Dr Balls
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Posts posted by Dr Balls
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7 minutes ago, petehinton said:
Really remarkable story in fairness. Buckingham a boyhood Oxford fan, in the stands for their play off final in the conference, manager of them the next time that they’re there with fans. Fairytale stuff really.
Also after a rocky start, he really got them going at the “business end of the season” (to quote that terrible cliche). Fair play to him and what’s the betting we get Oxford as our first home game of next season? Of course Manning could have buggered off to Norwich by then…
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Just now, Kid in the Riot said:
No, the reason Bears may not spend up to the full cap limit is due to the TV deal:
True but SL isn’t putting in more to make up the difference - unlike some other clubs and owners e.g. Bath, Saracens,Leicester etc.
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1 hour ago, Northern Red said:
Which they didn't.
No they just didn’t “turn up” at all. Plus Ford proving he’s the better fly half out of him and Farrell. Who would have guessed?!
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49 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:
Make that 3, Middleton showing some fine legbreak skills.
4 down for 130. An enormous target just to avoid the follow-on but need to get the opener Patel out. With him gone, much less chance of Leicestershire getting anywhere close.
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4 minutes ago, Redrascal2 said:
Didn't read or listen to Lansdown. But concerned to see that next season Bristol Beats will not be spending up to the salary cap as most other Rugby clubs will be, as for example Bath, who seem to buy any player they want. They will rely on experienced players developing the young players. It doesn't fill me with much confidence of our spend this summer. I was never that confident anyway but reading this suggests the spend will be kept as tight as possible. I cannot see it anywhere near meeting Manning's idea of being backed in the transfer market
This is all part of the same piece. SL is fed up of losing money through Bristol Sport, and is trying to reduce his losses by investing less in the first place. It’s more risky for City than the rugby team as they aren’t at risk of relegation, whereas we know that relegation for City would blow a hole in the financial planning and any chance of a sale. Even in that case we should still be a better option for a sale and investment than the “Blue Few” but perhaps not while we are bundled in with all of the other BS issues.
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If Brighton had any sense they would look along the South Coast at either Iraola or Mousinho. Could Potter go back? maybe but he has turned down other jobs and this looks like a step backwards after his “failure” at Chelski. I guess we can’t call them that any more and now Boehly is spaffing millions on transfer fees they should really be called “Chel-seen-you coming”!
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7 minutes ago, The Coach said:
Blimey Manning could be at either Norwich or Ipswich this summer!
No way Ashton is going to let McKenna leave this summer without an enormous pay out. I just can’t see Brighton being that attractive an option for him anyway compared to Ipswich. Now if Ten Hag got the boot and Man United came calling, I think McKenna might jump ship.
As for Manning, lots of family and personal reasons for him to move back to East Anglia. And then there is the potential at Norwich compared to here. Crayon Boy isn’t in Delia’s league!
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1 hour ago, exAtyeoMax said:
They might manage Downsey letting off a few party poppers!
Could Manning take Downsy with him as well? He would be perfect for their ridiculously loud PA system. You could still probably hear him better in the Dolman from there than you can currently!
Although what Downsy is saying isn’t usually worth hearing anyway…
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Given the performance so far, there will be a lot of gloating from Suffolk tonight…
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18 minutes ago, Bainsey said:
Luckily the players don't need to worry about all this modern day terminology, a few grins to the camera while saying "Yeah no" a few times and you're good to go.
Or maybe for City players getting local: “yeah but no but yeah but no”!
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Glad to see the 2 things that I can do well and have trained for I.e. medicine and interpreting data, are so poorly regarded by football clubs in terms of how well (or rather not) they are paid. The reality is that if you want the best qualified, most experienced people for roles like this, then offering just above minimum wage is not going to work, especially when anyone can see how much the players are paid by comparison - i.e more per month than the club are willing to offer you annually. Bit insulting really - pay peanuts, get monkeys. I am sure that SL paid his actuaries at Hargreaves Lansdown very well as they are the ones who can interpret the data and help make the investment decisions. Why skimp at BCFC? Shortsighted!
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On 03/08/2023 at 23:43, Davefevs said:
I kinda wrote something similar for a blog (and on here)….that Tommy’s goals might influence more results than Alex’s performances. That is not to play down the importance and star-ability of Scott, just than Alex could be MOTM and us not earn the 3 points.
Just to reiterate - Alex is a superstar. Tommy is a point-getter!
Tommy’s goals did get us points, especially the number of penalties we were awarded as soon as Nige was dispensed with and our anti-Pearson embargo on penalties was lifted by the referees association. But from open play, we really lacked Scott the playmaker to set things up for Conway or Wells. Twine is a shadow of that but clearly a Manning favourite and might just get a few more goals than Scott. Overall 11th seems about right, especially as until yesterday Max and the defence had been at a playoff levels of performance and goals conceded.
