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Not top priority maybe but I feel we could do with another wide option. Bobby looks more useful playing centrally and should probably be first choice there with Ramsey out, Silko Thomas I'm really not convinced is up to it, Cifuentes doesn't appear to have a great deal of faith in either Monga or Evans at present. Thinking of Boro having Gannon-Doak last season or Ipswich getting Sarmiento in January 24 - got to be some Premier League youngsters/squad players looking for minutes, surely?

Incomprehensible that he was omitted for as long as he was but better late than never I suppose

Shame that after having seen our opponents basically declare at 3-0 and almost see it backfire last week we've ended up doing the same. We look so unconvincing when we try to sit on leads and "control" games

Please don't just sit off now

Always rated him

My bold prediction is that England definitely won't beat Brazil in the group

Jordan Ayew goal direct from a corner to send us Crashing Out

Why would he be? Anyone who would have him down as one of our worst forwards over the last 30 years needs a good long think

His performances and application earn him the benefit of the doubt and I'm inclined to think those quotes are born of sincere belief and determination rather than flippancy and complacency, but yeah, not massively reassured by our supposed Premier League quality and "the leaders in the group" at this point. He is at least one of the players you sense can be relied upon to back up this sort of talk on the pitch.

I've seen a few shouts for Tony Mowbray, can anyone enlighten me as to why exactly? Took over at West Brom with them sixth, sacked with less points per game than Cifuentes has with us. A friend of mine supports them and some of the criticisms were pretty similar to ours at the moment - nice guy but no discernible structure or plan with team and players looking lost, couldn't really manage games and weird team selections like playing Grady Diangana deep in midfield. If the hope is that he'll come in and give everyone a kick up the arse because he's a good old-fashioned proper British gaffer then that hope might be misplaced because the consensus also seemed to be that he was a bit of a soft touch and their discipline collapsed after he took over. I get that if we do end up looking for a new manager the shortlist is likely going to make for uninspiring reading but I really can't see the appeal. Is it just that Pearson isn't coming back but we still want a 62-year-old former Boro player who's recently been really ill?

Aiyawatt is surely too busy leading the "football operations revamp" that is definitely actually happening

As far as I can tell, lowest since 12/13 when we were 17th but that was after only three games. Last time we were this low a fair way into the season would have been 10/11 when Sousa was sacked with us bottom after nine games and then another poor run had us 17th in December.

Hopefully consecutive defeats to teams who sacked underperforming managers and then mysteriously started climbing the table will nudge him over the edge but I'm not convinced it will

We're so back

I'll be interested in this as like you I really enjoyed the Warlord books and couldn't decide whether to then start The Last Kingdom or Sharpe, not got round to either yet. In trying to find out a bit more about the latter series I did see some people recommending doing them in chronological order rather than release, which would mean starting with Tiger - Eagle was his first novel I think and Tiger came out 16 years later, so maybe that time spent honing his craft makes it a more engaging read and entrance point to the series.

For the last game of the season, yes. Not a lot of gardening going on for the previous 45 though I don't think

This time last year they were 23rd with 14 points but had just started that good run, up to 10th in January. Maintaining their current points per game would see them finishing on 67 compared to 56 last season, when 67 points would have placed you a point outside the playoffs in 7th.

I've got no complaints about either booking really. This idea that the ref - who I accept is a helmet - is obliged to coddle and gently talk Aluko through the game, rather than give him yellow cards for yellow card offences, because he's young and it's his first start is mad.

He's crap. It's alright saying Top and Rudkin need to go first, the squad needs an overhaul first - Top and Rudkin aren't going anywhere (best case the latter sees his power slightly diluted but realistically he's still going to be heavily involved). If the squad does get overhauled it's a) going to take quite a lot longer than sacking Cifuentes would and b) going to be carried out by Top, Rudkin, and people chosen by Top and Rudkin. It's basically "there's no point sacking him until this very unlikely sequence of events happens" so is he just here until his contract expires irrespective of performances and results? At that point I'm guessing we give him a new deal because you never know, the next appointment could be worse, be careful what you wish for, etc. A lot of our problems are not his responsibility but this does not mean he has no responsibility for anything the team does. It looks like the manager is bad at his job and the fact other people are also bad at theirs doesn't really cancel that out in my book.

Takes some doing to look particularly shit when you're in a back four with Choudhury, Vestergaard and Skipp but Faes is managing it and then some

We'll have no choice but to play the kids when all our 18+ players are busy fighting back the Russians

I reckon if you slap someone and manage to avoid getting sent off you can probably consider yourself quite fortunate

"Squirrel" and "Craig" for me

I want us to do what's best for us and for the development of our players, not what's best for Newport and Christian Fuchs

Good result obviously but a difficult watch for the most part, particularly the second half. Whether deliberate or not we made things much harder than they needed to be by completely ceding the initiative, and not for the first time. This can't really continue to be the way we see out games, I don't think. Very pleased for the goalscorers, both of whom badly needed something to go their way. Some hit from Mavididi on his weaker foot and Daka took his well - should have had another but his work rate was excellent throughout. Pleasantly surprised by Begovic and Skipp. Full backs on the other hand were rank, James again not quite the same force at no.10 which is no surprise at all, Fatawu pretty anonymous for much of the game but did ultimately come up with the goods despite playing in a team that almost looks deliberately designed to make him suffer and break his spirit. Two hugely underwhelming sides in Boro and Stoke are 2nd and 3rd, and we're three points off the latter despite having won 3 of our last 12 games and being largely crap all season. This division is wretched which I think will make our eventual failure to get promoted from it all the more dispiriting.