M_B

I'd persevere with De Neve for now, he does at least seem to know where the net is. 

15 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I noticed Alebiosu was on the pitch at full time which was a good sign. I saw they sent the spinal board with the neck brace back so hopefully the injury isn't too serious.

In the two league games so far I like the look of him. 

Was going say, he came out of the tunnel and climbed the steps to join the other players whilst the game was still on . 

Looked to be walking OK.  

8 minutes ago, ElTwis said:

I'm just calming down after that ending today. It's a game of fine margins and from my seat it looked like a great save from a Gueye (?) header seconds before the penalty that would have put the result out of sight.

 

Defence looked sound and I think Mcloughlin looked excellent and is the new Baath in terms of bringing the best out of Hyam.

 

The midfield is not settled and we don't know how to fit everyone in the team. Tavares was much deeper than Tuesday that didn't seem to suit him. Cantwell seemed a different payer with the armband on, no sulking or gesticulating but he's still not at his best.

 

I liked Kargbo on the right, that seemed to work but it pushed Ohashi left and we just didn't have anyone in the middle. It's not a problem unique to this season but we desperately need a natural striker, so many times there just wasn't anyone lurking in the middle.

 

Ultimately, I think we lost because our players are mid-low level championship quality and that's where I suspect we finish this year.

 

Side note - the awarding of caps beforehand was embarrassing. The club is a shadow of itself and Jack would be ashamed of anyone trying to claim any sort of veneer. As I type this I wonder if its harsh but not one person with any sort of profile over the last 30 years has stood up to say the Venkys era has been unacceptable.

It looks like it's Batth missing Hyam rather than tother way round. 

11 minutes ago, Devon Rover said:

I was thinking this, too. Going into the last 5 mins I felt sure City would have at least one big chance to get something from the game. And when it went to 1-1 with 10 extra minutes to play, I felt no confidence whatsoever that Rovers would strike back. There have been so many of our games that play out like this late in the match - and (virtually) never in our favour. That speaks not to refereeing, or 'luck', but to character, mindset, fitness, confidence, or all the above. The club has become overrun by losers and people who aren't good enough for whatever role they have, at all levels. We are a mess and I defy anyone to say administration and a fresh start would not be preferable to this horrific experience.

That isn't how I saw it today,I couldn't see Birmingham scoring from open play whatsoever. It was Rovers over committing to the win which cost them. 

I suppose it'd cheer a few up.  

1 minute ago, Proudtobeblue&white said:

Just seen the pen, Miller left a leg out when he didn't need to. Soft, yes.

Suffered there losing Alebiosu. 

19 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

The way we imploded today was extremely reminiscent of the way we were unable to hold onto a lead for neither love nor money towards the end of a game under Owen Coyle.

Think I remember us losing one game 3-2 when we were 2-0 up on 85 mins.

Difference here was we weren't trying to hang on,we got punished being too gung ho going for the win. 

41 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

The fact we have fans defending the current situation shows you that a full boycott just ain't ever going to happen with this fanbase.

Bizarre we can't all Unite.

It isn't any fan's fault. 

2 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

Just to find something positive to say... watched the Bradford game back and Tavares has real world cup winner N'Zonzi vibes. Really like the look of him. Also Miller looks very good, will land well and fit right in.  McCloughlin looks like he knows what he is doing.

Not so convinced on Alebiousu, De Neve, Henricksson, . Plus Gueye is getting worse and worse. We need three of those four to come good.

Only watched the game live, but I said N'Zonzi at half time . 

30 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

No- one has less time for Waggott than me but do you not think this latest ripping up of everything and starting again from scratch by scouring obscure European Leagues is  solely RG's "bright" idea?

It looks to me as if gestede is a new broom and Ismael was his appointment . I said weeks ago that this feels different rather than a continuation .

Now, I'm not saying they know what they're doing , but I do think they're on the same page, there's no chance of success if they aren't.

It seems to have been forgotten that we've signed the Hull defender, so maybe they're looking for a mix.

Whatever happens, the recruitment department have it all to do.

20 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

What? Thats like saying if a manager knows that he has £100k transfer budget, how could he be mad that he doesnt have more when he knew they only had £100k.

He has no control over budget. Purely from his perspective, his squad is being made massively weaker because we lack the willingness to finance and the proactivity to offer proper contracts. So we sign inferior crap. If hes on board and fully aligned then hes an idiot.

 You're painting the same scenario as the past managers, you'll be wanting jokes about the bus next, how did that end?

I've no idea if they know what they're doing, I just hope they do.

There will be disagreements,there have to be, but if they're not together in general, and stick to agreed boundaries, it definitely won't work. 

22 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

This.

"Historic failures" my arse.

