Blackburn Rovers

Image source, Getty Images

Blackburn Rovers manager Valerien Ismael felt his team's defeat by Norwich City hinged on the penalty incident which saw his defender Sean McLoughlin sent off.

Josh Sargent scored from the resulting spot-kick and added a late second despite a strong fightback by his 10-man team in the second half.

Ismael told BBC Radio Lancashire: "One moment decided the game - a long ball that we didn't defend that well. The penalty and red card completely changed the game so at half-time we had another game plan.

"The first half was a typical 50-50 game, with [fewer] chances for us. We played some good football but the last passes, the penetration, was not there.

"I told the players [at half-time] now it's all about managing the game as we're down to 10, make sure we stay in the game as long as possible, and at some point Norwich would start to get nervous about whether to go for the second [goal] or defend the first one, and that's exactly what happened.

"The second thing I said was when we got the chance we would have to be ruthless, and unfortunately when we got the two big chances to score, we didn't score. One point would have been a fair result."

Listen to full Valerien Ismael interview by clicking here.

Blackburn boss Valerien Ismael has been speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire ahead of Saturday's home game against Norwich City.

Here's how the squad is shaping up...

• Rovers are set to be unchanged from the side that won 3-0 at Hull last time out.

• New signing Ryoya Morishita has trained and will be part of the matchday squad.

• Fellow new signing, Moussa Baradji will have further assessment but isn't fit to be involved. He arrived at Rovers with an injury.

• Midfielders Adam Forshaw and Jake Garrett remain out.

Listen to the full interview and more on BBC Sounds.

Blackburn are keen on 30-year-old Sunderland midfielder Alan Browne, who is surplus to requirements at the Stadium of Light. (Alan Nixon, external)

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Friday's gossip column here.

After picking up their first points of the season with a 3-0 drubbing of Hull City, Valerien Ismael's Blackburn Rovers will seek to get on track at Ewood Park as Norwich visit on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Liam Manning's Canaries have suffered three home defeats already this season but will seek to stay unbeaten on their travels after the 2-1 win at Portsmouth in their only previous road game in the Championship.

• Blackburn Rovers have won just two of their past 14 league games against Norwich City (D5 L7), though are unbeaten across their last four against the Canaries (W1 D3).

• Norwich City are unbeaten across their past seven away league games against Blackburn Rovers (D2 L5), drawing both of their last two such visits to Ewood Park 1-1.

• After losing their home opener 2-1 to Birmingham City, Blackburn will be looking to avoid losing each of their opening two home league games of a campaign outside the top tier for the first time since 1956-57.

• Norwich have lost two of their opening three league games this season (W1), and will be looking to avoid losing three of their opening four outside the top tier for the first time since 2000-01.

• Norwich have won just one of their past 11 league games against sides from Lancashire (D5 L5), though that victory did come on the road at Preston in April 2024 (1-0).

Head coach Valerien Ismael described Blackburn's 3-0 win at Hull as their best away performance under him.

The emphatic victory came after Rovers had lost all three of their previous league and cup matches this season.

"When you win your first game it's really good because you start your Championship season," Ismael told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"When we lost games we stayed calm and focused. We deal with adversity and now we're moving forward and the win will help us to start the season.

"In the second half we scored two goals straightaway and that gave us the confidence to control the game. Since I've been in charge at the club, that was the best away performance.

"Now before the international break we have a difficult home game against Norwich and we need the same performance and same focus."

Glenn Speller
BBC Sport England

Blackburn Rovers midfielder Lewis Travis has almost certainly played his last game for the club, according to head coach Valerien Ismael, with BBC Radio Derby, external reporting Derby County have agreed a fee for him.

The 27-year-old has only featured once for Rovers so far this season with speculation surrounding a potential move away from Ewood Park, and he will not travel with the squad for Saturday's Championship match at Hull City (12:30 BST).

Derby County and Wrexham were both linked with Travis in June, while Ismael stated 10 days ago he could leave "if the price was right."

"There is something going on behind the scenes, but we are focusing on the game - the other thing we will talk about as soon as we can," the Blackburn boss told BBC Radio Lancashire, but he would not be drawn on a possible destination for Travis.

On whether Travis had played his last game for Rovers, Ismael added: "It looks like it but we will see what's going on."

Ismael also confirmed Todd Cantwell, who captained Rovers in Travis' absence for last weekend's 2-1 Championship defeat at home to Birmingham City, will takeover as skipper on a permanent basis.

"Todd will be the new permanent captain of the club.

"He's a player who, when I came in, we talked together, and I was pleased with how he socialised with everyone within the building.

"He's comfortable talking to the academy players, the cleaners, the board - he's a respected player and the way he speaks to people is very good."

Hull City will aim for back-to-back home wins when they host Blackburn Rovers on Saturday (12:30 BST).

