JoeAman08

2 hours ago, sinenomine said:

I agree with you, but note that the comment was regarding his eventual ceiling not current level. 

Yes but kind of what I am getting at. He is miles behind where Conway is despite being older. I have serious reservations about the level Sam Bell can reach. I don’t think he’ll ever be a top end championship player. He is now what I think he will always be. A useful player for a side who won’t have the ball much. 

2 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

I fully agree that home form is a painful work in progress. Pearson tells us that in interviews including yesterday. However the fact we can at least go away from home and have significant spells of games on top is chalk and cheese to where we were when he took over and other Managers were calling us the worst side in the league after we’d scabbed a result off them. The laughable thing about that is our wage bill was at its highest during that period (£35m was what @Mr Popodopolous quoted the other day).

Think there are positives and negatives to Pearson is all. I am not screaming to get rid but also as someone who watches us live 30 times a year, I’d like to be more entertaining. Think the 3 away games have been that. Like say Sykes shoots first time and doesn’t score yesterday and Sam Bell hits post. I’d have still been happy with that performance and losing. I want to see more of that at home.
 

So at the minute, if you told me he sees out his contract and goes, I won’t be complaining. Much like the arguments about Lansdown, it could go either way.

Think you can see the midfielder in him. Good he can cover rb but think he’ll shine in midfield with Knight at some point I hope. 

1 minute ago, The Bard said:

What is a 'progressive' manager ? Someone 'on the up'?  Like LJ was or Russell Martin or any line of bluffers we could mention.

You know our owner isn't capable of separating the wheat from the chaff in this regard?

Someone proven or safe is what he should stick to and we already have one.

SL choosing is a good reason to not want to change from NP. I can concede that. Idk who, I think we have seen managers go to other places and do well though during NP tenure. Whether they could have been options with our finances idk.

Ryan Lowe was a good appointment and was impressed with them when they played us. Carrick struggling at the minute but think you saw a good style from him and seems he has some pull as far as recruitment. We’ll see how Eustace and Rosenior get on. 
 

It isn’t me having a go at NP for the job he has done. He has done his job well but he has also had help from Tinnion and Gould. Just like we always lump LJ and MA together lets put them together too. For all the good, we are still a pretty bad watch especially at home. We haven’t finished higher than 14th. And enough times I get left a bit baffled by his team selections and/or substitutions. I think on the days we have games, I still question whether he is a good fit or not. 

17 minutes ago, Negan said:

I’m very much let him have this season and move on. Done a great job but think it’s better, providing the club get it right (if you trust them too) to have a fresh approach and a better style of play. He’s been here a while now and imo the football is still rather poor/boring. Deserves this season but I’d like to see someone else taking charge next season, but that’s just me 

Yea I pretty much agree. See Pearson as a stabiliser not someone that will progress the club. He done his job and kept us up. Think time to look for a more progressive manager. There is risk involved for sure but NP is a safe option for me. That said, madness not to get a couple more players in after selling Scott. He doesn’t deserve to be left out to dry. 

7 minutes ago, sinenomine said:

I have a vague recollection of Tinnion saying the same thing when he first broke into the side. 

He isn’t anywhere near Conway and is actually slightly older than TC for perspective. Tommy Conway can lead the line and ruffle defenders feathers. Bell is fine in a counter attacking side on one of the wings. Top finishers the both of them. Conway better movement through the middle imo. 
 

No surprise he plays better away from home where teams try to be expansive and leave spaces in behind. Never doubted his finishing ability either. However when we are at home he really struggle with the lack of space. He needs to improve.

Just now, Spike said:

For two seasons he was an actual liability and if we were still playing 3 at the back he still would be. I like Vyner as a person and to a degree he can be a solid defender with the right players around him in the right formation. In a back 4 he needs a good center back alongside him and a right back who doesn't overcommit as his positioning is largely affected by who is around him, hence in the back 3 he falls out of position and gets caught out. He's also prone to a dodgy pass still but his professionalism, determination and mind set are good strongest qualities which is why the club has stuck by him even when the fans didn't. 

