Shuffle

1 hour ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

Concern with Kalas is that he won’t be match fit. He’s had a limited preseason I would assume, which with his injury record could spell further problems. Likely to pick up niggles if rushed back. 

If he comes back then you have to get through next 2 league games then look at playing after international break which is 16 September 

We have two recognised fit CBs & one of those is now suspended.  You  could move people but it’s ridiculous at this level to not have cover other than academy players. When fit Kalas was our best defender so for 12 months at reduced wages then I’d welcome him back. 

13 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

This is the continuation of the “SL thread” in reality.

Interesting to see how this plays out.

I am definitely 2+2=5 but this would be typical Lansdown to let Nige sort out the shit and then want someone else.

This season was the time to judge Pearson as far as I’m concerned as most of the squad will be his for the first time.  After £35m in sales and less than £6m spent (albeit how wisely to be judged) to not back him now would be a travesty.  I’ve gone from being very optimistic to very flat in less than 2 weeks so god knows how Pearson feels and if plans have changed since Scott sold ref funding for transfers then he would be entitled to walk. Speculation of course but not quite as blunt as this but back him or sack him Lansdown.

2 hours ago, petehinton said:

What a win for the L1 galaticos today after they had the greatest transfer window week in history according to their fans 

Now I hate Rovers as much as the next person but seems very hollow to take the piss after what we watched today. 

I’d love to know how much they have actually invested in transfer fees but the signings of Laird, Buchanan,Bielik, Sanderson, Dembele, Miyoshi, Anderson for around £6.5m looks like fantastic recruitment.  Fair play to them as physically too strong and carried a threat with pace. 

40 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Does make you wonder what the situation is with both Owura Edwards & Sam Pearson.

Neither has a squad number or like Kadji & Palmer-Houlden has gone out on loan, yet neither of them has featured in any U21 games.

Both have had numerous loan spells, in Owura’s case in the Scottish Prem & League Two, in Sam’s case Scottish League One, League Two & National League yet they are kicking their heels at present.

Guess we are looking to move them both on but nothing has materialised yet.

Both injured 

We 100% need a replacement for Scott as two from Williams/James/king leave us lacking mobility.  One is fine but if we are playing 2 Eights, we need legs & someone who can go past their man . Still in no way convinced by Max and need an experienced GK  & CB imo.   

What a brilliant debut….he is technically very good and every pass tonight was weighted perfectly.  We have to find a way of playing both Pring and Roberts together as both too good to be on the bench.

8 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

There’s a few things I don’t understand about people’s reactions here. Pole vaulting to conclusions that Dave Rennie is the antichrist is one. The other is that Tommys injury somehow necessitates a signing. 
 

As at right now, we have 5 fit strikers for 3 positions. Weimann is clearly borderline fit so that’s nearly 6 for 3. People may not rate one or more of the 5 fit strikers, but if they are part of our squad (and 3 got in ahead of TC on Saturday) then why would we need to make another signing?

Add into this, Scott is supposed to be fit for Saturday. Benarous on the way back. Weimann, as I said, was borderline Saturday. You’re then looking at 3 of the 7 back within 2-3 weeks. McCrorie we don’t know as yet, ditto Kal. But if you look at it reasonably, we have (confirmed) two players in Rob and Tommy who are out for a reasonable length. That doesn’t seem unusual in a squad of 26. Particularly when most injuries are different as opposed to, as stated, all hammies.

Or we could all panic and just burn the witch. Your call.

We allocated squad numbers to 26 as you say but that includes 2 CBs who have not made their debuts yet& a 3rd keeper in Bajic. Rob & Tommy as you say are out, Benarous is returning after 2 ACL ruptures, Naismith struggling to stay fit & that’s not even mentioning those currently unavailable through hopefully short term injuries. All of a sudden that 26 man squad looks light & we’ve only had 1 game ! 
 

No panic but personally feel we are light at CB but all about opinions. 

31 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Out of interest, for all the Cornick bashing, I thought Sykes offered nigh on bugger-all when he came on.  One little exchange with Conway was about it.

Agree in that he didn’t offer much & thought Williams aside all the subs were disappointing. 

38 minutes ago, johnbytheriver said:

Starting line-up a joke! sykes and conway should have started.Can anyone tell me why we boughr cornick?,although his long throw led to a goal.We need to give mehmeti more of a chance,we are nothing but hype,hype,hype,and already cursed by injuries and bad referees which is not our fault of course.Sorry Nigel after all those pre-season so called friendlies your starting line-up was the conclusion you came to!?.Conway looks bigger,fitter and faster,and more hungry than last year,and sykes is far more effective than cornick and also has an eye for goal. .I'm not wild about Harry.Must do better Nigel 3 out of 10. 

I was surprised that Conway didn’t start but have to say that personally thought Wells was decent yesterday. As for Cornick, I so want him to succeed but he’s showing very little at this stage and Sykes for me every time. 

46 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

I suspect - based on a hunch rather than me knowing anything whatsoever - that the plan has always been to get one more CB in but we are waiting to see what happens with Scott in order to see what the budget is before deciding whether we want to spend a fee on a League One or Two player with future potential or to get an out of contract defender who can do a job for the season. At the same time, I wonder if Araoye is giving the club pause for thought on that score.

