v Sheffield Utd (h) - 2/11/2024

[superniko]

39 minutes ago, G Somerset Rover said:

 

I’m personally underwhelmed by Eustace and our recruitment team but the buck starts and ends with our owners. Years and years of neglect was always going to bite us on the arse sooner rather than later and despite the (IMO misleading) start to the season, it could well end up being this time round that we do drop.

Sums it up perfectly for me 

[superniko]

8 minutes ago, KentExile said:

They both had massive wage budgets when they were promoted from the championship 

Edit - compared to pretty much every team without parachute payments

Have you anything to back that up as I’m pretty confident that’s completely not true - especially Luton who have very little coming in given their capacity

Edited November 2 by superniko

[KentExile]

10 minutes ago, superniko said:

Have you anything to back that up as I’m pretty confident that’s completely not true 

Ipswich's wage budget when they were in League 1 was £19.8M which is about average for a championship club, then they would have had promotion bonuses + the wages whoever they signed once they were in the championship

https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/24205704.ipswich-town-accounts-2022-2023-financial-year-revealed/

And £5M of transfer fees last season too with no sales

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/ipswich-town/transfers/verein/677/plus/?saison_id=2023&pos=&detailpos=&w_s=

 

Luton's wage bill in their promotion season was apparently £27.6M, a £10M increase on the previous season, which I think was mainly on expensive loans

https://swissramble.substack.com/p/luton-town-finances-202223

Edited November 2 by KentExile

[Waggy76]

4 hours ago, Crimpshrine said:

How much did we pay for Cantwell  ? 

I can't see him hanging around too long. I bet Waggott sees him as the next phase of operation 'wash our own face' if he can sell him on at a decent profit.

That thought crossed my mind today..

[islander200]

If Wednesday comes and the only changes to the starting 11 are Gueye for Ohashi and Weimann for 1 of Dolan or Hedges then I'm gonna be critical of Eustace, he doesn't have the best set of attacking players but he needs to find another way rather than doing the same thing over and over

I'd agree with KentExile that maybe 3 at the back with Beck and Brittain at wingback is worth a try and get 2 of Leonard,Ohashi and Gueye up top with Cantwell as the 10 behind, Dolan should not be playing as the 10 for us he is too wasteful with possession.

It's hard to portion too much blame to recruitment the budget was less than what we received for Gally Ennis and Whalstedt ffs, so not only did they have a pitiful budget but we also took an age to appoint Park ,Gestede and the other fella. They will have buttons to play with again in January but pace is desperately required so hopefully they can find someone in the bargain bin 

Don't think we will go down as there are poorer squads in the division and we have a good start on them but it will happen eventually with these owners now they stopped helping pay the bills never mind investing in the squad.

They will hang onto us till the bitter end.Depressing 

[Trinidad Rover]

People forget, after a decent start to the season, we brought in c£35m on transfer fees the last two years (possibly more?). We spent, what, £2m? As ever, you get what you pay for. 

That is fundamentally the problem and who is to blame for that….? Our repugnant owners. 

We are going nowhere and wont in a hurry. At this point I’m almost apathetic to the players and Eustace, who I do not rate at all.

[speeeeeeedie]

In the second half especially Rovers were outclassed today. Sheffield Utd were better in every department. 

Rovers final ball was awful and could not get anywhere near their goal. 

As we all know it all goes back to Venkys. Proper funding would negate performances like today as there would be better calibre personnel available. Instead we get to watch Cantwell, a class above the rest, try to play with 2 new strikers who are starting to look out of their depth and "skill" players Dolan and Hedges who produce nothing. 

[ABBEY]

2nd half it took us 4 and half minutes to possess the ball and that was from a handball as well. 

[47er]

44 minutes ago, islander200 said:

 

Don't think we will go down as there are poorer squads in the division

I think that was the outlook and the hope at the Club from the start.

We simply "over-achieved" early on.

[speeeeeeedie]

Does anyone else think that Gueye should have been sent off for elbowing the Sheff Utd defender? He got away with it if you ask me.

[rigger]

14 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Does anyone else think that Gueye should have been sent off for elbowing the Sheff Utd defender? He got away with it if you ask me.

If Gueye did elbow the other player then yes, he should have been sent off. It happened in front of me and I could not say for certain that he did use his elbow. If he had tried to kick the player, he would have probably have missed him. 

[Old Codger]

8 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

Bizarre conclusion to draw. We’ve played well and show plenty of character. We just lack quality at the top end of the pitch. 

I think I was vindicated in my comment to be fair. 

[Old Codger]

We keep trying to football our way past opponents. Not a tactic that is likely to work with our squad. 

Let's cut out the horse poo for a few weeks, stop fannying around at the back, go direct, use the big man for target practice and hold up play, and let the poacher that we saw in Yuki's early outings feed off the scraps. That will steady the ship.

IMO 

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Old Codger said:

We keep trying to football our way past opponents. Not a tactic that is likely to work with our squad. 

Let's cut out the horse poo for a few weeks, stop fannying around at the back, go direct, use the big man for target practice and hold up play, and let the poacher that we saw in Yuki's early outings feed off the scraps. That will steady the ship.

IMO 

 

Something has to change if we are hoping to score enough goals to win games.

