Ismael 'gave players a push' in half-time speech

Valerien Ismael admitted he shared some home truths with his Blackburn Rovers players at half-time against Southampton.

Trailing 1-0 at the break at Ewood Park, the Rovers boss told BBC Radio Lancashire: "They just needed a little push at half-time."

He added that they "forced him" into using a different personality which may have helped them come back to win 2-1.

"My feeling was to tell them the truth, to speak clearly," Ismael said.

"The job [of a footballer] is always to give 100%. What is not negotiable is for the performance to be less than 100%.

"I said there are three reasons why you can't be 100% - if you are sick, injured or have a private problem, otherwise we have to give it everything.

"It's a privilege to be in this job and this is the least we can do.

"We cannot play like we played in the first half. The second half set the benchmark, and the players know we cannot go below that performance."

Skipper Todd Cantwell will miss his fourth match in a row when Rovers visit Leicester City on Saturday (12:30 GMT) as his knee injury has lingered, and he is now expected to return after the international break.

"It's a very strange one. It's a kick on his knee, normally you say a week, but sometimes it turns into two weeks, three and so on. You have to deal with it and how it's feeling on a daily basis," Ismael said.

"He's been on the pitch but hopefully he can get some consistency in training and have a full training week next week, and we'll see him after the international break."

Defender Hayden Carter has returned to training with the first team but his return is also not expected to be until after the international break is over, while Moussa Baradji's return might be a week or two after that.