Sounds like what we need.

Have you seen him play?

Thanks ??

Think it might have some legs...hope so!

Info or opinion? Sounds good.

??? so funny how many are stepping forward now to tell us how distraught they were with Raya’s sale....i do wonder how many would be as quick to nail their colours to this mast if he’d had a shocker and was getting bombed off to League 1..but that’s life!

I don’t know. If he doesn’t go to Brentford then again he doesn’t work with the keeper coach there. Then if the the keeper coach doesn’t go to Arsenal he doesn’t get that chance either....it’s not like every top club in the land want him. It’s a specific set of circumstances. Had we kept him another year COULD we have got £5m? Maybe. Did Brentford’s run at the playoffs increase his demand? As I’ve said, it’s a bloody fantastic move for him and I wish him all the best. Everything has aligned. But the keeper I saw for a couple of seasons was no world beater. £3m with a decent sell on was easily enough for me at the time. Had we signed a Kaminski at the time I don’t think we’d have given Raya a second thought.

That’s the key point here. The fact that we didn’t have a keeper nailed down before we let him go was scandalous. Piss poor. But no one is telling me that David Raya was / is a world beater. £3m was absolutely enough for him at the time. I’d have pushed for a higher sell on based on him being developed by us. For what it’s worth, I’m going to stick my neck out and say that Kaminski is much more of what we need in terms of consistency. Raya will undoubtedly be number 2 long term at Arsenal and he’s perfectly placed to develop in that role.

Watching Kaminski yesterday gave me a real taste of what it’s like to get players at their peak in terms of age and development. It wasn’t a world class performance but he was in complete control in terms of decision making etc. He looked assured. He didn’t have the air of a young player who may be erratic or an old player who might not last the season as their bodies begin to fail... It’s been a long time since we got players who aren’t either developing or at the end of their careers. This is due to cost, in particular in the domestic market. So my hope is that we go out to Europe for a Cb and Lb this week. Go and find assured players aged 25-29 to slot in amongst the young players.

Keeper looks assured. First time I’ve seen that in goal since Robinson. Needs a CB and LB in there to help him out.

With Mowbray giving more debuts to academy players the notion that he DOESNT back young players is just odd. Mowbray signed Chapman twice so Chapman is ‘on’ Mowbray if you know what I mean? Whereas he admitted last week that he hadn’t even properly seen Dolan before he signed and Yet Dolan takes Chapmans place on the bench...the reason quite clearly is that one of them dies as the manager asks and the other doesn’t. It’s clear to me that Chapman was a shoe in to get games this season until Dolan turned up.

I think that’s very harsh and based on the score line not the game. I saw distinct patterns of play in and out of possession today. From the high press, to overlapping full backs and the way we Johnson and Travis made space for Holtby. Such things were never present under Coyle.

All about opinions. I can’t remember many fans being too bothered. They’ll say they were bothered now like...because Arsenal are buying! ???

All about opinions. I know what I saw and Raya is not a top keeper. He may become one but he isn’t. Arsenals decision to buy Raya isn’t because he’s blown anyone’s socks off it’s because of his relationship to the coach. Good luck to him. Fantastic move...but I feel the need to use terminology that is often mentioned on here. Lets not re-write history on Raya. When we sold him, very few if any were too bothered. He was a very inconsistent performer.

I watch a bit of youth football and my 13yr old niece has a cracking left peg on her. I said to my wife the other day that I’d genuinely play her in front of Amari’i Bell. I meant it. Literally like playing with 10 men! ???

Kaminski has the feel of an accomplished keeper. Very much in control...

I’ve never agreed with you more. Cracking performance. Absolutely scandalous that we haven’t signed a CB and a LB. Got the makings of a decent little team there. The young lads are a fantastic. Dolan in particular looks like a player! We will definitely cause a lot of teams problems. We just need to SORT THAT DEFENCE!! ? ffs Tony, sort it out.

Cunningham not in the Cardiff squad either...

7 players in the match day squad who have previously, or currently play in our youth set up. ?

?

Lots to be positive about with the young lads etc. If we were going into this on day one with Ayala and Cunningham in the team I’d be DELIGHTED!

I regularly and openly disagree with Mowbrays decisions on here and have stated that I felt it was a time for Managerial change on two separate occasions. I start every factual point about Venkys with “they’ve been absolutely terrible but...” Ive actually been a pretty regular poster for 12 months outside of the transfer windows but Hey, don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story...? I have supported Rovers since I was 10. My then football manager took me to Ewood in 1991 for the first time and I fell in love with the place. As for perspective on owning / running businesses on a shoe string and with large budgets, I have done this at six, seven and eight figure turnovers and continue to do so. I do not believe that financial modelling from 30+ years ago holds much weight in today’s financial climate. The ‘plant’ notion is ridiculous. Because this minuscule community has absolutely no effect on Venkys or the club. We’re just not that important mate, suck it up. So why would anyone pay me to disagree with all the miserable sods on here? It makes no sense! ?? The fact of the matter is that we all have a different view on the same issues in here. I accept that, you can’t and look for ‘other’ reasons as to why anyone could see things differently to you. No matter how bad it gets, I will never whine, whinge and moan. I’m not built that way. I focus on what I can see and more importantly what I can control and I deal with it all from a positive base. That’s me. Paul Mani, RTID

And your role, is unfortunately, to hang around permanently spreading turgid drivel about stuff you know very little about. But as I said, we all see things differently hey? ?

If they were trying for Kipre and Ayala then it would suggest that we have higher aspirations than Sarr.

Fantastic point Stuart. If only we all saw it through your eyes. The key components you missed there were context and personal opinions as well as your stated outlooks (optimists vs pragmatists). So whilst you maybe don’t see the successes of the European scouting network, others may see the signing of Kaminski and the potential for more as “progress”. We all judge based on what WE see, in our own context based on our own opinions. We deal with information differently. For example - I think Mowbrays 2.5yr deal for Mulgrew was scandalous. Bordering on gross negligence because I genuinely think that extension was a little “wink wink” I’ll sort you one last big contract Charlie for staying with us and getting us up. This decision was terrible and is contributing to our financial pain. The manager should be taken to task for it. Whereas, I genuinely don’t think selling Raya was the wrong decision. Raya was SOOO inconsistent. He obv wanted to go and we got £3m for him. Him being linked with Arsenal is not a sure sign that he’s suddenly become world class! There’s lots of reasons why deals happen. In this case the keeper coach at Arsenal is his mentor. But so what if he goes to them? There’s literally thousands of shite players who’ve signed for top teams and done nothing (I’m not saying Raya is shite btw). So what if he develops into a top keeper? Lots of players develop late. It’s just the way things are....the issue last season wasn’t selling Raya it was not properly replacing him imo. The above shows how we can all see things completely differently. It’s not just about being eternally optimistic vs....you.