riverholmes

The quality is evident with England but the cautious walking football and back passing is really hard to watch. I suppose the players are inevitably going to play within themselves to some extent to avoid injury, but this team could be so exciting to watch.

DIdn’t realise Beck was in the Wales squad. The fact he got into the SPL team of the season last year and at 22 years old, seems not to be in Liverpool’s immediate plans, means he might well have been an astute transfer target for Rovers, after we sold our other left back option. Maybe not feasible - but would’ve been worth a try. It does seem that if he does well at Rovers and for Wales, he’ll be out of the club’s reach - though, you never know. I have a feeling, just based on his recent form and barring injury, he’s going to have a good season. Edit; In my opinion, Rovers should be using some of their loan signing to convert to permanent, as we memorably did with Cairney. Especially, as we are selling players. Loans can patch things up and give a boost but, financially, they are often a sunk cost, with no return (but can add value for the other club). Ayari, Chrisene and Moran’s careers and values seem to be pushing on this season, as they make breakthroughs, but what value did Rovers get out of the deals? To be fair, Chrisene started that last crucial game and Moran might have finished top of our assist charts but they were far from regulars. If we had them this season, I reckon they’d be starting or close to.

Highlights, again, how much international football has devalued. All manner of players pulling out with vague conditions - not to claim that they’re not real, but I’m sure some are precautionary. I don’t blame them as they’re under pressure from their clubs and also face an ever expanding fixture list. I really think international football and domestic cup football faces a serious threat of heading the way of the Olympics football tournament, an afterthought, as players and fans are simply saturated by games. An exciting part of international tournaments was also discovering new players and styles of play. But it’s all becoming rather the same, though, no doubt that being there as a fan is a different matter. Edit: Olympics is overstating it, I think, but the devaluation seems clear.

Been hit and miss with goalie signings. Kaminski the success story, signed from Gent. Early days for Jack Barrett; I think he’s given away two pens in his first few games but he’s only just starting and is 22. Prior to Leo Wahlstedt, there was the young Greek, Antonis Stergiakis, who signed for the U21s but didn’t stay long. Incidentally, if we include the U18s and loaned out players, Rovers could field a goalie eleven. It seems we’ve accumulated more than is quite necessary with the new additions and hanging on to Hilton and Eastham, for now. Pears, Toth, Hilton, Barrett, Goddard, Michalski, Khan, Eastham, Honor and U18s, Thompson and Wolsoncroft.

Selling a generational talent not seen since Damien Duff, the league’s best goal scorer and our star academy talent (‘losing’ rather than selling in latter case) all in a calendar year for c.£30 million(?) and spending, at a wild guess, no more than £5/6 million(?) in new signings and also an unknown amount of signing on and loan fees taking that figure towards £8/9 million(?). Could well be off with the figures and certainly the new signings seem promising but understandably, our expectations have fallen. There’s certainly no need for impulsive, rushed expenditure, However, older players and loans will help us stay alive in the league, hopefully, but real investment is needed to be sustainable long-term. I would hope we can sign a Cozier-Duberry or Beck permanently in Jan, if they’re doing well. Would be saleable talents in future or players we could build the team around but have no expectations that this club will do so.

England youth call puts him more prominently on the radar of the oligarch clubs (and some others). Will be hard but, perhaps, with incentives and possibly, release clause, could be persuaded. It's easy to say and basically every clubs loses promising talents but our back line could include Ashley Phillips, Flavien Boyomo (recently signed by Osasuna) as well as, our star defender, Hayden Carter, now that Scott Wharton has succumbed to injuries, in an alternate universe. On Boggan, it seems as if it's one of those youth loans, similar to work experience, where the idea is to be around a first team and probably, Macclesfield treat it as a trial to see if he's good enough for a longer term loan and games. Meanwhile, he can play for the Rovers U18s. Just a guess.

I noticed that Sunderland signed three overseas players on deadline day, from France, Belgium and Serbia. With Rovers signing Gueye, Ohashi and Toth, it does seem as if the Championship clubs have stepped up in signing foreign nationals for their first teams. I don't have the stats, so not sure if there has been a significant change in recent times but if it is the case, perhaps, reflects a dearth in quality coming through within the country? It seems to go in cycles at times. Finances and Premier league stockpiling might be factors too.

