7 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

He was hopeless nearly every time the ball went up to him he was either offside or committed a foul.

I remember him being offside twice, and the second time Wharton took a long while to get the ball in the channel, the run could've been well timed. 

He'll always be an inelegant player, but hopeless is way too harsh on today's showing. 

3 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Twitter rumours circulating that Cedric Kipre is joining the club, something which Rich Sharpe didn't flat out deny either. Pinch of salt but worth mentioning.

Don't for a second think that he'll end up here, but seems a bit strange that West Ham haven't just gone out and signed him if they were genuinely interested. The supposed £1.5 million might be pricing us out of the chase (let's see) but surely that must be small beer for an established top flight team, Covid or no. 

Just now, dallydally said:

Flattering result

Maybe, but there was a missed pen in there and we got into a couple of other good positions that we could've made more from. 

Only a friendly etc. but I'm reasonably encouraged with that.

1 minute ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Why did Doan leave PNE?

They've no U23s, I think. So they either go straight into the first team, or let them go. Think I've read that they were offering him a new deal but covid got in the way.

4-1 Brennan

Dolan looks sharp, nice feet but getting a bit excited when he gets into decent positions. 

Can definitely see why we've taken a punt on him.

1 minute ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Armstrong to score inside 10 min 

Decent shout!

Not sure that Dolan would have expected his first two touches in Rovers colours to go as well.

Chapman looks the best player on the park by a mile, really encouraging.

Other than the poor penalty, I think BB has put in a decent showing. Ungainly, but much more of a handful than we ever saw pre-lockdown. Davenport showed some nice touches too.

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Bell looks ok 

His crossing hasn't improved much though!

Chapman equalises

Think that tackle on Buckley is given as a pen in a competitive game. Pretty lively for a friendly so far.

6 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

He would be a good investment for Bournemouth.   They are cashing in at rhe moment, £8-10m will probably get him. Could be worth £40m like Ake in 3 years

Think that would be a move that would suit all parties. As much as he impressed last year, he wasn't at the level that a lower ranking premier league club would risk him as a starter just yet. 

32 minutes ago, USABlue said:

Any word on where this lad's immediate future lies?

Saw that he's going into the last year of his contract, so I expect that he'll either being getting sold (ruling us out) or singing a new deal before he goes on loan. 

27 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Sometimes it’s a relief that we have no marketing team...

https://twitter.com/jamesqpr05/status/1296768981362245632?s=21

Our chicken advert was less embarrassing than that 

3 hours ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Quality goal from Schmidt here. Dack-esque. And for an added bonus the german striker Hofman we've been linked with scores the goal after it. 

 

Hoffman goal certainly makes me feel better after seeing his Kanu-esque miss!

Four Four Two agree that we've got a tough start!

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/championship-fixtures-released-efl-first-10-games-toughest-hardest-easiest-opening-matches

2 minutes ago, Jlee1984 said:

Has anyone watched the clip on dacks return to training? There is a player involved who I dont recognise, can anyone put a name to him

Young lad from PNE?

Just now, Mercer said:

Never heard of the lad never mind seen him play.

I'll reserve judgement - at least he has some decent experience and pedigree.

The errors are a worry - bit like a golfer or snooker player with the 'yips'.  Once these errors start, things seem to go from bad to worse and goalies can fall from grace pretty dramatically as seen with Hart and De Gea.

 

We got Robbo after a similar run, if I recall. Ended up being a good investment for us, but it took him a while to get the errors out of his game (the contrast with 8 years of Brad probably didn't help him either).

Sometimes a change of scene can make all the difference though. Gomes at Spurs looked like he'd never kept goal in his life - goes to Watford and he turns into a different player.

It was uncannily like the Enckelman error in fairness. Also makes you think how much a good singing Peter Enckelmen would be in our current situation!

14 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Simply put, the data shows that this is an incredible deal if Sharpe is right with a 6-figure offer. If this comes off I'd be mightily impressed. 10 Europa League games for Kaminski last year, as well as incredibly better stats than Christian Walton. His save percentage would put him in the top five keepers in our division, his passing is much better amongst other stats.

He's 6ft 3" tall, 27-years old.

Big caveat to this is that most of those metrics are hugely influenced by both the quality of the league and that Gent were one of the top dogs. Not a criticism though, love that you put these together!

Just now, RTM08 said:

I think the reason people are seeing them as so tough is because we've made absolutely no effort to qualm people's fears that we're barely going to have a squad come the Bournemouth game.Hopefully a couple of signings before the end of the month in key areas will help change that perspective, though there seems to be no urgency on any level in the club at the moment.

Think that's right, the little whisperings of information we get, whilst appreciated aren't helping with calming the nerves either.

I think we've got about 70% of a very decent team at this level, it just so happens that the 30% we don't have leave holes that are so big that they undermine everything else. As @Wing Wizard Windy Miller puts it, Cunningham, Westwood & a decent centre half and the perspective completely changes. 

On the Westwood link (if that's was ever real) there's a lot of talk about compromise on wages scuppering it. Might be true, but perhaps length of contract is going to be an important factor. Clearly he's not going to get anything like the same terms once his contract expires in 12 months, but 2 years at Rovers on a decent wedge (albeit much lower than the 30k he's on) could make a deal much more attractive. 

Just now, oldjamfan1 said:

I'd rather play a relegated team first than a promoted one. I think the Wycombe home game is trickier than the Bournemouth away one tbh. It will take them some time to adjust to the championship, whereas Wycombe will be well organised and up for it. 

Not aimed at you Admiral but there's a lot of doom and gloom around this morning. 

It can go both ways with relegated teams, to be sure. I think I'm thinking back to when we were relegated in 2012, we were picking up good results at the start through teams giving us a bit too much respect & some moments of quality from the players who were up to it; MGP, Rhodes, Gomes etc. Obviously in a couple of months other teams had us sussed & we'd reverted to type!

Strange being so gloomy seeing as I think I'd normally be seen a bit happy-clapperish,  but I'm a bit taken aback by how many fixtures I'm looking at and thinking they're really tough ones on paper. Hopefully nothing that a brew, goalkeeper and centre half won't solve!

8 minutes ago, Craigman said:

Thomas Kaminski on his way for medical on Monday. Gent goalkeeper

 

https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20200821_93393486?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=dlvr&utm_campaign=twitterfeed

Not sure why we're waiting until Monday if it's reached the point where he's having a medical, but I suppose I shouldn't complain if we're signing an actual grown up goalkeeper. 

Hate playing recently relegated/promoted teams that early. Tricky couple of months to navigate before the fixtures get more normal.