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Good points @TonyTonyTony I love Kalas's determination, and his willingness to put his body on the line time and time again. When he is on his game, there are very few finer defenders in the division. The one season partnership he had with Webster was for me the best CB partnership since the Merrick/Collier days. Webster was great of course, but Kalas played his part; and the two of them complemented each other so well. The issue is he isn't a leader, or even an organiser. I think he prefers to focus on his own game, and not be distracted by others. We obviously need a complete over hall in the defensive department (To be fair, I'm still not convinced by either keeper as well, and both OOC Summer 23). If you were to say to me, we keep Kalas; but his wage demands exclude the possibility of signing a number of other reinforcements then it may be time to reluctantly part ways. The defence is the sum of all parts. There's no point having an outstanding individual defender who is let down by the others. Or even in his case, allows them to impact on his own performance levels. Some really hard decisions for RG & Np in the summer. Pragmatically we have to sign 3-4 defensive reinforcements in my view. Both at fb/wb areas; and if Baker is retiring in the CB area as well.

Thanks @GrahamC. The sound on podbeam just keeps dropping out all the time. A bit of a nightmare, when trying to do the podcast on my mobile. Couldn't hear some of the questions/points made at times. But I think I blagged it ok ?

Weimann did exactly the same on the Reading goal the other day. Ran alongside then stopped, and Scott was slow to pick up the now clear man. Obviously it's not Weimann's game to keep chasing and make the tackle. But something is getting lost in translation somewhere. The midfield is anticipating the forwards making the tackles before engaging themselves. All about transitions of play, but it looks muddled at the moment.

Yep, but not this season fortunately. I still can't quite believe we stayed up last season either. But heh ho, gift horses and all that ?.

The word "passive" springs to mind. As a team for a nearly 3 years now, we have dropped off, and allowed crosses into the box; that we have increasingly been unable to deal with. The first goal for me, leaving out the 4 players that could have cut out the cross. JD just lets Obafami stroll past him thinking that Vyner will pick him up. Vyner, being Vyner is ball watching; and not aware who is on his shoulder. Late call from JD who sees that Vyner hasn't seen the danger; and it's all too late. Both of them are culpable in my eyes as they both left it to each other to deal with. Nobody taking responsibly. You deal with the second goal well. But again with City, nobody is getting out to challenge, we just back off. The ball across the box is in that area, where as a cb; you think if i get a touch it's an og. However once again like the first goal; we haven't followed the runners in. It's not rocket science, it's about responsibility. Once again not our strength collectively as a team. I think people look to Kalas, as he is our strongest defender. But he's an awful communicator, and very quiet. He's just not a leader back there. As for the third goal. For me, it's a lack of bravery by Vyner. If you're going for the ball, go for it. Not half arsed, stick you foot out, and get nutmeged. If you don't get the ball, you get the man. But you make sure, you get one or the other; that is called courage. Something unfortunately Vyner lacks in abundance. 3 poor team goals, and so so easy for Swansea. Play like that against Boro, and it'll be 4 or 5 against us.

I think we are 1 year into a 3 year process. The current FFP model (fingers crossed we have a new one soon) hinders our current ability to change the personel too much. We have 16 players OOC summer 2023, with a few of them on option years then. With that in mind, the ones we want to keep hopefully will sign new contracts. The ones we don't, we may have to come to some sort of Nagy arrangement with, and take the hit. We certainly can't go through next season with half the squad either not signing, or playing out their contracts (just like 20/21). I described us on the podcast as a yo yo club performance wise at present. Win 1, lose 2, win 1, lose 2. I can't see that is going to change; and thus 6 points from every 6 games. Finishing with 46 points. Most years that has us going down, but this year is if course a bit different, with 2 awful teams (Peterborough, Barnsley) and two naughty ones (Derby and Reading). Any other year, yes we'd be bottom 3 i reckon. 6th highest scorers (thank you Andi), and the emergence of Antoine, and Scottie has been great to watch. However we are atrocious at the back. That's not going to change this season, no matter how hard we try unfortunately. I get annoyed by NP's comments about getting rid of players, because we can't in this market, or due to our squad size. However he is angry, and frustrated and is venting, i understand that. For me though, we were crying out for a couple of defensive loans. Just to freshen things up, and provide some competition. I can't believe the powers at be wouldn't have financed it if needed. However of course NP's views on loans are well known, if a bit archaic in my view. Roll on Boro, tough game; and yes, they will be crossing balls all day to our back post from both sides with runners coming in ?.

