Just now, Stuart said:

Slavan Bilic has just broken the golden rule and made a great point about the negative effect our broadcast media has on England.

I paraphrase but: ”Why do you always show clips of England players missing penalties or John Terry crying on the pitch or Joe Hart, with music like from The Omen? The players always watch this before games” He went on to make a bigger deal about it but that was nail on the head.

We always highlight failure. It’s like we have to wallow in pity and mourning all the time. Why can’t they promote our good results or moments?

I wonder how this compares to other countries.

Apparently the Brazilian, Italian, French and Spanish press & broadcasters can be brutal at times, but I guess that it might be slightly easier to shrug off if you've got a recent history of success. 

2 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Man for man, really how much do any of you know about Colombia bar their 2-3 big name players. Come on now, be honest  sounds like some are getting ahead of themselves to me, but best of luck to ye anyway 

To be fair, about half of their team are well known to European fans. In any case, we can get a sense of the pedigree of the squad even if we haven't seen all of them play.

D. Sanchez is quality for his age, but wouldn't be getting in our squad yet if he was English. C. Sanchez didn’t play every week for Villa when they were awful. Ospina’s a good shot stopper but an accident waiting to happen beyond that. Believe that Falcao has started scoring again now he's back at Monaco, but hardly the most competitive league in the world. Hard worker and a good finisher, not someone to be overly scared of. Rodriguez & Cuadrado are clearly good players, but England have some too (at least of the same level as Cuadrado).

England have lost to worse teams! But it's not getting ahead of ourselves to say we should be favourites to get to the quarters if this is the best that we have to play.

Watch us lose to Panama now I've said all that

6 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

You need to be avoiding Colombia next round. I couldn't see you beating them 

Colombia are a very handy side, but I think you'd still have to make England favourites on paper (I know that's been said before about 100 times!).

Route to the quarters looks very manageable. After that...  

7 minutes ago, rog of the rovers said:

Premier League fixtures released

Burnley are away 11th August, likely meaning Rovers are at home that day, giving us most likely an away fixture on the opening day 4th August. My guess would be that we'll end the season at home.

Burnley are also at home on Boxing Day, meaning Rovers likely away that day too. Away Boxing Day, would mean home New Years Day 2019.

Hope it works out that way, always prefer the away xmas game to fall on boxing day than New Years. 

Just now, Mattyblue said:

As he brought it it up.

Of the new-ish  pundits, I just don’t get Jenas, he’s is never off the TV and radio, total wet lettuce. 

Give me Chris Sutton anytime!

Agree when he's on MotD, but I think he's much better on the radio. Think there are a few on the Beeb like that actually. Get them 5 minutes to summarise games then they're dull as dishwater. Get them talking about the game more generally and they're not as bad. 

An exception of course is Danny Murphy, who is equally excruciating on whatever format. 

1 hour ago, Crimpshrine said:

I remember Gavin Friday the singer from the Virgin Prunes. A fellow countryman of yours.

Turning the thread on it's head, how did Emile Heskey get 62 England caps?

Or Nicky Butt get almost 40!

Football about opinions etc. but if his form dropped that massively then it was completely lost on me. His distribution was very hit and miss, but I remember him doing his job as a centre half to a pretty good standard until Lenihan came back. I agree that he's not likely to shift Lenihan & Mulgrew, who are much more well rounded players, but I think that was equally true when Downing first came in the team. 

Thought Watt was very decent in his time here, and didn't get any sniff of an attitude problem. 

To be fair that might just have been because he was on loan and trying to earn a contract, but take as you find, I'd definitely have him back. 

2 hours ago, OnePhilT said:

Sorry, but it stinks far too much of those filthy Manc pig trotters down the road from us.

It's amazing how Bolton manage to take such a simple design as a plain white shirt, and every year find a way of making it look disgusting. 

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

Chapman

Fair, and I susppose Hoillett at his best had games where you were just certain he was going to get past players and keep the ball.

Even so, there were times when King looked imperius at this level. Underplaying him was a massive own goal.

A few years ago now, but for me King's real value shone in that last few months in the season we almost got into the play offs under Bowyer.

Rhodes & Rudy up front, with King & Conway on the wings. There were certain times when teams just didn't know who to mark or double up on.

In that run we played Brum away and King scored a hattrick in about 20 first half minutes from midfield if I remember correctly. Absolutely unplayable.

All in hindsight now of course, but looking back on it it definitely was a mistake not to get him in the side somehow, either as a partner for one of our goalscorers or in place of Marshall (or Conway). Horribly frustrating player, but I've not seen any Rovers player terrorise defenders like that in years.

No doubt we're still short of pace. Stil think Pilkington would be a top signing though, has the sort of quality out wide that we simply don't have at present.

