for the past couple of months as it hasn’t been good enough. His performance in the jan transfer market was generally poor, as I mentioned before. The Jan activity has meant that we’ve had no defensive cover for the injuries we’ve picked up and no fresh new energy. Dack has gone off the boil recently and he’s the magic that wins us games more often than not. Without him we have no quality going forward. That has to be addressed in the summer.

TM has done an incredible job this season. It’s a poor squad and he’s got the best out of it for the majority of the season. The players are being found out now hence the poor results lately. I can understand the frustration but there’s no way he should lose his job. He made some big mistakes in January - not buying anyone who could come straight into the first 11 and allowing Downing to leave. That’s coming back to bite us now.

We’re absolutely sinking and the wheels have well and truly come off. Thankfully the number of games are running out and we’ll be just about safe from the bottom three.

Probably already been posted but Nicko is reporting that TM wants five new players in the summer. He’s saying we want a GK, RB, CH, CM, and striker.

That should be the case but, in reality, it's often the team that has more to play for that will show more fight and determination. As the summer holidays approach, players have one eye on not picking up injuries etc as they don't want their summer holidays to be confined to rehab rather than sunning themselves in Barbados! If a team has more to play for and has superior players, that's when it can get very tricky.

I can't see anything other than a comfortable Villa win here. They're going for the play-offs and were in mid-table and nothing to play for, so they'll be more fired up that us. Add our defensive weakness into the mix and them having the best striker in the league, it could be a tricky afternoon. 4-1 Villa.

You’d have to think that Dack would have to be sold to fund a summer re-building job, especially given the losses we’ve made in our most recent accounts and the punishments dished out for not meeting the new profit and loss rules. As much as I don’t want to see Dack leave, he will surely be pushing for a premiere league move. He’s the right age and had an amazing season. If he stays and doesn’t perform so well for us next year or gets an injury, his chance may not come around again. I agree with a lot of the posts about players who should be part of a summer clearout. However, I would keep some of the “tryers” - e.g. Smallwood and Conway - around the fringes of the squad next season. There will be certain games and certain times in the season where we will need players who will scrap and fight. You can tell from TM’s recent interviews that he’s getting frustrated with the lack of quality in the squad at the moment. You can do all the work on the training ground and motivate the players, but if they’re not good enough to head and kick the ball away or play a killer pass, then it’s time to look for players who can. That’s the stage TM is at in his thinking. I don’t think you can blame the squad this season for a lack of effort or desire (apart from a tiny number of games perhaps).

The second half performance was very impressive. The main reason for that: winning the ball back quickly in midfield and getting the ball to Dack who started dictating play. Wigan were absolutely shocking so I'm not getting overly excited with the 3-0 scoreline; they gifted us all three goals. Rothwell was good again when he came on. An array of attacking talent in Rothwell, Armstrong, Dack, Chapman, and Brereton should reap dividends in the future. Very exciting talents with lots of pace, skill, and trickery. All traits we have been missing for many years. I wasn't convinced with our defensive display. A better team would have punished us with the attacking positions they found themselves in. But that's to be expected with a patched up defence (even our first choice defence isn't that good). Tyler did well, he looks like he has lots of potential. He looks like he's got pace, good powers of recovery, and decent on the ball. He needs to be a bit stronger and more commanding as he lost out on a few headers, but did very well overall.

A summer re-shuffle is required after many of the players have now shown they struggle to compete at this level. I can understand why TM wanted to give this group f players a chance to prove themselves, but they've now had their time and it's time to re-shape the squad. We need a couple of proper centre halves who just head, kick, block everything that comes their way. That's what we're missing. Why on earth he let Downing go I will never know. A new LB is certainly required too at that's where other teams target us at the moment. We lack a lot of firepower and rely too heavily on Dack and Graham. I believe that Chapman, Armstrong, Rothwell and Brereton will become very good players for this club but we need more established players as well. Travis as well will be a top player, and already is to a certain extent. Davenport will hopefully be a step up too. Plus, we have some talented youngsters in the youth team (Buckley etc) so the future is bright. However, we need some more leaders for the here and now. Dack has been off form the second half of the season and that has meant we've had very little creativity aside from lumping balls into Graham. A couple of proper centre halves and a left + some more creative players and I think we'll be a very good team. We're actually not that far off being a good team.

TM pretty much confirming in his press conference that we won’t be signing anyone today as the players he likes are too expensive. He spoke of beefing up the scouting department to try and pick up some gems in Europe in the summer.

The LT article more or less confirms we are interested in Austin and BA, but their wage demands are way too high. This side is all about team spirit and togetherness so I can see why TM doesn't want to upset that balance by bringing in a player who earns significantly more. Austin could potentially happen on loan if the Saints pay a significant proportion of his wages. But that would only be a short term fix. Could BA be persuaded if he has a hefty goal scoring bonus and the promise of a significant rise in salary if we go up? Gallagher would be decent but a little underwhelming compared to the two mentioned above.

Interesting, looks like we are going all out to bag a top striker. Austin would be incredible but I’d prefer BA simply because that’s likely to be a permanent deal.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Pulis is happy to get rid of BA. I would, however, be surprised if we are willing to spend 10m on a player, but then again I was shocked we spent 7m on a player in the summer. The purse string seem to get loosened at the end of the window by Venkys so you never know. I think it's inevitable that Dack will leave in the summer so it may be a case of spending the money now if BA has been, unexpectedly, made available in the last few days. The big stumbling block would be the wages as I don't think TM would be willing to upset the dressing room by paying one player way more than everyone else. There is probably something in this other than just being a rumour but I still can't see it coming to fruition.

I would be very surprised if BA comes to us, but I would see it a strong a big statement of intent. One of the best strikers in this league if used correctly.

Best performance of the season. We controlled the game from start to finish and always looked threatening going forward. They never really threatened our goal and any attack they did have was quickly snuffed out. Excellent all round,

I wouldn’t be too bothered if we didn’t sign anyone in Jan. I’d rather we gave the younger players a chance who could potentially become first team regulars, rather than buying an average squad player who is never going to develop into anything more than that. We spent our Jan transfer budget last summer, so I don’t think we’ll make any cash signings. It would have to be a loan with a view, as TM has said. Chapman will end up here at some point.

I agree with TM that I’d only go and sign someone if they’re actually better than what we’ve got. If not, I’d rather see the young players given a chance. We’re in a comfortable league position so we don’t need to take a gambles on signings.

I thought we did quite well last night in what was a patched up side. The defence struggled but I think that's understandable when you are missing four defenders and your right back is playing centre half. The grit and determination within the squad is outstanding. We lack a lot of quality but we often make up for that in passion and energy. We saw that again last night. When that energy drains, we collapse and our lack of quality is exposed - hence why we concede so many late goals. Positives - What a player Lewis Travis is! One of the best players on the pitch again despite not being as good as he has been in previous games. Graham was outstanding too. Nice to see Armstrong score another. I'm not sure he particularly wanted or expected to score with that shot (it looked like he tried to hit it straight at the keeper to me and he looked gutted when it squirmed under the keeper into the net). Negatives - Smallwood and Bell showed again that they are the real weak links in the side. Brereton also looked woeful again, unfortunately. I think he will come good as he's only very young but he looks well off it at the moment.

Excellent win, shocking game. I’ll take that though as it’s all about the points. Rodwell, Lenihan, and Travis were outstanding. Armstrong changed the game when he came on. Amari Bell needs to be replaced very soon, he’s an absolutely abysmal player,

Hmm not convinced by that line up. Rodwell gets expose too easily as a defender.