Really good points there Jon I don't really like JD at right wing back. He's so left footed that he tends to come inside, and is thus easy to predict. Doesn't give us any width on the right either, hence why Reading were content to give him the freedom of Ashton Gate on weds. It's out of necessity though isn't it, ie he's still the best option, until at least Tanner comes back.

Out for a couple of months with a knee injury isn't he? One of the reasons behind him not going out on loan at least in the window.

So with COD out for 4-6 weeks, HNM having a fitness test; and NP saying Williams can't play 3 games in a week; who is in CM on Sunday???? Benarous? Not sure any of the Under 23s are ready, even the much lauded Josh Owers (thank you Mr Gay). I suppose at a push you could play Vyner there, if there's no-one else.

I meant like for like squads of last season. The point is, they had a plan with Corberan, whether that was a 2 or 3 year plan; and were able to shift the majority of their squad in the summer (13 left on free transfers, Bacuna went to Rangers for £2m, and Elphick retired). This season they haven't spent a penny on transfer fees at all; and are 5th in the table. Like us, some of the players that left on frees they paid big money for (Mbenza 11M , Pritchard 11m being two examples), while replacing them with free transfers. We may a year behind them in an ability to change around our squad (16 players OOC Summer 2023), but we have to believe in the plan. As an aside, look at what's happened to Hull since replacing McCann. A good example of making a change for changes sake.

@GrahamC The point I was trying to make at the end of the podcast was although statistically the win ratios don't lie (to prove Ian's point). It's the manner of the losses this season rather than last for me. This Barnsley game, and others of course shows how inept we were last season. This season we have conceded 7 goals after 90+ minutes to lose or draw games. Not great of course, but it show that up until that point you are competitive, and if not winning; at least drawing a game. The championship is a tough league with fine margins. We haven't won a game by two clear goals since Birmingham away last season. However if we can reduce half of those of last minute goals we would only be a few points off the play offs at present. The team is developing, it's not great; but there is a plan; and a system there. Look at Huddersfield this season, they finished below us last season; with arguably a much better squad, many of them with PL experience. They didn't panic and sack their manager. They invested in his plan, got rid of the dead wood (a bit easier than us last summer, as they had a large number OOC); and now look at them. Lets see what the summer brings. Lots of decisions over players going into their last year, some on options; and players like Semenyeo & HNM that we really need to lock down to a longer contract. Some interesting times ahead.?

It was way better than that podbeam though. The sound quality on that dips in, and out; and you can see each other on zoom. Able to respectfully put up your hand, and wait for Dave P to come to you. Thus we're not talking over one another. In fairness to @Davefevs, it was @headhunterwho made the leap into 2020 Graham. ?

I think our attendances (of course not necessarily bums on seats of course) have held up quite well in comparison to some of the other clubs in the division. The Northern clubs in particular seem to be struggling on that front. The atmosphere in the ground is generally positive. I think people understand we're not a great team; but at least in general players seem to be putting the effort in, and care about the result; particularly in the last few months. Hopefully with a few good decisions made in the summer over player's that are coming into the last year of their contracts; and others we want to keep the positivity will continue to the extent that we have a squad for 22-23 that are all pulling in the same direction.

First time on Zoom @Davefevs, as we use MSTeams at work, and was on my mobile, as my work laptop has so many firewalls on it; it wouldn't allow the downloading of new software. I saw your messages come up, but didn't know how to respond, technology .....?

Wrong profession ?

@GrahamC To say i was gutted by Thomas's comment in the stands last night would be an understatement. However everyone on the podcast thinks i'm a young'un, and wasn't around with City in the 80's, possibly even the 90s. Fools the lot of them...? As for the statistics part. There's a guy at my place that quote's case law on all his reports; as he thinks:- A) it makes him seem more knowledgeable & B) Nobody has the time or willingness to double check whether he is right or not; and thus he gets a free pass to get away with claiming to be right all the time. I personally know that half the case law he quotes is wrong. But like others, life is too short to try to go around correcting people all the time.

You're spot on around the goal. Scott was slow to react, after Weimann had let him through. All round though it was a poor goal(that said of course it was never a penalty) I also agree about Pring as a wing back. From a technical point of view his first touch isn't great, and it's a position that requires a huge level of fitness; something that Pring has previously struggled with. Neither Pring or JD go wide when presented with the opportunity. They both prefer to dribble into the centre, often finding themselves in a congested space. Pring did do well with the second goal though, as well as putting a peach of a cross onto Weimann's head in the first half. Unfortunately Weimann is not the best at heading at the best of times. I think in JD's case this is due to his reluctance to use his right foot. He is really is a square peg in a round hole playing on the right. I've heard a rumour that allegely Pring suffers from asthma. Which would make sense around his propensity to crash around the 60-70 mins part.

