roversfan99

Very limited times. Was absolutely horrific for half a season, then had maybe a month where he was good and got most of his very limited goal return, then dropped back off and looked poor again. Yes I would say a decent Championship player. Good value signing, nothing special. Gueye is a big lump who we have to totally change our style to get anything out of. And when he was coming on as a sub which would make him a plan B towards the end of the season, his body language was really poor and he may aswell have not come on. If 6 is a decent return for a striker then my standards must be too high.

I think that account is full of shit but how does anyone know how class or otherwise a Volendam winger is?

The idea of us discarding Batth for a younger model only works if we hadnt offered Batth a new deal in the first place. He will undoubtedly be a huge loss. I think we will also need (and probably not get) 4 attacking players. Up front we have Ohashi who is a decent Championship player and Gueye who doesnt really fit in and more often than not is more of a liability than an asset. We need a striker. We will need someone to compete with Cantwell and obviously out wide we need at least 2. Kargbo looks very raw, Hedges cant attack and thats all we have.

I think it does become counter productive if you sign TOO MANY older players or you become overly reliant on them. But having just a couple and not obsessing over a data driven, inflexible value centric model (that keeps chasing) is invaluable for guidance. I think it really helped having us last season, especially Batth. Its not like we have a team full of veterans. And its not going to be of our choosing if they go, thats the issue, it further symbolises the inefficiencies in the club. The season before, we totally lacked that and it really hindered us.

Also, it shouldnt be spun as a tactical decision. We will have tried and then failed.

Agreed that Weimann was someone I personally wouldnt have offered a new deal to in the first place so I wouldnt be too fussed about him not signing, in isolation. Batth would be a major blow though. The bigger issue is the failing of the club again. A few leaked articles about things we are trying to do or are supposedly close to change the narrative in some peoples eyes, dont believe it. If we cant even sort a new short term deal for a couple of veterans then that is pretty telling. Im sure if they do both join Derby then they will both get some stick. Lets not forget that we have already pissed about Batth in the past and cost him a year of his career essentially.

I dont have faith either in the owners for providing anything like a reasonable enough budget or stooges like Gestede and the lingering Suhail sticking his nose in to have the competence to suitably fix the issues we have. I think we will get most of the positions we need filled, just not of a reasonable enough quality. I am happy not to sit on the fence and say that. History shows that we have no reason to trust these people.

I agree that I also havent been too impressed by Jobe whenever I have seen him. He made a big deal of changing his name on his shirt to Jobe to avoid comparisons but I wouldnt be surprised if his value is inflated due to his brother. Mind you, 90% of the time I have seen Jude Bellingham, I havent been that impressed. He is however obviously capable of moments of absolute brilliance as we saw at the Euros. I thought his general level of performance was poor throughout the tournament but he scored that overhead kick and also a header in the group stage.

Brilliant post. @RevidgeBlue youve always been keen to defend their owners for "willingly" putting in money, pinning blame onto various individuals instead. This is a full and consistent pattern throughout their tenure, of which those (Waggott, Broughton, Mowbray etc) have only played a temporary part. Surely this changes your interpretation somewhat? Its a big difference having to cover the bills and willingly investing for the betterment of the club.

No the time to answer whether we have faith in the owners providing the required funding and the staff having the necessary competence is now. Its a prediction, its what we think will happen. The time to answer whether we have had a good window is obviously after. I was asking whether you have faith in us bringing in everything that we need, both quality and quantity.

Of course he might want new ideas, but he clearly rates Batth enough to want him to stay and he continued to impress under him last season. Im not saying that we shouldnt sign a defender, especially if he wants something new which might reduce Batth's gametime even if he does stay. But I think our attack is very poor and needs an overhaul so the majority of our funds just in my opinion should go there. Regardless of style, there isnt much quality to work with.

Thanks Suhail, if you say so. If Batth stays, an extra body would be somewhat understandable If Batth goes, it becomes more of a priority and essential that we at least bring someone in, but the majority of the budget should IMO still go on the attack. It is really lacking quality across the forward line and Dolan leaving makes it worse. Lets be honest. Do we really have any faith that we will strengthen sufficiently in this window?

