Shuffle

Hope I eat my words but that team selection is bizarre to say the least.  Just makes no sense to me. 

48 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

Both from Keynsham Town apparently.

That’ll be the Marvin Brown connection as he runs his own academy & connected to Keynsham first team 

26 minutes ago, FNQ said:

Honestly not a loaded question… But assuming that the under 21s are also now playing the new Liam way, is this the main reason for a downturn in results with a couple of heavy defeats lately? Apart from young Beerholtz (you know who I mean) none of the kids are making up the numbers on the bench either.

Not related…. Young ones have a few out on loans & a few injuries inc Wood,Backwell & OTC. The likes of Yeboah, Nelson, JKL have been fast tracked because of first team squad depth so been missing for a number of games. Lots of young ones playing as they make their push for pro careers which means a number of current ones who are19/20 won’t make it and end up being released. 

1 minute ago, Lew-T said:

I think we can all agree we are light on numbers. The depth is certainly not there. But we are short on quality in the starting eleven too. Again, I think we can all agree on that?

Firsly the full backs/wing backs(?)

They are very important positions because they are the outlets, and have the best view of the pitch with more time on the ball. Tanner and Pring do not use that time well enough. IMO we need upgrades in that department to kick on.

Secondly has to be the attacking players.

We are incredibly lightweight and predictable. Harry Cornick however much he tries to be fair to him, isn’t up to it. Sam Bell is in that category aswell. I know Sam is City through and through and the connections with his Dad, but again not good enough. Anis Mehmeti has looked a League 2 player, and I think he’s had his fair share of chances now. 
 

Thirdly is the GK.

We really need real competition for Max and maybe even another number 1, you could argue?

Those are the key areas we need strengthening if we are serious about this ‘top six’ business.

Agree 100% with this & squad depth was and remains a joke.  As for Tinnion saying we had 2 players for every position we named a squad for first game of 26 that included 3 x GKs and 3 academy lads who were involved from the 2nd game at Millwall but not one had ever started again. Add in McCrorie, Benarous and Atkinson who were all out long term and still in December remain unavailable.  

We had 19 outfield players to choose from but that relies on no injuries which with our squad was never going to happen.  We’ve lost Conway, Wells, Naismith, King, Williams, Roberts for significant periods & some we could have predicted.  The Lansdowns cut the budget & didn’t back Pearson for what we assume were personal reasons but this club rhetoric regarding 2 for every position is utter bullshit.

Pearson suffered with it and the problem is now Mannings.  I’m so pissed off with the comment from Tinnion regarding numbers but most of my anger is to Lansdown who tightened the purse string.   I fully expect the nest egg to be used to try and save face as if we do nothing then we are in trouble.  

Don’t even get me started on quality within squad! 

20 minutes ago, petehinton said:

This. His counter attack where he was one on one with someone for the whole time and still just blasted the ball straight at Dieng, saved him from another poor cameo imo. First 5 minutes he got caught out 2 or 3 times, left Pring exposed and I’d bet counted toward Pring’s yellow too. On another day, him launching those two crosses into the box on 90+ minutes could’ve cost us. 
 

I get fans like him because he’s, on the face of it, ‘exciting’, but he’s been awful this season and anyone who really wants him to start ahead of Bell needs a head wobble. 
 

He’s a real frustration, but if he can alter his game a bit he’ll be a real asset for us. 

Agree on his defensive side was terrible & was screaming at him to track his runner as he was just letting him go.  As for the comment about give your head a wobble if anyone wants to start him over Bell then I’m not sure what Bell has brought to the team in the last 4/5 games.  I thought he was a passenger again yesterday and offers little in an attacking or defensive sense.  I get he’s our top scorer but imo hasn’t played well for weeks & Anis at least offered something going forward. I would have no issue with Anis starting ahead of Bell but not sure either is the long term answer. 

5 minutes ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

First thoughts are that a home defeat against Cribbs is something of a surprise.

I saw from the team sheet that it was quite different to our usual U23 line up.

