roversfan99

The king of the That account never gets anything right either. 2 accounts that sum up why transfer windows are insufferable.

Time ticking to get all of these signings in by Hull as requested. Surely an easy task for such an organised club.

Hes that bad. Plus seemingly cant be arsed in training.

The recruitment team obviously arent THE problem, Venkys are and always have been and that causes issues everywhere including recruitment. But I have seen enough to suggest that the recruitment team overall are not fit for purpose. The number of duds compared to successess is far too high. Also, the squad is so imbalanced and feels like its been cobbled together with little regard for what a players best position is. The fact that we built a squad for a 4231, dont have a single competent winger and had to change formation mid season says a lot. Our selection of centre backs are imbalanced as I have touched upon. Theres no pace in the team. They havent bothered to sign a set piece taker. And there are so many inconsistencies. Signing a really attacking right back and then a really defensive one. Signing one target man. Signing a central player to be one of the wingers. Theres also not nearly enough experience and leadership although that more than most of my other points may be due to restrictions on wages.

I think the issue is not so much Cashin as an indiividual. There are both reasons for optimism and pessimism there. But moreso the general balance and overall quality of the back 3. Its too left sided and I think there is a potential weakness both in the air and in terms of pace in behind. It has a bit of a cobbled together feel to it and ultimately I still dont feel like we have come close to replacing Dom Hyam. I am also not sure what our best back 3 will be. I suspect the most common back 3 will be Cashin, McLaughlin and Miller but thats not a back 3 that convinces me either in terms of balance or quality.

Pears is fine as second choice.

Ive not seen much to suggest that people are writing him off.

Tavares is particularly crap but so is Garrett. No need for him to be anywhere near the squad.

Im not convinced its got the quality to be totally confident in.

We have badly needed a centre back ever since Hyam left. A loanee definitely doesnt replace him but I am far from convinced that a player of Cashin's profile is what we need in the short term either. Signing a left footer really leaves us imbalanced, and the options we have gives me a feeling that we need to cobble something together rather than it being a well balanced group. Cashin isnt the tallest and would probably be best on the left, McLaughlin is average and definitely not dominant or good in the air so is probably best suited to being on the left, and Pratt is best suited to the left. Wharton is also best suited to being on the left but is injured. Towards the right, we have just O'Riordan who is untested, Miller who is not a natural centre back and is shall we say erratic. Its all very left sided, there is no one that you could say is great in the air, and no one at the level of Hyam or Batth. Seems to be universally not rated by Birmingham fans. Hopefully in terms of quality he is more of the Derby Cashin although much of that was in League 1. But my concerns are more around the balance of our centre backs rather than his quality necessarily.

Certainly has his flaws and has struggled to find a home in the last year or 2. Had a good loan spell at Sheff United. But he clearly isnt a "really bad footballer." He scored something like 35 goals across his last 2 seasons here. Still would be a massive upgrade on what we have now.

I just cant fathom actively wanting to get knocked out of the cup and lose a match.

He has had an injury so that will be why.

I enjoy the FA Cup 3rd round usually. I never entertain the idea of it being a hindrance and always really want us to go through. Even if we rotate, it usually feels like we have a chance. Its pretty depressing that we will be going to the mighty Hull with an uncompetitive squad feeling like coming close to a result would be a massive shock.

Andy Bayes has corrected himself anyway.