I dont want to create an arsenal discussion but Saka, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri and to a lesser extent Martinelli are all 'home grown'

Duru still injured - fractured foot Vale was released Garrett played for the U21s last week, so may have played for them again yesterday, but yes, that would indicate he is surplus to requirements Unsure about Leonard - think I've seen him in training pics, maybe just being careful with him after his last couple of injuries? I wonder if James Edmondson may end up on loan at Forest Green in the National League, Robbie Savage is now their manager, and he had him on loan at Macclesfield last season and was very impressed with him

Arsenal may be harder to resist given their strong track record of promoting young talent. They have already signed Christian Norgaard, Kepa and Noni Madueke in the summer. From the article about Tyjon. That’s quite contradictory. Saying in one sentence that they have a strong record of promoting talent and now trying to to buy their way to the top. not many homegrown talents left in Arsenal. Most have gone elsewhere.

And in Toth gets injured? I'd rather have Pears on the bench than turn to the u21 keepers. Or have Pears available for transfer by being fit and someone else brought in. Nixon reporting this morning that Wharton stays with Palace, so no sell on for Pasha to look forward to yet.

The deal with the club is done so i imagine it will be a renegotiation of the players contract.

@K-Hod was anything mentioned in the FF about the poor planning of pre season this year? Ridiculous to not have a game for two weeks before the season starts

Nevermind ‘ambition’, ‘or we should increase gates by doing x’, ‘there’s an opportunity to do y’. They aren’t now even fulfilling the absolute basics of running a professional football club… and that’s doing a disservice for non-pro clubs who will be able to organise a friendly for the weekend before the season kicks off.

As it stands right now Rovers will have from July 25th to August 9th without a match. Going two weeks immediately before the season without a game is poor and will surely affect Ismaels preparations. I think there will be something hastily arranged but pretty much every Premier League team are fixed up and Leagues One and Two start on August 2nd. That narrows it down to a non league opponent or going into Europe which I don't think is ideal the week before the season starts. Poor from Rovers.

Pay as you play? I presume that will be to his club not the player? As much as a like the idea of the signing, his injury must be pretty risky if we're offering offers like that. Cant see the parent club accepting that tbh.

No one has gone over the top with the comments, no one has said we win the league but we witnessed a good performance against a PL team and some of us cautiously optimistic for the season whilst recognising we still need 3 or 4 more signings for the season. So what was wrong with anyone's comments who attended the game?

Oh. Damn. Thanks for the update. Hopefully pears remains injured for the next few months

It was a good performance and really encouraging yesterday. That 11 plus a few more signings keeps us competitive for another year at this level easily. However, the old age problem is that 5 of that starting 11 are out of contract in less than a year, along with promising youngsters Montgomery and Mullarkey-Matthews. The rest who featured apart from Atcheson and De Neve are out of contract a year later.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/35927034/england-poland-wonderkid-arsenal-transfer-igor-tyjon/?utm_campaign=native_share&utm_source=sharebar_native&utm_medium=sharebar_native

I commented when he took the catch from the corner, that it’s the first time I’ve seen that from a Rovers keeper in a long time. It takes so much pressure off the defence, so hopefully a sign of things to come.

He probably will but can't read into the GK selection from yesterday given Pears was injured

And what? My sentence had finished.

Beaten by a team containing England's Gennaro Gattuso, Jason Lowe, is no shame....

With all the respect in the world... If he can't make it in league 1 and league 2 he shouldn't be anywhere near playing in a Rovers kit. He's not good enough. He's had multiple chances and not taken them. Someone else deserves a go.

Nice to see Litherland come in and play. He comes highly recommended by regular U21 watchers for his ball-playing abilities. I would also like to see Edmondson given a chance but looks like a loan move might be his best bet at the moment. No Garrett, Duru, Leonard or Vale. Presume, the latter three are injured still? Garrett looks like he's heading out, which I think is a shame as I think he could be a useful utility man. I'm not sure about Montgomery as a defender, though he may well surprise me. Throwing him into an unfamiliar RB role and assuming he can cover the first team brings back memories of Tyler Magloire's right back exploits. That said, Montgomery has done ok so far.

Think everyone is getting a bit carried away after today. It's obviously good that they've put in a performance against a prem side but the championship is a totally different kettle of fish than a meaningless pre season friendly. Reserve your judgement after the first 90 mins of the season. Fingers crossed they over achieve again.

Great result today. Toth our no1 GK again. I reckon he may start the season as no 1 now

The point is I was making was a general point about central defenders around 30 not anybody in particular. I wasn't counting in fact Fans just don't get excited about them. We take them for granted--experienced,reliable and solid---like your favourite overcoat! I think this "discussion" has run its course.

That’s fair. My jokes are worse than your counting.

Just joking again? Give it up.

Humphries and Aspinall both out. Could maybe have predicted that. Their opponents are both terrific young players. If they're on top form you've got a match on your hands.