January Transfer Window.

[davulsukur]

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I wouldn't be surprised JDT wants to sign 2 players from his former Club Malmo in Centre midfielder Erdal Rakip and forward Jo Inge Berget. Both out of contract in 4 days. 

Are either of them any good? 

A couple of players that are familiar with JDT's set up wouldn't be a bad thing imo.

We're also desperate for a good centre mid and striker.

[roversfan99]

The most pressing position is to sign a good, experienced central midfielder, we are as weak there as anywhere. Neither Travis nor Morton are particularly good and Buckley's transition to playing deeper has been unsuccessful. Adam Wharton is a talent and he would benefit from some know how and quality alongside him.

[Mike E]

2 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Are either of them any good? 

A couple of players that are familiar with JDT's set up wouldn't be a bad thing imo.

We're also desperate for a good centre mid and striker.

I did like Berget in his spell at Cardiff in 14/15.

Most commonly a forward, so might be in mind as the older, streetwise head missing since Graham's departure. Roughly 1 in 4 goal record.

I seem to recall he filled in down the left a lot in his Cardiff spell for Conway in midfield (when he joined us) or Cunningham at LB, so could be a useful experienced utility man, too.

Can't say I know much about the other fellow, but never played anywhere outside of Malmö. Moved to Benfica and immediately loaned to Palace (0 apps), brought back to Malmö in 2019.

At Malmö, however, 15 goals from 178 apps, aged 26. Online, his strengths are described as 'tackling and dribbling', two things we're missing in the middle tbf.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Mike E

[roversfan99]

13 minutes ago, Mike E said:

I did like Berget in his spell at Cardiff in 14/15.

Most commonly a forward, so might be in mind as the older, streetwise head missing since Graham's departure. Roughly 1 in 4 goal record.

I seem to recall he filled in down the left a lot in his Cardiff spell for Conway in midfield (when he joined us) or Cunningham at LB, so could be a useful experienced utility man, too.

Can't say I know much about the other fellow, but never played anywhere outside of Malmö. Moved to Benfica (in 17, 0 apps), loaned to Palace (in 18, 0 apps), brought back to Malmö in 19.

At Malmö, however, 15 goals from 178 apps, aged 26. Online, his strengths are described as 'tackling and dribbling', two things we're missing in the middle tbf.

Berget only played one Premier League game for Cardiff.

[Mike E]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Berget only played one Premier League game for Cardiff.

Am I thinking of someone else then?

[roversfan99]

5 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Am I thinking of someone else then?

I think they had a few Scandanavians when Solskjaer came in and took them down.

[davulsukur]

53 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Am I thinking of someone else then?

Possibly, a quick Google shows this guy to be a 32 year old Norwegian striker. 

Had his contract cancelled at Cardiff after just 1 year (6 months of which were on loan at Celtic). 

Assume he has more about him than goals, as his record looks reasonably poor.

[Blue blood]

45 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Possibly, a quick Google shows this guy to be a 32 year old Norwegian striker. 

Had his contract cancelled at Cardiff after just 1 year (6 months of which were on loan at Celtic). 

Assume he has more about him than goals, as his record looks reasonably poor.

Some players are. Jason Roberts springs to mind. Made such a pest of himself he was worth another 5-10 goals to the team on top of what he got himself. 

Wouldn't mind if some of our forwards were of that ilk. Problem is the likes of Hirst and Vale don't score or contribute to others scoring either. 

[davulsukur]

1 hour ago, Blue blood said:

Some players are. Jason Roberts springs to mind. Made such a pest of himself he was worth another 5-10 goals to the team on top of what he got himself. 

Wouldn't mind if some of our forwards were of that ilk. Problem is the likes of Hirst and Vale don't score or contribute to others scoring either. 

Yeah more than happy if he brings others into play, get assists, holds up the ball, bullies defenders etc. 

But yeah, the problem is the rest of them are hardly prolific.

