tin

15 minutes ago, steveybadger said:

The shithousery is fine but that was stupidity. He’s on a yellow! Just because we raised our game with 10 doesn’t make it a good decision. You wouldn’t want us to lose a man every game after an hour - we’d lose most times.

Respectfully.

Actually the thing that slightly jarred with me was Pearson blaming the ref and deflecting the blame away from a player (city fan or not) that he’d brought in for his ‘’experience’’. Now I don’t expect or would want Pearson to throw him under the bus, and ultimately King is responsible for his own actions, but it just didn’t sit right with me. Don’t get me wrong though, the ref was poor.

If King lets Johansen skip past him and it led to them going 2-1 up, how would you react then? It’s a tactical foul and I’ve got no issue with it, regardless if he’s on a booking or not. That said, I thought Pring was booked for the dodgy pen given against us and didn’t realise it was King until after he’d gone. 

I’m not someone for slagging off refs, but Andy Davies was incompetent and from @Olé’s thread it seems like his performance is part of a pattern rather than an exception. I can understand King getting in his ear and NP criticising him; he deserved it IMO. If NP throws King under the bus, he’d get shit from certain quarters for doing that. 

We played well, deserved at least a point, and were on the wrong end of some woeful decisions. Hopefully that luck evens itself out over the course of the season. It usually does. 

King’s a City fan. If I was on the pitch last night and the ref was giving every decision against us, I’d bloody well let him know about it as well especially after the ref didn’t give the Scott pen. I’m sure many of us who’ve played to a decent level have experienced this sort of red mist before.

His second booking was the sort of shithousery we’ve lacked for years. How many times have we said before take a booking on halfway to stop a counter-attack? I’ve no issue with that at all, and fair play for apologising. I don’t actually think he’s responsible for the defeat either; we played well with 10 men against 12.

9 hours ago, GrahamC said:

I thought Semenyo was excellent & he certainly is a striker.

He was excellent, but if he could finish we would’ve had the points sewn up in the first half. 

Worst I’ve seen in a very long time. Abysmal, especially considering he’s an ex-pro himself. 

What a joke

Just now, Super said:

You just know they will get a late winner

It has an air of inevitability about it, despite the good performance 

Believe it or not, this ref used to play for Yeovil and Pompey. For someone who’s supposedly played the game professionally, he doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. 

This ref is beyond a joke

19 minutes ago, B1ackbird said:

And they wonder why people chuck things at them.....

Agreed. WTF’s his issue with us other than being ex-Swindle? 

What a **** Charlie Austin is

This has been excellent so far. Semenyo has to score from six yards out, but the fact we’ve created two more great chances is really positive. There’s a good pace, width, shape and desire about us so far. 

On 28/12/2021 at 19:00, Ostrich said:

Fellas and Felladettes,

One is considering a move to Bristol (among other places). In short, I have a fully remote job, no commitments, am bored of living where I do now and am looking to move somewhere else, time for a new adventure. As far as I'm concerned, if I don't enjoy it after say 6 months then I'll have no tie and can escape, if I do then woop for all the upside.

I studied at uni in London and stayed there for work until the pandemic with a brief spell in Leeds, came back to my family home at the start of the pandemic and haven't moved since. Have no real desire to head back to London whilst I don't need to (maybe future work will dictate moving back one day) so let's find somewhere new. Have visited Bristol a handful of times - a couple of times for a weekend, a couple of times for the football (a win, a defeat and a win against the ones with squares on their shirts) but I'm not hugely knowledgeable beyond the standard everyone saying it's a great place to live cos x,y,z and lots of ex-Londoners moving out there. 

I'm a bit of a pretend country bumpkin so I don't want to live slap bang in the centre but I'm not yet ready to, so just the classic nice suburban/edge of the city area with an active social scene for young professionals and easy enough transport is what I'll be looking for.

I'm all for suggestions on where to live/help etc but let me also put it to you a bit differently to that, what are the things a local (or an adopted local even better) would tell an outsider to think about if moving to Bristol, either good or bad?

Depends how old you are really, what your budget is, and what your must-haves are. If you’re under 30 with no commitments, Southville or Bishopston are good options. If you have a bit of money, St Andrew’s, Clifton or Redland are your best bets. One word of caution though, the rental market is insane at the moment so you might find it difficult to get a place down here. 

23 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

This is the elephant in the room. Realistically, how long left has 5 day Test cricket got when there's so much money and interest in white ball cricket? 

Speaking to a couple of local kids coaches over the summer, and they say that kids turn up to sessions and just want to learn how to smash the ball everywhere. They aren't interesting in learning defence and the more nuanced aspects of batting. They just want to hit the ball out the park as often as possible. 

This change is mindset and coaching will likely have a profound effect on first class and Test cricket over the next decade. 

It won't just impact on England but all the other Test sides too. I know purists are fully against it but I think at least a move to 4-day Tests is inevitable at some point. 

Mate, it’s already having a profound effect on first-class and Test cricket. Just look at today for evidence of that.

I’ve heard the same thing, though, about coaches encouraging players to work out their own games, rather than teaching them how a solid defence is the foundation upon which to build. That directive comes from the ECB, it’s in the modern coaching manuals. 

