Can't pretend to be overly excited about Caulker, but then again I'm on the fence about needing a second centre back coming in (unless we want to play 3 at the back).

If Caulker is cheap back up and comes in alongside a SVDB or Hyam, then it could be a shrewd move.

54 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Wonder if TM in the frame for the Stoke job 

If the job is to stabilise a badly underperforming team, they could do plenty worse for me. Obviously not as a long term solution though. 

1 minute ago, Theaxe15 said:

Their injury problems are that bad?? Wow. Getting that feeling I got before the Hull game at the end of last year (before it got postponed and our season nosedived)

Very bad. They've actually got some handy players when fit. Joao, Ejaria & Meite would all worry me plenty if they were playing. 

They still have some solid pros who are fit. Shane Long is there now, and they've got Tom Ince and Hoillett. On paper though, we should do them. 

Just now, bluebruce said:

It's not just about what we've invested into him though. We invest into the academy as a whole in the hope of producing gems like him, and Raya, and there is a whole lot of wasted investment that falls by the wayside. Granted, we currently have a lot coming through and the academy is paying for itself indirectly regardless of Phillips, but we only have about 4.5-5 million of direct money from the last few years (Raya 3m, Wright 1m, Mahoney 500k-1m...maybe a touch extra from Raya's clauses). Prior to recent years we had a serious dry patch for a long time. Point being, we need to be able to capitalise on the good uns, and it's really not fair that due to a rigged system we are losing seriously valuable talent when it has barely played for us (or in Wright's case, before). Of course we have also lost a bit (Lenihan, Nyambe) for nowt due to our own sheer incompetence and that part's on us. But it is going to seriously hurt if we get about a million or two for Phillips then see him go on to become an England legend.

Completely agree. When I say fair investment, I mean from the perspective of what Phillips owes us rather than us rather than what we as a club should be looking for in normal circumstances.

4 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

On paper, this is certainly the easiest of our opening 5 league games. We have a 100% record. They're managed by Paul Ince, a disaster at Rovers, and some ex Rovers players thrown in (I make it 4 in their squad), only three days after a gruelling, hot match against a good side, and we're away...I've seen this script before.

Banana skin written all over it. First dropped points of the season. I'm going to predict a draw. 10 points from 12 will still represent an excellent return. Joao to score if he plays.

Injured, fortunately. 

I'd share your worries had their injury list not been as terrible as it is. There's a chance they won't have a single senior outfield player on the bench - we should be beating them really. 

7 minutes ago, imy9 said:

I used the word ‘disgusting’ because as someone who loves club, I feel this would be a betrayal- am I right in thinking he is a fan too? I am rarely annoyed but this story has vexed me so perhaps this explains the hyperbole in my language!
 

if what lanc live is correct then he has done what I think anyone in his position should do, sign a deal, negotiate playing time and then by the time you get to 21 you will be in an ideal position to get a big club to sign you and more importantly play you. I also think with Ayala and Wharton plus another two centre halfs, he is 5th choice but will still play 10-15 games this season.

I don't think he is a Rovers fan to be honest, although I could be wrong. 

Don't get me wrong, I would also be gutted if he were to go for peanuts, and I posted a couple of days ago that I think he should do (for his own sake) something similar to what Bellingham did at Birmingham.

All I'm saying is that whilst he does owe us to an extent for the work we've put in behind the scenes, it's potentially a big gamble in the face of a (potentially) huge financial offer from a club that competes for Champions League places. If we were to sell him now then we would likely get a couple of million or him, which is obviously a snip compared to his value, but is a fair return on the investment that we've put in to develop him. 

I think he could leave with a fairly clean conscience in those circumstances - even if the system itself is rigged. Hopefully it'll all be academic anyway because he'll sign the new deal and we can start building the statue!

Seriously hope this turns out to be right.

Huge feather in the cap to the new lad at Lancs Live too. Doesn't seem like we get the big news from the local outlets much these days. 

25 minutes ago, imy9 said:

My two pennies…

I am disappointed in Phillips, people saying that you don’t blame him…we have nurtured and developed him for how many years? We have given him a first team shot, we have taken care of him and for him not to show us any loyalty aged 17 is frankly disgusting on his part.

Sign a three year deal, if you back yourself then you will be in the first 11 with us and a pl team will sign you up. Realistically what happens now? He signs for Spurs and what plays for the first team? No he will play reserve football or get loaned out, is it not better to do that with us?

If we can get a few million and a healthy sell on, get rid now. I do have a feeling that he will sign for Spurs and then stay with us for the season. Unlike a few on here I would keep him, why cut off your nose to spite your face?

Entitled to your opinion of course - but I think disgusting is OTT.

The only thing that the lad can do in this situation to pay us back for what we have done for him is reject Spurs' offer and back himself to get another one further down the line. I don't care how talented you are, how much self belief you have, that is a big gamble when you've made a couple of professional appearances and you're an injury away from disaster. 

I wouldn't be averse to having him around if Spurs don't want him straight away. But I wouldn't actively look to get him back on loan as a part of any negotiation. As good as I'm sure he will be - he's only playing now due to a pretty extraordinary set of circumstances. 

1 minute ago, Tricky said:

Maybe should look into loaning him back for the rest of the season, he's not going to see more than the bench at Spurs for a while. 

As much as we're going through a crisis there now, we're obviously looking to bring at least one defender in, and in a fortnight will have Wharton and Carter back. 

