Summer Transfer Window 2019

[OssyLad]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

There is no room for sentiment in football it is a ruthless business. Mulgrew has been a decent player for us but the key word there is 'has', his performances towards the end for season were an embarrassment. 

Played well at Rangers looked sharp

[bluebruce]

Just now, Exiled_Rover said:

You don't drastically improve your game at 22. He's a big unit who has a knack for scoring goals. He can't trap a bag of cement though so he'll never progress that high up the football pyramid.

Good move for both parties involved. 

You can drastically improve your game at 22. A lot of players have done so. You can drastically improve your game a fair bit later. It might not be what usually happens (although a typical footballer peaks at 26ish) but it absolutely can happen. Especially when you're only just getting first team football.

Anyway I wasn't talking about drastically improving it, just improving it. I wasn't talking about particularly 'high up the pyamid', just one league above where he is now going, and a level he has notched a few goals with very limited game time.

[Madon]

3 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Got a funny feeling he’s going to bang them in for Blackpool this season. Mercer, what odds would I get on him finishing top scorer in League One?

I've just been looking for the exact same bet! A bit soon yet but that'll be going in my outrights accumalator tomorrow!

[Ewood Ace]

Just now, OssyLad said:

Played well at Rangers looked sharp

I don't pay any attention to pre-season friendlies they are about fitness and nothing else. 

[tomphil]

Just now, Tormund said:

Mulgrew deserves a bit more respect to be honest. Yes he’s maybe not as good as he was but he’s done more than enough.

It's an unforgiving industry at times and he's got plenty adulation and hero worship for his scoring exploits but his job is to help keep them out so no he hasn't done more than enough.

20k+ plus per week and being allowed to put country before club at times is more than enough to take a bit of justified flak.

[OssyLad]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

I don't pay any attention to pre-season friendlies they are about fitness and nothing else. 

Judge him after a few games yeah ??

[47er]

2 hours ago, alex l said:

I have to question whether those criticising TM on that quote have read the full article. He's pretty much dismissed attack and midfield additions, says defence will be looked at along with keeper. The overall message is he still intends to get transfers in, yet the line being focused on is that is content with defensive options. 

Given that was our frailty, 48 hours before game 1 he's hardly going to instill confidence if he said we're desperate for defenders cos we're poor at the back. It would also drive up prices for us 

Again its about priorities. After he's signed the forwards and mid-fielders he likes---then have a last-minute look at the defence.

Wrong way round!

[chaddyrovers]

Good luck to Joe Nuttall..hope he fire them to promotiom next season

[DE.]

Nutall is 22 and has at least three players ahead of him in the pecking order, justifiably so. He can't just sit around waiting for the odd cameo and playing for the u23's, he can only progress by going out and making a name for himself elsewhere. It's the right time for him and us to move on. Good luck to him, I think he'll turn out similar to Josh Morris and become a decent L1 player. 

As for Mulgrew, I don't think it's disrespectful to be worried about his inclusion in the starting eleven. His contributions to our promotion campaign were widely acknowledged, he has a thread on here titled 'the godlike genius of Charlie Mulgrew' for goodness sake, but there's nothing wrong with rightly pointing out that he was at fault numerous times last season and was eventually dropped for Derrick Williams, whereby our form completely turned around. Not all down to Mulgrew being dropped but it likely played a part in it. He obviously has respect for his help during the L1 campaign, as do the likes of Smallwood and Nuttall, but at the top level you need to be ruthless and know when it's the right time for a player to move on. This summer was that time for Mulgrew, imo, and it will be a huge shame if he's culpable for more mistakes this season. Criticism should be levelled at the manager rather than the player IF this happens though, as Mowbray is ultimately the one making these calls. Obviously if the opposite happens and Mulgrew has a revitalised season then fair enough, credit to Mowbray for having faith. Based on last season's evidence, and our relegation season, you can't blame fans for being concerned by the thought of Mulgrew as a defensive mainstay for another season though. 