Dolan’s a worry for potentially leaving on a free. The club should be planning a succession as it seems he’s going to do wind down his contract. He’s not a star player, either.

Shouldn’t really be surprised any more but no Saadi again. Also no Eastham.

Reviving this thread as I had a random and vague memory of defender Gordon Greer scoring a goal in a friendly win over Barcelona. Couldn’t find that game (if it exists) but did rediscover this 3-2 friendly win over Barcelona, in 2001: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/hughes-volley-sinks-barcelona-9272889.html Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel; Curtis, Berg (Taylor, 79), Short, Bjornebye; Gillespie (Hignett, 82), Dunn, Flitcroft (Mahon, h-t), Duff; Blake (Bent, 62), Grabbi (Hughes, 79). Substitutes not used: Filan (gk), Greer. Barcelona (4-3-3): Bonano; De la Torre (Puyol, h-t), Christanval, Andersson (Anderson, h-t), Reiziger; Luis Enrique (Rochemback, h-t), Xavi, Cocu; Geovanni (Saviola, h-t), Kluivert, Overmars (Trashorras, 60). Substitutes not used: Sergi, Reina (gk).

Have to say that Nyambe did establish himself as a regular at Derby last season and then got injured, I believe, at or after the African Cup of Nations. This season he seems to be a sub. A limited player for Rovers but had his moments when he felt confident. Someone mentioned the CM position. There is no U21 defensive midfielder close to breaking through, so we're extremely light. I don't expect much from Travis, despite his useful start to the season. I fear that his best is behind him as a result of injuries. JRC questionable, though, hopefully, he'll regain form and fitness. Generally, speaking, aside from Duru, the youth promotion project is looking unpromising, partly due to the injuries to the likes of Gilsenan, Leonard and others. The next 'hope' is Bloxham, it seems but he doesn't seem close. It might be a problem as we increasingly rely on youth to fill out the squad - with five academy graduates, I believe, starting against Blackpool in Carter, Duru, JRC, Buckley and Vale. Finally, proposed new goalie signing of Toth will hopefully lead to exits to one or two of the reserve keepers. Jordan Eastham seems to have been demoted in favour of Jack Barrett from Everton, and really should be allowed to go to. Edit: To add, Todd Cantwell seems a promising signing and am surprised that we could attract someone like him, despite his contractual struggles at Rangers. Though I am wary of the 'baggage' that seems to follow him. I don't know if it's justified but I believe he left Norwich under acrimonious circumstances. Hopefully, nothing to be concerned about. I'd prefer Ianis Hagi, if we're going for out-of-favour players but, not sure if we could afford him.

The decision to loan out Garrett was always a terrible move unless he was going to be replaced. We’re desperately short in DM. In theory, as a left footer, he could’ve covered LB. The club’s forward signings look promising but elsewhere, a lot to be desired. Beck looks promising albeit, late in the day. We do have a lot of goalkeepers & ambling centre backs though.

Can’t see why they went 3 at the back. McFadzean doesn’t need crowbarring into the team.

Lack of pace in this squad is a real issue. Duru stands out in this regard.

Rovers former academy defensive recruit, Flavien Boyomo, who turned down a contract to move to Spain, kept out Kylian Mbappe during Vallodolid's game against Real Madrid. However, couldn't prevent Valverde, Brahim and Endrick scoring for Real.

Take it back. 1 goal, 0 assists in 21 league appearances last season for Markanday last season, mostly sub appearances. 2 goals in 6 appearances in cup competitions.

Have the management overstretched with these non-league loans? Time will no doubt tell but it’s seems an early concern to me as even if there is no relegation in U21s (I think), you want a competitive side for players to develop in. For one, I thought, from the outside, it was a season too early to send out Boggan, the striker. Let him prove himself at U21s, and then move out. Edit; Not heard anything of defender, Max Davies, for a long time. Another long-term injury?

