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For a start, he isnt very good in the air. Even when he wins it, it isnt particularly accurate. I dont think hes good enough to be the main central defender. I think he is more suited to the left side.

Does Jake Batty play football at any level for us anymore? I remember him going to Stanley and playing quite a lot for them last season but haven't heard much this season.

And subsequently they wouldnt have been the players they are today had they stayed. People often mention it as if they let current day Rogers and Palmer leave. Not quite the same but there are similarities with Raya here. He was let go on the cheap but had be stayed, he certainly wouldnt have developed into who he is today, after 7 or 8 years in the Premier League, training with top class players and coaches etc.

what's wrong with McLoughlin in the centre?

I bet you didn't even have to look that up either.

Im not sure he has fully united the dressing room. I think youd have to go back to the Murphy/Etuhu days where it was clear that 100% wasnt being put in. But we have had problems of players not training properly this season according to Ismael himself, seemingly wasters like Gueye and Tavares. Also Kargbo not bothering to track back leading to a goal, public comments about Carter's preparation. There have definitely been performances full of grit and real character but also ones showing a real fragility. I certainly wouldnt be able to commit to bigging up Ismael's man management as a positive. There is certainly a lot of merit to the argument that he has been left with a poor and imbalanced squad, even if he has seemingly played a big part in endorsing the players hes been left with. And he isnt in the Kean and Coyle category. But I certainly havent been impressed with or warmed to his management overall.

Yes. The US has the worst of any of them. Mainly because it funds and enables most of those mentioned and more. North Korea, DRC, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Sudan are only in the state they're in because of US involvement. FIFA constantly say that we should keep politics out of football (which is impossible) yet they're more than willing to get involved in the politics when it suits them lining their own pockets. An absolute reprehensible organisation which needs to be gotten rid of and replaced by something fit for purpose.

They had a buy-back option on Rogers. Palmer forced a move away - they wanted to keep him, but couldn't guarantee him the game time he wanted.

Let’s summarise the position here… - Rovers sell digital tickets online - the Sheff Weds tickets are digital - home fans can still buy them via SWFC - away fans can’t buy them from Rovers nor Wednesday (for away areas of Hillsborough) Its boff all to do with staff “holiday entitlements”, the club shop sometimes not opening on Mondays or revenge for the boycott call. Someone, somewhere, with authority at Rovers has decided to take them off sale on the Rovers website. The key questions to ask are “who” & “why” because I can’t think of any positive reason for this course of action. 🤷‍♂️

I’m still waiting for the guys that were on here almost every day last season to come back on and give an update from the dingledome. . We all know who they are.

This last section is going to need some explanation. Have you been spending time in some dark corners of the internet recently?

Another win for Nigeria so they’ve qualified for knock out round, Ryan now there for longer. Once again no minutes played.

He has never scored more than 2 goals in a single season. Any screamers were very much the exception so are a strange area to focus on. I think Travis was a good player and has been missed but he isnt this all rounder you suggest. He cannot protect the defence or read the game as well as Tronstad and isnt as good on the ball. Travis was more athletic and got about the pitch more although he isnt the same type of player. You suggest that the stats back you up, what stats? Tronstad does a very specific role, he sits in front of the defence, he keeps the play ticking, he reads the game really well and he is essentially the glue in our team. We play much better and do better when he plays. 2 players of a similar style (obviously elite players) are Busquets and Makelele, neither ran all over the pitch and neither made it to 20 career goals. Did they hold their teams back as limited and peripheral players?

I agree, but I can't honestly see them signing someone unless it's certain that one or both won't play in the near future. If you add those 2 to the list of centre halves, I'm reckoning 7 including Aitcheson.

The last 135 years says so. Celtic are only three points behind and have a game in hand. This is despite them having a supposedly 'disastrous' season so far with Rangers not that far behind in third place and they had the football genius of Russell Martin in charge at the start of the season. The whole league is a complete joke and always has been. It needs a complete reset to make it into an actual competition.

But that was the point - the crazy, recurring, match-defining errors. All GKs make errors and, at this level, you expect a few over a season. But Pears was a lot worse than the average prior to being dropped. He has been fine since covering for Toth's injury, but there's no way that Toth isn't coming straight back in. Some of the saves he was making before injury were some way beyond Pears' ability. They did try offloading Pears in the summer, but those aforementioned errors have been so bad/regular, that nobody was willing to touch him. Maybe this run of decent form may have changed some opinions, we'll find out in January.

If Carter comes back and sees out the rest of the season without another injury I'll be very surprised. Likewise with Wharton.

We used to do it for certain games as well.

If we were stupid enough to repeat the mistake of putting any reliance on Carter and Wharton then we deserve the inevitable spell of being short that will occur. We are short not only of regularly available numbers but of quality and balance. We need someone to slot into the middle of the back 3, essentially (I know we played a different formation, but in terms of quality) a massively overdue Hyam replacement.

Sure I heard late Jan/early Feb for a Wharton return? If(I know) him and Carter are available in the next two or 3 weeks, we're going to be well stocked. Can't really see us signing a centre half if that's the case. I'd suggest if we do sign one, it isn't good news for one or both.

How strange you should mention Douglas! Because I distinctly remember, around 1957, him being driven to requesting a transfer, as a result of the inane abuse he was receiving, from a very small section of the crowd. That for the greatest Rover I have seen, just because his form had temporarily dropped from his own impeccable standards. And that was before the advent of social media

He's a CB playing there and it clearly shows. This formation lives and dies by the quality of its wingbacks. Bringing in a starting LWB and backup for Alebiosu (so we don't run him into the ground) would be amazing.

Well, that's me for the night, had enough of being baited for one day. Tomorrow Rev gets strung up for saying he preferred Clayton over Douglas.

Jaw dropping! Not the halal report but everything else- perhaps explains why the players coming in from the Academy are doing so well. Back to Ismael, no denying he is capable of setting a team up well, motivating them when things look bad and making astute subs. He also has had a fair share of cock ups and struggles at Ewood in a two thirds empty stadium, rancid atmosphere and a variable playing surface cum swimming pool.