JCRovers

Need to try something new for the upcoming matches. Struggling to play out from the back at the moment, maybe switch to a back three since we don't possess any wingers with pace. My starting XI vs Stoke (3-4-1-2): Pears Batth Hyam Pickering Brittain Buckley Tronstad Beck Cantwell Gueye Ohashi JRC and Hedges can replace the wing-back positions when legs get tired. Buckley to operate as a deep-lying playmaker to offer help during transitions from defence to attack. Combination of target man (Gueye) - playmaker (Cantwell) - runner (Ohashi) up front should be able to create some chances on the counter. As for Dolan, he can have a rest and ponder further whether he wants to sign a new contract or leave by the end of season.

Maybe the rating is a bit high, but thought Cantwell performed well given the opposition. He showed that he can be a top-level Championship player; too bad the rest of the team is nowhere near that quality.

In the sense that a player is on the pitch but makes zero effort on contribution to the team. A player who would rather pass the ball to someone else than taking on his opponent.

That was an awful watch. Nowhere near competing with Sheffield Utd today who were better organized both in defence and attack. My ratings: Pears 6 - made some decent saves, could've done better with Campbell's first shot at goal as the rebound came back straight to him. Would like to see Toth in one of the upcoming games against either Stoke or Cardiff. Beck 6 - committed himself in the challenges as always but struggled with Rak-Sakyi's pace & skills throughout the game. Hyam 7 - won at lot of challenges and was the best defender on the day. Batth 6 - questionable positioning for the second goal as Campbell was left unmarked inside the box. JRC 3 - shocking clearance for the first goal. His lack of vision/awareness has been exposed previously in the cup against Blackpool this season. Nowhere near the starting XI for me, neither as a right back, central midfield or any attacking midfield position. Travis 5 - gave away a couple of freekicks in dangerous areas and struggled to get forward to support the attackers. Tronstad 6 - made some good interceptions but didn't offer any quality passes when in possession. Cantwell 8 - by far Rovers' best player on the pitch. Only one who looks composed on the ball and making right decisions. Dolan 3 - looks panicked and lost for finding any solutions when in possession. Dwells constantly on the ball, can't beat his marker for pace and overall football intelligence is lacking. Nowhere near starting XI for me. Hedges 3 - missed a great opportunity to get Rovers back on level terms. Works hard and tracks back but overall attacking skills and pace is severly lacking. Alibi player. Nowhere near starting XI for me. Ohashi 6 - Battled with Souttar and Burrows for long balls which was a total mismatch. Work rate and commitment was good as usual but isn't suitable in playing as a lone striker against physical teams in the league. Better off playing together with a target man or take a position on the left wing to cut inside as he's probably the best finisher the club has at the moment. Subs: Brittain 5 - gave away possession which led to the second goal. My preferred choice as right back but his defensive skills and decision-making are questionable at times. Weimann 5 - didn't provide anything of note when he came on. Pickering 5 - slotted in at left back when Beck pushed forward up the field to chase a goal. Beck is my preferred choice as left back however and think Pickering will struggle to back into starting XI. Buckley 5 - has regressed in the past season. Do possess some good technical skills but decision-making is at times poor. Gueye 4 - needless challenge when booked. Only target man in the club but hasn't been utilized to the best of his abilities. Technically poor so would have to learn to play simple passes, win aerial duels and get into the box for crosses. Feels like the sending off against B***ley and coming off the bench in subsequent matches has made his confidence drop a bit. Overall match plan: 4. Feels like Eustace has gotten stuck with selecting same type of players who hasn't shown that they deserve their place in starting XI (Dolan, Hedges, JRC). Booting it long for Ohashi, Hedges and Dolan to compete in the air is a complete mismatch and didn't work at all. Team is struggling to play out of defence when being pressed and doesn't have a target man to aim for when hitting long balls (when Gueye isn't on the pitch). Defensively the team is better organized than it was under JDT, but Eustace is lacking any real solutions attacking-wise. I don't see any combination play, overlaps/underlaps, skills in 1 v 1- situations etc., just a bunch of alibi players who shies away from making a difference. Hope to see Cozier-Duberry back soon as he seems to be a proper winger with pace and skills, unlike Dolan and Hedges.

