1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

After seeing Lowe and Evans stroll around our midfield for what seemed like decades, this guy was a breath of fresh air in our league one campaign, finally someone flying into tackles and showing a bit of urgency in midfield.

Special mention for that winner at Fleetwood and that performance in goal at the hawthorns.

He isn't quite upto it at this level, and should have gone 12 months ago in my opinion to play some football, but his contribution to the league one promotion shouldn't be overlooked.

Don't really need to add anything to this, other than in the summer before he signed it was quite difficult to even like most of our players. Smallwood was one of the main figures in changing that in the L1 season.

The ceiling of his ability is towards the lower half of this division, so right for all parties that he goes, but's right to recognise his role in letting us enjoy going to the football again.

4 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

I had a soft spot for Samuel I have to say. Looked a tidy enough player in his first couple of games for us, although it was in a different league. I can't say I will miss him as a player for Rovers but I am bit sorry he never cut the mustard here. 

Whilst Samuel isn't good enough and it's the right call to let him go, he can still count himself as very unlucky that injury took away his chance to prove that he could do it in this league, the way that the rest of the L1 team did. 

There were glimpses in his performances this season which showed that he has something to offer, travels with the ball well and will get the odd goal. Would be a good free signing for a L1 team. 

Just now, bluebruce said:

Well this has garnered surprisingly little attention compared to DG being misallocated the term 'legend'.

The profile you linked for Harthez shortly after doesn't look massively promising, but not a player I know. 'Aerial duels' and 'tackling' listed as his weaknesses. Well those are two of the main things I want from a LB. I don't care how good he is on the overlap if we remain porous at the back. It does say he is also a LW though. Plying his trade in the second tier in Germany at 27 isn't super promising either, but doesn't mean he isnt currently good enough.

Ripley seems an upgrade on Leuts and that'll do for now.

Devils advocate on the German lad, it might just be a style of play thing, without necessarily meaning he's weak defensively. You could look at a player like Leighton Baines and arguably describe him in a pretty similar way, but you wouldn't say that he was overly suspect defensively either. 

Equally, he might just be no good.

We were linked with Graham for some time before we actually got him. I suspected he was going to be a big downgrade on Rhodes who would wouldn't nearly be worth the wages we were supposedly shelling out for him. Couldn't have been more wrong, made a massive contribution in his time here, unlucky not to have been given the opportunity to contribute even more.

Comfortably Lambert's best decision in his time here. For the right team, he could still be a shrewd signing for this level. 

36 minutes ago, tomphil said:

When you look back just a few years to Bowyers time the legendary 'right good go' was born out of many frantic last ten mins at home with Marshall moved across to the left.  Rescued quite a few games like that and least gave the crowd a few mins entertainment after the usually tedious previous 80.

Chapman doing a cameo coming on the right if Armstrong is on and cutting inside could have a similar effect maybe. Anything to try and create a few chances or win a penalty or something. 

Funnily enough, I think Bowyer's time is a perfect microcosm of the benefits and drawbacks of playing with out and out wingers.

Our best spell by far was when we had King and Conway on both wings, with Rhodes and Gestede up front. We looked so dangerous that way and both strikers scored a bag-full of goals, but I'm not sure we ever really controlled a game, even with the likes of Cairney in the middle. I think with hindsight you can make a good argument that Bowyer sticking to his system of something which looked like two wingers (apart from when Cairney was cutting in) as a part of 442 was one of the main reasons why we didn't get the most out of that squad, even if it meant the front two were prolific. 

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

Secondly, we might have had half a dozen or so Academy / Development players on 'the grass' at some point over the last couple of games but like you, I would question if they really are good enough.  Most of them are 20 going on 21 and I think a couple or so are even older.  You look back over the years and the 'big players' broke through in their teens  Butch Wilkins captained Chelsea at 17, Rooney, Mbappe, Alexander-Arnold, Declan Rice  and more recently Reece James at Chelsea.  And before anyone throws their toys out of their pram, let me make it clear, ability is relative to the level you are at.   I do not think for one moment our younger players should be playing in Champions League or World cup Finals but at their age, if they were good enough, they should have battered down the first team door and become regulars at Championship Level. I think Alexander-Arnold and Rice have already clocked up 100 first team appearances or so at just 21 years of age. 

Lenihan is no longer a youngster and at 26, I think he's found his level. 

Travis is a decent Championship player at the moment with room to go but the lad is almost 23 and still nowhere near 100 appearances,

Nyambe is 22 and as far as I'm concerned, his development is being held back by Mowbray's mismanagement. 

Rankin-Costello I think has just turned 21 and his first team appearances are still in single figures - could become a decent Championship player but no more, IMO.

