2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

I’d say going into Sunday the match going fans seemed content enough with him… but I think there’s a fair few doubts creeping in now.

Not sure that makes him ‘unpopular’, but then this is Rovers fans, they loved Mogga, never took to JDT, so who knows!

I think both were a lot more complicated that that! Mowbray had spells where he was loved but he was fortunate the covid season was behind closed doors. Wasn't there a poll on here (highly unrepresentative, granted) around then that showed about 99% wanted him gone? I never got the sense that match going fans were anything other than very supportive of JDT either, although to be fair there were plenty that were never really convinced about playing out from the back.

On Eustace, I agree that there definitely seem to be some grumblings on the last few home games' evidence. Fair or not, it's probably to be expected when you're not winning. I'm a season ticket holder who does a few aways, and I've not seen us win since November, so nobody's going to be happy in those circumstances.

I think he'll get a clean(ish) slate from a lot of fans so long as we stay up. Everyone can see that the squad has issues and he came into a pretty grim situation, so whilst this hasn't exactly been a Hughes/Big Sam-esque rescue, if we can stumble over the line he can be judged a bit more fairly next season.

36 minutes ago, philipl said:

No matter how we approach this game, it is an absolutely must win for Wednesday.

That should make it very open.

I would stick with 3 at the back to counter the alehouse tactics from Wednesday freekicks, throwins and corners.

Agree - their results have improved but everything I've seen of them (including when we lost at Hillsborough) indicates that they are a very poor side. 

They were getting absolutely battered by Norwich until they scored from two corners, so I'd match them with three centre backs and back us to have more quality. 

Good to hear that Vale is impressing. He turns 24 next year, so I think it's best for all concerned that he goes elsewhere to play regular games. We won't get much for him, but maybe a couple of hundred grand and a decent sell on is better than we would've managed in January. 

4 minutes ago, Neal said:

Bacuna is pony. Flatters to deceive, looks a worldie when on it but it's few and far between. Sh*te mentality. There's probably a manager that can squeeze the talent out of him somewhere though. 

For some reason I expected him to be a sicknote, but I've looked again and he seems to have played near enough every game. 

I must've seen him on his good days, and his goals probably helps mask some of the weaker aspects to his game. I like how physical he is - it's really stood out comparing him to some of our midfielders when we've played them. 

7 minutes ago, B16Rover said:

Of those I think wages wise we are priced out of Stoke players, potentially Blues players too due to their new owners.  Just chucking names into the ether 

Some interesting ones there. As a rule I don't like going for players just relegated and used to losing every week, but that doesn't always work. 

I don't think they'll go down, but there are massive red flags around Chair and especially Willock from QPR. Talentwise they should both be amongst the best players in the league (and might be beyond our reach), but they've looked like they've downed tools for really long spells over the last few years. Risky. 

I'd definitely be interested in James and Bacuna from Big Club. There'll be loads of interest in James though with him being so young. 

Don't think I'd take anyone from Wednesday. Rathbone stands out because of his name and that he always seems to do well against us, but he's older than I thought he was. Wouldn't be against signing him for the right price. 

2 minutes ago, Waggy76 said:

It is only a few times , I have seen him but the Rotherham keeper is better than anything we have ...

Granted a relegation keeper is always busy ..

Doesn't appear to make the howlers , ours do ..

I think he'll be in the Championship next year. No idea of what he'll cost (£1million?) or if we'll be interested, but he's a good keeper. 

1 hour ago, J*B said:

Priority List - 

Keeper: Pears & Leo both shown they're incapable at different periods. Leo will likely stay and develop as No2, can't see Pears ego letting him stay as No2. Sell Pears, buy a No1.

RB: We only have one right back. Brittain needs competition. 

CB: Don't want either Koumetio or McFadz and we need five CBs in the squad. Carter, Hyam, NEW, Wharton, ORoirdon. 

LB: Pickering is our only left back. If possible I'd sign Christene, I think he's significantly better than Pickering.

CM: Existing viable options are Tronstad, JRC, Buckley. Will Travis come back? Based on what we've seen it'll either be Tronstad or Travis, will Travis accept that? Will Buckley ever come good? I don't want: Fleck, Garrett or Ayari. That means I need at least one creative CM with another needed if Travis doesn't want to stay.