[Dreyski]

Daley Blind has been released by Ajax, despite his contract previously running to June 2023. Maybe our coaching team can use their Dutch contacts and organise a cheeky 6-month contract?

[chaddyrovers]

7 hours ago, briansol said:

Think most Scandinavian players will not be match fit as they are off-season. 

true. Last game time was 2 months ago

5 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Are either of them any good? 

A couple of players that are familiar with JDT's set up wouldn't be a bad thing imo.

We're also desperate for a good centre mid and striker.

I don't know the players personally. Maybe we could ask my of Norwegian Rovers fan for a report on either 

[K-Hod]

Finally stopped stewing after that shower on Boxing Day. I started thinking, if Hirst was first choice, who the hell was second choice? Imagine how bad they must be!

[Leonard Venkhater]

28 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Finally stopped stewing after that shower on Boxing Day. I started thinking, if Hirst was first choice, who the hell was second choice? Imagine how bad they must be!

George Worst lol

[Dreyski]

53 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

George Worst lol

Too late to be known as George (the) Hirst
He's sure to be known as George the worst
A pox on that phony Rovers Striker!

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Dreyski

[rovers11]

We desperately need some midfield muscle and some attacking quality. We must be one of the worst teams in the league for creating chances and we're far too easy to play against.

I have to pinch myself that we're 3rd given that we've been woeful for much of the season. Performances have been poor, we've lost as many games as those in the bottom 3, and we've not even scored an equalising goal when we've gone behind (and not even looked like scoring one either).

1 CM, 1 central striker, 1 wide attacker would be a start. Hirst must be sent back to Leicester. 

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by rovers11

[simongarnerisgod]

1 hour ago, K-Hod said:

Finally stopped stewing after that shower on Boxing Day. I started thinking, if Hirst was first choice, who the hell was second choice? Imagine how bad they must be!

we could have held open trials and still managed to get a better centre forward

[Guest]

Not long now til silly season on here. Can we open an unleaded only forum and force him to post every day just to lighten the mood? Third in the league in January and guaranteed to be either 3rd or 4th to start the new year. 

In all seriousness though, the fact we are 3rd highlights the frustrations about the last window. If Hirst was semi capable and Brittain wasn’t made of glass, we could have a serious chance at playoffs this season.

At present, it looks like we won’t have enough depth. I’m still hoping Dack finds some form with his extended run in the side and grabs us 7/8 goals this season. Could well be the difference as defensively we’ve looked okay for the most part. 

[Miller11]

I’ve got very low expectations for this window. If anyone is willing to take Dack’s wages off our books I think he will be off - just get the feeling JDT couldn’t wait to sub him off against Sunderland and will drop him at the first opportunity, probably tomorrow. As soon as Rankin-Costello has a poor game (which again could well be tomorrow up against an in form Ryan Giles being played in his natural position) he will be out in the cold and probably off on loan.

Mola has been bombed out of the squad after one too many horror shows. Which is good. However, he has at least occasionally shown glimpses of being a potentially competent player, unlike Hirst who is persisted with. Alarm bells are ringing a bit that we will end up taking Hirst on a permanent deal, why would we be persisting with such a poor loanee otherwise? It’s pretty likely we will bring in another player or two on loan, benefitting the parent club far more than us.

Any signings we do make will not be done to address the glaring gaps in the squad that we can all see, they will be based off a massive spreadsheet full of stats and flawed projections of potential re-sale value. Nobody from Venky’s down seems remotely bothered about results. One member of our new look recruitment team that was in the news the other week told me on Twitter a while back that concentrating on results was “surely a backwards-looking methodology”. 

Remember when Waggott was on about finding Mowbray’s successor and they seemed to be concentrating on finding someone to “carry on Mowbray’s journey” or words to that effect. Even Mowbray himself was banging on about how he hoped we went for a “development coach” to replace him.

If Brereton goes, our fall down the table will be spectacular. If Brereton stays, it highlights how incompetent we are from the top down, and is a complete failure of any purported long term strategy. The journey is purgatory.

