mozo

Not a great season for the old guard. Hughton sacked, Mccarthy on the verge and Warnock's Boro going backwards. Young Nige doing fine though.

I do see Willliams as a poor man's Stevie G; fiercely competitive anywhere on the pitch and a lot of quality in his play. Good to see James and Williams both play important roles in the goals.

Objectively (and less divisive!) I would say the truth is more likely that he started the season well, had a few below par games and then today was (for me, a recent critic) man of the match.

We need either 2 new strikers for 2022-23 or 1 and 1 from the U23s who is by then ready to hit the ground running.

I'm a regular listener to the podcast so thanks to the chaps for getting interesting guests and providing slick content. There's always a but... Jon L was allowed to waffle his way out of the question about investment in the club. Have we been close to finding an investor? Are we speaking to anyone at the moment? Is there a timeframe? What difference would it make? Is the long term plan to keep a majority Lansdown share? Etc etc!! I personally feel that this is a massive issue that has been treated with very little regard and I would have lived to hear some follow up questions. To follow up, I'm pretty sure JL ignored your question about his own future.

Totes agree and I would add to that, we have a fair few players that need a season under their belt, such as Pring, Atkinson and Tanner to acclimatise and Willliams, Weimann O'Dowda and DaSilva to come back from injury layoffs. Massengo has developed now, but Scott still has a lot to learn still. Beyond that, we have a succession issue up front and I worry about whether we'll either develop the young uns or have the budget for a quality recruit.

He's played since then, no?

Williams the biggest positive for me, followed by DaSilva then maybe Pring.

Let's see what Pearson decides re Bakinson. I'd be amazed if he continues to start him.

He needlessly gave away a penalty following a midfield mistake from Bakinson.

Yeah, happy to be top half and to see the right attitude in games. We don't have the squad to achieve better imo.

Correct but Nige also said that these young strikers have been kept at the club (as opposed to going on loan) because they were so close to the first team squad so should be all to play for.

I think most of us wanted Bakinson and Semenyo to come back from those impressive loan spells and be the future of our first team. Bakinson I'm losing patience with. It's not a talent problem. It's a fitness problem or an attitude problem and that's what sees players slip down the leagues. I just can't see how O'Dowda, Bakinson or Palmer could possibly be trusted and rewarded with a new contract. Massengo, au contraire, has the minerals.

Surely nothing will happen until the summer. Martin will be ooc and Wells one year to go. What happens next ?

Perceptive! Great prediction... Yep. One of my favourite posts ever. I'm gonna use that time and again and claim credit for it... How dare you? Didn't you know he once was lectured to by Arsene Wenger? I do. Because he won't stop bloody going on about it... What a Championship mid table game! At times we had them under immense pressure without creating anything, but two mistakes in one dumb minute lost the game. Never again should we play two players with 'inson' in their names play together. We're very average and the team we ended with was rag tag personified. We're so obviously lacking up front. Where will the goals come from seemed a stupid question after a few games but now has become pertinent. Martin and Weimann combined have 1 goal in 5. The same as Baker and Bentley combined. I thought Williams was a huge positive and he, James and Massengo could be an incredible trio if they ever play together (let's not assume!) It's early doors for the Pearson era and we have to accept the odd annoying loss this season. I can't wait for the next period of squad refurbishment!

My main criticism around our play this season would be our overuse of mid to long balls down the wing which aren't much more sophisticated than playing into touch. Also in the final third we often look short of ideas which is odd because we've got so much experience up top. And the long throws at times! Otherwise I'm pleased with how Pearson has got this squad playing and I'm fairly confident that he could get a stronger, more balanced version of this squad playing a more complete style.

That's a very good point! Ta

Yeah that was me. Massengo was anonymous all game wasn't he?! ? My criticism of Martin wasn't running or heading it was with his feet. Every touch with his feet seemed misdirected and careless. Can't ignore that, surely?

He gave the ball away with all but 2 of his touches as I saw it. A couple of good flick ons. Didn't see any tackles or interceptions and presume he lost most of his battles. And from an attacking sense I didn't see any key passes or shots? Happy to be corrected by the stats?!

Are Chris Martin's Wyscout stats as bad as I fear they might be Fevs?

As much as we did well for much of the gam yesterday I did think we missed him.

And our crossbar played a blinder again!

From the TV footage I've still got no idea how he stretches and the ball goes when it goes

The scoop pass was hilarious ?

The full game (in 4 parts) can be found on YouTube for those that haven't seen it. I'd only heard commentary today but having watched the game too I was really impressed. We competed with Fulham really well. Great point for us.