He was playing as one of 2 forwards (Biniek was the other) in the first half. O'Grady Macken was the number 10 in the first half. Does look like he was the number 10 in the second half with Nsangou (who replaced O'Grady-Macken) moving up top. Similar to how Rovers played in that last season with Mowbray with Buckley as a10/false9 and Brereton and Khadra as forwards who would drift wide

Apparently Beale had sock puppet twitter account that he used to big himself up and have a go at Sunderland fans. I can imagine Steve Kean may have done similar if twitter was as popular then as it is now

Hedges probably the closest to it

Salah plays on the right for Liverpool, not a natural winger, but very effective at what he does. Brereton played on the left, certainly was not a winger. There are very few wingers these days. Most who would in the past have been seen as "natural wingers", have recently been converted into full backs (and I do not mean just at Rovers), although the recent trend towards inverted full backs will presumably push them elsewhere on the field

Atcheson (centre back) may get a few minutes next season, Batty (left back) was meant to be involved with the first team squad this season but didn't look ready (maybe next season, unless he is loaned out for game time). I cant imagine any others would be genuine first team contenders in the next 2-3 years, although a few may become squad players. Duru (right back) looks better going forwards than back, James Edmondson has been absent from the U21s (maybe through injury) for a while but was looking good in early season. Whitehall was very highly rated but missed the best part of 3 years with injury, so maybe at 21 it has passed him by now? Finneran (midfield) and Tyjon (striker) are both 15, so assuming they sign scholarships rather than moving elsewhere in the summer, are 2 to keep an eye out for

I think Ayari, along with Koumetio (and possibly also Chrisene) were just a case of getting a cheap body in through the door to fill up a squad place and hopefully they would surprise us.

A number 8, so a box to box midfielder for those who don't like using numbers to describe positions Although from what I have seen of him, he seems to spend more time hiding than Moran does

Gayle is past it at this level, 34 years old now, and this season has scored less goals in similar minutes for Stoke than Ennis did for us (which is probably why Stoke replaced him with Ennis) Gayle 0 goals in 402 minutes for Stoke Ennis 1 goal in 424 minutes for Rovers

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/february/19/watch-bluebirds-battle-on-roverstv-/ They did that this afternoon

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/dilan-markanday/leistungsdaten/spieler/530807/plus/0?saison=ges Markanday has scored 5 goals for the first team (4 in the EFL cup, and one which turned out to be the winner against West Brom on the opening day of this season in a 2-1 win), so the comment that I highlighted is a little hyperbolic and harsh. However, I do agree with you that Gilsenan has surely done enough to deserve a spot on the bench ahead of players such as Markanday

Eustace said earlier today that due to JRC and Fleck injuries, Buckley will now be on the bench tomorrow v Cardiff. Cannot fathom why Gilsenan cant get a spot on the bench for the first team

Was it that much? Wahlsted in the summer for £800-900K Telalovic for what cant be more that £100K O'Riorden in the winter for an undisclosed amount. Which we can deduce is less than the £500K release clause he apparently had because of the amount of negotiating time Rovers had with Crewe (I heard that we ended up paying about £100K up front and threw in a sell on fee to get it done) Everyone else was frees and loans (although there were probably loan fees) unless I am missing someone

Do the maths on that 😉

Miller is playing on the right for them (Brady on the left) Potts normally plays on the right and is injured, as they have no other RWBs, they had to move Miller over to the right last match. Apparently it nullified his threat somewhat according to PNE fans

Is he?

Fixed it for you 😉

I can imagine during Eustace's job interview him asking "can I bring in my own staff" and us saying "we will see" just like a parent that is always going to say no to a child

Will be interesting to see if this happens. Obviously, Rovers will always use the academy (at least until Venkys mess us about so much that we can no longer run it). It is the one real strength that the club have compared to most at this level. In the short term, I can definitely see Eustace going more direct, but I do feel that if/when safety is achieved, and in the medium long term, the old plans will come out of the locker. I do not mean that Eustace will start playing kamikaze stuff, just that first and foremost Rovers will, try to play out from the back, possession, and building attacks slowly (just hopefully they will now have a plan be of going more direct when it is called for)

Unless its his job to make sure they don't hear anything about Rovers?

Its probably a case of a footballer being asked a question about how well his new boss is doing, and replying in the positive, rather than a direct dig at JDT Not to say that there is not some truth in what Brittain said, but it doesn't necessarily mean everyone hated JDT and wanted him gone

2 goals in 42 minutes of football. Vale will be "like a new signing" next season 😉 On a more serious note, Motherwell fans seem to like him, apparently he is "rapid", glad his loan is working out for him. https://www.steelmenonline.co.uk/forums/search/?q=vale&quick=1

Hypothetically, what would it take for you to change your mind on that? If we scored from 5 set pieces in a season... probably not, but 10? 30?

or we play both just behind Gally, like yesterday

Not modern as such, just the continental numbering system, which is mainly down to English teams (especially those in the Prem) importing so many foreign managers. If one day in the future a load of Brazilian managers were brought into English clubs, we would all end up talking about number 5s when we are on about central midfielders! https://museumofjerseys.com/2022/04/07/negotiating-the-brazilian-numbering-maze/

Me too 🙂