roversfan99

To release them we would have to pay them up so it makes little sense. Totally agree with the stuff on Nixon. And people buy into it.

Just posted on the Sheffield Wednesday thread but I actually think we desperately need in 5 new players. Pretty much all of them are needed urgently, and none of them are areas that I think we can avoid or do without. We clearly need 2 new strikers, 1 simply wont suffice. We play 2, its the position you are probably most likely to sub mid game, and you badly need options off the bench. None of our attempted square pegs in round holes have looked remotely effective and we seem to have no young strikers coming through. We need some pace within that as we sre so slow. We definitely need a new centre back. One to slot straight into the team, right footed. With O'Riordan coming back too. I think we need a wing back on both sides. We badly need our wing backs to play on the front foot and be good going forward. Hedges is the only one who can play left wing back and he is not very good going forward, I suggested Harry Amass. We also need a more similar alternative when Alebiosu is available. Goalkeeper obviously we are fine, in central midfield I am not convinced by the quality of all of the options and we could do with more of a goal threat but it may be able to keep until summer. There are a number of players that for various reasons are unneeded. Obviously we wont be able to shift them all. Gueye, De Neve, Henriksson, Kargbo and Tavares all simply not good enough. Pickering and Ribeiro are left backs that have fallen out of favour due to the system change. Carter is a busted flush although I accept that no one will take him. I have also mentioned that I could forsee a possibility for Litherland to benefit from a loan late in the window. I think hes done well, I like certain things that I see, but I dont think he is a wing back. He needs to bulk up similar to Scott Wharton who benefitted from a loan when he was growing to then be able to be reassessed in the summer but as a centre back. He is less robust than Pratt but looks better on the ball, longer term he could potentially play that right sided centre back position. Most of this wont happen but its what I think we need to end the window with a more well rounded squad capable of fighting off relegation.

I dont think we are just a striker/Gudjohnsen short based on last night. There is a lack of quality and pace going forward even beyond that. I didnt see last nights performance as one that just lacked a bit of a finishing touch against a dismal Wednesday side hurt even more than us by unavailability, it was totally flat. The way we play, we need some real attacking quality and energy coming from either wing backs/and or central midfield. We clearly need not just 1 but 2 new forwards to give us more quality, pace, goals and different options as its important to have options off the bench too. Ohashi isnt good enough to be a guaranteed starter either. But we cant just rely on our 2 forwards to provide all of the threat. I think we really miss Alebiousu as you would expect, he gives us our only bit of pace and he is so important to how we attack. None of our other wing backs provide anything like that level of threat. Hedges is definitely more suited to being a wing back compared to a winger but when theres no Alebiosu flying down the wing on the other side, theres more emphasis on Hedges to get forward and he simply doesnt give us that. I wonder if one potential solution could be Harry Amass who I thought was one of the only bits of quality on the pitch and I think his loan ends imminently. I cant see us strengthening left wing back but I think he would be a shrewd bit of business. We still need competition for Alebiosu on the right too. Litherland as he breaks in will be judged by slightly lower standards as any player that comes through for his first senior games, but he certainly has done himself proud and looks a real player for the future. He doesnt look like a right wing back though, I think he is at wing back rather than Miller because unlike Pratt he perhaps isnt quite physically ready to cope with Championship forwards. Technically he looks good (he played one fantastic pass in the first half that Henriksson again failed to do anything with) but I wonder if we could get a more similar alternative to Alebiosu in, and also with Litherland not yet trusted in a back 3 and with potentially 2 additional bodies in that position anyway, whether it would make sense to loan him out towards the end of the window. Half a season in League 1 or perhaps League 2 but as a centre back could similar to Wharton a few years ago help him to develop physically. Rather than keeping him around to cover Alebiosu when he simply doesnt offer the same attributes. Cantwell has always been a poor striker of the ball and has a tendency to drop deep. That being said, him and Tronstad really are key in allowing us to get any semblance of control over a game. Cantwell was understandably becoming clearly frustrated with a lack of movement around him last night.

I think the squad needs a considerable overhaul. The league table and the number of dead weights in our squad and the lack of options in certain areas backs me up. I dont think its got a chance of happening in January. I dont know how you have ascertained that I think its realistic. My expectations of Gestede armed with pennies by our terrible owners are on the floor. Is "Nicko" on the case with more stories about all these wonderful players we are looking to sign? Almost as if he has stories to sell and a club to suck up to. No matter what part of the world it is, not being fit to play any games makes any player be of no use to them. You dont even know if Carter would want to move to this ficticious Middle Eastern side.

You keep shouting down the suggestion that we will fail to recruit properly based on a series of previous failures. Yet keep pushing this suggestion as if we are a normal football club and you dont seem to have much doubt that we will recruit properly, and early, and its all in hand. Also, we dont need one striker. We are massively, massively short. If you are playing 2 you need 4. Not even factoring in the injury to Gudjohnsen.

I dont see how he is spinning it, it makes no sense looking back that there was a plan to move to 352. The way that the squad has been built never suggested that. It very much came across as a temporary move that initially saw an instant improvement in results that Ismael has since stuck to. That improvement hasnt continued consistently but we still seem more balanced in terms of our first 11 than 4231, but its just left the squad looking particularly imbalanced as the squad clearly wasnt recruited for that formation. Up front, Gueye was never in favour under Ismael, its one judgement call Ismael has got consistently right. Even if Kargbo had kicked on, hes a winger. Gudjohnsen seemed to be recruited as an alternative to Ohashi, Gueye nearly left in the summer. De Neve, Kargbo and Morishita were all signed to play out wide. Miller was clearly initially intended as a right back, otherwise we came into the season having only signed one right wing back. We also signed Ribeiro last January who again doesnt fit into this formation, nor does Pickering who didnt seem to be tried to move on in the summer but now is surplus. We didnt cover ourselves at centre back even for a back 4, but certainly not for a back 3. Hopefully O'Riordan comes in and is ready, but he has been playing for a struggling League 1 team. Pratt cant be seen as the norm, its an absolute testament to him that hes slotted in seamlessly having been playing at such a low level. The circumstances were fortunate for him in that Litherland was injured at the time, theres no way the club intended to have him starting games any time soon otherwise he would have been loaned out at such a low level. He clearly wasnt seen as immediately first team standard, and because he was at such a low level, it made it possible to recall him as opposed to O'Riordan. How Pratt has done since has been as impressive on his part as no doubt surprising especially to the decision makers at the club. Theres no point saying we have x options with Wharton and in particular Carter. Cant remotely be relied upon.

If they are complacent and negligent enough to think that we are in a nether region and are not a candidate relegation then they are deluded.

A few people have mentioned that O'Riordan back from on loan would be sufficient. What makes people think he is the answer?

Yeah. Not much though. Doesnt bother me. I think he would be a bad signing but the Burnley link is irrelevant.

Strange that he is travelling with the squad too. Almost like they are punishing him.

You didnt answer the question. You did your usual routine. Simply, Ashley or Venkys?

Why does it have to be either or in terms of trying to have adequate quality and numbers in different positions? Not that Ben Gibson is the answer.

Cant see Gibson being done soon. Has ended up back in the team at Stoke including tonight, filling in at left back. Mind you, we do love signing defenders that are centre backs but can only get into their Championship team out of position filling in for absent left backs.

*strikers. You said you dont want ex dingles in the past. Isnt that still true?

Gueye would have been even worse.