Same owners, same COO.

The only thing that you could possibly say is that it was solely because Waggott was refusing to extend any contracts which I could run with to an extent, but, even if that were the case then following his departure they COULD have rectified these "historic failures" instantly by sorting out the contracts of Dolan/Brittain/Travis/Tronstad/Hyam etc.

They dont or didn't want to. End of story.

Theres been a need by some to tar Gestede with the Waggott brush ever since he came in. It's obvious to me that Ismael didn't mean Gestede when talking about mistakes in the past but some are adamant he did.

I'm open minded and will judge them both on  results

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I dont know why you keep saying "historic failures" when the same idiots are running things.

If Ismael is genuinely happy to see all of our proven Championship quality leave and be replaced by whatever we can pluck from random leagues for under a milion, then he is a bit thick. But more importantly, the removal of quality from our squad becomes more important than whether Ismael is "aligned" with the idea.

With Hyam for example, it isnt historic. We are just choosing not to offer a proper contract. If we did he seemingly would sign.

If Ismael knows how much the  club is  willing to offer players going forward, why would  he be annoyed at the club not offering more to keep them? 

1 minute ago, aletheia said:

Beautiful spouting of club's new narrative.

No narrative, it's just common sense. 

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

If Gestede doesn't know what he is doing and/or is hell bent on a project that cannot possibly work, why is it important they're both aligned?

Because whatever the plan may or may not be, it definitely won't work unless they are. 

4 minutes ago, islander200 said:

But what will you be saying if the replacements (if there actually is any) are more cheap foreign imports and it leads us to being relegated.

When we start next campaign in League One will you be rubbing your hands together and saying well at least we got £2 million for our captain and 500k for our most experienced defender?

Your point is valid at most clubs who would use the majority of these fees on replacements of a decent standard.We don't do that here

That's down to the recruitment department . 

4 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

His intentions are most likely that he is sat on a 3 year deal so not to rock the boat. Nothing sinister beyond that.

He has shown signs of frustration already and he will be worn down at some point. They all have been.

He's shown signs of frustration at historic failings.

This is now where we find out if they're all on the same page going forward. It's the reason I've been saying for months that the most important thing at the club is that Ismael and Gestede are aligned in what's happening. 

1 hour ago, Tomphil2 said:

Absolutely totally and utterly to the contrary.

What we need to see is all those players being kept to get us through this season, allow the new ones to bed in and just try to stay out of the bottom spots.

No point whatsoever grabbing what will only be a few million quid to weaken the team even further and see next to nothing reinvested and a load more lightweight non Championship newbies come in.

Selling anyone else is a pointless exercise unless 3 to 5 mill per player is dropping into the bank, which there is no chance of.

Why are some so dead set on going with the Suhail agenda and clearing everyone out 'because they won't sign' ?

We are fecked either way so for now stick don't twist we've had enough pain this summer lets not rubber stamp relegation under some fantasy that better replacements are on their way and will gel in a few weeks.

Don't agree, but there we have it. 

22 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Yeah we will all be buzzing that we didnt allow Brittain, Travis, Hyam and Tronstad leave on frees when we are relegated to league one 

We go down to league one again we won't be coming straight back up.Madness to let all our most experienced players to leave in one window.

The money doesn't get reinvested so il ask again why as a supporter should we be hoping that we get a bit of cash rather than have then here helping us stay in this league?

There's always a lot of assumption on this subject that the  manager would like the club to pay more to keep the players.

Ismael has already said this week that there will be one more addition, unless anyone else leaves. 

40 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

The damage doesnt seem to have been done on Hyam, or maybe Tronstad. We are just refusing to offer them any sort of rise.

That assumes that Ismael really wants to keep them, it did look like he tried to keep Britain but if he wasn't signing, he had to go .

12 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Are we seeing the pattern in senior players not renewing their contracts yet?

Looks like it, the damage has been done so we  now need to see a pattern of players being sold . 

9 hours ago, Andy said:

We didn't play poorly at WBA and with Cantwell to come back in - maybe Tavares replacing Travis - I don't see any reason why we shouldn't beat a newly promoted team from League 1.

2-0 Rovers.

I watched with West Brom commentary and they thought Rovers were the much stronger team as the game went on, rather than it being West Brom letting us play. 

In general it wasn't the worst performance at a difficult venue, but the creativity was way off. 

1 minute ago, Gamst said:

I thought exactly the same. Then wikipedia told me he was a 30 year old lower league journeyman. Then I was really concerned that he stood out so much against our team. 

🤣

Worth keeping tabs on Bradfords left back. 

2 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Id rather that than sell him for £1.5m.

Is that how little you value our Championship status at?

If it's that price, someone isn't doing their job properly.