And Its Smith

When you consider our five best bowlers aren’t playing it does put it into perspective 

1 hour ago, spudski said:

Cheltenham festival is now becoming a chav fest. 

Getting worse every year... especially today, Gold Cup day. Never seen so many people using coke and out of their heads. 

It's comical...peaky blinders meets Gok Wan finest in suits that don't fit, no socks, fights breaking out...pissed up, coked up...etc etc. Christ knows what Best Mates is like...

I won’t be going back anytime soon.  Ascot, Chester and Galway for me any day for various reasons.  Aintree is normally okay as well but also has its moments. 

Tuesday - level 
Wednesday- slightly up
Thursday - slightly down

All to play for!

13:30 Doctor Parnassus 20/1 & Porticello 12/1
14.10 West Cork 9/1
14:50 Shantreusse 9/1
15:30 Protektorat 9/1 & Minella Indo 9/2
16:10 Cousin Pascal 10/1 & Bob and Co 13/2
17:30 Five OClock 12/1 & Hollow Games 7/1

33 minutes ago, Bazooka Joe said:

Disappointed to hear Martin will be with us for another season.

Doesn't bode well.

 

 

I think if we sign another striker so that Martin can start 15 games instead of 46 then you will see a more consistent Martin.  With the position we are in financially this is a sensible move from City. 

No surprise at all. Pearson is a big fan 

Last week he was asked how he thought a couple of players had performed (can’t remember who) and he replied saying he thought Chris Martin was excellent!

On 16/03/2022 at 10:40, And Its Smith said:

I would be shocked if Martin didn’t get another deal. Pearson goes out of his way to praise him.  

@Fuber

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/martin-extends-city-stay/

Tommy was very good 

Good to see that Marcus Trescothick is able to travel away from the UK nowadays.  Good to know he must be in a better place mentally 

In a series of doubles and trebles here are mine for today.

14:10 
Alaphilippe 11/2 
Ballyandy @ 14/1

14:50 
Conflated @ 6/1

15:30 
Thyme Hill 7/2
Home By The Lee @ 33/1

16:10 
Grand Paradis 9/1
Adrimel @ 14/1

16:50 
Say Goodbye @ 18/1
Brandy Love 5/1

17:30 Ain’t That a Shame 15/2

5 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

Bets!

Police pay too much. Always thought it 

https://missing11.com/who-are-ya/
 

Football Wordle, in a way 

19 minutes ago, Club and Country said:

Funnily enough we have set up a fund this morning to pay into and do it next year

whole reason we go Tuesday is because it’s quieter but with the increased crowd and time/cost of getting a drink going the corporate route might be the best way ( depending on cost off course!)

I don’t really enjoy being at Cheltenham. Prefer to spend one of the days on a Manchester pub crawl, watching one race per pub. A great day. 

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

Neither had their FFP points deductions at the start of the season!  Both decisions were in November.  Derby didn't enter administration until Sept 22nd.

Yep. Most predictions of a relegation battle were made before that. 
 

Interesting to see your post about keeping Johnson. I was one of his biggest fans and I hear a growing number saying maybe he wasn’t as bad as they thought.  He made mistakes and one of them was always looking for new players (or accepting new players). I would love to chat to him about his time here and what he would do differently.  I do think with a better person above him it wouldn’t have all fallen apart. 
 

As mentioned before, I would give Pearson until Xmas and then take stock but I am always pessimistic of a manager who cannot improve things. Being able to identify the problems is the easy part and wins no brownie points from me 

18 minutes ago, Fuber said:

Ultimately we need 5-6 players minimum in the summer.

Can see one of HNM, Semenyo, or Scott on their way out. Added to that I can't see Martin, O'Dowda among others getting new deals, and we have a small enough squad already.

Will be an interesting summer I reckon. Can see us trying to shift also the likes of Kalas and Wells (wages) for smaller fees than expected.

I reckon NP may try and completely clear the deck if possible, Bakinson was just the start.

 

I would be shocked if Martin didn’t get another deal. Pearson goes out of his way to praise him.  

18 minutes ago, KegCity said:

Kalas made the same mistakes he does every week for us at the Euros. Absolutely calamitous from set pieces but he had a centre back to talk him through positioning which he doesn't have here. I don't know why he doesn't play right back, I'm not Pearson.

My opinion on James is based off watching him, I think he suits having Massengo next to him as he can provide the energy and ability to drive the ball forward which James doesn't have. For whatever reason we don't see this combination too often and when Massengo is out of form we don't have someone else who can bring those qualities. Bring in another box to box midfielder and I'm more comfortable with James. I clearly don't know what I'm talking about as nobody agrees with me but Williams seems like a defensive midfielder, not a box to box one. Very little dynamism in his game aside from some quick feet whilst he breaks up play really well.

What’s your overall view on Pearson then as you seem to disagree with a lot of his decision?

I’m on these today EW.  Covered by free bets courtesy of Paddy Power.  Doubles, trebles and fourfolds. Also done a treble on the 3 short priced faves 1st, 4th and 5th races as they could all just win. 10/1

13:30 Journey With Me 8/1
14:10 Ahoy Senor 8/1
14:50 Gowel Road 9/1
15:30 Envoi Allen 20/1
16:10 Diesel D'Allier 12/1
16:50 Andy Dufresne @ 6/1
17:30 Joyeux Machin 28/1

2 minutes ago, KegCity said:

Kalas got promoted twice as a right back and with 20/20 hindsight was carried by Webster. Good player absolutely, doesn't suit our needs. He's been average to poor since Webster left for me, certainly not justified his transfer fee and wages. James is a tidy player but again pretty middle of the road for me, I wouldn't want him starting every week but that's a controversial opinion. Dasilva is ok, again not done a lot since his loan spell here. Baker is retiring so pretty irrelevant.

