Reply With QuoteEtete due to make his comeback from injury for Bolton at the weekend in a friendly against Everton.
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Meite would have to have a purple patch in the remaining games surely for that to happen.Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
I can’t see how the club would even consider offering him another contract based on what we’ve seen (or more importantly not seen) in terms of goals in the last two seasons.
Etete due to make his comeback from injury for Bolton at the weekend in a friendly against Everton.
Chris Martin wasn't fit enough to play for Bristol Rovers at Crawley yesterday so that left Michael Reindorf as the only striker available but he still didn't make the squad. From what I can make out they played with a midfielder as a kind of false nine along with a lot of other midfielders and the whole thing was a shambles, they lost 1-0 to a side 12 points below them in the table. There's nothing to contradict manager Calderon's statement that it's simply a case of Reindorf being poor in training but even Kanga was getting on the bench here when he was taking poor to another level so we can only guess, for now, at what's happened there.
No action for our other loaned out players, Millwall, Kortrijk and Stevenage were gameless, Joel Colwill is with Wales u-21s, Kieron Evans and Jake Dennis didn't get off the bench for their sides and still no sign of Baylin Johnson or Joe Thomas. Kion Etete should be playing for Bolton at Everton later today although he didn't make it through the warm-up last time he made the squad so let's not call it quite yet.
Lots of Rovers fans very unhappy with Calderon's team selection yesterday. They finished the game with defender up front and were by all accounts dreadful in losing to a side that looked doomed to relegation before yesterday.
What do you make of it? I'm baffled.
If Reindorf has had a massive falling out with Calderon then I'd have thought he'd have been sent back by now, as James Crole was at Torquay after falling out with Gary Johnson.
So it looks like it's not terminal for Reindorf there but if Calderon isn't going to play him when he's got no strikers and would prefer to play a 17-year-old Academy lad last week and a defender up front this then when is he going to play him?
Maybe Reindorf's form has dropped off a cliff in training but that's one hell of a drop if so. We had a loan deal set up with Notts County in January but obviously felt he could handle a spell in League 1 so he went to Rovers instead. In just over a month he's been overtaken by a kid and a central defender and can't get in a squad which 'lacks energy' and where no one has scored more than 5 league goals this season.
Hard to make sense of really. If Calderon is trying to make some kind of point by leaving Reindorf out then it feels like he's cutting off his nose to spite his face, whatever his thinking behind it. I remember Frank Burrows freezing Earnie and Christian Roberts out of the picture here in a poor season, it wasn't a good look.
I have no idea what has happened with Reindorf, but it does sound like the manager is being spiteful. I've no doubt Reindorf isn't performing that well, even Rovers manager can't be that stupid, But when a coach or a manager takes a dislike to a player they can be brutal, i've seen it happen, albeit at a lower level than where Reindorf is at. It could even be a slap in the face towards the owners, maybe Calderon wanted an older head, more experience, maybe he never wanted Reindorf, and maybe reindorf is in the middle of a little power struggle. There's the possibility he's gone all 'Billy's Boots' and has lost the ability to actually play the game, but surely that's unlikely. Could well be a power struggle, petulance from the manager, we have all seen first hand what happened between Tan and Malky and the complete shut out towards Etien Velikonja, He never recovered........
That's true, Malky never did recover from shutting out Velikonja, it was the beginning of the end for him. Calderon should take note.
It's an odd situation with Reindorf and there are a number of possibilities as to what's gone wrong, you've come up with some plausible explanations there. I'll keep an eye on it.
By the way, over 25,000 turned up to watch Everton u-21s play Bolton B in a friendly today. While some would've gone to have a look at Everton's new ground, I guess the majority were there to watch Kion Etete's comeback. He played the first 45 minutes for Bolton in a 1-0 defeat.
I'm sure Luke Matheson was turning out for Bolton's reserves after his release by Wolves, didn't play a game for Wolves after his whirlwind transfer to them after scoring for Rochdale against United at old Trafford in the FA cup as a 16 year old. Etete could go the same way as Matheson after his huge transfer to us ftom those plucky underdogs, Spurs.... Here's hoping Etete can show what he's about in the run in for Bolton, they may make us an offer...
Equally baffled. It does look like it must be something personal, given their absence of any other strikers. They're teetering just above the relegation zone though, so that's a risky game to play if that's the case.
Before I start this week's report, a quick reply to all the posters who've been messaging me - yes, I will be bringing out a review of this campaign's loan deals again this season. '...and Jake Dennis didn't get off the bench for Oldham' will be available from Amazon and good bookshops when the season finishes in May (or mid-July if Ryotaro Tsunoda goes deep in the Belgian play-offs). I'm not sure where the book signing will be yet, Waterstones weren't happy last year because the queue blocked their fire exits so I may have to upgrade this time round.
