1 hour ago, JoeH said:

Vale's movement, first touch & ability to link up with those around him is far superior for me.

What do you make of his sharpness & general physicality?

My sense of his game vs QPR was that he showed one or two nice touches, but often struggled to get a kick. Certainly don't want to judge him too harshly given it was his first league start, and the service into him might've been a problem too, but it definitely felt like he was lacking the quickness or power to impose himself on the game. 

37 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

I think we dropped lucky with Diaz - for the first two years he didn't look like he was worth £20 let alone £20m. There was no apparent improvement in his game - if anything he seemed to go backwards as he lost confidence. Then the pandemic hit - games behind closed doors and his confidence rose. Then the call up for Chile - and his confidence went up another notch.

He showed enough in the match at the weekend to think that last season wasn't a flash in the pan.

Personally I don't think he left us in a weaker position (possibly just above when he joined originally) - we now have a younger squad than when he joined - but he did leave at a time when we had massive holes in our squad due to players leaving at the end of their contracts. The contract position is possibly not his fault, but similarly I don't think a young squad is entirely down to his master plan - you only have to look at his handling of Travis.  

Maybe not a masterplan, but not a total accident either. 

I might be fighting a losing battle on how his handling of young players is remembered, but I really don't think Mowbray did anything especially unreasonable there, especially with Travis. He gave him a bit of game time in the L1 season where he looked decent but not outstanding, and where he also got sent off for a horror challenge in an important game towards the run in. We then understandably began the season with the pair who got us promoted with 90 odd points, initially getting us good results before a dodgy spell leading up to Christmas (the first of many!). Travis then got his chance alongside Smallwood at Brammall lane & has been a key player since.

35 minutes ago, Bennisfromheaven said:

It occurred to me recently that we have always had decent goalscorers at the club during the venkys era!

Rhodes, Graham, Dack, Armstrong, BBD (more recently) have all challenged at the top of the goalscoring tables without rovers making much of an impact on the league.

Our problem has been getting the rest of the team to contribute.

Now, I believe a goalscorer will be the talisman that boosts the whole team but maybe its time to sell the prized goalscorer to strengthen other areas!?!

If we sold BBD & brought in van hecke, bowler, got a decent LB & took a chance on a cut price number 9, how would that sit with people?

Yakubu also in the Venkys era! And Gestede at the same time as Rhodes. Almost an uninterrupted decade of prolific strikers and 1.5 seasons towards the top of any league to show for it!

There will be some on here who will say we might as well keep him because we won't get the money to invest. That might be true - but if we were considering this from a normal perspective then selling is an complete no brainer (assuming he won't sign a new deal). We've assembled some very good players amongst the dross over this last ten years. Our trouble is that we've managed our assets abysmally and we're almost certain to carry on treading water unless that changes. 

The challenge is finding someone to replace BB even if we have a few quid to spend, and not just his goals because unlike poachers like Rhodes, Brereton has developed an impressive all round game. 

5 hours ago, Butty said:

12 goals last season in a poor team, the guy scores goals, if he went to a Cardiff or a Huddersfield I think he’d maybe do even better. I’m surprised a club hasn’t gone in for him, even at 28 years old. Very good player. 

Must admit that surprised me. It took him ages to get going as I recall. I knew that he scored a few when they replaced their manager but I still had him down as comfortably in single figures. 

3 minutes ago, CambridgeRover said:

Im sorry but Dack hasnt been the same since the injuries. Stunk the place up on his latest return. It isn't about the player he was but the player he is.

Did he? Do we actually have any evidence at all for this? 

I'll grant you that he didn't look the sharpest on his return last year (it would be a miracle if he did) but he still scored and showed some moments of real quality when most of our attacking players couldn't hit a barn door. 

Just now, Wheelton Blue said:

Regarding Dack. Time will tell whether he has the athleticism and can regain his form and fitness to fit into JDT's preferred style of play.

Every sucessful squad and manager are adaptable though; they have many ways of playing and ways to win games.

Dack will undoubtably get his chance at some point. On his day, he's a class act and our best player. He's a proven match winner.

To write him off at this stage, because he supposedly doesn't fill JDT's style, is premature IMO.

Definitely premature.

There are obvious question marks, but while there is still uncertainty about i) How extreme JDT will lean into basing our game on high pressing for 90 minutes, and ii) Dack's fitness and mobility once he gets more games under his belt, then it's impossible to know how well he can cope with playing in our new system. 

4 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I agree with this he wasn't the quickest but he was always full of energy and worked hard. Also for a guy who was theoretically an AM his back to goal hold up and link up game is as good as any decent striker. Very strong.

But two ACLs means he isn't going to be running around. Just the way it is. Not his fault, not our fault.

Sammie coming in does indicate Dack is going to be a cameo player.

Doubt he's going anywhere though as not one will pay him the same wage as we are atm.

