Agreed. Dennis was away with the fairies, and cost us goals with his careless approach. Woodrow was meh, but you could see he'd been a footballer at some point. But the underlying point is well made - a lack of strength in depth has cost Rovers dearly in each of the past 4 or 5 campaigns, with the post-December dip in form robbing us of any decent chance of progressing upwards. We somehow need to get to a place where every position has back-up, and they can all fit into the manager's preferred style and tactics. Ain't happening, is it? But well done VI and the boys on delivering a decent performance today against a much higher quality (on paper) set of players. Maybe VI is an alchemist, and Rudy is visionary and incisive. Not holding my breath on either count, tbh.

Can't help but feel that might be it apart from loans now

Rex Garvin And The Mighty Cravers - Sock It To ‘Em JB

I'm really warming to Val, out of the last 3 managers, for some reason, I enjoy listening to him the most. No bullshit, just straight to the point, abit like JDT but I felt he could sometimes come across quite arrogant. I like the idea of how we are trying to play but if teams do their homework we could be quite easy to play against. One thing, Watford and West Brom fans have all said is that Val can be quite stubborn with his tactics, tends to always make subs at the same time etc...We will come unstuck a lot if he doesn't change his ways. Bring in a few more exciting players with pace and at least we will be exciting to watch this year.

'Derby has joined the bidding, but Boro remain interested. Rovers hold hope of keeping him'. All agent talk, non-committal. Aye.

A fairy tale?

I think it's a stretch to say we're down Woodrow and Dennis. They contributed the square root of fuck all - which admittedly was part of the problem.

What was worrying me was being refused boarding in Spain.

he`s got lots of stories

Like any good manager he's adapting to the players that he's got. Ribeiro and Pickering are quite slow, but steady at LB. If you gave him a Rak-Sakyi on the right wing, for example, he'd tweak the tactics to get the most out of him. Ex-Arsenal btw - the ex-Leicester lad is a CM (apparently - I've never seen him play).

They need to bring in players to replace the goals of Dolan and Wiemann to a squad that was already short of them. They need at least 2 players capable of hitting double figures. Plus CB, CM and that's before likely outgoings. Since the end of the season they're down 4 forwards - the above + Woodrow & Dennis. They've brought in DeNeve. Regardless the impact of the 2 loan forwards, they were bodies in the squad and would have been expected to contribute more.

Can't remember the last time we had a manager that interviewed so honestly and so well. He's a class act is Val. I feel a lot more confident with him in charge

Boro upping their bid no doubt Carter's going to end up like Phil Jones, minus the premier league. Mad to think he's been retired a year now and he's only 33, seems a life time since he was playing.

Adebajo is out until Christmas. He probably also wants his right winger to offer some semblance of attacking threat. Luton fans would be queueing up to drive Chong here. A Hedges-esque season but you seem to know exactly what Ismael wants.

It will be very marmite I suspect. Ive seen it and I think it’s absolutely hideous, but the lad who had it on loved it. Marketing-wise, that’s probably better than being a 6/10 with everyone

who says he is going? Boro haven't be back since they bid for Brittain over a week again, wonder why? was very good today and no dropped in his performance

That’s ok as long as we have somebody who is as capable an attacking player as Brittain. What happens when he leaves ?

Unfortunately, that's where he always seems to be. ☹️

As has been said previously, we go to a back 3 when attacking with Brittain bombing on playing more as a winger. The ex-Leicester lad is also very attacking RB so the tactic is clear. Hedges is ideal to play RM cos he is good defensively and covers the RB. It’s also why Carter is so important cos he’s quick and covers the vacated RB area well when playing RCB.

I want a right sided attacking player suits that's suits how we play. Hedges kept drifting inside and Brittain provided the width mainly from the right side. That's what Ismael wants

Most probably an update on Brittain.

I’d prefer a more attacking type but he does offer balance with Brittain (not likely he stays) the way Val plays so a good option to have particularly away from home but I agree I think right winger is a priority signing now

Nixon has a Rovers story tomorrow

That’s when he’s not on the treatment table.

If we are chasing Luton players McGuiness , Clark and Adebajo would top my list.