Cheltenham Town friendly match day thread

[Bar BS3]

3 minutes ago, pillred said:

We have spent most of the last 7 years in and around mid table, a hell of a lot of our matches therefore had nothing on them apart from watching the club we love or just for the sheer spectacle of competition, are you then saying you have had no interest in these matches? an awful lot of our games have had nothing on them so I would suggest City are not the best club for you to be a supporter of in that case.

Is that actually the case..? 

Last season seemed dull as ditch water, because we weren't going up, or down, at any point in the season. 

That felt very unusual - because normally, one way or another, we have had something riding on our games until at least the last couple of games. 

I could be wrong - but we've always seemed to have something on our games until the end of the season, in most cases. 

[Davefevs]

6 minutes ago, bpexile said:

I thought I saw Viner on the list but skipping through the posts I haven't spotted him being mentioned (could have missed it), do you think NP may have decided to give him another chance.

He played the last 30 minutes as RCB3 and did fine.

I suspect Nige would happily move him on if he could, but whilst he’s here, he’ll use him, especially with Kalas coming back to fitness.

Assuming Zak’s head is in the right place, I’d keep him around for his versatility.

[pillred]

2 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Is that actually the case..? 

Last season seemed dull as ditch water, because we weren't going up, or down, at any point in the season. 

That felt very unusual - because normally, one way or another, we have had something riding on our games until at least the last couple of games. 

I could be wrong - but we've always seemed to have something on our games until the end of the season, in most cases. 

A few times we have flirted with the top 6 and occasionally have been a bit too near the bottom for comfort but without counting them I would have said a hell of a lot of our games have meant little in the grand scheme of things, it just seemed a strange thing for Robbo to have said, a lot of our games I will go to watch even if a win means we move only 1 place up the table. as I love watching us even if the game is a bit of a dead rubber.

[bcfc01]

19 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

As we saw today the WBs can be a strength, but also a weakness…and exposed in some ways by playing a “2 and a 1” in midfield rather than a “flatter 3”.  James and Williams can’t cover half the width of a pitch when the ball goes down one side, so either Weimann (or Sykes today) drop in, or we have to accept our side CBs have to shuffle over too.  It’s not as simple as that either, as the front two have to work hard to stop them coming back and quickly “going back out the other wing”.

But the flipside is the positives of it.

No system is win:win!

The other point I forgot to mention was that it was Naismith who played CB3 and Atkinson LCB3…it could’ve easily been the other way around.  Something to watch over pre-season to see if they swap at any point.

As I was watching the game that point occurred to me - Naismith being a winger for a lot of his career, why was he not on the left ?

It didn't look comfortable to me.

I think Kalas on the right, Klose in the middle, and Naismith/Atkinson left would be more balanced.

[Ian M]

1 hour ago, mozo said:

So what you're saying is, it's the most exciting side we've had since Cotts?! 

It's starting to feel like the most balanced squad since Cotts.

[The Constant Rabbit]

9 hours ago, weepywall said:

Legend !! You I mean not Conway, thanks for putting these clips up, big part of the matchday thread

Much more useful than some 'look at me ' posts on here.

[Garland-sweden]

Optimistic for the season, our new players will give us strenghts. Really hope we can avoid lots of injuries and be in the top half of the table. NP slowly gets it to work.

[P'head Red]

Did I read somewhere that the full 90 will be uploaded to robins TV at some stage? Would quite like to hear what Alex Scott had to say pre match, and watch the second half which I wasn't able to watch. 

[Jerseybean]

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-city-mark-sykes-pring-7301446

[Selred]

9 hours ago, Davefevs said:

He played the last 30 minutes as RCB3 and did fine.

I suspect Nige would happily move him on if he could, but whilst he’s here, he’ll use him, especially with Kalas coming back to fitness.

Assuming Zak’s head is in the right place, I’d keep him around for his versatility.

Sadly some poor passing at times. Not sure if it’s rustiness or carelessness 

[And Its Smith]

9 hours ago, bcfc01 said:

As I was watching the game that point occurred to me - Naismith being a winger for a lot of his career, why was he not on the left ?

It didn't look comfortable to me.

I think Kalas on the right, Klose in the middle, and Naismith/Atkinson left would be more balanced.

