roversfan99

The club are clearly pushing that narrative. We have a number of urgent priorities. Ismael said a week or 2 ago about our business being done by Hull. Lets see.

He did a very good job at Barnsley and that shouldnt be taken away from him. But that was ages ago and has been followed by repeated failures. Hes a crap manager, hes not the main issue here by a long stretch and he is working with shit (even if he did seemingly endorse it being built) but his record is woeful and hes been here long enough.

If you break it down, its not a hard luck story. We need 2 strikers. We have 3, one in Gudjohnsen has an injury for a month. It hardly should be a knockout blow and it came after being overplayed. We have a striker in Gueye signed by Gestede who is so bad he cant make the squad. We also have changed formation. These reasons are the main ones we are so short up top, not injuries. We need a central defender. The main reason is that we shoved Hyam out the door without replacement. Carter and Wharton's injuries were totally predictable. We need a left wing back. Yes the Hedges injury is unfortunate, but if De Neve was decent and not such an embarassment, it wouldnt be such a urgent issue. We need a right wing back, perhaps mainly due to the formation change although Miller isnt good enough to cover. Tavares, Kargbo and Forshaw are injured. Adds to the numbers to help the woe is me act, are any being missed? Morishita is a miss but its only for a month and in a position where its not a critical blow.

Even if we can only sign 3 or 4, left wing back has to be one of those.

Ismael has also said we need to wait on Hedges in terme of whether we need to replace him. How? Even if its 8 weeks of course we need someone.

Seems to be a lot of differences each week in what is said. Wants 2 this week rather than them all done by the same date. Also this stance on being above loans in the summer looks even more silly now. I dont have a problem with loans as long as you arent overly reliant on them and obviously injuries can increase the need but it shows the lack of planning to say it, then loan in 2 and probably end January with a full compliment of them. 3 or 4 is not enough, nor would just loans be enough, we need a minimum of 5 in including at least 2 or 3 permanently. A left wing back is an absolutely critical and urgent requirement on par with a couple of forwards. Pickering isnt a wing back, Ribeiro obviously isnt and De Neve is pitiful. We also need more natural cover for Alebiosu and a right footed centre back.

Another poor result and poor performance in a game we needed to be winning. I mean things are desperate that people seem to be bigging up Gueye again as if his absence is anything but a blessing. Baradji is a mixed bag overall and can be quite loose on the ball but there is ability there. If he continues to offer a goal threat from midfield today then it will be crucial for us. Atcheson also did well on his full debut. Again was loose at times and I do think its easier being one of the wide centre backs but showed a lot of promise and a lot of energy and purpose. Pickering is a solid left back but hes simply not a left wing back and De Neve is not a footballer. Critical we sign a left wing back as a matter of urgency. Miller dug out a cross for the second which was probably the only good thing he did, including the return of his terrible throws. Cantwell was better today but you can see his frustration being surrounded by dross and he is a soft arse. Ohashi plods away, again no real support but he should be a squad player. We need lots of players in this week which wont happen. And if any come in, they probably wont be any good. Charlton arent great and Bell hasnt improved since he left based on that. Needed to be targetted more especially when weirdly he went to right centre back as he wont use his weak foot at all.

Hes on a long contract, West Brom hold a big sell on, hes only really proven anything for half a season and hes young so likely to go up in value from their perspective. Plus its mid season. If they do want a massive fee, its presumably that they dont want to sell now which is totally fair enough.

I thought it was 2 and a half years to 2027 but may be wrong.

I think Kargbo will be out of contract next summer rather than this summer, sadly.

Yes, because the game wasnt competitive. One player was obviously levels above and was going to and subsequently did cruise to victory. If I am watching darts similar to football as a neutral then I dont want one overpowering force levels above the rest.

So a fifth of his valuation. But we are "prepared," right?

I am definitely not downplaying how good Littler is. If you read my posts you'd see I am doing the opposite. He is so good it is making the games uncompetitive. Aside from an initial dodgy set, he cruised to an easy victory because he was so much better and the game was not very competitive.

But "of course" we have prepared.

It certainly wasnt a competitive final. One player was well ahead and cruised to victory.

The tournament in general was very enjoyable, I totally agree. He certainly didnt ruin the tournament overall. The Littler games were boring though. Van Veen got an average of 100+ and still it was not competitive. The fact that the games are so boring IMO when Littler plays is purely because he is so good. Its a positive reflection on him. I dont think its realistic to expect people to step up to his level, hes a bit of a freak. I imagine it was the same in the Taylor days.

Probably sums up our current state perfectly that a striker from our under 18s not being involved or even starting can be seen as "mental."

He is obviously a fantastic player, and I respect that. But I wanted the underdog to win, I wouldnt want someone to win just because they are great. I wouldnt want someone to win a football league (beside us) repeatedly either. I didnt enjoy watching a final with such an obvious outcome. You want to be gripped. It wasnt gripping.

Yes, for the reasons I have just posted above. Its not a criticism of him as a player, hes a fantastic player clearly and will no doubt continue to break records. But I would enjoy it more if games didnt feel uncompetitive such is the disparity in quality. Because he is so good. Tonight was the final of the main tournament and you want a final to feel like it could go either way, surely. As a neutral.

I totally appreciate and respect that he is a fantastic player. But from a spectacle, I dont enjoy just watching it when its uncompetitive like it was tonight and has been in all of his games. Obviously its credit to him that hes so much better than everyone, but in this country especially we tend to root for the underdog too. Id enjoy it more if the games were closer but it was a boring final because there was never really any jeopardy.

I cant understand why anyone would want Littler to win. Not even on a personal level. But why would you want an individual sport to be totally dominated by one person?

It was a summary of why the transfer window is so annoying. Predictably another attention seeking load of nothing. Although a better video reel for Dike would be one filmed at the hospital.

Cashin sounds quality.

Exactly. Just take everything exactly as it is without questioning it. We dont need to wait and see on any appointment as to how much power they will have and how much change will be seen. The answer to both if it even happens is none. Nixon is at least earning a bit of money from constant stories from a continious non story for the more gullible to pay for the privelidge of reading.

So why would Cashin be a good signing if he doesnt even fit that criteria? Yet another left footed centre back wouldnt be good purely because he is left footed? Makes no sense. It doesnt matter if Birmingham dont rate him but it does for example matter if Newcastle fans didnt like Mike Ashley. You are saying that we could potentially go through half a season in a dogfight with the current "wing back" options we have? We have numerous priorities. Just because we need a couple of forwards doesnt mean we also dont need 3 or 4 other players as a matter of urgency.