Alessandro

35 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I’ve never had a problem with Tins, don’t resort to snake names, etc, always liked his passion for City, if somewhat too bullish at times.  I will be critical of throwaway soundbites from anyone like “front foot, high press….”.  I was in my City wilderness days in the Wilson Tinnion era, likewise the LJ nepotism years under GK, so I don’t carry the baggage / history of some.  So I just post what I think from what I see.  I don’t like Tins divulging sensitive info though.  But his part / growing part in recruitment in the past 2.5 years is something I’ve continually supported.  When “everyone” (sic) was saying “would you give Nige any money” I was supportive of the recruitment process / signings made.  That hasn’t changed.

+++++

On a slight asude, listening to FBC this morning, I see that players are no longer classed as injured in some cases - they’re “rehabbing”.  Makes I chuckle!!!

Out of likes today  - as I say, one area trending in the right direction, solid if not spectacular. We’ll see if that’s good enough for the ultimate goal.

37 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

After the scattergun approach pre-Covid, it really had no plan, covid then tied Holden’s hands (just Williams recruited with a fee), to frugal squad building / trimming by Nige against a solid profiling of players.  That sensible approach appears to have been continued.

There is also less churn too.  No loans having to go back…in fact the opposite, two loans coming in (Bird / Stokes).

People seem unable to divorce individual elements of criticism, and therefore if you’ve made your bed on someone then you’ve got to lie in it for everything.  That’s crazy.  You can dislike the way the hierarchy go about one thing, but have a different view on how they do something else, e.g. recruitment.  The same happens with praise, just the other way around.

Good post and fair comment, the recruitment feels like it has, on the whole, improved.

We seem to have fewer misses - the churn is probably less on the pure fact we’ve signed less?

The lack of loans very much a NP thing, as he publicly said often he didn’t want pointless loans - then 2 loans as soon as he goes…

Twine has somewhat rescued what was a slightly underwhelming Jan IMO (in terms of for this season at least)

I’ve been critical of Tinnion, feel like you’ve mellowed - even warmed perhaps to him…!? Has he reached out to you too or just the results helped 

But joking aside, credit Tinnion and his team for some good signings.
Very solid, but not spectacular. No £1-2m’s looking like going for £10-15m plus yet..

I’m still interested to see how a larger sample over a longer period of windows pans out…especially as we won’t have the academy products at the same rate for at least a season or two…

1 minute ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

Indeed, and he should have been ‘found’ by Nahki Wells yesterday.

I’d also like to see it again if it’s on the highlights, but felt like if Anis hadn’t tried to walk it past their whole defence and keeper into the net in the first half, Twine was close by with a better chance to shoot. 

4 minutes ago, TDarwall said:

As well as his goal, I'm pretty sure Twine played TC through for the pen & Anis for his 1v1, so he could have ended with a goal & 2 assists.

Notwithstanding the fact Rotherham was unbelievably bad (thought they'd be much more in our faces), in fairness to us we were on it from the start & it was pleasing to see us open teams up so much without having to rely on counters on translation.  

There was a fantastic bit of interplay between TC & James, arguably TC should score but the keepers does pretty well.

On the basis we're not going to get a budget busting fee for TC (back of a decent, not stellar, season & final Yr of contract) I'd be happy to keep him & "get our value on the pitch" (no sniggering at the back!). Depends somewhat on his mindset really as not point keeping a non motivated player.

When (if) all of our centrebacks are fit we're going to have a lot of good options there. A few months back the thought of losing Dickie or Zak was terrifying but Roberts & Tanner have done great. Ironically the problem next season could be keeping them all happy with their game time.

He did - and also add I feel like I’ve noticed him making good runs into the box off the ball and getting into good positions on a number of occasions, only not to be found by a team mate - he could and should well have added several more goals to his tally if he was picked out more often.

18 minutes ago, reddogkev said:

What will next season hold for this guy?  Is he gonna be ready to make a difference straight away or is he going to take a while to adapt?

TBH, I don't know much about him, but with all the talk of signing Twine, will they both fit into the team?  Do we need them both?

