roversfan99

You would think the remit would be, I don't care how we play or how it looks, just get us up.

Please see below. I am a cynic of such stats, I think there are a lot of holes in them, but that is a big difference which doesn't surprise me, as purely from seeing them, Kaminski kept us in far more games with saves he wasn't entitled to make, Pears isn't a match winner.

What is the obsession with becoming a possession based teams? Possession for both teams can only ever total 100%. Rather than appoint a manager with high possession stats but pretty average results over a 2 year period, and with a squad not suiting that style, why not just get a manager that can focus on getting them up in the first season?

Pickering takes at least as much blame, 100%. But that sort of goal was in the pipeline for weeks, there have been numerous occasions of misunderstandings when the ball has gone in behind, Pears often half coming out and leaving nervous moments. Kaminski gives his defenders more confidence. You are very keen on data etc. What do you think to the stats that the difference between Kaminski and Pears in terms of expected saves is 4.5 goals this season in Kaminski's favourite.

Who are you thinking? There are only 3 keepers who have ever gone for more than 40m, one was Buffon over 20 years ago, one was Alisson and the other was the curious Kepa deal.

Whilst it is definitely a valid argument to suggest that we sold Raya for a low fee and it was a short term move, he made so many mistake in that first season up and he wasn't a patch on the keeper he is today, and likely wouldn't be close to it even now without the coaching and development he has got at Brentford. The year with Walton was a joke, but what frustrates me more at this current time is that we did (a year too late) get an excellent replacement in Kaminski and we are probably going to sell him to go back to having someone bang average in net instead.

You've listed some very average signings there but it's a huge stretch to say he was dishing them out to put them first, especially as many of those only signed the one contract here so he was hardly "looking after" players he had never managed before, as if he was doing an old mate a favour. Should some of those signings have been made, no of course not. We signed Brittain this season who had a number of injuries and Szmodics missed a few games having suffered bad injuries prior to joining. We will probably end up signing injury prone players at times and having to take slight risks.

Will he be expecting £18k a week? And Sunderland have lots of attacking midfielders, Pritchard, Embleton, Roberts etc. Could argue Dack is better than them, but not sure it is much more than 2+2 at the moment. But if he did sign a player of his quality for free, hardly a sympathy deal.

Quite the opposite. Many people seem to be suffering from recency bias in an attempt to justify a transfer before it has happened. Quite a few goals? Up until the new year, Kaminski was the best keeper in the league, he kept us in many games with fantastic games in a way that Pears has never done, the general performances at that time were poor and Brereton's goals and Kaminski's saves led to us getting many wins that we wouldn't have got without them. Quite a few goals he let in that he shouldn't? There were a couple during his wobble in January, his biggest 2 errors came against Birmingham in the last game before his injury and against Rotherham in the third to last game before his injury. He then broke down in training a day or two after and Tomasson said that he had been struggling for a few weeks with the problem. There is a clear disparity IMO (and many others) between them in terms of saving shots, if you are into your stats, @Mellor Rover pointed out that there are 4.5 goals between them in terms of expected saves. If you aren't, I saw with my eyes that Pears has not won us points like Kaminski has. The alternative argument is that Pears is better with his feet, even if you assume that both skills are equally as important, and I don't think that is the case, the disparity between the two is nowhere near as big as it is in terms of saving shots. And then there is a third area, command of the penalty box which Kaminski is again far superior at. Many times in the run in, there was indecision between Pears and his defence that led to unncessary set pieces being given away from nothing. In the last 2 games, Pears made a big error against Luton where he was nowhere and Luton hit the bar, and then the second goal at Millwall was a result of that lack of communication and faith in him from his defence, Pears came charging out and Pickering panicked and it led to a goal.

Russell Martin is great if you ignore the minor part ie results despite him being at Swansea for 2 seasons.

Id say to get Armstrong, Brereton and Gallagher for £15m is pretty good going. Only the latter blotting the copybook.

McAllister is 24! Is that particularly young? (Not aimed at you chaddy, aimed at the awards)

I never said that it was as good now or even that it is good in general. Point being, you cant possibly know how good it is now. Similar with Champions League if you dont watch that. Although watching our best teams go up against Bayern, Real Madrid, PSG etc, trust me it is the very best standard. Better than those same teams playing Leeds, Leicester and Bournemouth.

Well you are missing out on the best players in Europe and often some thrilling games by missing the Champions League. Serie A, I watch it occasionally, not enough to give an expert opinion. But you certainly cant say that it isnt very good when you never watch it, that was my point and I dont see how you can argue against that.

How can you possibly know that it isnt very good though if you never watch it and havent for years?

Yet an A all round for everyone at the club here.

2 of the very worst players in a Rovers shirt since we came up too.

Cant say im an avid watcher of any foreign league but seen a few Serie A games this season and there have been some very entertaining games. Napoli a joy to watch, as I thought were Inter in the first half of the Champions League semi final last week.

Loved having him here, a genuine bright spark in a terrible 12 years and a huge loss to us. But social media predictably calling him a legend. Come on.

How do you know if you dont watch it?

Especially when the season is basically over.

Watching the wrong game.

The whole team looks shell shocked. The balance of that midfield isn't right, they have some really good athletic midfielders in Valverde who is not suited so deep, Camavinga who is not a left back and Tchouemani who is a sub.

City incredible and Real Madrid look awful, hard to make out whether it is just City being so good that makes them look so bad.