JCRovers

Wasting a sub on Carter, playing Alebiosu out of position and insisting on playing Ohashi as lone striker. I'd say DJ were looking to snatch a draw but got exactly what he deserved with that negative starting lineup.

Don't think the club paid more than say £200K - £300K for an unwanted player with an expiring contract. Cheap but doesn't fit the bill of what we need (which is a target man). Ridiculous how bad recruitment has been this season, offloading Championship experience and replaced it with a bunch of L1 players basically (De Neve, Henriksson, Tavares). Compare that to Hull who has been under transfer embargo and yet signed better players than us on a free. My prediction for deadline day: - Alebiosu will be sold (reckon £5-6 million will be enough to get him which would basically mean a 10x on what we paid) - We get Cadamarteri I guess but is not what we need - We replace Alebiosu with a last-ditch loan or cheap signing (the other guy from St. Pauli perhaps?) Club is self-destructive in all possible senses: - Self-imposed wage cap, making it tougher to attract good players - Destroyed reputation domestically and made a laughing stock with botched transfer deals (O'Brien, Brierley, McGuire) - Refusal to extend player contracts or not offering enough salary (Hyam, Travis, Dolan, Batth, Brittain) - Refusal to give Eustace any money last January when in a play-off spot but will happily spend reportedly £3 million on a single player (Jorgensen) when in a relegation spot - Refusal to pay compensation to get a good manager / head coach after losing Eustace. Instead, they get a head coach who was out of work for a year (Ismael) - Have an 'acquired taste' of getting players who are not match fit in January window, thus limiting potential impact for remainder of the season (Dennis, Afolayan, Woodrow, Forshaw) - Refusal to reinvest into the squad after big player sales (Szmodics, Armstrong, Wharton) - Refusal to sack head coaches / managers when change is desperately needed. Instead, they rely on head coach / manager to offer resignation themselves or terminate contract by mutual consent to pay as little compensation as possible We keep changing project, direction, formation, style of play and constantly being in a transition phase. But the owners are still the same a**holes they were 15 years ago; nothing has changed behind the scenes in reality. It's all a smokescreen to trick us fans into believing that next time will be any different.

Not so sure about that. LT now reports a formal bid from Genoa being rejected. There will be plenty of bids for Alebiosu on deadline day, think Everton is a likely destination and one that can happen quickly given the proximity between the clubs geographically. Owners will pocket the money and board will find a cheap youngster (lad from Sutton Utd?) or a loan as a replacement. If that happens and we also don't get a proper target man before window closes, then we'll get relegated.

Based on our January transfer activity for the past six seasons. If the official fee reported for Jorgensen is correct, then why didn't we spend that kind of money in all those other seasons, many of which when we were in the midst of a play-off push? This one just doesn't look 'right'. Only reason I can see them splash that kind of money is because they 'know' they will make a large player sale. Even in January 2017 in the season we got relegated, we didn't spend a single penny in January despite selling the likes of Hanley and Duffy in the summer.

None of us knows the full extent of actual fee paid upfront or potential add-ons but it's a transfer deal made for a player whose market value is a fair bit higher than what we usually go for in January. Also don't think Bodo Glimt will accept taking a "significant" loss having only signed him six months ago. Something tells me the board has received either a formal bid for Alebiosu or some form of guarantee that a bid will be made before window closes.

If we match what they paid and player wants the move, then there's a possibility in my view. We can always offer a "decent" relegation clause otherwise if player is doubting; wouldn't be surprised if that was the deciding factor with Jorgensen. Speaking of Jorgensen, it doesn't make any sense that we, all of sudden, decides to fork out roughly €4 million in a winter transfer window when we haven't done so for the past six seasons. My bet is that a major transfer deal will take place before window shuts and that it involves Alebiosu.