Was he in the middle?  He has played DM before so wonder if Pearson wants him central for his ability on the ball. 

[Sir Geoff]

2 hours ago, Selred said:

Sadly some poor passing at times. Not sure if it’s rustiness or carelessness 

Spoiler

Certainly not rusty, unless he's been left outside for the past few years. More of the same imo. I can't believe how careless with the ball (poor passer) a professional footballer can be. His first pass went awry straight into the keepers arms, miles off where he was aiming.

 

 

[downendcity]

16 hours ago, spudski said:

 

Basics...your view on pre season is like having sex with no foreplay. 

Said with respect...but you'd get far more pleasure from following differently

 

Is foreplay taking your socks off first? 

[Carey 6]

11 hours ago, Davefevs said:

He played the last 30 minutes as RCB3 and did fine.

I suspect Nige would happily move him on if he could, but whilst he’s here, he’ll use him, especially with Kalas coming back to fitness.

Assuming Zak’s head is in the right place, I’d keep him around for his versatility.

Of the 4 NP said could look for new clubs (Vyner, Moore, Palmer, Bakinson most believe) Vyner is the one I don't mind still being here the most. Think he's alright but had a bad few games last season then had pressure from the crowd whenever he played after that. As you said, no harm in him being a squad player. 

 

[brad blit]

2 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Was he in the middle?  He has played DM before so wonder if Pearson wants him central for his ability on the ball. 

I spoke to someone yesterday who was lucky enough to watch the game, and said Naismith was extremely vocal at the back, constantly talking to James and Atkinson about players. Plus he seemed quite confident if he was 1v1 with opposition player as last man. Perhaps it was deemed that Klose was more comfortable on his right foot than Naismith, and hence being put on the right hand side of a 3 (with Kalas being out) but definitely no denying City have signed another "leader" at the back, and a confident ball playing one at that.

[Kid in the Riot]

8 hours ago, Jerseybean said:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-city-mark-sykes-pring-7301446

A question in response to that would be, is there even a place for the traditional no.10 role in modern football? Not many of the top clubs seem to play with one, in the traditional sense.

4 hours ago, brad blit said:

I spoke to someone yesterday who was lucky enough to watch the game, and said Naismith was extremely vocal at the back, constantly talking to James and Atkinson about players. Plus he seemed quite confident if he was 1v1 with opposition player as last man. Perhaps it was deemed that Klose was more comfortable on his right foot than Naismith, and hence being put on the right hand side of a 3 (with Kalas being out) but definitely no denying City have signed another "leader" at the back, and a confident ball playing one at that.

Yep, from the first minute we could hear him bellowing out instructions from the back with his Scottish accent. Kane Wilson was quite vocal too actually. Leaders, and players taking responsibility, all over the pitch this season. 

[Davefevs]

13 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

A question in response to that would be, is there even a place for the traditional no.10 role in modern football? Not many of the top clubs seem to play with one, in the traditional sense.

5 hours ago, brad blit said:

Certainly not one who sits there waiting for the ball to come to him and doesn’t contribute to the rest of the system.

[Davefevs]

Full 90 on Robinstv for anyone that miss it.

[chinapig]

51 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

A question in response to that would be, is there even a place for the traditional no.10 role in modern football? Not many of the top clubs seem to play with one, in the traditional sense.

The once fashionable trequarista term and position died out some time ago imo. I think the game is just too intense these days to accommodate it. There may be some still around but I can't think of one off the top of my head.

Which is why I disagree with people who want Scott to play there, much too limited use of his talents. As the U19 tournament showed when he started one game there and barely got the ball.

[Davefevs]

15 minutes ago, chinapig said:

Which is why I disagree with people who want Scott to play there, much too limited use of his talents. As the U19 tournament showed when he started one game there and barely got the ball.

You and me are aligned.

[Port Said Red]

One thing I forgot to mention was the in the  commentary from Alex Scott. He was asked about the new lads from Guernsey and he said about Ben Acey, "he's a bit like me in style, but more aggressive/physical"?

And then I remembered someone on here saying about the number of bookings that Scott has picked up already, and I thought we might be lucky to see this lad play 90 minutes...