Carter 20 is no Phil Jones and doesn't look good enough to be a first team regular

Buckley 20 is, IMO, as you say, ineffective and too weak

Have seen the rest of our younger at their respective levels and, IMO, there is only one who really excites me and who looks like he may have some star quality and that's Jack Vale.  

Like I've posted before, our Academy is NOT producing the 'big players' for us - the David Dunns, Damien Duffs and the Phil Jones's.  I think the rest, in the main, are much of a muchness ability wise - average.  IMO, it needs looking at. 

Plenty of players there, so I'm not going to argue that all of the young lads who are getting time are necessarily going to cut the mustard. Balance of probability at least a couple wont. 

Even so, players develop at different rates and I wouldn't be overly concerned about players not having bags of appearances at 20/21. Paul Scholes was only in and out of the team at 20/21, and only became a key player a number of years later. Others obviously make their mark earlier, but loads of good players only begin to mature in their early 20s.

I think it would be a problem, for example if Travis would not be in the team when he turns 23, but instead he's arguably our best player at 22. Lenihan too, even if he isn't going to improve much more is clearly amongst our best and most valuable players. Maybe that in itself is a problem! But should we make those available for other clubs there wouldn't be a shortage of suitors at the top end of the division, in the case of Travis possibly even the bottom end of the Prem.

13 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

You mean keeping them out the team?

Fair, but I think it's looking pretty likely that a long list of players at the start of their career are going to be asked to play significant roles for us next year, not all of them in Downing's position. There'll be times when they'll need the experienced heads with them, especially when we're losing others from the squad, and some of the others aren't going to be worth their place in the team.

Just now, Tugay-is-God said:

Downing not even on the bench.

Is that a signal that he's off then?

Probably, but I really hope not. Even if we're reducing the budget next season, Downing's wages might be well spent for his effect on the youngsters. 

Just now, pick32 said:

Downing’s birthday probably just have him night of with nothing to play for 

I can't decide if that sounds like the sort of thing which TM would do or not. Anyway, I hope you're right!

8 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

He captained England Under 21's you know.....

Just goes to show that the model here has always been to try and sell off the youngsters after adding value to them....Problem with Lowe is that he could never increase in value. I guess it all started with Phil Jones, they thought, 'wow, this is a moneymaker, who else we got coming through'. Thats why we had the likes of Hanley, Henley and Lowe pushed into the team before they were anywhere near ready...a big reason why we went down. 

 

 

I don't disagree, but you could argue that Henley had his best spell when he first found himself in the team! Certainly after Liverpool away, I thought he would end up being a brilliant player. Sadly the contract he was given off the back of those few weeks (I was told about 12k a week, not sure on the truth of it) ended up being a problem for us and the lad further down the line, but he was worth his place in the side after the club binned off the senior right-backs. 

Can't argue with that, really kicked on this season. Hope he can still be at least as productive next year with a fully fit Dack. Having the two of them on top form really does give another dimension to our attack. 

Just now, rigger said:

I am hoping it is a plan to lull defenders into a false sense of security. The way Tugay used to look like an old tramp. The opposition expect what they see.

Sure it will have been mentioned on here before, but there's a great interview with Mark Noble where he was asked about the best player he ever came up against & he waxed lyrical about Tugay.

I think he said that Scholes/Lampard/Gerrard were the best, but when he played against Rovers as a young player he took one look at Tugay and thought he could dominate this ageing 40-a-day smoker. In the end Tugay had him on a string for 45 minutes then he was dragged off at half time.

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

On the ball, Travis isnt perfect and definitely needs improvement but hes certainly competent on the ball as this shows.

 

And he passes forward too, not scared to give the ball away trying something.

21 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

I kind of hope Luton beat Rovers, Charlton get something at Leeds and Derby turn Birmingham over.

I'd like to see 'big club' relegated, I've no time for them whatsoever.

I'm looking at it in terms of who are looking like the easiest to take points from next season - hard to see any of them being in a position to really kick on to be honest, but it looks as though Birmingham will be scaling back, even after getting the big fee for Bellingham 

2 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Jason Steele - The return !  ?

Don't!

I'd rather have Walton back on an 8 year deal.

14 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Suprised the Venkys are trusting Tony with a 15 million striker deal after Brereton and Gallagher

Joking aside, will be interesting who has that sort of money to throw around at Championship level. 

The Cowleys have been sacked by Huddersfield.

Not paid enough attention to see if their sacking was justified or not, but amazing how quickly you can throw away a hard earned reputation. Sure they'll be able to get a good job in L1, but less clear that another Championship club would take a risk. 

17 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Simply looking at their similarities.

I notice you removed the most damning ones.

