Agree, I wouldn't especially mind Johnson there if we're playing at home or against a team we should dominate - if we're playing three at the back then you need someone there who can play a bit as well as defend. I worry about Steven Fletcher though. With some pace around him too it's definitely a tougher prospect than it was against Peterborough.

As much as he let everyone down vs Fulham, I liked what I saw in Van Hecke until that point, so I'd have him there in front of Johnson. Other than that, that's the team I'd go for with Khadra to come on from the bench.

A player who was inexplicably considered an absolute worldbeater on Championship Manager 01-02 is I remember correctly!

Going off what Mowbray's said in the press about our and the their agents valuations being apart, I'd guess that's the main issue for at least one or two. I'd guess for the likes of Brereton (and by the sounds of things, Lenihan) it may more be about career progression, but then again I suppose pay and playing at a higher level are pretty closely linked.

We have both when it suits us, but as you might have already gathered, we don't show it every week!

Can't remember who it was, but I'm sure somebody on here a while back posted that we as fans never give the ability to be consistent enough credit as a talent in its own right. Definitely applies to conversations about Rothwell.

Neither did I, but I had a quick scan on their forum and they're really struggling in midfield. They have Vrancic and Sawyers, so they have decent quality there, but you wouldn't describe either of them as ball winners. After that it seems as though they have literally nobody. Didn't realise how unpopular Joe Allen is over there, but there are plenty saying that he'll be missed just as someone to fill a shirt. Having said all that they were still bang unlucky not to get something from Bristol City away, so they've obviously still got the players to be dangerous, but if I were Rothwell I'd be licking my lips at this game.

Agree completely that other issues will also be a part of the equation. Having said that I would be absolutely astonished if either of those players leave because they think they've been treated poorly at Rovers. Both start the overwhelming majority of games, and have done for ages. Granted it took Rothwell a bit of time to get to that point, but it would be very strange if he didn't sign a contract for a lack of game time two years ago. Similarly with Nyambe, over the last four years or so the only games that he missed when fit were a handful when Bennett played there a couple of seasons back, and a handful where JRC started when we wanted a more attacking right back. There might be other things behind the scenes of course - but I really don't think either have been treated especially badly.

Yes, I think it's really difficult to say the manger/club should be doing this or that on Player X without knowing more about the player's demands. Maybe Rothwell always planned on doing at Rovers what he did at Oxford and moving on a bosman for better terms? Maybe he'll still end up signing back on? The fact that this has happened to so many players over the last year or two means that it's fair to say the club are doing a poor job of protecting our assets, but it's hard to be more specific than that on individual cases, and to be fair to the club we've got evidence all around us that FFP is regrettably something that we need to be very conscious of.

Ordinarily I'd see an away point here as a very good one, but it seems as though it's a very good time to play the Potters with their absentees. Big opportunity of our midfield three of Travis, Rothwell and Buckley to dominate the game with their lack of a proper holding midfielder. Powell missing is a bonus too. Going for an optimistic 1-3 Rovers.

Went to Sheffield United in the Prem and barely played. Hard to tell if that's his fault or theirs. At Forest this season on loan but I haven't really noticed his form to be honest.

I guess yesterday he could've been in the Buckley position, but I agree that we're asking him to play a different role than the one he previously thrived in. I'm fairly relaxed about him for this season, purely because I think we'll mainly be relying upon him for a goal off the bench to begin with. Beyond that (assuming he can get himself fit and firing) it'll be a bigger question.

Agree that there's not an obvious hole that needs filling. Any decent form from Dack will be a huge bonus though, one which we can't really rely upon. That said, with Poveda's injury I'd say we're arguably an attacking option short, and seeing as we were looking for one on deadline day I'd hope that's a position we're looking at in January.

Given the kicking that he got for his performance vs Bristol, good to see Nyambe looking much better today. I didn't really get the sense that any of the chances we conceded were down to the defence, rather we lost the ball further up the pitch and they broke on us a bit too easily.

I think we were more than slightly fortunate to keep a clean sheet, but we spanked them 4-0 in second gear so it'd be churlish to dwell too much on that. Wharton, Pickering, Lenihan and Rothwell all excellent. Kick on against Stoke at the weekend and we could finish the day in level third!

