roversfan99

Being linked by a questionable source to a bigger side doesn't mean that anyone who has doubts over him is wrong.

https://www.footballinsider247.com/brentford-set-sights-on-signing-blackburn-rovers-26-yr-old/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1628503168-1

Only £15m for Armstrong is a very low fee, considering we have "held out." It is a myth that Venkys always hold out for the highest fee, look at Cairney, Gestede and Duffy for example. We HAVE to sign a permanent replacement, of course at a fraction of the fee we receive. This Khadra doesn't excite me, minimal first team exposure, a total unknown. Loans in general (as long as you dont sign too many) can be a very useful method of signing players better than what we have, seen with Harwood Bellis, Elliott, Reed and Adarabioyo.

Was he not? Aside from a few games in which he was rested, and the last 3 when thinking of this season, he was one of the first names of the team sheet. Definitely not coming back though.

Maybe that Broja on loan is their replacement for Ings and they have given up on Armstrong. Norwich seem never to have been interest but have also gone elsewhere so maybe it is Palace or nowhere.

He has been regularly starting for Liverpool through pre-season and impressing, I think in a slightly deeper role than he played here. I would be surprised if he got loaned out and if he does, I suspect it will be to a Premier League team or at a push a contender for promotion in this league.

I appreciate the need to rotate especially with a small squad but I always find quite how dismissive people are of the cups (especially the League cup) particularly strange. I totally get that the league is the bread and butter but a cup run can be a highlight of an otherwise drab season, more often than not we nestle in mediocrity so the buzz of a cup run, playing big teams and even generating some income could be a bit of otherwise absent excitement and a bonus to help our bleak financial situation.

I don't think that we should actively be aiming for someone not as good as those 4. We should aim to bring in first team quality, someone who in theory is better or at least as good as those, especially with the question marks over Buckley and Rothwell over a consistent basis. Of course, at this moment in time, that trio very much have those shirts to lose. Regarding Clarkson, I am unconvinced that a player with only a couple of senior appearances would provide that to be fair.

Leighton Clarkson not on a bench for Liverpools last friendly that contains 10 players most of whom are kids. Linked here yesterday.

Talk about covering all bases 😂 making it up as he goes along. Norwich have just signed or are signing Sargent from Werder Bremen.

If he broke his leg in October and then was willing to sign a 3 or 4 year deal, you would say no? Surely cutting off our nose to spite our faces?

Financially, there is no way that we can justify keeping him so totally with you on selling him, as much of a hole as it will leave, But if he did end up staying, there is always a risk of a serious injury like a broken leg but it is a slim one, whereas continuing to score goals would only increase interest in him as a free agent, potentially getting him a bigger move and even more money added into that, so on probability he would surely crack on as normal, maybe after taking a few days to get his head around staying again. Mowbray suggested that he might play on Saturday if he is still here. There is no indication that he would sulk or has a bad attitude, he has continued to train and play in friendlies, although the potential of an imminent career changing move will always play in your mind. If he stayed here, broke his leg in say October or November and was willing to sign for a few years, we would be cutting off our nose to spite our faces not to agree, but of course we should not get into that situation.

I just think for Sheffield United that they are so well suited to 3-5-2. They have 5 wing backs in Stevens, Baldock, Lowe, Bogle and Norrington-Davies who can all get forward, and they have 5 strikers who all are proven at this level bar maybe Mousset. They dont have any width in the squad and their tactics yesterday were very strange. I think the relegated teams and Bournemouth have squads in a different league to the other 20. Not convinced why Parker has such a good reputation to be honest so unconvinced by him but the squad he has inherited is littered with proven quality.

That would also be a potentially good idea, the queues all went right back to the toilets and then curved off to the side such were the size of the queues and they weren't going down. I got one before the game and it was a fiver for a pint of Amstel, so the fact that price is not my main complaint tells you everything!

I think it is that point of the season whereby many teams are not finished in the market, the fact that it remains open after the season starts is absurd really. Opening day line ups tend to be a bit of a mismatch, signings to be made, players left out expecting a move, fitness issues from pre-season. But I agree, there were also not that many new signings playing across the board. Fulham today seem to be missing quite a few, Reed, Cairney, Kongolo, Knockaert, Anguissa off the top of my head, possibly a mixture of injuries and players awaiting a move elsewhere. Bournemouth have a series of players pictured who arent yet fit, Pearson, Steve Cook, Stacey, Lewis Cook, Danjuma, Lerma is banned, Leif Davis has just signed, that young left back Zemura looked all over the place defensively. Reading named a 5 man bench which screamed of a gesture by the manager to the FA, considering that they are under an embargo. There are also rules I think around players who play one game being deemed to be part of a quota of players that you can sign so they are probably wary of playing kids and taking up spaces for new signings.

Mentioned in the match thread by me and a few others but possibly could get lost in there. Could the issue of service on the concourses be brought up at the next meeting please? Could solutions such as pre-prepared drinks and use of the bottle bars be mentioned to deal with the terrible service seen yesterday, the wait is far too long and avoidably so. @only2garners

Sheffield United have a squad that looks on paper to be incredible at this level, they have 5 top end Championship strikers, they have 3 or 4 midfielders as good as any in the league, and so much quality and depth in defence, their whole team basically is proven at this level. Throw in a proven manager capable of promotion and everything seems in place. I do think though that changing the formation without a major restructuring of the squad is asking for trouble, the squads been built over a number of years to play 3-5-2, the way that they played yesterday was totally unbalanced. We impressed yesterday but I wouldn't be keen to put us too far above that clutch of teams at the bottom @chaddyrovers until we bring in some goals in the transfer market and some quality across the team. Mind you, there is some really poor teams in what looks a rather poor league this season.

