4 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

If we've got Barnes, Phillips and Carter I don't think we need a permanent signing at CB unless it's a worldie.

A loanee to supplement what we've got while we see whether Carter and Phillips especially can cut it at this level seems very sensible to me.

 

I basically agree, although Barnes is an extremely unknown quantity even for next season after his injury. 

The one caveat is that we will need another option if JDT wants to play 3 at the back for any length of time. We can assume that Ayala's going to be missing at one point or another, which means that we can only play that way with either Carter or Phillips coming in. That's fine, but it also means that we have the other unproven youngster as the only back up for three positions. 

If the idea is that we stick to a back four though, I agree that VDB along with what we have is enough for this season. 

Just now, JacknOry said:

Just hope he is coming in as understudy for Ayala and not to displace Wharton. Ayala will have his Xmas holidays booked soon enough. 

Wharton's the only left footed one, so that counts in his favour. 

Also, to be honest, he's developing into a class footballer. I can't see him dropping out of the team under any circumstances now bar injury or a unforeseen drop in form. 

Just now, Tugayisgod said:

Nicko saying Rovers now head of queue for Van den Berg

Covers right back too, so would be a top signing. 

3 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

That's because the squad was knackered and battered from progressing well in 3 cup competitions. We didn't really have the squad for it but it was a heroic effort from them to do so. 

Just looked up the game, apparently it was the first time a British team kept a clean sheet at their new stadium. Not a bad effort.

At one point we had Samba, Nelsen, Zurab, Todd and the Axe all on the same pitch! Not straightforward to break that team down. Todd was only brought on in stoppage time and still picked up a booking! Miss that team. 

As impressive as Dack and the young lads were yesterday, the XI shouldn't change from a 3-0 away win.

This will be a big test. WBA have recruited Swift and Jed Wallace in the summer, who are both incredibly productive players at this level. Having said that, they're missing their main striker, Daryl Dike, who hasn't been able to get going since his move. Any first teamer who plays in the cup tonight will have played twice since we played Swansea too, so there's a chance that one or two won't be at their sharpest. 

I think we'll get something from the game, but I've a feeling it'll be a score draw rather than a win. 

23 hours ago, danger19_80 said:

Luděk Mikloško: underrated Rovers hero

And had one of the best chants going.

"His name is Ludo Miklosko, he comes from near Moscow..."

Mikloško of course came from the Czech Republic, and was born closer to Upton Park than Moscow.

9 minutes ago, TheKitGuy said:

Are you shocked by that at all? 

Not now, but it was a real disappointment at the time. Treacy was getting big plaudits in the youth team (the new Duff!?) and Sparky seemed to do no wrong in picking up quality strikers for next to nothing, so there were some hope that Rigters would be the next in line. 

15 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Nearest we've got to a humiliation like that since is probably an FA Cup match under Hughesy where we (PL) lost 4-1 to Coventry City (Champ) courtesy of the Maltese Miniscule Machine Michael Mifsud.

We've had a poor run against Cov over the years, but that sticks out as such an awful game. Treacy and Rigters in particular were absolutely appalling.  

4 minutes ago, benhben said:

Interesting to see how Markanday gets on. Not really had chance to see him so far. If he turns out to be decent our forward options other than a proper CF dont look too bad. 

Along with Dack, this is the main think I'm looking out for tonight. I don't think Tomasson had much of an option but to leave him out of the squad vs Swansea, but I'd really like him to kick start his career here seeing as he didn't get the chance last season.

If he looks like he has something to offer, all of a sudden we seem to have a really decent amount of depth at that area of the pitch.

11 hours ago, Dan said:

Seems the total football didn’t work out for them tonight either. 
 

I always remember battling to a draw in the FA Cup away against Arsenal, that little gobshite Fabregas questioning Mark Hughes’ football “didn’t you play for for Barcelona? That wasn’t Barcelona football”. Sparky, replied with “I don’t have Barcelona players”. We beat them in the replay 🙂 

We came as close as it comes to beating them at their place too! Towards the end of the game, either Dunn or Derbyshire, I forget which, hit the bar with a long rage speculator.

