Never saw him as a natural header of the ball until this season, but he has really stood out as a threat in the air this time around. Brilliant goals against Millwall & PNE, the one for Chile too. Sure there are others I'm forgetting too. Agree about Travis too, his goals when they come around tend to be well taken, so that's definitely a sign that we need to get him in those positions more often.

I think we can worry about saying proper goodbyes to players once we finally have nothing left to play for. Being hard-headed about it, he can have no complaints about being dropped after his performance with the ball vs Stoke, where for me he was the worst culprit of the lot for hiding and taking the easy option. The total opposite of how we played yesterday. I'd have had him on the bench over Zeefuik to be fair, but Poveda I can definitely understand as an option who can call upon if we needed a goal. I think if a player has made it clear that he's going at the end of the year (even if most of the blame for that can be put at the clubs' door) there's no need to treat Nyambe any differently to a loan player who we also know will be gone in a few games.

That was the impression I had before yesterday to be honest, just made the comments on their forum all the more surprising to me.

I don't watch him enough to really comment, but I had a brief look at their message board after the game and he's been getting absolute pelters. Quite a few of their players are to be fair, so maybe there's not too much you can read into that.

The talk about him being played out of position is massively over done in my view - it's a factor to be sure, but his touch and his lack of a proper goal scorer's instinct to be in the right place are much bigger ones for me. They'll prevent him from ever being near a top-flight standard player. That said, he was very good yesterday, and shows that he can still be a real handful at this level, despite his deficiencies. I even like the attitude that he's shown in recent home games when the rest of the team went into their shells, and whilst Brereton was the more impressive of the two yesterday, his all round play looked a million miles ahead of Archer and Riis (admittedly in a strong team performance). If we were to go back a few summers ago I think we all would still spend the £5million very differently, but I'm willing to see him as a useful player in the squad now. He just doesn't have the quality to be the main man, so we can't be relying on him as that next year if Ben goes.

I thought he looked okay to me, a big advantage over Dolan (who I like, and need to remind myself how young he still is) is that he has the physicality to keep the ball more easily.

Bilic would be a very decent statement of intent. I think so much of success at this level can be right-place at the right-time, so I'm pretty open minded about who we end up getting assuming Mowbray's on his way. Hughton's record was stellar until he was a disaster at Forest, and there are loads of other cases of managers doing well with one club and stinking the place out at another. I wouldn't be against a left-field choice like Wagner or Farke were at the time, but I suspect that requires a bit more imagination than we presently have in the Ewood boardroom.

I'm glad you mentioned Gallagher. He showed when Brereton was out that he can't be relied upon to be the main man up front if/when Ben goes, but his work on and off the ball yesterday was top class and deserved his goal. Agree too about parking the inquest until the end of the season, although it's really hard to watch the performance yesterday and think what if. Putting aside the poor performances, the number of games when we were either unlucky or shot ourselves in the foot from either a winning position or when we had gilt edged chances to win is extraordinary. Coventry x2, Luton (h), Sheff U (a), Swansea (a), Bristol City (h), Peterborough (a). Three points taken from twenty-one, when even just a handful more would've comfortably seen us still in the top 6. Still, after yesterday I'm happy at least that the fat lady isn't singing just yet. If QPR get anything this Friday then I might start believing again.

We need to replace Mowbray as a priority because of repeated spells of poor form on the pitch, but there isn't anything like enough evidence to be making statements like that. Kean's agenda was as clear as day well before he eventually left, with plenty of evidence to back it up. You simply can't say the same about Mowbray, even though he's been here for more than five years.

Personally I think it's at least 90% certain that Brereton is gone. It may be for a lot less than we would like, as you say, but like Armstrong, if he won't sign a new deal we may just have to just make the best of the interest that we have. Getting near to replacing his goals will have to be the main concern. Gally, who has some good points to his game, won't be able to get nearly enough without bringing in at least two out and out wingers who would suit him if we played him as a number 9. Hopefully whatever money we get for Brereton can fund a move for a reliable goalscorer, but I say that in more hope than expectation. Pretty much agree with your assessments elsewhere. We'll obviously need a new right back, although after Nyambe's performance against Stoke I'm more convinced than ever that he is replaceable (albeit I'd be very happy if he signed a new contract). If we play four at the back then maybe just one new CB is needed alongside Wharton, with Carter/Ayala/Phillips as the back ups. I'm hoping that another season's improvement in Buckley and Dack with a full pre-season will soften the blow of losing Rothwell, but we'll still need more creativity from the midfield too. I'm not sure how many new faces we'll need in the end, but I'd say that at least three or four will need to be starting XI players from the start, so that in itself makes it a big summer for us.

I find that really surprising. His pace and power, and arguably his 1-on-1 defending are prem level. Other aspects of his game? I know the 'how important is it for fullbacks to be able to attack' debate has been done to death on here, but any prem team looking at his performance vs Stoke can't be thinking that he has what it takes to contribute going forward. Time and time again the ball went to our right and the attack died with him. Dreadful team performance to consider, but he looked a mile away from a top-half Championship defender, never mind a top-flight one.

All the more incredible considering they've made the call in a panic about potentially lost future revenue. Is that pretty much equal to their record transfer fee?

To be fair, another way of phrasing that exact same point is that his change of system brought about a positive change in form which led to promotion. We finished up getting close to 100 points after that terrible start, and we've seen countless examples of big clubs struggling in that league recently, so I don't think there's any harm in giving him the credit for that one. Doesn't stop him from needing to go after this season's capitulation though.