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On 28/04/2024 at 11:56, nickolas said:
Not sure ive seen a player that quick before. Would give Kyle Walker a run for his money too.
Seemed a decent enough player but that pace is a huge asset if he was used, ( or able ) to play LWB.Also has a really interesting back story as Bramall came up through non-league rather than an academy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohen_Bramall
Super quick and as much as @Davefevs says McCrorie negated him, the reverse was also true. He was still running strong right up to the end and was the one player in that Rotherham team that looked capable at Championship level.
13 minutes ago, eardun said:I was thinking about Derrick Williams too at the weekend; the make-up of that back 3 generally reminded me of the make-up on Saturday - different skill sets of course but the fact that that you just have one big/true CB in the middle with a different type of player either side. For Ayling (who also played a lot at RB), read Tanner.
Sorry but George Tanner is no Luke Aylimg. One is an attacking full back who scores goals and the other is Tanner, who seems to be at risk of a nosebleed every time he crosses the halfway line.
As for Roberts, a truly classy player, who is short for a central defender but much like Geoff Merrick (or for a left back Jay Dasilva) it doesn’t seem to affect his performance. So assured on the ball, generally good passes (although a couple of wayward forward passes on Saturday - channelling his inner Zak Vyner?!) and already scored a goal with his feet, taken like a centre forward. Much to admire, especially considering how young he is.
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To take the well worn adage, with 45 games gone, the league table looks like 1 team promoted, 7 more going for promotion, 1 relegated, 1 all but relegated and 4 that could be, plus quite a few who have underperformed - plus Preston North End and Bristol City in 10th and 11th!
Do I see us going better next season? The defence is now one of our assets rather than a liability, largely thanks to O’Leary, Dickie and Vyner. However unless we actually learn how to score more goals, we won’t be going anywhere. We are currently very dependent on opposition mistakes and getting awarded more penalties than we have seen in years. We certainly don’t play to the strengths of any striker I have ever seen, nor does Conway play like a central striker who is going to score many goals. Half the time he is out on the wing when he should be in the box!
And my concern is that Manning wants to play the Guardiola way prior to Haaland arriving at Manchester City, which really negates having a striker, with all the focus on the midfielders to score goals. Sorry but at Championship level, without significantly more funds for the best midfielders in the division, I just don’t see that way of playing working. Even Russell Martin and his possession-obsessed style at Southampton still has Adam Armstrong as a striker scoring 20+ goals this season.
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Gambling is a “mugs game” and for every person who says that they can “beat the bookie” there are thousands who definitely don’t. A couple of quid a week on the lottery or on the half time draw is fine, but beyond that the problem with gambling is it’s like anything else that gives a “rush”, whether that’s drink, drugs or even mobile phones, and that dopamine hit becomes addictive. Watching exciting football used to do this for a lot of us but Manning broke the spell for quite a few on here recently it would seem!
Joking aside, football particularly has a problem with gambling, both in terms of sponsorship (The “Skybet” Championship?) and for young players with relatively large amounts of money, more time on their hands, and little direction on how to protect themselves. And it can either lead to bans during their playing career (Toney) or in later life poverty, especially amongst those stars of yesteryear who actually made relatively little from the game by modern standards, such as the recently departed Stan Bowles:
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Finally decided to renew my season ticket, against my previous judgement, and tried last night online. Wouldn’t accept any of my cards. Tried again today and same problem.
Then spent 1 hour on hold today before getting through to customer services (I started at number 20) and when they put through my original credit card it worked fine.
So the warning is that it may take ages tomorrow morning to get through to speak to someone if you don’t use the online system or if the online system plays up and it won’t accept your card.
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Now fit and recovered from injuries, Roberts is proving just how good a player he is. A back 3 that includes Roberts and Dickie means we have players who can pass and are happy to bring the ball forward out of defence, plus score goals.
Agree that Tanner has improved this season defensively on the right but his first instinct is always to pass back as he approaches the halfway line. A more progressive right centre back with some more height might not go amiss.
And unfortunately for Vyner, I just don’t see him playing in a back 3. He is fine at this level defensively and we have seen flashes where he can bring the ball forward and go past players but his passing is poor. A give away to an opposition forward every game is not good.
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24 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:
Sky said offside
4-0 Swans. Liam Walsh with the 4th
Is he still there and actually playing football? He’s been out as much as Naismith this season every season since he left! The term “collector’s item” should be falling from a commentator’s lips…
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If this is how Lansdown has felt about the rugby, goodness knows what he has thought of some of our home games recently. Excitement in terms of our playing “style” has been in short supply much of the time. And no I am not going to mention “that” game as a counter argument, although it was a return to how this team plays best.
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38 minutes ago, GrahamC said:
Agree.
Think the argument they’ll be looking to keep him appears to be based on the first half of the season at Hull where he did pretty well.
