January Transfer Window.

[tomphil]

4 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Mola and Hirst can’t be sent back. So we’ll have to manoeuvre with those two deadweights in the squad (let’s hope we only a paying a small proportion of their wages).

What is Molas actual position ?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, tomphil said:

What is Molas actual position ?

Left back, left centre back, left midfield. Jack of all trades, master of none ?

[Mattyblue]

Christ knows, certainly not full back after that Forest showing, looked like they’d brought someone in from a different sport…

[Sweaty Gussets]

4 minutes ago, tomphil said:

What is Molas actual position ?

CB or DM I think I read when he arrived. 

He's not a FB. I presume he was played there because there was nobody else. At least I hope that was the case. 

Mowbray didn't exactly leave a group of decent FB's behind. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Sweaty Gussets said:

CB or DM I think I read when he arrived. 

He's not a FB. I presume he was played there because there was nobody else. At least I hope that was the case. 

Mowbray didn't exactly leave a group of decent FB's behind. 

He signed plenty, especially left backs.

[goozburger]

Priority area is in attack. A number of players have failed to deliver there or haven't been up to speed so far this season: Dolan; Markanday; Hirst; Dack; Szmodics; et al. Six months in under a new regime and Dack is still just a 60-minute man. He's not going to get back to the standards he was at. We need reliable quality in that area of the pitch. I can live with a make-shift right-back as cover if it means spending some decent cash in attack.

[Sweaty Gussets]

7 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He signed plenty, especially left backs.

Yeah, when slagging off JDT for Mola-gate, people forget Mowbray signed Sam Hart and played him as a winger in L1. One of the worst performances I've ever seen in a Rovers shirt. 

[Sweaty Gussets]

3 minutes ago, goozburger said:

Priority area is in attack. A number of players have failed to deliver there or haven't been up to speed so far this season: Dolan; Markanday; Hirst; Dack; Szmodics; et al. Six months in under a new regime and Dack is still just a 60-minute man. He's not going to get back to the standards he was at. We need reliable quality in that area of the pitch. I can live with a make-shift right-back as cover if it means spending some decent cash in attack.

Sharpe said a few weeks ago that GB/JDT were prioritising a striker this January. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Wolves want to sign Gyokeres but Coventry say he’s not for sale.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Yeah, when slagging off JDT for Mola-gate, people forget Mowbray signed Sam Hart and played him as a winger in L1. One of the worst performances I've ever seen in a Rovers shirt. 

I don’t think he knew what a good left back looked like. 

[Mattyblue]

My only bit of ITK-ege here for you.

Cov initially rejected our bid for Hyam, until they rang us up desperately trying to flog him before the close of the window as they needed cash quick - which obviously helped us getting him for a steal.

It’s a club with no ground of their own and always on the edge of one crisis or another. So if Wolves want him, they’ll get him.

[simongarnerisgod]

6 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Sharpe said a few weeks ago that GB/JDT were prioritising a striker this January. 

i would say we need a couple of midfielders instead,thats where we are losing games from

[Wheelton Blue]

Between Brereton, Gallagher and Dack, we have good enough forwards to score goals.

The problem is we don't play to their strengths.

MIdfield is the crucial area to fix.

[simongarnerisgod]

6 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Between Brereton, Gallagher and Dack, we have good enough forwards to score goals.

The problem is we don't play to their strengths.

MIdfield is the crucial area to fix.

aye,those three should be a handful to anybody

[Miller11]

1 hour ago, Mellor Rover said:

Don’t imagine there is but I’ve not seen any whispers of an incoming as yet? Anyone got any rumours at all? 

I’d be sending Hirst back and replacing with a striker who has any kind of attacking instinct whatsoever. There’s some good strikers in the European lower leagues, we need to try that market out. 

I’d also be signing a CM to replace Morton, gets away with absolute murder for us. Travis has been shocking recently but for my money Morton has been even worse. 5 touches before the ball goes anywhere, gives it away in awful positions and absolutely no bite at all. If we weren’t so short on numbers I’d send him back too. 