Simpson and King aren't long term and surely weren't brought in to play regularly. Again, right now they're average championship players who I can't see getting many minutes for anyone in the league.

Yes I mentioned the youngsters. I have said several times they would do better in a better team, and the same can be said for Atkinson. The point being, as you've nearly said but not quite been able to, they're surrounded by players who aren't good enough to bring the best out of them.

Atkinson and Tanner certainly have the potential to be top players in a few years time. Right now they're again pretty average. So no I don't question Pearson's transfer record as I am able to understand context. I have issue with his tactical decisions, but think recruitment is one area he's done reasonably well in given the circumstances.

 

I disagree on Kalas.  Think it was Fulham where he played a decent amount at centre back and looks good for his country.  Regardless, if we need a right back and Kalas is a right back why doesn’t he play there?  
 

I am surprised on your view on transfers. He’s either signed players where the jury is out or players that haven’t improved us.  James is a key signing and you don’t think he should be starting every game. Pearson signed him to start every game. 
 

1 minute ago, Selred said:

I have to agree. I'm not really sure what we are missing, I think it's balance? Maybe it's training too?

We have leaders / experienced professionals in Bentley, Kalas, Klose, James, Martin, Weimann. So I'd not expect the mentality to be this poor. Something is fundamentally wrong when we are guaranteed to lose after a win, as well as not being able to defend.

I don't understand how we haven't improved our defence, we have some good players on paper. Experienced players. Nige is an ex CB, so is Fleming. Why do we play like they've only been managing the team for 1 month?

We do have round pegs square holes, right back jumps out as an obvious one, plus our lack of defensive midfielders and wingers.

But the training is becoming inexcusable. I have no clue what they are doing week on week to improve that.

 

 

A lot of it can come back on Pearson

We don’t have a right back…he signed Simpson

We don’t have a defensive midfielder…he signed James and King. If we needed one and they arent one then why didn’t he sign one?! 

It’s a shame how far standards have dropped amongst fans as well.  Whenever we play okay we see comments of ‘brilliant performance’ when in reality it’s just not been awful.  Pearson gets credit for identifying the issues from a lot of fans but those fans don’t then judge him on putting it right it seems.

5 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

I'd be quite interested to see how many of those saying that we'll be in a relegation battle next season were saying exactly the same thing before the start of this one?

I think a lot of those predictions were pre the points deductions for Derby and Reading.  If those hadn’t happened I think we would be

1 minute ago, KegCity said:

Like who? Weimann is class, obviously the youngsters are too. Joe Williams is made of quavers so barely counts at this point. Bentley is a good keeper. After that you're looking at middle of the road (at best) championship players. If you've got a squad made of average players, with some quality and some dross sprinkled in, and they're low on confidence with little leadership, they're going to struggle.

By no means have we got a League One squad, but with a few exceptions either way we've got a bottom end of average squad and they are where you'd expect them to be. Don't think anyone other than those I've named starts for many clubs above us.

Kalas has been promoted twice out of this division.  
James was very good last season for Coventry and has always played well in this division 

Put Dasilva in a good passing team and he would definitely not look out of place

Baker is a good defender at this level and Pearson signed him. 

We then have/have had Simpson and King. Pearson signings. 
 

Scott, Semenyo and Massengo are all highly rated youngsters who have all looked excellent at points this season. Put them in a structured team and they’d be more consistent. 
 

Pearson has signed Atkinson, Tanner, Simpson, King, Klose, James, Weimann and Baker.  If you only rate one of them as a top half player then yo my must be questioning Pearsons transfer record. 

10 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Let's try: "the squad he inherited is rubbish. The squad he inherited is rubbish. The squad he inherited is rubbish." Your go ....

Is the squad that bad?  Go through each player and they are either very good youngsters or seasoned pros that have in the past show a lot better than they are producing now.  Drop most of our players into top half of the table teams and they will look a lot better.  Whether we like it or not, players need to be (a) motivated, (b) organised and (c) working to a plan.   The responsibility for all of those things come down to the manager.  
 

The jury has to still be out on Pearson as we need to be completely sure that a manager isn’t up to it before we get rid of them. I am sure this season will fade out like last season but he has then got to start next season showing signs of improvement, even if that is just a more solid defence 

1 hour ago, Son of Fred said:

If you want something to look forwards to,,go book a holiday - we need,,all of us to be stronger than that...

The position we're in is down to rank bad leadership from the top over many years & was never something that could begin to be addressed short term.

 

I’ve not said it should be sorted short term but I don’t think it’s mad to expect some little bits of progress. He knows the problem but so far there’s no sign he can make even a modicum of difference to it.  

31 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

I appreciate the signings haven’t been breathtaking. But who’s to say what influence the likes of King and James have had on Scott and the rest of the youngsters. 

It’s still too early doors to be calling for Nige’s head in my opinion. Especially when you consider where we’re at as a club in terms of how tolerant we are when allowing a manager to build. 

Nige is proven. We haven’t had a proven manager since Coppell. There have been some green shoots, but you’ve gotta take the rough with the smooth. 

Admittedly last night was abhorrent, but the sooner we get used to the fact we’re going to have performances like that while we’re in transition, the better. 

I would give Pearson until Xmas. If barely anything has changed then get rid. If we are defending better and able to string 7 passes together then continue to see if he can progress further.  Massive summer for him transfer wise.  Atkinson is going to need to start looking like a £1.4m centre back soon 

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Not a fact….you been reading Rich Forrester.  C’mon Dave, you’re better than that!

I’m not!  We won the xG though Fevs…every cloud!

Barnsley haven’t scored from a set piece this season before tonight.  The coaching isn’t working