[Archived] Transfer Talk

[ABBEY]

How did you view lineker and rush

[thenodrog]

How did you view lineker and rush

Linekar was top line sharp as was Rush. Neither great in the air but Rush was also frequently described as Liverpools best defender. (Needless to say both had pace.)

However comparing Jordan Rhodes to those two is just so laughable Abbey. They were top of their profession and the countries top strikers by a mile at the time. One went to Barcelona and the other to Juventus when Seria A was top dog in Europe. JR hasn't even played in the top Division yet and been dropped by scotland! Maybe a glance at the trophy cabinets of all three might reveal more than I can....... Oh sorry JR won't have one will he?

[Andyblue2]

Brown's a decent player to have in the squad

I've seen better than him playing in the west lancs league

[blueboy3333]

I don't know if you were at The Valley but if you were there you will have seen that Brown's contribution was making space and taking markers away from Rhodes. At Hillsborough he made the goal for Rhodes with his physical presence winning the ball in the air and heading down for Rhodes. Brown is a bit of a throwback in being an old fashioned physical centre-forward who keeps defenders occupied and never gives them a minute on the ball. He may not score many himself, but he will certainly create the space for other to profit from. I'm sure Rhodes appreciates the work that Brown does. It might not be eye candy but it is effective.

Exactly, Brown drops deeper and drags one of the centre halves with him leaving more space for Rhodes to run into. No surprise that Rhodes has got 3 in two playing with a big man prepared to do the donkey work for him. I love rudy but him and Rhodes tend to take each others space. Brown is also a better footballer than he's given credit for. He'll never be a goalscorer, but he's the perfect foil for Rhodes who when confident is the best finisher in this league.

[Rover_Shaun]

Really it wouldn't be Rovers without a useless dolloper up front. a long line that I can remember in my lifetime from the likes of Tony Diamond, Sean Curry, Andy Kennedy trough to Ashley Ward, Nathan Blake and Jason Roberts with many in between.

[Blueandwhitemike]

I was pretty young at the time but I thought Andy Kennedy was quite good...

Thing with Rhodes is, he's not great outside the box but he is exceptional in it, not good, not very good, but brilliant that's why he has so many goals and admirers. I'd wager he'd score goals in any good team that created chances... Far more suited to an upper mid table team in whatever division.

[chris_h]

I was pretty young at the time but I thought Andy Kennedy was quite good...

Thing with Rhodes is, he's not great outside the box but he is exceptional in it, not good, not very good, but brilliant that's why he has so many goals and admirers. I'd wager he'd score goals in any good team that created chances... Far more suited to an upper mid table team in whatever division.

You remember correctly, Kennedy formed a productive trinity with Garner and Gayle. Kennedy wasn't a bad finisher and had a decent turn of speed. Unfortunately, he took an age to recover from each burst of pace. Understandable when you factor in that wining and dining Maria Whittaker was hardly the best preparation for a professional athlete.

[No Nay Never]

Brown has got Rovers defending from the front for the first time in a long time.

[PeteJD13]

I don't know if you were at The Valley but if you were there you will have seen that Brown's contribution was making space and taking markers away from Rhodes. At Hillsborough he made the goal for Rhodes with his physical presence winning the ball in the air and heading down for Rhodes. Brown is a bit of a throwback in being an old fashioned physical centre-forward who keeps defenders occupied and never gives them a minute on the ball. He may not score many himself, but he will certainly create the space for other to profit from. I'm sure Rhodes appreciates the work that Brown does. It might not be eye candy but it is effective.

Totally agree I was at the valley I thought Brown played well, he dropped deep and the created a hole for Cairney or Rhodes he was a real handful as mentioned by posters above. Rhodes and Brown make a better combination then Gestede and Rhodes which never really worked.

[ABBEY]

er last weds it was er..rudy and Rhodes that was the winning partnership.?

[No Nay Never]

er last weds it was er..rudy and Rhodes that was the winning partnership.?

Not for me, Never been a fantastic partnership in my eyes, Rhodes will score goals whoever he partners, but i'd guess over a set number of games he would score more partnering Brown than he would partnering Rudy.

