riverholmes

Looking at some of Makhtar 'Pape' Gueye's background, he is 26, 6"5 and around 90kg and has averaged around 10/11 goals a season playing for low-placed teams in the Belgian top flight. Before that, he was at St Ettiene, having moved from his birthplace, Dakar, Senegal. He struggled for goals as a young forward in France but had something of a breakthrough in Belgium. Reportedly, he was close to joining Burnley whilst Kompany was in charge, before he moved to Real Zaragoza, where he didn't, apparently, manage a goal during a loan season. He returned to Belgium and this summer he was linked with a move to Standard Liege, after 11 goals during the relegation season of RWD Molenbeek There's a report that suggests that he had some off-field disciplinary problems relating to frequent non-payment of traffic fines whilst at Oostende and Zaragoza. I also saw a report that he is with the Dutch-based SEG Agency, which also represents Jon Dahl Tomasson. So, the links might've originated there, possibly - though transfermarkt lists him with a different group. It's hard to tell how he'll fare but, overall, I think the core of the squad is so weak, signings like this cannot make a fundamental difference. These type of signings should really be considered the cherry on the top.

Reports emerging that Rovers approached Daniel Ayala to add to their centre back reserves but the deal was abandoned as he might be too athletic for the team. Excuse my cynicism. It seems to me that Eustace has a brief to avoid relegation and is determined to scrap his way there. However, without pace at the back or much further forward, the team being built worries me.

The George Gent loan to Barnsley surprised me. I was reading it’d be a transfer to recoup money before his contract expires. Anyone know what might be going on?

All very vulnerable to pace. It’s worrying they can’t see that. Unless the intention is to play extremely defensive.

Different situation, as outside UK, but, I think the Drogheda chairman expressed disappointment when Rovers signed James Brown without having to pay any compensation. The MacFadzean, and, potentially, Baath deals puzzle me. In the modern game, you really need pace at the back and neither add that. Pace also enables a defender to potentially cover at full back.

Very disappointing to hear that George Gent is being sold to Barnsley. One of the more promising young players and made much more of an impact at Motherwell than Vale last season. However, if Eustace decided that he wasn't up to it, at least a decision has been made and the player sold for a fee. Better to sell players than to let them go on a free. Time will tell if the club have made a mistake. Regardless, the club must address the lack of pace in the defence. A fast defender or two is essential.

Jalil Saadi is a French speaker, so may have another part to his utility role. Gueye's goal record isn't amazing as a target man striker and he's 26, so I'm cautious. I would hope we didn't over spend on him.

Do you know why the club like to rotate goalies at U21 level so much? There's one thing giving players experience but come the season, I firmly believe in establishing a selection order, so that the players know roughly where they stand and what their individual target is. From the outside, I see a lot of confusion and, in the treatment of Eastham, potential for demoralisation.

Mentioned elsewhere before but in case anyone missed it, Junior Nsangou, the 18 year old academy graduate forward from the U21s also left the club recently - to Albacete in La Liga 2. He turned down a professional contract to leave on a free, I believe (not clear if he was holding out to leave or club had been unsure on him, as many players sign a deal aged 17). Not sure if any compensation is payable in such a move. I don't know what his potential was, but he was a starter for Rovers U21 at the end of last season, and was a regular for Poland's U19, so a likely loss.

Gallagher would play best in a two, as in the old days when two forwards complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses. If Markanday is to play the no.10, or someone else, that would lift the demands on Gallagher. Whilst a sale makes sense, I am very nervous about the club’s ability to recruit well, especially, with Szmodics leaving. Vale, to me, makes the most sense to cash in on but looming is Gallagher walking away on a free. Fretful times. We could easily be looking back at Gallagher wistfully in a year or two, given the decline we are in.

Especially worrying how many serious injuries the youth players have gone through. A number left in the summer having barely played for over 12 months, eg. Sam Barnes. I’ve not heard anything of Isaac Whitehall this pre-season.

