RTM08

I think he was fine last season, but for me he's never proven he can step up if he doesn't have a better player next to him.

Not a Hyam fan at all but we're light as it is and that would nail us on as relegation certs for me. Gestede and Pasha would sell Jack Walker's statue if they thought they could get a few pennies for it.

I'm still falling on the side of that is a truly awful squad of players. I wouldn't even be confident of the majority of that squad being competitive in League One.

You'll notice I used the word "if". It's contextual as in it applies in the case that he does need surgery and is out for a third of the season.

And if that is the case whoever decided that we should ship out Travis and replace him with Baradji needs firing. You can't replace your captain with a player who won't be fit for months.

This one is relatively local to me so if I can get one I'll try and grab some tickets. We really, really need to make the most of this international break - the games are going to start coming thick and fast and if we don't step it up we could find ourselves adrift very quickly. I'd like to see the team from the second half on Saturday but with Gudjohnsen ready to come on and shake things up. I'll try and be optimistic and say Watford 1-1 Rovers.

Eh? We were willing to force him out to anyone willing to take him even when he didn't want to, and he's been playing (when fit) regular PL football and won a major trophy. This is entirely on our owners and no one else.

Tbf they did that literally 2 weeks ago!

If we've started picking up points and beat Derby, I'll hold my hand up and say I was wrong, it's not complicated. However, if we consider that I think most of us would have said Derby's squad last season was worse than ours, and they have taken a significant portion of our squad and added to it whilst we've cut the budget on ours dramatically, you'd be hard pressed to argue we've had the better window. If either of the squads is likely to gel and kick on in the next 2 weeks I wouldn't be putting money on Rovers.

You won't be laughing when they batter us during the 150th anniversary "celebrations". Also quit with the Derby Rovers nonsense, it's unbelievably childish and completely ignores the reasons why Eustace and half our squad wanted to move there.

Which is why most teams take one or two punts on unknowns and use the experience in the squad to guide them. We've driven the experience out and expect a bunch of players who have only experienced mediocrity and relegation in poor leagues to step up. This is also why you don't put a complete amateur in charge of the club's transfer philosophy.

On a personal note I've said he's a donkey even when scoring. He has zero control over either himself or the ball, just occasionally it works for him.

They can be as well drilled as they want but if the tactics are crap you're still going to lose more often than not. For example: Russell Martin

It's 4 defeats in 5 including one against Bradford but sure. Can I ask how many games we're before we're allowed to point out what we're seeing with our own eyes?

Almost as if downgrading the squad again as well as downgrading the matchday experience whilst also trying to rinse people for every penny they have makes them gote with their feet.

It's more likely that different people have different opinions. Considering we have lost 4 out of 5 and that 1 was against a depleted version of an already poor team, I find it hard to argue we're anything but a bottom tier squad. We have to pray that something clicks in the next 2 weeks otherwise we'll be adrift by Christmas.

What, you think playing "well" and losing every week isn't the hallmark of a relegation bound team?

We're going down this season. In most of our games we've looked like we might get a draw at best. Piss poor squad with no creativity and in addition to that a poor manager with no real idea how to make the most of such a poor squad either.

Maybe if the board didn't keep undermining him he'd have succeeded - best chance we had in years and we made amateur mistakes on deadline day two years running and sold his best player for half his market value whilst reinvesting none of it.

This is an interesting point to me. All that talk from Gestede about increasing the minutes of homegrown players but we've turfed them all out, so I've no idea where they're planning on making the gap up.

I look at that team and I feel nothing. I don't think I've ever felt less of a connection to the squad. Almost feels like on of the old Pro Evo made up squads.

For me Baradji is the type of signing that would be fine if he was adding depth to bulk out a strong squad. Unfortunately instead we have let all of our experience go and expect players like this to come in and replace them. Looks good in the highlight reel, but ultimately is another so-so player from a team relegated from a mid-strength at best league. In addition the injury issue could mean it's a complete waste of a signing anyway. These are always going to be gambles and are targets purely because they're cheap - some will work, some won't. A lot of our fans are lapping this strategy up as some stroke of genius but for me this is arguably the worst squad we've had under Venky's.

A good player =/= a good captain. I'm not going to write him off as a captain just yet but based on his history of a Rovers player so far I don't see how he is a logical choice at all. Well, apart from the fact we're pushing anyone who would be a better choice out of the club.

Honestly looking at the current crop that are in and around the team... too many. We've sold any of them that are actually good enough for this level.

Dom Hyam v Bristol City, Shane Duffy v Cardiff maybe? Though you could argue they'd be 0/10