Probably only fair to mention the two miracle saves that Friedel made before then though! Pretty sure we were playing Bruno Berner as a left winger that day, so fair to say we were happy enough with the 0-0.

Plenty of Championship clubs out already to lower league clubs. In fact the only ones who have made it through so far have done so by knocking out other second-tier sides. 

This will be a big banana skin with all the changes that we'll be making. Hopefully the incoming Dack, Markanday, Dolan and Vale will be hungry to take their chance and that will see us through.

0-2 Rovers. 

15 minutes ago, BRFC4EVA said:

TM used to frustrate the hell out of me in these legue cup games as he would somehow contrive to get the worst of both worlds. He wouldn't play many youngsters, yet would manage to get us knocked out QST round every year. 

Whilst it is not a priority, I'd like us to go 3 or 4 rounds as it is an opportunity for the youngsters to play men's football and give fringe players an opportunity to show what they can do.

Agree with most of the XIs that give Edun, Phillips, JRC, dack, Morton, Garret, A Wharton, Dolan, DM and Vale some minutes. Would also like to see Butterworth too.

FA cup too. Wigan away last year was most of the same team that beat Bournemouth a couple of weeks earlier.

1 minute ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Pears should never play for us again.

I had to listen to the SKY commentator introduce a Wigan substitute as "You may remember the great goal he scored against Blackburn last season in the FA Cup" the other day.

After throwing two into the back of his own net, Pears was so out of position for that strike that I could have scored it. 

Up there with the worst keeper's performance I've ever seen from a Rovers player. Woeful.

If we're not willing to play him in a game like this though, we might as well not have him at all though. It doesn't look like we're after another one, so I think he'll probably play. At least it can't be as bad as last time!

Butterworth's been extremely unlucky with the timing and severity of his injures. Even so, he's turning 23 in September and is yet to do anything beyond a couple of promising cameos (and an equal number of pretty poor ones).

If he's behind Vale now, I think his time is up. As with Davenport, I hope he has far more luck at his next club, because there is some talent there that can be nurtured. 

4 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Now the FA Cup is a different story, last time we made it past the third round was 2016-17, and the last time we won a game in that competition was December 2017 in the second round against Crewe.

Pretty abysmal that - especially because we had so many good moments in the cup under Bowyer. 

Just now, rigger said:

Last chance saloon for JRC, maybe.

I'd like to see him get a few chances as an attacking midfielder. That's meant to be his proper position, and it doesn't seem as though his body will ever let him play as a wingback/attacking fullback which is more physically demanding. 

Well down the pecking order at present, obviously, but with a few injuries and with five subs being brought it, he'll get his chance at some stage. 

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I would have thought he’ll play from the start against Hartlepools. Maybe JDT will use the game as a way of finding a way of playing that incorporates Dack. Maybe JDT will really take cup games seriously. We’ll find out soon enough.

I'm not usually one for advocating massive changes in cup games, but I'd be more than happy with us freshening things up as much as we can with our squad, if only to give a few players the chance to show what they can do. Ideally starts for Dack, Vale, Markanday, Morton and Edun at the very least. Good cases for a few others too.

It's far too early in the season to be thinking about having more in the tank than the opposition, but West Brom play against Sheffield United on the Thursday, as well as tonight in the league. They'll probably make a few changes in the cup, but there will also be a few who will play twice before we face them this Sunday. Three games in six days for some of them vs a whole week to prepare for the lads that we rest against Hartlepool. Might give us a slight additional edge, even at this time of year. 

Just now, Trinidad Rover said:

All quite exciting isn’t it.

JDT is now on record saying we will bring more players in and the key point, we will be ‘stronger’. None of us seem to have a clue which players that will be. Enjoy the ride!

I can’t see BBD leaving now. Venkys are stubborn and money seems to be no object so him leaving for free seems the most likely outcome.