Wide Players: Unlike others, I've been really impressed with Sigurdsson. He didn't have a pre-season and clearly signed for JDT who was subsequently forced out. I like Dolan, he can be frustrating but he's capable. Hedges is a very good player to keep within the squad. I make that three players and ideally want four. Hopefully Markanday is sold, he's shown glimpses but in the most part has been terrible. 

Strikers: Szmodics is obviously vital to our club. Gallagher should be sold in the summer - he has his positives but his contract is running out, he clearly wanted the Ipswich move and he's never achieved stats to back up what we paid for him initially nor his high contract. Telalovic and Vale need to be sold, frankly I'd be fine seeing both released on a free. 

I therefore think across signings, loans and promotions we need to fill the below, colour coded as 'green = must be experienced and permanent, yellow = could be a short term loan with a buy option, red = could be a young player either purchased or promoted'.

I tried to think of how I'd look at our priorities in the summer, but I'm struggling because so much of it depends on if/how we decide we want to play.

We talk a lot on here about whether player X, Y or Z is good enough, but I think a bigger problem we have is that we have a squad that clearly haven't been assembled to fit a certain way of playing. Letting Travis go on loan was a shocking decision, but then there's no point keeping him if we want our midfielders to play like Wharton. Similarly, there's no point in keeping Gallagher if we're not going to play to his strengths (which then wouldn't really suit Dolan and Markanday, etc.). I don't especially care how we play, just so long as we start recruiting in a way which is a bit less scattergun and more strategic. 

Having said all that, I think you're completely right about needing a new keeper, and we're at least one full back short. I don't hate our midfield options if we're  going to be playing a more Travis-friendly game. We need another centre back if we're playing 3 there, but Hyam Wharton and Carter are all decent options in a standard set-up and I wouldn't be spending our limited resources on an upgrade. The big question marks are in attack. We definitely need more quality there to either help or replace Szmodics, but who we go for (and who we let go) for me is a function of how we want to play.

Must say that you rate Siggy more highly than I do. He has ability, but he lets far too many games pass him by. Beyond his fairly average goal return, I don't think he's contributed anything really. 

19 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Bit young to remember that but didn’t shay given go about that time. Does anyone remember what happened with that ?

To be fair I was only about 7 or 8 myself. I'm sure it didn't take long for those at the time to realise it was bad deal, but I think it's only with hindsight you realise *just* how bad it was. It's the equivalent now of spending well upwards of £50 million (probably more) on a dud whilst at the same time giving away a Rovers fan who ended up playing for England just a couple of years later. An absolute scandal.

Given I think was much more forgivable. It was a couple of years earlier and he couldn't get a game when Flowers was fit, so didn't sign a new deal. 

12 hours ago, 47er said:

James Beattie! What a fiasco that was!

I'm still angry about that. When you take inflation into consideration, it must be up there as one of the worst bits of business in the PL era. 

17 minutes ago, Ghost7 said:

Let's not pretend the grounds with the biggest crowds are the easiest places to play. It might not work because Wednesday are shit but 7,000 fans should spur them on and Waggott couldn't care less. It's a bonus we didn't need to give them.

Cause and effect going on there though. Maybe the grounds with the biggest crowds are also the clubs that can afford to buy the best players?

I'm pretty sceptical of massive away followings making much of a difference. How many times have we brought 4 - 6k to PNE, Wigan and Bolton over the last ten years or so and still underperformed? I'm just looking forward to seeing Ewood a bit more full to honest. 

12 hours ago, rovers11 said:

There surely can be no excuses for not spending money this summer. We are told that Venkys can now send money across, barring some small "minor technical challenges"; we sold Wharton for £22m; are getting circa £4m for Raya; more TV money to the tune of around £2m; and Sammie will go for around £10-12m. That's £40m+ in revenue. I know most of that is paid in instalments but we can also pay transfer fees in instalments too.

I fully expect a summer of spending buttons, making administrative 'mistakes' on any transfer involving a fee, and signing non-entities like Telalovic, though. We are now purely all about developing young players and have been for some time. There's no ambition to get promoted. 

I wouldn't give a penny to Broughton anyway. I dread to think how much money he'd waste. His record in the transfer market is atrocious. Anyone who thinks we should pay a fee for Leo, our worst GK in history, clearly does not have an eye for a player. 

Hard to say that when he's not been given any serious money in the first place. Leo obviously wasn't ready, but the other significant fees paid for players since he's been here are Szmodics, Brittain and Hyam. The latter two have had their struggles this season, but it's hardly an atrocious record. 