Agree keeping him as a back-up may be better than a loan. With Gilsenan & Leonard out, we may need forwards. If he does go on loan without a decent replacement it will be more evidence that the club are using loans as a cost-saving exercise, at the expense of building a decent squad.

Re. Jack Vale's rumoured loan move to Motherwell, reprising role from last season - I really think the club should be looking to sell. My expectation is that his valuation will only decline the more he plays and his level is better known - and his contract winds down. Perhaps, he's close to a peak valuation. I could be wrong, of course, as he's a player that does seem to have some fight in him. He came back from a disappointing and injury-disrupted loan sojourn somewhere in non-league with Halifax and did ok last year in the SPL.

I do wonder if Chelsea is primarily a publicity tool for Boehly at the moment, to get attention for himself in Europe. It seems like that's what X/Twitter is for Musk, whilst he concentrates on his 'serious' businesses more quietly.

If his confidence improves from a good loan season, he could come back and break into the team. It does seem unlikely at the moment, especially as, last season, as far as I know, he finished with no goals or assists (could be wrong but vaguely remember seeing that) - albeit, didn't play much and did ok once Eustace gave him a chance. It'll be interesting to see where he plays for Chesterfield and if he can establish himself as a central player, where his decent shooting ability comes into play. Interesting that, already, he's been recognised as a set-piece taker by their management, when we saw none of that here. Let's face, it if Ohashi scores 15-20 goals this season and we stay in the league, he'll very likely be on the move, so Markanday and others will have chances in the future, if they do ok and stay at the club.

He played in the League Cup defeat to Cardiff and apparently did very well as a DM (incidentally, as did, apparently, Clinton Mola, at left back). However, it does look as if he's got a job to get into the line-up in midfield. It seems their first choice pairing is Kamil Conteh, a 21 year-old player with caps for Sierra Leone and the experienced, Grant Ward.

He does seem quite stocky and, perhaps, in the Adam Armstrong kind of way but smaller and not as fast but more skilful and likes to run with the ball. i think he’d do a decent job as a strike partner to Gueye in a little and large combination. He has a good strike on him and can wriggle into space. His career might get going a bit if he is ever fielded centrally with a support striker. The return to fashion of target men forwards might give him a chance. Edit: For those not wanting to scroll - Markanday in loan talks, thought to be Chesterfield. “Dilan is away talking to another club at the moment to go on loan," Eustace told The Lancashire Telegraph. "I think it's important that he gets a real run of games to keep his development going. Hopefully, we can see that get sorted.”

Best wishes for the rest of the season and hope the squad recovers soon from the injury crisis. A shame for your side that they couldn't at least field a near strength side. Perhaps, a creditable score given that County had a 16 year old at centre back and youth players throughout. Whilst you are around, I wonder what you know about the loan dealings of clubs in Conference/League 2/League 1. Back in the day, Rovers youngsters would, it seemed, quite easily find loan moves to those levels, quite often staying within the football league. Nowadays, it's a rarity, with most of them heading to National League North. I think even SPL is more likely to take them these days than those leagues and it seems somewhat puzzling, even taking into account Rovers are a far lesser club these days. On Rovers, giving Buckley the captaincy is potentially a masterstroke. I feel that whether for lack of confidence or self-belief - or other reasons - he's been hesitant to take a leading role. He really needs to do it this season to save his Rovers career.

Stockport fans and management weren't happy with Travis' niggling swipes at one of their young loanees in the recent friendly. The player allegedly was injured as a result. I can't verify if he did get injured from these challenges (he is now out for weeks with a knee injury) but looking at them out of context of the match, they look very unnecessary for a friendly match. https://x.com/jkanalysis7/status/1820173451501461809 I think Travis has a lot to prove to Rovers fans. For whatever reason, he wanted to leave under JDT and then found that he wasn't really needed by Ipswich, once he got there. He didn't play much, as far as I know. As a senior player, he's been pretty poor/average for some time - arguably, since his major injury in, I think, a cup match against Newcastle seasons ago. And that injury arose from him jumping in unnecessarily, I think.