Vyner will never be that talisman defender, the attitude is right, the drive is right but he has holes in his game that seem to be bad habits that he can't shake. He's definitely worked on them and due to his good attitude will keep working on them and in a bank 4 they won't be s prominent. I hope he does well, now he has the contract he has to keep working at his game and he seems to have struck up a good understanding with Dickie which is always a positive. 

I think a lot of people think I dislike Vyner, I don't, I like the bloke a lot, he just frustrates me because he has an amazing attitude and if he had the natural positioning and decision making that some players do I think he would have gone on to play Premier League football. 

You aren’t wrong but imo we didn’t do him any favours. Ok broke through at rb because we had some minutes there. Then a good loan at Plymouth where he did well at CB in a 4. Then back here at RB. Was it Rotherham pr Scotland next? RB at rotherham for sure. Then back here and chucked in midfield during covid and after a run was probably one of our better performers. Then out of team again. Then in a 3. Then finally back to a 4 on the right side with a steady run of games. 
 

I feel like he is only growing still tbf. You can pick out mistakes he makes but you see that at every level. Good athlete, good defender and good on the ball. Yes he should limit those cross field balls some. Yes he’ll face some big strikers where he gets bullied some. That is normal stuff for players at this level. I don’t think he’d let any team at this level down over a full season. Sure you can do better but what is it costing you? 

34 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

If he had been sold, without a replacement, then I think we would have seen Nigel clear his office. 
It would have been a disaster for the club as much  for the message it sent to everyone. 

Wouldn’t surprise me if city put the Vyner interest out there. Now they can say they retained one of our best players and signed him to a new deal despite interest from clubs higher up. 
 

Took 6-7 years to get him a song. We still can’t spell his name right. Most under appreciated player in our history  we have kept a good player so is good news. Glad he got a new deal and should be paid fairly now. Gone through a lot here and have to respect him for coming through stronger

5 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

For me he has been one of our most attacking threats this season. He's got down that wing and delivered some excellent balls into the box, but just no one there to convert them. 

When we don’t have the ball yes. Useful on the counter in a straight line. Pretty poor when needs to go by a defender. Maybe he grows into it but I don’t see him being championship standard. 

24 minutes ago, Henry said:

Very surprised he’s skipped straight to the u21s. 
 

good luck to him.

Considering he’ll be 22 in May I am not. More surprised he is even mentioned in the same breathe as England u21s. I just don’t see it with Bell. 

I have never been NP biggest fan but glad he is highlighting the true problem at the club. Everyone runs at a loss in this league for the most part. If you wanted to make money you don’t buy a football team. The point is to be competitive and push for promotion. Lansdown has no problem saying that but had never shown it through his actions. Blokes time is up. 
 

9 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Yes, we have.

But this year we have got far, far more in than we’ve spent.

Semenyo was £10m, then small fees for Towler, Wilson & Low.

Bentley, Klose, Martin, Baker, Moore, Dasilva, Kalas & now Massengo all off the wage bill, as well. The small matter of £25m for Alex Scott.

Even at high end estimates of fees paid it was £1.3m spent in January & about £4.5m prior to Gardiner-Hackman’s £700k.

Not exactly like for like, is it?

Yep and what you have to factor in is we are probably a a couple windows behind because we couldn’t spend much in previous windows. This squad could use another 3-4 players in the 1-2m range and the wages that come with them. We are short on quality. 

8 hours ago, Riaz said:

No but as a loss making entity, making 20m losses a year, you wouldn’t expect us to spend massive amounts 

Not sure that is true. We did have 20m losses through covid and maybe before without a sale but we won’t be near there again. Think with normal trading we’ll probably be more in the 8-10m losses range which is well under the 13m allowed through FFP. Is Lansdown’s to spend so if he doesn’t want to do up to 13m a season then that is fine. However, he should stop telling people he wants promotion if thats the case

2 hours ago, myol'man said:

Huddersfield.............

