Balloon dOr

Agreed, and potentially a reduced nest egg enhancer if he keeps firing blanks! If reading into his change in body language post Pearson (and possibly post Scott) departure is anything to go by, I’m worried he’s not going to be rushing to renew, but hopefully it’s just down to his baron spell. Fingers crossed Manning can get a tune out of him in the second half of the season

Unless there’s a realistic target out there on city’s transfer radar who can play up top on his own, I’d be looking to change the system to play Conway in a pair. His best form came from playing alongside Wells, and whether or not that was down to Wells in part, Conway is a real asset (now or as a future nest egg enhancer ) and we should be shaping the front line to his strengths. Play him alongside Cornick (or even Weimann) until Wells comes back from injury, whilst looking to bring in someone else to compliment Conway in the next window if feasible.

When he arrived he reminded me of an early version of Callum O’Dowda, in that he was willing to drive at the full backs and try a few tricks here or there to beat them to the line (didn’t always pay off but certainly got bums off seats). Like CoD that style seemed to dissipate over time, and Mehmeti didn’t seem the same player early this season, whether that’s it being coached out by NP, or just confidence after being dropped. Definitely have seen flashes of that again in the last few games. I personally would start him over Bell who I’m still not convinced by, but would be looking to strengthen that position in Jan.

Reading between the lines here could it be that Tinnion was the person ‘higher up’ that wanted King out of the starting xi in lieu of giving an academy player a go (J.James, Knight-Lebel etc), and that’s what’s triggered the final straw for the Pearson/board relationship?