big week ahead.

[Hampshire reds]

A decent performance today but another home defeat and no goals. one week left of the transfer window i think steve and the board have got to decide if money can be made available for a couple of signings.  if not a real tough season is ahead for the club.

[Kodjias Wrist]

12 minutes ago, Marco the red said:

Definitely need a couple of signings. Especially a winger and forward. 

Well can we afford it ? Certainly must be some outgoings expected. Interestingly the commentator stated tonight that the wage bill was cut by 15 % ? from last season. I would have assumed it would have been more considering but we did resign Weimann and Bakes.

Can we get a decent young cheap loan from the prem? Every other club seems to benefit from it.

[Aslanovic]

22 minutes ago, Kodjias Wrist said:

Well can we afford it ? Certainly must be some outgoings expected. Interestingly the commentator stated tonight that the wage bill was cut by 15 % ? from last season. I would have assumed it would have been more considering but we did resign Weimann and Bakes.

Can we get a decent young cheap loan from the prem? Every other club seems to benefit from it.

Pretty sure we’ve benefited from it with Tammy, Jay, Palmer?? Walsh??? Kent??????

[TomThumb84]

Just think where we would be if we got even 30% back on transfer fees paid out for Diedhiou, Walsh, Watkins, Hunt for starters.

Theres your winger and centre-forward.

Absolute dereliction of duty by Ashton not selling them or tying them down. Professional incompetence not knowing if they would re-sign and then not acting accordingly.

Asleep at the wheel dreaming of a shiny new Ipswich shaped car.

Shocking.

[Kodjias Wrist]

6 minutes ago, Aslanovic said:

Pretty sure we’ve benefited from it with Tammy, Jay, Palmer?? Walsh??? Kent??????

Yes that was 3 seasons ago ? Thats my point .

[1960maaan]

I think we would all like 2/3 transfers in, problem is , it ain't gonna happen.
I would say signing Simpson means he plus Vyner will fight for RB. While having Pring & JD fighting for LB we won't strengthen there either.
I could maybe see a striker coming in, but even then it may depend on Brownhill's move to free up money. 
18 months without any income, and remember that includes off field income too, means there just isnt the cash.

Even loans, I would have thought if there was going to be a player or two in on loan, it would have happened by now. 

I honestly think we are stuck with what we have until we sell or Brownhill moves. If what Chris Honour said on RB is true*, they may be forced into something. But otherwise I really do think this is it, at least until the Jan window.

[Loco Rojo]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhh for the last ******* time FFP!!!!! STOP STARTING STUPID GOB SHITE THREADS LIKE THIS without understanding it's not because Landsdown isn't willing to invest. 

Enough people have pointed FFP and ZERO income over the last c17 months as an excuse for why we cannot spunk the cash for ***** sake. 

Shit the bed you absolute grade A Football Manager dreamer, mods, give me a warning, I no longer care tit.

[Supersonic Robin]

1 hour ago, Hampshire reds said:

A decent performance today but another home defeat and no goals. one week left of the transfer window i think steve and the board have got to decide if money can be made available for a couple of signings.  if not a real tough season is ahead for the club.

After tonight's performance, are you really THAT worried about the season ahead if we don't make any more signings?

Of course it would be nice to strengthen in certain areas, but I'm not too concerned about us as we are (e.g. we shouldn't be anywhere near the relegation zone)

[Davefevs]

Can see Kalas playing RB next Saturday.  Thought Simpson was fine tonight (I'll be in minority I know), but Cardiff will sling it in the box.

14 minutes ago, Supersonic Robin said:

After tonight's performance, are you really THAT worried about the season ahead if we don't make any more signings?

Of course it would be nice to strengthen in certain areas, but I'm not too concerned about us as we are (e.g. we shouldn't be anywhere near the relegation zone)

nor me.

[hooered]

30 minutes ago, Supersonic Robin said:

After tonight's performance, are you really THAT worried about the season ahead if we don't make any more signings?

Of course it would be nice to strengthen in certain areas, but I'm not too concerned about us as we are (e.g. we shouldn't be anywhere near the relegation zone)

I not so sure the effort was there but the quality is missing IMO we are in desperate need of a quality finisher and a defensive midfielder in the Gerry Gow mold who can break up play around our box Massingo tries but is a little light weight if we don't get these in I can see as Hampshire Red said a long season ahead with a dodgy end of season

[Rocking Red Cyril]

36 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Can see Kalas playing RB next Saturday.  Thought Simpson was fine tonight (I'll be in minority I know), but Cardiff will sling it in the box.

nor me.

