roversfan99

Maguire is obviously a huge concern and weakness. He will play even though there are better alternatives (Guehi who is injured himself, Tomori, Branthwaite) but none of them are proven or top defenders. Chilwell is a poor defender and has not been good for a while, perhaps injuries have scuppered him. That position is a concern because Shaw is out for the season, so its either rush him back when rusty or what I think he will do and play the out of form Trippier out of position. The midfield area is a bit of an issue. I would agree with selecting Trent even though it feels like shoehorning him into a position he isnt used to playing. Beyond that, there is a total absence of quality in that area beside Rice. He will almost certainly squeeze in Phillips who is not up to it nor has he played much even at West Ham, or the washed up Henderson. But there isnt really anything in the way of quality there. I also fear that Southgate prefers Rashford to Foden for some reason. Obviously it sounds like from that as if we are doomed. The four attacking players of Kane, Bellingham, Foden and Saka if fit and selected to start are the best attackers in the tournament, 100%. Bellingham gets so much focus and rightly so but Foden is on par for me, he is such an incredible footballer. Rice is excellent at what he does too and Stones and Walker are top players, that 7 are superb. I just worry about the other 4 positions. Pickford has a mistake in him but not a huge concern. If Shaw returns before the end of the season and gets up to speed then he is a good player but big if. The 2nd centre back and in particular the lack of quality in midfield especially coinciding with who Southgate likes to pick in those positions though is a worry.

Mainly Southgate. Although with Shaw again injured, the inevitable inclusion of Maguire in that problem second CB position, an average keeper and only Rice as a competent (he is obviously above competent) defensively minded midfielder, we can certainly be got at.

Unlucky? Most players wouldnt come with the risk of having their leg broken twice very recently and having a plate in there in the first place. Probably dont loan out your captain who as far as I am aware has 2 legs both without plates in. A luxury.

If ever you wanted a summary of this window. Its having a good Championship midfield until you loan out your captain, sell your main player for big money and then the owners wont allow any reinvestment so you sign an aging freebie who has recently broken the same leg twice, and has a plate in there which withstood 17 minutes of football before requiring further surgery ending his Rovers career.

Tronstad hasnt trained, Hedges still out, JRC still out. And Fleck done for the season. One kick to the plate he had in his leg only 17 minutes into his debut and thats it for his Rovers career. Some serious homework done.

Adding the Stoke win to Eustace's record is a nice bit of window dressing considering although he may have had an input, it was explicitly stated that he wasnt in charge for that game. The thing in our favour in regards to relegation is the number of teams below us. Whoever does go down would have to be the worst of 7 or 8 teams, its not like there is 2 or 3 trying to avoid 1 place.

Again im not doubting that Mowbray had more but it was not the lavish spending some would have you believe. But either way, I dont think our recruitment can be seen as MORE successful under Broughton, its been mainly dross through the door, although obviously there are mitigating circumstances. Szmodics is an outstanding signing. Tronstad good, Hyam decent (ranging from very good last season to poor this season) and Brittain at a push average. Everyone else between abysmal and underwhelming.

Its a sad indictment as to the fact we only have one striker that Ennis would probably be of use to us now. And not because hes good.

Not his fault but just not up to it and had we not loaned out our captain and/or replaced Wharton, he could be getting regular football in a lower division.

Garrett is nowhere near the standard required. Buckley is hit and miss but much better than him.

Just seems a strange angle to go down. Any hostility in the crowd amidst poor performance after poor performance has all been aimed away from the players and manager. I still find it strange how these boo boys berating our team (apparently) would specifically be aggravated by playing deep and going long.

Nyambe didnt seem like one youd want in the trenches with you either and isnt the best benchmark to use.

Rashford has been shocking all season and is so lazy. Obviously scored a wonder goal which he certainly is capable of but also wasted 2 great chances. Foden on the other hand is on par with Bellingham. We wont be blowing teams away under Southgate and dont have the strongest foundations.

The boo boys?

Has he improved the death spiral? 3 points from 5 games.

I havent written him off and ill be open minded should he play again. But he didnt look like a professional footballer and I am certainly not eager to see him play again. Hopefully Wharton will stay fit and we wont need to consider him.

"Cos results haven't changed people aren't happy still." Weird how people question tactics when we repeatedly fail to win football matches. Even if Travis wanted to leave, it was an idiotic move to allow it, especially knowing the likelihood of pushing Wharton out the door. As it is, we are in a situation whereby with one injury, we are accompanying a fairly lightweight midfielder in Buckley (who couldn't get in Sheffield Wednesdays team) with weak and flimsy young number 10's who we borrowed to make the numbers up. If Szmodics had wanted to leave, would we have authorised a loan to Leeds or Southampton?

His shambolic cameo against Newcastle where more than once he caused us massive issues. He will chip in with an average of maybe 1 in 4, will certainly never be prolific. He does offer something in attack which most of the others don't, and has had quite a few good games since injury.

That would average as 2.5 successes in his time. He had good money to spend on 3 players. One was a massive success in Armstrong and generated a huge profit. Brereton was a success and would have generated some profit had the owners not intervened. Gallagher a poor signing for the money albeit he hae contributed, just not close to £5m worth. Aside from that, they were all a million or less so it wasnt constant huge spending. You look at Dack, Kaminski, Pickering, Rothwell, Dolan, Stewart Downing. Players like Smallwood and Paul Downing in League 1. The loans of Elliott, Reed, Adarabioyo, Harwood Bellis, Van Hecke, Khadra etc. Under Broughton, Szmodics and Tronstad undoubtedly, have to say Hyam too. Otherwise...

If we went down, then probably not. We had was it a 7 point and 7 or 8 team buffer when he came in. With last time, it was a bit different, we massively improved under Mowbray but not quite enough.

To be fair to Gallagher, he looked done after an hour yesterday after going over on his ankle but he had it strapped up and hobbled on. McFadzean is only 37. Give him some credit! If Koumetio is seen as a genuine alternative then we may aswell give up now. He isnt our worst attacker. Hes bang average but since his return from injury, hes been easily our second best attacker. Low bar admittedly. Scored v QPR, Preston and Wrexham, few assists and some good performances in there too, notably v Stoke. Also some shit ones including yesterday. Hes an average and inconsistent attacker at this level, getting more than his fair share of focus. Dolan had the one good game v Stoke and has otherwise been poor for a while. Markanday has had one good cameo ever. Sigurdsson hasnt done anything for months bar shirk challenges. And the others all equally terrible.

The squad is not shit. Contemplates the inclusion of Ayari, Markanday, Garrett, a young lad signed from Crewe and Chrisene in central midfield...

Id bring Travis in, a seasoned Championship midfielder who certainly wont go missing, who has been a regular and often captain of sides near the top of the table and is currently impressing the fans of a team going for automatic promotion. Oh wait. Lets hope Eustace can do the unthinkable and win a game.

We kept predominantly players for whom there was certainly no speculation of interest from anywhere and in at least some cases would have been difficult to offload. It wasnt a case of the owners desperately seeking an instant return. The players in question stood out in League 1 and then in the main proved to again to be very limited players in the Championship.

Had we let them go for free then maybe, but either way, them staying was not through the owners desperation to get back into the Championship.