Any particular reason, or was it an U18 as someone suggested earlier?

21s played Monday night so was always going to be 18s

11 hours ago, James54De said:

Who’s next? JKL. Been calling this for a long time. 

I hope I’ve caught him on bad days but not been over impressed with JKL when I’ve seen him & certainly see Araoye ahead of him.  

1 minute ago, GrahamC said:

Cheers mate.

Only other observation I’d make is the 21s are currently playing Pearson and/or Yeboah as their main strikers.

The first team has only scored twice in the last 5 games (& the same CB has scored both of those) so it doesn’t appear the solution to our lack of goals is there.

Clearly getting Wells back as an option (despite one or two on here) can’t do any harm but we just look short of goals throughout the whole squad.

There is no magic solution in the 21s to address goal scoring issues in the first team.  Yeboah was on the periphery of game & Pearson was a bigger threat for me.  Equally, the midfield admittedly on tonight’s performance in atrocious conditions didn’t have anyone who would run at people and open them up.  Araoye was decent but no LWB & Rose at RWB had a mixed night so nothing coming from wide areas. Probably not the best game to assess the talent pool but Big Rob leapt out at you as being our standout player tonight.  Agree, we need Wells fit and firing as imo knits our attacking threat together as such a clever footballer. 

The big positive on the night assuming he suffers no reaction was Rob Atkinson who was very good. The weather was horrendous but wind dropped second half and thought Sunderland were the better team.  There were glimpses of quality from a number of the players but not consistently over the 90 minutes which you would expect from younger players. Bajic was decent & nearly got the penalty but beyond a busy display from Pearson & Araoye who was solid there weren’t any other standouts. The weather certainly didn’t help so hard to judge fairly.

Wind killing this game….. Rob Atkinson was solid & looked fit & flew into a couple of tackles & was fine.  Really impressed with Sam Pearson albeit feeding off scraps 

Give the pod a break as just fellow supporters having their opinions in their own time. 

It would be a dull place if we agreed about everything & you always have to right to not listen if it winds you up.  Some people have proper tantrums if their opinions  are different from theirs.  

5 minutes ago, Redhed123 said:

Not on loan anymore

He’s back because he couldn’t get in FGR team so city pulled him back.  He couldn’t play for first team until Jan as you can’t cancel a league loan.

On 31/10/2023 at 16:07, GrahamC said:

Morton couldn’t get in the side on loan at any of Grimsby, Gillingham & FGR.

That might be why he wasn’t given a chance.

Fabian Hurzeler 

Excellent today as he was last week now he’s playing in his correct position. 

27 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

So isn’t the logic behind that argument we could have sacked him before when a majority on a completely unrepresentative poll wanted to, but didn’t.

Now in a similar poll the overwhelming majority (similarly unrepresentative numbers) don’t want this, so we have.

Holds absolutely no water at all, sacking someone because we have lost 2 games & blaming him & Rennie for the injuries is horseshit.

If the Lansdowns had come & said we are dismissing Nigel because he’s coming to the end of his contract that we will not  extend so best to make the change now to allow a new manager to have 32 games to build towards our ambition then I’d have more respect for them.

The fact that they are savaging men’s reputations such as Nige, Rennie & Euell is a cheap shot & frankly stinks. The top 10 budget has to be a myth but in essence the Lansdowns are cowards who hide behind results & inflicted injuries as the reason.
 

Just say it’s becoming untenable to work with Nige so let’s change direction. I’d have more time for them if they showed a degree of integrity but the constantly hide behind lies. Just grow a pair and tell the truth as we can deal with that !

I’d go the following if the 3 returners are fit:

                    MOL

  Tanner Vyner Dickie Pring

     TGH  Naismith Knight

     Sykes  Conway  Memehti

Personally would leave out Bell & thought Memehti did well at Cardiff & need to get our £1m back at it. 

9 minutes ago, Jacki said:

Was chatting to a Blues fan earlier who knows his stuff and he absolutely loved Eustace, said we should be delighted if we get him. I’m far from convinced, and would have Nige over him every day of the week, but it sounds like we could have done worse based on what my mate said. 