A big question mark for me is what JDT does with Dack. Concern if he isn’t in his plans he is a big character in the dressing room and could start a rot. He seems a bit stuck in the L1 days where he was a big fish in a Danny Graham and Charlie Mulgrew sized pond. There is no doubting his ability and would love him to take on thsu challenge and step up - over to you Brad.

We'll see. You could be right, but I can see a scenario where someone gets desperate close to the deadline. I'd like to think that we'll have enough about us with Broughton to anticipate this and be ready to bring in his replacement quickly if such a situation arises. 

13 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I would think that Armstrong is perhaps one of the least popular players in a Rovers shirt in recent years considering his personal performances on the pitch.

Unsure if maybe the fact that much of his goalscoring came when it was behind closed doors, and also if because we tend to (by luck or by judgement) tend to regularly have goalscorers, even Rhodes, Graham, Dack and now Brereton that the crazy goal tally that he scored is somewhat underappreciated.

Not overly surprised that like Rhodes he was unable to make the step up, it is a huge step that most Championship players suffer with.

Think you've hit the nail on the head there - he was pretty popular player before the lockdown and the start of his really prolific form, so I think he would've got plenty of adulation from fans had they actually been there to show it. 

Pleased to hear that Edun had a decent cameo. Didn't really impress much at all last year, especially after his injury, so hopefully it was just a case of acclimatising to a new league. 

23 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Correct decision making at speed under pressure is what separates the average players from the top class ones. Khadra’s decision making wasn’t that of a top player. He got more wrong than he got right.

I remember watching New Zealand v Australia at Rugby League. Australia were losing by about 2 points with 10 seconds of the game to go. They mounted an attack were  about 6 players all handled the ball. Each player had to decide when and where to pass, which player to pass to. Pass inside or pass outside etc. This was all done at amazing speed and every player in the move got the critical decisions right. If any one of those players had made a mistake the move would have broken down. Result - a match winning try in the corner.

Completely agree. Wigan scored in in the last second to beat St Helens in a classic Good Friday game a while back in similar fashion. Separates the best from the also rans.

Back to football - there are however decent careers to be made from power and pace, even if they're missing the key bit between the ears. Josh King looked even worse for a spell when he was here, but getting slightly more clinical alongside being a physical freak took him a long way. Khadra's so quick that he might do the same. 

41 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Sound familiar? 😉

Ha! I did think that whilst typing to be fair.

Although I think the number of games where Buckley had a positive effect was bigger than Khadra's, and his errors/anonymous games didn't tend to be as bad.

An interesting question might be how would we feel if Buckley was a prem youngster we got on loan, like Khadra was. How would we rate his contribution? I think the consensus would be that he needs to get greater consistency, but was probably on his way to an impressive top-flight career at some stage. Khadra, the jury is still out. Some fantastic elements to his game, but as @Tyrone Shoelaces has said, his flaws are harder to iron out than Buckley's. 

Just now, BigBar said:

Gally gets panned on here and I'm on the fence, Buckley had a similar season to him. Add Khadra, Pickering, Dolan into that and a few other also rans.

Think this will just come down to a difference of opinion. Gally had a better season by his standards, but for me was below Buckley. The others you mention even more so - Khadra had a small number of great games, but overall had long spells not contributing or making silly decisions in the final third. 

I don't want to sound like he's the finished product - I think that's what makes him so exciting - and he did fade with the rest of the team after Christmas. But last year was a massive step forward for him, and I think he is one of maybe three or four players that we have that literally every team in the league would take if we offered them.

1 minute ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Leonard looked quality in his brief cameo during the pre-season. Better than Vale.

Don't we have a LB that's highly rated too?

 

That'll be Jake Batty I expect. Picked for England at his age group.

7 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Clubs circling around to take Keinan Davis on a loan. He would add unreal value to us if we could do it. Probably end up at Boro

Absolutely bullied us at Ewood. As good as Van Hecke was, he did have a small number of games where he looked like fish out of water and one of those was when he came up against Davis.