The Tigers are unbeaten in the Championship so far whilst Rovers seek their first win of the season.

• Hull City have won three of their last four league games against Blackburn Rovers (L1), which is as many victories as across their prior 16 meetings combined (D4 L9).

• Blackburn Rovers have won four of their last six away league games against Hull City (L2), which is as many victories as in their prior 13 league visits.

• Hull City remain unbeaten in the Championship this season (W1 D1) and could go three league games unbeaten at the start of the season for successive campaigns for the first time since 1993-94.

• Blackburn Rovers have lost each of their opening two league games this season. They last lost their opening three matches of a campaign back in 2016-17 when they were ultimately relegated to League One.

Samantha Fletcher
BBC Final Score Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

I think the biggest heartbreak from Saturday's late home defeat for Blackburn will come for their new captain Todd Cantwell.

He really stepped up, taking complete ownership with an unquestionable work ethic.

The former Rangers man is back from injury, after returning to the squad in the first round of the Carabao Cup, and fans will be pleased to see him play nearly 90 minutes.

With the backdrop of captain Lewis Travis saying he wanted to leave his boyhood club this week, Cantwell appeared to be buoyed by the extra responsibility and looked positively supercharged against Birmingham City.

He deserved his goal which changed the game just into the second half and I'd love to see the stats on how much ground he covered.

Blackburn manager Valerian Ismael says his side's late defeat to Birmingham was 'on us' after two mistakes cost Rovers victory at home.

Ismael told BBC Radio Lancashire: "It is a tough one, I am shocked, football can be cruel. We played a good game, and we knew at half-time we needed to put more pressure on them, and that gave us the goal.

"It's terrible, but this loss is on us, we made two terrible mistakes and we have to be better on the set piece positioning.

"Everything was in place and then we dealt with a three-v-one situation very badly. Then we get to 11 minutes extra time and we managed ten of those perfectly.

"There were a lot of positives today, their shots were not really dangerous, we had the right structure and we got the goal we wanted.

"But football is details, and we have some questions to answer internally to make sure we deal with these situations better next time."

Blackburn Rovers boss Valerien Ismael said that midfielder Todd Cantwell has returned to fitness and will be available for their upcoming Championship match against Birmingham City on Saturday (15:00 BST).

The 27-year-old missed out on the opening defeat against West Bromwich Albion, but played 27 minutes in the side's loss to Bradford City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

"He can be a technical leader on the pitch. He's got all the potential to do that. So now it's all about his fitness," Ismael told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"I think he made a great pre-season. He just had a little setback last week, but now he's back, so hopefully he can stay fit.

"It might be a big season for him and he's very motivated to do that."

However, the Frenchman said that it's "too early" for defender Hayden Carter to make an appearance despite returning to training after suffering a hamstring injury in July.

Ismael added: "Carter trained with the squad for two days now, but it's too early for the game."

Blackburn Rovers manager Valerien Ismael has said he would allow club captain Lewis Travis to leave for the right price but insisted he would still play for Rovers as they face promoted side Birmingham City on Saturday (15:00 BST).

Blues will be looking for a first win in their return to the second tier after victory was snatched away from them in the embers of the opening-night 1-1 draw with Ipswich.

• Blackburn Rovers have lost just two of their past 38 home league games against Birmingham City (W25 D11), winning each of their past four in succession, during which they have scored 15 goals in total.

• Birmingham City have won two of their past three league games against Blackburn Rovers (L1), as many victories as across their prior 16 matches against Rovers combined (D6 L8).

• Blackburn have won their opening home game in each of the past five league seasons. However, following their 1-0 opening-day loss at West Bromwich Albion, they will be hoping to avoid beginning a league campaign with back-to-back defeats, which last happened in 2019-20.

• Birmingham have not lost their opening away game in any of the past six seasons (W3 D3) since losing 1-0 at Middlesbrough in the Championship in 2018-19.

• Birmingham's Keshi Anderson won more duels than any other player (14) on the second tier's opening weekend, with the last Blues player to win more in the Championship being Ethan Laird against Swansea in August 2023 (21).

BBC Radio Lancashire's Scott Reid said "the ball is in Derby County's court" regarding a move for Blackburn captain Lewis Travis after a surprising admission from Rovers' boss Valerien Ismael.

This is after Ismael said after his side's Carabao Cup defeat by Bradford City that if the price is right then they would allow Travis to leave.

"He casually dropped it in the interview that his club captain wants to leave," Reid told BBC Radio Derby.

"It took us by surprise... It is a strange situation when a manager reveals this.

"I think Blackburn will sell if Derby offer what valuation they want."

Listen to the full analysis and more on BBC Sounds.

Derby County boss John Eustace is looking to recruit another player from former club Blackburn Rovers after making a £1.5m bid for English midfielder Lewis Travis. (The Athletic - subscription required), external

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Wednesday's gossip column here.