There are a couple of dodgy loans and frees in there too I suppose, but that's to be expected when he isn't given any money to work with. And you'd set that against bringing in Tronstad on a free. 

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Think people are confusing brfcs with real life again.

Not sure I’ve heard a single negative comment about him ‘IRL’. All this ‘folk are against him because they see him as a Swag, appointment, a yes man’ is pure brfcs stuff. He seems more popular with match goers than JDT ever was already.

 

Agree generally, but I wouldn't go as far as to say he's more popular that JDT ever was. There were more shouts of Euseless near where I am in the BB end at the Ipswich game than I thought was fair, albeit they seemed like lone voices!

It seems like most are giving him quite a lot of rope this season, so long as we stay up. I certainly haven't made my mind up on him yet and I get the sense that most are broadly in the same boat. 

3 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Pace, pace, pace, pace, pace.

That's the difference between a lot of teams - Plymouth had it in spades so caused us all sorts of problems on the break. It's why they beat Leicester last night too. 

Definitely, I'd add power and general hold up play to that. We have attackers who have got something to offer at this level, but none of them really are effective out-balls. A player like Danny Graham, admittedly not a quick player, would see us get so much more from the likes of Dolan, Markanday etc.

1 minute ago, joey_big_nose said:

I think Hedges is one of our few players who I can see stepping up a level like Szmodics and Diaz have in the past. But his injury record is horrendous and he can't settle a run of a games. 

In terms of all round ability he's got a lot going for him - great workrate, strong, a goal threat, reasonable pace. He rarely does less than a 7/10 performance and the odd one better than that. How we get him to play more than half a dozen games in a row is the problem. Similar to JRC in that regard.

Pointing to his injury record is fair enough. Perhaps If he could strong together 15-20 appearances then he could kick on. 

I think goal threat is stretching it a bit though. At Aberdeen yes, but how many has he got for us since being here? A few, but not enough to say that's really a feature of his game. 7/10 most weeks, with reasonable pace and decent strength sums him up really well I think, but I'm not as optimistic as you that he has another level in him. 

Compare that to JRC, who you could really see as being a key player in a promotion chasing team if he could stay on the pitch. 

4 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

His best position is on the right. He has a good shot too, so when he can turn inside he can be dangerous

At the moment, comfortably in our best 11 for me. Last season, maybe not, but we have such a void in attacking talent at the moment and Hedges stands out for me as one of the best options

He's a better footballer than Sigurdsson in my eyes

Agree that he currently gets in our best team. Sigurdsson has been very disappointing so far, although his best moments suggest he might have more ability than Hedges (Watford goal aside!). Quite different players, admittedly. 

He's solid at this level. If he starts 30+ games on the right of a front three he'd probably have a half decent goal return and he'd set up a few. But I don't think there's any particular aspect of his game that I'd say is outstanding, even at Championship level. In fact you'd probably say the best thing about him is that he's well rounded and adaptable enough to do a job in lots of positions. But I think that sums him up, he does a job. 

1 hour ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Hedges is 100% in our best 11. He's probably the best footballer we have now. If he had Szmodics' natural fitness he'd be fantastic at this level

I don't think we'll have as much success this game as we did against Southampton. They aren't as slow on the ball, which allows us to get back in to shape. The way Eustace sets his team up suits the underdog more. In games where we should dominate the ball more, the lack of quality and attacking emphasis will show up more

Going to go for another bore draw

I'm lukewarm on Hedges. I don't think he really excels at anything in any position to be honest, but he's tidy enough on the ball and reasonably quick and broad shouldered. Lots of our other options are lacking either in size or ability, so he balances the team and doesn't go missing like others have the tendency to do.

I'm happy enough to have him in the squad, but if he's comfortably in our best XI then it doesn't say much about the rest of them to be honest. 

1 hour ago, benhben said:

How old is Buckley now? 23/24 with probably 100+ games at first team level. Hes no better than when he broke out of the U21s. Unfortunately I think we've got to realise hell never be an answer. Its telling that JDT and JE both dont seem to fancy him.

Might have a bit of transfer value that could be invested wisely....not that we can trust our lot to A. Give us the money and B. Invest it properly. 

He definitely is. We forget how raw Buckley looked until he had at least 50 or games under his belt. He's still flawed and inconsistent, but he was like a little boy when he was first in the team. 