I hope he does, Simpson looks shocking. No pace, fitness, tackling ability , poor passing . He looks shot away away to me . 

Unless Kalas goes RB, baker with Atkinson plus dasilva long term a RB is no. 1 needed new signing 

[Bar BS3]

1 hour ago, TomThumb84 said:

Just think where we would be if we got even 30% back on transfer fees paid out for Diedhiou, Walsh, Watkins, Hunt for starters.

Theres your winger and centre-forward.

Absolute dereliction of duty by Ashton not selling them or tying them down. Professional incompetence not knowing if they would re-sign and then not acting accordingly.

Asleep at the wheel dreaming of a shiny new Ipswich shaped car.

Shocking.

You think we'd sign any decent striker AND a winger for £2million...?

[TomThumb84]

2 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

You think we'd sign any decent striker AND a winger for £2million...?

You dont think we could get a decent striker AND winger on loan for a season for a million quid each?

[Bar BS3]

4 minutes ago, TomThumb84 said:

You dont think we could get a decent striker AND winger on loan for a season for a million quid each?

Striker, probably not. 

Winger, yeah maybe - but yous not mentioned that is would be wasted on loan signings to develop another teams youngster's. 

We've got enough of our own youth to develop, if we have no expectation on achieving anything. 

 

I couldn't make it tonight, so can't comment to much. Sounds like their were some positives to take from it, but our record under our big name manager, that everyone wanted, really doesn't stack up well against all those then the majority wanted out. 

As long as we stay up, I'm prepared to give him this season as a building block - but to be sat here, not bothers in the slightest, to have missed a home game (one of only a hanfull in probably 20 years) concerns me more than anything. 

I feel no inspiration whatsoever right now. 

[TomThumb84]

1 minute ago, Bar BS3 said:

Striker, probably not. 

Winger, yeah maybe - but yous not mentioned that is would be wasted on loan signings to develop another teams youngster's. 

We've got enough of our own youth to develop, if we have no expectation on achieving anything. 

 

I couldn't make it tonight, so can't comment to much. Sounds like their were some positives to take from it, but our record under our big name manager, that everyone wanted, really doesn't stack up well against all those then the majority wanted out. 

As long as we stay up, I'm prepared to give him this season as a building block - but to be sat here, not bothers in the slightest, to have missed a home game (one of only a hanfull in probably 20 years) concerns me more than anything. 

I feel no inspiration whatsoever right now. 

We were decent and unlucky against horrible opponents tonight. We are already so much better than last year.

My original point was that Nigels starting point is horrendous due to the previous regime using us as a vehicle to run into the ground whilst having an eye on a new one.

Transition - could have gone down last year - should be ok this year - Pearson best man for the job.

The Gate is a shadow of itself at the moment however and 12 without a win at home should be headline stuff and we have a duty to make it a cauldron and dare I say uncomfortable for all until we spark into action at home.

[Bar BS3]

1 minute ago, TomThumb84 said:

We were decent and unlucky against horrible opponents tonight. We are already so much better than last year.

My original point was that Nigels starting point is horrendous due to the previous regime using us as a vehicle to run into the ground whilst having an eye on a new one.

Transition - could have gone down last year - should be ok this year - Pearson best man for the job.

The Gate is a shadow of itself at the moment however and 12 without a win at home should be headline stuff and we have a duty to make it a cauldron and dare I say uncomfortable for all until we spark into action at home.

People can't just blame Mark Ashton for repeatedly shit results. 

Glad he's gone, appreciate there is a mess to sort out, but 1 win in, what, 15 games for NP is atrocious, whatever way you look at it. 

We basically played Swansea reserves tonight and still lost.we couldn't beat Blackpool, who are likely to finish bottom. 

We've been outplayed by a league 2 team in the Cup. 

 

I'll feel more positive when we have something positive to base it on. 

Hope I'm wrong and someone throws this post back at me in a month or 2's time. 

To be praying we get to 45/50 points for satiety ASAP isn't something we've endured under any other recent manager and right now it's looking somewhat unlikely that it will be comfortably achieved. 

[TomThumb84]

Just now, Bar BS3 said:

People can't just blame Mark Ashton for repeatedly shit results. 

Glad he's gone, appreciate there is a mess to sort out, but 1 win in, what, 15 games for NP is atrocious, whatever way you look at it. 

We basically played Swansea reserves tonight and still lost.we couldn't beat Blackpool, who are likely to finish bottom. 

We've been outplayed by a league 2 team in the Cup. 

 

I'll feel more positive when we have something positive to base it on. 

