The build-up to the goal against Blackpool being a prime example, the way he let the ball pass his body in order to get it on his stronger foot could have been punished severely by stronger opponents in that position. Lovely player though, especially when he plays deeper in midfield.

We're looking pretty comfortable I think, whenever we play through their first press there are oceans of space in their midfield. We'll create more chances in the second half. Having said that, I think we'd all be fuming if we'd been robbed of that penalty. Looks stone cold to me. Only possible explanation would be that the ref thinks the Sunderland player kicked out first.

A different manager from the one who brought him in from League 1, made him a fixture in central midfield, and saw him leave for a PL club? I struggle to think of how another manager could have had a more positive impact on Rothwell's career than Mowbray did.

I remember that one very well, both teams had somehow decided they were playing a superior opponent and blindly launched the ball towards the opposing penalty area whenever they had it under control for more than 2 seconds. Still the game was somehow deadly slow. Outside of Rovers, Sweden played Turkey in their second game of the Euro 2000 group stages, and since both teams had lost their first games they would effectively be out of the tournament if they lost this one, but still stood a chance if they drew. Naturally, both teams went for the draw, and it was truly dire.

The only explanation I can come up with is that he "stole" the penalty, and Tomasson was protecting him afterwards rather than shaming him.

Hirst sauntering up to take that penalty and then missing after that round terrible performance still has me angry and annoyed, even after a night's sleep. I have no idea why we brought him in, we barely do crosses into the box as it is and he's s**i with the ball at his feet. Would be glad to never see him or Gallagher in a Rovers shirt again. Ayala and Hyam are both very good at this level though (just don't make Ayala play the ball out from the back), and Hedges was our only attacking player who looked even slightly dangerous at times, with the possible exception of Dack. It seems more and more likely that he'll move on in the January window, and I get that he probably can't press the way Tomasson wants him to, but even when the rest of the team is outplayed and lacks cohesion he's still good for creating chances and scoring goals.

Best header I've seen play for Rovers.

Not too far off! That's the one, I somehow got it into my head that he was called Webb or Webber or something like that.

Second goal is preceded by us losing four straight individual challenges, absolutely terrible.

I remember having high hopes for him, he scored for fun during a loan season in Scotland and everyone hoped he'd come back and turn into at least a squad player. As I remeber it he barely got a look in though. Scored a great goal at Old trafford as well, came in from the right and nutmegged McClair and Gary Neville before scoring past Schemichel. What was the name of that big lunk centre forward who played a whole season in the Championship for us without scoring? Think it was under Bowyer or just before.

They hadn't won anything for two years prior to JDT, but before that they won the league four times in five seasons. Due to playing in the Champions League and Europe League and some big player sales abroad they're easily the richest club in Sweden's top division, and while not winning the league with them isn't quite grounds for dismissal it's usually seen as a failure. Fans were pleased with JDT's performance, but he wasn't seen as some savior who raised them up from the gutter. I asked a hardcore Malmö fan about him: "He's fairly principled, always played a high pressing game with the aim of winning the ball back within 5 seconds after losing it. Always aimed to dominate games but trusted the attacking players to find ways forward themselves, his attacking play was never overly organized in that way. He seemed to lack a plan B during times the when the high pressing game wasn't effective, and we tended to have some trouble in the last 20 minutes or so of games when the players had rund themselves ragged. In the end it's hard to call him anything but a big success, but this was probably also a good time for him to move on."

If Farke is indeed in the frame, surely he must have been given guarantees about replacements for the various backroom people leaving with Mowbray, and indeed for some of the first teamers likely to not sign new contracts?

I struggle to remember a season with this many late heartbreaks, truly gutting. Ridiculous amount of stoppage time, but our players certainly did their part with faked injuries that just kept adding to the total amount. We would have been better off just playing out the time, Coventry looked well beaten before that last attack. Anyway, today was the day Mowbray crossed the line for me. I've defended the 5-3-2 system before, but getting it this wrong with two weeks to prepare is inexcusable. There was never going to be any goals in that starting lineup. Both Dack and BBD showed that they weren't ready for 90 minutes, but having a centre forward and an attacking throughline helped us immensely in the second half.

Buckley? One of very few players, possibly including Kaminski and van Hecke, to come out of these 45 with any kind of honor. Absolute disarray otherwise, this half converted me to the Mowbray out side. We cannot look this bad after 2 weeks of preparations.