Vale was doing ok for Motherwell as a second forward on loan last season - not scoring much but doing enough in build up play to stay in their team. Really, now would be a good time to try and sell, as I do believe he will struggle at Rovers. But, we’re so short of players and there doesn’t seem to be much in place by the way of a transfers strategy, we will probably end up relying on him.

Selling Gallagher when his contract is down to a year and his abilities have seemingly peaked would make perfect sense for a club run properly. Especially as other clubs are still, seemingly, rating him highly - above, I think, what he’s capable of. However, there can be little confidence that the appropriate replacements will be brought in.

1-1 Vale scores in draw. Sounds like JRC played well, making the assist. And Jalil Saadi seems to have been kept on at the club as the utility player - at least until new players come in. With no striker on the limited bench, he comes on for Vale at the end. What a turnaround, from being well off the radar for the first team for years. A few notable absences - Szmodics, Gallagher, Gent, Scott Wharton

Team news versus Wigan today: Pears, Pickering, Carter, Hyam, Brittain, Tronstad, Travis (c), Rankin-Costello, Bloxham, Vale, Dolan Subs: Hilton, Saadi, Doherty, Montgomery, Atcheson, Biniek Wigan Tickle, Ramsey, Kerr (c), Aimson, McHugh, Payne, Adeeko, Sze, Rankine, Aasgaard, Stones Subs Lonergan, Chapman, Igiehon, Reilly, Graham, Sibbick, Carragher, M. Smith, S. Smith, Thomas, Hugill On paper looks a rather weak side and a short list of subs as the management look to give 90 mins to first team players. There was a game v Morecambe last night and an U21 game v Wolves going on now. (Typically, no news from Rovers on that one). Glimmers of hope lie in JRC, who is probably the star man, possibility of youngsters like Vale and Dolan making dramatic improvements - and that the youth in Bloxham, Doherty (presumably the new signing and not the defender) and Biniek stepping up, though it’s asking a lot of them to take the mantle. I think we pretty much know what the likes of Travis (returning prodigal son), Pickering and Brittain offer.

We truly are in a different reality for the club after competing in the upper echelons. Last night, against Morecambe, Rovers couldn’t even fill the subs bench, even with two reserve keepers there. There are matches going on today, but we seem to be in the bare bones. I expect some loans to come in to paper over the cracks but it’s our academy that is keeping us alive, for now, it seems.

Eustace has praised Tyjon after the game. He will surely be involved come the season. Doherty is 18 years old, and if he can make an impact it would be welcome, as it looks like we’re going to be struggling for numbers - there were two keepers on the bench. No sign of Gilsenan, so I suppose he is out with injury.

It might’ve already been discussed but Junior Nsangou, the Polish U19 striker and, seemingly, Rovers best recent academy forward graduate prospect after Tyjon, has left the club. He reportedly turned down a contract and is on trial with Spanish club, Albacete. That’s the club Enzo Boyomo, the young French-Cameroonian defender, left for after turning down a deal at Rovers. There’s news on a young U19 French forward coming in from Nantes. I’m sceptical about bringing in overseas players for the reserves/academy at Rovers. It has so rarely worked for the club with the only success story in decades I can think of is David Raya. Perhaps, there’s one or two more but can’t think (excluding Irish players). For whatever reason, they’ve struggled to adapt - perhaps, the new style, or culture - or just not good enough. I would hope this forward is good enough to be involved with the first team, if he signs. I get the feeling that overseas youngsters tend to find it hard to adapt and if they don’t get a big break, they’re eager to go back to more familiar surroundings. These are the sort of factors that, I guess, the data-driven approach to recruitment don’t pick up on so much.

Finneran? Not heard anything lately but he's not appeared in any pre-season games and, sadly, looks to be all but gone at the moment.