Even though I disagree with four-day Tests in principle, I agree they will be the new norm in the not too distant future. That in itself will mark the beginning of the end of Tests, IMO.

This is the worst England Test team in my living memory. At least in the ‘90s, when we were up against great Australia teams, we contested series. 

Root will resign; Silverwood, Bobat and Giles should follow suit. Who replaces them is anyone’s guess. 

The ECB needs to restore first-class cricket to being played in the summer, not bookended in spring and autumn — and keep it there. 

I do think there’s a real coaching issue at grass-roots level that needs addressing. Players need to be taught proper technique from an early age, otherwise we end up with the likes of Burns, Sibley or Crawley opening. 

I also think Ashes tours shouldn’t be scheduled like this, with no games in between for players to even attempt to play themselves into form. 

On a final note, I think the future of Test cricket is under threat. England sells out home Tests and takes huge away support in normal circumstances. If apathy sets in and demand dwindles, Tests could be on a slippery slope.

6 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

Honestly think it’s time at least half of this squad were replaced, look at how the scratch county team did when called up for ODI duty, I’d bin off a good 5/6 of this team and look for fresh players from county cricket. 
 

from this XI, Hameed, Crawley, Malan, Wood at minimum and then big question marks over Leach (depends on Parkinson being ready, Leach generally isn’t a good enough 1st innings bowler), Bairstow and Buttler, don’t think Bracey is ready, Foakes could/should get an extended period of 12 months + being first choice to stake a claim. 

Agree with a lot of that. I’d persevere with Hameed, and Pope, plus obviously Root and Stokes. Beyond that, Jimmy and Broad will be calling time on their careers soon. I find it mental that Foakes isn’t our Test No.1 keeper, too. 

I think, possibly with Glos-tinted glasses, that Bracey will come good at Test level. His ton against Australia A and the likes of Neser, Richardson and Boland — all of whom have impacted on the last two Tests — won’t have gone unnoticed, while it should do wonders for his confidence. 

For me, Yates, Bohannon, Mahmood, and Bracey all could come in and strengthen the current XI and I’d get Livingstone in at 7 for balance. 

Great two sessions from the bowlers and the fielding, same old sorry story from the batsmen. 

9 hours ago, Maltshoveller said:

Never going to hit big runs as a team when we only have ONE test match class batsman 

One Test match class batsman in this poor era, versus a fallible Australia side against whom he’s failed to register a single ton in three tours.

If Root was in his pomp 10-15 years ago, I doubt he’d even get in the XI. That shows, to me at least, how far our standards have fallen. 

Having seen the ‘highlights’ of our innings, it’s the shot selection of our supposed senior players that irks me. Root and Buttler in particular; Stokes and Bairstow too. 

That’s the 28th Test match innings in 2021 that we've bundled out for less than 200. Abysmal.

36 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

You are in the right ballpark.

Not Kasey’s fault.

His current value in the books will be £1m.  Likely to be a loan imho, because otherwise there will be an impairment cost brought forward into this year’s accounts.  Plus the contribution to wages from another club is very unlikely to be 100%.  Over to you Richard Gould.

Not KP’s fault at all. Just like it wasn’t Holden’s fault he was offered the job. Both were abysmal decisions from the top, albeit one is said with the benefit of hindsight.

15 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

I think it is by far our worst ever signing as he was also poor for us on loan. Wolves FA cup game made my mind up. Strolled around and regularly let his man run off him. Thought it was bizarre that we wanted him off the back of his poor loan spell.   A lot of fans liked him on loan but I will never understand why 

Agree on the Wolves Cup game. I thought he had something about him while on loan and that he would improve, but I was oblivious as to the figures involved with the deal at that time.

@Davefevs is the man who knows his amortisation, but £3.5m transfer plus wages since 1 August 2019 must've cost us around £5m to date with no prospect of any ROI either on the pitch or in a depressed transfer market. 

23 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

He needs shipping out

Totally agree, although it'll be more difficult than some might think.

The point I made referred to what LJ said at the time he/Ashton signed Palmer. 

If I was him, I be looking for a move to Germany or France. The slower pace would suit him in those leagues.

26 minutes ago, footie said:

Have it on good authority he is on £20k per week. Was jokingly confronted by someone I know when out and about: "Come on mate you can try a bit harder for £10k per week!" His response was "Try 20k"

I’ve also heard he’s on £20k p/w with us.

While he’s clearly got talent, he needs more than a full pre-season under his belt (as LJ said at the time) to fulfil his potential.

Considering we paid Chelsea £3.5m for him, the deal has to be right up there in terms of our worst ever transfers.

3 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Thought he was charged having been accused?

I'm even more confused.

You’re right. It should be “…charged with multiple counts…”.

The police have charged him with those offences and he’ll either be cleared or convicted of the offences in court. 

Silverwood's the stereotypical ignorant Yorkshireman who can't put his hands up and admit he got it wrong. Every man and his dog can see the selection for both the first two Tests was wrong, and that's not said with the benefit of hindsight either. 

He wasn't good enough as a Test bowler and is equally out of his depth as a Test coach.