Priority has to be getting a target man in before window closes. We need a focal point on top since we barely can string two passes together in defence and just hoofs it when under pressure. Can't rely on Ohashi as his confidence is shot, doesn't have the attributes needed to be a prolific goalscorer at this level and gets constantly bullied by defenders. Would personally go for Salech at Cardiff (6'5 tall, 12 goals in L1 this season, 8 goals in Championship last season). Took a nasty blow to the neck in the weekend match but has apparently been cleared from any serious injury. Has re-sale value as well (24 years old) and should be an upgrade to Gueye.

What squad building / transfer recruitment should look like: - Pace on the flanks - Experience in both boxes - Good set piece taker - Leadership / organiser at the back What we currently have: - Pace on one flank (Alebiosu) but he often lacks support. We play with wingbacks because there's no pacy wingers in the squad besides Kargbo (whose decision-making is awful anyway). - No experience among the strikers. Gudjohnsen seems to have a poacher's instinct inside the box but he's poor in many other areas including holding off challenges, compete in the air and link play with his teammates. - Poor set piece takers. Feels like Cantwell should do better with his technique but there's either a lack of concentration from his part or they don't work on any set piece routines in training. - No leadership at the back, which often leads to breakdown in communication. Despite his age and Championship experience, McLoughlin is not a leader. What's the end result of poor recruitment? Answer is: we concede silly goals, can't defend our box properly, are too slow in transitions moments / counter-attacks and we can't score from set-pieces unless it's a penalty. I would say we should focus on: - Getting a new (and pacy) left wingback - Getting an experienced centre back with leadership qualities. Someone who has a presence, can organise a defence, shouts instructions to his teammates and motivates them. - Getting an experienced striker who can compete with centre backs. - Work on set pieces in training

Seen the game now. Biggest difference between the sides apart from individual quality? The answer would be: intensity. We looked miles off it and could've easily conceded more than three to be honest. Toth (6) - pulled off a nice save from Egeli at the start of game. Should've done better for the second goal. Played sweeper keeper in second half and made some good interceptions. Atcheson (6) - tough to criticise the young lad as he's been thrown into a team who's struggling. Looks a promising talent and is quite comfortable on the ball. McLoughlin (5) - has been a disappointment all season. Doesn't possess leadership qualities needed to organise a young central defence. Cashin (0) - an absolute joke of a footballer. Reminds me a bit of JRC at times; same type of boots, lacks game intelligence and overall just poor positioning and movement. Great finish for the own goal; you can see on the replay that he checks behind his back twice before ball is played into the box and despite seeing De Neve being level with the opponent, he still doesn't trust him enough to let the ball run across goal. We'll quickly become relegated if he has a clause in his contract regarding playing time. De Neve (2) - has a bit of pace but that's it. Positional awareness for the third goal is a joke as well. TGH (3) - looked lost playing at right wing back. Tronstad (5) - best performer of the midfield three but struggled with the intensity of the game. Baradji (4) - poor. Looks nonchalant and disinterested. No urgency both in- and out of possession. Feels like he can do so much better but needs someone to get him fired up badly. Cantwell (3) - disastrous performance. If he's going to behave and play like that, then you might as well strip him off the captaincy armband right now. Poor set pieces, doesn't track back properly and sloppy in possession. Henriksson (2) - sorry to say it but this was a bad transfer move from the club's perspective. Looks overwhelmed by the intensity of the league and doesn't possess any technical quality that allows him to compete at this level. Ohashi (5) - same type of performance as usual. Pressing game is good but he's annoyingly ineffective in- and around the box. Doesn't have enough pace to play on the last man and can't compete in the air. Roughly speaking, he's doesn't possess any qualities that enables him to be competitive as the main striker for a Championship side. Subs: Jorgensen (5) - had one decent move in behind opposition defence and looked threatening on that occasion. Otherwise quite anonymous and didn't see much of the ball. Forshaw, Doherty (N/A)