15 hours ago, LDRover said:

And he's a rovers fan believe it or not.

That;s the main reason I brought it up to be honest!

15 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

How many positions do you think he can play in then ?  He can't play out wide or up front because he's not quick enough. He wasn't quick enough when he was here in the first place that's why we let him go. He may be great in goal but I can't see him playing in any other position other than the one he plays for Preston. A play maker. We'd need to regrass the centre circle because he'd wear it out. If he wasn't a Blackburn lad we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Leave well alone.

I was thinking as a number 10, or depending on the system deeper in midfield like he did at Ewood a couple of years back. Agree that his days as an out and out striker are well behind him, but could still do a job out wide if needed, right or left.

I'm not saying we should go out and break the bank for him or make him integral to the side, but he'd still be a useful and pretty versatile squad player imo.

14 minutes ago, Rover_A said:

 

Something quite 90s which I like about the Umbro badge trim on the sleeve. Wouldn't mid that at all

Whilst we're speculating on the prospect of Rovers fans signing, would anybody take Jem Karacan?

Been released by Horwich, apparently doesn't really fit in with Parkinson's style of play. Not seen much of him recently, but a talented player and one that would suit Tony's style a bit more, perhaps?

I think Gallagher as part of the squad would make sense, if only because he play in a number of different positions to a high standard and should fit in with Tony's style of play. 

That said, we still need more pace, badly, so he'd need to be an 'extra' one assuming we have the budget for it. 

Little surprised that Bristol City are interested in him after his season tailed off so badly at Shrewsbury. Might be worth it if it was a permanent deal but not a 12 month loan

5 minutes ago, Tom said:

Heard Jacob Davenport mentioned, young lad from City was on loan at Burton.

Anyone know anything about him?

Never heard of him, but had a quick scout on twitter, some posts raving about his debut in February.

Left pegger, technical midfielder, scorer of good free kicks.

Just now, roversfan2001 said:

I'd love us to have a proper red/black striped away kit, but it's always said that Venky's see black as unlucky so it's unlikely to happen under their tenure.

If that's true it's amazing that hey haven't developed a superstition about blue and white!

Just now, AdamRochina said:

Joe garner 

Adam Armstrong 

Paddy McNair

Jack Baldwin 

Lewis grabban

Hakeem adulken (however it's spelt)

Otzumer

Sacko

 

Would be happy with a few of these . I do feel we definitely need a cm a cb and a striker .. to add to the sound of the team we already have in place 

Some good names there. Don't think we've got a cat in hells chance of signing Grabban though. Noises that Tony's been making about not signing players on massive wages, I expect that he'd be one.

Paddy McNair would be decent but not sure what sort of money he'd be on. Right age, and not easy to look good in a team that is absolutely tanking.

2 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

While a lot of players instagram stories are them on holidays, Samuel has been posting a lot of himself in the gym pumping iron. If he bulks up and puts on some muscle, it will definitely help his game. Good to see 

Good indeed. I'm not writing Samuel off just yet. I doubt that he'll leave just 12 months into his contract and with so few other attacking options. If he can just get a bit mentally tougher then there's a useful squad player in there imo.

6 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Both Reading & Blackburn Rovers are looking to hijack Ronan Curtis proposed move to Portsmouth. Curtis agent set to make a decision today. The Derry player will cost £125k plus add ons #ReadingFc #BRFC #Pompey https://t.co/pgsH9T6iVl

Will have been playing in the same team as Jack Doyle, so will be known by the club I suppose.

Goes without saying, but I don't know the first thing about him

6 minutes ago, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

I think the middle of the park needs at least 2 new faces. Smallwood is nailed on as a starter, and as much as Evans' form picked up towards the business end of the season he is always one mistake away from being the fans go to man to lay the blame. I am not a huge Evans fan but to be fair he gets more criticism than he deserves. I would look at Camps, McGeouch, Morrison and Nolan. 

 

 

 

 

Think the frustration with Evans comes from how we know he has the ability to be more influential. On the face of it can run all day, defend and is decent enough going forward, and yet you never come away from the game thinking he really left his mark on the game. You could well be right about the level of criticism though, even though I'm probably as guilty as anyone. I think there's something similar with Williams too.

In any case, two in midfield sounds about right, assuming our budget stretches. If not, then pace and numbers up front & out wide has to be the priority for me.

On 10/05/2018 at 20:12, Tom said:

Ainsworth is someone I’ve mentioned a few times for the rovers job, think he’s earned a chance at a higher level, and he has lovely hair 

You're not the only one that thinks so

24 minutes ago, Threepenny Bit Foot said:

Rumour is Wharton to Accy Stanley - probably on loan

So long as it is on loan, that makes a lot of sense