Bristolcityyatton

OS has been updated with the fixture list and doesn't have the Oxford friendly... https://www.bcfc.co.uk/fixtures-results/mens-first-team/202324-fixtures/

The mix of the squad is looking quite good if we get Bryan and McCrorie. As you say, we have James, King, Weimann, Wells, Naismith who are all 30 -35 and then either or both of Kalas (recently turned 30) and Bryan (30 in september) O'Leary, Pring, Atkinson, Vyner, Williams, Sykes, Cornick, McCrorie will all be 25 to 29 next season. And then all the promising younger players.

ah yeh, thats a really good point - can't blame him for that. I would rather he stayed. Naismith, Atkinson, Vyner and Kalas would be a good set of centre backs. Hopefully next season knight-lebel and maybe Araoye will get their chance too.

On his day a fit Kalas would still be a top member of the squad but his availability has not been great since joining city. 155 games in 5 seasons is 31 games per season. Even if you take out this season its 147 in 4 seasons - 36 games a season. Compared to Weimann who has played 195 games in the same 5 seasons, despite his injury a couple of years back. Or Flint who played 246 in 5 years. Vyner with 122 games in the last 3 seasons has better availability despite being out of form/favour for periods.

Yeh my thought process was just that Atkinson will start the season injured and have to work his way back in. With cornick being a recent signing I presume he'll be starting once he gets up to speed. Like you say he hasn't done enough so far though. I was just playing with formations to try and fit Bryan and pring in the same team. I would actually prefer 4 at the back with Bryan and pring competing at left back but it seems a bit over the top to have two players of that quality for one position. I guess if we can afford it and Pearson can keep them both happy it would be great.

I know a lot of people say formations do not matter that much and there is a need to be flexible over the course of a season but I do think that the players we have, and the players we are rumoured to be signing don't really fit that well in the current formation. I also think we have too many forward options to play with just a front two ! The under 21s have been playing a 3-4-3 for a few weeks now, and I wonder if we will see this next year (or maybe against QPR as a trial ?) o'leary vyner - naismith - pring sykes - mccrorie - james - bryan cornick - conway - mehmeti

It does seem like a political statement. The name was changed after the Falklands war according to Wikipedia and there doesn't seem to be any other reason to name it after a group of disputed islands 2000km away from the stadium other than to make a point.

?

Interesting to see how Haikin performs. No Zak Bell or Knight-Lebel.... maybe rested in case they need to be on the bench for the first team ?

Looks like a change to 4-3-3, the same as the first team ? Haven't seen Francois mentioned for a while, has he been injured ?

Does anyone have any information about how Sam Pearson is getting on ? He seemed to be on his way out in the summer, had a loan at Yeovil, and has now returned and started the last 2 under 21 games. From the lineups it looks like he's playing upfront and seems to be involved in good attacking play, scoring or assisting.

Don't know if I'm being dumb, but who are the other two keepers with Bentley and O'Leary?

interesting comments, thanks for reporting. was josh owers playing left wingback ? We seem a bit short of leftback/wingbacks in the academy

Is he attacking enough to be weimann's understudy ? Sounds like he has similar energy.

I meant its the equivalent of the first year at university or the first year in the real world !

yeh thats how I understood it. with 1st year scholar being basically equivalent to school year 12, 2nd year scholars being year 13 and first year pros being equal to the first year of university (or the real world!) Pretty sure you can sign a contract at 17 though, so the most promising youngsters will sign pro before they would normally finish their scholarship - like kadji, bell and leeson did this season (I think so, anyway)

Its not entirely clear from this article but are Taylor-Clarke, Palmer-Houlden, Knight-Lebel and Boyd all currently second year scholars... the same as Zac Bell, Kadji and Leeson who have already signed pro deals? Callum Wood I think is the same age group as Benarous, Scott and Marley Francois ? currently first year pro, going to be second year pro next season. Big vote of confidence in him seeing as he's not played first team football yet. Anyone know which age group Tommy Backwell is in ? Lots of young players whose contract status I'm not sure of... Buse, Owers, Soady, Taylor, etc Final thought: the future looks bright for young centre backs: Towler, Idehen, Low, Wood, Knight-Lebel all on long(ish) term contracts.

Not entirely sure from the teamsheet but looks like a back 4 ? Soady-wood-Idehen-Z. Bell . Think the last under23 lineup was a back 4 as well after mainly playing with a 3 this season. Could be Pearson's influence if he is hoping to play 433 next season... I suppose the other option is benarous might have played left wing back again

I think Dasilva only has a year left too ? You could probably add Vyner to the list of players with no future. I guess they're not really part of what you're discussing but there's players like Morton, Janneh and Britton who are low earners on the very fringes of the first team but also need to be moved on. Overall, more than half the squad have question marks over their future!

Be great and a just reward for his all-round effort and improved finishing if he could get to 20 league goals for the season. I think only Tammy and Nicky Maynard have hit 20 at this level since I've been watching City.