The highlighted bit is the thing that remains to be seen for me. If Sammie doesn't cut the mustard and we have a player of Dack's quality on the bench, it'll take a strong manger to stick to his guns (which, to be fair, he still might do). Equally, if Dack does 90 mins in the league cup, puts a shift in and shows what he can do, then that might be the start of JDT becoming more confident that Dack has something to offer in this system.

100% agree with the rest of your post, and Dack will obviously have to prove that he is still physically capable of playing at this level, which also remains to be seen. 

As an aside, whilst it was clear to see from Saturday that pressing as a team is something that JDT wants us to do, I don't think it looked streets away from how we've pressed (at times) under Mowbray. Maybe it'll get more intense as time goes on, but we've definitely seen teams that commit to pressing more than we appeared to. A pre-injury Dack could've played in that team without any issue whatsoever, although I accept that might not be the case for post-injury Dack!

16 minutes ago, 47er said:

Is it a witch hunt? Nobody on here picks the team and we all would be delighted if/when he returned to his best form surely?

Its been 2 long years without much from him so people are naturally doubtful.

Must be very frustrating for him and I suppose that's going to show from time to time. 

 

Yeah, I think this is fair enough. I do think some of the comments are in danger of forgetting the sort of player he was prior to his injury. He was never lazy in a million years for instance, quite the opposite actually. You couldn't miss his enthusiasm for the game and he'd often end up trying to chase down defenders when he didn't have much hope of catching them. He was never the most athletic I suppose, but it wasn't as much of a weakness as all that. 

Hopefully it's just a case of him having to be a bit more patient than he would ideally like. He'll certainly get chances to show what he can do with our squad being as it is.

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I think 3 central midfielders for 2 positions over 46 games is leaving us very short.

It certainly means that we'll be asking Garrett and Wharton to play non-trivial amounts of football. 

If we rate them enough then you can't get in their way too much, but I'd be more comfortable with one more senior player there. 

As much as we always beat QPR at home, we always lose away at Swansea. Even last year when we had about three gilt-edged chances, we somehow managed to lose. Can see that continuing at the weekend, sadly. Think they'll have a much better season this time than they did last year. 

I'd stick with the same team, I think. The only possible change I'd make is bringing in Dolan for either Vale or Gallagher for his pressing. 

3 minutes ago, RoverRB said:

No that’s complete waffle. Brittain gets up the line and bowler likes to cut in.

Fair enough. I know that Bowler scored  few last year, but I wasn't really sure what sort of player he was bar being an attacking midfield type

Saw that one of Nixon's denials was predicated on Brittain and Bowler not being suited to being in the same team.

I know that doesn't prove anything, but is there perhaps a point there? Is Bowler a proper chalk-on-his-boots winger? And if so is it likely we'll be playing that sort of player alongside a wing back like Brittain?

8 minutes ago, Tom said:

The fact that Butterworth is absent from the squad numbers shows he is off any day now 

Unlucky with injuries, and there is talent there, but if he's behind Vale (admittedly two very different players) at his age then his time is up.

Hope he makes of a success of things and we have the sense to put in a sell on % for one of our players for a change. 

6 minutes ago, Theaxe15 said:

Can’t see a correlation there I’m afraid, if it was a one in one out policy half of this message board wouldn’t be having panic attacks at our lack of business

You're probably right, but then again we're now left with only three senior centre backs, one of them is Carter and another can't be trusted to stay fit.

I know we have Phillips too, but it does leave us particularly short. I wonder if it's because we're close to bringing one in.

5 minutes ago, EgyptianPete said:

Sorry but i disagree, Rothwell did FA 2nd half of season might as well not played, Nyambe groin injury how many times?? Lenihan was okay no dispute there, but to say we are lacking in quality because those three left is an injustice to those that remain. Oh and Mowbray's master plans helped didn't they --NOT

I think the loss of Lenihan at the moment is looking massive, especially seeing as we don't have Van Hecke either. Agree that Nyambe isn't as big a loss.

I wouldn't say that I'm terrified because we can beat QPR with this squad and I expect more decent incomings over the coming weeks. If I'm wrong though, then I think we all should be concerned because we would be left on a big downgrade from last year. 

26 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

For those saying there is plenty of time, remember what happened under Coyle and (in effect) throwing away those first 5 games. The squad wasn't strengthened to the end of the window, we lost 4 or 5 and that was the difference maker. 

Sure there were plenty of opportunities to rectify it all the way through the season but what's done cannot be undone. I'd have thought after that not too distant debacle we wouldn't be so blase about getting signings in in decent time. 

Of course not all business would be done till the end of the window and of course it's vital to get the right people in rather than any old duffer. But we have also learnt under Venkys someone is better than no one and there are 4 first 11 places that needed filling plus squad players plus arguably Armstrong and Elliott.

That we have only done one of these so far before the start of the season is pretty alarming. Added to which this is on top of any other business that may need to be done. If Bereton goes that's another striker needed. And we don't do deals quickly - goodness there's only so much time in the day under the most competent of outfits - so leaving it all to the last minute seems dangerous in the extreme. 

