Taylor10

Young side but full of attacking intent and creativity. I really like it. Let’s have a right go. Up the City!

I could be wrong but doesn’t Martin have more goals than Afobe? Pretty sure Smith has only one goal to his name all season. In fact I also think Martin has contributed more in goals and assists than Benik & Smith have put together. Dont get me wrong I’m not Martin’s biggest fan but Smith’s days are numbered and Benik doesn’t appear the player he was.

Neither should be booed. No reason for them to be. Just like there was no reason for Albert to be booed. I think for once we did the right thing not signing both permanently. Smith was very limited and although Afobe showed early promise, doing his ACL for the second time meant he’s never been the same player. As the OP says, enjoyed their time with us though and both worth a reasonable reception.

Bang on. The absolute master at being wise after the event. Seldom agree with a lot of what he says, makes the occasional good point but usually contradicts himself. Fair play though, I like the fact he doesn’t sit on the fence but as you say it’s the delivery. Otherwise generally the pod is a good listen and I like that they don’t sugar coat things.

Got to love Ian ? Earlier in the season saying Tanner could be one of our best ever signings to now saying he isn’t fit/physically fit enough to play at this level every week.

That’s how I interpreted it. I don’t think Bentley has broken any rules regarding discipline etc. NP even said there was nothing sinister in it. I just think for once NP didn’t explain himself all that well. My take on it was Bentley hasn’t been at his best and by rules, NP meant captain or not he’s not undroppable, like the rest of the team are if they under perform.

It still doesn’t get any easier conceding like that does it? You would of thought by now as it happens so often it would be water off a ducks back….but no, that horrible sinking feeling remains. Where to start with that tonight? A bold team selection by NP which for me resulted in our most complete performance over 90mins this season but we yet again fail to get over the line. However what I will say after witnessing what again is becoming all too familiar is that there were more positives. I thought Semenyo was exceptional. What a performance but also what a difference his inclusion to the team brings. If we can get him scoring we will have some player on our hands. He proved he can easily lead the line, hold it up, link the play, run at players and run the channels. Alex Scott was another real positive and I think showed glimpses as to why he’s destined for the very top. It was a good team performance with good football played but we lacked that cutting edge, which contributed to our downfall. After saying there were more positives I don’t want to dwell on the negatives too much, but I can’t ignore them either. Our game management and decision making really leaves a lot to be desired though. We need to start making our own luck. Yes the ref was absolutely abysmal tonight but we don’t help ourselves. I like Pring and he will learn I’m sure but don’t give the ref a decision to make for goodness sake. To me it was a penalty but there was no need to make that challenge. No need at all. Some of our most senior pros let us down big time with amateur errors tonight. King being the obvious one and I don’t even need to elaborate on that but also Weimann literally stopping to appeal for a decision, when he could of just kept the ball and seen the game out to take a point. Why stop? Surely play to the whistle? Is that not what we were all taught as kids? For me that was criminal. Yes we need to defend the corner better but it was totally avoidable in the first place and beyond frustrating. It’s not just hard luck anymore. There has to be accountability. Anyway, regardless of the result tonight we didn’t look like a relegation threatened team. Our movement was so much better and we had far more pace and mobility in the team than recent weeks. We controlled the game for large spells but we need to become more ruthless. I think add a fit Joe Williams into that team and we have a really good balance and more performances like that to look forward to but with the result as well. What we saw tonight was a bit more reflective of an NP side. Still lots of work to be done of course but certainly some green shoots starting to show.

I am glad I’m not the only one that noticed that. For me Weimann doing that was almost as amateur as King getting sent off. You are taught to play to the whistle in primary school for ***** sake. He had the ball, we either keep it or hit the channels and we can regroup to see the game out. Really poor from him and if I was NP I would be giving him both barrels.

Classless ****. I’m glad he never played for England. He was awful tonight as well. Clearly big time and reacts like that to try and detract from the fact he’s finished now.

I’ve listened to Owers, Latham & Honor pods. All a really good listen thanks Dave. I like Owers, he says it as he sees it and made some good points. I liked his reference to needing ‘foot soldiers’ regarding the scouting/recruitment side of things. He was bang on there. Latham is a really good to listen too, although he did actually make a few points I didn’t agree with and I found them a little contradicting. For example him saying we shouldn’t of sold or best players but to then also saying we will fall foul of FFP. As a youngster growing up and following City without social media, his content was always bang on though and he captured the imagination in his articles. I liked he was critical of Ashton, I think the fact that Latham said he had ‘no time for the bloke whatsoever’ is pretty telling. Love that comment. Really good listen. As for Honor, I don’t often agree with him but he too made some really good points. Well worth a listen. I did laugh at his comparison of Weimann to an ‘out of control speed boat’ though. Not far wrong in fairness on that point and a few regarding some of the current players. All 3 well worth a listen.

