I look forward to roverandout coming on saying that Latvia arent a bad side later on.

Yes, it is a bad thing. Dilutes the quality and also makes it asymmetrical where you remove any jeopardy by having 3rd place teams going through groups.

Is that your token response now whenever a question is asked that you know you cant answer, in this case because there is an inconsistency in your logic? If Hedges' worth is proven because managers pick him, surely so is Pears' worth? IMO, both have played so much simply as a symptom of our lack of budget and poor recruitment over a number of years. Every window we call for "a new number 1" and a "pacy winger." Offers hard work and is a team player. They should be a given. Versatile? Equally ineffective in a few positions. And scores "the odd goal!" You are stretching it there, literally one this season, one last. Youve literally listed goalscoring as one of his strengths.

There should be pre qualifiers. And on a seperate note, they shouldnt have increased the size of the World Cup to 48 teams and the Euros to 24 teams. As you said, harder not to qualify.

How is there pressure? From who?

Tough game tonight against a side ranked lower than Madagascar and Tajikstan. Pointless game.

Those same managers keep picking Pears. So based on your logic we shouldnt want him replaced, shouldnt focus on what he cant do and should see that they must see him as a good player?

Repeatedly picked in a position that is symptomatic of the lack of budget and poor recruitment over a number of years. Hence why people calling for "pacey wingers" has become a running joke. Hes a wide man who doesnt score, doesnt create, cant take on his full back, is slow and his decision making is poor. Might be a nice guy and might work hard but thats not enough. Some make out as if hes a brilliant player off the ball but I dont even think hes that.

Wing wizard Ryan Hedges is back? Maybe that play off push isnt as dead as we thought.

Dont forget our record away at promoted sides and its really difficult to look past a home win.

It would be best for him to leave permanently in the summer if anyone wants him in the lower leagues. He looked out of his depth last season which considering his age there certainly was no shame in, but hes struggled to get minutes even in League 1 and now League 2. I cant see him making it at this level similar to Markanday. Probably more chance of him and Buckley being our first choice midfield next season though knowing our owners.

Doesnt change anything that I said. Our negotiating position was weak because we was desperate to sell ASAP.

But the argument is that had we not been so desperate and had waited until at least the summer, to put ourselves in a much stronger negotiating position, that we would get more money. Not a bit more and with a reduction of the release clause whereby it somehow comes to being less overall.

That is based on the assumption that a sell on fee was instead of more money up front. Had we waited and not been as desperate then we should have been able to get more of a fee but still include the sell on. So say you receive £10m extra, the only difference beyond that is that the profit of any future sale is £10m less so the % of that is reduced, say by 12.5/15%.

Had he played more football for us then he likely would have improved upon and proved those weaker areas and generated more attention. Also, you downplay it but £18-20m is not an insignifant amount especially considering FFP to spend in January even if its a bargain as teams restructure their team more in the summer. But even if it was still only Palace, they would have had to pay more if we werent so desperate. We were desperate to sell, it was January and had he stayed he would have proven his quality more. I dont care about other incomparable players, England under 21 caps or Nixon rumours, its surely basic business logic that had we waited and not been so desperate we most likely would have got more.

You can go down the rabbit hole of well this player went for this, Nixon thinks this player is worth this, this player has these England under 21 caps, whatever. Surely it is common sense that if it wasnt in the much quieter January window, if we werent as desperate and if he had more experience and game time under his belt, we would naturally be in a position to get more money. There probably was a ceiling in that he would only ever go for the big, big money after proving himself in the Premier League. But due to the various circumstances leading to us pushing him out of the door, his value was reduced.

Typical refusal to believe that the club could have possibly done wrong. Of course as a Championship player there would always be a cap on his value. But common sense says, if we werent so desperate, had there likely been more interested parties in a summer window where teams naturally spend much more and after further proof of his ability playing for us, we could have got more. Its not even about direct comparisons to other players, its just logic based on our weak negotiating power. It doesnt matter anyway. £10m, £20m, £30m, it makes no difference to the club as we dont see a penny.

Its incredible revisionism to now have people suggesting that West Brom and Watford were wrong to sack him. Delusion.

So Ismael has done an excellent job in all 3 Championship clubs that he has been in, and his 2 sackings were unjust. Amazing that he hadnt been snapped up before he came here and that we even considered anyone else.

I dont think hes on a different planet, both are very good and probably at a similar level. But Palmer isnt a winger. Woud leave us imbalanced and sticking square pegs in round holes to try and force him in. (As I think would having Rice as the most defensive midfielder)

I disagree, I dont think he has the ability to play quick enough on the half turn, its not really his game. He has also shown for Arsenal in the last couple of years that he really benefits from having someone more disciplined next to him to allow him to roam more. Its a bit like Travis with us, although obviously Travis is nowhere near as good at it. Play him as the deepest midfielder and he is nowhere near as effective as having a Tronstad next to him. Rice was stifled at the Euros with more attack minded options beside him and the side was imbalanced.

The other argument is that managers havent finished higher than where Ismael was mid season since. Ismael had those clubs at stronger points than those since. West Brom as you say had just gone down, they finished the season Ismael left with Steve Bruce. Once they wasted that season, it naturally gets harder and harder to compete at the top and they have had financial issues since. The squad Cleverley got at Watford was weaker too.

The sell on is a seperate thing, its not as if it wouldnt have been included had we been in a position to get a bigger fee. Had we not been such distressed sellers then we could have got more had we waited. We were desperate to sell which weakened our bargaining power. Had we waited he would have had more time to prove how good he was/is. And crucially had it been in the summer, Premier League clubs naturally spend far more and buy more players so it likely wouldnt have been just Palace.

Its impossible to say over a year away. Stones and James are seldom fit but if you are just assuming that players whose bodies have repeatedly failed them are all fit, then do you even include Luke Shaw? One thing I am sure of is that Saka is our only top class winger and would be a guaranteed starter. Sticking Palmer there is again just trying to pick individuals rather than a balanced team. Your team lacks a defensive midfielder but as I have touched on I dont really think we have one of note. I would like to see Wharton next to Rice as that makes the most sense but I am not 100% convinced even then by the balance.

I think excellent is probably a description aided with the England blinkers on and Stones is seriously on the decline. As you touch on in another post though, you dont always need world class centre backs and Tuchel can organise teams so that has to be the hope. He needs to get the team playing to more than the sum of its parts. Wharton seems like the most obvious fit but even then im not so sure and either way, he isnt in Tuchel's immediate thoughts it seems. We as Rovers fans have higher than average opinions of him but he is still rough around the edges. Rice as you touched on in another post played best when he had Kalvin Phillips next to him. Rice is often pigeon holed as a holding midfielder for England but he isnt, Partey at Arsenal allows him to push on and gets the best out of him. Wharton played better for us I thought with Tronstad doing the defensive side rather than when Wharton was the most defensive and Travis was doing a budget equivalent of what Rice does, going box to box. Wharton isnt half as good off the ball as he is on it. We just dont have any good defensive midfielders. The fact you mentioned Henderson says everything. Someone like Owen Hargreaves or Michael Carrick who had that ability to just sit in and block the space in front of the defence, especially as for us our defenders individually are not great. Its another hard conundrum for Tuchel to try and solve as a tactician.