Now the dust has settled...

[Born and Red in 82]

2 hours ago, spudski said:

Funny how we as fans see it...I think everythingturned out right in the window in the end. Would rather have Adobe over Nketiah as he's proven and we need an experienced head.

Very True... Afobe has a point to prove and doubters to shut up so this could really work in our favour 

[Leveller]

The Nketiah debacle obviously wasn’t BCFC’s fault and it skewed everything else at the last minute. It’s hard to know whether Arsenal or the player led us up the garden path over the last few months, but it may well be that the Leeds interest genuinely emerged only at the end, and objectively you can’t blame them for making that choice. It all feels a bit dishonourable, but which of us, advising the player, would objectively have done any different? Their need was genuine after Roofe left, meaning Nketiah could be first choice. Ironically Nketiah also made himself look more desirable in the last few weeks. 

Our Plan B worked, even if it does look less glamorous right now.

[Born and Red in 82]

The whole last couple of days of the transfer window was doing my head In at work as I’m sure was the same for many on here!! Now things have settled I’m upbeat with the signings made I just hope that the Management/Coaches implement their plan and tactics fast into the team because the season could be over before we know it if this sudden new look team doesn’t gel fast.....it’s almost like LJ has excepted it hasn’t worked out with his previous signings and he is starting again..Big Risk though and little time to make it work...last week I was thinking a couple of additions and we could make the playoffs, now I’d be happy finishing in the top half! Important season for LJ 

[Kid in the Riot]

9 minutes ago, Leveller said:

The Nketiah debacle obviously wasn’t BCFC’s fault and it skewed everything else at the last minute. It’s hard to know whether Arsenal or the player led us up the garden path over the last few months, but it may well be that the Leeds interest genuinely emerged only at the end, and objectively you can’t blame them for making that choice. It all feels a bit dishonourable, but which of us, advising the player, would objectively have done any different? Their need was genuine after Roofe left, meaning Nketiah could be first choice. Ironically Nketiah also made himself look more desirable in the last few weeks. 

Our Plan B worked, even if it does look less glamorous right now.

Strong post. And don't forget Arsenal have to look after themselves. They clearly weren't willing to let Nketiah go until they had a striker lined up and then once they did were able to wait until the last day of the window to find the best possible club for young Edward. 

Difficult for us to criticise the decision to send him to Leeds given likelihood of promotion and the Bielsa factor.

[Top Robin]

Whilst we are focussing on Afobe to knock the goals in....our real concentration should be on the new boys in the midfield engine room. They will play a vital role as they will influence games, control games and ease any pressure on the defence whilst creating opportunities for the strikers. These boys need to step up in these areas where our previous players have let us down. 

[KeepUpLino]

3 hours ago, swanker said:

If we win and Afobe scores everyone will forget about what supposedly went wrong in the transfer window. 

I’m hoping for 3 points tomorrow and some optimism  for the rest of the season. 

Its already forgotten as is the Arsenal youngster... Incredible transfer window IMO... lets get behind LJ and the boys now

 

[Robbored]

1 hour ago, steviestevieneville said:

Can’t have everything. Not getting a centre half is a bit concerning . 

Don't understand letting pack leave when we have two new midfielders that’s never kicked a ball in English football . Although it’s very good money for Marlon . Just think it’s a strange decision .

Very happy though , who’d of thought we’d be signing players from Monaco and Benfica  

Thing is Stevie replacing a top player like Webster would be nigh on impossible. The guy is the best CB I’ve ever seen in a City shirt in over 50 years.Classy CBs like him are few and far between. 

That said, I saw enough from TM against Leeds to see him as likely replacement for AW. Yeah, he’s young and inexperienced at Championship level but with games under his belt he’ll undoubtedly improve and who knows maybe he’ll become the next AW.

 

 

CBs like him are very rare.

[KeepUpLino]

12 minutes ago, Top Robin said:

Whilst we are focussing on Afobe to knock the goals in....our real concentration should be on the new boys in the midfield engine room. They will play a vital role as they will influence games, control games and ease any pressure on the defence whilst creating opportunities for the strikers. These boys need to step up in these areas where our previous players have let us down. 

They can't do much worse than the ponderous Pack of late and the inconsistent Pato.... Can they? 