We aren't going to pay any fee for a manager or head coach in the form of compensation package to another club. Last 15 years will give you an idea about our new 'hiring policy': - Sacked Allardyce in December 2010 and hired Kean (internal recruitment). Relegated less than two years later. - Sacked Kean in September 2012 and hired Berg in November 2012, who had been out of work for over a year. He was in turn sacked 57 days later. - Hired Appleton in March 2013 who was on a one-year rolling contract with Blackpool. Sacked 67 days later. - Hired Bowyer (internal recruitment having been in charge of the reserve team). First as a caretaker manager after Berg and Appleton and later signed initially a one-year rolling contract in May 2013. Sacked in late 2015. - Hired Lambert in late 2015 who had been out of work for nine months since his spell at Aston Villa. Didn't even last a year as Lambert himself triggered a release clause in the contract before end of season. - Hired Coyle in June 2016 shortly after he ended his last contract by mutual consent with MLS side Houston Dynamo. Sacked by mutual consent in February 2017 after poor results which would ultimately lead to relegation to L1. - Hired Mowbray who had been out of work for five months since his spell at Coventry. Left at the end of contract having been five years at the club and getting them back to the Championship. - Appointed JDT in June 2022 who had been out of work for roughly six months after ending his contract with Malmö FF. Left by mutual consent in February 2024. - Appointed Eustace in February 2024 who was sacked four months earlier at Birmingham. Left a year later after Derby triggered his release clause. - Hired Ismaël in February 2025 who had been out of work for almost a year since being sacked by Watford. So you're either going to see an internal recruitment (Johnson? Vignal?) or someone who's been out of work for a while once Ismaël leaves.

Game management: 3/10 Team has struggled for years to 'see games out' from a winning position. Always susceptible to conceding a late goal. Feels like we panic at times and don't know how to slow the tempo down or do proper time wasting during set pieces. Hasn't really improved under Ismael either; late goals conceded vs Birmingham (home) and Wrexham (away) comes to mind. Man management: 4/10 Ismael doesn't exactly come across as a motivator. Throwing Gueye under the bus and publicly bashing him and Carter isn't really helpful for the team's morale. Standards need to bet set, yes, but it could've been handled better and preferably behind closed doors. Tactics: 4/10 Has a clear idea regarding type of player he wants but fails to incorporate that into a winning team. Switched formation early in the season from 4-2-3-1 to 5-3-2 for the Coventry game due to a number of poor results. Defence has stabilised somewhat since then but attacking-wise there's a lack of ideas and purpose. We struggle to defend set-pieces at times as well as scoring from them (throw-ins in final third included). Threat from transitions / counter-attacks is pretty much non-existent due to poor movement and athleticism up front. Our build-up from the back is poor as well as we struggle severely with beating first line of press and end up booting it long to one of the strikers (who can't keep hold of the ball anyway). Only bright side has been our threat on the right hand side when Alebiosu has been playing. End result is we try to keep ourselves in the matches for as long as possible but will need a bit of luck to win them. Summary: fail to see how the team will progress and climb the table under his tenure despite there being a lot of inconsistent sides in the Championship right now.

Might as well play the kids in this one to rest some key players. Toth Atcheson O'Riordan Ribeiro Montgomery TGH Henriksson Powell Doherty Joseph Dlamini Would like to see Tyjon play, but feels like there's no point if he's not going to sign a professional contract with us. @KentExile you have good knowledge of our U21 players, is Mullarkey-Matthews currently injured? Remember him being quite lively in one of the pre-season friendlies.