Is Bird not the likely replacement of James?

‘Central 3’ of Bird, Knight and Twine (possibly)

I don’t think it’s worth over analysing the price.

If the club want to make the deal happen, I have a feeling they will (obviously within reason)

The nest egg and FFP room are there.

The number 9 and 10 are our 2 most important signings this summer.

I think they’ll back Manning well.

47 minutes ago, mozo said:

Yeah I think that having lost Scott, this is a decent season on reflection. When we consider not just the points improvement, the league position improvement, the defence, and the FA Cup efforts... it's actually better than we had for way too long.

The footnote will always be that it has built on the foundations laid by Nige, but hopefully we can keep trending in the same direction.

Yep this season could be classed by some as progression - but that is only really progression in terms of the curve going up after several years of going down.

A little bit like Sunak saying, look I’m great I cut inflation…well how did it get so high in the first place?!

Either way, at least we are, for now, trending in the right direction thanks to both Pearson and Manning this season.

24 minutes ago, spudski said:

Exactly my thoughts as well.

How many that played today will still be with us next season.

All that time on the grass getting drilled with players that possibly won't be with us next season is wasted...back to square one if many leave in the summer.

Yep very true:

James, Williams, Conway, Twine and King could all be gone. That’s 4 starters today that were the midfield/forward spine of our team.

Add in potential bids for others like Pring. 
 

Big summer ahead (again)

We all want to go into next season and the summer with some positivity - we now can. 
 

Over to Tinnion and JL to deliver what we need to kick in the transfer market 

Good half - albeit against very deflated and weak opposition.

Could, should be 2,3 up which is positive.

Twine, surprisingly to me written off by so many already, showing what he can do in that 10 position. Set up Mehmeti for a very good chance he tries to walk in and Conway for the run and pen.

Let’s hope for some more goals second half.

19 hours ago, Graham76 said:

I’ve listened to this part a couple of times.  Surely Nigel would have phrased this differently if he suspected BT & JL we’re conspiring against him.  Does this exonerate BT of being a snake?  

19 hours ago, petehinton said:

It’s either…

- JL is making decisions & conversations above Tinns role without consulting him, almost rendering him redundant 

- JL & Tinns had the conversation, and were in agreement, and Tinns never brought it up to Pearson

- JL just made it up as a throw away comment/perception off the cuff in the interview 

 Not such which would be the worst tbh!

For me NP could well be saying, if JL had a problem with the training schedule - fine, you’ve sacked the medical team - but maybe also have a chat with your TD as he was fully aware of it and signed off on it too.

I thought he was past his best, but very happy to stand corrected - he’s really upped his levels and fitness, seems a no brainer for next season, if he doesn’t end up with better offers…

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Hits his hand.

@NcnsBcfc did not hit upper arm.

Spot on - surprised how many think it’s a bad decision.

Absolutely clear there, his left arm is up and out as he’s flung and twisted his body at the cross = making his body unnaturally bigger = penalty. 
 

27 minutes ago, redkev said:

I have been chatting to a chap that I deal with through work who is city through and through and watches many of the games u18s u 23s etc and he said that the next batch of youngsters coming through are decent but deffo sees no Scott / semenyo / Kelly / Benarous coming through , last year there were a couple of names he thought would push for first team this year however he said they don’t seem to have kicked on for some reason or another . So as a few others have said perhaps there is a little lull in what’s coming through tbf we have had a decent run 

If that’s the case it’s vitally important our recruitment is top notch for the next few years.

If they’re serious about the top 6 we can’t have repeats of last January’s window, for example, IMO. 

Fascinated to see if the wallet opens or not and by how much, in the summer. 

I was very surprised yesterday with the lack of academy player minutes.

Manning’s seeming reluctance to use them is not going to endear him to his bosses IMO.

Again, as with the discussions of ‘footballing style’ - you feel something will need to give here too…

I’ve agreed that under Manning we’ve been in a patch of what could be called ‘relegation form’ not so long ago - so only fair to acknowledge we’ve been in a patch of what could be called ‘promotion form’ recently.

