3 minutes ago, RoverDom said:

That's the thing. It's one thing losing Nyambe and Lenihan but we've got some serious talent on our hands in those two players. We need to be switched on with their contracts, from a business point of view its tens of millions that could walk on a free if not - rather than the 1m it took to upgrade Nyambe

We have A Wharton under contract through to 2024 with option for a further 12 months fortunately!

Hopefully Phillips follows suit in the coming weeks...

1 minute ago, Kcaj93 said:

I've checked twitter and nothing that implicates is in any way. What have you heard? 

Just a complete guess!

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

To be fair Carvalhal seemingly turned us down because he wanted to bring his entire team in.

Hearing there's a possibility Sunderland fans might soon be very happy and we'll soon be very upset.

Styles?

With a glass half full perspective, hopefully tonight can end up being a positive in a way.

9 points on the board and top of the league after 4 games - would have snapped your hand off.

With one dreadful performance, hopefully it makes it super clear that we still need reinforcements in a number of areas bringing in.

If we'd papered over the cracks and even grabbed a draw or lost a tight game tonight, maybe there would have been less urgency to press ahead in the transfer market.

Sensible selection for me this. Don't want to overdo it with Brereton and Khadra and risk any serious injuries.

Have firepower waiting in the wings if required.

Big chance for the new signings to impress, excited to see what they can offer!

10 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Gallagher's still crap though despite a 7.5/10 performance the other night. Are we really going to deify centre forwards when they score a goal now?

I'm saying the opposite...

He shouldn't have been so villified previous to yesterday.

And was just a way to emphasise that heated comments online after a single bad game shouldn't be used to reflect on Hedges' ability in general.

16 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

East to read a lot into this, but you'd have seen similar about Gally after the Hull match and now he's the second coming of Christ!

35 minutes ago, garnersfags said:

Prob for a different thread, but I really worry that Dack will be unable to do the unseen, vital hard yards which have made us impossible to beat for 10 games. We may need a Johnson in to cover for this, and which 2 players are we going to drop for this to happen? I know injuries will help make these decisions, but TM has hit on a winning formula and his only hope of promotion is to stick to this.

Having said this, the formula only works if BBD is firing, as we have seen in the flattening out of our performances, as we have become gritty and hard to beat, rather than dominant and overwhelming. 

Ben has looked less likely to score since the 2nd half of the Barnsley game, so I'm looking for this to change at the KC and the sunshine stadium. 

Agreed that we'll lose some athleticism if Dack comes back in when compared to Buckley/ Rothwell, but like roversfan says, hopefully he would make up for this with his goal threat.

33 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Dack does work hard to be fair and he would give us another dimension with the additional goal threat from that position.

I do forget that Dack will hopefully be back involved soon, maybe him and JRC together will solve the lack of depth in midfield.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Travis is the least of our worries.

Our main problems are going to be injuries, suspension and the like. Lenihan and Buckley are only a few yellows from a 2 match suspension and then at that point things start to look stretched. 

We don't need lots of bodies for the sake of it though, a couple of quality additions to add immediate depth are more important I reckon. For example, Zefuik slotting in with Nyambe out is ideal.

Hopefully we can get Markanday sorted and then priorities for me would be a striker and a CM.

Maja on loan with an option would be ideal for the former, but unsure what options are out there on the CM front.

4 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Wow, real shame they didn't drop points with 9 men.

One was after the final whistle to be fair.

And the first was at 76, so not a disaster by any means.

4 minutes ago, Dan said:

Need to score before 60 minutes otherwise he’ll bring Gallagher and play him on the wing and we’ll be effectively down to ten men. 

This kind of attitude to our own players is hideous. Gallagher may not be the most technically gifted player in our side, but he definitely has strengths to his game and could never accuse him of not giving everything he has to the cause.

Maybe try being positive, if you can't be at the moment, when will you ever be able to?

Fingers crossed Gally comes on and bags a winner to celebrate his new deal.

How can I watch this, is it on ifollow?

Any help appreciated!

Looks like they didn't name a 25 man squad either, because of number of u21s in there

Khadra is 20, so doesn't matter for him

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

The biggest decision for Mowbray to make today is who should partner Brereton in the front 2 whether it should Dolan(who would be my choice), Gallagher or Kharda? 

Pretty confident Gallagher will play to help combat their physicality from long throw in etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ayala also got a look in for the same reason.

2 hours ago, neophox said:

Can we try and sign Van Hecke and Khadra in january?

There's probably more chance of them being recalled by Brighton to cover covid issues than us signing them sadly...

The 200% will be slightly exaggerated by the fact turnover was artificially low last year due to covid, but wages constant.

It would still be eye wateringly high regardless though, I admit!

I'm interested as to how the Obafemi deal affects the dynamic of the Armstrong fee. Surely there can't be a clause about one depending on the other?

Otherwise, Newcastle would easily be able to argue that they're being done out of 40% of an extra fee of the Obafemi deal goes ahead...

Any thoughts?

Hopefully Lenihan can put in a good word given he may have been on international duty with Obafemi as well

I think we'll get an answer on whether Obafemi wants to come or not pretty swiftly. Because sounds like the Armstrong fee is dependant on that transfer happening or not and Southampton will want to get Armstrong done and dusted pretty quickly.

I'm worried about us picking up more injuries at the moment, think temptation will be to play our strongest 11 obviously with it being a big game.

But to me, Rothwell, Holtby, Armstrong and Nyambe are all potential risks due to the amount of games they're playing back to back, workload they get through or existing niggles.

Especially with games coming every 3 days now I think we could see some surprise omissions from starting 11 and I wouldn't be against it. Last thing we need is these guys being out for any length of time.

Can easily see Downing coming into the starting 11 for example, thoughts?

Great win today, the ones that you grind out which aren't deserved feel better than the comfortable ones sometimes!

Fingers crossed Ayala can come in for Wharton for the Millwall game. Imagine with it being a head injury, Wharton will be ruled out.

Johnson and Gallagher to start in midweek I reckon too. I imagine we may see some other rotation to keep players fit and fresh as well. Potentially Brereton due one.

First match I've been on live for a year or so.

My observations:

1) Williams - Seemed very rusty and distribution poor for someone who has played LB for long periods and isn't just a big ugly CB 

2) Desperately need some genuine width in the side when we come up against teams like Wigan today.

I like Rothwell but he's more effective centrally and end product not there often enough.

Armstrong was woeful, seemed lazy and completely ineffective. Would have hooked him at half time. The amount of times he left Nyambe completely isolated on the right wing was painful.

3) We got overrun in the middle of the park, Travis and Evans never managed to get their foot on the ball and feed our creative players unfortunately.

4) Fingers crossed Dack isn't too seriously hurt, I was in the Riverside and the cries of pain weren't making it look too good.

Merry Christmas all!

Walton has to save that - poor