AspRover

I doubt the goodbye video is a contractual obligation, Travis may simply not want to do one. We shall see.

McLoughlin is one of those rare transfers where the squad has a round hole in it so you buy a round peg and everything just carries on as normal.

If Michalski has a good head on his shoulders he learns from this and doesn't crumble. I'm not sure why Montgomery is being played at right back when we have just signed two actual right backs, you have to feel that this won't do him any good. De Neve is going to be polarising, I think he'll score a few goals and run around a lot whilst also just not being that good in general. Green shoots from some of the others though.

lol, sure

I didn't say it was the line up I would pick...

I normally like to see the youngsters get a run out, but realistically we need to get the new signings up to speed and bedded in. Wouldn't be surprised to see something like Michalski Alebiosu Miller Wharton Pickering Tavares (idk, maybe Forshaw) Hedges Henriksson Kargbo Gueye And then plan to bring Tyjon, Montgomery etc. off the bench for some minutes

I've said it before but Cantwell's issue last season was that teams found it too easy to isolate him and push him off the ball - I used to think that the answer was to drop him deeper so he could be covered by the midfield a bit more, now I'm hopeful that the seeming drive to get the rest of the team looking bigger, fitter, stronger in general will help protect him. We also need another player on the pitch with that 'aura' that the opposition are a bit scared of, so that the markers get split up rather than just seeming to having three on Cantwell at all times. Maybe that can be Kargbo or Henriksson. Still think he'll work out fine.

Looking forward to reading far too much into the starting 11 and whatever the BBC guesses is our formation at half two.

Steven Nzonzi signing for stoke after being released by an Iranian team was not on my bingo card this morning.

who could possibly have predicted

Uwe's son, represented England at youth levels so you'd have to hope he doesn't need clearance...

Honestly if we tie up this last couple of deals and then it's premier league loans for the remaining spaces so be it - wouldn't be my first choice but it does at least look like we are going to meet the bare minimum standard of starting the season with a moderately balanced squad with players in every position and I really did not think we'd achieve that at the end of last season. Whether the players we have brought in are up to it remains to be seen.

Lorenzo my beloved... best cook book ever written by a Rovers player hands down.

This window has reminded me a bit of early Hughes - prioritising players who are physical, can get stuck in, bit of fire... The Savages, Mokoenas etc.

In terms of RB downgrade it's not quite he who shall not be named freezing out Michel Salgado for Bradley Orr, but I hope this new lad is at least solid (and we buy someone with the money). Onwards and downwards...

Sorry, that's what I meant - can we de-register his esc slot and not play him without actually selling him or is it fixed once he's been given it?

Is it possible to de-register Mafoumbi from the esc slot without selling him (assuming we can't or for some reason don't want to) - just have him on the books without being able to play him in a competitive fixture - or is there a legal impediment to that (i.e. employing someone without a work permit)? It seems mad that he's taking up one of the four spots and wont get near the team. edit - clarity

Looks like we aren't making a big marquee signing this year, so once again I think we are pinning some hope on one of the players stepping up a gear and becoming the main man. Last season Cantwell was disappointing, but he's got the ability if we can get him playing/find a system that suits him a little better. Ohashi did astonishingly well last season when you consider that he had played a more or less full (?) J league season and then immediately went straight into our team without a break, let alone the cultural shift playing outside of Japan, language barrier etc. - but hopefully after a well earned break and now he's settled in he should be able to kick on. At the moment I don't think we have significantly weakened our first 11 (squad is debatable) - so if either of them can step it up this season and give us an attacking talisman we could be in a stronger position than last season. We need someone to have that one season ala Szmodics, BBD, Armstrong etc. We've got very lucky with this approach since promotion from league 1, the wheels will fall off at some point. If it isn't one of those two I'm not sure who our wild card is, Kargbo maybe?

Both England and Spain have looked weakest against teams that have pressed and harried, been big and physical and not allowed them time on the ball (France and Sweden for us, Germany for them) - If both teams try to play 'plan A' I think Spain will win and fairly comfortably, but I think we have better players to get stuck in and be aggressive. It would mean changing our style a bit, which is something Wiegman generally does not like to do, but I think that is the way we give ourselves a chance at the win. My worry is that we've had very little squad rotation and two hard fought extra time games, so if we do try to press and harry and bully the Spaniards it has to produce results before we run out of steam...

What a weird 'article' - it reads like someone barely literate trying to imitate the style of tabloid football journalism. I do wonder if there was a rumour at the Southampton side of things that we tried to loan BBD in January though, considering that we were probably trying to loan in any out of favour prem striker we could (ended up with Dennis) it actually wouldn't surprise me it that had some truth to it. Probably putting two and two together and making five. I doubt it's something we'd actively re-visit.

1. Can Kargbo play on the right? De Neve on the left and Kargbo right has some running in it. 2. Can we try Gueye and Ohashi as a front two? Just 442 it? Even just as a rotation option it's got to be worth a go, I think against better teams playing more defensively the workrate and physicality will actually be better for us than carrying Cantwell who needs time and space to be effective.

I guess a sideways squad filler from another championship/relegated last year team like we had in the lads from Stoke and Birmingham last year - someone who will go from not playing at all because of an imbalanced squad/selection restrictions or who doesn't want to play in league 1 but their team is confident of getting promoted so want's to keep them long term (ie. someone from Luton). They might take being a rotation/cover option here over that. All the good premier league loans we have had have gone in and been first team starters from the get go, the ones who have come in as squad rotation have been generally poor.

I think the reason Cantwell struggled there last season is that playing too far forward he get's isolated and bullied - too slow to escape his markers and weak enough that they can just push him off the ball. He's got technique, passing, shooting etc. but the other team knows it and he gets marked out of the game. I don't think he can play in our current setup and be as effective as he should be at 10. I genuinely think we should shift the formation a bit so that he can play deeper and be protected by Travis and Tronstad - go from ie. Travis Tronstad Winger Cantwell Winger Forward to Tronstad Travis Cantwell Winger Winger Forward See if we cant get a Tugay/Savage type partnership going. I think he'll be a lot more effective with someone acting as his enforcer. He can still make runs from deep if the space opens up. Risks isolating Yuki, of course, which will depend a lot on who our wide players end up being. Not to mention whether we still have Travis and/or Tronstad.

In this league if you can get 350-1 or higher on literally anyone getting promoted or relegated it's probably worth a tenner at least. In recent years we've seen clubs relegated from the premiership get relegated again and clubs promoted from league one get promoted again. No Bookie is offering odds that long when there are three to go up and three to go down.

It's time for Tyjon to step up... for us, not for him. He's got all the time in the world, the squad needs first team bodies!