Sheffield Wednesday……

We most likely won’t be relegated but so many seasons of watching this team at home is killing my love for football

20 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I’m not sure Preston and Brum are gonna be up there all season, but they are decent sides, and currently all 4 opponents in the league (and Norwich) are top half teams.

We sold our best player, we are still evolving the team.

SL pulled up the drawbridge.

What I was gonna say. Maybe one of them surprises top 6, not meaning Norwich, but everyone is going to seem solid. Even if we played Middlesborough tomorrow we’d say a good side that started poorly. 
 

Our problem is our lack of quality in the front 3. Also the lack of athleticism in the midfield. They won’t change without investment and time. The front 3 needs investment. The midfield think a cb coming in helps push Naismith forward(he is first choice back up atm). That or time with Atkinson becoming fit. 
 

What is the situation with Benarous? He might need a loan but I’d have liked to see him in a couple games before we decide. That luxury is gone but he is someone who could perhaps help in both areas. I definitely think he is more attacker than midfield but in that more forward mf role I think he could perhaps be an option. 

He wasn’t very good last night but I still think we should persist with him. Down our left last night we could at least get him crossing pr shooting after beating a man or two. His end product is atrocious and thats what we see. Like I said though, he does go past players. 
 

If you look at our right side last night on the other hand. There is nothing there to scare teams. That ball goes out to Cornick or Tanner and it just comes straight back to the centre half or keeper. Not a slight on them really. Tanner not an attacking player at all. Cornick more is a scrappy player who doesn’t seem able to beat a defender from a standstill. Seen him go past players on the move however. 
 

We are just light on the wide players. Not numbers but quality. Is going to be a big problem all season. Sykes really the only one I am confident in for being a consistent(ish)threat. Wells and Conway is pretty good down the middle. Cornick i liked centrally more too. 

38 minutes ago, marcofisher said:

I haven’t seen James get as much credit as he deserves from last night. Knight rightfully takes the plaudits, but I thought he was allowed to as James did a lot of the dirty work, made some good challenges (he really got stuck in one and muscled off the attacked to stop a Hull break and start our own) and really gave licence to those around him to play with a bit more freedom.

 

Williams is the player who I feel can be upgraded on, and I think we will see him replaced by Naismith, with James being pushed up, or TGH in the next game. I think away against Swansea it is likely we will see James and Naismith with Knight slight further on. Provides midfield stability and allows us to counter and thread balls through quickly to our forwards. 

That counter started when James bottled a challenge closer to the halfway line. Both him and Williams need to be upgraded over the next couple of windows. 

15 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Williams isn’t playing that well, funny how we all see things differently. He doesn’t effect the game enough, is one of our higher earners and is out of contract next summer. We need to improve in the final third, I would be circulating his name this week to replace with better. The point on Bell is that whilst he is in the squad, many don’t believe he is ready for this level. I haven’t been convinced in him from day one, Conway and he were supposed to be a similar level, Conway is way ahead, our prized asset now arguably. If there wasn’t the association to the great Mickey, then I don’t think fans in general would be so accommodating. Look at the critique Cornick and others receive. 

Disagree about Williams a bit. Not the we need to do better bit. I have been on the record saying why not get another midfielder in to share minutes and get used to the level for a season. Yea, we’ll be over budget a bit but for a season only and the new signing would have bedded in. 
 

Anyway, I think of the two, Williams has been a better performer than James this season imo. Feel like James has been doing a lot of pointless dropping deep to collect the ball when not needed. Also I feel like he is often hiding behind defenders a lot. Maybe I am just noticing when he does it more than how often though. I want an upgrade on both ideally. 
 

I know injuries have made our options light in there. Which is another reason to recruit one! Tbf if you told me Murphy coming in for sure and TGH are future midfielders then ok. Just the two of Williams and James scares me at times. Think their best days are behind them. 