At least one, if not 2, out and out wide men. Need some pace. Our wide men are make shift wingers, we have one player in the whole club you could say is a natural winger in Dolan. Problem is, will we play a system to accommodate them? 

Think it’s obvious to see we need a cover RB and new LB too, but think we’ll be waiting until summer for them. 

I’d love it if we played with proper wingers. JRC I think would make an excellent one in a 442, Hedges would do well on the left.

[Paul Mani]

1 hour ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

Agreed. I think we all thought we had gone into this season a little light. I suppose the question is why...Why are Venky's always late to the party...why were they so slow in moving on from TM? 

A good window is vital...

Football needs real planning and a formula. I have never seen either from Venkys until the summer. The appointment of GB in theory is their first move towards a strategic approach and we’ve seen some players sign extensions since so fingers crossed 🤞🏽 

[Sweaty Gussets]

20 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Between Brereton, Gallagher and Dack, we have good enough forwards to score goals.

The problem is we don't play to their strengths.

MIdfield is the crucial area to fix.

I think that's more tactical rather than personnel in midfield. We have creative CM's and AM's. We just don't play in a way that utilises their strengths or the strengths we have in attack. Playing it around at the back waiting for teams to come on to us so we can hit them on the break -that's been our sole attacking tactic this season. We get very few crosses in because we have very little width to our play. 

I think we need an old, experienced head in CM to help the young guys but it won't make a jot of difference to how attacking we are if the tactics remain the same. 

JDT's comments in the press recently suggest he may be softening his approach and that maybe he's going to go more direct at times. 

I wouldn't want to be an attacker in that team. 

[Hasta]

Brittain has been decent when he plays. Not sure he’s an upgrade on Nyambe but in the position the new team found themselves in he was a good signing.

Hyam has been a good signing when we needed a solid Championship defender. I’d rather have managed to grab JPVH as I think he is a level above and could improve. Had we got him it would have been an investment, which Hyam isn’t. However he is an upgrade on Lenihan so that can be seen as a good signing.

Morton is a funny one. Started off looking a good loan signing, but during this terrible run starting with the Burnley game is has been poor. Teams seem to play past him easily and he gets drawn to the ball instead of his man often. He’s ok, but I’d rather the loans either filled gaps or added something special. In this case he may well be blocking what we already have who may well be as good. Probably needs a spell out the side.

Szmodics looks a good league one player to me who struggles to have an impact at this level. At £1.8million plus any add ones I’m not sure it was the best use of resources.

Mola has gradually been exposed as pretty terrible.

George Hirst has also looked terrible. If you watch his Portsmouth highlights you’d be surprised it’s the same player, but he just cannot do anything on or off the ball to create anything. At least I’ve seen glimpses from Vale. I’ve seen nothing from Hirst. One thing that isn’t his fault was the “he was our number one target” quote. Can’t remember if it was GB or JDT who said it, but I bet they wished they hadn’t as it doesn’t reflect well on their summer efforts.

Therefore I’d say from the summer two good, one ok, one underwhelming and 2 poor.

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Hasta

[roverandout]

1 hour ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Between Brereton, Gallagher and Dack, we have good enough forwards to score goals.

The problem is we don't play to their strengths.

MIdfield is the crucial area to fix.

U have to be joking 

[roverandout]

To clarify.  I agree on Diaz. Dack is still decent but Gallagher is f*cking awful. I'd rather have Ashley ward up front 

[Underground, Roverground]

31 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Football needs real planning and a formula. I have never seen either from Venkys until the summer. The appointment of GB in theory is their first move towards a strategic approach and we’ve seen some players sign extensions since so fingers crossed 🤞🏽 

Agree with this.

Over the past 15 years I’ve seen very little evidence of a coherent strategy. Much more a case of taking each season as it comes with a raft of loans (some very good, admittedly such as Elliot and van Hecke and others not so adept), meaning that every season felt like a case of being back to square 1. The summer appointments at least sounded like the introduction of a longer term strategy, identity and plan and in fairness the early evidence with contracts backs that up too. 

 

However it’s very early days, and often when a strategy is implemented in any business the early showings can be inconsistent and at times ugly as those within it try to adapt. 