Feels the sample of ‘poor’ was longer than ‘good’ - but perhaps we’ve turned a corner….Yesterday will likely fall into either category depending on our next few results though.

11 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

I've watched it several times and have come to the decision , Pen . 
We don't usually appeal that hard , ok late in a game chasing an equaliser may cause that.
The guy hardly moans , always a give away . 
His arm is raised , naturally maybe , but his arm blocks the cross and the Ref has a decent view. 
Undeserved , but I'll always take it.

 

 

https://fb.watch/rrmTqxKMmN/

 

Think this angle is pretty key.

IMO that lunge there, with the extension of his left arm, has made his body unnaturally bigger.

That is the handball law - so in my view that’s a penalty.

12 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Didn't even hit his hand/arm let alone being in an unnatural position or deliberate, whatever the rule is these days. I'd rather not have got a wrong un in a totally meaningless midtable match tbh.

All those saying it's a clear handball let's come back to see your reaction when a decision like that those against us in a truly important game 

What did it hit then?

7 hours ago, 2015 said:

Never a penalty and common sense should prevail in these circumstances. That could send Huddersfield down. Pretty disgraceful

And a rightful penalty not awarded giving Huddersfield 3 points they shouldn’t have would have kept Birmingham in the relegation zone, wrongly.
 

Would Birmingham fans accept that as common sense?

1 hour ago, luke_bristol said:

I’d be raging if that was given against us, he tried to make a sliding block and that’s a natural position for the arm to go because your head goes backwards as your torso goes forward, and instinctively your arm goes out prevent the back of your head whacking the floor.

Huddersfield were fuming though, so it’s funny.

I think what your referring to in this case is his right arm which protects his fall?

The ball hits his left, which was flailing has he did a bit of a clumsy twist of the body to protect himself from the ball. (He dived with his left instead or right foot which turned his body)

IMO - by the modern, current handball rules - it’s a penalty.

Is it a ‘harsh’ pen, probably yes by old standards, but that’s the rules these days.

Hence why in those positions players often choose not to dive in and instead try and block whilst holding arms behind backs. 
 

4 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Is this really how pathetically reactionary we are going to be now? One disappointing draw after a decent run of form and a 5-0 win in midweek?

I was Manning out when we on an extended poor run. But our form has been much improved over the past few weeks. We are a mid-table squad doing mid-table things. Will we win games we don’t expect to and lose some we expect to win. Our league position is about par for the squad.

We can’t constantly keep changing manager without really strong justification. Right now I don’t think that strong justification is there, and Manning needs time - and the summer - to see what he can really do.

He will get that now - you can argue if he’s earned it or not - but it’s the only logical move for the club.

I suspect he won’t have that many games though, from the fans especially, to show he can have us up there (top 10) competing before he’s under massive pressure again though! 

2 hours ago, Kibs said:

Playing devils advocate, how do we know the intent has changed? 

Maybe it’s the execution and understanding that’s changed?

Maybe it’s the way that the message has been delivered that has changed? 

Maybe it’s partly down to confidence and opposition performance too?

Maybe it’s the return from injury or upturn in form of a few players? 

Hoggs interview last week implied that the intent has always been the same. 

Perhaps a few of these things but for me, simplistically, I feel what’s changed is the message, not the delivery of the message. 

Just now, transfer reader said:

Have I denied that at any point?

Ha mate - well if you haven’t, then you seem to have got yourself in a right old lather with multiple posters for no reason! 

3 minutes ago, transfer reader said:

Yes, if it was an accurate statement because then it would be correct.

I'd still have an issue with the very selective dataset for the first table and the second table having uneven amounts of games, but that's seperate to whether a statement is actually true.

So you agree then, at some points during this season, we have been in the form that would, some seasons in the championship, be relegation form?

@transfer reader - so if @Silvio Dante had said - during some seasons over the last 10 years, that period of PPG extrapolated over a season would be ‘relegation form’ - would that be acceptable?