[chaddyrovers]

Brown is a striker who does a job for the team. Team player. But lets Rhodes play further up and Brown drop deeper.

Similar to Lee Novak who Rhodes enjoyed playing with at Huddersfield.

[PeteJD13]

that's my point, Rhodes and Gestede are both goal scorers, Brown is willing to sacrifice that side of his game to create space for JR. I am not dismissing Gestede it just a personal observation

[Amo]

I don't know if you were at The Valley but if you were there you will have seen that Brown's contribution was making space and taking markers away from Rhodes. At Hillsborough he made the goal for Rhodes with his physical presence winning the ball in the air and heading down for Rhodes. Brown is a bit of a throwback in being an old fashioned physical centre-forward who keeps defenders occupied and never gives them a minute on the ball. He may not score many himself, but he will certainly create the space for other to profit from. I'm sure Rhodes appreciates the work that Brown does. It might not be eye candy but it is effective.

You're missing the point. I'm not suggesting that Brown doesn't have any strengths we can play to... quite literally, strength is his main advantage, but he is what he is, a lower league plodder with a pathetic strike-rate. My point is that Gordon is falling over himself to praise a poor man's Shefki Kuqi, whilst he continues to be one of Rhodes' biggest critics.

[No Nay Never]

When Rhodes partners Rudy a bit more is expected from him in terms of closing defenders down and such like, this simply isn't his game....However scoring goals is and with Brown he is more able to focus on this.

[joey_big_nose]

I was pretty young at the time but I thought Andy Kennedy was quite good...

Thing with Rhodes is, he's not great outside the box but he is exceptional in it, not good, not very good, but brilliant that's why he has so many goals and admirers. I'd wager he'd score goals in any good team that created chances... Far more suited to an upper mid table team in whatever division.

Agree with this. Bizarre as it sounds the sort of team that should buy him is Arsenal. Wheel him out for games where they totally dominate but struggle to score - away at Stoke, Hull etc - and he would have a field day.

Would be a string to Wenger's bow certainly and I'm sure he would be fine with playing one game out of two in the prem.

When/if he ends up at Hull/QPR etc he is going to struggle big time IMO. Southampton or Swansea could suit him, but I would guess they would want someone who has more pace / power/ technical ability for 10m which is more money to them than Arsenal.

[Al]

Was the smiley face with a wink not clear enough lol...

Learn to chill a little Al, hypertension and stress are not good for your health

Stop it, stop it, your killing me... You not starting arguments, ha ha!

That's right. Attack people then pretend you are joking. You were not. Had enough of you now so on ignore till you get over yourself.

[K-Hod]

When Rhodes partners Rudy a bit more is expected from him in terms of closing defenders down and such like, this simply isn't his game....However scoring goals is and with Brown he is more able to focus on this.

Brown is a better foil for Rhodes than Rudy, but Rudy is a better player than Brown, people are finding it far too difficult to get this through their heads. Rudy and Rhodes haven't played well together on the whole imo, but better individually (or in Rhodes' case with a no.10 behind him/a big lump next to him).

[Parsonblue]

You're missing the point. I'm not suggesting that Brown doesn't have any strengths we can play to... quite literally, strength is his main advantage, but he is what he is, a lower league plodder with a pathetic strike-rate. My point is that Gordon is falling over himself to praise a poor man's Shefki Kuqi, whilst he continues to be one of Rhodes' biggest critics.

it's horses for courses Amarillo. If you play two up front then Rhodes benefits from having a Brown or a Gestede alongside him and profits from it. If you are only playing one up front it has to be Brown or Gestede because Jordan's game simply isn't suited to playing as the lone striker for it needs attributes that aren't his best. I must admit that I've been a critic of Rhodes when he's been playing the lone front runner role simply because he struggles with the physical aspect of that role. However, on Saturday he was excellent because he had more time and space because of Brown's presence. In terms of technique in holding the ball up, shielding it from defenders and laying it off to supporting players, Brown is actually very good and far from a plodder. He also provides an excellent first line of defence because he stops defenders having time on the ball to make a pass. Brown and Rhodes have different attributes which actually compliment each other rather well. If Rudy goes in the summer, which we all expect, Brown and Rhodes would be a decent partnership, particularly when you remember that Brown missed pre-season and most of the first half of the campaign through injury and is playing catch-up in terms of fitness.