I know many will agree with you, so I'm not saying you're wrong to bring it up, but personally I don't get why his body language/interviews etc. riles people so much. He's had a pretty miserable demeanour since day one here as far as I see it, and plenty of that coincided with the team doing well. I don't agree that his signings were mostly bad either. I think there are enough success stories to say that he can spot a player. I agree though that it's hard to concisely summarise all the different aspects of his time in charge. If I was to try, the thing that it really boils down to is your point about the major drops in form. I think if these were just a little less predictable/less severe, you could even now make a perfectly good case for him being worth a new contract (not least because we'd still be in the play off mix). But sadly they're not, and it almost makes all other aspects of his performance irrelevant because it means that we'll always have that ceiling of what we can achieve under him.

Can't argue with that. Speaking for myself, I would have been happy with us parting ways last season, but knowing how straightforward finishing in the top 6 should've been from our position in January, I was happy to eat my share of humble pie at the time. I expected there to be a sticky patch, possibly even a very bad one, but I never in a month of sundays thought it would cost us a play off spot from where we were. The really perplexing thing is how to explain where these death spirals come from. It doesn't seem at all as though Mowbray flogs his players into the ground, or that the injury situation at his various clubs tends to be that bad after Christmas. I use various types of data in my work, and one thing you always need to be careful of is wrongfully claiming that that one thing actually causes a certain outcome, when in reality it might just be a chance association, coincidence or a number of other things. Having said all that, the way that Mowbray has these spells so frequently, over multiple seasons across multiple clubs and playing squads, strongly suggests that he is at the root of it all, even if it's not obvious from the outside what it is about his management which results in these spells. It's such a shame, because even now I would like to remember his spell in charge fondly because I genuinely think there are plenty of aspects to him as a manager which are/were positive. The L1 season is obvious, but generally his recruitment record is better than most, with a couple of diamonds in there, admittedly along with one or two howlers too. Unlike almost all of our post-Sam managers, he has had the imagination to actually implement a coherent style of play which wasn't just throwing out XI players on the pitch, as was the case under Coyle, Bowyer and others. We might easily end up with somebody worse than Mowbray if we replace him in the summer, but we simply can't carry on with a manager who almost every year oversees a dramatic and sustained loss of form in the second half of the season.

Like you I can't see this happening at all, for a number of reasons. That said, the wedge that he was on at Turf Moor is neither here nor there now, as none of the clubs that he's likely to get in the near future will be paying him anywhere near that. Because most top-flight teams will have their lazy preconceptions of him, he'll probably have to make do with a Championship club in England. Ridiculous really, but I can't see any Prem club going for him until (ironically) somebody gets desperate in a relegation scrap next year, and even then he's unlikely to get his chance that way. His next move will probably be to a club which isn't a million miles away from where we are in the pyramid as things stand, but one who can offer him a better chance of growing something than what is currently on offer at Ewood.

Struck me during the first half yesterday that there are lots of different ways that players can show character. Being brave on the ball when things are tough is obviously one, fronting up to physically imposing teams being another. One that doesn't get talked about as much is not trying to show how much you care by picking up stupid cards when the team is getting outplayed, which we have definitely been guilty of this season, including the first half yesterday. That stat there for the Burnley is another little bit of evidence which shows that their success has been built on a lot more than just a throw-back manager trying to bully teams. Like Sam was here, he's a manager who takes care of the minute details and demands total discipline from his players. Whoever gets him next year will have an excellent manager on their hands, especially if it's in the Championship.

I still think there's huge uncertainty to be honest. If Bournemouth get their act together and actually beat a decent number of the sides they have left to play, then I agree it would take one of the pack to win almost all of their remaining games. With Bournemouth's form and run in though, they could easily end up limping their way to 10-12 points, which would make them realistically catchable for me.

I wouldn't go quite that far, if you were to put together a compilation of Gally's best bits in a Rovers shirt we'd be surprised about the moments of genuine quality there. You're right though that it's not just a case of us not playing to his strengths. He would score more goals if he played 30 games as a number 9, but his first touch is poor too often and like others have said, he doesn't have the knack to anticipate chances. All that said, he has his moments when he makes the difference like he did midweek - a few more between now and June and he might yet be worth that £5 million we paid for him!

It'll be interesting to see how many points end up being enough to get second this season. Usually you're talking low 80s as a minimum, but I honestly can't see Bournemouth getting the 2 points a game or so they need from those games. Someone can still catch them. Very likely not Rovers, but a team from the pack putting a run together could.

Back in training apparently, could mean anything in terms of being available for selection though.

We could I suppose - I don't expect that we will though. Three at the back continues to make us very hard to score against, and Brereton was scoring plenty in this system before his injury.

Assuming we finish in the top 6 (irrespective of whether we go up via the play offs), I think that would be a really sensible option. Clearly he wouldn't deserve to get potted on this season's showing, whatever we would've thought last year. A rolling deal means that everyone has some stability and if sacking is an option further down the line, we won't be paying off a 2-3 year deal.

Hugely important game. Seven points from the Millwall game onwards is less than we would've liked, but wouldn't be disastrous. Four points on the other hand... I'd carry on with 3 at the back from the start. We'll be playing that way when Brereton returns anyway, although I would bring in Giles. Kaminski Lenihan VH Wharton JRC Travis Rothwell Giles Dolan Gally Khadra Hopefully Gallagher can bring the same energy from the start that he managed from the bench against Derby. 2-0 Rovers.

Agree completely with the highlighted bit. A really noticeable development in the last few years that interviews have almost become an extra way of judging a manager's performance. Almost as though they were politicians. Completely barmy in my view. Mowbray could come out and say that the sky is green & I wouldn't care if we were winning games.