Very convincing stats - and comparing the two does remind me that Wharton need not have been considered a Rice back-up but could've been played in a slightly more attacking role. On the most important statistics from last year, it was fairly close - Mainoo had 3 goals and 1 assist and Wharton had 0 goals and 3 assists, which reflects their slightly different midfield roles. To Mainoo's big credit, he did 'only' have a MOM performance in the FA Cup final against the eventual league champions. Whilst Wharton would probably have made an impact for England, ultimately, I don't think it was personnel that was England's downfall. Most probably, his incisive passes would only have been recycled back to him as the likes of Kane, Saka and Bellingham played at walking pace. Moreover, Mainoo was impressive, especially, when briefly given a platform to play and run with the ball, in the first half against Netherlands. He also made a good impact when he came on for Gallagher at half-time in one of the god-awful performances that are already blurring into one. If anything, Wharton could've played alongside Mainoo and Rice.

Maybe this can be the pre-season friendlies thread, mods? Not sure if significant or not, but the captaincy in the Nurnberg friendlies were listed as Hayden Carter, in the first game, and O'Riordan, in the second. Seems a bit surprising, especially, Carter in the first eleven, but we'll have to see if it signifies anything. Edit: Actually, looking at the Tranmere friendlies, Brittain and Garrett were the captains, so maybe, it's just being shared around.

Looks a pretty bad result, albeit, only pre-season - and a great one for the semi-pro team. Six out of Nantwich's nine subs were trailists, apparently.

Report on Rovers U21s 1-3 win over Fleetwood U21s, goals from Bloxham, Boggan and Biniek: https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/july/18/report--fleetwood-town-under-21s-1-3-rovers-under-21s/ Solomon Honor’s turn between the sticks. If I can work this out, he might be seventh choice goalie out of eight - though the rotational use of them and intermittent disappearances of Eastham makes it unclear: Pears, Hilton, Barrett, Michalski, Eastham, Goddard (loan), Honor, Khan. Edit: It’s a bit concerning that Rovers only transfer signing, winger, Doherty, is a sub for NI U19s. NI have, apparently, some promising players coming through (Linfield’s star academy players have moved to Everton and Arsenal this summer) but it seems the player may be well off from making a first team impact. He’s a young player who’ll deserve time, of course. However, unless the first team squad is improved, these players will possibly be relied upon at times.

I think a way to go about it might be to focus as much on the junior internationals and U21s as much as the seniors. If England are successful at the lower levels, that success will sooner or later translate higher. Clearly, the Premier League isn't providing the conveyor belt of English coaches/managers, so the FA might need to do it themselves. Though, keeping hold of them will be a challenge, if they're successful. It is rather short-sighted, I feel, to expect the seniors to be all conquering, if England aren't successful at the lower levels that many of the seniors will come through. Though, it's true, the best often by-pass youth level. I haven't followed it much but I believe the England youth internationals, including U21s, have been more successful in recent years, which hopefully is a sign. I remember yesteryear when no matter the big names England U21s had, they couldn't win tournaments. There was U21's Euro 2002 when David Dunn was given the captaincy and David Platt, the manager, suggested that Dunn might be the best player/midfielder in Europe. Inevitably, England disappointed and didn't make it out of a tough group, losing to Portugal and Italy. Portugal's Hugo Viana, made a mockery of any suggestion that Dunn was amongst Europe's elite. Though, ironically, Viana couldn't adapt to the Premier League's style when he made his big money move to Newcastle. Looking it up, that England U21 squad was incredibly strong on paper. Peter Crouch, Bobby Zamora and Scott Parker were on the bench at times, with Alan Smith, Gareth Barry and Jermaine Defoe starting. It's long been a stylistic and tactical problem for England to make a team out of talented, albeit, stylistically long ball oriented players - albeit, the stylistic gap is far closer these days, compared to the Premier League's era when every game was 100 miles an hour. Then, the team would step out to and be hit by the culture shock at international level where teams comfortably passed the ball around.

It seems to me you can rarely predict what's going on with the back-up goalkeepers at Rovers. In the Tranmere friendly, Rovers had Adam Khan as the understudy on the bench, with Hilton and Pears playing a game each. However, the fact Michalski is going to Austria (and has been on the bench before) suggests he is ahead in the pecking order. With Barrett being looked at, it would suggest that Eastham isn't in the picture, even though he has a year left to go on his contract, as far as I know. Hopefully, he'll get the transfer or the decent loan move he needs.