Edited August 1, 2019 by DE.

[Exiled in Toronto]

I thought it more than a coincidence that Mulgrew’s crap spells coincided with club vs country spats with the manager, so maybe the issue was at least partly attitudinal. Mowbray’s end of season rants plus signing this City player might have Mulgrew pull his socks up and start stopping a few with his bollocks.

[tomphil]

Sounds like it wasn't a bad fee for Nuttall the lad still has lots of lower division potential and he was handy to have around although a bit bizarre how he was overlooked at times.  That though probably reflected his lack of all round game he's a lurker rather than a worker and a poacher rather than target man at this level.

Worth the experiment though and they've got a bit back towards covering it so best of luck, feed him and he'll bag a few.

[rigger]

Nuttall is not a championship standard player 

[bluebruce]

22 minutes ago, Tormund said:

Mulgrew deserves a bit more respect to be honest. Yes he’s maybe not as good as he was but he’s done more than enough.

I'm not going to pretend he can defend just to be respectful.

Charlie has an absolute wand of a left foot. I don't think I've watched a Rovers player with better set pieces, probably even Bentley (hard to say though because Bentley was doing it in the Prem). His goal contribution is exceptional, a centre half has no right to score anything like that number, and he was so crucial to us in the League One season. He wasn't defending particularly well then either, but with the type of team we were relative to opponents, it didn't stand out as much or cause as many problems, and was easily outstripped by his goals.

For this league though, he is too slow, with poor positional sense, stands off too much, and we are suffering from playing him even when he launches those beauties into the net, as the stats back up. It's not disrespectful to say this, it's just reality.

Edited August 1, 2019 by bluebruce

[Glosrover]

9 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Mike Hickman - straight in the team and scored hat trick in 5-2 win over Plymouth IIRC.

Check. He scored 2. Clearly not ready to play

What about Keith Fear?  Hadn’t even been introduced to the team then scored 2 (or maybe 3) at Burnley

[Atko's Engine]

It's fine to criticise Mulgrew for the errors he made, but phrases such as "If Mulgrew starts, we lose. End of." are disrespectful, as are other comments made about him in this thread.

I happen to agree that his best days are behind him and he ought not to play just because he's club captain. But I'm comfortable with him starting on Saturday as TA has just landed, we've no other fit senior specialist CB available and this ought to be one of our easier games this season (at least defensively). 

Within 2 or 3 games, I'm confident that TA and / a new CB will be starting, unless Mulgrew pulls up trees; if he does, then he deserves to carry on.

Re Nuttall, good luck to him. I'd have preferred a loan as he could tear it up for Blackpool given proper game time because he knows where the net is, but if we got a good fee (as it seems we did) and there's either a good sell on or buy back clause, then I think it makes sense all round.

[onlyoneDuff]

Maybe if Evans would occasionally stick a foot in and break up the play in front of him Mulgrew wouldnt have been put in positions to be exposed...even better if Smallwood had a litle pace and wasnt chasing shadows...easy to blame Mulgrew when the two main men in front of him are substandard.

[Ewood Ace]

Just now, onlyoneDuff said:

Maybe if Evans would occasionally stick a foot in and break up the play in front of him Mulgrew wouldnt have been put in positions to be exposed...even better if Smallwood had a litle pace and wasnt chasing shadows...easy to blame Mulgrew when the two main men in front of him are substandard.



His worst performances last season came towards the end of the season when it was Travis in front of him. But anyway the results don't lie we are a better side without Mulgrew in it.

[RV Blue]

Just now, onlyoneDuff said:

Maybe if Evans would occasionally stick a foot in and break up the play in front of him Mulgrew wouldnt have been put in positions to be exposed...even better if Smallwood had a litle pace and wasnt chasing shadows...easy to blame Mulgrew when the two main men in front of him are substandard.

Would be tough to be a centre half in our side when the two full backs are as bad as the ones we have, too. I do think that Mulgrew is passed it, but just chucking in a decent centre half isn’t going to drastically improve things. Our defence last season was (and still is imo) set up to fail.