[Rover down South]

4 hours ago, G Somerset Rover said:

I think reality is dawning for many that we did in fact have a terrible transfer window - Beck and Cantwell aside.

Eustace talked of Baker like he was the Championship Iniesta yet he’s barely played a minute.

Gueye couldn’t trap a bag of cement.

Ohashi looks every inch the freebie untested at Championship level.

I could go on.

I’m personally underwhelmed by Eustace and our recruitment team but the buck starts and ends with our owners. Years and years of neglect was always going to bite us on the arse sooner rather than later and despite the (IMO misleading) start to the season, it could well end up being this time round that we do drop.

Hit the nail on the head.

Gueye makes a nuisance of himself but is quite clumsy with it. Offers little else.

Ohashi, clearly has some football intelligence but just looks completely lost as our main striker recently. Looks more suited to a number 10 role, so that’s where I’d be tempted to try him in place of Dolan.

Who plays as our striker though? Leonard, Tyjon or even Mafoumbi? 8 hours & 32 minutes of championship football and zero goals from Gueye suggests he isn’t going to cut it in this league and we need to try something different. A number 9 he isn’t.

[Underground, Roverground]

Sheffield Utd are a good team. They’ll finish in the top 2 in my view. The season as a whole so far sums up where we are. 

Solid enough to stay up with a championship quality defence and a couple of good battlers in midfield. An excellent ball player in Cantwell, and the rest struggle but show glimpses all too rarely. We’re destined for mid table. 

We mustn’t as frustrating as it is though, lose sight that we’re 8th, and although I think we’ll finish lower, that will represent progress on last season. Its not time to jump on the manager, and if we really want to move forward more quickly the owners will have to show more ambition. 

Outside of the top 4/5, it’s a very mediocre division. 
 

[booth]

Does JRC get an assist for their first goal. Wtf was he doing?

And Brittain. What a waster that guy is. What's he supposed to be because he's not a full back.

Edited November 3 by booth

[jim mk2]

Rankin-Costello is strange. He blossomed under Tomasson and looked a potential Premier League player, yet seems to have gone backwards since. Injuries haven't helped of course

Brittain had a good game and was one of our best players at Watford last week yet at times he can be a liability.

The team's form is dire. Where's the next win (or goal) coming from? 

 

 

[Ghost7]

On the pathetic first goal that loose ball in the middle is Dolan's to win. He has to win it. Most players would... but the man is child like. The Sheffield player scuffed the shot because he wasn't favourite to get there and was expecting more of a challenge from Dolan. That should have been our ball.

Also on the second, Hyam strangely tackling Moore with the outside of his weaker foot didn't help. He could have taken the ball and man with a proper tackle on his stronger side. The kind of challenge a player like Moore needs.

The less said about Rankin-Costello the better. A technically odd player that seems to like hitting it into touch more than finding his teammates.

Dolan, Rankin-Costello and Hedges all need dropping.

 

[scotchrover]

9 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

The main reason is a lack of funding, again. But if you look at what we needed, a good striker, a new number 1 and some pace, none of those have been ticked off.

You look at who we have signed. Beck and Cantwell have obviously improved us. Batth is ok but I dont see him playing every game until the new year and we need him too because we signed another CB who is nearly 40 and cant play in a back 4. Neither striker is up to it. Baker seems totally pointless. Toth a benchwarmer. ACD wont start a game until at least mid to late November, Weimann with 1 wonder goal but otherwise looks past it.

The £9 million they got from Szmodics fee has been spent on wages. How do you think Cantwell’s (and the rest) wages have been covered? 

We’ve done what Allardyce did at Bolton, in this window. 
 

 

Edited November 3 by scotchrover

[AllRoverAsia]

Gueye at 8.15 mins.

It looks more deliberate the more I look at it.

If it was deliberate then a bit of their own medicine back, no complaints here.

That shower have done us worse many times over the years.

 

 

Edited November 3 by AllRoverAsia

[Forever Blue]

1 hour ago, scotchrover said:

The £9 million they got from Szmodics fee has been spent on wages. How do you think Cantwell’s (and the rest) wages have been covered? 

We’ve done what Allardyce did at Bolton, in this window. 
 

 

No offence pal but that’s just garbage.

[Upside Down]

11 hours ago, Hasta said:

 

Uncle Jacks vision was having vastly different spending power than most. Once we didn’t we got relegated.

Sorry but this is completely wrong.

The funding from the walker trust was stopped in 2003 and we maintained a very successful period for nearly ten years after that simply through excellent management from top to bottom. We were never in a position where we were going to be fighting relegation, most of the time we were challenging for European places or cup finals.

The ONLY reason we are in this division is because of venkys.

[arbitro]

6 hours ago, booth said:

Does JRC get an assist for their first goal. Wtf was he doing?

And Brittain. What a waster that guy is. What's he supposed to be because he's not a full back.

And meanwhile, our best right back (in my opinion) is going to stagnate in the under 21's. Eustace seems to have a blind spot when it comes to playing home grown youngsters. Gueye coming on ahead of an in form Leonard yesterday was simply the wrong decision.

[philipl]

They were better in most facets. We desperately lack pace up front and physical strength also. Getting cheesed off with ref bias against us also.

That said, 

Hedges air shot in front of gaping goal

JRC air header in front of gaping goal

Failure to take those didn't give ourselves a chance of nicking anything.