[red'tili'mdead]

2 hours ago, spudski said:

Funny how we as fans see it...I think everythingturned out right in the window in the end. Would rather have Adobe over Nketiah as he's proven and we need an experienced head.

How does this square with any form of wider transfer strategy that complements  our intended 19/20 style of play ? How is a direct striker who loves the channels like Afobe,  going to fit into the same style of play as a fox in the box line Nkheita ?

Afobe, was at least, our 3rd choice striker and probably a lot further down the pecking order than that. In all honesty you or I could have picked up the phone and signed him at 5pm yesterday. Stoke wanted shot of him and there were literally no other takers. There was no skill or strategy in his signing - plus no time to negotiate on salary, so Pack and Patterson were unceremoniously booted out the door to make head room.

What concerns me most is that this is so out of character for MA. The management of the window was fantastic up to this point. Am really excited about the Benfica RB and the new lads in midfield and totally get that strategy, as all should increase in value and Negy should have taken a lot of stress off, rather than replaced Pack.

Not replacing Webster at all  is very weird, as surely we knew that was always a domino that could fall? Moore, Wright and Baker can all do a job if fit, but is that enough for top 6 ? Most worryingly we don’t have any real LB cover for JD.  Is Rowe really going to fit into that  system ?

It all smells like SL refused to sanction the salary required for a top half champ striker and possibly another CB.

Not necessarily Steve’s fault if he was told by MA we could land one for circa £25k per week and the market then moved. Either way I think this collective failure could have massively set us back. There was a reason no one else wanted Afobe

If it hasn’t, and as we all hope, Afobe is a beast for us - then it’s going to be due to accident rather than design...

 

 

 

 

 

[steviestevieneville]

1 hour ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Strong post. And don't forget Arsenal have to look after themselves. They clearly weren't willing to let Nketiah go until they had a striker lined up and then once they did were able to wait until the last day of the window to find the best possible club for young Edward. 

Difficult for us to criticise the decision to send him to Leeds given likelihood of promotion and the Bielsa factor.

And this is why we need to know if  there was  a back up plan . If there was , then why not move on from Eddie by a certain date to give us time to get it over the line. 

[steviestevieneville]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Thing is Stevie replacing a top player like Webster would be nigh on impossible. The guy is the best CB I’ve ever seen in a City shirt in over 50 years.Classy CBs like him are few and far between. 

That said, I saw enough from TM against Leeds to see him as likely replacement for AW. Yeah, he’s young and inexperienced at Championship level but with games under his belt he’ll undoubtedly improve and who knows maybe he’ll become the next AW.

 

 

CBs like him are very rare.

I didn’t say someone as good or better but a replacement that’s good enough to contribute to a promotion push.

LJ said last season , he wouldn’t sell flint until we had Webster . This summer there was plenty of interest in Webster . Therefore why didn’t we get a replacement in before Webster left. 

[Robbored]

6 hours ago, steviestevieneville said:

I didn’t say someone as good or better but a replacement that’s good enough to contribute to a promotion push.

LJ said last season , he wouldn’t sell flint until we had Webster . This summer there was plenty of interest in Webster . Therefore why didn’t we get a replacement in before Webster left. 

I think LJ has faith in TM. Plus City have Baker and Wright who are capable at CB.

[spudski]

8 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Strong post. And don't forget Arsenal have to look after themselves. They clearly weren't willing to let Nketiah go until they had a striker lined up and then once they did were able to wait until the last day of the window to find the best possible club for young Edward. 

Difficult for us to criticise the decision to send him to Leeds given likelihood of promotion and the Bielsa factor.

I don't think you can argue with those facts, however I'm more interested in whether it was true that he just didn't turn up for his medical with no notification. If so...that says a lot about him as a person. By all means change your mind, but do the right thing, especially if a Club have spent time courting you. That sort of mud sticks and he's been badly advised if true. What goes around....

[Mad Cyril]

Not sure we have any right to know why player x or player y turned us down, or that it in anyway helps the players we have got, to air this in public.

Do you really want the club coming out with statements like "Nketiah said Leeds are better", "player X said we are shit", "wanted to get a player to replace Y but couldn't find one", "player Z laughed and said we had bugger all chance of promotion", or "yes Afobe was 7th choice but amazingly said yes" etc??

There is a reason why you wont hear your boss at work talk about the candidates that got away.