I think the Millwall game was evidence that such a set up could work on occasion, but it is often remembered in isolation when the whole week to which that game started off showed that between the 3, with Dolan central, it is difficult to imagine that such a set up has the goal threat to sustain us for any serious length of time. Good work rate, attitude and energy are good attributes but are not enough to play in the forward line, especially centrally. When Armstrong departs, we need to bring in a central striker to replace him, and whilst it is not realistic to get someone who gets 28 goals, we need someone who can get a decent amount. Going back to that week, we scored 3 goals in 3 games with Brereton and Gallagher flanking Dolan, 2 of which came from having Dack behind those 3 who offers a goal threat not currently in our team without him as well as Armstrong. Initially, that Millwall game was like a breath of fresh air but as the week went on we looked overall rather impotent in front of goal.

I think today was a perfect assignment for Dolan down the middle in that Swansea not only lacked quality but under Russell Martin were always going to try and play it out from the back and they were simply not good enough to do it. I would say going forward this season that Dolan should play more from the sides (quite often as a sub perhaps v tired legs) as over the course of a run of games, he lacks the quality and end product especially with his shooting to score enough goals to justify that central role. He is still very raw but there is definitely something to work with there and he is a nuisance. Armstrong is a natural goalscorer so he would have invariably been in the right places against a poor defence and there was also plenty of space in behind especially on the counter attack in which we repeatedly lacked the quality in front of goal, either the decision making or the shot itself was a little off. I do think that our young team that perhaps isnt the best technically should be geared around its energy and pressing, we do need at least one wide man and a central goalscorer to add to the 3 today though.

It is a conundrum because we lack the depth to make many changes, there are certain players that need to be protected but if we go too weak we face a fairly common first round League Cup embarassment. I would like to go through still and I also think that it is more constructive with the young players to try and play some them with some first teamers to make us competitive in the game and to also allow them to be talked through the game and build an understanding with the first teamers. Kaminski Pike Lenihan Carter Pickering Garrett Davenport Dolan Butterworth Chapman Gallagher (if fit, seemed to overstretch before coming off) Subs: Eastham, Magloire, Brereton, McBride, Buckley, Travis, Cirino Give Ayala the night off to wrap him up in cotton wool. Rothwell had back and hamstring issues according to Mowbray in pre season so give him the night off too. 2 senior debuts with Butterworth making a first ever start and Carter and Chapman also getting a game.

Would you see Dolan primarily as a central player or a wide player? I think he lacks the goalscoring instinct to be playing down the middle in general, at least at this moment in time. Out wide, his pace and trickery (it needs refining as he does too many unnecessary stepovers but that is common with young, raw attacking players) coupled with his enthusiasm will hopefully be a pain in the arse of full backs especially off the bench.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/15805759/wayne-rooney-derby-raid-man-utd-man-city-transfer/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=sunfootballfacebook070821&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1628345097 Seems like Rooney is after some the better loanees from the Manchester clubs. With his connections to United and a guarantee of game time, maybe he will have the edge.

I thought that the service on the concourse's was again piss poor. So slow to the point that even though I went down for a beer a few minutes before half time, with the queue curving past the toilets and going down at a snails pace, I gave up. Custom is being lost. Could beers not be pre-prepared and also perhaps the bottle bars be used again? Could this be something that is raise at the next fans forum please? @only2garners

Presume so yeah, seemingly only kids with the parent club paying the wages. Marco Stiepermann if he is still a free agent would have been decent. Quite an unorthodox attacking midfielder at Norwich in that he is tall and gangly but he can score goals and has experience of promotion. One I wouldnt be surprised to see us look at is Dylan Levitt on loan from United. Welsh international who had an unsuccessful loan spell at Charlton last season before a brief spell abroad, only reason I say it is because he was being linked with us last January in the LT.

I think that it worked today but I think that we need an actual striker who can score goals in that central role, I suspect that if Dolan played as a central striker for 46 games, he would struggle to get 10 goals, hence why he is not playing the full Vardy role. He is still very raw and possibly more often than not suited to being an impact sub. I don't think that Gallagher is a target man either really. Swansea were particularly naive in the way that they play, but more often than not teams will not be quite as stupid. It is ok saying that all of these players should score more but there is no evidence that they will. Rothwell summed up his Rovers career today, fantastic running with the ball yet when it came to the crunch he didnt score. I do agree that we do need more internally, but I don't expect them to suddenly start all scoring more when they havent up until now, so the key is to make sure that not only the striker that we need comes in and can score some goals, but also some of the ones that we bring in also have that ability. I think we need a centre back to compete with the current 2 with Wharton presumably a good couple of months away from first team involvement, and I would keep Carter around until January to cover that too. I think we need a left back to compete and push for that left back position. I think we need at least 2 players in central midfield, one of whom can sit in front of the defence and one who does have an ability to get goals. I think we need at least one if not two wide men who can really give us some quality and again get us some goals. And we definitely need a striker on a permanent basis, Armstrong will be impossible to replace but we need someone up front too. So 6 or 7 I would say, ideally an experienced keeper to be number 2 aswell. I did look at us today and think that we really need some more experience, they can't all be kids as we will struggle to manage games if that is the case. One player that I would love would be Conor Hourihane, he can control games, he can dictate games, he can score goals, he can take set pieces and he is a really good age and would bring consistency and experience to the current group, his finesse next to Travis would be ideal. Sadly, it seems like we are looking at kids only.