Lancaster Rover

Tavares in midfield giving them license to do whatever they like through the middle of the pitch.

I think the lack of reacting to pressing triggers are the main reason Gueye is out in the cold with VI, Ohashi is incredibly diligent when it comes to his off the ball duties which is one of the main reasons I think he's been preferred thus far, that and Gueye couldn't hit a barn door

If we had kept Travis I thought 3 - box - 3 would work quite well, getting 2 10's on the pitch and using the full backs for width as we've not got much quality out wide. With the sales we've made and the personnel we have 4-2-3-1 is the most obvious choice to persevere with, although with Cantwell often dropping deep it's more of a 4-2-1-2-1

Wharton's injury problems look very similar to the problems Pedri had after playing so many games whilst his body was still maturing. It's taken Pedri several years to have a consistent season form and injury wise.

Biggest shock in all of this is the realistation we paid 1.5 million for Gueye. In my head we'd got him for 500k or something

Don't feel this got enough credit, very subtle

most clubs will loan players within a 50 mile radius then they can still have the player train with them 1 day a week, not sure if it applies at Rovers but a lot of the other local clubs operated that way for a long time. Although saying that we've sent a few players to the SPL in recent times, but I think the ones who went up were going at a point in their youth careers when it looked as if they were off. Thinking of Vale and the left back we sent to Motherwell

They tend to not have anything to do with negotiations, they are the go between when the loan is active. They go and watch the players, deal with the analysts from host club, liaise with physio's and medical staff on physical development and work with the coaching staff.

Charlie Adam was loans manager at Burnley for a good while. I'd be very surprised if Rhodes hasn't done several badges already, the PFA offer fully funded B license courses to all senior players, most are able to undertake the practicals, etc at their own clubs. All scholars complete C license as part of their EFL/PL education package.

I'd argue that any player with an ounce of football intelligence/quality would do as I've said above. Nobody coaches you to clamp someone on the halfway line to stop a last minute breakaway, a winners mentality and professional intelligence makes you do it. Did anyone tell Lee Williamson to whollop Ings in the dying moments, no he knew to do it

The Brum game is a brilliant example of the difference between top players at this level and what we've got. With top players/winners that corner get's played short in a corner and we aim to win endless throw in's, draw a foul, etc ending any momentum that Brum had built with a late equaliser. If for some unfathomable reason you insist on crossing it in, prepare for a transition. Thirdly if all those options fail then someone takes responsibility and clamps their player on the half way line and takes a booking. We did none of the above, Hyam (formerly of this parish) makes an awful attempt at bringing their man down and Tavares proceeds to jog alongside their man into the corner and inexplicably lets him cross.

The key is going to be getting players around Gudjohnssen if he is playing the hold up man role, whilst I think Cantwell has improved his performances considerably so far he spends a lot of time in deeper positions so unlikely to be immediately around Gudjohnssen. Same goes for the two wide players in Hedges and Kargbo, Hedges drifts in and plays in the 10 more than Kargbo for sure but he's not a natural finisher. Kargbo looks to get behind but again we need someone off Gudjohnssen to play the up-back and through ball to an on rushing Kargbo. Can only hope that Morishita is good at playing off a target man.

Miller looks like a walking red card to me

He did it at Boro too if I remember rightly, downed tools towards the end of his spell there. All points to his character being that of an arrogant and self important man.

Someone should ask Rudy whether he was on more than 10k as a Rovers player or the club he left to join and whether if he were still a player now would be sign for 10K.

Personally see it as a 1 or 2/10 at best looking at the window as a whole. The squad looks significantly weaker across the board and in terms of problem positions none have been addressed or a superior replacement brought in for a departing player. I look at the incomings and question how many would have got in last years starting 11 pre-christmas. Not only are the new players (IMO) weaker technically than their predecessors they are significantly weaker in terms of senior minutes played at an equivalent or higher level, which is of more worry to me personally given the demands of the championship.

Gestede is clearly an incredibly arrogant man, we’re talking Trump levels IMO. He showed it as a player and now with greater power showing his true colours on a daily basis. I genuinely think he believes himself to be some sort of recruitment genius and that these players will turn out to be stellar signings he can sell for profit, and if not I’m sure he benefits in the same way Kean and pals did from random European transfers.

Be more painful for us watching us get whalloped all over and paying for the privilege. They don’t care, they’ll still get 15k a month in their bank from rovers, which is all they care about

I'm sure I saw on another thread that it's Jordan Rhodes coming in as a finishing coach

if Wrexham have genuinely offered 2m he's as good as gone, Pasha will class it as a good fee recouped. They will believe they can get by with Miller at CB alongside McLoughlin. If it weren't all so predictable it would be funny

Not sure about the playing time but we defo won't pay the 10k wages It really does have that feel doesn't it

He seems to be on podcasts quite regularly. Quite a few of that team are, terrible listening as the Coyle stories are an awful listen

I didn't include him as I was putting him in the Tronstad boat of being decent (albeit fleetingly and very injury prone). Trying to make my point about the lack of quality we have now (and then) if our sole decent midfielder gets injured

I just looked at the relegation team from 16/17 and a an injury to Tronstad puts us very much in the realms of Hope Akpan, Jason Lowe and Danny Guthrie

Alan Browne would have been a fantastic signing given his experience and quality, the way it was dismissed totally out of hand in the post match interview tells me everything I need to know.