Dr Balls

This could get likely rugby where they now talk about “starters” and “finishers” as part of their tactics. Again it has changed the game and possibly not for the better as tired players are replaced by fresh ones, whereas before the fittest team could benefit towards the end of a game. And it definitely benefits the (richer) clubs with bigger more expensive squads, rather than those who would fill the extra spaces with youngsters - or if your Cotts not even make a full bench to make a point! Which again is possible. Too many stoppages already.

Oh no France have equalised. That Mbappe lad looks good. Maybe we should put in a bid for him to pair up with Andi!!

Fantastic for him! Just hope we can hold on to him for next season…

Just hope it doesn’t end like Ayling - selling on cheaply for a player who is now a Premier League regular. Would be better if he could do the latter without needing to move!!

You mean roughly 0.8% of the cost of the new Crossrail Elizabeth Line in London? In those terms, it’s next to nothing! Perhaps we should rename the missing Portishead rail link as the “Right Old Charlies Line” because it’s what we have been taken for down here yet again. And much though I would like to blame Marvin on this one, the blame for the rising costs and lack of action sits with national institutions and politicians rather than local ones, and they get away with it once more because our locals are so docile. It doesn’t help that the mainstream local journalism in and around Bristol is so pathetic. That really is a scandal as no one is aware of what is or isn’t happening and who to hold responsible, and why local democracy and politics is so lacking. How can people care or form an opinion on a subject in their area if they know nothing about it in the first place?

Having versatile experienced professional players who will fit in where needed is essential. One of our better signings of recent seasons was Tommy Rowe, who was one of those. Hopefully Naismith will be even better.

Surprised that Brum were third highest in terms of the number of away fans. I know there are a lot of Brummies, and that there may not be much to do in Brum, plus they see a visit to Ashton Gate as an excuse to go to Weston for the weekend, but even so! A lot of clubs might miss the finance of Forest and Derby away fans. Good job that Sunderland beat Wycombe in the League 1 play off on that basis!

Yes but many 3rd choice goalkeepers are either youngsters coming through who may or may not get a loan or permanent deal elsewhere in due course or players coming to the end of their careers who are looking to make a bit of extra money and don’t mind not playing much. They may also do a bit of coaching on the side. Palmer’s position is completely different. He is in his mid 20s. He could have another 10 years of a career where he might get paid another £5 million plus, with a bit of luck and some application on his part. Or he could sit out the next year and bank a million. The latter sounds initially attractive from an income perspective, but then what? Who will want a player who hasn’t made it at a number of Championship clubs? League 1 wages are a lot less so his only other options for anything similar to what he’s getting now are USA, Australia or China. If I was his agent, I would be telling him that another year of not playing much at Championship level is not going to do him any favours in the long term. Get your deal paid up to terminate the contract, make up most of the difference with a signing on fee as a free agent and get another 3 year contract at Championship level even if it is on less wages than now. The problem is that in the short term that may not be the biggest earner for his agent who is the fourth person to add into this mix of player, club and potential new club.

VAR decisions to be shown in real time on a screen visible to the spectators with video and sound and no decision to take longer than 30 seconds. If it takes longer than that then the decision is not clear and obvious either way, and the original decision stands. Either that or the referee views the incident pitch side and makes the decision for themselves, but again with the spectators being able to see the same thing as the referee. Openness and transparency of decision making in football - which means with FIFA in charge it’s got zero chance of ever happening!

The only upside is that it leaves Swindon as the lowest placed league club in the South West and even they are in the playoffs and a good shout for winning them. Which as someone else pointed out considering they had pretty much no squad a few weeks before the start of the season and a “Gas reject”manager is pretty good going. Will be a fair few local derbies in League 1 next season, but the best of the west will still be a cut (and at least a league) above!

My impression is that the Afro has been trimmed a bit recently. Either that or it looks a lot bigger when he is running around on the pitch! And whenever I have seen him around the neighbourhood before, which is quite often, he’s usually in his training kit.

He was in High Kingsdown Co-op yesterday evening at the cash till. Said hello and he seemed genuinely surprised to be recognised, although in his City training kit it was a bit of a give away. Seems remarkably down to earth for a 20 year old professional footballer, and all the stories about him off the pitch are always very positive. If he does leave in the summer, I hope he gets a move to somewhere he can really progress.