It still amazes me people can’t seem to grasp we sold the majority of our better players to prem sides. For those who have been critical of the club for this I’ve not seen a valid solution put forward on how we could of avoided this? Any club who doesn’t get promoted from this level is likely to be a selling club or will have to sell their best players. OK so some clubs can hang onto players, for example Sheff U/Fulham this season but the clubs that can are always the ones likely to get promoted after coming down from the prem or the ones with the biggest budgets. They will often be a club on the up or a club that has actually achieved something. We are neither. Some of these clubs, for example Brentford, have a succession plan. We don’t. My gripe never was or will be regarding players being sold. Unfortunately we have to be realistic, as frustrating as it is. The real disappointment as many have mentioned has been in our approach to recruitment. Not just wasting money or wages on players but also not recruiting to a system, a redundant scouting system and at best a scattergun approach in the last 3/4 seasons. Don’t even get me started on MA’s involvement in all this. We’ve been wasteful and careless with fees and wages but also some of these signings in theory have been set up to fail. The last time we properly recruited to a style and system was under SC.

Yeah seems that way to me Dave. Always moaning about something or other and acting hard done by. Doing a great job mind and has them playing some really good football.

The bloke constantly has a massive chip on his shoulder. That said he’s been given time to turn it round and clearly knows what he’s doing at this level

Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing you all happiness and good health….and of course for all 3 points tomorrow!! Up the City!

This. Absolute show pony. I don’t know how or where but he needs to be moved on somehow. I would be amazed if we don’t end up paying the majority of his wages until the end of his current contract with us, even if we can find another club for him in the mean time.

He has indeed been poor. Be good to see him moved on in Jan but it’s safe to say it’s not worked out. Chugger Martin works his socks off but he’s so limited and is being flogged. I think Semenyo’s return will take some of the pressure off as he has all the attributes to succeed at this level. Semenyo still has a bit to improve on but is decent back to goal. I would be half tempted to let him lead the line on his own or with Weimann. Martin needs a rest.

I’ve got tickets for Luton but fully expecting it to be behind closed doors, if on at all.

It’s almost as if we could expect the same from NP had he had £50mil plus to invest in the squad…. His time was up and ultimately he contributed to his own downfall.

He’s always got goals at this level to be fair. I just think he’s one of those players that suit a certain team/system. I think in all honesty those stats were part of the justification behind signing him. He wasn’t the type of striker we needed but at least he had a track record at this level. As you say though….if only Pearson or Cotts had that type of money to burn….

Fair point Dave. Collectively poor yesterday in all honesty Kalas & Atkinson certainly didn’t come out with any credit. Even in his better performances, Zak’s game is littered with mistakes which often result in the opposition having a chance from. I think he’s clearly low on confidence at the moment and I hope he can find some form but if he continues to make so many mistakes or poor decisions during games he won’t last long at this level.

Interestingly was speaking to a few Huddersfield fans in the tobacco factory before the game yesterday. They were disappointed Wells wasn’t starting as they think he’s crap. They were pretty unanimous in the view he wasn’t a very good player.

Completely agree. Total panic buy and said as much at the time. Unfortunately symptomatic of a lot of the transfers throughout the LJ/MA era. No signings to fit a style and without any real plan on how to use them.

Bang on Graham. I’ve seen far worse and even the McInnes era which some would argue was on a par to now, for me had less positives or reasons for optimism (Scott, Benarous etc) It’s not pretty at present. We aren’t an easy watch but it’s definitely been worse. Still puzzled by those who think we are going to become prime Barcelona over night.

Poor old Zak is clearly low on confidence but he’s getting horribly exposed week in week out. He makes far too many mistakes and even though he’s versatile and strikes a good ball I’m struggling to see how he can be part of our long term plans at this level.

I think the way in which we are playing doesn’t suit Wells. He’s not strong enough to link play or hold the ball up and doesn’t have the work rate of Weimann say. Wells would get absolutely eaten up by centre half’s at this level with the way we play and would effectively be a passenger. NP clearly doesn’t think he’s good enough for us to try adapt our style to accommodate him either. If we can move him on his days are numbered here.