There are legitimate criticisms, and I accept that not everyone is going to have the same positive view of the manager as I do. 

I was pointing out that even if were to accept those similarities to be true (clearly not objective, but putting that aside) there's a world of difference between whatever degree of under-performance that we might arguably be going through presently and the unmitigated catastrophe of the Kean years. 

If I have shares in a company and they lose value, it's very easy for me to complain and apportion blame without comparing it to the Wall Street Crash. 

If yesterday is anything to go by, this could be any score in either direction. Luton won't be as open and won't let us create at will like we seemed to against Reading. Equally, they don't have the likes of Swift who will can pick out the bottom corner from 25 yards with their first shot.

I'd back both teams to score, other than that, no idea. 

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Jamie Vardy came up that way also but I suspect he's got more desire and pure will to win than Amstrong, There's no lost causes with Vardy.

A rare player and character is Vardy. He doesn't have the same backstory but you could put Ings in a similar bracket, albeit not quite as good.

I don't expect that Amra will ever get the top flight career that those have had (or certainly that Ings would have had bar injuries) but equally I don't think he's too far away from being able to score a decent number of goals at that level, albeit in the right set-up.

1 minute ago, Atko's Engine said:

 

Would've been great to see Vale hit that shot 6 inches lower to round things off.

 

Try half an inch!

That aside your post is exactly how I saw today. Can't over interpret an end-of-season dead rubber, but it was an enjoyable game nevertheless, and there were promising cameos from young players, some of whom will need to step up next year.

2 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Has improved and needed to as, IMO, looked a League One player out of his depth.

Huge step up to PL for an attacking player.  Compare him to most of the PL attacking players and, IMO, he's still miles off the mark.  IMO, not an intelligent footballer.

I was thinking similar at times early last season to be honest. Looked at his goals record for Bolton and Barnsley and heard some of their fans talk about how he might as well not be on the pitch when they played him out wide. Suspected that he might never have the intelligence, all round game (or in our case, service!) to make the most of his goal-scoring talents. Perhaps wouldn't go as far to say that he looked like a L1 player, but certainly one dimensional in a way that is chalk and cheese to his contributions of late. 

Take the point about the massive step up, but equally there are plenty of examples of forwards taking to the step up like a duck to water. I suppose a common theme is that they often have physicality which Arma doesn't, but this isn't always the case. Another year of improvement at the rate of the last 12 months, we might be having a different conversation. 

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

I forgot about Davenport as well who's been here 2 seasons but who can't get a chance either.

TM will play the youngsters if there's no other choice but he doesn't appear to trust them.

Come on now, Davenport's injury record at Rovers has been horrendous, most of those two years he was on the treatment table! 

Travis, Nyambe and Raya are all examples of players who became first team regulars in their v. early 20s under TM. Loads of others have played significant numbers of games at a similar age. Not saying there aren't legitimate gripes with his selection policy (I'd like to see more of Chapman, probably like most others on here) but I don't think the aversion to young players thing stands up at all to be honest.

23 minutes ago, Mercer said:

At 26 not sure he'll improve enough for PL.

IMO, decent Championship player - full stop.

Travis has a season to prove he COULD make the step up - though surprising how younger players 'level out'.

Armstrong, IMO, technically not good enough for PL.  Will be a very good Championship player.

You could be right about that, but I'm really surprised how his all round game has come on this year.

12 months ago I was worrying whether he was a luxury at this level, pace and a good finish but not much else. Now he's just an excellent all round attacker, capable of running at players, scoring from both feet from anywhere, setting goals up. Might need to keep up the progress to get to the top flight as a starter, but I wouldn't write him off at his age. 

1 minute ago, Commondore said:

2 new assists for Holtby, when not injured he's very high Championship quality. He needs to be involved more next season, although Dack also needs to get into that midfield, and we're already shipping too many goals. It's a bit of a puzzle, but I think Mowbray deserves the chance to keep laying it. As long as you end the season higher in the table than the season before (15th, as everyone no doubt remember) it takes something extraordinary to mark it as a failure, and the dud transfers of Brereton and Gallagher doesn't qualify for that IMO. 

Hotlby is one of several players that we have who has the ability to contribute to a successful team at this level, but to a certain extent relies on having the right players around him. Don't think he quite has the rounded game to be the main man consistently, but I can still see him having a better year next time round (and that's not to say that he hasn't had some good games this season). I feel similarly about Rothwell, although his season has obviously been more disappointing. I hope we have the budget to keep Downing, as having creative midfield options of a fully fit Dack, Holtby, Downing, Rothwell all competing for shirts with Buckley, JRC and hopefully Chapman, it will mean that this is the one area of the park where we won't need to worry about recruitment!