That would put Phillips as at best fourth choice, and that's only if you put him ahead of Carter, which given that he is still our player, we definitely shouldn't do in my opinion.

If he goes, get the best deal that we can and let him go for me. 

3 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

If BBD goes it will be because he is considered good enough to play Premier League football ; replacing a player of that level will be very difficult for a Championship club.

Yes - technically he's not irreplaceable but the idea of getting in a player who will be as good straight away seems fanciful. He's developed into a brilliant player at this level.

1 minute ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

How are Stoke signing Liam Delap on loan? I thought he’d be off to a lower PL club - Southampton had huge bids for him rejected recently. Not long after signing Dwight Gale too.

I think family connections probably helped there. 

2 minutes ago, islander200 said:

If Phillips leaves for Spurs or another team then I wish him No Ill will but under no circumstances should we taking him back on loan for the season 

100% Give Carter a shot.

3 minutes ago, roverstdt said:

I find it sad that some of the comments on here are people are wishing ill of a 17 year old boy who could set up his family for life. He owes us absolutely nothing, nada, zilch, if we could all offer the same luxuries that he can with a move why shoudn't he do it? If we get 3m or so for an unproven youngster i would take no matter what he can do, you just don't know what can happen. Put a sale on clause and see what he can do. 

I wouldn't say that he owes us nothing - but obviously that comes nowhere near as a priority compared to what he can do for his family and career. I'm splitting hairs a bit though, I completely agree that wishing him ill in these circumstances is uncalled for. 

It's a kick in the teeth though, to be sure. 

6 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Khadra was miles and miles better than Poveda.

Not sure, in the Sheffield United game at Ewood, Poveda was streets ahead. Khadra got his deflected goal and caused issues with his pace - but was forever giving the ball away. Shame that Poveda got injured so soon afterwards, it would've been nice to see how he performed over a longer period. 

Simply not enough. At least five million short.

3 minutes ago, smiller14 said:

I think a lot of the people are the same - I treat XG in the same way people casually talk about possession stats/shots etc. It doesn't dictate my view of the game but is quite interesting and I was shocked how predictive it ended up being last year (by and large). I do think it's flawed though and doesn't always reflect how a game's gone. I don't think XG would ever change my opinion of a game and I only really find it mildly interesting when there's a larger pool of data. 

Back on the game itself, I'm quietly confident but wary they may be a bit of a wounded animal. Either way, we have the quality to beat them and if we score early I'm confident of a pretty comfortable 3-0 win. No easy games in this league but this certainly isn't one to fear. 

That's pretty much how I see it. They have a handful of experienced pros who - whilst I wouldn't have them at Rovers - have decent ability and if their tails are up after the weekend could cause us some problems.

But if we're being honest, we should be looking at their injury list and performance vs Rotherham and be licking our lips. Huge opportunity for four wins out of four. 

36 minutes ago, JoeH said:

The model removes almost all subjectivity, that's the quality of it. It takes into account all the factors & gives you a tangible, objective figure from 0.0 to 1.0 for how likely a shot is to end in a goal. The models are extremely intricate and take 1000's of shots to create.

Without wanting to derail the thread, does this mean that the data which goes into xG is entirely made up from the shots a team takes, and not other things (e.g. attacks which don't end up in a shot on goal)?

I'm thinking of Wharton taking the ball of Obafemi's toe vs Swansea for what would be a near certain tap in. I'm not suggesting that this makes xG any less valid! But for an individual game it would be useful to have a similar model which takes chances without shots into consideration - not sure if they exist or not. 

2 minutes ago, blackburnravers.com said:

Schalke are in the Bundesliga

So they are - hadn't realised they were promoted last season!

Naby Sarr appears to have missed the deadline to be able to sign in time for tomorrows game. He's not exactly Franco Baresi, but he definitely would've improved their defence. 

16 minutes ago, Mike E said:

How can we be lowest xG, yet have the highest GD? Bullshit statistic.

Partially because we've also conceded the lowest xG!

I half agree - I think over the course of a few months or a full season it can be quite informative. At this stage when you've got such a small number of cases it's ridiculous to draw any proper conclusions from it.

Just now, JoeH said:

If they operate a high line like that and commit 8 bodies forward in their press as you can see here against us on Wednesday, we're nailed on to get goals.

On course to rocket up that xG table!

First goal could be even more important than usual in this, I think. They'll be desperate to right some wrongs, but they will be fragile with their personnel missing and after such a poor defeat. 

1 minute ago, blue'n white said:

Marius Lode just been released from his contract with Schalke 04. Worked with Broughton at Bodø. Very good player when played correctly. 

Won't pretend to know anything about him, but I wonder why he has been released? Especially with Schalke still being in the second division.

2 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

I don't think so really if we view him as a first team player. We pay our first team players more than Prem teams pay their U23s.

I'm guessing, but it wouldn't shock me if some of Spurs' U23s are on similar money to the likes of Wharton or Pickering. 

8 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Is he likely to get a significantly better gig than Rovers anywhere else?

Genuine question as I'm not sure he would.  Bit of a gamble but I think it could be a bit of an inspired signing on the right money, adds a bit of experience and could cover various positions. I would actually have preferred him in January to add a touch of experience to get us over the line.

I don't know, but I think he would arguably be a better signing for a lower league Prem club than a Championship club, strangely. Playing once a week for a team who defends deep will be less likely to see him pick up injuries and play to his strengths compared to the relentlessness of the Championship.