Recruitment: will there be any money available for transfers? Owners: lol no, we love to drain the club of assets. You can keep five percent of any sales, though. Recruitment: so what you're saying is that we have to get Cashin first before spending? Owners: yes Recruitment: gotcha

Just seen a ten-minute highlight and deary me, we looked bleak just like the shirt worn for the day. First goal: way too simple transition to just put a ball over the top and all of a sudden their striker is clear on goal. It's a 2v1 situation yet we can't handle it. McLoughlin's positioning is wrong as he doesn't stay on the inside of Smith before the pass is played. Pratt doesn't exactly come across as sprinting back fully either and fails to make a sliding challenge to block the attempt. Pears doesn't cover near post. All three have to take their fair share of blame for that one. Second goal: don't understand how Hedges can miss a clear header and get it away from the danger zone? He then looks at the ball instead of picking up Rathbone in the box in the follow-up situation. Just poor timing and game intelligence on display. Other notes: Cantwell looked extremly poor and lost many key challenges. Litherland is probably gone for a few weeks after pulling his hamstring, he could barely move after it happened. Can't believe we managed to keep three clean sheets before this one seeing how easily Wrexham carved us open with a simple long ball over the top. Bannan (of all people) was close for Wednesday from a similar chance a couple of days ago so I guess we've been somewhat fortunate until now. To be honest, we looked absolute shot with tired legs and no ideas going forward. Injuries are also piling up to the point where Ismael might be forced to switch to a back four? We struggle to break teams down who sit in a low block and when they also employ quick transitions, we fare even worse. If Charlton do the same, we're in trouble.

Out: Pears, Ribeiro (or Pickering), Gueye, De Neve (loan or permanent), Tavares (loan) In (primary): experienced striker and two attacking midfielders with a bit of pace and technique In (secondary): left wing back, box-to-box midfielder and an experienced centre back Switch formation to 3-4-2-1 instead of having a striker like Ohashi running around aimlessly on the flank and leaving no presence in the box.

Recruitment team needs to act fast here, next to critical that they get at least one experienced striker in before game against Ipswich on the 17th. Our last nine games of the season could very well seal our fate and condemn us to relegation if we continue sleepwalking further down the table. As I've stated earlier, my belief (and fear) is that we are a reactive side with no 'available funds' and who needs selling players first before we act rather than being proactive and have players ready within the first few days of the transfer window. Our last five or six winter transfer windows are horrendous as well, not spending more than £1 million in any of those. If recruitment team fails in January (again), we will get relegated.

Well technically, Tronstad is free to sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club starting today as he has less than six months left remaining on his current one. Pretty certain we won't get any fee even if we tried. Kinda like what happened to Brereton Diaz a few seasons ago when he left for Villareal. Will Tronstad 'down tools' and start playing poorly just like Brereton Diaz did? Would think he's a bit more professional than that but who knows.

There is no planning at the club. No vision in how they want to play or build the squad which leads to no proactivity on the transfer market. Wouldn't be surprised if Gueye was sold without any replacement lined up. - We continue playing with two up front when one of them isn't even a striker (Henriksson). - We bought Miller to replace Brittain but he ended up becoming a centre back. - We sold Hyam on deadline day without bringing in a replacement. We brought in TGH on loan presumably to cover for Alebiosu with Miller moving in to centre back, but only for him to start at central midfield instead to fill the gap left by Travis. - We have two left backs on the bench for our matches (Ribeiro, Pickering) but they don't fit into the wing-back system and thus rarely plays. - We only have one creative player in the squad who's currently playing with a bandaged knee which restricts his mobility (Cantwell). If he gets injured, what do we have left? - We sold Travis and replaced him with an injured player who has only recently been getting minutes after five months (Baradji). - We still don't have any players with pace and technique who can take on their man in 1v1 situations. Kargbo is perhaps the closest one we have but he lacks in decision-making and is therefore not very effective. - Attacking movements and play must be poor in training. No running in behind, ball control and first touch is below par (see: Ohashi) and we keep shooting from range or from difficult angles (see: TGH). We are a reactive side, not a proactive one. This mindset can be seen across all areas, from recruitment to tactics, changing course as we move along with the season.

This guy is in Swedish Allsvenskan as well but way better. Plays as a winger for Hammarby but likes to cut inside using his preferred left foot. 50% successful dribbles leaves him in the top percentile among first division players in Europe. Would fit in if we were to play a 3-4-2-1 formation with him as one of the two attacking midfielders. Kind of what Mbuemo has been doing for United. Currently valued around €3-4 million according to Transfermarkt and Fotmob.

