We just can't afford to start Dolan and Cantwell in the starting line up. Personally neither would start for me but it's more palatable to only have one player giving the ball away so much of getting caught in possession. The back five experiment needs to be ditched in favour of an extra midfielder as Stoke ran all over us in that department and I suspect Cardiff will pack that area and only play one up front.

I don't know for certain but the dots all join up regarding the time and its removal. If my assumption is correct then someone senior entered the directors box, saw it and asked one of his Stoke counterparts to have it removed.

This flag was removed shortly before or just after kick off - about the time Waggott and Suhail would have taken their seats. I don't know for sure but an educated guess would be one of them requested its removal.

I don't like the clandestine things that go on and if WATR are helping with ideas then members should be canvassed for their opinions too and whatever is said should be made public.

Seeing Dolan and Cantwell both in the starting line-up put me on the back foot before a ball had been kicked. I knew we would be giving a lot of cheap possession over to Stoke with those two and so it proved. When we needed pit ponies we got show ponies. In fact for most of the first half I really didn't know where they were supposed to be playing as gaping holes appeared for Stoke to attack. And that really applied to most of the team. We looked unbalanced and lop sided and Stoke exploited this. For me the only player to come out of this debacle with any semblance of credit was Adam Forshaw. The disjointed look and shape (or lack of) is on the new manager. He did an interview this week bigging Dennis up and then didn't start him. When he came on he was awful too. The first half probably eclipsed the Derby first half and despite some second half pressure I just couldn't see us scoring. In fact I felt Stoke would get a second rather than us equalise. There was no creativity whatsoever and we resorted to aimless balls to nobody in particularly which were easily dealt with by Stoke. So many poor performers for Rovers tonight and on the drive home I questioned so many things and the answer to each one was usually the same. Whilst we are in the grip of these wretched Indians and their henchmen over here we are destined for season upon season of frustration and stagnation.

For any Rugby League aficionados there is an excellent three part documentary currently on Sky Sports Action called We are Wigan Warriors. It covers last season when they win four trophies and gives a great insight into how a successful sports club runs efficiently. The psychology used to motivate the players is so innovative.

Seeing grown men with inflatable snakes around their necks was one of the most bizarre things I've seen as a Rovers fan of many years. And the real villains at our club got a free pass.

You could well be right as none of us has a crystal ball to see into the future. I wasn't too excited by the appointment neither but I'm not really judging him from what he says in interviews but what I see on the pitch. I was happy enough with the Norwich game and the character we showed but yesterday was unacceptable on every level. In terms of the length of contract I was surprised by it but it says more about the erratic decision making at Rovers rather than anything about Ismael.

Norwich were better which was generally acknowledged by many. I was commenting on your notion that the players weren't playing for Ismael when we equalised late on and showed a bit of character. Yesterday was undoubtedly poor and the error riddled slow start gave us a huge task but I wouldn't have questioned the players commitment at all.

I honestly don't get those vibes from watching last week and yesterday. It might well prove the case over the coming months but right now I find the notion of players not playing for him laughable.

Me too but on the second goal Hyam and Carter were far too weak. To give Eustace a bit of credit it appears he was looking to exploit our weaknesses by getting the ball in the penalty area as often as possible. He also had Adams chipping away at Travis and it worked as Travis became preoccupied with Adams and lost focus.

As we did at Bristol, Swansea, QPR, Oxford and pretty much every game where we have gone behind.

How do you explain coming back against Norwich last week to get a point. We conceded in the 90th minute and only had ten men. They clearly were playing for him then. Yesterday we started slowly and conceded two soft goals from basic errors. The change in the system made by Ismael made us much more solid. There was no lack of effort and nothing at all to suggest the players are not playing for him.

In respect of the goalkeepers Wednesday's team selection will be interesting.

Our set pieces were abysmal today primarily down to poor delivery but I can't remember one where one of our players got the first contact on the ball. Similarly we didn't win many second balls, something we were good at with the Tronstad/Travis pairing earlier in the season.

That's pretty much it. The name on the managers door may change but the real issue is still very much there and they are getting away pretty much Scott Free. If only the voluble chants today aimed at Eustace could have been directed at Waggott and Pasha.

In the next few weeks when mid table obscurity has been sealed I would be tempted to give young Nick Michalski a run of games. He's confident lad and certainly couldn't do worse than Pears. By saying that I have grave doubts about Toth too.

I'm not sure tanked is the correct description for the two games without the context of us losing four out of Eustace's last five league games. We were poor today which Ismael acknowledged and drew last week came back after conceding a 90th minute goal to equalise and with ten men. I'm struggling with your 'players seemed to have downed tools' quote. I accept that many didn't want him and I wasn't particularly enamoured with the appointment but for anybody to suggest sacking him after two games is a ridiculous notion.

That's what really annoyed me with the first goal. I can live with mistakes, they happen but Pears simply bottled that challenge not wanting to get hurt. And for a keeper that is unforgivable.

You might be right, who knows but judging him after two matches is crazy.

That might be the case but the suggestions to sack him after two games is one of the most ridiculous things I've read on here.

We got a deserved draw against a decent Norwich team last week. Today we were poor. We had a spell when on that winning run and didn't concede many but take those six games out and we have conceded. Today was the twelfth game this season when we have conceded two or more goals, many of which have been poor.

I'm staggered to read that some want the manager sacking. After two games!I And if a new manager comes in and draws and loses in his first two games what them?? Sack him too? He wasn't responsible for Pears gifting a goal to Derby today or for Hyam and Carter not being able to deal with a simple cross. I'm as frustrated As anyone but he simply has to be given a chance

Another agonising day on the road with Rovers with what I thought was a tepid performance. At any level conceding two sloppy goals in the first seven minutes gives you a mountain to climb and that's exactly how this played out. The first one was a simple ball into the box which I would have expected us to cope with comfortably but the centre halves went away and Pears did what Pears does - he flapped. It was a bread and butter ball for a keeper in my view and his lack of bravery saw us to one down. Pears is too error prone and needs replacing. The second goal we conceded wasn't dissimilar with a nothing ball causing panic and creating havoc. Wow, seven minutes in and two down. After the change of shape we rallied and created a couple of chances and scored just before half time. Significantly we were out for the second half well before Derby so hopefully Ismael told a few home truths. The second half just passed us by. Lots of possession but far too many nothing passes. The number of opportunities we had to cross the ball but didn't was alarming. Lots of huff and puff but nothing like an end product. How many shots on target did we have in the second half? I can't remember any. Hopefully Ismael found out a few things about some of our players today and too many were poor or at best average. I have never thought we would make the playoffs because of performances like today. We simply lack any consistency and today showed exactly that. Playing a team who were bottom and lost their last three and we start as poorly as we did.I I didn't think we deserved anything today.

I know exactly who was responsible for the deal but it doesn't make it right.I If you do go to more away games I trust you'll have a greater understated of the issues with early starts, lack of public transport etc. Leeds are at Portsmouth for a noon kick off on Sunday. Aside from the huge inconvenience to them if also impacts on the midweek fixtures next week when Portsmouth's match against Plymouth has to be moved from Tuesday to Wednesday.