Thought we had some decent spells, especially at the start of both halves. Cantwell is beginning to show his quality and has to start every game from now on. Gueye was really poor and need to start playing simple and get into the box to meet crosses more often. Hopefully Cozier-Duberry is back soon as we lack pace up front and have Weimann being used more as an impact sub instead. Hedges works hard and tracks back but doesn't really offer anything attacking-wise. Carter's injury is a massive blow as we don't have any sort of pace left in central defence, which will affect how high the team can press the opposition. Can only hope we get the balance right and don't get hit on the counter in the following matches. My preferred XI: Pears Brittain/JRC Batth Hyam Beck Tronstad Travis Cantwell Cozier-Duberry Ohashi Gueye Would like to see Beck and Brittain/JRC push up more and deliver crosses for Gueye but can't see it happening with Carter injured. Double pivot of Tronstad and Travis needs breaking up with Travis acting more as a box-to-box midfielder instead, need more runs from deep attacking the penalty area. Would also like Ohashi to play on the left to cut inside, don't know why Eustace is insisting of not having him and Gueye on the pitch together.

Think Eustace need to shake things up and start dropping players and tweak the tactics after the International break. Would be better to have Tronstad dropping down to form a back-three during build-up rather than having an inverted fullback like Pickering. This is the reason why Eustace is insisting on starting Hedges on the left hand side to offer width but I think Beck is more than capable of doing that job now that he's back after suspension. My starting XI against Swansea: Pears Brittain Carter Hyam Beck Tronstad Travis Cantwell Cozier-Duberry Ohashi Gueye This lineup provides atleast some versatility in attack with a playmaker (Cantwell), target man (Gueye), finisher (Ohashi) and pace (Cozier-Duberry). I see Dolan and Hedges more as squad players who can enter last 15-20 minutes to defend a lead since they are both hardworking and tracks back. Weimann and Sigurdsson can be utilized as impact players to chase a goal in the latter stages of the game. Think Ohashi could do a good job as an inside forward on the left to cut inside with his right foot, feed off Gueye and be a threat with his clinical finishing. Travis can be used more as a box-to-box midfielder. JRC and Pickering can be backups to Brittain and Beck to provide crosses for Gueye in the middle. If Pears starts making mistakes then hopefully Toth is up for it to provide consistency and stability to defence. Would like to drop Hyam in all honesty but sadly the team doesn't have any good replacement as I don't view neither Batth or McFadzean as any better (both being too slow and thus a potential liability during transitions).

The recruitment team has been doing a good job so far considering the limited budget at hand. Hopefully Cantwell signs within the next hour, would also like to see us make an audacious move (swap offer) to Rangers involving Dolan / Matondo. Feels like Matondo / Cantwell / Cozier-Duberry would provide plenty of service for Gueye/Ohashi up front.

Problem is, we´re not in a very strong negotiation position (despite Szmodics having two years left on his contract) given our very limited transfer budget, player potentially becoming unsettled + lacking match fitness and the fact that the team urgently needs strengthening in several areas (primarily GK, LB, CM and two pacey wingers on either side). If he gets injured in training or match that rules him out for a couple of weeks or even months, are we then supposed to fill those gaps with only loanees/free transfers? What kind of a squad will you have for next season given that many of our current players only has 1 year left on their contract? The more the negotiations drags on, the bigger the risk for the club given the situation. Only real signings so far has been Gueye and Ohashi; both unproven at Championship level but hopefully successful ones. The rest are just panic buys on a free to fill up the numbers (even if Weimann has the ability to chip in with a goal or two).

I would argue that we need more than 5 signings (loan/permanent) since there´s a lack of pace not only across the entire backline but throughout the squad, something that the club hasn´t really addressed for the past few years. Think the scouting department has done a decent job in identifying targets overseas that can do a job but the team responsible for contracts/negotiations (Waggott et. al) has been abysmal (McFadzean, Cooper, Szmodics, De Lange). They may have solved the experience bit but the team is still not able to play with a high pressing line against weaker opponents due to reason stated earlier. It´s a team being set up to defend with a low block with the hope that any long ball will reach Gueye and that any of the wide forwards/midfielders pick up the scraps that comes off it. Might work against bigger teams in the league like we saw at the end of last season but they will struggle to get any results against weaker opponents who prefer a more direct approach with low block + counter-attacks. An even more concerning issue is that the club/owners/CEO hasn´t been transparent as to why there´s no transfer budget this window; all reports from LT suggested that there´s no longer an issue with FFP after the Wharton sale and that there would be money to spend in the summer. Is the pending court case a factor? If so, why hasn´t it been communicated to the fans? Waggott says no according to today´s interview but I find that hard to believe given the fact that we weren´t even prepared to pay 2M Euros for De Lange (no surprise that the deal got hijacked by Marseille in the end). I also find it rather unbeliveable that the Szmodics situation hasn´t been resolved for over three weeks; not only does it stop us from replacing him but it has (probably) made the player unsettled and lacking match fitness ahead of the new season. Szmodics sale is vital for the club near term; if it doesn´t get resolved within the next week or so, they´re in for real trouble.