The more I think about it the more obvious the reaction to Sheff U going down to ten men should have been an immediate substitution replacing Smallwood with Dack and going from 4-1-4-1 to 4-4-1-1. We no longer needed Smallwood to stop the over lapping centre half so his role had become superfluous.

Yes that is a very reasonable scenario but as I point out, if games finished after 70 minutes, we would have deservedly taken 7 points and be unbeaten against half the top ten this month. The problem we have is easily fixable with the right recruitment at the back in January.

That is not completely fair. We had very encouraging reactions during minutes 0 to 70 against Brum, Boro, Norwich, Leeds and Sheffield United....

Is there any reason for being so certain Gallagher is coming in January?

Any wins will be very hard work with late heart attacks. Having said that I expect at least two wins from the Millwall, Ipswich, Hull and Brentford games and not ruling out winning all four. I am conscious other fans are rating West Brom the best footballing side in the division and we are playing them at perfectly the wrong time. This will be a home hammering- going for 0-4.

Cannot repeatedly be getting into great positions then end up with nothing without there being a huge issue with player fitness throughout the squad. This is just basic. Unfortunately this is not something we can do much about at this stage of the season. Pre-season preparation must have been inadequate.

Totally disagree. We need a towering centre half who can command the back line.

All credit to the lad today. Poor start, awful miss then ghosts past three players in midfield and the confidence surges and he has a really good spell either side of half time. Right at the start of he second half he was cruelly robbed of a clear run on goal by a drag back the opposition player should have been sent off for. Mowbray should not have subbed either Brereton or Palmer. Williams and Bennett were falling to pieces yet stayed on.

Those are very poor comments from Mowbray giving no confidence for the future whatsoever. I thought the ref was tough and brave- 27,000+ crowd and he gave the home team six yellows including the double yellow for the sending off. Yes he bottled not giving a straight red when Brereton was through on goal and pulled back and if Smallwood was a straight red hen so was the early foul on Reed. But he should have booked Rothwell for that outrageous dive just before Sharp got the first.

Norwich have been taking coaching lessons from us. Went 3-2 up against Derby in the 81st minute, now 3-4.

70 minutes of solid hard work undone in under 15 minutes. Terrifying thing about Rovers is the speed with which we collapse. Points to lack of character and strength in the playing staff again. Boy we need a leader on the pitch.

Really silly by Smallwood. No need for that. Williams and Bennet have been distributing terribly. Sharp scores.

Getting tasty now this one.

Rovers much much better than I ever dared hope so far. Rothwell doing well until giving away possession which has happened much too often. Palmer looking up for it. Brereton had a nightmare until he beat three in midfield and has done much better in the last ten minutes.

We will find out today...

Going 4-1-4-1 with Smallwood holding midfield and Brereton up front. Sheffield Utd unchanged for 4th consecutive game.

I don't know if this is prophetic for the result but on my phone the Rovers team sheet is showing as a large featureless black rectangle.. Dack and Graham both rested- wow!

We have seen how Brum and QPR rocketed up the table with a sequence of wins and how close we have come to gaining more points than we have collected. I expect two more defeats in the coming two games but not ruling out a run into 7th at season end.

Big game for Mowbray. Looking for a performance more than a win- thankfully we have that comfort zone from our good start. 1) Will we get a Sheffield Wednesday or a Wigan approach after a morale sapping beating in front of a big away following? 2) Never mind the balance of play, we conceded four stupid goals against the top two. Can we force the opposition to score their goals rather than give them away? 3) Sheffield United are in effect a superior Rovers. Core of a League 1 side that punishes lesser teams but from results so far have collapsed against sides with Premier League pretensions. Can we not cave into them today?

This is hilarious. The copyright on a tattoo belongs to the tattooist. The guy who did Messi is sueing for payment for using his design in a FIFA football game. Apparently happening to NBA in the States also. Advice to sports people is to take a licensing release legal agreement with you to the tattooist.

And plenty of dross

I don't know what Bielsa is being paid but he is worth it for getting a bang average side to the top of the Championship. Seeing Leeds where you all gives the rest of us hope.

Low- Doncaster at home. I really thought we were headed for League 2. (OK in 2017 but oh my God I felt really LOW) High- not even Rovers playing on the day but Shrewsbury's home defeat to Rotherham on 17 February after we had got that win at Pompey three days previously and had a run of 3 winnable games (we won all 3) coming up starting with Bury at home. That result was the first clear indication the Shrews were going to blow it and we could look forward to a relatively drama free run into automatic promotion.

Great preview. Did you sink the houseboat? I have already foolishly said I wouldn't be surprised if we win this one. OK Mogga, I have defended you on these boards so please don't let us get played off the park like we were at Ewood. Their record to date is W12 D5 L7 so they obviously include a few off days in their bag of fancy tricks. And they have only scored two more than we have let in....

Evening Standard 8 August 2018 Answers two questions above: Blackburn have ended their pursuit of Charlton defender Patrick Bauer. Bauer has been pushing for a move away from Charlton but Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray says Rovers have “moved on” after being told the German was not for sale. Charlton have rejected several bids for Bauer from Blackburn, with the latest thought to be £500,000. Bauer issued a statement on Twitter on Sunday to say he will not sign an extension to his contract which expires at the end of the season. But Charlton manager Lee Bowyer has blocked his exit from The Valley and Blackburn boss Mowbray said: “I have spoken to Lee and if he [Bauer] is not for sale then he is not for sale. “That is fine, we did a similar thing when other clubs tried to sign some of our players last season. That is football. You are allowed to bid for players and they are allowed to say no. We have to move on and that is what we have done.”