Hope I'm wrong and someone throws this post back at me in a month or 2's time. 

To be praying we get to 45/50 points for satiety ASAP isn't something we've endured under any other recent manager and right now it's looking somewhat unlikely that it will be comfortably achieved. 

I respect your opinion, however, I firmly blame Mark Ashton for out current situation, and by proxy Steve and Jon Lansdown for allowing it to happen.

In respect of that, I firmly support Nigel Pearson, and we were unlucky against Blackpool after controlling the game for much of it, we did not play Swansea Reserves, maybe 3 would have made their side - could argue the same with us with Williams, fully fit Semenyo and O’Dowda, and we were better than them, and we were not outplayed by FGR - we lost on pens after making 11 changes. And I for one am glad we are out. 

Still - perspective is everything sir.

[Fuber]

2 hours ago, Aslanovic said:

Pretty sure we’ve benefited from it with Tammy, Jay, Palmer?? Walsh??? Kent??????

Was Walsh on loan? Could have sworn he was compo leaving Everton, having been at Brum on loan.

As for Kent. I think he's the reason we stopped bothering for the most part. At very least I'd think we'd avoid Liverpool. Scum of a club to loan from.

[Hampshire reds]

i know its only 4 games in but the signs are there if we dont do something about it. i know its not easy. 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

7 hours ago, Hampshire reds said:

A decent performance today but another home defeat and no goals. one week left of the transfer window i think steve and the board have got to decide if money can be made available for a couple of signings.  if not a real tough season is ahead for the club.

Wondered how long the doomest of doom merchants would take to pipe up. Was always going to be a difficult season - still will be with a couple of signings. Going to be a real test of strength for us supporters during this transition / culture change at the club. 

[MC RISK77]

5 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Can see Kalas playing RB next Saturday.  Thought Simpson was fine tonight (I'll be in minority I know), but Cardiff will sling it in the box.

nor me.

Nope sorry Dave, Simpson looks all of his 34 years now. I thought both of our full backs were poor last night and they bossed us in the wide positions.

It looked like especially in the first half that they were targeting Simpson and on a couple of occasions they doubled up on him. Scott while exciting going forward I think needed to help him more defensively.

I like Baker so would not mind Kalas at right back but surely the preference would be to bring a right back in if we can free funds up.

[Hampshire Red]

Farewell Loco, your 'contributions' to a City forum will never be missed and your language/knowledge would even disgrace a Gas forum. Good luck there 

The OP makes a valid contribution and rightly wants us to return to the relative success of being competitive in this division. NPs record (if SL fired him) would be the worst in our history but that won't happen  and NP will get it right this season. 

[Fordy62]

1 hour ago, Hampshire Red said:

Farewell Loco, your 'contributions' to a City forum will never be missed and your language/knowledge would even disgrace a Gas forum. Good luck there 

The OP makes a valid contribution and rightly wants us to return to the relative success of being competitive in this division. NPs record (if SL fired him) would be the worst in our history but that won't happen  and NP will get it right this season. 

Stop pretending you’re a different person. 

[Davefevs]

9 hours ago, Fuber said:

Was Walsh on loan? Could have sworn he was compo leaving Everton, having been at Brum on loan.

As for Kent. I think he's the reason we stopped bothering for the most part. At very least I'd think we'd avoid Liverpool. Scum of a club to loan from.

Walsh was permanent signing £900k and allegedly £8/9k p.w wages!

4 hours ago, MC RISK77 said:

Nope sorry Dave, Simpson looks all of his 34 years now. I thought both of our full backs were poor last night and they bossed us in the wide positions.

It looked like especially in the first half that they were targeting Simpson and on a couple of occasions they doubled up on him. Scott while exciting going forward I think needed to help him more defensively.

I like Baker so would not mind Kalas at right back but surely the preference would be to bring a right back in if we can free funds up.

He does look 34, but he still was fine last night…I’m not saying he was brilliant or anything like that, but fine.  For an hour him and Scott did ok together.  Semenyo lost us a bit of shape, and he makes for receiving angles….just stands on the touch line.

Not trying to change anyone’s mind, but….

….prof to those who say he doesn’t go over the halfway line.

In an ideal world, We’d have better players all over the pitch, but we are where we are.  He didn’t let anyone down last night, he’s the fans whipping boy, and too many are viewing through brown-tinted glasses.  Bidwell has been a thorn in our side for Brentford, QPR and now Swansea….he didn’t cause us many issues last night.