[Miller11]

The players who helped get us relegated in the first place all seem to have got a free pass on that by sticking around and helping us get promoted again... which was an absolute requirement rather than an achievement.

Coyle, and dross like Lowe, Ward, Guthrie, Akpan, Steele, Brown, Feeney etc all rightly get stick - don’t forget the likes of Mulgrew, Bennett and Evans were also a big part of that and the first two in particular struggled on their return to this level. Graham can obviously cut it, and hopefully Gallagher will redeem himself for that Preston fiasco by having a good season.

Anyway, Mulgrew will need to be on his game on Saturday - I like Lyle Taylor as a player, watched him a fair bit for Wimbledon when he was there. He’s busy and has excellent movement. I expect he will find a fair bit of space. I’d like to be looking forward to the game more, but I’m predicting a back 4 of Bennett, Lenihan, Mulgrew and Downing. That fills me with dread.

[Lee0r]

Just now, Miller11 said:

The players who helped get us relegated in the first place all seem to have got a free pass on that by sticking around and helping us get promoted again... which was an absolute requirement rather than an achievement.

Coyle, and dross like Lowe, Ward, Guthrie, Akpan, Steele, Brown, Feeney etc all rightly get stick - don’t forget the likes of Mulgrew, Bennett and Evans were also a big part of that and the first two in particular struggled on their return to this level. Graham can obviously cut it, and hopefully Gallagher will redeem himself for that Preston fiasco by having a good season.

Anyway, Mulgrew will need to be on his game on Saturday - I like Lyle Taylor as a player, watched him a fair bit for Wimbledon when he was there. He’s busy and has excellent movement. I expect he will find a fair bit of space. I’d like to be looking forward to the game more, but I’m predicting a back 4 of Bennett, Lenihan, Mulgrew and Downing. That fills me with dread.

I think it could be...

               Tosin Lenihan Mulgrew

Bennett                                         Downing 

[RV Blue]

Just now, Miller11 said:

The players who helped get us relegated in the first place all seem to have got a free pass on that by sticking around and helping us get promoted again... which was an absolute requirement rather than an achievement.

Coyle, and dross like Lowe, Ward, Guthrie, Akpan, Steele, Brown, Feeney etc all rightly get stick - don’t forget the likes of Mulgrew, Bennett and Evans were also a big part of that and the first two in particular struggled on their return to this level. Graham can obviously cut it, and hopefully Gallagher will redeem himself for that Preston fiasco by having a good season.

Anyway, Mulgrew will need to be on his game on Saturday - I like Lyle Taylor as a player, watched him a fair bit for Wimbledon when he was there. He’s busy and has excellent movement. I expect he will find a fair bit of space. I’d like to be looking forward to the game more, but I’m predicting a back 4 of Bennett, Lenihan, Mulgrew and Downing. That fills me with dread.

Bennett was frozen out by Coyle, let’s not rewrite history.

[Miller11]

Just now, RV Blue said:

Bennett was frozen out by Coyle, let’s not rewrite history.

He managed 25 league appearances... so yeah, let’s not.

[Paul Mellelieu]

3 hours ago, RV Blue said:

So from ‘defenders are coming’ to ‘defensively we’re fine’, after signing a kid on loan from City. Bumbling idiot.

He may not be the greatest manager in the world, but bumbling idiot he is not.  What a lack of respect.

[Paul Mellelieu]

2 hours ago, K-Hod said:

‘so defensively we’re fine’

Tony, 69 goals against last season says otherwise. 

I thought defenders were coming? 

Or is this another thing the manager says that we shouldn’t pay attention to?

Just checking - is this moderating?

[J*B]

Just now, Paul Mellelieu said:

Just checking - is this moderating?

No this is a moderator having an opinion. As per the thread in forum notices, its actively encouraged. We do not want or need robots, we want people to stop threads being derailed or ending up in slanging matches.