Truly diabolical game, featuring two teams deciding to just forgo the use of midfield for 90 minutes. Hedges bottled it and disappeared, truly out of his depth away at Reading. When will he ever be of any use if he can't manage that? Useless. If someone offered me to end the season right now but with us in 7th I'd snatch their hand off, I can't take this slow-motion trainwreck any longer. While we're on hypotheticals, I'd also rather than play with 10 men instead of seeing another minute of Gallagher and his double peg leg act. Today was 90 minutes of chasing shadows, giving away free kicks, and controlling the ball as if he played in clogs. Useless!

I'm deathly afraid of Lucas Joao here, thought he was very good on loan at Rovers and has proved to be a sharp striker on this level. Some key decisions for Mowbray to face as well. If we keep the back four, which one of the three centre halves moves to the bench? The simple solution is to play Lenihan at right back, but that's a temporary solution at best and one made to sustain harmony rather than for the effectiveness of the team. Then again, apparently Nyambe won't be fit, so do we use Rankin-Costello despite some weak performances lately? Benching your captain is a big decision, a fateful throw of the dice, but it might just be for the best of the team right now. I wouldn't mind us going back to the 3-4-1-2 though, we've never stopped creating chances with it (apart from the first half on Monday) and maybe the three goals in the second half against Derby translates to that formation as well.

According to Niclas Gudmundsson it wasn't just that Shearer and Newell were mates, but that Shearer didn't like the competition from Sutton and wanted to be sole top dog. He more or less had the run of the club at that point, and got his wish.

Agreed. We ripped everything this league threw at us to shreds with the three at the back/counter attack/"false 9" tactic just a month or so back, arguably better than we ever have since being relegated from the top flight. That wasn't happenstance. Having a different way of playing in our back pocket can only be positive, but in the long run I think we're better off going our own way rather than battling it out with a back to basics approach, especially in a league where that's the tactics for the majority of the opposition.

Depends. Should Mowbray have done better than 15th with Armstrong and Elliott in the team? Probably. Then again, he was the one who brought those players in, and none of them were sure things. Keeping him was a roll of the dice, and arguably it's payed off so far. We'll see at the end of the season, but right now we're in the top 6 with 12 games to go.

Dolan did dive, it was a correct caution. Not that we'd score the penalty anyway... But Mitrovic's attempt was even more blatant, scandalous that he wasn't given a yellow when Tyrhys was.

Is that down to personal dislike? I remember a group of people on here wanting Allardyce out back in the day, not because of his results but because he was a long ball merchant and a bit of a spiv, who made his name at Bolton. Is it something like that? Because wanting Mowbray out based on his results is inane.

Vast difference on a player by player basis today, Premiership and top class Championship players against youngsters, loanees, and a few Championship specialists. A rude awakening regarding how well this team would fare against PL opposition. The 2-0 goal a prime example, Pickering has probably been able to stand on his heels and rest up for a second in those situations in the rest of the games this season, but against this opposition he gets punished swiftly. Still, their first goal was the result of two calamitous interventions from Rovers players in the same situation, and we were centimeters from scoring on two occasions. We still look toothless in attack though, with Giles about as lost as a cook in a carpeting store. I'm sure he'd be raking in the assists if he played in a team with a striker to aim his crosses at, but we don't even use one!

Those two + £10 million? Not that it'd ever happen, but I'd snap their hands off. Van Hecke will be a Dutch international one day. He's quick, reads the game well, isn't bad on the ball, and has a body consisting of nothing but sinews and muscle.

No chance he'd go for it, he's been working his way back to the PL for years and won't give it up after less than six months. Most sickening loss in years, couldn't sleep last night. Last time I felt this bad after a Rovers game might have been Sunderland in the relegation season when we threw away a 1-0 lead. Hard game to analyse, more than the fact that strength and size will take you a long way in this division. I still think the system looks effective, but since it's so tailor made for the current, very thin squad, we suffer when key components go off the boil (BBD, Rothwell, Buckley). I still think there's a Tugay-esque midfielder in Buckley if he'd play a bit deeper in midfield, he has immense passing ability but finishes like Jason Roberts.

Very winnable game this, they look vulnerable on the counter and close to panic when they're playing out from the back. Still need to keep them from scoring and for Gallagher to find his shooting boots, once again he looks like he's playing in clogs. Van Hecke is absolute warrior for such a (relatively) short defender.