Dullmoan Tone

4 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

I'm not sure it was baffling. Would any of us have put out a radically different XI?

I think most would have started Conway - who was very disappointing when he finally arrived. Thought he was caught flat footed and moved too easily off the ball.

I’m also far from convinced even a fit Weimann can play the Scott role. Only Nige seems determined to get his most experienced players on the pitch which is playing Andi out of position.

I’m also convinced most would have made changes much earlier, it was obvious they were much the better team in the final third of the match.

46 minutes ago, The Swan and Cemetery said:

Agree re Alex’s views being critical and think that combined with our finances meaning we can make some choices, inc Alex being worth much more for a promotion push season than any plausible targets with the money for selling him, might make a loan back an option, with the top end club knowing they’ve secured him for 24/25 onwards aged 20/21. So everyone gets a good outcome, but with some compromises - for us a lower fee. 

I not at all convinced that a loan back is viable - any club who has purchased AS for big money will not see him developing as fast in the same team and environment. They are more than likely to want to see how he adapts in a new team and environment - because this is what they ultimately want him to do for them.

Loan backs to the selling club are sentimental but so rare for this very reason - can't remember the manager who made this point a few years ago.

Presumably he thought he had been given assurances that he would be selected if he was good enough and the club don’t think he is better than what we already have in the reserves!

Great prospect- can’t wait until he has the confidence to shoot first time.

Yesterday he took one additional touch in the second half when in / near the box. Think this might be the difference between L1 and Championship!

8 minutes ago, mozo said:

I think Cornick and Wells will be in close competition from now on

That would be a shame imo, Wells has to be our first striker on the team sheet, for me it's no co-incidence that he (and first Conway, now Bell) have started closing down at the top - just like Bobby and Jamie did in our last successful year.

We know Weimann can also do this - I hope Cornick has something extra in his tool box?

Now I'm not writing anyone off after two appearances as sub after we've won, but Cornick is obviously coming on ahead of Weimann - who has shown he is very assured on the ball and a calm finisher, I know everyone misses chances, but in my opinion Cornick should have done much better late on.

But, more worringly, was I imagining it, or was Cornick really blowing by the 90th minute?

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

They signed him for a nominal fee, we paid £3.5m, so is it?

Yes because he is (currently) justifying a much higher fee than they paid - we mismanaged him perhaps?

28 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I don’t know why, either.

Cornick has played 200 games for a Luton side that has comfortably out performed us in recent years.

Players like him & Naismith are why, whilst we were spunking our money away on Kasey Palmer & Marley Watkins they weren’t wasting a single penny.

Guess what? We finally operate like them now.

And yet Palmer is reborn at Coventry 5 points ahead of us, so perhaps it’s a bit more nuanced than that!

7 minutes ago, DaveF said:

And in the streets of Birmingham.

But not in Dublin, Dundee or Humberside on this occasion!

2 minutes ago, Johnr1986 said:

my team for West Brom.

 

                        O’Leary 

          Vyner        Kalas     Atkinson 

Tanner       Williams     James       Dasilva  

          Sykes                       Scott

                           Wells

 

 

 

 

Surely we stick with a back 4 - I can’t go through a back 3 / 5 again. So few teams make it work in our league (it’s an all champ tie after all) especially with our midfield 

9 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

To be fair, Conway has always been a centre forward whereas Semenyo spent a lot of his early years out wide.

Also Semenyo did his growing up in the first team - no years in the academy to hone his craft, remember that red card against Derby - Johnson saw something in him.? We have to credit him with that.

53 minutes ago, Pezo said:

Why are some people talking like Semenyo was some kind of super star and single handedly keeping us in the championship?

Because he was one of the few players who could get you on the edge of your seat and change a game - like Cardiff last year, Birmingham this.

We’ve all suffered the no shots on target years - it felt like Semenyo could lead us out of them.

Haven’t felt like this since we sold Bobby.

1 hour ago, robin_unreliant said:

I'd be sorry to see Semenyo go as he is a player who can be exciting to watch on a good day. However, I am also keen to see NP get a bit of money to spend and see what he might be able to achieve given the chance.

