Great result, thought we were going to get smashed! Need to grind a few more points out. 

Just a bit of fun, or not..

Call me a pessimist but I don't see why we'd pick up a win out of our last few games- even then it looks like a couple of draws see's us (hopefully) limp over the line.  We're a poor side and I'm not entirely convinced we will stay up looking at the fixtures of sides around us. 


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I think Ayari looks a player too- only small but very aggressive, tenacious, skillful and can carry the ball. Can see why Brighton thought he might be worth a gamble.

We will get absolutely decimated.  Rothwell will make mince meat of us.  A motivated Southampton to beat a cautious Rovers 0-5... I think we've got a very poor squad which is reflected in our league position.  

I'd have Poveda back in a heartbeat. Fast, skillful and bags of pace- everything this side lacks- get another lad like that on the other flank, a ball carrying centre mid, two new strikers, a keeper, right back, left back and an extra body in centre mid and we'll be in with a chance of finishing 2nd bottom instead of rock bottom. 

Let's just calm down a bit..  He's won one game. A lot of the games he's had were against sides around us too..  He'll have to do a lot more to convince me..  Hopefully he proves me wrong as if I am wrong that means Rovers are successful..     Without major investment any manager is going to struggle though. 

What a bad, bad side Sunderland are! I didn't see us winning another game this season, thanks for the easiest 3 points of the season.. 

Draw at best.

A few seasons ago we had Dack, Rothwell, Khadra, Arma, Brereton

You've got Brittain- all style, no substance.  He's physically not a scratch on Nyambe, should have had a penalty against us for the stupid shirt pull against Ipswich..

Bell is off playing regular football in the Premier League- I don't mind Pickering though to be fair.

Hyam, who looked good last season looks like his legs have gone this year- massive step down from Lenihan, who incidentally I didn't rate that highly..  Fortunately Carter has grown and Wharton is looking decent again..

Rothwell has not been replaced- Rovers fans crack me up saying he was wank- best ball carrying midfielder in the division easily- you're now shoe-horning JRC, a great inverted full back, into his position ..

We've no creativity, guile, pace or skill in the side at all, other than Szmodic. 

Carter, Wharton, Szmodic..  The rest are league one players.

You can't lose: Armstrong, Brereton,  Rothwell, Wharton, Dack, & Graham and not replace them. Then you've the problem of loans papering over the cracks- Khadra, Van Hecke etc were brilliant loans. Then this is compounded by letting good players go and replacing them with shite: Hyam, Brittain, Wahlsted..

Then you've let the experienced heads of your Bradley Johnsons, Bennetts, Evans, all who had an affinity with the club leave and not replaced them either.

You're left with a bunch of shit loans, youth players and substandard crap- we're an awful side and it's all down to the lack of reinvestment that's been going on for years.

Palace fans are waxing lyrical on their forum over Wharton.. I do hope we've got some decent add-ons but very much doubt it.

I wonder whether 4-1-2-1-2 might work:

Pears

Pickering
Brittain
Hyam
New Lad

Trondstadt

Buckley
Ayari

Szmodic

Gallagher
Dolan


Have one of the forwards providing width down the side we're attacking with the other more central.. Could also play more direct with two strikers- loose balls to Szmodics.

Rather Damien Johnson get a go or a Warnock/Hughes given a go. This guy's fucking dreadful. Easiest run of games of the season. We're going down.

I thought we'd go down last season.. JDT defied the odds, whilst having more than an ample slice of luck. Our XG was disgusting, we were a complete fluke..  When you remove Kaminski, Brereton, Ayala, Travis out the mix we're gonners.   

Anyone that thinks a side that's lost the following and not reinvested, then sold key players from within that have stepped are delusional..

Kaminski

Nyambe

Lenihan

Ayala

Bell

Rothwell

Wharton

Brereton

Armstrong

Contrast the quality there with the shite we have left and it all becomes clear.. BAAAAAAD side.  I'd be shocked if we stayed up.

Eustace has come in his new manager bounce has been what?  When Coyle was here we put a good show on against Utd at home in the FA cup- still went down and we had much more quality then than we do now..

In deep shit, I fear for the club if we go down this season.  Shocking state of affairs but it was long on the cards.

Whilst nobody shamed themselve against Newcastles expensive assembled misfits these stuck out to me:


Wharton was outstanding!

Pears outstanding!