One other thing, Bentley needs to sort his starting position out.  There were 2 or 3 ball played in behind our back 4, one of which was Simpson’s side….it’s Bents ball all day long, but he’s too deep, then he hesitates, and they get the ball.  Simpson will get the flak….unfairly imho.

[Phileas Fogg]

11 hours ago, Aslanovic said:

Pretty sure we’ve benefited from it with Tammy, Jay, Palmer?? Walsh??? Kent??????

• Walsh wasn't a loan. 
• Abraham was a roaring success.
• Dasilva has been a good signing.
• Palmer was a good loan.
• Kent wasn't utilised properly.
• Kalas was a good loan.

Fairly hit and miss. As always its up to us as a club to correctly identify and secure the right players.

He may well be in and around the Man City first team.. but if City manage to get Kane - we should try and get Liam Delap. He looks the part. Wouldn't be cheap and there'd be plenty of competition but would be a fantastic loan if we could pull it off. 

 

[ray savino]

17 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Walsh was permanent signing £900k and allegedly £8/9k p.w wages!

He does look 34, but he still was fine last night…I’m not saying he was brilliant or anything like that, but fine.  For an hour him and Scott did ok together.  Semenyo lost us a bit of shape, and he makes for receiving angles….just stands on the touch line.

Not trying to change anyone’s mind, but….

….prof to those who say he doesn’t go over the halfway line.

In an ideal world, We’d have better players all over the pitch, but we are where we are.  He didn’t let anyone down last night, he’s the fans whipping boy, and too many are viewing through brown-tinted glasses.  Bidwell has been a thorn in our side for Brentford, QPR and now Swansea….he didn’t cause us many issues last night.

One other thing, Bentley needs to sort his starting position out.  There were 2 or 3 ball played in behind our back 4, one of which was Simpson’s side….it’s Bents ball all day long, but he’s too deep, then he hesitates, and they get the ball.  Simpson will get the flak….unfairly imho.

Got to disagree here Dave. Agree stats may show a different aspect, but just still think Simpson was a weak link last night. True, not all his fault. Should have had better cover at times. But he looked well past his sell by, legs won’t let him do what he wanted or needed to do at times. He visibly looked indecisive what to do when sometimes, and when we had the ball and moved inside, he did not offer an alternative on the outside which is something I think he would have done a few years ago. I don’t believe he should go bombing up the pitch all game, but we need to have someone in that position who is fit enough to offer it on occasions, and knows they can recover if we get dispossessed.

I won’t make him a scapegoat because I think he tried hard and was committed and so the least he deserves is our backing. I also trust some of the reasoning behind Pearson giving him a 1 year deal, experience in dressing room, etc. 

I also think that Pearson probably felt that he would be used sparingly which brings me onto the more problematic issue with right back, and that is Zak Vyner. He may not be a natural RB, but he has played there before, is athletic, decent technically, and can get forward as shown last year albeit in different positions. I actually rate him, but he hasn’t looked on it at all when he appeared this year. Could it be he’s one of the people Pearson doesn’t think has shown the right mentality this year, or doesn’t have the mental application? I believe he could do a job there, maybe not longer term, but give us a bit of athleticism we lack there.

Overall we are where we are, and we definitely look better than last season, more agression and pride which is a massive improvement. Add in a bit more confidence, crowd behind them and I think we’ll be okay, maybe just. I know it’s gone now, but it still infuriates me that whoever has been responsible for messing with the reasonable foundations we gained from making money from recent transfer sells, wrecked most of it through some poor and largely decidedly average bloated recruitment.

Whether Pearson is the man to turn things it remains to be seen, but the awful blend and make up of the squad we ended up with, I would be intrigued to hear who people think would change things around so quickly. True, McCathy got immediate results at Cardiff. But he already inherited players who could play a style familiar to his. Our squad was such a mix that lacked direction over the past few seasons I fail to see that this was going to be a longer job. I’ve said before, we should have been in a position that we only needed a couple of key additions to make us a contender, despite selling players, but our planning and recruitment was obviously flawed that we are left with little financial movement and an almost start again scenario.

Still great to be back at the Gate and to be fair in the main the support/atmosphere was pretty decent last night. COYR.  

 

[Davefevs]

@ray savinoagree re Vyner.  Thought he was fine v Blackpool, poor v Boro.  Not in 18 last night, which might just be tactical options from the bench, but surely he’s the one that provides versatility?

I thought the weak link was Dasilva last night.  I rate Dasilva too, but he starts too far away from Laird.  Maybe more noticeable as the game wore on that Laird exposed him.  That could be that Pring tired and stopped being able to support him.

