Shuffle

I don’t think anyone genuinely thought we would make the play offs. Our strongest 11 is competitive with most top 10 teams but post Man City has killed us this season. Agree that out final third was poor yesterday & we certainly should have beat Reading. Have we made progress then yes we have in terms of breakthrough seasons for some, others clearly improving & a better style of play, even if league position come the end of season doesn’t improve. Sometimes we all need to be realistic with what we’ve got & we will lose games for sure & expectations low for next couple of games. One frustration from me is the lack of depth this season has shot us in foot but as long as we don’t repeat that again then overall I see green shoots of recovery. I accept we have cut costs but we left ourselves exposed imo.

Brilliant business done by them & they’re flying

Agree that lack of numbers are a huge problem. Looks like Easter games too soon for kalas & Naismith & god help us if James is injured. Being realistic any points over Easter are going to be a bonus. Injuries have killed us.

In fairness it was a weakened Reading side who were the worst I’ve seen this season

Funny how we watch the same game & come away with such different views but guess it’s all about opinions. Personally, though Weimann was terrible and wasted so many good opportunities to deliver one final quality ball. Not quite as bad as Memehti who despite having so much of the ball failed to deliver any end product. Add in Wells who I thought was poor then your top 3 offered next to nothing and that’s why I believe we didn’t win. All about opinions though.

Should be a good walk up contingent as most Saturday football will be postponed. Attendances have been very good this year.

Think he has to play at least 6 games and end season on a high to be in with a chance of a contract . It’s clear that Pearson really likes him & coupled with the fact that his girlfriend lives next door to her parents in their Long Ashton home, then there are other factors that may lead to him taking a reduction. Has to play though to even have a chance of an offer but think personally he stays if he proves fitness and accepts reduction.

Was given a 2 year deal which as you say expires in summer

Mystery solved…. Seemed a strange one but all clear now.

Two clean sheets in a row so puzzled as to why you would take Tanner out especially away from home. Tough one tonight & i would snatch your hand off for a point now. Good luck lads

Apparently we were talking to Castore as the new provider but they would only produce template kit whilst O,Neil’s would allow bespoke designs. No fan of this kit as others have said, the badge is horrendous.

The only surprise is Bell over Memehti but other than that with injuries it picks itself. The big risk tonight is their CBs at set plays as all 3 are big units.

Think I’d be tempted to go with 3 at the back for Huddersfield if honest & if that’s Tanner/Vyner/Pring or King then so be it. The squad is running with 21 players including Omar which now includes 4 senior players now unavailable, so leaves us light in numbers. Clearly the club felt they needed another CB as let’s face it Nige has said it practically all year and the move for the Palace lad shows that indeed they wanted one. If he had signed would anyone on here complain that we were bloating the squad unnecessarily & think we both know the answer to that. Naismith was playing CM at the time & Kalas had yet to kick a ball in anger after a lengthy spell out. The comments about depth were raised when window closed by numerous people and highlighted as a risk with the squad to shallow. We are where we are & not aimed at you as I’d call you to tell you directly if it was but there are people on the forum who jump on you if you have an opinion that doesn’t fit the narrative of Nige knows best. Nobody would disagree with that after the turn around in points and performance but the club are not above questioning. I appreciate that the CBs wouldn’t even be a talking point if injuries hadn’t happened & the club decided the risk was worth taking, rather than turn to plan b after Palace lad fell through. Fortunately, the risk to date has been worth it due to points accumulated but it could be a bumpy ride for the next 4 games.

Agree on Klose and it’s your opinion on Towler but 3 defenders left in Jan and not one came in despite Nige saying he needed to add there when all 3 were still on the books. My question is who is there to come in as we must of had confidence that there’s someone who could. Who is that ? Also, when Naismith is back, I don’t think he has ever played in a 2. Not sure it takes months as both Klose and Williams were playing in weeks rather than months.

I get Low going out on loan to gain experience & Towler wasn’t even at the club when he joined Portsmouth but it’s very telling that when we’ve had the chance to use 9 subs we didn’t have one CB from the u21s involved. We released Klose & sold Towler as we have better coming through in the clubs words but who is coming through and ready? Araoye looks decent but injured as is Knight Lebel so is there anyone who could be considered ready to cover our CB crisis or do we look at free agent market?

Weimann looks so off it at the moment and weakens us when he comes on. Do we bite the bullet and let him play back into form (numbers might dictate we might need to)? Think as you say it’s going to be ugly until after intl break. Personally, would play King & James & retain Scott in creative role. Wells has to start but we literally have no options at the back & whilst we have 2 key defenders injured (3 if you include Naismith) which you cannot legislate for, personally felt as you know the failure to strengthen the position Nige constantly said needed strengthening has bitten us on the ass. We are where we are but reality check in that we still have work to do & any play off talk was nonsense. The loss today in itself wasn’t bad but to lose Kalas and Williams was a disaster.

I must be a very pessimistic supporter as after years of disappointment, the sooner we can get to 50 points then I’ll be happy. Once safety is achieved then anything else is a bonus and squad will be massively stretched with suspensions and potential injuries. Now next season though?

I came out from the game and finally got a signal up by the Lions to see a Gas bloke in the gym who says he never tweets about us had sent 5 tweets from City giving scarfs to build atmosphere to Get in to every goal. This bloke who never tweets about us but has in the past month tweeted about Scott’s valuation being too high & we are deluded with his value, Why didn’t Mehmeti go to a non relegation threatened team, to what a mess our new kit is & our inability to sell out home games This bloke swears blind he doesn’t care about us but he cannot hide the jealousy & it’s bloody brilliant.

Has done really well since coming back into the team & new contract deserved. The noticeable difference now is that he will come and catch/punch crosses which with a small team is a big bonus. Is he the long term number 1 then it’s his to lose at the moment but suspect we will add a new keeper to the squad in summer. As @GrahamC says you need two good uns in a squad as a minimum.

As others have said, our best defender by far. Hope he can stay fit and earn a Wells type contract as too good to lose but has to be on reduced terms. Welcome back Thomas as you’ve been missed.

James reads the game superbly and intelligence & know how give him the yards he needs. Mr consistency and said it before we are always a better team when he plays. Williams was also excellent and looks really fit these days thank god as showing us his ability

Squad depth is a huge issue with King now covering CB & MF as you say. I’m not sure from what I’ve seen if any of the u21 cbs are ready but guess we might find out. I’d assume Pring would move centrally with JD coming in at LB if anything happens to kalas or Vyner. Big risk not strengthening at CB before window shut & could see some interesting team selection coming up.

In fairness he saved us a point at the end with a great save. Wasn’t as dominant in the air tonight but thought that was more down to Wigan’s excellent delivery. He’s done well but like you, is there better out there in the summer.

Happiest person tonight on this thread is Ian Gay as you’re all keeping him relevant.

Thought he was superb yesterday & as a testament to Rennie actually got better/stronger as the game went on. Great attitude & an opportunity to seize the shirt.