[Archived] Sam's January Targets

[The Rover of Finland]

Is Langanzi a attacking or defensive midfielder?

Attacking according Wiki.

[Amo]

Ignore.

[super_arran]

hard-working?

He's a wuss who can't put a decent challenge in.

Not the sort of player I'd want in central midfield, passing skills notwithstanding.

You can still be hard working even if you're not much of a tackler.

Look at prozone stats for every game and you'll see Pedersen is almost top of everyone for distance travelled. I know stats aren't everything; but it certainly shows he's not lazy.

Personally I'd play with a center midfielder whose purpose is to spread the play and break forward; i.e. Pedersen

and a holding midfielder whose purpose is to break down their midfield attack and help the defence out; i.e. N'Zonzi

[owenrilla]

Attacking according Wiki.

...but defensive according to the French version

[bluebruce]

He's actually been good all year (and since the Sunderland game).

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!?????? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?! Has he buggery! He's been pants mate!

Edit- oh wait, by all year, do you mean 2010?

[Gambit217]

I know there is a striker lined up. The expectation is that Benni will get his permit - probably today. So it would then be a case of flying the target in [yes, I think he is foreign]. He may even have had a medical, you never know.

Nicko - thanks for the update. So just wondering

do we know if there's a transfer fee involved

or are we looking at it being a freebie on decent

wages ?

My Money is on Tamudo !

[rog of the rovers]

For us to invest in somebody like Moses or Beckford Is a gamble. However for the future of the club it is well worth taking , it would be a dream come true if we signed the pair of them. If we look at our current squad we do seem to have an older squad compared to most teams in the league. At a guess the average age of our current squad is about 30-31.

I have a mate whos a Leeds fan so keep an eye on them, and from the games I've seen Beckford needs 4 or 5 chances to score.

In the Premiership you get one maybe two chances a game, and therefore the goals would surely dry up for him.

[brian_gallagher85]

and a holding midfielder whose purpose is to break down their midfield attack and help the defence out; i.e. N'Zonzi

You taking the ######? All he does is back off

[thenodrog]

Sam just said on SSN that he expects hopes Benni's transfer to be completed within 48 hours.

I'll bet the edit is closer to the truth.

[Kelbo]

I think you'll find most posters in favour of keeping MGP have given him a fair bit of flack over the last couple of seasons.

Nobody is saying he's 'Pele', what we are saying is that present form warrants a new contract and in the new position he has been a success. Letting him leave, especially in this transfer window will only weaken our squad and it will be almost impossible to replace him. If he gets settled in his deeper position, working with Ollson on the wing, the future could be a lot brighter than some are making out.

I don't agree with the pattern of events that you mention, I don't recall his form picking up to earn a contract or to put himself in the shop window, I don't recall him saying he wants to be anywhere apart from at the Rovers. It is reported that he is flattered by interest from Fenerbache but who wouldn't be? I'd be flattered if another company offered me a job, so why shouldn't he?

It seems your putting him in a similar bracket to that of Big Mac, I think that is far from the truth and very unfair. It has been easy to blame certain players for our dip in form and certain players have suffered from our dip in form more than others but things seem to be coming to a little now and we need to keep our main squad members on board.

If Rovers put a fair contract on the table I think he'll sign straight away and get on with his job.

The Prozone analysis suggests Pedersen really puts a shift in, whatever anyone says, those statistics are correct, now, I ask all you people who have played the game, did you ever play a game and want to play badly? were there occasions when things didnt go quite right for you however hard you tried!!

Have you considered this, Pedersens best spell was in his first season, this happens quite a lot with players and then he gets 'found out' and the opposition close down his strengths!

