roversfan99

He is an absolute waste of space, one of two deplorable lap dogs. But any opportunity to get promoted being sacrificied is down to the owners, no one else, even the idiots they pay too much to carry out their objectives of (ironically in this case) solely minimising costs.

According to you, every manager ever has been happy with the staff because they always say that they are when they join. I have no idea if he genuinely is happy with the staff or wishes he could bring in more, thats my point, we dont truly know. Im not saying he isnt happy. Do I think he would have taken the job? He has been out of work for a year having been sacked fairly soon into his reign at two previous Championship clubs. He said that every other club he has spoken too since has been in relegation trouble. We were in the play off places, he gets a 3 and a half year deal and knows that the job is there as long as he wants it regardless of success or not. So yes, I think he would have taken it regardless of the staff changes he was permitted to make.

Has he said the same thing that every single head coach or manager has said? Ill be impressed if anyone ever comes in and says, im not happy that I cant have more of my own staff but I will have to make do with these.

How do you know that Ismael is happy with his current staff?

Although its only on goal difference, weve now become 4th in a race of quite a few to get into 2 spaces. Hard to feel any confidence that we have a reasonable chance but we must get 9/10/12 points from these next 4 to stand a chance. If we dont it will just fizzle out.

The £1.4m will be the likes of Wahlstedt, O'Riordan and Telalovic. Not that the 25 accounts will show much more. Cantwell, Kargbo, Toth, Gueye and Ohashi so probably at most £3m.

Just seen a regurgitated Alan Nixon article on twitter about the accounts who puts the profit down to the first chunk of the Wharton sale and selling Szmodics. Surely that shows a total lack of understanding regarding accounting treatment. The (pure) profit on Wharton will 100% go into the accounts on an accrual basis, timing of payments is irrelevant. And Szmodics was sold after the accounting year. Also, is there a chance that the highest paid director is Suhail?

A theory that might have more credibility had it not been an ongoing prediction by the same poster for years and years.

Its the owners I hate. Their lapdogs Suhail and Waggott are also dragging the club down too. They have pulled a blinder purposely or otherwise though where now Eustace takes all of the flak and many seem happy to overlook the mess that still remains. You agreed that he had been let down when it emerged that he was going, now hes the villain of the piece. As has been mentioned, and he deserves some stick, but seems a bit wrong that on Saturday 100% of the bile will be chucked towards Eustace and 0% at the root causes of our problems. If expecting a player playing in an attacking position to offer any sort of attacking threat is expecting too much or expecting things that a player cannot do, then yes I am. I dont hate him by any means, sure he is a nice guy and no doubt that he tries his best. But I dont like seeing players play for my club who clearly arent good enough. And Gueye managed basically the whole game at the weekend. Ohashi might only be able to do an hour but Weimann or Cantwell can come on for him when he tires. But lets attack them from the start, get 1 up and get their fans on their back.

If Hedges is even a consideration to start then yes, it is a difficult decision. Derby are not only crap but their confidence is on the floor. We should be going to attack them. Is Hedges going to do that? Scoring, assisting, beating players, speed, dribbling, creating, youve repeatedly admitted that hes "not that type of player." If you are in favour of leaving Ohashi out for if and when Gueye tires (in his last 8 games, he has played 90 minutes 6 times and 88 minutes twice so im unsure why) then it really highlights our January "attempts" to sign the striker we need. We signed a player more suited out wide who hadnt played for ages and is also suspended, and Cauley Woodrow who seemingly doesnt come into your thinking as a potential sub. Little wonder that Eustace got so pissed off. Although you seemingly have gone from brief outrage that we had messed him around as he left, to constantly picking apart his media comments.

Hedges was ok but he didnt really do much going forward and certainly not to outrank a season (and beyond) of poor and ineffective performances. Weimann is a very useful impact sub to have but as we have seen playing him away from home in particular, he can struggle from the start. So as I said, difficult decision to make. Our wide areas are a very weak position. You look at some of our rivals and the options they have in those positions, and its night and day.

Its a tough one as we have such poor options out wide. But Derby are there to be attacked. Probably go with Gueye with Ohashi just off him. Kargbo left so the question mark is wide right. Weimann often struggles from the start especially away from home. Hedges doesnt offer anything. Dolan deserves dropping and ACD has been a poor signing.

Derby are crap, we have to be winning this game. We need to really attack them, Weimann is a goal threat and perhaps deserves a start but especially away from home, is often invisible when he does start. Him and Hedges in the same starting 11 would feel quite negative. As a Rovers fan though having seen it all before, a drab loss wouldnt surprise many.

Forshaw didnt make progressive passes though and even simple ones sometimes went astray.

Ones who will be key players either way and/or ones with slight knocks that would play in an important game but could do with a rest might. Its a frustrating pause for all just as the season gets onto the home straight.

I suspect that a number of players will pull out to save themselves for the remainder of the club season. We will beat Albania and Latvia regardless so it doesnt matter either way. Hall is injured.

I definitely have never said that he was a top manager. Did a decent job though overall.

Not even about a high press necessarily. Cantwell and Gueye are regulars and we were particularly passive and flat for much of the game. It felt like a specific tactic/part of the gameplan and I dont think it worked. Shouldnt be fearing Norwich at home.

Still cant see the logic in them actively not wanting something which both financially and in terms of how it may reflect upon them, would be of massive benefit.

I dont think its just about the quality of the players either. I think we all agreed that Eustace was making the team bigger than the sum of its parts. It doesnt mean that he was backed, just like managers before, in fact the lack of backing literally led to him quitting. No reason to think that Ismael will be backed when so many others havent. Unless you think that minimal reinvestment and not always getting the final say to be considered being backed, in which case, yes I am sure some players will be signed under him.

The more passive tactics we did employ still saw them repeatedly get their players on the ball in attacking areas, the number of time one of them picked the ball up on the half turn was ridiculous. Thankfully in the main they didnt do much from there. As the home team we should have played more on the front foot. The triple Ismael sub has been something he has done throughout his career. He has often been criticised for it due to the predictable nature of it. That being said, some managers can go the other way and make changes too late.

Not being backed doesnt mean literally not signing any players. It means at least in my back not being given significant enough resources and of course not having final say also doesnt help. Eustace wasnt backed. Tomasson wasnt backed. And towards the end Mowbray wasnt backed. All displayed frustration in the media and no reason to suggest it wont happen again.

Its hard to judge much after 2 days training with the new manager but I felt like we were a lot more passive and really didnt want to press at all which surprised me. I dont think it worked to be like that. We did also see the multiple subs on the hour mark which is an Ismael trademark. It has been suggested as an area where he is quite inflexible.

@chaddyrovers do you think that Eustace WAS backed then? Wasnt the narrative when he left, so just checking if thats changed.

Not like you to view all of the refereeing decisions Just ignoring the Hyam elbow completely? Debatable Dennis straight red? Is the clear penalty the one on Ohashi? If so, im not even convinced that it was a foul. But if it was, your eyes must be great to see exactly where any contact happened. The ref was shit but it wasnt purely in Norwich's favour.