roversfan99

Do you think we will splash out on an experienced, proven defender as well as bringing O'Riordan back to directly replace the sorely missed Hyam? If you think theres a chance of that then you havent been paying attention.

So they did strengthen the squad, a lot. Just not in perhaps the most efficient way or in a way that Slot can maximise and get the best from.

Nixon again going out of his way to try and defend the club. Bit fishy. The owners refused to invest in a total needed relay of the pitch a couple of years ago, a pitch over 30 years old. The rest is just immaterial noise.

Well timed propaganda. Well, of sorts. Recalling O'Riordan alone would certainly not be a sufficient replacement for Hyam nor solve our defensive vulnerability. They would presumably sign young players purely to further limit the wage budget as its not what we need.

They werent, the pitch wasnt quite as bad as v Ipswich but was still unplayable and would have got worse. After the Ipswich game, you echoed the club that there was nothing we could do and it wasnt our fault. It was bullshit at the time but a second abandonment seems to have turned those defending the club last time into criticising the club which is at least one small positive. The club and the owners deserve the blame so fair play for not sticking to your guns.

The summer when we went down, we spent just over £1m on fees. Is that not sparing any expense? And that was off the back of a season where anyone remotely sellable was sold. The summer when the court case really started was possibly the strongest in terms of cut backs but far from an isolated incident. There has been the odd summer where we have had even a reasonable summer in terms of net spend, the one upon promotion and Tomasson's first season which are both exceptions to the rule. Think the season I just mentioned that led to relegation, think the season we sold Armstrong and they wouldnt spend a fee, and think the season when we sold Cairney/Gestede etc and brought in a whole host of cheap crap, and even in those years they would have had to offset some sort of loss. Many other summers we barely spent a fee too. This idea that they "pump in £20m a year" seems to linger in some minds as if have been actively and willingly putting in money, rather than just the standard Championship owner raising share capital/adding debt to offset general expenses. Im not even sure that the worst of the problems have been in line with the court case. Seems like a bit of an excuse.

Not the most pressing matter but how bad is Lewis Miller on the ball? He is like this every game so cant blame the weather, spooning every ball including the most pathetic free kick I think ive ever seen. I didnt think our performance for an hour was particularly good but the conditions made that very difficult. Miroshita though was the one looking to always make something happen. Forshaw was good but an injury to him seemed inevitable and was for nothing.

Good post and well done for not doubling down. Last time it was that it should have carried on, it was just a bit of rain, the referee was wrong, it was McKenna's fault etc. All along its been the fault of the owners. The reaction when the ref stopped the game was anger towards the owners and rightly so.

It has. By Venkys.

Absolutely shameful and embarassing. All comes back to the owners not funding that full pitch revamp. Dont allow for or get sucked in by the nonsense. Referees, opppsition managers, rainfall miles higher specifically in Blackburn, how its not our fault. It is 100% our fault. Its on the owners. Last time they were struggling to find precedent on how to finish the game. This time, we have some from the same Championship ground a couple of months ago.

There would be a game before any of those due to the ridiculous tournament size.

De Neve wishes he was mediocre.

It also relies on those other teams topping their groups, and then theres a round of 32 which will have plenty of crap in there too. In the past weve been fortunate with results in other groups.

What would he offer at 5 a side? Its that point in the season where every team will keep picking up injuries. Ours are only amplified by having injury prone players in some cases, and because we are overreliant on too small a pool of players because the alternatives are so bad.

Hedges is out for a couple of weeks which presumably will turn into over a month as tends to happen now. Under no circumstances should he bring in the useless De Neve.

Why would it require talks if he has a pre agreed fee in his contract? Im not convinced by him. Very average and wouldnt be rushing to sign him permanently.

Exactly. The quality will be massively reduced now there are 48 teams and most of the jeopardy is removed in the group stages now most 3rd place teams go through. Making the top 4 seeded teams is also a stupid decision. Thats before you even consider non footballing issues.

All conceded because of dodgy refs though.

If hes not ready to push De Neve then there is something wrong.

I acknowledged that the referee made a mistake and it was frustrating. But we went into injury time with a lead anyway and again threw it away. It doesnt surprise me to see you parrot the manager and just brush our own repeated failings under the carpet. A culture of excuses. If you are watching De Neve coming on and are not seeing how out of his depth he looks then you are seemingly watching a different player than the majority.

I was pissed off. Im sick of seeing our sub par team throw away points. You blamed it all on the referee and brushed over the tendency that this team and this thin group of players and poor manager have of conceding late. I didnt say that Baradji is a horrendous player. But hes not been a very useful sub, hopefully because (in December, predictably) hes still not fit. Yes, De Neve in particular was awful again, he shouldnt keep bringing him on, and Baradji and Tavares were downgrades too. Obviously Gueye who again he keeps bringing on is like De Neve playing a number of levels above his natural level.

I am surprised that anyone thinks it should have been anything other than a red. But it didnt cost us the game, thats the key. We held a 1 nil lead going into injury time, again. We might have not had that lead in a totally different game against 10, we might have had a stronger lead, we will never know. The game was thrown away by us, not the referee.

If they did show that, then it shows how data can be misleading or at least misinterpreted. What would they stand out at?

Adam Owen being praised for his data led approach. Presume the data guided them to De Neve, Tavares, Henriksson etc?

Its not even questionable. Just absent.