We all are. I was just offering an opinion that I would question if we are spending a decent proportion of our budget on a centre back considering the disparity between the quality of our attack and defence.

Around £3m having received over £30m. Very kind.

I dont and you seem to just be being pedantic. On the face of it, spending what potentially would be a decent chunk of our budget on a centre back in my opinion would be questionable when the attack needs a total overhaul. Based on previous windows, I wont be holding my breath that we get everything we need in the market.

I know they want one. You said that before, and Gestede has already said it so I already knew. This player will seemingly cost what will likely be a decent chunk of any budget considering the fee he joined Montpellier for. I question whether that would be a wise use of those resources. You say we only have 1 but that would be one more than we had last season when we had an impressive defensive record. Batth was very comfortable on that side, I dont think there is as much of a pressing need to have a left footed centre back in a back 4. Of course, if Batth doesnt sign a contract then centre back becomes more of a priority. But most of whatever is available on fees should be used in the attacking areas as that was our weakness and we are about to lose Dolan to compound that. I didnt comment on the quality of the player.

If we are going 3 at the back then we shouldnt have renewed Ribeiro's contract because he (even moreso than Pickering who isnt either) isnt a wing back.

Hes a symptom of the cancer. That cancer remains.

Ive never said its completely irrelevant and I am glad hes gone. But this idea that hes gone renegade to ruin the club for whatever reason (now even suggesting that the owners became disinterested because of the damage he has done, if that was the case surely theyd have just sacked him long ago if he went off script?) is nonsensical. I just find your continious attempts at deflecting blame away from Venkys across a number of years to be totally bizarre.

Again, its not the position he has left us in. Its the position that VENKYS have left us in.

Seems a bit rich to be pulling me up on an expectation that our budget will be low considering the fact that you keep saying that the budget is an exact amount (£5m) based on the words of a fraud in Suhail saying that we apparently spent £4-5m last season, then taking that as fact without questioning it and assuming we will have the higher end of that to spend on fees this summer. I have said before that the majority of any budget we do have needs to be spent on the attack. I would be happy with Hyam, Batth, Carter and Wharton as a choice of 4. If Wharton is miles off fitness wise then a cheap 5th option would make sense. This player seems to have been sold for a decent fee not long ago so it would presumably take a decent chunk of any budget to bring him here. The priority obviously goes up if Batth goes but still. Our defence was good last season, our attack was poor. Added to that, it will start off even worse when Dolan leaves. Signing Brittain on an extended deal would obviously be good deal. Wouldnt be a "big statement" though to give a player we should have tied down before now a contract extension.

Ive always said (obviously based on the assumption that Batth stays) that a centre back should be well down the priority list. Just because they told us that they wanted someone doesnt mean I have to see it as the same priority as them. If Batth goes then obviously it becomes more of a priority. But we still need to spend the majority of our low resources on overhauling the attacking areas. He won player of the season in his first season, and much of that was alongside Carter. He was also really good the season just gone and was an ever present in us I think getting our most clean sheets since these terrible owners darkened our doors. That poor season in between has proven to be the exception. A more experienced partner does seem to take his game to a higher level, but he is a good Championship centre back either way. I also dont remember a prolonged period of him playing alongside Wharton, so any idea of Wharton being someone who made him look competent is unfair. Youve never liked Hyam and youve never liked Tronstad and both were signed by Broughton who was another person who you used as a deflection to pile the blame on and away from Venkys.

Hyam is our most underrated player. He was one of our best players last season yet is often seen as amongst the rubbish we can do without.

All that really matters is that the owners again were unwilling to fund it, either themselves or externally.

A very random target, if we had Hyam, Carter, Batth and Wharton then centre back would not be an area we would be best served spending a reasonable chunk of our tiny budget on, but it seems like Batth might be leaving and who can blame him. I remain unconvinced until hes here holding up the shirt and the paperwork is all done. Why is a potential new contract for Brittain a "big statement?" Im not sure it would be at any other football club, getting a player to sign a new deal. It would of course be good news but im sick of hearing that players are close to new deals or that we are trying. Again, only matters when signed. And that line on Drameh sums up the standard of Jackson's journalism. Spelling and grammar errors leading in this case to misleading or confusing stories.