 

[chaddyrovers]

4 hours ago, K-Hod said:

I started thinking, if Hirst was first choice, who the hell was second choice? Imagine how bad they must be!

Rovers would have scouted him at Portsmouth where he had a fairly good scoring record and done well. 

I don't know who the second choice was. 

[roversfan99]

Presumably someone from Sunday League.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

36 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

I’ve got very low expectations for this window. If anyone is willing to take Dack’s wages off our books I think he will be off - just get the feeling JDT couldn’t wait to sub him off against Sunderland and will drop him at the first opportunity, probably tomorrow. As soon as Rankin-Costello has a poor game (which again could well be tomorrow up against an in form Ryan Giles being played in his natural position) he will be out in the cold and probably off on loan.

Mola has been bombed out of the squad after one too many horror shows. Which is good. However, he has at least occasionally shown glimpses of being a potentially competent player, unlike Hirst who is persisted with. Alarm bells are ringing a bit that we will end up taking Hirst on a permanent deal, why would we be persisting with such a poor loanee otherwise? It’s pretty likely we will bring in another player or two on loan, benefitting the parent club far more than us.

Any signings we do make will not be done to address the glaring gaps in the squad that we can all see, they will be based off a massive spreadsheet full of stats and flawed projections of potential re-sale value. Nobody from Venky’s down seems remotely bothered about results. One member of our new look recruitment team that was in the news the other week told me on Twitter a while back that concentrating on results was “surely a backwards-looking methodology”. 

Remember when Waggott was on about finding Mowbray’s successor and they seemed to be concentrating on finding someone to “carry on Mowbray’s journey” or words to that effect. Even Mowbray himself was banging on about how he hoped we went for a “development coach” to replace him.

If Brereton goes, our fall down the table will be spectacular. If Brereton stays, it highlights how incompetent we are from the top down, and is a complete failure of any purported long term strategy. The journey is purgatory.

 

“ Surely a backwards looking methodology  “ , definitely,  if you’re trying to hold on to you job.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

24 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Rovers would have scouted him at Portsmouth where he had a fairly good scoring record and done well. 

I don't know who the second choice was. 

From what I recall of the Portsmouth highlights reel lots of his goals came from him “ attacking “ balls played in front of him for him to run on to. Exactly what you want as a striker. Exactly the sort of balls you see about once a game at Rovers.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[chaddyrovers]

49 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Remember when Waggott was on about finding Mowbray’s successor and they seemed to be concentrating on finding someone to “carry on Mowbray’s journey” or words to that effect. Even Mowbray himself was banging on about how he hoped we went for a “development coach” to replace him.

Yes, we need a coach who develop our young players and keeps bringing through academy players since this is key part of footballing strategy 

49 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

If Brereton goes, our fall down the table will be spectacular. If Brereton stays, it highlights how incompetent we are from the top down, and is a complete failure of any purported long term strategy.

would you sell BBD in January when we are in good position to make the playoffs this season? 

49 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Any signings we do make will not be done to address the glaring gaps in the squad that we can all see, they will be based off a massive spreadsheet full of stats and flawed projections of potential re-sale value.

stats and data is playing a very important part of Football recruitment but Rovers will still scout the player live in the stadium before making the signing. 

I think we need a couple of signings in this window. A right back who would be loan for one someone like Cody Drameh and maybe an replacement for BBD if he leaves or if Rovers send Hirst back someone like Callum Lang from Wigan or Robin Hack from Arminia Bielefeld or Plymouth Ryan Hardie. 

[roversfan99]

How often have you watched Robin Hack at Arminia Bielefeld?

[Miller11]

42 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Yes, we need a coach who develop our young players and keeps bringing through academy players since this is key part of footballing strategy 

 

We need a manager who will win us enough games to get us promoted. That’s should be the primary objective, not an afterthought.

Out strategy is failing before our eyes. I’ve pointed out we have found ourselves in a no win situation with Brereton - unless we go up, which I see no chance of.