Phileas Fogg

5 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

I know it’s easy to get carried away with things that don’t really matter, but for me this says so much about our club and it’s culture.

The lack of care. The lack of attention to detail. The lack of concern for the quality of the product. The disconnect and disregard for supporters demonstrated by charging £35 for a cheap looking white t shirt. The lack of self awareness to not realise how embarrassing this all is.

I really don’t like this club at the moment.

Exactly - it’s not about the clothing range, it’s precisely what you’ve written above. 

12 minutes ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Aye, 

Fair play to Zak, but this is a very much a “release in the summer” thing.  Not least, because at the same time the club are trying to encourage people to part with season ticket money.  

 

Would you see this from any other club in the EFL 72? Probably not. 
 

 

It feels a bit like they’re trying to adopt a similar marketing strategy to an NBA team.

Stunts like this, the (royalty free) drill music instrumentals for the team getting off the coach video. The social media team also have favourite players - usually ones who you can tell they deem as ‘cool’ - notice how much attention they give Mehmeti, Vyner and even Mebude relative to others.

I’ve complained about the media side of the club for years - whilst flashier now, we lost real understanding of the support when Adam Baker left. It’s almost as if it’s done for them and what they like rather than us. 

11 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

He doesn't understand, he doesn't care. 

He's also not very good at fashion design, and whilst I'm always reluctant to get personal, let's be honest - it's hardly a surprise given the way he dresses. I mean he wears some truly awful items of clothing, most recently at the Liam Manning arrival presser.

I mean WTF. 

Look at the range of textures on that!

Amazing really when he has the money to wear whatever he likes.

What is quite telling is that this is almost definitely a JL project. He knows, or at least he should know, that fans aren’t happy. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to do yet another thing that will no doubt get disapproval and even ridicule.

Whilst this (the clothing range) is obviously fairly insignificant - it does worry me how little he seems to understand the support.

If they did something like this after a real high point people wouldn’t care. It’s just about the worst possible time to choose, especially as it’s been an international break without much City news to discuss.

Very bizarre - surely if Vyner wanted to release his own clothing range he could do it off his own steam. Bristol Sport (Fever Pitch) have hardly shown themselves to be marketing savvy. 

Just a bit confused by it really. 

3 hours ago, Bris Red said:

Toney is the better footballer for me. It feels as if a team isn't built exactly to play to Watkins strengths he seems fairly ineffective, you need to be more versatile than that at international level IMO.

Add to that Toney's fairly incredible penalty taking record which could prove invaluable in tournament football i totally agree with you that he should be second choice behind Kane.

I like that he’s got a bit of an edge to him. He’s got that win at all costs mentality and given his ban, the tournament may well come when he’s at peak game readiness. 

1 hour ago, lenred said:

It was beautiful last night seeing all those crying Welsh boyos.  All their hopes and expectations up in smoke.  Reasons such as the flag you referenced above are why it makes it so sweet! 

Must be tough knowing that 2016 is as good as it’ll likely ever get following Wales. Glad them not qualifying means we don’t have to have inordinate coverage about them during the tournament.

10 hours ago, Ecko said:

Forget making the squad. He has to be in the 11. 

Looked fantastic. Imagine the uproar if/when Southgate benches him for Jordan Henderson!

10 hours ago, SecretSam said:

Bowen and Toney aren't disgracing themselves 

Really like Toney. Seems more at home than Watkins. He’d be my second choice forward behind Kane. 

Just listened to most of that - just terrible. He genuinely sounds like an audio of the default press conference options on Football Manager. 

3 hours ago, MarcusX said:

Pretty fair assessment, I've enjoyed Southgates time in so much that he brought back some pride to the national team and unity in the camp.

I wouldn't be upset to see someone new come in now and try a different approach. As you say, perhaps someone with experience of tournament football and getting results.

I think we've got a very talented side, but it might sound weird to say I think we've peaked a little. 2021/22 seemed to be a good blend of experience and fresh talent and players in form.

We've got problems in depth in multiple areas now and the second/third choice in several positions is significantly weaker - both full backs, CB, CM and the lone striker role.

