The next time Bristol Rovers play, on New Year’s Day when they visit Wycombe Wanderers, the January transfer window will be open.
While Matt Taylor has acknowledged that he doesn’t anticipate Bristol Rovers “to be overly busy” during the January transfer window, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of adding players to his roster during that time.
Director of football at Peterborough United Barry Fry has previously revealed that the Gas have informed Posh that they will not be pursuing striker Jonson Clarke-Harris again after failing to re-sign the 29-year-old on deadline day during the summer transfer window.That does not, however, imply that Rovers will not look to acquire players.
Although the positions being targeted are still unknown, you would think that adding a second center-back and perhaps a striker would help given the limited numbers, as is the situation at left-back where Lewis Gordon is already sidelined and George Friend is set to be out for the long term.
But as usual, January is a bloated transfer window, so you wouldn’t expect Taylor to push for a signing unless it would significantly strengthen his team.
Regarding possible departures, that’s also not obvious at the moment because Chris Martin’s future is a topic of much debate following his brace against Charlton Athletic on Friday night. Upon arriving as a free agent in September, the 35-year-old signed a short-term contract that is expected to expire on January 26 unless an extension is agreed upon.
“I think we’ve got to be realistic – we’re not going to be overly busy,” Taylor said when asked about what Gasheads may anticipate from Rovers in terms of business in January. More so because our team is strong and cohesive, and they are playing a specific way, so I have to be careful not to upset them or deviate from their course, but you’re always searching for ways to get better. Jamie McAllister’s arrival as a coach was just highlighted; the same is true for players.
However, January represents the worst market as it is a fake market. Everybody has an inflated price. Generally speaking, players aren’t available unless it’s extremely expensive. However, we want to take the initiative, therefore we’ll start constructing in this window and the following one in the direction we want to go.”
On January 1, there won’t be any business as the Gas go to Wycombe Wanderers hoping to win three straight, a feat they haven’t accomplished this season. But with the team’s thrilling victories against Portsmouth and Charlton Athletic, as well as their away victory over Bolton Wanderers two weeks ago, there is possibly the finest atmosphere the team has had all season.
The Pirates advanced to the FA Cup third round and took 10 out of a possible 15 points during a challenging league run, demonstrating Taylor’s development in his team. They now go to a Wycombe team that hasn’t won in the league since October 7 in an attempt to avenge their August 2-1 loss to the Chairboys at the Mem.
After Charlton’s victory, Taylor was asked about his team’s buy-in and Wycombe’s challenge. He responded, “[I’m] Pleased.” Nothing is more satisfying than winning football games, particularly when you score in the final seconds and enjoy the process of winning along with the performances.
“We’re playing against a strong team away from home. Although we’ve completed the year successfully, it would be fantastic to start the new year strong as well. New Year’s Day presents a different challenge.
“We had a bad start to the evening. We need to start better than we did tonight since Charlton had only a few opportunities in the first half, if any, including hitting the crossbar early and having a handful of set pieces. As I’ve already indicated, Wycombe’s team will always have a physicality, so we need to have a very clear idea of what we want to accomplish when we go there. However, it’s a generally nice pitch with room that will work for our football team and the athletes we have.
But the football match is entertaining. I hope we have good support. Given the Christmas season and our past performance, I have no doubt that we will. It’s important to support the group’s confidence, but it’s also important that the supporters have some as well. Making it three straight victories would be a memorable occasion since we have an FA Cup weekend coming up, which gives us some much-needed relaxation and league-approved recuperation time.
Rovers now find themselves looking up the table heading into the second half of the season, as is normal after three wins in a row. With 23 league games remaining, the Gas have games in hand over several close teams, which gives them a nine-point edge in the standings.
The Gas manager, however, insisted that his squad still has a long way to go, saying, “Let’s be honest, we’re playing catch-up and it’s a big gap to catch up.” The gap is enormous even given the outcomes we’ve been receiving. Because of what has already occurred, adjustments or other changes have been made, and we are currently playing catch up. Three points will get us a long way, so we’ll keep pushing and might even have to take a chance on losing occasionally. However, we must begin to reclaim that one game at a time.
“There is still plenty to play for, but I would much rather be nine points ahead of where I am now than nine points below. All we need to do is keep learning what we can while developing as a group. I’m working hard to get this squad to find ways to win games rather than throw them away. Although we performed as well as we did in the first half, I didn’t think we were as cohesive in the second half. Afterward, we needed to find a way to score two more goals and win the game.
“We didn’t nearly do that tonight, but occasionally you could still see a hint of naivety. In those situations, we have to keep getting better—and even more so when facing a team like Wycombe.
“But like I mentioned before, once you win those games, you don’t want to change. As a manager, I’ve always been aware that players require rest and energy, but ultimately, we have to fulfill our job obligations since this is what we signed up for when we wanted to play football. We are fortunate to be able to watch other people play the game.
“For me it’s a mindset towards what can be achieved and also what we spoke about earlier was that when the legs aren’t quite there or it’s not quite happening, can the bench or can the squad affect it?”
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