roversfan99

Ennis has one problem that Szmodics doesnt, he is made of glass.

People are going to discuss players as they go, its not this rash and misery induced negativity that it is made out to be. The key is if and when that player improves, which doesnt always happen, that people acknowledge the improvement. Now Szmodics is showered with praise and seen as a key player.

VAR would have ruled out their goal.

Probably a game that sums us up. Going forward, we create chances far better than we have in the past, although we dont take anywhere near enough. Defensively we look very ragged this season and the balance of the midfield especially without Travis wasnt right. Massive gaps that a better team than Boro (we have had a favourable first 6 games) would have done far better with, their striker in particular was really poor when presented with big spaces especially at the end. The Tronstad situation is so strange, surely he would be ideal to help to close some space deep in our midfield. Pears was shaky as we expect, the back 4 were left exposed but in the main did well. Wharton has been a mixed bag this season, fantastic on the ball but exposed at times, Travis did well when on. Hedges was a threat, Szmodics deserved man of the match, Gallagher was ok without offering much goal threat and Dolan again nowhere near good enough. Moran was really poor too and Telalovic looks very raw, think he was given offside when he missed that sitter but aside from one excellent pass he struggled to lead the line. We are dying for some experience to provide some stability and some know how. The last 30 minutes is not a sustainable way against better teams to see results out.

Rubbish team and rubbish window. What Tomasson sees in Pears I do not know. Dolan back in for Moran makes no sense. Tronstad cant even make the bench, another inspired signing.

Leicester have got some really talented good young players but they have a brilliant core of proper experience in Ndidi, Vardy, Pereira, Coady and Winks. You need experience in key positions to be competitive over 46 games and they definitely have it.

What about Tyler Morton?

Not injury prone. Just unlucky with injuries. Whats the difference?

Venkys leaving would do just that.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23793224.tomasson-doubles-rovers-deadline-day-stance/ Pears looks like starting tomorrow. Has a real blind spot towards him.

No idea if its the under 21s or an in house game.

Still no Sigurdsson involvement tomorrow who will be playing 45 minutes on Sunday instead according to the LT. Sounds like Ennis is going to miss another block of games. 2 weeks from training.

My point is, we didnt sell because of a stupidly rigid, unrealistic price tag based on the price of a player who had scored more goals who went the summer before, as if all players are worth the same. Had we accepted or even been open minded to bids with the alternative being nothing, and he had declined, different argument and you can have some sympathy. As it was, Broughton has (understandably considering upsetting them will jeopardise his job security) "understood" the stance the owners had. It was nonsensical.

Not only is the theory of declining bids based on fans reactions totally bizarre, its also not true. This supposed uproar should Brereton have been sold is baseless, there was an expectation of a sale with him going into the last year. Obviously there then is a question over funds available to reinvest. Im assuming there are because what I am pushing for is what Broughton has pushed for and Mowbray before him. The "model" ie the freedom to sell, bring in funds, reinvest a decent chunk and keep the rest to be more sustainable. Broughton mentioned it again recently, for all of his theory which comes from a good place, it wont happen with these owners so it is just hot air.

You cant possibly say that he didnt want to go or indeed if he was annoyed that the bids werent considered. Had we accepted and he didnt go, different argument. We should have accepted.

How do you know that he wouldnt have wanted to move to the likes of Nice, Everton or Fulham? We will never know because Venkys wouldnt entertain it unless a random, unsubstantiated price tag was met. And a suitable bid? £8m is a substantial amount of money for a player whose contract has a year on it. So that is bollocks.

The problem is, based on history, he wont be replaced. There is no model. Should be a case of selling him, reinvesting a decent chunk amidst a consistent plan. Not happening with Venkys so we will just get worse.

We should have sold him last summer when we still would have made a profit on him. Venkys intervening predictably messed us up not only then but going forward.

Has your view that Venkys are amongst the top 10% of owners changed following this summer? Have we made a head start on this? If indeed it goes ahead, a huge if. Most of our players are not contracted beyond 2026 anyway, and the aggressive slashing of the budget prevented us signing players like Batth and a loan signing, neither who would be contracted up until then.

No doubt that money was the main factor throughout the summer. But Pears was given the number 1, must have been given assurances that he would be the first choice and has been pretty consistent in interviews about not being willing to be number 2, obviously nobody would say otherwise, but also has reiterated that him and Kaminski at the club was not viable. There has also been talk about Walstedt being a prospect, although one strange aspect about his signing is a 3 year deal without an option. But I think Pears will be number 1 at least for the near future. He made 2 howlers against Plymouth and that mistake v Hull, it should be now that he is dropped. Fingers crossed. I do think that Wahlstedt's solitary Sweden cap doesnt necessarily prove much in isolation. I saw they played the other day and they had Villa sub Olsen in net who is crap, and Johansson (admittedly very good at our level) as one of the subs. He hopefully will prove to be a very shrewd aquisition nonetheless.

I found it strange that Pears and Kaminski couldnt co exist especially as it was partially driven by Pears wanting to be a number 1. I fear we will all be disappointed by the goalkeeper choice in the coming weeks.

I disagree with that, 5 for 2 spots over 46 games and cup games seems reasonable. Do you know when the minutes are out and did Waggott touch on the stupid decision to close the Darwen End for the Cardiff game.

Deary me.

Ultimately as good as it is to come out and speak like this, and it certainly is. I have always felt that the ire has been disproportionately aimed closer to home than it should. Broughton seems like a decent appointment, his transfer record at the moment probably isn't noticeably any better than Mowbray's but I don't necessarily think even over the last 5 or 6 years that recruitment has been that bad, its had some big successes and some duds. Broughton has had his success in the permanent market with 2 good signings and an average one last summer, really poor use of loans, and hopefully that success rate will improve with the flexibility of the work permit changes. I found the interview to be deeply worrying because as much as good as Broughton does, its small fry to the damage caused out in India. A mid summer slashing of 15% of the wage budget is massive, as well as a demand to get £5m in. Also seemingly no real understanding of what the problems are, and if and when they will be resolved. Wharton will likely be off in a year or two, add in the Raya money, we SHOULD then have some to reinvest but I take zero confidence that we will. It's just not a sustainable way to run the football club. Hopefully the business done this summer will turn out to boost the team, but we couldn't get what we needed and wanted because of the further slashing of budgets.

The thing is, its all well and good saying hes the most successful manager this side of 1966. The problem with that is that it assumes that every manager since has had equal standards of squads to utilise. I also think that what he has been best at as England manager is creating a harmony and team spirit which was particularly evident as the team developed in the early years. The current squad is right up there because not only is it packed full of great players but it is well balanced. The team of the early 2000s had some special players but it had no balance, a lot of the better players wanted to do the same things and we had players like Vassell on the bench. This squad isnt perfect either (I think its short of holding midfielders, beyond Stones the centre backs arent at the very top level either) but no international side is perfectly balanced. And going back to that harmony point, key figures in those early days have created blind spots in Southgates judgement; Maguire, Phillips, Henderson and to a lesser extent Pickford all are being out performed yet repeatedly not only are in squads but regularly feature. When Southgate finally does leave, he wont go into a big club job which says a lot. We may very well look back at these years with such a good pack of talent (especially as Kane hasnt got THAT long at the top left and beyond that there is no natural successor) and be left frustrated that such a conveyor belt underperforms due to the managers tactical naivety and the blind spots that have come with being manager for so long.