We've only seen him in the odd cameo appearance but Markanday is improving this season. He'll presumably come good in the last season of his contract, score a bunch of goals and leave on a free, such is the Rovers way.

It's bloody telling that at 80 minutes at 0:0 we have no attacking players to bring off the bench to try and win this. Southampton changed their entire front three.

Honestly I fully gave up last week for the first time this season and didn't even check the score until about 6 and that seemed to work ok, so we might not want my engagement here.

Or he knew he was a limited footballer and recognised that this was possibly his career opportunity to play top division football on top division wages for a couple of seasons. One of the promoted sides might well take a punt on him next season - it wouldn't surprise me to see him warming a premier league bench for a season or two more, probably on three times the wage he'd be getting here. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all happy with the manner in which he left the club but I find it hard put the blame for it squarely on him. Absolute incompetence and poor management behind the scenes.

There was a rumour that an amount of the first portion of the Wharton money would have to be given straight to Adam, who had a clause in his contract entitling him to 10% of his sale price (ie. 1.8m up front). The delay in the transfer was, allegedly, that Swag was trying to get out of paying it, or to pay it over the course of the contract (so 10% of each payment received). I don't have any insight as to whether this is accurate or not, but it might explain why the first instalment of the cash is underwhelming.

At least when Mowbray was brought in we fought to stay up, got a high enough points total to stay up most years. We looked better than before he was appointed (not a high bar, and yes I know we still got relegated) This is dire

Might stop us lumping it forward tbf

You know I was told that Leo was really good by someone who had seen him play a few times in Norway. I'm still waiting for it to happen.

This feels like a strangely important game. The players need to show that they can carry the performances shown on Tuesday into a league game, the manager needs to show that the tactics and motivation weren't just for the cameras. Our squad is thin, so we will inevitably play some of the guys who haven't looked up to it this season, we all know the players I'm talking about - against Newcastle they turned in performances to a man to match a much higher opposition. They need to show that it wasn't a one off. Feels odd to say but I'd prefer another draw if we look like maintaining that style and quality over a win where we look shaky but manage to make it happen anyway - I think that over the course of the rest of the season we'll get more points that way. Obviously a win in good style is ideal. A defeat and poor performance could undo all the positivity and be if anything more damaging than usual.

You know what, if he was free and I had any faith in our coaching I might be persuaded to take a chance on Koumetio...

Nah I'm enjoying seeing them sulk

I'll be honest, I almost didn't watch. Thought we'd get minced, and not in a normal fatalistic rovers fan kind of way but in a certain grim almost numb way. I haven't had a great time of it for the last few weeks and thought twice about putting myself through watching it. So unbelievably proud here. Even our bad players have been good. Even if we lose. On TV, under pressure, heads high.

Pears is grinning, he looks confident and like he's enjoying himself.

Settled down a bit, definitely has that clumsy looking long-leggedness but that can be a bit deceptive.

The new Liverpool defender looks a bit panicked when the ball gets near him.

Credit where it's due, that was good from Markanday

1. That's close to the best I've seen us play all season 2. Fadz has made a big difference 3. Dolan and Buckley looking really good, Moran not as much but a couple of good passes.

Gallagher is actually a natural and pretty decent support striker - we used to say he has to play through the middle, but I think the reality is he needs to play through the middle with a strike partner. Sam and Sammie is a very good front line.

If he gets one tela has the look of a player who can get more to be fair. Overthinking it at the moment, there have been a few in the last few games he's played where he could have just smashed one.

Chrisene at wing back O'Riordan cb? What odds Telalovic and Ennis scored in the same game?

Rothwell just scored twice in two minutes for Southampton

I guess we'll see if his hamstring explodes ten minutes in

Do Stoke have two Ennises? BBC have Ennis starting at centre back... Edit - checked their squad list, no 14 is Niall, BBC have him down as left cb.... Here's hoping! Edit the edit- BBC have changed their mind, he's now down as left fullback in a back four.

Sparky is unemployed, I guess. Cheap, fans favourite, might actually be interested with a bit of a point to prove. History of injecting a bit of fight into a team. Ticks a lot of boxes. Get yer scrapers out, let's go barrel hunting.

I like JDT, but the way he wants to play and the players the club is providing him with are not compatible. He's being very stubborn, sticking to his guns and trying to put pressure on Waggot, Broughton and ultimately Venkys, but ultimately it isn't going to work - Venkys are not reachable and do not care. Much as I hate to say it right now we need a coach who can come in, assess the players we've got and come up with a way of getting them to stop losing, even if it's a bit ugly. I'd rather we could make it work with JDT, but unless something changes quickly we will be relegated. It's Venkys fault, but JDT isn't working.