Yes just asked two Blues season ticket holders & one said” popular at Blues and unlucky to be sacked. Too cautious for a lot of people as that could be due to squad we had.  I’d give him 7/10.

The other said “ he will be brilliant, united a club at its lowest point, very personable & will be great for you” 

Thank you Nigel for behaving with integrity and decency and caring for our football club and being the adult in the room. You will be forever be welcome in Bristol as we all know the  cards you’ve been dealt with were all designed to facilitate your failure.  You’ve stabilised our club, given us a playing style & built a team that plays with pride and passion.  I’ve had my wobbles and doubts about you during your tenure but my god I was so wrong.  Thank you & good luck in whatever you do.

Well I wasn’t expecting nothing before the game with all the injuries.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that we competed and imo thought we deserved a point.  
The positives were;

TGH & Knight showed there is life after James as both really good.

Sykes just gets better and better

Dickie in the last few games has been very good

Memehti was decent and now needs a run of games

Im out of that bloody escort and home now is the biggest positive

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

As someone who is portrayed on here as a Nige apologist & who never criticises, I do think we are owed a fuller explanation by Dave Rennie and/or Nige.

McCrorie could be considered unfortunate with an infection, we knew Rob Atkinson would be out long term with his ACL & I do worry for Benarous as after his second ACL he seemingly cannot keep fit.

However beyond those 3 we do still seem to have more than our fair share of injuries & an answer of “just one of those things” isn’t sufficient.

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

I think one of the most frustrating things is that players are close and the timeline just slides. Wells was pushing for a return possibly against Ipswich and now not available to god knows when. Tanner was a knock but should be back after international break & now we have no idea on a return date. Joe Williams was two weeks & another not likely to be fit for next week. Agree it would be good to get a more in depth update.

Well he’s coming out fighting with a picture of himself in a City shirt on insta saying “hungrier than ever” …… if I wasn’t such an old bastard with limited technical knowledge, I’d post it.   Good to see that response 

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

You see far more of this level than I do & as always, I respect your view.

However I think bluntly there are now a significant group in the 21s who aren’t ever going to feature in the first team squad, unless like happened with Idehen this week there simply is no one else.

Re Idehen I still believe that he’s got no long term future with us, will only get on the pitch in an absolute emergency & will be let go.

My hunch is Leeson, Wood, Francois, Pearson, Kadji, Taylor-Clarke & Backwell also are in this group too now for a variety of different reasons, plus at least one of our U21 goalkeepers.

I agree with what you’ve said & all players mentioned are at risk of exiting the club.  My slight hesitation about academy football was purely how lads not involved with u21s and let’s face it we are nearly in November, are elevated straight to first team ahead of others as surely the natural progression would be U21s rather than continue with 18s.  I can’t quite work out why from Aug- Oct neither James or Nelson bar odd appearances aren’t selected for 21s but are for first team.    

The fact academy players are training with the first team & developing in house is a positive.  My only issue is that the promotion of academy boys over others seem bizarre.

This is nothing against anyone in the squad yesterday as frankly I’ve not seen enough of them to comment in depth but how does James leapfrog Leeson as an example to become RB cover. Leeson played pre season & scored a couple & is U21,RB.  
 

Equally how does Nelson become picked as a wide player over Francois or Pearson ? Neither James or Nelson are established in U21 team but clearly being fast tracked. I understand that clearly the club recognise the potential but you would expect their development to include 21s experience before sitting on a championship bench. 

He started superbly so clearly there is a talented player in there. However, he does make wrong decisions by either taking a touch too many and losing the ball or not picking the right pass. How can he go from the player we saw at Sunderland away to now as wish I knew ? That said how do you play a player back into form if you don’t play him.  His confidence must be broken as seems Pearson prefers anyone over him currently.  Currently looking like a £1m wasted & cannot see how it changes for him here as Pearson not having him.