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.

I like Downing, I think he's a solid defender. How on earth he is below Williams and Rodwell in the pecking order is beyond me. TM clearly doesn't rate him so a move away seems like a sensible option. He'll be a good signing for a lge 1 club. If this opens the door for some young players in the youth team then I can accept that. I said a while ago that we could use the final couple of months of the season as a chance to blood some youngsters and see what they can do. We probably aren't going down and we probably aren't going up either, so it's a perfect opportunity to blood them. If we are ever to return to the premier league, it is going to be built on quality youngsters coming through the youth team. We can't afford to buy our way to promotion, so it's vital we give the youngsters a chance.

Pleased to see Palmer move on, he's a very poor player. Hopefully he'll develop as a player by moving on and can have a decent career.

Thought we played very well. Travis impressed me hugely. He’s a premier league player in the making. Armstrong was a bit disappointing and Williams looked poor when he came on, but thought everyone else did well.

Apparently we’re after Kevin McDonald from Fulham according to the sun.

I would expect to go back in for some of our summer targets: Chapman, Bauer, and Gallagher. I'd certainly send Palmer back to Chelsea, terrible player.

Excellent result today after three very difficult games. We’re firmly in mid table and I would snapped your hand off at that before the season started. I very much expected us to be firmly in a relegation scrap but I think we’ll be well clear of that. TM continues to do an excellent job. There’s no doubt there are quite a few players that need to be replaced if we’re to move onto the step in our progression (e.g Bell, Smallwood, Williams etc). I also think we need to give a few of the youngsters a chance once we’re 100% safe this season. It was therefore good to see Grayson on the bench today, not to mention seeing Travis get MOTM.

4-0 would have been more of a reflective score line. We were excellent, they were abysmal. Graham and Dack the stars of the show, but Conway and Downing made a huge difference. I don’t understand why downing has been frozen out for most of the season, he’s always done well when he’s played.

Why hasn’t Downing been playing more regularly? Having a stormer. Conway playing well too.

That has to be up there as one of the worst performances during Mowbray’s reign. I can accept a drop in form as that was inevitable, but it’s unacceptable when the players clearly weren’t up for it tonight. No passion or desire whatsoever. Rodwell has shown on several occasions he’s not a defender. His positional sense is woeful. Bell and Williams are both showing they’re not quite up to it. First little bump in the road this season but we’ll be ok. Just very annoying and frustrating watching a performance like that.