I get what you're saying Jon, but it all comes about because of the lack of COD to make that first physical challenge. You can see that he is reading it, makes the move; then hesitates; before pulling out of the challenge. If you're making that decision to break the backline to contest the ball in the first place, you have to be fully committed. I just didn't see that commitment in the passage of play that @Davefevs showed. In common with a number of COD's performances of late. We have a player who seems to be lacking courage or confidence to make the right decision. He is capable, he wouldn't have got 23 ROI caps if he wasn't. But his application on a match day isn't at the level it should be.

Some of this reminds me of Semenyeo when he first came back, after being recalled from Newport. He looked completely lost, and unable to read the game. That of course carried on for the next 1.5 years, until gradually the turning point came thankfully. In COD's case he's 27 years old, a full ROI international. I think I've seen somewhere that he is only 4 caps off being City's leading ever International in terms of caps gained whilst with the club (in terms of caps he has 23) replacing Wedlock (26). We're not talking about a novice, learning his trade. This is a seasoned professional, who seems to have have got by for a significant time on reputation alone. As to quote the great Ian Gay "Statistics, prove everything", not sure I agree with that point. But his goals, and assists stats for the last 6 years show his true impact, and standing in my eyes.

Completely agree @IAmNick The worst thing for me, is he points behind to the other players to make up for his initial error. That forces Williams?, and Klose to come across to cover him. Leaving the Reading player free in the middle. It's one thing being non committal. It's another thing then expecting the other players around you to cover for you, thus impacting on their own positioning; and effectiveness. sigh....

I think the thing that got me about the whole COD scenario was his "Injury". As others have stated, he struggled to get into the game when he came on, culminating of course in the calamitous Magnussonesque moment in the corner. He was running normally at this stage. He then started to get some abuse from the crowd, about his mistake; and general play. From my viewpoint in the Dolman, COD then started to limp, and then needed "treatment". Whilst getting this "treatment". We already had the sub board up, and he was coming off; it appeared to be regardless of whether he could carry on or not. Very unlike the HNM scenario in the first half. COD then saw he was coming off, got to his feet, and walked quite normally (no limp at this stage) over to the player's area. From my viewpoint it appeared at that time, we took the opportunity to take him out of the firing line. Whether or not he had an "injury" that necessitated his immediate substitution. In doing so of course, we put Cundy on, shifted Vyner out to the WRB; and then JD to LWB. All because COD wasn't doing the job he should have done as a like for like replacement for Pring. I was surprised in the after match interview with Fleming that he said COD had a knee injury. Maybe it was something that he was carrying before the game, but it didn't seem to impede him beforehand. If it was a knock, then it's fair to say neither COD or the club wanted to give him the opportunity to stay on the pitch. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but there was a player there; who for me did not want to be out on that pitch, and up to the task that we needed him to do in the circumstances.

Probably won't be too sweaty?

Really good pod guys many thanks ?

He certainly looked to be carrying a few extra pounds when he came on and unlike Swift; had zero impact on the game. Joao also looked unfit, and for a guy that always seems to score against us, was completely ineffective. Why was Swift only on the bench for them? Completely changed the course of the game with his movement, anf passing when he came on.

Cheers @GrahamC, you made me laugh there. Which given that I'm stuck at Bristol Crown Court in a trial for the next 4 weeks isn't easy. I know Thomas (my eldest) loves shooting the breeze with you now, and your carefully considered opinions on Referees and Linesman. I try to take a balanced approach anyhow. There are so many similarities with the 1982 situation, with all the budget issues, playing kids, smaller squads, and players out of position. The only difference is really we have SL behind us, and for some unfathomable reason, although we really have been poor for the last two seasons, we still find ourselves in the Championship; and hopefully not looking at relegation (I still check Peterborough, Barnsley & Derby after every game ?). We are yo, yoing this season. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Very rarely in between for me. It is what it is; and let's be fair for me this season has been seen the emergence of a number of potential future stars (Semenyeo & Scott, jury still out on HNM for me). I love the club( it gets under your skin doesn't it), and enjoy doing the podcasts when I can. I'm looking forward to a time when we actually win back to back games again. Small gains isn't it.