roversfan99

That would be a strange centre back pairing, if they are number 6's.

Nothing about the game plan worked. The way we set up purposefully leaving our better attackers on the bench meant we offered nothing in attack which invited pressure and we were lucky to keep it only to 1 nil, down to a mixture of poor finishing and a few saves rather than by design. The idea that we cant go to Plymouth with the intention (carried out with some convinction) of getting a win is ridiculous. His overly negative gameplan was counterproductive. The thing is the tactics subsequently made us more vulnerable defensively because we were so passive. I wouldnt expect gung ho attacking but we should be starting our attackers with more quality to try and impose an attacking threat rather than just trying to cling on. They could have had a number of other goals though. Its counterproductive to have such a negative mindset where you purposefully leave your better attackers on the bench. Their attacking players certainly did influence the game moreso as a result of the tactics. Cissoko had a field day running at a centre back playing out of position.

I think the opposite, recency bias has made people think Gallagher is worse than he actually is. Last season, he had a particularly difficult season with numerous injuries, but before that, we all thought rightfully that we could improve on him. He had scored 8 or 9 goals in each of the 3 seasons prior. I dont rate Gallagher, he is very much low end Championship standard when he stays fit. But I am unconvinced that Gueye can even get the 8 or 9 goals that prior to last season, Gallagher gave us and that is saying something.

What makes your opinion one of "proper" perspective and those who are more critical just bringers of "doom and gloom?" It is a valid point that our fixtures at home have been favourable ones, thats a fair point to make. That being said, he couldnt win even a single home game when we had some favourable ones last season, and those games have to be your bread and butter, so to win all 4 deserves a lot of credit. His approach to away games is becoming a big concern, purposely leaving out players with flair and creativity trying to "stay in the game" against the mighty Plymouth. It didnt work, and I think he needs to have a major think. The question is, can he get the best from those players or will he choose to stick with his favourites in Dolan/Hedges etc who like to run around but dont do anything.

Their commentators wont have seen much of him though to know about him either way. He has shown signs of attributes that could make him useful, he holds it up at times. But he needs to at least contribute a reasonable amount to justify playing time. I think a Belgian football expert who did an interview in the LT when he signed showed with stats that he misses a lot of clear cut chances and as we have seen is not a good technical player or striker of the ball. As you touch on, the worry is that who is going to score goals to sustain us over a full season. Ohashi is the one who has shown a knack of having that instinct but they seem unlikely to play together. We know that the likes of Hedges and Dolan dont score many, Cantwell is not a natural scorer, Weimann was but he is clearly not the player he used to be.

You keep mentioning the Watford goal as if its a strong argument in his favour. The fact that you do so suggests that as is the case, he doesnt score very many. In most games, he does what he did today, practically nothing.

Things change. When we are really poor in a certain area, then of course it becomes concerning. You would have more of a point if I had refused to acknowledge our home record but I have praised Eustace on a number of occasions for it this season. But away from home, 3 points from 5 games is not something to brush over IMO. I found his comments strange that basically the gameplan was to go to Plymouth and "stay in the game for 60 minutes" and hope that subs can get us over the line. I would understand more at one of the top clubs but I dont feel like its constructive to be so passive and so it proved. We dont have that approach at home now, but we just invited too much pressure and were lucky to even be in the game when the subs came on. I feel that we need to be more aggressive, I am all for trying to build on a solid base but not only do I not think that you can wait two thirds of a game before really looking to attack, but inviting pressure made us anything but solid and Plymouth kept picking us apart.

Would they both be seen as first team regulars? Why is Hedges living off that one goal a year ago? He doesnt do enough often enough.

I know he apparently was nursing a knock in the first game but hes made every squad.

I do have reservations about how Eustace will try to get the best out of any flair players. He has a reputation as a pragmatic manager and as I mentioned, his quotes about just trying to stay in the game for 60 minutes were pretty telling. We naturally were more defensive last season with a limited squad and being in a scrap, but Birmingham fans also had reservations about him pushing on due to his negative style of football. The 3 potential players who can hopefully give us something a bit different are Cantwell, Cozier Duberry and JRC. Cantwell still clearly isnt fit but I did find it counterproductive that he played him wide on Tuesday, we need to build the team around him. Cozier Duberry has been left only really with cameos but he at least can run with the ball and he also played a few nice passes inside. JRC has really fallen out of favour having been turned into a utility man but he feels like a waste of a good player that the manager doesnt know what to do with. The likes of Hedges and Dolan seem to be favourites but while they will try their best, we have seen over a long period how limited they are. The defensive side also is not as solid as I would like. We conceded 2 at Norwich, 2 today which could have been more and 3 on Tuesday which again could easily have been more. 2 of our 3 clean sheets came against 10 men and we dont look defensively strong.