13 minutes ago, Alessandro said:

I think you’ve summed up exactly what I feel - I’m doing what I hate people doing with young players and making judgements too early mind you….but:

For me I worry, based on his attributes, he’s at his ceiling already. 

He’s got pace (there’s some pacy RB’s out there too as standard though) but is not either beating his man 1 v 1 or getting in behind anywhere near enough (once last night?) - compare to Sykes last night, it’s leagues apart. This can improved though and coached better to get him in behind.

Don’t doubt his finishing and when hanging around the back post he’s made some intelligent runs to get some good goals.

I think he will end up being best utilised as one of 2 up top. The way Pearson uses him is not ideal and I wrote that last season too. 

I said it in the match thread it’s like playing with 10 men at times, the ball just bouncing off, over or by him, or him getting owned physically by defenders…and that will hold him back because he doesn’t make up for his lack of physicality and stature with anywhere near enough technical ability on the ball. 
 

I’m really sorry, I know it’s not a popular opinion, I’d love to be wrong, I love the player, the story and history - but just saying what I see. 

No it is the truth. He is ok as a squad player but I can’t help but think he is playing a level or two too high. Chasing a ball down the channel yes fine. If we are not going to be in possession, sure can play him in behind. He has some decent movement and work rate in those scenarios. 
 

However, when we build up he is pretty useless imo. He doesn’t always have the best touch or pass. He can’t cross with his left. He has nothing to scare a defender when 1v1. He misses easy passes imo. Think he gets tunnel vision around the area. 
 

Happy for him to be around the squad. Has decent pace and is a good finisher. Can see maybe why Pearson likes him but think persisting with him starting is the wrong call imo. Him and Cornick seem perfect subs for where we are at right now. 
 

I prefer Mehmeti even though he hasn’t been convincing. Think there is a higher upside there at least. However, been saying I hope we add an attacker and this is what I meant. Weimann out sure but we are thin on quality up front. Think once fit our defence and midfield is good on both quality and depth. Forwards(front 3)we have bodies but not many am confident in if they have to start a 10-12 game stretch. 

We do need to sort out the home form but you watch last night and you can see why there was optimism going into the season. Can’t blame people for having strong opinions when you play poorly at home though. Just a general point to why you get negativity. 
 

We seem to be more a possession side than counter side this season. Idk if that is us or opposition not pressing as high as they could. If we are going to have a lot of the ball think we need more Naismith and Sykes in the side. Wells too really even though I like Cornick coming on late to be a pest. Not sure he’d help us for 60 min having the ball as much as Wells does. 
 

Enjoyed last night after the first 20 min and their goal. Personally, that draw feels better than some wins. I enjoyed the intent to press and get forward when we won the ball. We lose being brave then it is what it is for me. 

6 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

The optimum squad size is the one that is good enough to get promoted. This ain’t it.

I don’t care about the numbers. I care about the quality. We’ve just had a massive cash injection of £25,000,000 on top of £10,000,000 earlier this year. If we can’t spend some money now to add proper quality to the squad that will enable us to compete, when can we?

If we need to shift a few out as well then so be it. I’m sick to death of us being average.

Thing is Scott sale provides FFP headroom to add to the squad. The wage bill will naturally lower with James, Weimann, Vyner, King and Williams all due to come off the books next summer. Sure maybe one or two of that group stay. If you can’t shift them so be it. However, you can plan the squad in advance. Not advocating pushing FFP to the limit again but we seem to have gone completely the other way(cheers luton). 

6 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

The theory may be that other clubs, knowing that we have £20+ million in the bank from the Scott sale will look to overinflate the price they want for any sales to us. Therefore either we get our purchases sorted early in the window before Scott is sold or hold on as long as possible for any potential targets requiring a fee, so that we can drive a harder bargain with the club selling, knowing that we are willing to walk away if we don’t get the fee down to something reasonable. And the same may apply somewhat for the wages with the player. And it’s not like big clubs haven’t ballsed this up in the past:

https://www.channel4.com/news/torres-and-carroll-star-in-last-day-transfer-scramble

Thing is, probably some truth to it. However, accounts get posted every year. Everyone knows pretty much what everyone’s FFP wiggle room is. There are some here that do it in their spare time. It is pretty easy to find. Everyone knows SL won’t have a cash flow issue regardless of the sale. So I am not totally sure we can be held to ransom more than most clubs of similar size. 