That is some thing the clubs do now, look to stop the strengths of the better players, despite all those things, he has still put a shift in and like it or not, the stats show the lad to have worked hard. He has been no trouble to the club and has handled himself well at all times, now, I have seen this for a while, that as he is not gifted with pace, but can pass a football, can shoot with either feet, is not bad in the air, has a longish tthrow, decent on the dead ball and has some very good touches (the deft chip where Olsson headed before Kalinic scored v Villa)wouldnt he be decent in Centre Mid? go back through my posts, you will see I suggested this, and read this again, his attributes are just about everything a midfielder needs, the trick is getting the balance around him correct and a ball winner alongside him!!

If we sold him, who would we replace him with? Haydon Mullins or another thiird rater, christ, clubs are paying £1,500,000 for second division players!!

Before I end this post, heres another tip which I mentioned in an earlier post, one or two of the young lads at Accy could be worth looking at and with Accys finances, would not be expensive, maybe for the future, but there are a couple of decent lads there worth keeping an eye on!! and far more abiltity than our Keef at a quarter of the price

[super_arran]

You taking the ######? All he does is back off

But his role is still to break up attacks and help the defence out; and to be fair to him he's doing quite a good job in his first season in the premiership.

[Hughesy]

Putting name after name forward as one that we should "sign immediately", even though there is no link whatsoever to BRFC, is just a waste of reading space and frustrating for people who want to read genuine Rovers talk.

You want official stuff only...then go to the official site!

[LeChuck]

You want official stuff only...then go to the official site!

He never said official stuff only.

[Hi Mack]

But his role is still to break up attacks and help the defence out; and to be fair to him he's doing quite a good job in his first season in the premiership.

I sometimes question certain posters football knowledge, Slagging N'Zonzi off now? Christ the lads

come over from France where he was playing in the equivalent of league 1! He is one of the first names on

the team sheet at the moment. oh and how old is he 21?

As for Pedersen getting boo'ed that is also ridiculous......the lad always gives 100% granted he hasn't built

on his early promise but the help he gives the LB is noticable when he isnt playing. Booing your'e own players helps no-one its idiotic.

Im going West Ham tomorrow win/lose or draw, lets support our Team!

[bluebruce]

Have you considered this, Pedersens best spell was in his first season, this happens quite a lot with players and then he gets 'found out' and the opposition close down his strengths!

That's not accurate. Pedersen was awful in the first half of his first season, then stopped being such an utter wuss and was decent for the last half of it. Then his SECOND season was a good one, 9 goals in 34 games, with 6 assists. His third season was decent too, if patchy, with 6 goals in 36 games (Or 10 in 49 in all comps), and 11 assists (12 in all). It was his fourth, fifth, and this season where he has been pants. Furthermore, it is NOT because he has been found out. It is because his shooting became woeful for a very long time, and goals were ALWAYS masking mostly average performances. Last season, he only scored one goal, and it wasn't because he was being outplayed by the opposition. When he scored it, I remember reading that it was something like his 51'st attempt on goal that season!!! No other player had such a poor shots to goals ratio last season in the whole league I believe. And all stats aside, anyone who watched us has seen him fluff his lines spectacularly on many occasions where a few years ago he would have rifled unstoppable volleys in.

[Hughesy]

He never said official stuff only.

I know..I was just being annoying!

[Fife Rover]

The Prozone analysis suggests Pedersen really puts a shift in, whatever anyone says, those statistics are correct, now, I ask all you people who have played the game, did you ever play a game and want to play badly? were there occasions when things didnt go quite right for you however hard you tried!!

Have you considered this, Pedersens best spell was in his first season, this happens quite a lot with players and then he gets 'found out' and the opposition close down his strengths!

That is some thing the clubs do now, look to stop the strengths of the better players, despite all those things, he has still put a shift in and like it or not, the stats show the lad to have worked hard. He has been no trouble to the club and has handled himself well at all times, now, I have seen this for a while, that as he is not gifted with pace, but can pass a football, can shoot with either feet, is not bad in the air, has a longish tthrow, decent on the dead ball and has some very good touches (the deft chip where Olsson headed before Kalinic scored v Villa)wouldnt he be decent in Centre Mid? go back through my posts, you will see I suggested this, and read this again, his attributes are just about everything a midfielder needs, the trick is getting the balance around him correct and a ball winner alongside him!!