In the system we play our full-backs are gonna be the opposition’s outlet.  They aren’t gonna bomb it down the middle (Cardiff might, but most teams won’t) with a combo of Kalas, Baker and Atkinson.  As our two widemen are gonna push on to press, the space is always gonna be there between our widemen and our fullbacks.  Every system has its strengths and weaknesses.  We are accepting that deficiency for the other bits it gets us.

We no longer see opponents walk the ball into our half and then camp us there.  If that is the consequence, I’ll take it every day of the week, because we look much better as a result.

One might argue we would be better spending money on a RB than a striker.  You could easily go New RB / Simpson cover / Vyner cover, then at CB, the 3 current ones plus Vyner cover and Cundy cover when fit.  I don’t think Moore will remain here.  That might give us better balance.  RBs cheaper than strikers too.

The main thing for me is that even with our weak links (and we all have different opinions), we look a much stronger team, with an identity at last.  Middle eight looks achievable imho.

[ray savino]

36 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

@ray savinoagree re Vyner.  Thought he was fine v Blackpool, poor v Boro.  Not in 18 last night, which might just be tactical options from the bench, but surely he’s the one that provides versatility?

I thought the weak link was Dasilva last night.  I rate Dasilva too, but he starts too far away from Laird.  Maybe more noticeable as the game wore on that Laird exposed him.  That could be that Pring tired and stopped being able to support him.

In the system we play our full-backs are gonna be the opposition’s outlet.  They aren’t gonna bomb it down the middle (Cardiff might, but most teams won’t) with a combo of Kalas, Baker and Atkinson.  As our two widemen are gonna push on to press, the space is always gonna be there between our widemen and our fullbacks.  Every system has its strengths and weaknesses.  We are accepting that deficiency for the other bits it gets us.

We no longer see opponents walk the ball into our half and then camp us there.  If that is the consequence, I’ll take it every day of the week, because we look much better as a result.

One might argue we would be better spending money on a RB than a striker.  You could easily go New RB / Simpson cover / Vyner cover, then at CB, the 3 current ones plus Vyner cover and Cundy cover when fit.  I don’t think Moore will remain here.  That might give us better balance.  RBs cheaper than strikers too.

The main thing for me is that even with our weak links (and we all have different opinions), we look a much stronger team, with an identity at last.  Middle eight looks achievable imho.

Agree with both our full backs will be exposed and Dasilva looked caught out and vulnerable at times, but does possess the tools to recover even if it has to be coached more into him. He also does have Pring covering which given a bit more time for things to work may give him more confidence to go forward which by past performance we know he can do. Just think sadly that this system demands our full-backs are going to need the ability to recover. Everytime the ball came over to Simpsons side he looked like he was gonna get done and his body/footing positioning looked poor. That’s not to say he’s alone in any blame, but I really believe a good (and emphasise Good, in form) Zak Vyner good alleviate some of these problems. Sure, when our backs are against the wall for the last 20 minutes of some games, then Simpson’s guts, experience will be what we want from him. But if we want to be more on the front foot, which is what we gladly showed last night, then we’ve got to solve the full backs dilemma.

Definitely agree that the style of play definitely has the potential and was a bloody sight more entertaining than recently, and dare I say that it could develop to have more in common with the better LJ performances in pressing energy front foot style of the 3 month late 2017 team. All credit to LJ for this period whether by design or accident most were good to watch. I think we suffered after this by believing our own publicity and tried to play styles of football that were either becoming too complex above the capabilities of most of our squad. I do think Pearson, if we give him a chance, is a realist, knows our squad deficiencies, knows we ain’t got no money, but is trying to engender a bit of belief and morale in the squad to keep us up at the minimum. He’s no super manager, but I think he has enough football know how and experience to leave us in a better shape as a club if and when he moves on.

Actually, went with a friend who’s a Newcastle fan. I was a bit nervous, all the ’Sure you want to stomach this?’ jokes beforehand. But he enjoyed the match, thought it was entertaining, thought we were decent, deserved at least the draw, just thought we lacked a bit of cutting edge and quality in some parts. We got to get behind the team now, we are where we are, as long as they show the continued fight and commitment then I’ll be happy, hopefully more entertained and I think we may just be alright by the end of the season... famous last words and all that!

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

13 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Can see Kalas playing RB next Saturday.  Thought Simpson was fine tonight (I'll be in minority I know), but Cardiff will sling it in the box.

nor me.

Mick was having a good gander I think if Nige had the options he would mix it up a bit, I think it's maybe why he flung Samenyo on pace and power on that side to cover Danny's lack there of.  But as it is I think we will start broadly the same team.