There's two ways of looking at that though. Yes, those losses were very important in us eventually going down. But the bigger problem was that the squad was poor over the whole season (until Mowbray took over at least) and a lot of that was due as much to the signings that were in early as much as missing those who were in later on. 

Put it this way, what did more harm? Not signing Emnes, Gally etc. a couple of games early, or going into the season expecting the likes of Stokes, Greer, Byrne and Samuelsen to be first teamers?

Sounds like an obvious point, but we can afford to wait if it's what is needed to get the right players in. 

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

This league is a grinder. You’ve got to be able to fight for the right to play your football. That’s been our failing over the years. Too much prospective son in law material and not enough JoeyBarton/Robbie Savage/David Speedie type bastards.

Maybe Kompany knows that and is getting rid of the players who don’t fancy the battle.

Completely agree - but an issue for them is that they're losing some of their harder players too. THB and the other young lad from City might be made of the right stuff, but they won't replace what they had with Mee and Tarkowski. 

They could easily end up having a strong season, but at this point it's incredibly tough to judge. 

3 minutes ago, longsiders1882 said:

I’m assuming on Roberts just based on us signing another right back - could be they’ll play right side in tandem as both are attacking full backs.

The figure for McNeill is around 10 million plus add ons. After his last 2 seasons probably as good as we could do post relegation. I think there is a player in there but I’m not sure we will ever see it. Everton fans will be far less forgiving of him turning circles to avoid using his right.

Cornet also sounds like will be done in next couple of weeks - he’ll be a miss but both were expected to go. If we bring in a new striker and replacements (after Manuel Benson from Antwerp apparently) we couldn’t really hope for much more.

Obviously this is caveated that the replacements for them need to be up to scratch, but personally I think it's good thing for you that they're sold. McNeil will have much more quality than most at this level, but it's no good in his position if he doesn't regularly score and/or set up goals, which given his recent record would be a fair risk. Obviously no such issue with Cornet, but you'd worry about his hunger and physical capacity for such a tough league.

1 minute ago, Ghost7 said:

I think the point is very simple and it is that we would have a better chance of getting points if a few more quality signings had been made before the opening fixture(s) and we might live to regret that come the end of the season. It's hard to understand why we aren't all united in disappointment on that front. We haven't really done anything in the transfer window so far to influence a good start to the season, I'd like to see anyone argue that (although there probably is someone!) 😂

Without putting words in anyone's mouth - I think we probably all are to an extent. The disagreement comes with how urgent that it is to have players through the door before the first game vs being patient to get the right players, potentially at a lower cost.

I would've definitely hoped that we would've had at least one or two more in by now, but at least the biggest issue with our starting line up (right back) is the one that's been sorted. I'd like to think that it's only one or two games before we get more reinforcements in though, and it's definitely going to be a long old season if we don't get at least three or four more in. 

4 minutes ago, longsiders1882 said:

Hearing it’s all but done. Also hearing we’ve signed a Brazilian right back which must suggest Roberts is on his way - or Lowton.

Assuming that it's a decent 8 figure fee, I suspect you might've got the better end of the deal with that one. Surprised that Roberts is going - I had thought that he would've been one of the ones more likely to stay.

3 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Based on premise you need 2 players competing for each position and the bids that have gone in:-

GK - ok

RB - ok

CB - need at least one.

LB - ok (probs not a priority but an upgrade needed at some point unless Pickering/Edun improve dramatically under JDT)

CM - need at least one (Morton?)

AMR - ok

AML - need at least one if BBD goes (Berget?).

AMC - need one to compete with Dack (Szmodics?)

Striker - Are Vale and SG enough if BBD leaves? 

Undoubtedly not. I'm hoping that our midfield across the board will be chipping in with more goals than they did last year, but the loss of goal threat if Brereton goes is immense. Would certainly need a replacement. 

1 minute ago, HedgesAdmirer said:

For me he’s not a modern full back, he’s just a centre half who can run 

I actually think that's right - I'd have been happiest to keep him on the right side of a back three - but I don't think there's anything to be gained by making out that he's not very good at the defensive side of his game. 

1 minute ago, HedgesAdmirer said:

Nyambe’s defensive capabilities were limited past 1 on 1 defending, awareness and positioning was poor 

Not sure I would agree with that on last season's showing. I've said quite a lot that he's replaceable because of how poor his attacking output is, but defensively I don't think there was much to criticise last year. 

Looks like the McNeill debate might be academic, as he's supposedly in talks with Everton. 

9 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

"Oven-ready." 🤮 

We need 4 players if we're to kick on - we've signed one. Apparently we have a highly thought of CM coming in on loan. 

Bring me Styles and a CF and I'm happy. I'm delerious if you bring in a quality CB too.

 

I think a first choice centre half is still an absolute must to be honest - arguably as important as another midfielder which is also essential. As much as I'm happy to have Carter getting games this year, he's not proven at this level and Ayala is made of glass. Wharton is the only proven player who you'd expect to play most games in a league season. Add in that JDT might favour a back three at times, maybe one won't even be enough.