Davefevs

Ta, got you ?? Quite simple, he enables our midfielders to place facing forward, or at least on the half turn, by being able to pass through the opposition press / block. Without him we have to play square and around the outside….and as our WBs can’t cross, it all becomes a problem. That’s the basic answer anyway.

That’s how I see it. Need a football person in recruitment across Academy and First Team, and as above don’t believe “money-man” is his forté. I still think we need a skilled CEO, I don’t think we dilute the importance of that because of Tins promotion.

I’d add the “partnership of Wells and Conway” rather than them individually per se. They are so in sync. So that’s 5 ???

Agree, don’t be positive, just ensure there is balance (where appropriate). It’s right to be critical of performance (opening 45 at least) and result, but there’s probably some questions to ask yourself “why”…rather than just come out with the “what”. I have no issue with saying it’s shit when it is shit, and there is no reason why it should’ve been shit. ?

Lovely, well articulated post ??????

I honestly didn’t see King’s performance as any worse than anyone else. Boot on other foot, why isn’t Kadji doing the legwork for King, like Massengo would? Far too Easy to blame King. Whilst not trying to define each player’s performance by “stats”, guess which one is which in the first half? No, by the seems of it, others noticed too!!! Physically big enough, but importantly, not “strong for his size”. Still growing into his frame imho, and looks a bit cumbersome as a result. We will see how he bounces back.

How many times…you can’t just bin a player off. They have a contract. The player has a value in the books that if we don’t achieve gets classed as a loss (towards FFP). if we did what you suggest in both Football Manager and real-life it costs us. Who is gonna pick up Kalas’s £25k p.w. and the £1m value in the books?

Sorry, Mr Semenyo is looking after Antoine’s affairs.

He’s beginning to feel like O’Dowda for me in many ways.

RIP Andy. Thoughts with Steve and his friends and family at this time. Andy and Steve sit few seats down from Joe and myself, so this one is a tough one. ???

Did I? Really? I think that’s the cautious side of me, start strong, hopefully get a lead, then sub off. But if I did, then I wasn’t unhappy at 6:45pm either.

Can you just explain what you mean re “bin off the high earners”? And do you mean in January?

I agree with your post and your earlier ones too, but I don’t think Nige was sending a message…it has no upside at all, all downside. I don’t think it was like Cotts when he played 442 at Derby to prove the fans wrong! It’s an interesting comparison in line ups. I was all for a a combo of youngsters and resting the odd player (not gonna say I wasn’t) but that’s not to say that when I saw the line-up I didn’t have a little worry. Why? Mainly because I saw a load of out of form, out of match practice players alongside them. I did have a little fear pre-kick off, but I was happy to go with it. I’d have been mighty pissed off if Williams and James had started and picked up an injury, likewise Conway or Wells. Pring had only just come into the side, so sensible too that he didn’t start. So it’s a tough one. That side above is better than last night’s on paper…but also in form / sharpness / confidence too. Was a tough decision, Nige probably got it wrong, but I see why he did it.

This is it in a nutshell. It’s why it’s a squad game. You don’t get to play your “best xi” week in week out, sometimes you never get to play it at all. And that’s where depth comes in, or in our case, doesn’t come in. What we tend to see (generalisation) is that the better players also seem to have the better characters too. It’s probably why they are / will be successes.

Antoine now been represented by his father too. ???

Also a huge gripe of mine. SL - how’s it going Jon? JL - Mark says it’s going great SL - great, you’re doing well Jon i joke, but I’m staggered an accountant couldn’t see the mess / mess building up. Are you saying you think we’ve been better since he’s been out? Or am I misreading it? I couldn’t disagree more.

Good OP @robinforlife2. My very simplistic (because I’ve done chapter and verse elsewhere on other occasions) thoughts on the squad are: if you gave 15(ish) Championship quality players, if you then compare a team with the best 11 (lob off the worst 4) of those 15 to a team with the worst 11 (lob off the best 4), how different do those two teams look. Considerably!! And that’s what we are seeing through injury / loss of form…a weakened unit because those 4 that come in aren’t anywhere near the 4 that aren’t available. Keep the best 4 and perm the 7 from 11 and you get by. Essentially I’m saying we have a small number in that 15 who can raise the levels of others, but in the sane breath, when those 4/5/6 aren’t players the rest aren’t capable of raising each other. We can pick off players one at a time and say they’re Champ level (which they are), but it’s who you put them with that makes them.

This is where I am too, pretty much. When the accounts come out later this week (hopefully) we can see how big a mess it is. Contracts have to be honoured…this summer all the pre-Pearson players are OOC bar Joe Williams. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we can mad either. The losses still hang around because of the 3 year cycle, unless the new FFP rules become clear and give us a get-out! It’s quite possible next season’s squad is weaker than this. That sounds implausible doesn’t it, but it could. I think what we’ve witnessed is how important individual players are to us, or more importantly, the more of them you can get in the eleven, the better chance we have of competing. Naismith, James, Weimann. Naismith injured, James injured, but back, Weimann out of form, hopefully coming back to form. Semenyo and Martin pairing were a big part of last season’s attacking success. Both are nowhere near at that level. Thankfully Conway and Wells have stepped into the breach. Last night was a combo of a couple of youngsters not ready and the likes of King, Martin, Klose, Semenyo, Sykes, Dasilva not being good enough / in form enough to raise their games to cover others. It shows zero depth. Much as I think the WC is coming at a good time, I do worry that giving the players a holiday is too good for them / some of them. Nige needs to galvanise what he has over the next month. Could really do with getting something Saturday. No shit Sherlock.

Would be pure guesswork, but I don’t think an 18 year old comes to Bristol City from Monaco unless we paid him a princely sum. £10-12k p.w. ??????

Andy King went over to him and had some words of encouragement.

What have I learned tonight? In Saturday Nige is picking: O’Leary (no slight on Bajic) just that he’s our no1 Vyner and Pring (and Atkinson if fit) James, Williams, Scott and Weimann which means one of them will have to play at RWB (sorry) Conway and Wells Thats pretty damming isn’t it. Sykes and Dasilva may get a reprieve through lack of numbers. Klose is a good pro, but seems to struggling with his movement, but maybe needed too. Eff me!!! ??????

Low on a yellow too. Harsh as it is…welcome to proper men’s football Joe.

It wasn’t £7.2….that’s often how French press report fees, as it the whole thing (fee, wages, add-ons). It was around the €3m mark, and that is a reasonably reflected in the accounts when you add up other fees that season. I’d have him in also, I think he’s a million miles better than Kadji imho, but that’s Nige’s decision…I don’t think it’s anything other than what I posted above.

Just a simple Q. Do you think we’d bottomed out at the point of Holden’s sacking and everything from that point on should be “upward” (even if slowly upwards)? Im interested. My view is that we still had to bottom out, and that happened in the summer as we released several players. Therefore I think it’s “unfair” to start the comparison at Feb 2021. You may disagree. But I’d like to know your thoughts. For info, Wilder might be out of a job, but I bet Boro are still paying him, and his payoff would instantly make him completely out of our reach. I like Duff, I’m a bit apathetic to Bowyer if I’m being honest.

No, but I’d hazard a guess that Kalas is on £20-25k p.w. and Dasilva on £12-15k p.w. Let’s split the difference and say combined £35k p.w. £1.8m p.a. in wages plus £2.5m p.a. in amortisation ???eek!