Admiral Nelsen

Generally I think Malan gets a bit too much of a hard time, but I think we could rue him not really cashing in after eating up so many balls. Massive powerplay coming up

Runs on the board, but I'd say advantage NZ with them batting second in these conditions.

This isn't in any way meant to be a dig at Jones - loved him as a player at Rovers and really want his next move to work out, but I never got the sense he was really emotionally connected enough for him to want to make this sort of 'homecoming' move at this stage. I'm sure Rovers was/is his team, but not in the same way that we are for the likes of Dunn, Wharton, Derbyshire etc. I suppose beggars/choosers when it comes to his injury record, but even if he doesn't get a prem move, I can see a good level European club coming in and being able to offer more in wages than we could.

Not sure if it has already been mentioned, but Aberdeen's Head of Recruitment (or equivalent) is Mowbray's younger brother. A quick scan on their message board a couple of weeks ago and it seems commonly accepted that he'll be here at some point, either in January or later on a free. Seems very likely that there's truth in it.

Having seen it back, what did you make of them getting in behind the defence on our left as much as they seemed to? I moved seats to the Jack Walker, so couldn't really be sure whether it was Edun's fault or whether he needed more help from Khadra. I think Khadra is the one attacking player who could justifiably be replaced against Bristol City to be honest. A bit harsh maybe, given his goal and strong second half performance, but I thought his game awareness & respect for possession was really poor until his equaliser. Different sort of player, but I was far more impressed with Poveda. Your assessment is pretty much in line with how I saw it - best game I've seen in I don't know how long but it's not sustainable to concede as many chances as we did.

Didn't get to see the Hudds game, so I can't comment on that, but I don't remember any other time this season when his winger has really had the beating of him. There have been unimpressive moments here and there, but obviously a big improvement on what we've had (admittedly not that hard). Agree that he doesn't have much interest in taking players on, but that isn't such a big issue if his delivery is good enough when he gets space, and there are promising signs on that front. My main point though is that whilst he's only been fairly solid so far, I expect him to get a lot better given his age and where he has played so far, so ideally I'd want him and Edun both getting time on the pitch. Far, far too soon to be saying that he's a poor buy at this stage in my view.

I think there's a chance that in a few years he could really excel in that position, dictating games. Agree that he's not at that point yet though.

Earlyish days, but I agree that he looks to have real potential. Being harsh for a second I thought he faded badly against Coventry, losing the ball in bad positions in the second half and maybe showing a bit of naivety and lack of discipline as a defender, but that aside I think he's looked very promising wherever he's played. Long term I like the idea of having Pickering at left back and Edun in midfield. I think whilst Pickering hasn't been the marauding attacking full back that maybe a few of us expected, he's still been pretty effective in attack & defence and should only improve given his age.

Whilst that is clearly a step too far, there's no escaping the fact that Gally's stats have been great this year, especially when you factor in that he's missed a reasonable amount of game time through injuries. I thought too that whoscored might not take things like chances missed into consideration, but to be fair it seems as though he's been very clinical this year (Derby aside!) with a goal for every 2.1 shots. To put in perspective, that's a lot better than Mitrovic & Brereton. Don't get me wrong, we're still very much in 'not value for money' territory when you factor in previous seasons, but at the same time he's showing that he can be a real asset in this league if he plays in the right system. He definitely doesn't warrant being put in the same bracket of the Grabbis/Davies/Peacocks of this world who delivered absolutely nothing for their big fees.

Calf problem, apparently. Sounds like he'll be out until after the international break.

That too, yes, but then again I don't think Rovers are different to most clubs these days in asking full backs to do as much attacking as they do defending. It's just a very physically demanding position and I suspect that Nyambe would've picked up his fair share of muscle injuries for 90% of teams at this level.

No Gallagher on Wednesday by the sounds of it. He's had his critics even this season but that's a massive loss to go along with our defensive absentees. Looks like we won't have too many other options to make any changes from: TK Buckley Lenihan Van Hecke Edun Travis Johnson Rothwell Khadra Dolan Brereton Johnson having only just returned will probably mean decent minutes for Davenport at some point before the international break too.

Perhaps if he goes to a top-flight club where he he only plays once a week. If he moves to another Championship club I'd expect the same issues to follow him sadly, his body doesn't seem to be able to take 3 games a week over a sustained period without occasionally breaking down.