As an aside I don’t think Hull particularly wanted him to go in January but the injection of funds then that enabled them to sign Carvalho, Zaroury & Giles meant he wasn’t going to be a regular.
The reason I don’t get Kasey Palmer vibes if he signs is because basically as I expect our business to be on a small scale, a 10, a striker, a reserve keeper & then only further deals if the likes of Conway or Cornick move on.
This means he (or the 10 we sign if he doesn’t join) wouldn’t be in a Szmodics, Paterson log jam for a place, we’d be effectively betting the farm on them.
My view is if Manning wants him (my hunch is he does) we make an offer & if Burnley want anything like what’s been quoted, we move on & look elsewhere.
Funny you should mention Paterson, because I would suggest that he’s a better player than Twine even now. Not that I would be looking to get him back either. The point being that there are better players with a greater Championship pedigree out there than Twine, who probably wouldn’t cost more in fees or wages. The advantage Twine has is that Manning clearly likes him and trusts him, evidenced by despite yesterday’s shocker, he wasn’t subbed off.
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9 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:
I don’t overly disagree, but if you think we’ve been “fortuitous” in the games post Easter (and I’d add to your analysis above the four Vardy chances pre our goal Vs Leicester) then the balance has to be whether in the six games post Southampton we were unlucky to only pick up three points.
(NB - avoidance of doubt I’ll say in the three wins post Easter I have liked our intent and that helps deserve points)
Those games were (in chronological order):
QPR (H), Weds (A), Cardiff (H), Ipswich (A), Swansea (H), WBA (A)
If you (or anyone) thinks we were unlucky to only get three points from those games the argument is that it’s luck balancing out. However, if the stance is that we got pretty much what we deserved from that batch, then people with that view should be concerned about the performances that continue - if not the results.
Out of those 6 previous games, the best performance was against Ipswich, when a draw would have been a fair result. We were lucky against Swansea, having been bobbins for most of the game, we were undone by a corner against Cardiff, but did nothing to deserve any more from that game, and the other 3 losses were deserved as we were really poor. I know it’s often said that the sign of a good team is one that wins when playing badly, but the opposite argument which fits us is that if you play badly most of the time you really can’t be that good!
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The more I see the less convinced I am about Twine. Best performance was his first game against Watford when he scored. Since then it’s been diminishing returns and today he veered between anonymous in the first half to dreadful in the second. Are we more creative with him in the team? No. If anything in the same position, Mehmeti has looked better than him recently, which hardly suggests Twine is going to take us to the next level.
Against all that though, is a shared history with Manning, so the likelihood is that he will want to sign Twine permanently whatever anyone us might think.
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6 minutes ago, Nescot said:
Can’t say anything positive it’s not allowed on here.
So unbeaten in the last 5 games, which is good, but the results have generally been better than the performances. Dreadful first half against Huddersfield today, a copy of the Swansea game last month, with not a single shot in the first 45 minutes. Last weekend indebted to Max for keeping a clean sheet against Sunderland. Good win against Leicester, decent performance versus Plymouth, while the Blackburn defence was giving away more gifts than Santa at Christmas!
Happy we have the points, and defensively we look pretty good, accepting that we were missing both Dickie and Vyner today. However, still unconvinced that Manning has really cracked how to get us playing forward, particularly how to break down teams that sit in and play 2 banks of 4 across the pitch and are happy to watch us huff and puff in front of them with minimal penetration. Also very lucky to come away with a point this afternoon.
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11 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:
I’m not totally sold on Twine, but that is because I don’t think he’d want to sign for us.
On recent performances the term “show pony” comes to mind. Thinks he is better than he is , but really isn’t all that good. Gave the ball away countless times today, offered little going forward, and had a shot near the end that was just a “look at me” punt when there were far better options available. He’s lucky we got the penalty or otherwise he could be up for belters over that one!
Would I shell out £5+ million on him in fees and many thousands per week in wages on the basis of what we have seen so far? Absolutely not. He’s very lightweight and easily robbed of the ball at this level. He may have torn up League 1 a couple of years ago, but on a similar level, scoring all those goals in League 1 didn’t make Kieron Agard a championship level player.
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Jon Lansdown on Bristol City's leadership structure, his dad's position and Richard Scudamore - Bristol Live
in Football Chat
Posted · Edited by Dr Balls
The issue is in part that the asking price is high (SL wants to recoup all his losses), but also the incredibly complicated structure that has been set up between the various teams and organisations. Anyone wanting to buy us would also clearly want the stadium and the HPC. But I can’t see SL wanting to be left holding the rest of Bristol Sport plus you have this problem with the Premiership Rugby rules, where their teams and fixtures have to take precedence at “their” ground. So we aren’t even the principal team playing at the Gate any more in terms of arranging fixtures. Good job there are only 9 home fixtures a season in the Premiership Rugby now…