Red-Robbo

Repainted the changing rooms? He's quite good at litter picking as well apparently.

I guess that's possible, but I think the fact he was a cheap and available defender was the real motive for bringing him here. He hadn't actually worked under Pearson for 6 years before last season.

Most are pretty philosophical about it though. Sorry. I'll go and have stern words with myself...

Can he play RWB?

Dunno which was worse: the David Brent of football's shady deals, or old uncle Pete and his YouTube scouting approach..

True, but to be honest we can but speculate how many expensive flops Pearson might've signed had he access to the funds Johnson did and the, erm, recruitment expertise of Mark the shark. The story of Leicester's ascent may suggest that answer would be "none", but as we know, others were intimately involved in building that side who aren't here with him now.

You can't have everything in life. It's win home games or win away games, you can't have both! (In fairness to Nigel Pearson, I'll concede that my comment references what was the only genuinely crappy question I think he was asked at that testy Q&A)

French bloke. Hated Kurt Zouma.

I guess Simpson was a relatively cheap punt to take, but it was still as disastrous as the many Lee Johnson era flops we're always being reminded of. Atko and Tanner were better acquisitions and it was a bit unlucky that they've been injured at a time when we could've really done with both being available. Re-signing Weimann was the best thing Pearson did though. We were lucky Andi didn't decide to return to Austria before we'd renegotiated terms with him.

First time I went to Budapest it was still in a Communist country. I popped down to one of the subterranean gents you find there and found an old woman cooking something on a Calor gas stove. As I self-consciously tried to relieve myself away from her gaze, I noticed a door opened behind her and one of her kids or maybe grandkids left an apartment built into the toilet. This family literally lived in an underground khazi! They must've done something to annoy Janos Kadar!! It's not like that there now. You still get the cute Mittel Europien buildings, but it's lively. Hungarian beer is surprisingly good, and if, like me, you like a tipple, the Craft Beer House has a great setting next to the Duna (that's the Danube to you and me). As in Czechia, it's sometimes easiest if you can assay a little German when ordering food and drink, especially from older folk. For young people, you'll find English is widely understood. Apparently, the other thing you're always told is that it's considered offensive to chink your beer glasses. I never put that to the test. You will be offered Tokaj wine. Avoid, it's horrible.

It's really the cocaine/alcohol combination. In itself, unless taken to psychosis levels, coke just makes you want to talk endlessly and perhaps get off with some young ladies (although to disappointing ends, if the stories I've heard are correct). One reason coke is so popular on football away days, stag nights, lads big nights out etc, is that its extra alertness means you can drink more without lapsing into that alcohol-induced Gollum state where you are stumbling around and don't know what the **** is going on. You remain alert and on your toes. The trouble is although the alcohol's physical effects are postponed, its mental affects, which for many people include a propensity for violence, aren't. Add in coke paranoia and its an awful mix.

I would argue that even before last season ended we knew the Simpson gamble hadn't worked. Age had caught up with him and he had less pace than Captain Tom.

You can see past posts and they, if clicked on, give you the name then. In this case as the change was recent, I just remembered.

Moments of Pleasure

Hope you get some respite from the bloke who is making your life hell. No one should have to go through that. Your story serves to remind us that no matter what sort of disagreements we have with people on these forums, there's a human at the other end of the computer. We don't really know them and we don't know their circumstances. We should try to debate respectfully.

It's not going to be an easy February. ?

James, Tanner and Atkinson. Anyone have any info on when they are likely to be back? (We already know King and Baker are not expected to return this season and O'Dowda is 4-6 weeks)

Indeed. Maximise Massengo's attacking instincts. He can thread a ball around midfielders and feed our strike force better than anyone. Minimise the amount of time he has to be the last man in front of our defence. I think when we drop HNM deep, we waste him as much as we were wasting Bobby Reid in a similar position.

Scott and Massengo just advanced on Williams, with Joe in a Cole Skuse role? Semenyo just behind a Weimann and Wells front line? It seems Antoine and Andi have started to establish a good playing rapport. Hasn't happened yet with any player and Wells however. ?

Good points. I've criticised Kalas on this thread, because I feel he gets a free pass from some, but ultimately if you have little confidence in the players around you (or behind you, because I reckon Max doesn't inspire defenders) then you'll look shaky yourself. We saw this during the transformation of Liam Fontaine from a sound defender to a liability. I love Han-Noah Massengo, but he doesn't have many defensive abilities. Makes the odd tackle these days, but his positioning is all wrong when he is going backwards. Just look where he was for Swansea's first goal! Scotty is better as a defender, but still doesn't have the upper body strength to worry older, bulkier attackers. We just have to wait out this poor period and hope for a speedy return of some of those missing. If Atkinson was back for Boro, that would be a major help. Williams getting back to his pre-injury form and fitness can't come soon enough either.

Reckon the time for that would be at the end of the season. Right now, it would look like a bit of a knee-jerk response to two poor away results. Before the summer re-ordering, it makes a statement of confidence in the plan.

My modest aim for next season would be a 6-12th finish. That would represent real progress and is about all we can hope for. The wheels nearly came off the Bristol City juggernaut last season. Staying up and laying down some seeds for long-term success was this season's priority. In 22/23 I think we should demand to see some of the fruits of that.

Ultimately, refs shouldn't have to wait until a player falls over to award a foul if someone is pushed off the ball. Putting your hand out to hold an opponent away is one thing, a deliberate shove on a player who is on the ball is quite another. It always strikes me as odd that refs allow players to armlock others, providing it is off the ball, yet when someone trips over someone's feet, the whistle immediately goes to their mouths. The way the rules are interpreted need to be clarified IMO. We come to watch football, a game played largely at foot level, not Graeco-Roman wrestling.

Indeed. But there are a few wage sponges we may be able to get off the books. I think the heady days of being able to compete with other clubs for the signatures of hotly rated players is over though. We'll have to cast our net in waters less trawled. It's one reason why I wish Pearson could be persuaded to look at loans.

No offence to you, but it makes it very hard to be objective if you know the family socially. No one is criticising Zak as a person and as a player he has lots of qualities. I'd just rather we had other options in our back line.