Mark Warburton has made it clear to Dominic Ball that he needs to improve to get into the team after he took to social media to explain his situation.

The 26-year-old has featured in just two league games since the end of November and he has often failed to make the matchday squad, although he was on the bench as the R's lost to Preston over the weekend.

Ball decided to take to Twitter last week to explain his absence, as he confirmed he wasn't injured and was ready to play when called upon.

However, Warburton was not impressed by that, as he told West London Sport the player is down the pecking order right now.

"I’m not a fan of players putting stuff on Twitter. They can do it if they want to do it – it’s not going to change my opinion. Right now he’s got to be better than Sam Field to play. Sam’s probably been one of our outstanding performers. It’s a harsh world.

"He’s got to be better than Stefan Johansen and Sam Field to play. Simple as that. And he’s got to be better than Luke Amos and Andre Dozzell. That’s professional football. Sometimes you have to be patient and bide your time, and that’s the case with Dom unfortunately."

The former Rangers man is out of contract in the summer.

The verdict

This is a tough one to comment on as Ball didn't say anything wrong with his tweet but he would've known that it would bring more attention on Warburton that he doesn't need right now.

Whether he should be playing is open to debate, but you could argue with the R's results that the boss should at least be giving him a chance.

That's not happening now, so all Ball can do is try to impress in training and see if any opportunities come his way in the next few weeks.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.