Buckley has come  back a new player, pressing and busting a gut- we'd be fucked without him

Really impressed with Ayari.  He's got some real bite and aggression. If he keeps that up I'd try and sign him- put a sell on fee on top of a modest transfer.

That Liverpool lad looks really handy- an absolute unit.

Brittain, Sigurdsson and Garrett I feel can do better...
 

Good shout that.: 

                                           Trondstadt 


                             Sigurdsson                     Buckley

                                          

                                                Szomdic 


            Dolan                                                           Gallagher


Like a 4-1-2-1-2 

When attacking you could have the forward on the active side move wide to act as a wide forward, opposite comes over, Szmodic joins the attack with Siggurdson suporting.

Imagine we'd get absolutely battered when defending though. Poor side,

                                      

1 hour ago, superniko said:

I guess they're good when the original sale is well under the true price, because it is based on profit.

Prime example being Raya (or Adam Armstrong for Newcastle). We sold Raya for less than his value, so much so that we'll get more from the sell on % than the original fee.

Selling Wharton for £22m, we're not going to get much given it's 15% of the profit Palace make.

There's been some ludicrous decision- selling Raya for what we did being just one!

Does anyone know what our net spend since Venkys is vs net incomings? Off the top of my head we've bombed out some decent players..

P.Jones: 20m
Samba: 10m
Hanley: 5m
Wharton: 18m
Raya: 3m
Armstrong: 15m (?)

The only transfers of note that jump out to me are Brereton and Gallagher..
 

Surely we've made more from selling then we've spent over the past decade?

Would love to see what the wage bill was and what is now too..

Always though that Wharton lacked the engine and pace to be a top player- could be wrong.  He has such a lazy demeanour though,  there's absolutely no urgency in anything he does. Drives me mad. Whilst I enjoyed seeing him in a Rovers shirt if I was looking at centre mids he'd def not tick enough boxes to spend £22 million on.

My issue with Buckley is his workrate. He remind me a lot of Wharton, strolls around the pitch- always thought he just needs a rocket up his arse. But technically he's good, quite creative, can tackle and intercept and more often than not is in the right place at the right time so is quite involved in games. Garrett is very aggressive and does have something about him for sure but often goes missing/isn't heavily involved for long periods. I think this is down to a lack of positional awareness. 

I'd have said 

Trondstadt, Buckley, Travis would have been reasonable enough, Trondstadt, Buckley, Garrett to me, looks like a car crash. Especially coupled with lack of a genuine target man pace out wide. 

Dreadful football, dreadful side.  Feel like this is the perfect storm to see us go down... Amazing, selling your best players and not replacing them.. Who'd have thought! I'd be more shocked if we stayed up. Shocking side. 

Kaminski, Bell, Nyambe, Lenihan, Ayala, Rothwell, Travis, Wharton, Brereton, Armstrong..  We've not adequately replaced a single one of those.  Wonderful stuff!  

Awful disjointed performance.   Absolutely no foot-hold on the game. Going down.

Are we on Rovers TV today? Clicked streaming options and it's still showing Birmingham for £10

Still gutted about JDT leaving and after yesterday feel like we've lost our identity..   Always positive, always playing the right way..  Hampered massively by injuries, inheriting a depleted squad from Mogga before having the remaining jewels sold off from under him.. I can't get behind this shit,  it's grim, club feels like a hollowed out shell.   Eustace has only been here a few days and we've reverted to I don't know what..   Dark days!

Now we look like a side without any identity at all... Dreadful stuff. Sure, go long at times but, Jesus!  Come on, we're capable of playing it out too. From one extreme to the other. Really disjointed, disappointing half of football. Play it out from the back, draw the buggers in then hit them.

1 minute ago, NeilInBristol said:

Rothwell game changer. Causing chaos 

Rothwell is a gem, Premier League player- ruined his career leaving United when he did..

Just seen this on a Rovers Facebook group..

12 minutes ago, roverblue said:

The same squad finished 7th last year with the only regular difference being Brereton. People need to stop making excuses for the manager, some of you on here are in complete denial about where this ends if they don’t change him.

I sincerely expected last season to be like this.. 

The only difference is we had a top keeper. Our XG and predicted position was dreadful. We were winning games we shouldn't.

Remove Breo, Travis, Kaminski out of the equation and you're in trouble. That's before you consider what losing both Dack and Breo, Travis and Buckley would have on the dressing room.  A decimated squad has been further decimated.