Commondore

Hell of a trio for a team set up to press and counter attack, almost like playing with three Paul Dickov. Then again, while I think Sammie has proven he's the real deal, both Gallagher and Dolan need to spend less time injured (probably a lost cause in Gallagher's case) and Gallagher's sometimes atrocious controlling of the ball will always hold him back.

What matters (disregarding the shambles of out ownership and English football as a whole) is of course what he’ll be able to make the team do on the pitch, but he sounded about as charismatic and engaging as a plank of wood in that Instagram interview.

For context, Wahlstedt's cap was in a friendly against Finland in a squad that consisted solely of players from the Scandinavian leagues, comparable to the old England B squad.

We're absolute shit when chasing a result, not the first time this season we've battered a team only to get robbed at the end. To be fair, the PNE attack looked more dangerous than ours, it seems like we need at least 2-3 exceptional individual touches to get to a goal while they got by with just throwing bodies forward at the right opportunities. Markanday can't be here next season, he's currently filling up a place in the squad but beyond that I don't see it happening for him, another player that needs way too much in order to get in on goal or create a chance. Moran was our best player, A Wharton some good passes and interceptions but plays his defensive game at a very high risk. Sigurdsson uneven but shouldn't have been subbed unless he was absolutely knackered, which he did't look.

Wahlstedt is a tricky one, he LOOKS like the perfect keeper (big tall muscular yet athletic) and moves and throws himself just like keepers should, but then he still flaps at crosses or pushes shots back into the danger zone. I think both we and JDT/Broughton are praying that he can learn on the job at this stage. Bit of a sobering thought though, I watched the highlights from Luton-Liverpool, and Kaminski made several good (albeit not fantastic) saves only to hesitate at the cross that allowed Liverpool their equalizer. Maybe it's simply part of the game now, crosses come so flat, hard, and quick that keepers can't be expected to catch them like they used to 10-15 years back?

Said Sigurdsson was class after the Leicester game... Would be the perfect day now if Telalovic went on and scored as well.

It would be comparable if golfers had 10 other golfers harassing and tackling them before, during, and after they made their shots...

Fairly evenhanded for 60 minutes or so, then our players tired, Leicester expertly took the sting out of the game, and relied on Premier League class players to make the most of their opportunities, which they did. Still, even in those fairly even 60 minutes we were trading chances with them, and I don't think that would have worked out either. We desperately lacked an attacking focal point for those last 30 minutes, I'm very happy with Szmodics run of form but our high energy style will always mean that he'll fade out of games the further they go on. Would have loved a decent center forward to put in crosses towards once the pace died down. Sigurdsson and Moran looks class. Carter and Hyam shaky but not given enough protection. Wharton might be due for a rest, overshadowed by Moran yesterday. Markanday lively but looked out of his depth against the opposition. Pears is having a nightmare, needs to be benched for his own good with or without that injury.

How did Wahlstedt look?

23 year old striker from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Never heard of him before, but he's apparently made mincemeat of the lower German divisions (Regionalliga is the German fourth tier). Hope he'll come good on Championship level as well.

Dead miserable. We learned six years ago that depending on teams with nothing to play for is hopeless.

Dolan's miss from that Brereton direct pass is near unforgivable, an attacking winger/forward has to be able to fold his body and put a chance like that in the far corner barring a great save.

The relegation season under Kean when we lost after going ahead against both Liverpool and bloody Sunderland. Remember feeling a rising realization that things were going very, very wrong after those two games.

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?