With Tsunoda not in action till later today, I haven't got much to work with this week. Winston Churchill once said that success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm and I need to bear that in mind here. To be fair, a few lads got a start this week but it was defeats for all of them.
Eli King put in another good performance for Stevenage as they lost 1-0 at Orient, Kieron Evans got 90 minutes in for Newport as they lost at home to Notts County and a feeble performance from Exeter saw them lose 2-0 at home too, to Wrexham. There seem to be mixed views on Joel Colwill among Exeter fans. He was subbed after 67 minutes yesterday, he worked hard and troubled the keeper with a good shot but didn't have much impact on the game overall. Most of the blame there seems to lie with manager Gary Caldwell, the style of play upsets the fans and doesn't seem to suit Joel.
While Exeter appear to be safe, Bristol Rovers are only six points clear of Burton and Crawley after a 2-1 home defeat to Mansfield. Their goal was scored by Romaine Sawyers, who got 70 minutes yesterday. I've no issue with Sawyers and good luck to him, just seems an interesting selection for a manager who's been complaining about a lack of energy in his side lately. No place for Michael Reindorf in the squad again, even the local paper seems to have given up trying to understand what's happened there. The way Rovers' strikers have been dropping out recently (Chris Martin out for the season now), it's been a real chance missed for Reindorf to make an impression there, whatever the reasons.
Kion Etete came on as a late sub for Bolton in their defeat at Blackpool, Jake Dennis didn't get off the bench for Oldham as they lost at Southend and Ryan Wintle didn't make the Millwall squad as they lost at Sunderland. All eyes on Kortrijk then as they enter the relegation play-offs with a 6 point deficit to make up. They play Cercle Brugge at home this afternoon, Ryotaro Tsunoda starts.
Kortrijk drew 2-2 with Cercle Brugge earlier and, as Eric says in his thread, they remain 6 points off safety. They'd won their last two games and went ahead after 14 minutes today but then got a red card twenty minutes later and were 2-1 down going into injury time before getting an equaliser. Tsunoda played the ninety minutes.
Only one way to start this week's round-up, Michael Reindorf is back in the game. I'm not sure what's happened between him and manager Inigo Calderon but it looks like hatchets have been buried, hands shaken and a truce declared. With Bristol Rovers hovering above the relegation zone, Reindorf still has the chance to turn this loan spell around. A last minute winner on the final day of season to save Rovers, carried from the pitch on the shoulders of excited fans, a warm embrace with Calderon before walking into the arms of the beautiful woman that everyone fancies? A film to follow with Adam Sandler playing Reindorf? Stranger things have happened. I may be getting a bit ahead of myself here, Reindorf was an unused sub as Rovers lost 1-0 at Bolton yesterday, but let's stay positive for now.
Reindorf wasn't the only unused sub yesterday. Kion Etete stayed on the bench for Bolton in the same game, Ryan Wintle didn't get on for Millwall and an illness hit Joel Colwill didn't for Exeter either having missed their midweek game altogether. Oldham didn't have a game yesterday but I expect Jake Dennis sat on a bench somewhere at 3.00 for a couple of hours out of habit. Eli King didn't start for Stevenage but did get on for the final 15 minutes and apparently 'got stuck in' as Stevenage scored two late goals to beat Crawley 3-1. Eli started in the week and played well in a loss to Stockport.
A goal for Kieron Evans yesterday. A nice touch and finish as he got behind Carlisle's backline to put Newport 1-0 up and that soon became 2-0 but they ended up losing 3-2 to Mark Hughes' side. Kadeem Harris had a good game for Carlisle. Ryotaro Tsunoda starts for Kortrijk this afternoon as they play at STVV in a relegation play-off game, they're now seven points from safety with five games left so it's pretty much a must-win game for them.
So there's light at the end of the loan tunnel by the looks of things. Funny you should mention Kadeem Harris, Would he still be considered a youngster if he was still with us? Great report, Thanks.👍
I like Kadeem. Him and Rhys Healey couldn't have done much more to make it here but it never quite happened for them. In and out of the first team squad, out on loans, endless games for the u-21s but they always seemed committed to doing their best and I don't remember a bad word being said about either of them. Apart from on here, of course.
Kortrijk won 3-0 after, good result. They play the bottom team twice in a row now so they've still got a chance. Tsunoda played the 90 minutes, in a back three by the look of it.