If we sold him, who would we replace him with? Haydon Mullins or another thiird rater, christ, clubs are paying £1,500,000 for second division players!!

Before I end this post, heres another tip which I mentioned in an earlier post, one or two of the young lads at Accy could be worth looking at and with Accys finances, would not be expensive, maybe for the future, but there are a couple of decent lads there worth keeping an eye on!! and far more abiltity than our Keef at a quarter of the price

Fully agree with all that Kelbo. I was very impressed by MGP's performance for Norway against Scotland at Hampden at the beginning of this season where he played in just about every position right across midfield at various times, and scored two very good goals while virtually single handedly running the Norwegian engine room.

I know it was only Scotland they were playing but this was a must-win match for Scotland to send them to the WC, so they were definitely up for it and it turned out to be a very good football match for the neutral spectator,and as we all know they are the best kind.

So afterwards I wrote a post on here suggesting that Rovers should seriously consider playing Ped in an inside midfield position as I believed he would be far more effective in that role, And lo and behold since Sam has tried it, the boy has re-discovered his lost form and now looks every inch a PL player but of the old fashioned inside forward type whose job was to link the defence and attack and provide good opportunities for the CF or target man, and also to score a few as well themselves. MGP is now doing just that and links well with Olsson and Kalinic. Long may it continue.

[Sparky Marky]

I sometimes question certain posters football knowledge, Slagging N'Zonzi off now? Christ the lads

come over from France where he was playing in the equivalent of league 1! He is one of the first names on

the team sheet at the moment. oh and how old is he 21?

Think that says more about us than Nzonzi

[Manoid]

Robert Lewandowski !!!!!

We can only hope so, this guy is a goal machine!

[bluebruce]

Goal machine? 23 goals in 46 games is good, but considering it is only the Polish league, I'm not sure about goal machine. Or are those stats outdated?

Edit- to Ivan, yes, third time, I don't know what happened. Some weird computer glitch! Mods have repaired the damage.

[AndyC]

i see bolteon have just signed jackwilshire on loan from arsenal. what a quiality signing that is.

[nicko]

i see bolteon have just signed jackwilshire on loan from arsenal. what a quiality signing that is.

True. Three out of three targets landed. One missed.

[Hi Mack]

i see bolteon have just signed jackwilshire on loan from arsenal. what a quiality signing that is.

Too light weight for Bolton.......and us!

Any developments on the striker Nicko? well known player?

[RibbleValleyRover]

Daily Mail mentioned a few Rovers links in their 'insider' section:

Erik Huseklepp to Stoke- Though several other clubs have shown an interest including Rovers.

Roberts to Wolves- They reckon Wolves are interested in Roberts and that a deal could possibly be done.

The Insider

Usually in the past i have never really bothered with the mail for transfer rumours but they got the recent Basturk deal spot on and before other media sources picked it up.

[brian_gallagher85]

I sometimes question certain posters football knowledge, Slagging N'Zonzi off now? Christ the lads

come over from France where he was playing in the equivalent of league 1! He is one of the first names on

the team sheet at the moment. oh and how old is he 21?

As for Pedersen getting boo'ed that is also ridiculous......the lad always gives 100% granted he hasn't built

on his early promise but the help he gives the LB is noticable when he isnt playing. Booing your'e own players helps no-one its idiotic.

I'm not slagging off Nzonzi, I am simply saying that he isn't as good as some fans make out, especially when it comes to tackling. He can pick out a pass though.

Pedersen is more deserving than Andrews of the odd boo. We all know that Keith isn't the most talented player in the world but he always gives 100%. Pedersen is the biggest coward to ever play the game at times...then he goes for the odd header like the other night and almost scores, taking Melchiot out in the process .

He can mix it up, he needs to do so more often.