Miller11

I think it’s ridiculous that you seem absolutely fixated on an unquantifiable, bollocks statistic when assessing our right back. By your logic, Brereton contributed nothing to JRC’s goal yesterday. Despite the fact he ran the ball into a dangerous area and put the cross over, it took two players and a few defensive mishaps for the ball to end up in the net. He won’t be credited with the assist, but he was instrumental in the goal. You fail to acknowledge our strikers aren’t often in positions to get on the end of crosses. You fail to acknowledge Nyambe stays back for every single set piece... maybe because there is no simple statistic that you can trot out to suit your narrative. Here’s a decent one from last season... Points per game when Nyambe didn’t start: 1.25 Points per game when Nyambe did start: 1.54 I think you are preparing yourself for him leaving, in the knowledge he is in his final year and Mowbray seems to scapegoat him, so you can say ”I said all along we should get rid Nyambe he not assists enough”

Brereton looked better today, admittedly he’s set himself a very low bar. But @joey_big_nose and @Stuart are spot on. He’s never an effective centre forward in a million years. He only seems to want to pick the ball up wide and deep and run with it, doesn’t seem willing, able or inclined to get in goal scoring positions. While he was effective on occasion today, Armstrong, Rothwell, Dack and now Dolan are all better at doing what he does than him. If we are going to play this 4-3-3 we need a focal point to our attack. It’s certainly not Brereton.

Both full backs did well going forward but were poor defensively. Sound like a broken record, but we expect a lot from them. We basically play wing backs with a back 4 and the midfielders don’t drop in readily enough. Hopefully we get these new defenders in quickly and we can start trying to build a solid foundation. Horror show at the back at times today. Brereton did alright, but it looks like he wants to pick the ball up deep and drive at players. He did this reasonably well and had a bit of joy, but we have at least 4 players who do this better than him. For a forward his positioning is incredibly poor, can’t ever see him getting a decent goal return. Nothing more needs saying about the open goal. It’s so typical it’s stopped becoming worth talking about. One attack, Bell got forward really well and got beyond all the front three. He put in a shite cross that flew straight out of play, but the thing that really stood out to me here was that Armstrong, Brereton and Chapman were all hanging back at the left hand corner of the box within about 5 feet of each other. Nobody in the middle, nobody attacking the far post apart from a deep (too late) run from Rankin-Costello... our right back. The attack needs a focal point. Travis and Armstrong were quiet. Johnson and Chapman anonymous. I’d make Rothwell play two touch every day in training for a while, he always wants to play it first time or has to take at least 27 touches. For me the brightest spark of the game was Dolan. What a player he looks. Seems to have a tremendous attitude, reads the game so naturally. He might be short, but he’s not physically lacking... blown Chapman out of the water. I’d like to see him blooded straight away, starting games. Nyambe, JRC and Dolan down that right hand side would terrify opponents.

Some players over the last few years have genuine cause to gripe at how they have been treated. Mulgrew is not one of them.

Interesting interview with Brereton in the Telegraph today https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18682460.brereton-looks-back-forward-two-years-rovers/ Doesn’t really come across as the quiet, unassuming, delicate little flower a lot of people like to paint him as. He seems confident, enjoys being here, is mates with everyone, and slightly worryingly, thinks he is doing well. All this talk of him being a confidence player, I really don’t get. I think he needs telling that he’s approaching last chance saloon and we need infinitely more than we’ve seen from him thus far, and quickly.

Let’s get #BlockedByNixon trending

He shouldn’t have a career and can fuck right off.

As a vocal cynic and critic, I must say I’m getting excited about Kipre. Trying not to get carried away, but he’s just what we need. Signing him for less than a million is a steal. Please pull this off!! I’d really like to hear some talk of a new deal for Nyambe. That is essential business this summer.

Bell or Rankin-Costello. Yes, I’d Definitely prefer a new left back, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one didn’t materialise.

We’ve done some good deadwood clearing so far and offloading Williams for a fee would be a great bit of business. I can’t see Mulgrew giving up his hefty wage, so I think we will be lumbered with him. We have good youth options all over the pitch, but obviously we need another first choice centre back and we are after (at least) one. I’m hoping against hope that Venky’s break the habit of their reign of terror and actually spend a bit of money on one, I don’t think we’d be in bad shape at all if we just got one really decent centre half and no other signings. If we are baulking at 1.5 mil for Kipre though it doesn’t bode well.

Aye... mores the pity, because I think a proper winger or two would help Gallagher immensely, and give us a bit more balance. A lot of names there, and unless Schmidt is good enough to be starting most weeks I don’t think we should bother.

