KegCity

13 hours ago, WolfOfWestStreet said:

Kinda disagree with that ... 

It’s like judging Conway on the number of clean sheets he’s kept. Obviously it would be great for Williams to score 20 but it’s not his job.

59 minutes ago, WolfOfWestStreet said:

I don't want to be a right negative dick, because I like Joe Williams,, but is 2 goals an 9 assists in 3 years, warranting top money? 

Think we should try and punch higher tbh 

Goals and assists aren’t the measure of a centre midfielder.

50 minutes ago, Carolina Reaper said:

I'm not specifically looking for a match worn one nor one specifically from the 1987 FRT final
a regular 1986-1988 away shirt version would also be great

Are there many out there? I'm not constantly looking but do keep an eye out for older City shirts and haven't ever seen one from that season pop up.

We had a match worn one in the family but the player asked for it back  Can't blame him, it's a beauty.

16 hours ago, Carolina Reaper said:

Neither, i'm on the hunt for one of these
anyone got one they wanna sell?

 

Good luck! The players who had them know how rare they were and won't part with them.

44 minutes ago, Club Bruges fan said:

Hey Harry,

We have a massive rivalry with Antwerp.

Our biggest rivals are Anderlecht, but since Antwerp is back in the top league, they're a close second.

It's especially Antwerp that hates our guts.

This rivalry is fueled by the fact that the presidents of both clubs are real estate tycoons who hate eachother to the bone.

The president of Antwerp tried to build the national stadium, but was blocked by the president of Club Bruges influence in the board of the football federation.

The president of Club Bruges tried to build a new stadium for Club Bruges, but was blocked by the fact the Antwerp president bought land bourdering the new stadium ground, just to block the permit...

If your friends are proper Antwerp fans, they wouldn't want to be in the same room with us.  That's how deep it goes.

Thanks for the info, btw.

I'm sure we'll visit one or more  of your famous pubs 

That sort of pettiness is incredible! Love it.

21 hours ago, Super said:

not gonna happen is it?

Have we learned nothing from trying to shoehorn Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes into a side?

Start of the season I felt 10th was a realistic target and a marker of progress. Considering a change in manager halfway through the season I think 11th would do, although a Preston collapse could see us reach the top 10.

3 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

Was saying this myself earlier, we’ve seen some recent improvement with Knight dropped back into the midfield 2 and then today he’s pushed forwards again and like you say James and Williams are too slow in possession.

We looked better changing to a back 4 at half time and that certainly brought Sykes into the game as he looked disinterested in the first half I thought.

I’ve been critical of Mehmeti but he’s been lively lately and he should have started allowing Knight to drop back.

But the back 3 certainly didn’t work today and maybe that was because of the personnel available.

would still love to see Nakhi and Tommy together but doesn’t look like that will happen again.

Thought the ref was pretty good today 

They’ve been poor together since they started as a pairing. Both good individually just need someone to progress with the ball alongside them.

It’s not a coincidence that James and Williams started together and we were poor, they struggle together. Far too slow in transition. 

No we shouldn’t be, he’ll be here next season.

Neuer’s face said it all there. Clumsy goalkeeping.

3 minutes ago, Super said:

I did think it was odd how Bayern were being written off. They have too many good players.

They’ve been poor and Arsenal have gifted them two goals. 
 

What a player Saka is though, this is why he starts for England. Bayern kicking lumps out of him, doubling up on him and he’s still the brightest spark on the pitch.

Absolute rubbish from Arsenal defensively. Bayern have created nothing but are somehow winning.

32 minutes ago, cheese said:

And that's so true -my 24 year old is full of optimism come Friday evening and Saturday morning but by 15:05 he becomes inconsolable and best avoided until just before the next game.

I'm of a similar age, was he not broken by the disappointment of David James conceding 3 on his debut fresh off a World Cup appearance? That taught me City will always let us down and I still haven't recovered.

11 minutes ago, Super said:

Just going on games I've seen not sure what Arsenal fans think they watch him every week.

From what I've seen Saka is better in open play although I'd rather Palmer be on the pitch for those big moments.

Will be interesting to see how Saka performs as the title race comes down to the wire.

1 minute ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

The last non Parachute Payments club in the last 4 years was Leeds in 2019-20 in respect of Bielsa Leeds. Outstanding, and big money.

Nottingham Forest non Parachute Payments of course. 4 of the top 6 in receipt of Parachutes.

Likewise this year, 4 of top 6 in receipt.

Laat year differed, none of Middlesbrough,  Luton, Coventry or Sunderland in receipt.

Think in 2019-20, as well as 2nd placed WBA, in receipt of Parachute Payments were Fulham, Cardiff, Swansea. Brentford the outlier.