Until he signs another old timer from Leicester!!

I’m not sure many are really critising him, it’s just he started so well last year and he seemed to make more impact on games.

I’m sure someone may correct me with stats on assists / goals but this season, despite being involved, he has not been able to translate his ability with the ball into goals or draw fouls that create good chances.

Perhaps we rely on him too much and perhaps he’s being told to be more disciplined but I think he might be over thinking things - no surprise given his age but we need him to fire - quickly!

9 hours ago, spudski said:

I've said this on numerous threads...but NP said that he thought this squad is capable of being around the play offs.

If NP thinks that, and the players are consistently losing games and now fighting relegation, how can we trust NPs judgement? 

I’m not convinced he meant it. The problem is he could hardly say anything else without causing uproar.

It’s clear he doesn’t mind upsetting the players, but telling the fans and most importantly The Lansdown’s we aren’t good enough would not be smart - he’s long enough in the tooth to know this.

OTIB keeps quoting this comment and yet the reality is we had a better than expected start, his judgement is compromised because of his desire to freeze out players (and play what’s left out of position at times) but I don’t believe for a second he thought we were capable of mounting a serious play off push - our defence was still leaking soft goals (just like last season) and no team outscores a crap defence !

Of course, he’ll love to live in Bristol (away from his family) on 5% of the Villa salary, with no transfer budget what are we waiting for?

Its the best stepping stone possible for the Liverpool job!

What do we need to do to get Scott playing again?

Has he list all confidence?

Has he been overplayed?

Is it tactics?

He looked a shadow of a Championship player today?

4 hours ago, winsaw said:

You made some good points until you got to the goalkeepers,

Bentley is not the great keeper you make him out to be , he is nailed on to make at least one mistake a game that leads to a goal often more,

He's just a shot stopper, Max is someone who actually controls his box and comes for crosses , you can see how much more happy the defence are with Max behind them as they know he will actually come and help not just say on his line, no for me Max is an upgrade on Bentley,

Haven’t seen it back but surely Max should come and do much better for the goal last night?

Certainly wasn’t controlling his box?

So much talk on the stadium, but fans   (and what they want from their matchday) are changing - while away fans still want to, or get swept up in, the chants - there are far more seniors, families and juniors now throughout the stadium.

If the people’s around me are any indication, so many people are watching their bets to cash out, or youngsters repeating the prem scores during the game. There never used to be this distraction - I think it’s because people are sitting so can focus on other things during dull moments !

I doubt we’ll ever get back to the old days - it’s interesting after our cup run I hoped fans would want to recreate the passion and noise in the league and yet, almost as if a switch was turned off, it went back to normal.

Does anyone still think a majority want to sing irrespective of where they sit? I don’t!

23 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I’ve seen Sam Bell on many occasions now and sadly I still can’t see a league player there.  Happy to be proved wrong, but he showed nothing today.

Completely agree, understand he needs experience but it has to be on loan, subs were baffling unless it was illness related!

The person next to me (a medic) went to help, said bad cut probably needing stitches but not life threatening. Hopefully still the case, but if so, explains why game not stopped.

What has happened to Dasilva?

He used to be the player you could bet would retain possession and link the attack. Granted he wouldn’t score more than 1 in a thousand shots, but a good player doesn’t become this inconsistent overnight?

I’m worried I can’t see the value added by Sykes.
I’m worried Conway isn’t strong enough for the physicality in games like today.

I’m worried we are even missing Naismith who was not a consistent strong defender!
I’m worried that Pearson is making wholesale changes today without seeming to understand his best line-up!
I’m worried we are easy to close down now and we don’t have a tactical Plan B?

I’m worried we have 2 right backs who he signed who he now won’t play!

I’m mostly worried that Pearson is not more worried, and his different post match way of saying we gave soft goals away again!

Just now, sh1t_ref_again said:

Or does the ref for not giving the foul on pring

It would have been soft if he had!

1 minute ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Jd has a song about him, apart from that I am struggling for a positive or what he offers. Must start Pring and give a run in the team to try and prove himself 

Normally his possession is excellent - he is one of the few players I would trust to retain possession - he just had a nightmare today.