That’d be a phenomenal window! I live in hope rather than expectation though. Noticed the Schmidt talk is picking up a bit of traction. Don’t know a great deal, but is he another attacking midfielder? That’s the last area I think we need bodies, out and out wingers are another matter though.

I know you can’t really read too much into a friendly like today, but if Chapman, or even Dolan who looked a real prospect on the back of that 45, can be more involved this season, we might start to see more from Gallagher. They look like they could provide decent service and I’ve a lot more confidence in Gallagher being able to convert than Brereton.

And to think one of our former heroes funeral procession went right through there two days ago. You’d think someone would have been ashamed and embarrassed enough to make it look a bit respectable for such an occasion.

I think they are clinging on to the hope that they can recoup their outlay. Get promoted and they can. That and pigheadedness.

Yep, that is the one exit strategy. You’d think there would be a bit more urgency

But if they stop throwing money at it, it ceases to be worth anything on a balance sheet as we cease to function. I think they are in too deep to cut their losses, but not deep enough to have to!

Venky’s continuing to put the money in makes perfect sense! They run a conglomerate worth upwards of 2 billion. Part of that conglomerate, and that value is their £200 odd million shareholding in BRFC. They liquidate Rovers tomorrow, that wipes £200 million plus off the value of VH group. We need a £10 million signing, they move some money around, send it over to Rovers account, and in a month or two convert it to an extra 10 million shares. They lose nothing. Obviously in real terms the club is not worth north of £200 million, but it has that value to them. This isn’t food off their plates, rollers out of their garages or the chains of Balaji’s neck. It’s certainly not altruism either. It’s common sense for billionaires. That said, it can’t carry on indefinitely... and then being able to find an exit strategy that doesn’t cost them seems impossibly far away. God knows when, why or how breaking point will arrive.

First sentence nails it really! Trying to apply any sort of logic is pretty futile. I’m guessing, but I think their interest, and level of direct involvement, comes in peaks and troughs. No doubt Mowbray has a lot of credit in the bank with them. He’s been far and away their most successful appointment. The backing seems inconsistent though. I bang on about it all the time, but fees, particularly significant ones, do only seem to be Made available for certain players. Everyone with anything resembling a semi functioning brain knows where we need to strengthen this summer... but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we took the usual borrow, make do and mend approach to the back line and chucked a few million on a striker.

I’m pretty sure I don’t have as strong inside connections as you, but what I do hear suggests that it’s not as simple as a manager being given a budget. I’ve heard some bizarre things about certain signings over the years, and it’s all quite inconsistent. One example I can share from a few years ago, we were after a youth level keeper... would’ve been an outlay of about 30k. Phone calls had to be made to Pune to get this expenditure signed off. Long story short, there was a lot of messing about and it didn’t happen. So I suppose really I’m asking if you have any inside track on the degree of autonomy Mowbray, Waggott et al have when it comes to transfers? Are Venky’s having to rubber stamp signings on a deal by deal basis? I don’t know what would be more concerning, One of them passing judgement on a player, or them taking advice from a trusted partner!

If Mowbray came out and said “We don’t need a dedicated goalie. We can have rush keepers. Everyone will have a turn, and we will change after every goal” every right thinking person would be up in arms. You’d say “Well we don’t play with a keeper” and dismiss out of hand anyone suggesting we Should sign one. You have completely proven my point with your reply.

Nobody has disputed that we don’t play with wingers and that our full backs provide width. You haven’t pointed out anything to anybody they didn’t already know, you have used this point as an argument as to why signing a winger would be a bad idea. Whenever anyone mentions a winger you regurgitate that line again and again as if it is and must be completely set in stone that we can’t possibly have a wide midfielder. Other people question the fact. You are so eager to form all your opinions based on what Mowbray will most likely do, he’s become infallible in your mind. What it really highlights is that we go into games with no balance whatsoever. Nyambe is often expected to do the work of three players (see below). I know you are going to go on about his lack of goals and assists (how many corners has he ever gone up for by the way), completely ignoring the fact that he is probably the best player we have for getting us up the pitch, or the fact that he often runs the length of the pitch, overtaking whichever striker is playing in front of him while they stand around dawdling on the edge of the box.

One of the things that stood out to me was this... Too often he is literally the only player anywhere near the right hand side of the pitch.

Nice bit of analysis that @JoeH Im not generally a statto, but there’s some really interesting stuff in there. The heat maps and formations support my theory that we expect a hell of a lot of Nyambe. Brereton’s are damning as you’d expect. I genuinely wonder if the analysis done by the recruitment team is as good as this. I have my doubts. The goalkeeper situation last summer was ludicrous, but looks like it could be even worse this year! When Mowbray talks about players falling into our laps, has a tendency to sign players he has worked with before, and we make complete head scratchers like Brereton, the entire process needs a serious overhaul.