Will be interesting to see if Pickering looks more dangerous as a wing back than he has done so far with four at the back.

Feel for him too. Hasn't always really taken his chance when in the team, but he was good at Sheffield United.

Me too - and I'd be amazed if be doesn't. Ideally I'd like to see him alongside Davenport, who I still think we could see plenty from if he gets a decent run.

We've been here before, like you say, but we should be looking at those home fixtures (with Hull away included) and really be licking our lips. A real opportunity to plant ourselves in the top six and put some distance between us and the rest of the chasing pack. Whether we will actually manage this however...

Some pretty undiplomatic language from Appleton at the end of that game as I recall! Without naming names, basically said that a handful of players weren't bothered and had downed tools. I'm not arguing that he would've been a success (that Millwall quarter final is still etched in my memory!) but an interesting bit of alternative history over our recent past would've been to see what Appleton could've done with the opportunity to rebuild that Bowyer was ultimately given.

I'll give you that - I wasn't especially looking to have a go at Duffy as the player he is now, but in his first prem season he still struck me as an excellent ball winner, but one who was clumsy on the ball and lacked a bit of game awareness like he was here. I think Brighton's system as it was then did a good job of making the most of his strengths whilst not exposing his weaknesses too much, and I can see Lenihan doing okay at that level in a similar system.

I can see him doing okay (wouldn't put it any stronger than that) at a team like the Dingles, who defend pretty deep and make sure their full backs and midfield are protecting the centre halves pretty much at all times. I think if Duffy (admittedly a different type of defender) can succeed when he played in that sort of system under Hughton, Lenihan could cope too. Thing is though there aren't many teams who play in that sort of style in the prem at present, and those that do still tend to have better defenders than Lenihan on their books. As much as he's vital to Rovers, I really can't see him getting a chance at that level.

Curious to know what your expectations are this year in terms of beating the drop? Sounds like a couple of pretty good performances in the last handful of games, and a point away at Chelsea which showed the signs of a team ready to beat the drop. At the same time, still in the bottom three, smallish squad, vultures circling over a couple of key players and you'd expect a couple of the teams down there with you to improve over the season (Newcastle at least will spend a few quid). My money would be on Dyche just seeing you over the line, but not as confident as I would've been in previous years.

I think we have to take things like size of fee/importance of player into account when judging his transfer record. Nobody was bothered with Sparky signing the Berners, Vogels and Rigters of this world because because when we needed to spend the budget on a new striker, he always delivered in spades. This actually makes it a tricky task to judge Mowbray's record. There are some players who were brought as (relatively) low cost loans, but need to be judged as pretty important failures because they filled important roles and didn't cut the mustard (e.g. Walton, Douglas). Others have eventually paid dividends, but only in time and there's an argument that the eventual Brilliant success of Ayala and Brereton has come 12 months too late for a promotion push. So even looking at Brereton as an investment which has paid off, it's not as simple as just saying that he's been a great signing because of the time that we've needed to wait for him to get to that level. At the same time, trying to take everything together, I really don't think that Mowbray's transfer record is something to hold against him. Quite the opposite actually. There are the obvious examples of Dack, Armstrong, Kaminski et al, but there are plenty of others that you'd have as successes given either how much we paid, or what we needed at a certain point in time. Whilst we wouldn't take any of them now, the likes of Smallwood, P. Downing, Samuel, Nuttall, Payne & Antonsson all played significant roles in getting us up first time and were signed for buttons. More recently, there have been others who were low-risk signings who improved us whilst admittedly not doing it consistently enough to be classed as a Dack/Armstrong level success (e.g. Holtby, Rothwell, 1st. season S. Downing). A handful of these low-risk signings haven't worked out, for whatever reason, but the success of Dolan should eventually make up for a dozen Sam Harts. Ultimately, I think the case against Mowbray as manager begins and ends with his ability to get the most out of the players available to him. The squad we had last year was, according to plenty on here (myself included) was good enough to finish in the top 6 - so the issue for me isn't really recruitment, even if it's that is bit of a complex picture. The squad was also made up of plenty of young players & academy graduates, so neither is the issue that Mowbray doesn't trust youth as others have suggested elsewhere. For me it just boils down to not getting the results that we should get consistently enough, most else is just noise.

All those double sessions he put in with Martin Boyle paying dividends.