LondonBristolian

What happened to all the conversations on these boards in pre-season about the fact the best we could realistically hope for this season was painfully slow progress? Why does everyone tip us to struggle and then shit the bed when we draw at home to a resilient side?

I absolutely agree with the original poster. There is absolutely no excuse at all for a 9-0 home defeat. The manager has to go right now. Oh, hang on. It was a 1-1 draw after an admittdely rubbish performance? The OP's probably overreacting then...

I think he is just not on the bench because Kalas can cover right back.

He's had a couple of very good games this season and a couple of very bad games. I think he gets a raw deal in that the good performances get forgotten the second he has a bad game. However, at the same time, a crucial thing he needs to improve on is to make his off-days a 6/10 rather than a 4/10.

To be fair, even our first genuinely rubbish half has been streets ahead of many of our genuinely rubbish halves last season!

First half not great at all but we've gone in 0-0 so I'm choosing to hope for improvement rather than worry about what I watched. Will judge after 90 minutes.

Think I am on a delay and am still waiting to find out by how much!

That’s as good as making no change at all.

I'm expecting an unchanged team tonight but then maybe Dasilva and Scott coming in for Baker and King on Saturday.

As I understand it, Ashton was the CEO of the entire club - including the women's team - and ultimately he should have been overseeing everything. A CEO might choose to delegate things (indeed Ashton probably should have delegated many aspects recruitment on the men's side) but still needs to have oversight of those things and be ready to proactively intervene if those things are not working.

He was involved to at least an extent and I think he did the initial approach. However I wonder if it was known that he was leaving at that point. At the very least Pearson seems to have joined knowing the spending limitations that were likely to be in place meant the transfer policy would be very different. That said, Pearson obviously joined until the end of the season and at a point when the transfer market was closed so there was no real risk of players being signed without his knowledge.

I wonder if the idea that this happened actually frightens you? It's quite an uncomfortable thought to think that others reflect on their behaviour, learn and improve because it raises a lot of questions about your own responsibilities to yourself and to society. The fact something frightens you is not a reason not to believe in it or to confront it. I see no plausible reason why someone would pretend to have been a racist if they were not nor for someone to produce a fake article. Occam's razor suggests that this almost certainly did happen.

Bottom line is he's not our player. I see no reason at all to make any assumptions about his attitude or reasons for his availability but we're moving on without him and there we are. I hope he puts the injuries behind him for his own sake.

Any chance of the lottery numbers whilst you’re at it?

I'll happily respect anyone stating an honest opinion. But let's not pretend for a moment that you are. Nobody is daft enough to believe that young players do not improve. You've stated something you very clearly don't believe - and nobody can honestly believe - to seek a bit of attention.

Good point. Setting them to ignore right now. Christ knows why people bite in detail.

I have no doubt at all that the OP is a troll on a fishing trip so I would be a fool to indulge him for more than two sentences. It is time to accept the kids are in fact kids and it is far too early to tell how their careers will pan out.

I've seen managers given ratings by journalists loads of times before. What's a bit unusual, admittedly, is suddenly doing it having not done it before.

Cheers for this. I do think Weimann can make a massive difference. We had quite a static formation last season but Weimann is way more equipped to get around the pitch rather than hanging around on the touchline.

Is it that unusual though? Pearson has been in the game for thirty years and is no doubt aware everyone has an opinion on what the manager should be doing. I don't think it's that unusual for that to include local journalists. Obviously Pearson is going to (quite righty) completely ignore MacGregor's advice, along with the advice of everyone on here and on Twitter. Which is exactly what he should do. But I don't agree at all the it's particularly unusual or damaging for MacGregor to have done this and I honestly don't believe it is going to particularly damage the relationship for the simple reason I don't really see why Pearson should or will pay this article any attention. This feels like another in a series of threads about something that really is pretty much a non-issue.

Agree with this. I’m a bit confused as to why so many people seem to think it is an issue that the local journalist isn’t super-pally with the club manager. I agree with this and also think it madness advocating to overhaul a system after what are essentially two draws, one with a second string team and one with a team that, due to injuries and new signings, have barely played together. MacGregor’s argument seems to be in essence that we need to get more support to Wells and that we don’t have wide players. I don’t think that is a reason to go to a system very dependent on wing backs. I do think it is a reason to look at how the 4-2-3-1 works so that the two on the outside of the three get in the box rather than stay wide when attacking. I couldn’t make the Blackpool game so I don’t know how the formation looked in the stadium.

Cheers - suspected I might be a bit out of date as I wrote that!

Going on a bit of a stereotype here but Serie A maybe suits strikers who are prepared to get fewer opportunities to score per match and are ready to convert them when they come along. I reckon that could suit Abraham.

Exactly this. I rate Nagy but we've never played the right system for him (and nor has he done enough to justify us building our midfield around us). As you say, I thought he was one of the few players who tried last season but he obviously isn't quite what the manager wants and - given we have James, King, Bakinson, Massengo and Williams, plus Scott and Palmer as attacking midfield options - it makes sense for everyone if he moves on. But I don't think anyone has to be the bad guy there. Nagy is good enough for it to be reasonable for him to want to be someone where he can play regular football and Pearson has every right to pick the team he wants. I hope a move gets found for him quickly and that everyone can move on.

Yeah - I was sure Wells would start.