International management must be a tough gig though. Gareth has 4 games (3 now) to prepare, with these 2 being at a time in the season when several players naturally drop out - does he experiment, or try and work on team cohesion with his current best 11? I think we saw neither on Saturday as his best 11 wasn't avaible, but he didn't really seem to try anything different.

I know you watch a lot of England live so you probably know better than me - but I disagree with the ‘peaked’ point. I think now, in Bellingham, we’ve got that ‘x factor’ player you need. That will make a difference.

We haven’t had that since Rooney imo - obviously the likes of Kane, Gerrard, Lampard etc are fantastic players - but there’s something about the likes of Bellingham and Rooney.

I think Bellingham will likely go on to become England’s accepted ‘best ever player’ and having a midfielder who’s that good is so rare. 

In this upcoming tournament I think the only other side with one of those players is France with Mbappe.

I just worry that Southgate’s management ability doesn’t match that of the squad - from the clips I see of him, like a certain Mr Manning, i’d find him very hard to get fired up for. He might be different behind closed doors, but i’ve always had this weird impression that subconsciously he’s more comfortable as a gallant loser than winner.

You can imagine it - we narrowly lose in a semi with a typical Southgate performance - Gary Lineker signs off with a wry quip and it cuts to some salubrious montage (set to Bittersweet Symphony) featuring Bellingham clapping fans, Saka sitting in the centre circle crying or something. 

I lost a lot of respect for him about the Henderson situation (and the Qatar tournament too). He, no doubt influenced by the FA, seems very happy to lap up all the praise for being ‘right on’ (I can’t bring myself to say ‘woke’ - far too GB News).. but when it really matters he doesn’t act on it. You can’t have it both ways - what Henderson did was hypocritical and Southgate shouldn’t have wimped out of saying so. Likewise, you can’t virtuously gesture about equality and other causes but completely ignore Qatar’s stance on those issues. 

22 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I don’t watch them religiously like I used to, but my gut feel is that we aren’t as good as many suggest.  We have a few very good players, but so do most of the other best 6-8 international sides.

Can we go deep into a tournament?  Yes

Can we win it?  Much less likely.  We are likely to hit a better team than us the further we go.

Are we progressing better in tournaments under Southgate than we have in the past?  Absolutely.  For some that means they think we should win.

Fifa rankings, us and the other top teams.

There are a couple in that list I might fancy us against, but most I’d say we are no better than equal to, some worse than.  

 

I think we've got a stronger first 11 and potentially squad than most of those - actually beating them is a different question. I don't rate Southgate's game management or style of play, and under his leadership I feel the mentality of the team is weak. 

I think there's a culture in lots of the international teams above of being effective in tournament football - the Italy final being a great example. They managed the game really well, using their guile and experience.

That's where we seem to struggle - for example I could see us struggling in a tournament context against an awkward South American side who know how to manage a game (historically someone like Uruguay).

Out of those France and Argentina are obviously very strong. I wasn't that impressed with Brazil but obviously you'd never bet against them. Belgium are on a downward curve, but lots of experience in that side.

I'd fancy us against Netherlands and Portugal. Spain and Italy have weaker squads than usual, but awkward teams to beat and know how to manage tournaments. Germany seem to be going under the radar a little, much better side than the one we beat.

I would love to see how we'd get on in a tournament with a manager who understands how to manage those knockout games whilst letting our better players express themselves. I think my dream appointment would be Klopp if we had the pick of anyone. 

7 hours ago, Superjack said:

Watching The Women's Football Show. 

A segment on Lauren Smith showed this. 

Never a more appropriate slogan for this ownership. 

S. U. A. F. O.

I'd even suggest the Famleigh would beat us at the moment

13 hours ago, Markthehorn said:

Walker and Maguire out of the Belgium game .

Rico Lewis called up .

That’s good. It’s obvious that Walker and almost definitely Maguire will be in the squad, so makes sense to try Lewis. He’s got great potential so would rather have him in the squad ahead of lots of the filler players Southgate insists on calling up.

I see the Trafford the Burnley keeper has been bought in too, who they signed from Man City. Being at Burnley will skew it a bit, but he’s supposed to be very good isn’t he?

9 hours ago, Lew-T said:

It was a game against an elite team where we narrowly lose it. Southgate’s subs then don’t make any difference.

All sounds too familiar previously at tournaments.