And it was the Tories on NSC who refused to join, then Marvin blocked them joining when the council changed hands. As per usual around Bristol, it’s small-minded politicians playing party games rather than delivering for the local population. And Grant Schapps has just done the same again, ensuring that the Portishead line will likely never happen despite widespread local support, as the money is diverted by central government to “Red Wall” constituencies up North, in an attempt to pay off first time Tory voters. Meanwhile down here, some people will continue to vote for the Tories no matter what, and even when it’s clearly against their own self interest. For instance, where else would the smug Rees-Mogg have managed to get 50% of the votes at the General Election other than sleepy North East Somerset? Too much forelock-tugging methinks!

If you go back far enough, to when we were relegated in 2012/13, Pack was the young replacement for Skuse, once he had transferred to Ipswich. Both players were under appreciated by many on here because as noted by @Davefevsthe role that they played is not flashy but is essential to screen a back 4 plus bring the ball out from the back. And before Skuse, it was Cisse. You could argue that Matty James plays the same role now but if that is the case (and I don’t think it really is, which is why we currently need 3 central defenders) then he doesn’t do it as well as any of those above. Over the years, our midfield has always been a problem, both in terms of shielding the defence and creating for the forwards. Our best run under LJ in 2017/18 came with our 4 central defender defence, plus Pack and Smith in central midfield, Brownhill on the right and Bryan on the left. That was solid, workmanlike and also some pace on the wings, and allowed Paterson and Reid the freedom to roam further forward. (Looking back, you also realise that when on form how top quality that 2017/18 team was and what a disaster that the post-Christmas slump was, especially as we then started selling off players to turn a profit on them.)

The other thing that people forget about Pack is his physicality and his height. At 6ft 2in and “robust” he can easily slip back in with the centre backs in a way none of our current midfielders are able to do. As I have said before as a potential locally-based free agent, who never actually requested a move in the first place, you can see why this might work well for both parties.

If I renewed after we got relegated in 2012/13, then this is a much easier decision to renew. The football has been frustrating this season due to conceding late goals, but compared to the last season under LJ, we are scoring more goals, so more opportunities to jump around, plus we have some genuinely exciting prospects, if we can hold on to them and fit them into the team. Plus after our enforced time away from the match day experience, going back to the pub afterwards remains a guilty pleasure, even if all we do is moan about what we have had to endure watching yet another last minute opposition goal go in!

Suggests our front line of strikers is pretty good and everything behind it is not in the same league. But then a suspect midfield defensively has been a City tradition for years. I can understand Pearson’s frustration with that because it mirrors the position of most of the fans! And it implies we are soft as a team as well as a club. The fans have come to expect us to concede the last minute equaliser and perhaps the players have too. Do we have a sports psychologist in the set up anywhere, because if so that person clearly isn’t doing their job very well!

Pat Nevin is always insightful. I was at medical school with Chris Sutton’s brother. Chris Sutton is not an idiot, but at times he deliberately tries to be contrary just to get the debate going. And Jonathan Pearce is the perfect foil for that, as he be also likes a good discussion.

The ratio of goals scored from open play to those from penalties would make an interesting table - especially as we would likely be at the top this season and near the top last season, whereas some others would be much more dependent on penalties to boost their goal tally. One for you @Davefevs?

Paid for by their Russian owner who made his money in petrochemicals. The parallels with Chelsea are interesting at the very least. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/abramovich-football-clubs-russian-owners-26383286

France played their friendly in Lille and Spain played Iceland in La Coruna. Would be good to see more England friendlies played somewhere other than Wembley, but I guess it’s all about money and contracts with the FA.

Shame that Andi was denied a late winner against the Scots by an inspired keeper, after again coming on as a substitute. With a new manager due to take over the Austrian national team, Andi might hope to get a few more caps if he maintains his current form. Just hope that we hold onto him too!

NP’s stock was good enough for Watford to appoint him in the Premier League, which IIRC was his last post before coming here. And if they had kept him for the last 2 matches of the season they might have stayed up, as he had turned around their season to that point.

Just proves that only one statistic really matters!

Definitely well deserved and somewhat surprised it hasn’t happened earlier. Player of the Season by some distance. And if all of the other players in the City squad gave the same commitment and effort as him, I doubt we would be where we are in the table. Not his fault we can’t defend a lead he has given us!