No, I would rather the club simply share Nketiah's personal address and contact details. That would help me to feel a lot better. Has anyone got a shoebox I could have?

[steviestevieneville]

40 minutes ago, Robbored said:

I think LJ has faith in TM. Plus City have Baker and Wright who are capable at CB.

He showed last week he’s not ready yet. You were shown the stats on this RR. I would genuinely love to be proved wrong and he steps up. 

[Bar BS3]

11 hours ago, Woodsy said:

I like the signing the more I think about it. If we can get the Wolves version back then we've hit the jackpot

Only 26 as well, would have had him 2 or 3 years older than that

One of his backside tomorrow would be lovely

If he’s fit, focused and on form - Afobe could turn out to be the best striker we’ve had in modern times. 

Or he could do a “Stern John”..! 

I’m hopeful he’s going to be what we’ve been missing. 

[Robbored]

29 minutes ago, spudski said:

I don't think you can argue with those facts, however I'm more interested in whether it was true that he just didn't turn up for his medical with no notification. If so...that says a lot about him as a person. By all means change your mind, but do the right thing, especially if a Club have spent time courting you. That sort of mud sticks and he's been badly advised if true. What goes around....

If him not turning up for a medical without informing anyone is true then that reflects badly on him but also says a great deal about how Bristol City are perceived outside of our region.

Im sure some footballers still see Bristol as a footballing backwater and that we’re a Micky Mouse outfit and see signing for us as a step down in standard.

[mozo]

8 hours ago, red'tili'mdead said:

How does this square with any form of wider transfer strategy that complements  our intended 19/20 style of play ? How is a direct striker who loves the channels like Afobe,  going to fit into the same style of play as a fox in the box line Nkheita ?

Afobe, was at least, our 3rd choice striker and probably a lot further down the pecking order than that. In all honesty you or I could have picked up the phone and signed him at 5pm yesterday. Stoke wanted shot of him and there were literally no other takers. There was no skill or strategy in his signing - plus no time to negotiate on salary, so Pack and Patterson were unceremoniously booted out the door to make head room.

What concerns me most is that this is so out of character for MA. The management of the window was fantastic up to this point. Am really excited about the Benfica RB and the new lads in midfield and totally get that strategy, as all should increase in value and Negy should have taken a lot of stress off, rather than replaced Pack.

Not replacing Webster at all  is very weird, as surely we knew that was always a domino that could fall? Moore, Wright and Baker can all do a job if fit, but is that enough for top 6 ? Most worryingly we don’t have any real LB cover for JD.  Is Rowe really going to fit into that  system ?

It all smells like SL refused to sanction the salary required for a top half champ striker and possibly another CB.

Not necessarily Steve’s fault if he was told by MA we could land one for circa £25k per week and the market then moved. Either way I think this collective failure could have massively set us back. There was a reason no one else wanted Afobe

If it hasn’t, and as we all hope, Afobe is a beast for us - then it’s going to be due to accident rather than design...

 

 

 

 

 

Hector at Chelsea was available for £5m. Why didn't we do that deal?

[downendcity]

23 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

He showed last week he’s not ready yet. You were shown the stats on this RR. I would genuinely love to be proved wrong and he steps up. 

For his first showing as Webster's replacement, Moore could not have had a tougher baptism than on Sunday

We could have paid £12m for a central defender to replace Webster and he might well have looked no better than Moore did against Leeds. It wasn't that Moore played badly but more that our midfield weren't at the races, surrendered the centre of the park and gave the defence no protection. Also Leeds were pretty damn good and will run plenty of teams ragged this season.

 

 

 

['Orns]

32 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

If he’s fit, focused and on form - Afobe could turn out to be the best striker we’ve had in modern times. 

Or he could do a “Stern John”..! 

I’m hopeful he’s going to be what we’ve been missing. 

Yeah, this.is either going to be wonderful or it's going to stink the place out

26 minutes ago, Robbored said:

If him not turning up for a medical without informing anyone is true then that reflects badly on him but also says a great deal about how Bristol City are perceived outside of our region.

Im sure some footballers still see Bristol as a footballing backwater and that we’re a Micky Mouse outfit and see signing for us as a step down in standard.

