Not entirely certain, and correct me if I'm wrong. Didn't you say "it's time for him to step up"? That doesn't sound like you suggested he's ready for the first team at all.

For anyone who has seen both friendlies so far it's clear that Ismael has a plan and it appears the players have generally bought into it. High intensity pressing from a fit, athletic team is what we can expect I think (and this is something Ismael has spoken openly about) which is reminiscent of Tomasson's style with perhaps not as much unnecessary passing. I enjoyed todays match and we counted eight Academy graduates playing by the end. Cantwell stood out for me and looked a different player with a pre season behind him. There were lots of other good performances too although primarily this was about fitness and sharpness. I know these are only friendlies but some of my fears have been allayed and hopefully the other signings will improve us and maybe another addition or two to give us more depth.

More than linked to, pretty sure we were close to signing him if memory serves.

U21s lost 3-1 to Tranmere, our centre forward scored, but none of our players named, in the Tranmere report so who knows what sort of team we put out (given how many players were on the first team bench)

Only caught the game from just over half time but very promising and good intensity and desire on show. Kargbo, will be frustrating but has something special and is rapid. Someone should have got into his ball across the goal and his overhead kick volley from the corner was almost spectacular Gueye, I'm a fan and think there is something there to unlock. He was poor today though, lethargic and didn't provide an outlet. We also didn't make many attempts to put one into the box from out wide which seems a waste while he is on the pitch. The young centre backs looked very solid and strong all considered and the young GK looks promising, coming off his line at the right time and composed on the ball. Tyjon has good pitch awareness and is worth giving some time and exposure to in the number 10 role when the time is right. Impressive but that intensity will be hard to maintain. As someone else mentioned, great to see that all the players seemed to know their role and the way we want to play.

That's what I thought. Think they see Kargbo as a 20ish minute player, to be a threat when we need a goal and to be a outlet when we're hanging on.

He’s not a “ leader of the line. “ type striker. More of a Sammi type player.

Probably something about me being constantly negative even though the 2 posts youve quoted are just me preferring one player to another and merely questioning the logic behind someones theory. That was a great bit of play. I wonder based on the fact that De Neve seems to be first choice, if the logic is that Kargbo is seen as/trusted only as an impact sub against tired defenders.

There’s a podcast (think it’s called “I had trials” or something) with him on last week, talking about it, plus his experiences at rovers.

Typical pre season fare, a slow game purely as a fitness exercise and punctuated by changes. I almost feel like you learn more from the starting 11 as opposed to the actual game. In the few positions where we have 2 options at full fitness, it seems like De Neve, Ohashi and Ribeiro are first choice above Kargbo, Gueye and Pickering. Not so sure about the latter personally as I think Pickering is slightly better but not much in it. Always interesting to see the new signings, in this case only 1 started. Nice finish by De Neve (and also the corner he took was better than a Cantwell floated ball) but still coming to terms with what is expected of him and loose on the ball at times. Not overly quick but seems to be an athletic up and down type. Impossible to take much of a conclusion after an hour of a pre season game. We already knew that Brittain will be a gigantic loss when he goes. We already knew that we badly need reinforcements in attack, especially on the right hand side. And we already knew that Kargbo is absolutely rapid but incredibly raw.

Thought Kargo was really sharp and injected good pace. Skinned O'Brien in there box to put it across goal but nobody there.

You know what I’m thinking 😂

How did Kargbo play?

Never gets old either. Red and black, green and gold, pink and black etc etc.

And Ben Williams.

And ex-Rover Sam Lavelle

Why would that be the reason? Adam Wharton wasnt underrated. Travis isnt underrated.

There is a reason why, considering it was almost exclusively one or the other, we won far more games with Ohashi up front than the very few with Gueye.

Our USP is halved (quartered before I’m shot! 😅) shirts, so why not hone in on that for away kits, that classic from nearly 20 years ago aside we just haven’t done it, which I find odd.

One thing that particularly impressed me, was the way we regularly regained possession without flying into tackles

Mullarkey-Matthews to be fair has only just signed his first pro deal, can't long have turned 18 or might still be 17? Think he could develop into something, made one superb run back to block an Everton shot for a corner.

Best Rovers away kit I've ever seen imo..

Can’t agree with this, he had some decent involvements and I was curious who he was

I think based on that display today, baring a rash of injuries, we'll be a dogged mid-table team. There's really no magic in attack that will turn that 1 point into 3 or rescue a point when you're losing. We're not as slow as we used to be though, which is a big plus.

M-M did well last week when he came on.