roversfan99

There is such a lack of goals in our likely attack. Hedges scored 1 last season, Cantwell 1 from open play and De Neve has never scored more than 2 in a season. And neither of our central midfielders score anything other than occasionally. Even Ohashi isnt prolific.

A Montgomery and Hedges right side makes me feel a bit sick.

No, it is a pattern. We cant get players to sign contracts. If you want to put them down to a series of unfortunate individual circumstances and dismiss the pattern, if that helps you to deflect potential blame, then fine. But it is a pattern. Players dont sign new deals here. But the fact is that the only player we have got to a sign a new deal in a long long time is Ribeiro, who signed a weird short term contract which was then brought in line.

When it is such a continuous pattern, and it stretches beyond the odd player running it down. When we have extended one players contract in is it nearly 2 years, and that was a new signing that signed on a peculiar 6 month deal. When we have key players coming out and saying they hadnt been even talked to at easter, with 1 year to go. Then yes, it is Rovers' fault.

Toth Miller/Alebiosu Hyam McLoughlin Pickering Travis Tronstad Henriksson Cantwell Kargbo Ohashi Not ideal playing Henriksson out of position but what is even less ideal is starting Hedges. He has been playing in Sweden so should be fit enough. Guessing Miller will not be fit enough, we cant play Montgomery there so Alebiosu it is. Pickering and Kargbo would be my choices but suspect Ribeiro and De Neve will start.

Because they go hand in hand in terms of building a squad. Why cant we agree any new deals?

At the moment though it is just one sale. But even if we sold them all, until we can start agreeing new contracts with at least some players then it undermines everything. Its a massive worry. Why do they all want to stay? I suggest we arent offering competitive wages and we also arent being proactive in actually offering them. You should, but why can we not agree new deals with any of our important players?

Armstrong? For 5x that amount. Our inability to extend contracts still continues to undermine us and will do so until something changes.

As mentioned, it wasnt the full Japan team and was against Hong Kong. Based on his goal record at his new team, it was very much a brief half season good spell and at 30 years old, he probably wouldnt have made it at this level. Not that we should specifically be targetting Japanese players using some sort of logic that they carry a specific premium in terms of value. Your posts seem very pro Gestede and you always seem very keen to criticise the methods of Eustace where possible. His methods seem to work very well in terms of getting results. Hopefully Gestede signing all these exotic names does lead to better results but he still hasnt managed to figure out contract extensions.

I know it has. And nothing has changed since Ismael came in because he has no control over it. Are you suggesting in terms of your last paragraph that Ismael doesnt want the likes of Travis, Tronstad and Hyam and didnt want the likes of Brittain, Dolan and Batth to sign new deals? The length of the new signings contracts has been in line with the past.

When its a pattern then surely it becomes a worry. I suspect a mixture of money when they are offered one, but often a total lack of proactivity to even offer one. Hence why Brittain, Tronstad and Travis all said at easter that there has been no talks.

Seems like we swerved a bullet with that Germain we supposedly wanted last year. Had a brief spell of goals (think 4 or 5 in one game) before returning back to irregular scorer.

So no concern about the pattern of us constantly being unable to get current senior players to sign new deals?

I agree. We havent learnt any lessons. Not while none of the contract situations are taken.

Hes a central midfielder who I think played right of a midfield 3.

Its just maybe slightly strange that there are long spells at this club where its not just the odd player that wont sign one, its all of our key players.

Not until they start actually agreeing new contracts with existing key players.

Im not saying that he will cost £2m but his value was under market value due to a release clause so its not a fair benchmark.

If we get a player like Miyoshi for the right, it would only heighten our need for another striker with pace. Permanent or loan, either way.

Doesnt fit in with the rest of our recruitment, and perhaps not the type of wide player anyone had in mind. We could do with pace and he isnt that quick and he is also very weak. But we could also do with some technical ability. We are focusing on athletes which is all well and good but both in terms of results and entertainment, you need to have some craft and technical ability to go with it. And Miyoshi would really being that, he looked a good little technical player when he was at Birmingham and reading what their fans thought of him, they liked him which is always a good sign. Would he be an upgrade on Dolan if it happened? Not so sure. But he would be a noticeable upgrade on what we have. He also perhaps is better suited to playing in a more central position. That being said, if he did sign, he would potentially be expected to play narrower considering how we seem to want to play so that might work. Lots of ifs though as seemingly nothing is close. But I certainly wouldnt be against it.

Miyoshi would be a decent signing. Not someone who gets too many goals but looked pretty good for Birmingham and would offer creativity and a bit of directness. And would obviously walk into our team. If hes the main target, just get it done. He seems to have struggled at Bochum hence why he is available so surely one we need to accelerate now. Doesnt appear to be close though?

Where have you seen this?

He also showed frustration in the summer when Armstrong was sold and he wanted to reinvest some of the proceeds but wasnt allowed. Across numerous interviews. I suggest people need to get a thicker skin if the odd defensive comment or the odd attempt to manage expectations (ill advised) still causes people to get angry at the mere mention of his name years later and have a strong dislike to him still. Or to create all the rubbish about him protecting his pension fund etc. He subsequently has easily found Championship work, even once just after his illness. He wasnt in a job well above his reputation, he had no reason to be so protective. Promotion would have been incredibly beneficial to him, he just wasnt capable.

There may be individual circumstances but a total of 1 contract renewal (a player signed initially for 6 months then extended) asks big questions. And totally undermines anything we are supposed to be trying to build.

I dont think you would want to be chucking in kids unless they stood out like Phillips. Although I agree it shouldnt be a priority.