Football fans react positively to good results and badly to negative ones. Who would have thought.

Exactly. If either does stay then I think they still have to prove their worth and it would likely be as squad players. Players like that wont take us anywhere if we have a slither of ambition.

I expect him to start v Swansea as he seems to be a favourite of Eustace. Even on Tuesday, Cantwell was stuck wide to build the team around him. Ideally he and Hedges will leave at the end of the season and we will make considerable upgrades across those attacking areas. That being said, we will only have Cantwell contracted into next season so I expect they will stay and again feature regularly with a small budget only allowing us to bring in more squad players.

I also have big concerns about him. Technically really poor and I wonder if he will even get up to 8/9 goals which even Gallagher got to in most seasons here. Just looks like a lump.

Eustace mentioned post match that the game plan basically was to rely on the subs to change the game. I found that a bit alarming, we shouldnt just be going to away games to teams like Plymouth without much intention to attack initially, and we played like a side trying to cling on and hope to be in the game towards the end. Our away form is very poor this season and I am not convinced that our fans spending good money following us across the country are likely to see too many wins without a change of tact.

Ohashi would probably come back in up top. Cozier Duberry would come in on the right wing, Cantwell for Dolan, JRC at RB, Beck at left back. Dunno who would play left wing, maybe give Sigurdsson a go. Probably Hyam and Carter CB, Tronstad and maybe Travis or if not then Baker. I want to see Toth in goal but Pears did well today in fairness. Regarding your service point, I think 2 things. Firstly, its not a case of a striker being solely reliant on service, obviously there is a big element of that but also you dont seem to consider that an attackers movement and anticipation mean that natural goalscorers almost create their own chances. Take Szmodics last season, we had a poor team that created little but he knew how to make clever runs, sniff out chances and ended up top scorer in a poor side. But obviously better service and more attacking gives them a better chance. You have regularly defended Dolan and Hedges but they have repeatedly shown that they arent very effective in the final third. I am certainly not convinced on Gueye though. He is technically very poor and clumsy and he clearly isnt a natural goalscorer. He had a good opening in the first 30 seconds that he wasted. He does have some potentially useful attributes but the more I see him the more concerned I am. He initially benefitted from the fact that our strikers were so poor last season that it felt like anyone was an improvement but that alone wont be enough to sustain high opinion of him.

Does anyone forsee big changes ahead of the next game? I think the front 4 should all be replaced, as well as new full backs. But I would predict maybe one or two changes.

Whilst people have perhaps overrated the squad and certainly the recruitment, he definitely has a lot of blame for these 2 no shows. Persisting with the same players, things like Carter over JRC at RB and the same underperformers in attack.

Absolutely terrible again today and we seem to be getting worse and worse. Eustace again got his selection totally wrong and after scoring an undeserved equaliser, the game management was non existent. It is a good job that our home form is perfect because our away form is shocking. Gueye again appears more and more of a donkey with each passing game. Hedges anonymous, Dolan is just not good enough and Weimann is too old to be flogged every game. The slow defence was ripped apart too often and Carter should never play at RB again. Pears in the main had routine saves to make but did well and was our best player, he had one typical spill but made up for it by improvising. The subs improved things but it seems like Eustace has his favourites and will keep sticking with them. Rankin Costello improved us at right back, Cozier Duberry again improved us and Ohashi improved us. Cantwell didnt seem to fancy it and Sigurdsson didnt do much. A great start has turned into a ok/decent one with Eustace making strange decisions and leaving us with a lot to figure out. Has the recruitment really been as good as everyone assumed?

Crap so far. Eustace has got his starting 11 wrong again and we seem to be getting worse. JRC should be at RB, Carter is being humiliated again there and our slow defence in general is having rings run around them. Our stodgy and ineffective attack has done little bar be caught offside.

I know he clearly doesnt. But my opinion doesnt align with that.

As I expected. Stodgy on paper with flair and the ability to take people on sat on the bench. Plus a centre back at right back and JRC on the bench. Hopefully we can grind out a win.

The line up could be anything it feels. Hes probably more likely to stodge it up with players like Hedges and JRC wide and Dolan central as he is pragmatic. But I hope to see the team built around Cantwell and also the directness of Cozier Duberry out wide. Hopefully we wont have Carter at RB either.

How can you possibly put all of your eggs in the basket of someone yet to even prove himself at Premier League level? Neither warrants a regular England spot.

Carter looked exactly like a centre back playing at right back. He had a torrid evening with Wright constantly getting past him. Cantwell out wide hinders him going forward and hes never going to be someone to graft and protect his full back. Get him in the middle and play around him.