Said the same to a mate about how Bristol is perceived. Get someone a bit older who has been around a bit, Kalas, couldn't wait to get back and settle down here. A young lad like Nketiah, he doesn't want that. I think Bristol may surprise him on that front though

20 minutes ago, mozo said:

Hector at Chelsea was available for £5m. Why didn't we do that deal?

I read that Hector was set in a move to Wednesday. Don't know if it actually happened though?

[mozo]

2 minutes ago, Woodsy said:

Yeah, this.is either going to be wonderful or it's going to stink the place out

Said the same to a mate about how Bristol is perceived. Get someone a bit older who has been around a bit, Kalas, couldn't wait to get back and settle down here. A young lad like Nketiah, he doesn't want that. I think Bristol may surprise him on that front though

I read that Hector was set in a move to Wednesday. Don't know if it actually happened though?

No, they baulked at the £5m for a permanent transfer. I think he stayed at Chelsea

[spudski]

6 minutes ago, downendcity said:

For his first showing as Webster's replacement, Moore could not have had a tougher baptism than on Sunday

We could have paid £12m for a central defender to replace Webster and he might well have looked no better than Moore did against Leeds. It wasn't that Moore played badly but more that our midfield weren't at the races, surrendered the centre of the park and gave the defence no protection. Also Leeds were pretty damn good and will run plenty of teams ragged this season.

 

 

 

I don't think we've seen enough of Moore to judge yet.

Plus...you have to take into consideration whether players around him, trust him.

That effects others performances.

LJ likes the ball played out from the CB not having to rely on CDM to do it for them.

Can Moore do that? He showed signs.

If not...Nagy will be coming back deeper to set up play imo.

I hope Moore comes good and we don't have to go back into the market in January.

[Ring]

12 hours ago, spudski said:

Funny how we as fans see it...I think everythingturned out right in the window in the end. Would rather have Adobe over Nketiah as he's proven and we need an experienced head.

Let’s hope he’s a good ‘reader’ of the game. I understand he’s quite an Acrobat.

[spudski]

1 minute ago, Ring said:

Let’s hope he’s a good ‘reader’ of the game. I understand he’s quite an Acrobat.

Bloomin predictive text

[maxjak]

10 hours ago, Leveller said:

The Nketiah debacle obviously wasn’t BCFC’s fault and it skewed everything else at the last minute. It’s hard to know whether Arsenal or the player led us up the garden path over the last few months, but it may well be that the Leeds interest genuinely emerged only at the end, and objectively you can’t blame them for making that choice. It all feels a bit dishonourable, but which of us, advising the player, would objectively have done any different? Their need was genuine after Roofe left, meaning Nketiah could be first choice. Ironically Nketiah also made himself look more desirable in the last few weeks. 

Our Plan B worked, even if it does look less glamorous right now.

I think Roofes departure to Anderlect changed everything.......Suddenly Leeds needed a replacement striker, and as someome mentioned, Leeds DOF is best buddies with Emery.  If Roofe had not left, then NKetiah would probably have come here?.  Sometimes it only takes a little thing to prompt big changes?

[maxjak]

31 minutes ago, mozo said:

No, they baulked at the £5m for a permanent transfer. I think he stayed at Chelsea

Seems strange that we were not prepared to pay 26% of what we received for AW to sign a centre back?  Are you certain this is correct?

[bcfc01]

2 minutes ago, maxjak said:

Seems strange that we were not prepared to pay 26% of what we received for AW to sign a centre back?  Are you certain this is correct?

He means Sheff. Wed not us.

[bcfc01]

1 hour ago, steviestevieneville said:

He showed last week he’s not ready yet. You were shown the stats on this RR. I would genuinely love to be proved wrong and he steps up. 

How does he become "ready" for the championship if not by playing games ?

He looks to me to have all the credentials for this level, just needs the experience.

[Robbored]

1 hour ago, steviestevieneville said:

He showed last week he’s not ready yet. You were shown the stats on this RR. I would genuinely love to be proved wrong and he steps up. 

It was one game Stevie against a very very good Leeds team. Pretty much every City player struggled against them. TM was no exception.

However, Moore did well enough to get praised by both LJ and Deano.

All he needs are more Championship games to gain more experience at this level.

[mozo]

34 minutes ago, maxjak said:

Seems strange that we were not prepared to pay 26% of what we received for AW to sign a centre back?  Are you certain this is correct?

Yeah Sheffield Star quoting caretaker boss