In his defence - and i’m not a Southgate fan - he was clearly trying out a few squad players. Brazil - and this is a weak Brazil side - bought on the best players they could. We started Gallagher and bought on Lewis Dunk.

I can see what he was trying to do - but he’d do better to actively try and win these high profile games than use it to tinker.

What I would like to see England do is, aside from the first 11 plus usual subs - don't use the rest of the squad for mediocre filler players, instead adopt a more "special teams" approach to squad selection like an NFL team.

What I mean by that is having people like James Ward-Prowse in the squad purely for dead ball situations. Like we used to do with McCombe / Flint in days gone by, have a particularly tall defender like Dan Burn, in the squad - perhaps to use more as an aerial attacking threat rather than as a defender (although his versatility might be useful). Have a couple of penalty specialists in the squad (Toney being one) and a goalkeeper who's particularly strong in that dept in the squad, even if statistically he's not as good all round as say Ramsdale.

If you get the core 18 or so players who'll rotate in and out for starting places/extended sub appearances - surely it would make more sense to choose specialists (even if inferior in other areas) within the squad - especially given the tendency of international tournaments to go to extra time/pens. I think we'd stand a better chance of winning that way than just filling the squad up with 6/10 prem squad players.

- the flaw with my own argument here is that it makes a strong case for including Jordan Henderson, given his experience, which I'd be vehemently against.

5 hours ago, Son of Fred said:

Oh that's it now - that is Manning's "Little Lee". Great shout.

There wasn’t any need to do this - although it’s got people talking and will probably boost sales. I don’t like it though, seems very unnecessary.

3 hours ago, The Coach said:

Mainoo on. Lad has a bright future. Must also be favourite for United’s player of the season.

Glad to see Gallagher off. I hope that’s the last we see of him in an England shirt this season. Not good enough.

I don’t really know why we bother playing people like him or Lewis Dunk. They’re never going to be good enough so why bother? I appreciate we rotated the squad a bit today, but some players are clearly not international class.

6 hours ago, tin said:

Like most things to do with BCFC, the website was done on the cheap and they won’t pay the going rate to get qualified people to make the website engaging. Gone downhill ever since Beanhead left IMO.

Don’t worry though, on twitter they’ll have a snazzy video of the team getting off the coach with a royalty free “Drill” instrumental - which is an indisputable upgrade.

9 hours ago, Cole Not Gas said:

Nothing confirmed yet but just saw this. It may be quiet at BS3 until we stuff Leicester who dont now want to get to the Premier league as they'll face points deductions, but this is of relevance to anyone on here who still wants SL to punt more of HIS millions into getting us promoted (some year). The entire PL has been so discredited i cant believe it will exist in a few years time. Begs an older question of what we do want financially from our owners. Main point is watch this space re Etihad City as it'll ripple down the leagues;

The Commission added: “Where a PSR breach is ‘minor’, then it will be for other Commissions to determine if any points deduction is necessary, appropriate or proportionate.

“But if the breach is properly described as ‘major’ then it may be the case that even a very severe sanction such as expulsion is more appropriate.”

Chelski?! is it 2004?

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

This guy getting a bit of attention.  Lincoln rocketing up lg1, based on momentum, they’ll make the play-offs!

 

I’m sold already - at least he’s interesting.. go get him BT!

4 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

Building from the back Malmo don't do anything exceptional, its quite structured, its a four two shape with splitting CB's wide FB's. 7-8 players are not specifically played down one side. They play from a back four and a double pivot. The pivot moves with the ball and so do the attacking central midfielders to the forward/forwards creating ladders. The ladders are the overload and this can be either side of the pitch or down the centre. The ball goes right the team flows (tilting) right, and if the ball goes left the team tilts left. 

In the second and final third is where Malmo look different. 

59 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Knowing James I don’t think so, more that he thinks some fans (inc me) are being hasty.

That’s the impression I got too. He came across as actually more forgiving than the general mood music amongst the fans.

Perhaps as he’s (presumably) not a fan - it’s easier for him to be objective.

8 minutes ago, Robbored said:

What’s your take on ‘emotions’ in Manning speak PF?

In all seriousness i’m not sure - I imagine what he’s really saying is he wants players to work to a game plan regardless of external factors.