Deceptively tricky game - they've been going very well for a club in crisis and the mood will be lifted with the positive signs on their takeover. Seems like they've been tricky to score against with Davies and Jagielka at the back, but in Dolan, Rothwell, Brereton and to an extent Gallagher, we've got the players who can cause problems for aging legs. Strikes me as a little strange that Nyambe is rated as touch and go for this one. All the talk last week that it was either 1) cramp or 2) a hamstring strain, which unless it was a very mild one would have kept him out of this one. Hopefully it's just Tony keeping his cards close to his chest.

Cocu would be a massive no from me. He seemed even more dogmatic on sticking to a style of play which wasn't working than Mowbray was last year. Rooney wouldn't be my first choice by any means, but his next job (assuming he'll be leaving Derby at some point in the next year or so, maybe much sooner) will be interesting. He still has the massive name behind him, and I think the general view is that he's done a pretty decent job under very, very difficult circumstances, but at the same time I can't see a premierleague club (or a well-resourced Championship team) being too fussed about him. His wages might be dictated by the clubs that want him, and a club in our position might well be the best he can hope for.

Agree - fitness of Dolan/Gally depending. I think the only case for not starting Butterworth if we're missing at least 2 out of Brereton, Gally and Dolan could be ongoing concerns about his fitness, but if he can't even manage 60 minutes by now then that's a really bad sign.

Have a bad feeling that you're right. Coventry are my bogey side. My first game watching the Rovers was against Cov in 1996 (7?) when we lost 2-1 after Sherwood scored in the opening minute. Probably still the earliest goal I've seen live some twenty odd years later. Since then, despite us having beaten every decent-sized club in the land several times over, I don't think I've ever seen us beat them in the flesh. Missed the odd victory when we played them in the league, then there were those God awful games in the cup under Sparky. Hopefully we put the Ghost to rest on Saturday! But with their start & our lack of options up front, I'm going 1-1.

After the Chapman fiasco I still wonder, but quite a lot from the local press in recent weeks suggests that one exists. Like you say, a massive relief that at least we shouldn't lose him on a free after the time and money invested.

We're not the only side with a couple of potential fitness issues tonight. Apparently their key man Lewis O'Brien is a doubt, alongside fellow midfielder Jonathan Hogg.

Good to hear. I know it's local and we're on decent form, but with Blackpool at the weekend I could've seen the turnout being a bit low.

Never saw him play for the youth team, but bar his first one or two of sub-appearances where he looked like a lost little boy, I agree that his talent has been pretty obvious in flashes. I think players of his type tend to develop slightly later than wingers or ball-winners like Travis who rely more on physicality. A bit of an extreme example, but I mentioned on here a few months ago that Paul Scholes was well into his twenties before really becoming the player we all remember him being, and I can see patience with Buckley being rewarded in a similar way. I guess something which maybe didn't help his progression was that he hasn't really had much of a run of starts until this season. Almost always in the squad, but only usually getting the odd start/sub appearance here and there. Given where we find ourselves his season, I think we should see it as an opportunity to start him as often as possible and hopefully going into next year we'll have a player on our hands who is more likely to really impose himself on games, rather than show his talent in flashes like he has so far.

I'd add that I never got the sense that any more than a small minority of fans were really writing Buckley off. A pretty big number questioned his physicality and consistency (not that unreasonably!), but at the same time most seemed to acknowledge that there was some obvious ability there too. The disagreement tended to be more about whether he'd be able to reach his potential whilst eradicating the weaker parts of his game, which you'd have to say is still a fair debate even if his progression so far is promising. I guess there have been one or two comments likening him to Jason Lowe which look a bit silly now, but on the whole I think he's been treated pretty fairly on here.

An old boss of mine is a big Cov fan - I remember bumping into him in the L1 season and being a bit perplexed by him saying something like "I hope you enjoy being top by Christmas and not winning another game all season". Makes a lot more sense now! My view is that he was obviously very lucky to keep his job after last season, but his record was still in the black until that point, even with our form being worryingly streaky at times. A good couple of months doesn't mean he's anywhere near deserving a new contract, but I'm happy to see it as him getting back some of the credit in the bank that he lost last year. If we're still up there in February, then maybe the conversation changes.

Marks the start of a big month for the Dingles. Four league games, three of which are against Norwich, Southampton and Brentford. They haven't been cut adrift so far, but if they don't get start picking up points now then they soon will be.

Excellent from Buckley.