Cantwell in my opinion is a 10, not an 8. I agree regarding Tronstad that we lack a proper backup in the holding midfield department after Travis left, however. Holding midfielder coupled with a playmaker and box-to-box player is in my view a good combination in central midfield. We've lacked a central midfielder who can drive forward and attack opposition box for so many years. JDT experimented with Travis at one point but it failed. Baradji has potential to become good but I feel we need another one in case he gets injured again.

I would say we need 4-5 signings this window: - 1 center back to cover for the two who's currently injured (Carter, Wharton). O'Riordan will be recalled but I would still go for another one on a permanent. - 2 wing backs, one to compete for Hedges' position and the other to provide cover for Alebiosu. Litherland did well on his debut but it's still too early to make a call and rely on him as backup. - 1 central midfielder, preferably a box-to-box type - 1 striker to compete with Gudjohnsen / Ohashi Offload: Gueye (almost a certainty by now), De Neve (loan or permanent), Tavares (loan or permanent) Left wing back, central midfielder and striker are key areas. If we get those three right, then we might have a team capable of picking up points and wins on a more consistent level. Some other notes: Great to see academy players taking their chances and show their worth. Pratt and Atcheson looks very physical and capable of handling Championship football in that sense. Litherland at right wing back was a surprise package vs Millwall and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. Montgomery looked out of depth early in the season but made some decent progress before getting injured. Too bad about Tyjon's contractual situation as he's talented, would've liked to see him go out on loan to a L1 or L2 side to gain valuable experience. Our summer recruitment has really been a hit & miss so far. De Neve and Tavares biggest disappointments while Alebiosu has been our best player this season. Think Baradji will be really good as a powerful box-to-box midfielder once fully match fit.

Manager has to take his fair share of blame for the loss. Horrible starting lineup and subs came too late. De Neve has shown repeatedly that he doesn't understand the concept of defending, a liability at left wing-back if he needs to track back. We have a weak squad but the manager has to do better, especially in games like this and Oxford the other day. With Alebiosu gone to AFCON for the next couple of matches, we'll be completely devoid of any attacking threat on either flank. Doesn't look good at all.

What the f* is that central midfield? Gonna win exactly zero balls back and will be completely overrun during transition moments. Better hope we get the first goal or this will end badly...

That lineup is unbalanced in central midfield and Ribeiro is unable to cover an entire flank on his own, as shown in the last few matches where Ismael has changed his position in-game from wing-back to left center back. Sorry to say this but Ismael is more or less forced to make a formation switch here to make it work somewhat with Hedges out injured. Either Ohashi drops to become a secondary striker behind Gudjohnsen or Cantwell starts. Central midfield is a f*ing mess right now; risky to start Baradji as well due to lack of match fitness but I would give him at least 45-60 minutes here if he can manage it. Tronstad will probably not be able to play more than 30 minutes or so. 4-2-3-1 Pears Alebiosu Miller McLoughlin Ribeiro Baradji TGH Morishita Ohashi De Neve Gudjohnsen Subs: Cantwell, Tronstad, Tavares In possession (final third): 3-2-5 with Alebiosu moving forward, Morishita cutting inside from the wing and Ribeiro staying in a back three. Out of possession: perhaps a standard 4-4-2 with Ohashi leading the press with Gudjohnsen?

I would agree in principle due to De Neve's poor game intelligence and positioning. However, I don't think Ismael sees neither Ribeiro nor Pickering as viable options for left wing-back since none of them are athletic enough to play there. Ribeiro also made his fair share of mistakes before getting dropped earlier in the season. We have a weak squad that lacks depth, simple as that. Our pressing out of possession and overall fitness level/sharpness has improved during the last few games but we need signings in January to avoid lowering the standards whenever injuries, fatigue and suspensions starts kicking in again.