Their own manager said "I need to find a replacement for free or near free" so theyre obviously being pretty transparent that theyre broke.

I liked that he scored quite a few headers... That's basically what we need. That said highlight videos mean so little as they have no context.... Had a look on the Pompey fan forums, seems they like him and are gutted he's leaving. But also not really sure he's Championship level. Feels like if we get Hirst he's not going to necessarily start, and just be a different option on the bench. Not sure that's what we need - we need someone who is the obvious number 9 and plays week in week out. Haven't had that since Graham left.

Seems a pretty solid set of defenders who should let us play a three or a four at the back. Also pretty balanced with Wharton, Hyam and Carter all play left side and Ayala, Sepp and Phillips play right side. Not having a left sided centreback last few games has hurt us. Still think surely we will get a big lad up top in? And a left back / wing back?

Realistically we won't know how we are doing until around November. Then we'll have enough games under our belt to have some sort of balanced view. It's possible one the defenders come in and we sign a striker things will come together. Or that the early trend of not generating chances and being defensively brittle will continue. I dont think we can really predict atm.

From what I saw of Adam Wharton yesterday I reckon he could do something like the Rothwell role. Carried the ball forward well a few times.

Pickering, Brittain can sling them in, and I think we would do more with crosses if we had anyone to aim at. We don't bother much as what the point with Smodics, Dack, Dolan, Vale... We need an option to play a direct aerial game if the other team sits in.

Hes turned into a bit of a dysfunctional owner specialist. Coventry, Rovers and now Sunderland.

I think Gavlars point is we never really stretched their keeper despite the time we were in the final third, which is a fair point imo. If I was a Stokie I would have come out feeling that we defended well and were largely in control despite the pressure.

Weird game, we defended appallingly first 30 mins, Stoke should have scored 2 or 3. After that we were probably the better team but without really creating convincing chances. So came out annoyed but also could see some reasons for hope Cons : defence was really poor first half, kaminski conceded a really soft goal (although he also made two or three superb saves prior), Buckley was abysmal, Dack at 9 (which I was all for to try something different) didn't work. BBD wasted a lot of really good positions on the left which is unlike him. Pros : Adam Wharton. Wow. He's going to be a huge player for us, he will start next game I think. Buckley (who I seriously rate) should be very worrief. Hedges also looks to me like he's going to be a consistently strong performer for us. Dack played much better at 10. Much as we all love to hate him we really missed Gallaghers power and physicality to stretch and shake the opposition defence. He would have made a big impact today. We need more of that, our preponderance of small technical forwards makes us unable to get any value out of crosses at all. No Scott Wharton is a big gap for us also. Overall : Disappointing defeat but much better performance all round than Reading and Sheff Utd. We were competitive whereas in those games we were not. But we need some proper defenders in, and we need a striker who can cause a player like Flint a problem through the middle up front. I just feel like we don't really know what we're doing at centre forward and that needs sorting out. We've got a great team for scoring on the break, but i just think against massed defence chasing a game we don't have the right options. So as others have said on here if we go behind we really struggle.

Kind of what I mean about why I'm confused we signed Szmodics. As far as I can see I don't really get what Sammie offers us that Markanday doesn't. All that happens is Markanday drops out of the squad, and we could have used the Szmodics money elsewhere?

On the positive side he looks leaner and more mobile than he has been for ages. So it really does look like he's fighting for his place. JDT is no idiot. He knows Dack is the one player except BBD who consistently scores goals, so I am sure he is desperate to fit him in the side. Smodics does seem such an odd signing though. We have Dack, Dolan, Markanday, Hedges, Buckley, Vale who can all d o that role in different ways. Just seems a totally unnecessary signing?

Usually we get the best out of players at Rovers, often it's after they leave us they dip in form. But King in hindsight is a player we could have got at lot more from. Real missed opportunity.

If Bournemouth offered him £50k+ when no one was after him all I have to say is they need a new negotiation team! As someone else mentioned he joined Rovers when we just came up from League One likely on a modest deal as he was a bit part squad player, and never signed an improved deal once he has established himself. He could have been on something as low as £3k to £5k.

That's some quality rumour fodder right there! Thanks for sharing.

Why do you mention him? Bundasliga 2 player, so we could probably make him a good offer comparatively.

Are you saying Rothwell is on 50k a week? As I don't think that can be remotely accurate? Or do you mean £50k sign on Even on a free etc I would have thought his offer would top out around 20k absolute max?

Yeah... Wharton and Garrett have looked so good we have to think about how to give them a shot at Championship games. Wharton needs to get on the pitch regularly and Garrett cued up behind. With five subs it shouldn't be too difficult. We just need to play three rather than two centre mids (which tactically we are desperate for anyway) and jump them ahead of Edun in the queue to come on in CM.

If BBD doesn't make and with Hedges and Carter back I would go Kaminski Brittain Ayala Carter Pickering Travis Morton Gallagher Buckley Hedges Dack Subs : Pears, Phillips, Edun, A Wharton, Dolan, Markanday, Szmodics

Good quiz answer is Steven Caulker "what players have one cap and one goal for England" - who can name the others? On the face of it he looks a decent shout. Obviously talented, should be hungry to prove himself, hopefully sorted his head out. One of those which has a chance to turn into a really good signing. Not comparing in terms of ability, but in situation Tugay and Friedel were similar. Around 30 but never really established themselves, wanted a chance to prove themselves. Not like the Murphys, Etuhus, Wes Browns etc who all couldn't give a toss.

He's played Gallagher consistently on the right and he's right footed. If BBD goes I'm sure JDT will be fine with playing Hedges or Markanday on the left. TBH, in style (though without the goals) Hedges is a remarkably similar sort of player to BBD. A bit more technical, a bit less physical, but essentially a big lad who despite his size likes running with the ball from wide, likes to link up, and has a decent shot. If BBDs off I wouldn't use the money like for like. I'd let Hedges (and the other wide players - Dolan, Markanday) have a crack at wide and sign a proper central striker of which we have none, unless you count Gally.

Im not sure, in the last four or five years Prem centre halves have got even bigger and even quicker. Its a huge step up. Spain would probably suit him better as he'd probably have a physical advantage there, which he would not have in the Prem.

Oof.... step forward Dack, Dilan and Hedges. Need something special from them this weekend.

I think that's a bit cynical tbh. Not sure it's about taking people out of the spotlight necessarily. What it definitely is though is an explicit strategy to hugely cut the wage bill and transfer spend by focusing on young players, or ones with hidden potential around the league on low wages. So while maybe not cynically conceived the key idea is the same as what you say - cut costs. It may be what happened with Nyambe, Lenihan, Rothwell last season could be the norm if we decide to have low relative wage ceilings which I think is where this is going.

Oh balls... well I agree if he's signing a new Brighton contract probably worth us moving on.

BBD out Styles, Van Hecke, Sepp, genuine central striker with solid 15+ per season goal scoring record in top two divisions of the big five European leagues in. That would be okay. Arguably some progress on where we were last year. Depends how the likes of Markanday, Hedges, Szmodic, Buckley, Dolan kick on. Can they improve compared to last season? Also Britain is definitely an improvement over Nyambe, and if we get Styles think he should be a bit improvement down the left. Van Hecke and Sepp in would put us on par with last seasons defense. Or alternatively the Coverntry lad looks okay from his stats. Be interesting to see how he compares to Lenihan on stats? Not sure who that striker is though...