[Wheelton Blue]

5 minutes ago, roverandout said:

To clarify.  I agree on Diaz. Dack is still decent but Gallagher is f*cking awful. I'd rather have Ashley ward up front 

So would I, but as a collective, there's enough about them with decent service.

They're not our biggest issue, which is really my point.

[Bohinen1983]

I'd flog Brereton, tap Southampton up for Armstrong + money deal.  Then use that cash to invest in our centre mid.  Surely teams like Wolves/Southampton et.al must have some good quality centre mids floating around in their reserves.

[K-Hod]

8 minutes ago, Bohinen1983 said:

I'd flog Brereton, tap Southampton up for Armstrong + money deal.  Then use that cash to invest in our centre mid.  Surely teams like Wolves/Southampton et.al must have some good quality centre mids floating around in their reserves.

Funnily enough, I think Armstrong would do well here at the minute. He tends to shoot a lot and as a team, we don’t at present.

[roversfan99]

8 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

FYI - I’m not saying that Morton and Szmodics are world beaters but I do believe that they have both improved the group and played a positive part in the position we find ourselves as the third best team in the league over 24 games.

Brittain, for me is the best RB we’ve had for a decade. In the games I’ve seen him play he’s been our best player. But for injuries, he’d be rated higher than Hyam as a new signing. Great to see JRC re-emerge…I always rated him as better than Nyambe. Hope his form continues. 

For context we could also add the likes of Hedges, A.Wharton and Phillips into the ‘new signing’ mix because they have been given their opportunity by the regime and contributed positively to our current position. Fair to say, none of them would have played much, if at all this season under Mowbray.

All of the above leads me back to the opinion that there’s only two players - Hirst and Mola, who have failed. They’re the only two that haven’t made a positive impact on the group.

It’s a simple enough process if we just focus on the squad list last summer. at the point where JPvH, Khadra, Rothwell, Lenihan, Nyambe and Bradley Johnson walked out of the door. Fixate on that point, then look at the additions and consider our current position.

Honestly, considering they came in late, the current regime have done a bloody good job in my eyes. Many of us were fearing a season at the bottom of the division knowing all those players were leaving. 

Szmodics may not be on par with Hirst in terms of impact but he wouldn't make our best 11 and I think more often than not he is ineffectual. It told me a lot that Peterborough fans seemed unconcerned by his departure and with a track record of success at League 1 but not really beyond that, and him being not at an age where we are likely to make a profit on him, also factoring in a decent fee, I certainly wouldn't deem it as a successful signing. Maybe a 5 out of 10 if you are being generous. Morton plays unconditionally in what I think is our weakest area of the pitch and only rarely does he excel IMO, again 5 out of 10 at a push.

Neither have unconditionally failed like the 2 dollopers (Hirst and Mola) but there is a middle ground between a success like Hyam who has slotted in very well indeed.

The best right back of the Venkys tenure is not an award to be proud of, but he cannot be deemed a success until he stays fit. He has looked pretty steady when he has played (in his correct position) but until he does stay fit across a length period of time, it is a case of if my aunty had bollocks she would be my aunty. 

There are lots of other variables, emerging youngsters (absolute nonsense that Mowbray wouldn't have brought them through, he brought through plenty through) and injury recoverys included, but I was just judging just the transfer window which I think was bang average.

8 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

It was a weird signing. But I guess we don’t have all the information 🤷🏽‍♂️

What further insider information could make any difference in judging the deal?

1 hour ago, Paul Mani said:

Football needs real planning and a formula. I have never seen either from Venkys until the summer. The appointment of GB in theory is their first move towards a strategic approach and we’ve seen some players sign extensions since so fingers crossed 🤞🏽 

I don't see how you see a plan from Venkys. They have allowed the putting together (and subsequent tearing apart) of backroom teams throughout their time here, the transfer window was not a stand out one and they continue to allow assets (Brereton) to run their contracts down. We have seen new deals signed throughout the years, Kaminski, Travis, Dolan, Buckley again, Scott Wharton, Dack etc, but its on the most valuable assets where we literally have bids on the table that get fucked up.