4 minutes ago, RedRoss said:

 

You’d think we’d click a bit faster as we have gotten everyone in well before the season started. No I think it is fair to be worried already. We don’t have a style of play I don’t think. We aren’t a good possession side. We aren’t a high pressing side. We do counter alright at times but I wouldn’t say we are as strong as Birmingham were in that sense. 
 

Someone mentioned against 3 tough sides. Yea sure but that is basically every team in the division. I don’t think any of the 3 were looked at as playoff sides by anyone who makes predictions. You can say who cares but most had us in the 12-18 range and it is hard to argue based off early evidence. 

We do seem better equipped for it than last season funnily enough. I’d put Roberts in for James and slide Naismith in midfielder. Dickie in the middle. 

2 minutes ago, Finley_Smith10 said:

Play all second half of last season and pre season 433 just to change formation and tactics after 1 game…

And when we changed we got better. This season starting same as last season. Poor performances going forward. It isn’t unreasonable even if I don’t think I’d do it quite yet. 

10 minutes ago, mozo said:

I'm not saying you're endorsing this but I got a massive shudder at the thought of Matty James, with his Premier League experience and footballing intellect, being replaced next season by a young lad currently playing okay for Bolton! 

It just reminded me that we need a succession plan for this midfield. Knight will hopefully be part of the solution, although we haven't got a measure of him yet (I know you're confident he has the talent).

I've just seen that Christ Tiehi has just signed for Rotherham. I thought he was fantastic for Wigan at Ashton Gate last season as an energetic Makalele type. He's 25 and clearly not going to be a high earner. Someone like that would be a good option.

Don’t we will be better when we finally replace him. Important in a poor side? Sure but evolving to be a top 6 side he needs to be pushed to the bench by someone. We don’t have anyone to do that at the minute though

17 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

I just don’t think this current set up of 1 in the middle up front and 2 very wide actually works well consistently. The wide forward on the opposite side to the play has to come infield to support the lone striker, while the full backs then have to give the width upfront. It has worked at times last season, but so far this season it hasn’t really clicked, and part of that may be because other teams have sussed how to counteract it by pegging back our full backs. Certainly looked like that in the 2 home games so far.

The problem is Cornick and Bell can’t beat anyone once we get it wide to them. Not many strikers will score that is what is feeding them. Add into that two safe midfielders in James and Williams with a more graft than skill midfielder in knight are we surprised we aren’t creating? Fullback aren’t bombing forward anymore either. We are reliant on being stupidly clinical. Another day Wells taps that in and we get a draw. Still would have been the worst team of the two. 
 

Think more potential in the squad but the blend hasn’t been right. Injuries not helped that. Seen some signs with Mehmeti and Roberts. I’d like to see us build on that. James/Williams and Naismith is a must for me. We’ll never be very good with a Williams and James midfield imo. Getting a result like Millwall always possible but they lack the legs to play against most sides imo. Interested in Dickie and Atkinson at some point when RA fit. It was Oxford but Sykes come on and helped overload the right with Tanner and Yeboah end of the game and it looked fun. In high possession games maybe we could have a Naismith Sykes and Knight midfield?
 

Maybe it gets exposed but brave tactics seem to get rewarded in todays football. Bacuna to rb for them yesterday to get another attack minded player on. worked out well for them. and a target man would be perfect foil for players like Bell and Cornick who like to chase less than ideal scenarios. Thought Jutiewicz was a great option for them in that regard. Not for every match for sure and i prefer a nice crisp passing game but we aren’t that good I am afraid.