riverholmes

To be fair, Van Dijk is now 34. In yesteryear, that would be approaching retirement age. My guess is that Robertson is the huge miss, amongst others. From the outside, he seemed to be a leader in the backline.

I defer to your knowledge on this but I recall Tyjon leading the line last season when others were on loan/injured. Perhaps, it was much less than I vaguely recall. At some point, Boggan, Wood, Leonard etc. were all unavailable. For a teenager lacking real pace or physical strength or great wingers to feed, albeit, he is very talented, it made no sense. To my mind, he was overplayed.

Looks like Tyjon was helping knit play as a left forward in the match, or at least as a second forward. Madness to think Rovers U21s had him playing as a lone striker for a whole season. Wholly unsuited for it.

Said it before, but really think Garrett should be given a go at LB, as he was sometimes in his youth career. Another thing, Khan has been criticised but there's a few U21 players that could be questioned. For example, how many goals have the forwards scored... Someone like Stritch plays pretty much every game but rarely gets an assist, let alone a goal. It is harsh to pick on him alone but the overall standard seems poor, which is especially worrying as more youth players get promoted to try to save the sinking ship. The biggest criticism, of course, for the management and ownership who have left the squad weak and threadbare.

No debates on Duff here! Except, maybe, regarding injuries towards the end of his career. Had we held on to Hakan Unsal, the Turkey left back, he may well have gone on to be one of our best left backs. Worthy mentions for Andre Ooijer and Eyal Berkovic. The striker, Kalinic is an odd one, scored goals in Serie A but flopped here. Not necessarily the worst but players that disappointed: David Yelldell Deyovaisio Zeefuik Lorenzo Amoruso Amine Linganzi Barry Douglas Martin Andresen Oumar Kounde Radosan Petrovic Corrado Grabbi Egil Ostenstad Maceo Rigters

Premier League top scorers now (albeit mid-season) v. around turn of the century: 1. Erling Haaland 2. Igor Thiago 3. Antoine Semenyo 4. Dominic Calvert-Lewin 5. Bruno Guimaraes 6. Hugo Ekitike 7. Danny Welbeck 8. Jean-Philippe Mateta 9. Harry Wilson 10. Morgan Rogers 2001/02 1. Thierry Henry 2. Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink 3. Alan Shearer 4. Ruud Van Nistelrooy 5. Michael Owen 6. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer 7. Robbie Fowler 8. Eidur Gudjohnsen 9. Marian Pahars 10. Andy Cole Some major qualifications are needed for comparisons of this type - most importantly, we have the benefit of viewing the old era playing careers in entirety and the sample size of one season only - in another season Mo Salah and Alexander Isak would've been up there for the contemporaries. Moreover, for every Henry in those days, there was a Darren Peacock, Richard Dunne or Nigel Quashie. I do believe the overall technical standard is superior these days. Teams tend to play one striker these days, so inevitably, you'll have fewer No.9's on the modern list. All that said, clearly there has been some decline in the standard of forward. The same could be said at the second tier. Again, 2001/2002 1. Shaun Goater 2. Clinton Morrison 3. Dougie Freedman 4. Darren Huckerby 5. Stern John 6. Dean Sturridge 7. David Connolly 8. Peter Crouch 9. Steve Claridge 10. Marlon King. With all the qualifications borne in mind and despite the change in football styles today, I still can't quite explain what seems like a significant decline for the Premier League. For the Championship it is might be partly explained by the fact that more British players are moving abroad and five subs and an even bigger financial gap might be keeping more players on the fringes of Prem teams rather than dropping down.

I'm always doubtful about Guardiola teams these days. He seems to want to be the centre of attention and when a player starts to take the headlines, somehow, I get the impression he tries to defuse them in favour of a collective approach. That said, there's no doubt that Haaland, De Bruyne and Foden have been exceptional as individuals at times. However, for example, I look at the Haaland in Germany who was full of attitude and a monstrous figure charging with the ball, is now all but a goal poacher. Foden was a title-charging wizard and then fizzled out to seeming like a lost kid (reviving form now). Then there's the defence that gets shifted around and the side now have no outstanding centre back, with Ruben Dias falling off form. To some extent, I think Wenger followed a similar path, where in his latter years seemed reluctant to allow his players to outshine him.

Not convinced by this. Some useful defenders, it seems, and players like Edmondson and Dunn are hopes, but the overall performances and results of the U21s suggests that we can't be overly reliant on the reserves. Quite often they have struggled against non-league teams. However, it increasingly looks like we will be turning to them.

For reasons I can't quite fathom, it seems as if the standard has fallen a lot.

I think Wharton was too deep today. He's more effective further up the pitch. It also looked like he and other Palace players got slightly bullied physically, especially, by Dawson the Macclesfield captain, who had a great game in midfield.

The U21s management couldn't muster the full squad for the game again. With more youngsters getting promoted in a desperate bid to stave off relegation, others heading out on loan or getting injured, I can't imagine many more points being earned by the side. It's disappointing because there's some promising players in there that could do with more support.

Was pondering this but the Arsenal defeat has clarified it, for me anyway. Arsenal have the set-pieces to do it and the defence. Also David Raya is in outstanding form. If Gyokores or Havertz find form, they'll go well clear, otherwise, it'll probably be fairly close.

Injury to Litherland seems very predictable to me (albeit saying in hindsight). A novice with little league experience more accustomed to playing at CB for the U21s. It was always asking too much to play a number of full games at full back in quick succession.

There's a little boost with the youngsters getting games and some of them have promise, but if you look at the U21s form and results, they're not the answer by a long way. The standard, in general terms, has been really low.

I just wonder if the general standard outside the Premier League is dropping too (though not at the speed of Rovers decline). I'm not sure - and could be that, rather, the Premier League is accelerating away but it's the impression I get of the Championship, at least.