You’re probably right & certainly hope you are. Whilst saying Araoye had done well got the impression that NP thought the step up would be too great at this stage  &  a loan might be better for his development.  Just my interpretation though so probably wrong 

35 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

Leaves two specialist CBs until Atkinson fit. Naismith and McRorie options for sure and Roberts I know come through as a CB. We are probably fine but if someone we like becomes available I think we should look.

Vyner future up in the air. How does Atkinson fair upon return? Dickie coming off a not so decent season what if he doesn’t find form again? Unlikely everything is a negative there but we need to keep looking forward imo. 

I agree in that we need another CB. We went with same approach  that we will be ok in January where we tried for O’Brien after Klose was released. We ended up with Pring & Tanner playing CBs which we got away with as we probably knew we would be safe.  It was a risk worth taking at that time. 
 

Think it would  be reckless to go into season with just 2 fit CBs & listening to presser today it’s unlikely we will see youngsters start early doors if at all.   Why would we take a risk going into a new season full of optimism? 
 

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I’m not sure…not sure it’s his hair.  @Shuffle - is it TB?

Was due to play 

41 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

State of play that we know of seems to be us holding out for our price and clubs- most notably Wolves given their frequency of bidding- seeking to low-ball us.

No sign of Scott discontent although who knows if there is behind the scenes.

I think Scott would be desperate to move to Wolves as it’s his golden ticket and who could blame him. 

5 minutes ago, Tammy JR said:

Didn't think we were playing until Tuesday???

 

Playing Torquay at HPC today

23 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Not seen it officially reported anywhere but he featured for Wycombe yesterday in a behind closed doors match v Arsenal U21s.

Was told last week he was joining them permanently, but this suggests maybe a trial first.

Obvious by the fact he didn’t get taken to Austria that he could move on this summer.

Defence kept a clean sheet too. 

12 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Yep, plus West Ham have changed focus since the new Director of Football was appointed.

I would be very surprised if he’s not a Bournemouth player by the time we face Preston.

Be interesting to see if he plays today as if close, why risk an asset?

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

Really good news.

Bloke is a credit to himself & to the game, he’s won absolutely everything yet is a very humble, dedicated pro, the likes of Conway, Scott & Bell clearly love him.

Acknowledges that his availability in his first season meant he felt he’d let himself down so worked hard to make sure it improved, last season he had 100% availability, which is excellent for a 34 year old.

Pearson said when he took over he wanted to bring in the right people, no surprise he went back to Andy King & Matty James.

Good news & won a lot of doubters over (me included).  Still having an influence on the pitch but an even bigger one off it.

4 minutes ago, NcnsBcfc said:

Could be true there Mark.

Does a new CB mean that we're not going to give Vyner a new deal?

Although Kalas looks to be moving on, our general modus at the moment seems to be getting players in that can play a multitude of positions.

In that sense, one more CB and it could be bye bye Zak.

I certainly think that Vyner is wanted at club but I get the whole you’ve only had one really good season so an improved offer could follow pre Xmas if he demonstrates that it wasn’t a one off.  I suspect that Dickie will ultimately be first choice RCB & in Atkinsons absence we are LCB light.  Think Roberts and Pring are considered LBs who can cover so for me a new LCB required as prefer Naismith in MF.  Who knows though.

5 minutes ago, NcnsBcfc said:

Got to feel that any fee of £20m + add ons (potentially moving it up to £25m+) is one where we start serious talks.

Whether than is Bournemouth it doesn't really matter in my book. Money talks at the end of the day.

It would be interesting to think how that money would change our transfer dynamic over the next few weeks though (the plan B NP spoke about). 

Would we look to upgrade in positions we've already bolstered in the Plan A implemented thus summer so far.

Another 3-4 players and do we block the pathways of a number of the Academy players?

Sometimes having a larger budget comes with it's own issues and difficult decisions.

You would like to think that the four incomings were Plan A& B and Plan B is to strengthen areas such as CB,GK and maybe a forward.

RIP Chris & you will never be forgotten.  The headed goal from a yard against the Gas & the goals that helped keep us up at the end of our first season up  were priceless for different  reasons. I could go on & on about what he gave to the club and we will forever be grateful.

There’s a lot of football snobbery here about the Bournemouth which becomes irrelevant as they can offer the one thing we crave in Premiership football.  If they have a bid accepted and are the only option of course he will go there. I’m sure he will have other preferences but Bournemouth will raise his profile & if he does as well as we know he will, then he will move on again.

Had a chat with a gas head in the gym who didn’t like my opening comment that “I hear the Russian army are recruiting from Rovers as more convicts there than in Russia”

We then discussed the Brown signing & within a few minutes had gone from I’m not defending him but……… he only slapped her, he was drunk, he was racially abused & had his hair pulled & everyone makes mistakes.  No mention of spitting in her face and how would he feel if that lady was his wife or daughter.  I also said in essence if it was a shit player the club would have released the player if already there as per Wael’s statement pre Barton trial.

The bloke was getting more & more rattled and compared the incident with bankruptcy in 82 with the quote “where were your clubs morals when businesses and players weren’t paid!”

Strange lot at times.