2020-21, Watford and Norwich Parachutes up, Bournemouth and Swansea Parachute lost..Barnsley and Brentford non Parachute Payments.

Brentford, Luton went up via playoffs both non Parachute in that period. It is getting harder all the time, playoffs is probably the best bet any time soon. That said we have not made the push at the right time.

Exactly. Luton particularly sting as an example of a club with considerably worse "off field metrics" than us. 

Those metrics shouldn't be used as an excuse, they're not the reason we've consistently failed to push on.

This attitude of 'little Bristol City' is tiring. We've seen plenty of clubs with smaller stadiums, smaller fanbases and smaller budgets fly past us and into the Premier League for any of those off field metrics to matter.

10 minutes ago, Tim Monaghan said:

I was planning to write a thread about this last night. Living here in Bournemouth, I get to watch the occasional game and attended last night's match, particularly interested in observing Scott, Kelly, and Semenyo.

I have to admit, Scott seemed like a real passenger last night, and I wasn't surprised to see him substituted at halftime. It's rather surprising, isn't it? Between Semenyo and Scott, you'd expect Scott to be the one to shine.

Nevertheless, I still believe Scott will prove to be a class player in the Premier League. Perhaps he just needs some time to adapt to the pace of the game.

 

 

Semenyo didn't settle straight away either, you've watched more of Bournemouth than me but it seems like he's only found his feet this season.

Alex has had two big (ish) injuries in a relatively short space of time at an early stage of his career. Add in the massive step up between the Premier League and the Championship and it's no surprise that he's still acclimatising to his new side. If stays fit for the rest of this season and then pre-season I expect he'll kick on next season.

I would start to worry if he picks another injury that keeps him out the team for a prolonged period.

Didn’t see anyone wearing it on Friday.

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Yeah maybe.  Maybe I’m biased knowing that Burnley see him as big part of their plans if they come down

We desperately need a player who can break down those low blocks, that’s what’s holding us back. Whether Twine is the man is another conversation but the club are going to have to bite the bullet and invest properly in that player if they’re serious about making Manning a success and finishing in the top 6.

Just now, Davefevs said:

Depends on whether you’re selling up or selling down to an extent. If Burnley want to keep him, selling down to us becomes their gift imho, not Twine’s…and it will mainly boil down to whether City pay the amount Burnley want.  That’s what happened in January.

City -we would like to sign Twine

Burnley - £5m

BC - how about £5m

BU- no, £5m

BC - how about a loan with £2.5m option to buy

BU - no, loan with £5m

Thats pretty much how it went I’m reliably informed.  Twine had no bargaining power.

 

If the player wants the move, the player wants the move. Up or down doesn’t matter. Obviously Twine can’t force their hand but if he really wants to go and will kick up a fuss at Burnley they’ll be more willing to negotiate. That’s how so many of our sales have been explained on here in the past, it doesn’t matter that we’re the ones buying rather than selling.

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

Yep, pretty simple.  Not saying there might not be some haggling, but Burnley want (allegedly) £5m whether they stay up or come down.  If they come down he’ll be be wanted by them, so “City, if you want him, pay the fee”.

The ball isn’t really in his court.

I’ve been told for the last however many years that players hold all the power and that a club can’t stop an unhappy player leaving when I’ve complained about us selling players. What’s changed now?

Just now, pongo88 said:

He was good today but would people be so excited if he wasn’t Scott Twine? His decision making in the box was a bit slow and off the pace, but, to be expected as he hasn’t played for a while. The true test will be if he plays regularly till the end of the season. If he plays well, and Burnley want to sell him, the crunch will be the fee, which was £4.5m in January. As City’s original target, Finn Azaz went for “only” £2.5m would City pay £4.5 for Twine? Or would Burnley reduce the fee? Or would Burnley, if relegated, decide to keep him as he’s a good Championship player? 

Depends what Twine wants. He’s guaranteed first team football here under Manning, doubt he’d get it at Burnley.

Didn’t do anything flashy but linked up play well. Definitely improved us going forward and we created more with him in the side than without him.

Just now, Tim Monaghan said:

I’ll say it again. Give him the summer. Let the guy find his feet. I know that’s not what was sold, but nothing we can do about that. I believe he is the right man for the job and I’m certainly excited moving forward. 
 

COYRs 

For me, Manning has to justify us rebuilding the squad to play possession football, vs the cost of sacking and replacing him and signing a few quality players to complete the counter-attacking squad we’ve built since Pearson came in.

If we get results with Manning’s main man (Twine) back in the side, and playing Manning football, then he’s earned the right to be backed properly in the summer.