Harris was the best crosser of the ball (in my opinion) out of the wide players we had back then, good weight on the ball and accurate. I actually don't think that Tsunoda actually exists....
A quick update on our loaned out players before this weekend's action.
Nothing much to report domestically, Eli King and Kion Etete both missed their teams' games on Saturday, Joel Colwill and Kieron Evans came on as subs in theirs and Ryan Wintle didn't get on for Millwall. Jake Dennis didn't even get on the bench for Oldham, they're back to two senior keepers again so his run of bench warming has come to an end.
One thing to mention though is that Stevenage's local paper has done an update on player ratings for the season. Eli King has gone from C- before Xmas to B+ now, he's their most improved player apparently and someone the club should be looking to sign for next season. Except the journalist expects him to be playing for us, especially if we should (somehow) get relegated.
Whatever the problem has been between Inigo Calderon and Michael Reindorf at Bristol Rovers it looks like that's a hill Calderon is prepared to die on as Reindorf was left out of the squad again on Saturday and Rovers lost again, for the sixth game in a row. They've now dropped into the bottom four, they travel to Wrexham tomorrow and Burton, who moved above them on Saturday, have a game in hand. Welcome to our world guys.
Kortrijk are on a roll in the Belgian play-offs. A 3-2 victory over Dirk Kuyt's Beerschot means that a win in the return match tomorrow evening will leave them either level or a point behind the second placed team with two games left. First place would ensure their safety, second would put them in a play off to decide their fate. Ryotaro Tsunoda played the ninety minutes on Saturday and, presumably, will be a key player again tomorrow. Beerschot are based in Antwerp, which is the only place I've ever been to with an all-you-can-drink restaurant. Probably not relevant here but I thought I'd pass it on anyway.
The season is petering out for our loaned players. It started full of promise but has become an anti-climax, brief hopes of an upturn just turned out to be a false dawn and it feels like it'll be a relief when it's all over. Sounds familiar but I'm not sure why.
This doesn't apply to Ryotaro Tsunoda, by the way. He seems to be having a strong finish to the season at Kortrijk as they try to escape relegation. Their play-off campaign continues this Friday, not last Friday as I said last week. Apologies for the mistake, clueless.
Same old, same old for the rest although Joel Colwill did get 90 minutes in for Exeter in a defeat at Crawley on Monday. Sub appearances for Ryan Wintle, Kieron Evans and Kion Etete (who had six touches in a 25 minute cameo against Wycombe but none within 25 yards of the Wycombe goal. Bolton have collapsed and fallen out of the play-off race, maybe they should've got an experienced manager like Steven Schumacher in).
No sign of Eli King lately. I'm assuming he's got an injury but it's been a hard season to follow. Most of Stevenage's stuff is behind a paywall and Alex Revell seems to be a slightly random manager so it's guesswork making sense of Eli's progress at times. Saying that, it's a piece of cake compared to making sense of what's happened with Michael Reindorf at Bristol Rovers. Rovers lost another striker to injury on Monday, in another home defeat, but whether that means Reindorf finally comes in from the cold we'll have to wait and see.
Kieron Evans. What was that new contract all about? Odd then. Even odder now.
With the possible exception of Joel Colwill at Cheltenham at the beginning of the season, none of our loanees have had much success. My Bolton mate said Etete has been truly awful for them! Are we stuck with him again next season?
Till June '27, yes.
What has your mate made of Schumacher, by the way? I know they've been badly hit by injuries but I'm surprised how they've fallen away.
Try and get some money for him presumably
Or getting him some experience for our winning League 2 campaign in 26/27?
Thanks for the latest report. Unless we're assuming Salech or Simic will leave then Etete's new contract is another baffling one. Although it's baffling anyway cos I don't think he's good enough even for L1.
Given our probable demotion will we have to go even further down the pyramid to secure loans next year? What's it like mining the Combined Counties League for info?
I know what you mean but I don't mind those one-year extensions really. If the player impresses pre-season then bring them into the squad, if not then send them out on loan where, presumably, most or all of their (relatively small) wages will be covered. We did it with Conte and Fagan-Walcott too. It's more of an issue when you can't secure a loan for them, as happened with Tom Davies, or they get sent back, as happened with Conte, but I don't see it as a big issue.
Can't be harder than Stevenage.
Thanks for your efforts this season.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it's a shame we didn't leave Colwill at Cheltenham and tell Rovers no thanks when they hijacked Reindorf's loan to Notts County. If they were that keen on him maybe we should have slapped an appearance clause onto the agreement.
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