You'd say that he hasn't really kicked on since Mowbray's last season when he started to look the business. Injuries and not being fancied by JDT didn't help, but he has to take responsibility too. Big season for him next time around, because you're right that he can't be considered a youngster anymore. 

2 hours ago, AJW said:

A win against Sheffield Wed and a point against Bristol City or Coventry will be enough 

I've found a situation where we go down with three draws - but I've had to be ultra generous to some of the other teams down there and even then we're only one point below where we need to be. 

Realistically I think 3 points vs Wednesday will do us, but 4 points however they come will be absolutely be enough bar a freakish set of results. 

2 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

Think we need 4 more and we get 7 including a win midweek

bristol - win

leeds- loss

sheff we’d- win

Coventry- draw

leicester- loss 

I know Cov are on great form, but I'd be targeting a win there because of the week they'll have beforehand. Play United at Wembley on the Sunday and then play again midweek before playing us on the Saturday. 

2 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He's not being asked to do as much. It suits his limited game. 

As much as some weren't impressed with his interview the other week, JDT's style of football must've been an absolute nightmare as a centre half. It's not even the passing out from the back as much as it is the positions you have to take up when we have the ball and the lack of protection you get from the midfield. 

It might still be worth it if you get more from other areas of the team, but I don't think any defender in the league would flourish in that system. 

Results elsewhere are showing how important last week was.

We can still see today as a step towards staying up with a point. Had we lost last week, and with other teams at the bottom picking up points, we'd probably be saying that draws against the likes of Southampton and Leeds/Leicester are not enough. 

4 hours ago, Bohinen1983 said:

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.

Exactly the sort of player who if we signed on a 4 year deal, we'd be absolutely delighted. A 6 month loan when you're in a dog fight, it feels a lot more like he's just making mistakes on your time.

Having said that, he too is winning me round. He looks very, very green in terms of his game awareness I think, but that's understandable. I think it goes to show how tricky it is to bring in good quality loans who from the get-go are only ever likely to be squad players. 

39 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Therefore with players coming back from injury I expected it should have been fairly easy with the fixtures to stay up. I know we needed to tighten up at the back, but the football we were playing went so sharply backwards with little goal threat is was alarming. Add in 0 wins and its no surprise fans were restless. The last few games had shown improvement and then once we went in front at Sunderland we were excellent.

My issue with Eustace has always been he should keep this squad up. Yet people were talking like if we go down it wasn't his fault. Like he needs to be a magician to turn this squad back to even half of the form we showed up until Christmas.  That's where I disagree. Relegation would be a huge failure by him. If he keeps us up by 1 point or by 10 points, that is irrelevant.

Agree with quite a lot of this, but I'd add a couple of caveats.

The first is that when you've had 18 months being so committed a particular style of play like we were under JDT, you can't just unlearn that overnight and start afresh. You have to try as best you can, but it's not a simple transition to from that to a completely different way of playing without a decent amount of time on the training pitch. And that's the second point, we were playing Saturday - Tuesday - Saturday since his arrival until after Plymouth, meaning the last three games were the only genuine chances to see the fruits of his labour in my view. And like you say, there's been an improvement there. 

It would still be a big failure on his part if we were to actually get relegated. He hasn't been dealt *that* bad a hand. But it was a bad one nonetheless. I think we've seen how important playing Wharton and Trondstad together was to our early season form for instance. If he keeps us up, as it looks like he will, he'll start with pretty much a clean slate from me next year and we'll see what he can do with a full pre-season and with any luck a better squad. 

36 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

I actually don't think he'd cost too much. £500-750k?

Doubt it to be honest. I think if they view him as having even the slightest chance of making their first team squad in the next couple of years, then they'll want more money than any club would realistically be willing to pay. Even if they don't see him as a future player for them, they'll probably be looking to loan him out for another 12 months to get more value out of selling him next year. 

1 hour ago, Darwen Rover 007 said:

Agreed looks a good player, I like him 

I'd be amazed if signing him permanently would be an option - prem teams don't give away their kids who don't quite make it as readily as they used to. 

He's really growing on me though. I had a downer on both him and Ayari after their first few appearances. They looked far too green to come into the situation we found ourselves in. Physically he looks great though and he has improved markedly not he's getting used to the Championship. Even another 12 month loan would be worth exploring.