[thenodrog]

You remember correctly, Kennedy formed a productive trinity with Garner and Gayle. Kennedy wasn't a bad finisher and had a decent turn of speed. Unfortunately, he took an age to recover from each burst of pace. Understandable when you factor in that wining and dining Maria Whittaker was hardly the best preparation for a professional athlete.

Was probably the next stage in the process that wrecked his stamina.

[ABBEY]

She was a top girl Maria and very very funny. Mr K was a good lad too.

[thenodrog]

Agree with this. Bizarre as it sounds the sort of team that should buy him is Arsenal. Wheel him out for games where they totally dominate but struggle to score - away at Stoke, Hull etc - and he would have a field day.

Would be a string to Wenger's bow certainly and I'm sure he would be fine with playing one game out of two in the prem.

When/if he ends up at Hull/QPR etc he is going to struggle big time IMO. Southampton or Swansea could suit him, but I would guess they would want someone who has more pace / power/ technical ability for 10m which is more money to them than Arsenal.

I know where you are coming from jbn but can you ever imagine Arsene Wenger signing as slow a player as Rhodes as a striker? I certainly can't.

btw this is some goal by Giroud this weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyP-aHU23kI

[matt83]

This sat we were talking about the criticism Rhodes gets and where he ranks in the all time leading scorers for us. So on Sunday being a sad git consulted one of those mike Jackman books got for crimbo once and as far as I can tell (working on the basis he has 65 goals which may have changed) he's joint 19th:

S garner 1976-92 192 goals

T Briggs 1952-58 143

A shearer 1992-96 130

E harper 1923-27 33-35 122

J southworth 1887-93 121

J burton 1929-43 115

B Douglas 1952-69 115

E latheron 1906-17 104

P dobing 1955-61 104

M mcevoy 1956-67 103

W aitkenhead 1906-18 95

E quigley 1951-56 95

S puddefoot 1925-32 87

J Thompson 1931-36 84

E crossan 1947-57 74

F Pickering 1956-64 71-72 74

P Dawson 1914-23 73

W Davies 1905-13 70

D Shea 1913-20 65

Pretty good going really. I think he still represents a risk for a premier league team against better defenders but he certainly knows where the goal is and should we keep him for a couple more seasons he'll likely make the top 10 all time list.

[thenodrog]

Brown is a better foil for Rhodes than Rudy, but Rudy is a better player than Brown, people are finding it far too difficult to get this through their heads. Rudy and Rhodes haven't played well together on the whole imo, but better individually (or in Rhodes' case with a no.10 behind him/a big lump next to him).

Seems my opinion is becoming increasingly supported and Amarillo's lack of football nous is being highlighted. I've championed Gestede for 12 months but I have to say whilst he will never be as prolific I believe that Brown is better for the entire team. He takes a lot of weight off midfield and creates time and space for them and is a naturally safe 'out' for the defence when it's under pressure. If he carries on in thie vein he will make that place his own leaving King, Gestede and Rhodes to fight it out up top in a 'horses for courses' scenario.

One thing to add (and I admit I've not done any sums) is that I feel whilst JR is great in the penalty area and is very prolific against the supposedly weaker teams he doesn't seem to do as well against the stronger teams. Maybe somebody might like to provide some stats although it's prob well nigh impossible when GB is choosing to rest him against the better opposition.

[Exiled in Toronto]

I wonder who Rhodes prefers as his partner? Perhaps Brown is his Newell.

I've only really seen the cup ties this season but, on that limited evidence, we seem to have two sets of forward pairings who are both effective enough to be first choice: Rhodes/Brown and Gestede/King. I can't remember us ever being in a similar poistion.