Red Bull are a marketing powerhouse and have been very successful implementing their business strategy. I watched a really good mini doco on this recently: https://youtu.be/cBRNQMolTPw Owning a football club directly ties into Red Bull’s marketing strategy and so they’ve really made a success of it. I don’t really know what Venky’s aims are. It seems like it was just an ego trip for Balaji to own a football club. Initially maybe it was seen as a marketing vehicle for their fast food business, but that’s obviously been a catastrophic failure and they went about it the wrong way. Red Bull have bought football clubs to build on an already strong brand and product, whereas Venky’s did it to help market an unknown product. That’s the big difference.

Appreciate you doing the analysis but those graphs are pretty misleading. You’ve got the bars for Wharton set to intervals of 10, while Lenihan is 20, and Tosin and Goode are 25. It makes it look like Wharton is far better in the stats than he actually is.

Where has all the speculation about Nyambe come from? Only 2 months ago he was talking about how he wants to one day play in the PL, but he wants to do it with Rovers. I think it’s unlikely he is leaving, and it’s unlikely any of our key players will leave this summer. Armstrong’s best form has been under Mowbray, so he would be stupid to want a move right now. Dack is going nowhere after his injury.

LB and GK are the 2 priorities in my view. GK obviously since we’ll have none after Walton and Leutwiler leave. We have to bring in someone better than Walton was this season. Too many cheap goals given away due to bad keeping. I think one of the things that hurt us the most this season (besides Dack’s injury) were the long term injuries to Cunningham and then Bell. Relying on Bennett and then JRC at LB cost us points this season and was definitely our weak spot. I really like the look of JRC, but he needs to be playing in midfield not at LB. I see Williams and Wharton as solid backup options at CB, but I definitely think we need a better quality defender to partner Lenihan. Tosin was a fantastic signing and I don’t know if we’ll manage to find someone else of his quality again. Given our budget will likely be limited, I think we need to persist with the attacking and midfield options we have. Chapman, Brereton, Gallagher, Holtby and Rothwell can all be potent in this league but they need to find consistency. Between them, Dack and Armstrong we should be able to produce more than enough goals to reach the playoffs next season. Despite my frustrations with Mowbray this season, he deserves one more season. If he can’t at least get us into the playoffs next season then I would agree with most here that we may need to look for options elsewhere.

I hate this 3 striker formation that Mowbray persists with. Maybe if the strikers were any good it would be okay but as it stands we consistently play with 2 wide strikers that are ineffective. Can’t score, can’t create, can’t defend. Feels like we’re playing with 9 men every week. What’s the point of having 3 strikers if your creative force in the middle consists of ... Travis and Johnson.

Finish 'em.

Get in!!! Another beauty. Justice after some outrageous refereeing.

That was a beauty from Evans!!

We are looking good so far. Two yellows for Bristol already. Liking the Brero/JRC combination on the left.

Mine's finally loaded up... if anyone is still having issues try restarting your browser and/or refreshing a few times. I had to do it a few times before it finally loaded...

Next season's transfer window will speak volumes about the owners' intentions. Despite what some people on here think of TM, he was successful in getting us back to the Championship at the first time of asking, and has been close to the playoff spots in the last 2 seasons. Our squad is not really good enough for promotion. The fact that Mowbray has managed to keep us in the fight for a playoff spot is testament to not just his hard work, but the work of all our backroom staff and players themselves. If we are serious about getting promoted, this backroom team and this crop of young players need to be supported by significant investment, and we need to bring in some real quality players next season to go for a promotion push.

I agree, he has done well since Cunningham's injury. I think we need a better first choice, but we also need someone for competition and we won't find someone better. Bell already knows the club and how we play.

I switched off the game after Bennett brought their man down for the 3rd. Absolutely shocking performance on so many levels. The centreback partnership of Nyambe and Tosin looked in complete disarray. Bennett was awful and full of mistakes, summed up by the penalty he gave away. Brereton put in a disgusting performance - his “attempts” at winning headers in the second half followed by a cheap dive has made me lose all faith in him. Not to mention his shocking misses in the first half. I’ve never seen a lazier performance in my life. Armstrong was largely anonymous all game. Downing and Rothwell were the only 2 who made any real effort to make something happen, but struggled with poor passing. Bell and Walton the only 2 players who came away with any credit last night. Mowbray entirely to blame for the result. He gambled on an attacking lineup and essentially gave free roles to Rothwell, Downing, Brereton, Gallagher and Armstrong. The shape of the team was in complete disarray as a result. It seemed to work early on with us disorienting Derby and getting into spaces to have good chances, but after those chances weren’t put away we got seriously punished and never recovered. I don’t know if I can fault him for taking the gamble because we didn’t have that much to lose, but it didn’t pay off and he has to take the blame. Can’t wait for Lenihan to be back next week.

Overrun in midfield. Mowbray clearly gambled here with his match plan and that gamble hasn't paid off. Brereton, Gallagher, Rothwell - all useless. Travis is on his own in midfield, with the rest just running around like headless chickens around him. Can't fault Walton - made some good saves, but is not being helped by the team.

Am I watching a football match or a Benny Hill episode?

Doesn't bode well. We missed too many early chances and now conceded one. We've gone really attacking and if we don't start putting chances away, we're going to get punished again.

It looks like all our midfielders and forwards have essentially been given a free role ..

Good start so far, but finishing needs to be better. Looks like a 4-3-3 to me with Brereton and Gallagher playing on either side of Armstrong. Really going for it today clearly!

How did Brereton not score that...

What's wrong with Rothwell starting?

Is this the day we finally see a Brero goal? Feeling more confident about this one than Swansea and Stoke for some reason. I think they'll not be 100% both mentally and physically after a heavy loss to United in the FA Cup in mid-week. Their best player (Tom Lawrence) may miss out as well. Going for a 2-1 win for us.

Actually if you look at the teams in the top 10, all of them have goals spread out among the team, with the exception of 1 or 2 clubs. So we're not exactly special in that regard, although obviously it's a good thing that the goals are shared around the team. I think where our problem lies is the fact that Gallagher is our 3rd highest goalscorer this season despite not exactly pulling up trees. Our 2nd highest goalscorer (Dack) is injured until December, and our other highest goal contributors are our oldest players (Downing, Bennett, Graham). So that doesn't bode well for next season. It also means that our main goal contributions are coming from players that are either past it, long-term injured or in inconsistent form. That to me highlights the inconsistencies of this season and why we are on the verge of a playoff spot but probably won't get it in the end. Other than Armstrong, no one has really consistently performed in terms of goal contribution. Defensively, if we had a back 5 next season of Cunningham, Lenihan, Tosin, Nyambe & Walton I would be more than happy. Unlikely to happen unfortunately - due to Cunningham's injury & Walton/Tosin being too costly - but that back 5 would be good enough to get promoted. Next season a major revamp is required in both attack and defence, and our existing players like Gallagher and Rothwell really need to step up their game and contribute. I'm not confident we can challenge for promotion until I see how we go with recruitment.

The referee has absolutely ruined the game IMO. That along with all the Swansea playacting. No idea why Mowbray brought Graham on instead of Rothwell. Replacing our most creative player with an ageing striker who has done nothing in months is just dimwitted. Brereton, Gallagher and Nyambe the only bright spots in this game.

Think this might end up 3-2. There's definitely more goals in the game with both sides having poor back fours. Ayew looks well up for it today. Hoilett helping us in the Brentford game, score 2-2 there now at half time. Could use the help of another former player in the Bristol game now as well!

1-1. Bennett asleep for that one.