italian dave

I think there’s a huge difference between not loving the game and not having the level of commitment to put in the hours and the pain to become the best you possibly can at it. He may not have been overly bothered with the pattern but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he doesn’t love the game and want to carry on playing it.

Not only that; I’ve a feeling he still wants Lampard!

I think that's exactly the point - and why that particular argument is all a bit pointless! He inherited what was, on paper, a better group of players. But he inherited them with a brief to get rid, to reduce the size of the squad, to reduce costs massively. Manning inherits what may, man for man, not be as good on paper, but with the brief to build on what's already there.

100% get my vote too.

Three! Tony Fawthrop too (if my assumptions about your descriptions of the other two are correct!!!)

The book that’s mentioned in that article - Playing the Moldovans at Tennis - is a good read too. Very funny,

Could be. There was an og in that game and that’s certainly how I remember one. And as you say, really unusual and low free kick which left the defender with little option.

They also didn’t have the now obligatory player lying horizontally on the ground. Although perhaps they knew the likely trajectory of their former player’s effort.

Didn’t we get one or two early in Naismith’s time? Or am I just dreaming?

Missed Pereira. Monza and Bournemouth - Bristol City’s what could have been

Started (but didn’t score) in Monza’s 4-2 win over Milan yesterday. Some game. Monza we’re 2-0 up at half time. Milan had a player sent off early second half, but pulled it back to 2-2 in the 88th minute. Monza then scored in the 90th and 95th minutes. And, instrumental in Monza’s goals was Daniel Maldini, son of the great Paolo. Who’s on loan from…..Milan!

Gallows Pole…….Led Zeppelin (Glad you highlighted the link to “grateful” in your post. You’d have been crucified for even hinting a link between ‘Nigel’s gone’ and ‘thank you very much’ )

Making Plans for Nigel……XTC

AD, JJ, TC: you’ve put it brilliantly. Word for word exactly how I feel. Not so sure about DW: and it wasn’t just the that Brighton game, there were others when we got it just as badly wrong. If I had to go for a fourth it might well be LJ - which I know won’t be popular on here! Established us as a respected second tier side for the first time since AD. But, yes: AD, the elder statesman. JJ, just inspiring. And TC - like you, I just love the man for everything he did for the club. My favourite too.

My 16 weeks was the Sat before Xmas programme through to yesterday (plus the extra 2 weeks as noted). Much the same. I’m not making a judgement on whether that’s a significant difference or not. Nor am I making excuses. Just stating the facts - which are that we’re playing more games than you’d normally anticipate, and more than the teams we’re playing. I know I should have put it on a spreadsheet

Fewer league games though, Dave. Same 16 weeks, last season we average a game every 4.8 days (3.93 this season). And extend that an extra 2 weeks to include the 5th round cup last season, and it’s still one every 4.8. It begs the question why we agreed to play the Coventry game when we did.

Ahh, but he’s a meticulous planner…… he knew what was coming

Could be both, SD! If you take that 50 games above as the norm, then that equates to a game every 5.5 days over the course of a season. Over the past 16 weeks we’ve played an average of one game every 4 days. A combination of the Xmas period and our cup run have made the past few weeks unusually taxing.

And maybe that’s just a reflection of where we are right now. Doesn't mean the academy hasn’t produced players (look at the squad yesterday) or that it won’t do so in future.

Indeed: and I don’t claim to be any more in the know than anyone else! I’m just not going to leap to the conclusion that Tinnion’s judgement is wrong just because we haven’t yet seen another Scott. Or that Manning isn’t committed to the academy just because he’s signed Mebude and given him 45 minutes.

Yes, that’s fair - although probably also fair to say it’s the first game in this run where that’s been the case. I still think LM and his team have managed the schedule pretty well overall. Maybe yesterday was just one game too much.

I wasn’t surprised, and at that moment it felt like it was probably the right time. But I didn’t want him sacked: I’d have far rather we’d turned the corner under him and made that top 6;spot that was his objective. And it really wasn’t that long before he was sacked - a matter of a few games - that that seemed a real possibility.

Well, if you seriously think that Yeboah would have been on the bench yesterday had Mebude not been there, or that Yeboah’s progress has been hindered by Mebude’s arrival, then yes, we disagree. Although, judging by comments on this thread and others, I think you’re in a fairly small minority. But the point of this thread isn’t just Mebude. Theres another thread for posters wanting to moan about him (). This is about the bigger picture. And my default is to believe that LM - like his predecessors - wants the academy to work and wants to encourage players to come through it. Your default seems to be the opposite.

True, but I think the point is that they have come through the academy to get where they are. The OP suggested that we’ve been blocking paths for a decade or more. Vyner, for example, played his first 30 odd games for the club under LJ. If theyre good enough I don’t see paths being blocked, not by LM, not by NP, not by LJ. It’s just that we don’t produce a Scott or a Semenyo (or a Vyner) every year. And hence why you’re last question is spot on for me.

Well some still feature, for sure. But the real point is that you can’t simply measure it by pure numbers at any one time. The academy isn’t a conveyor belt that produces one Alex Scott and one Antoine Semenyo every year. If there were a 17 year old with the ability of Scott, or a 19 year old with the ability of Semenyo then they’d be getting games, I’ve little doubt. But there ain’t. And you don’t play academy players purely for the sake of it, regardless of their ability or readiness. Not if you’re aiming for ‘top end’ anyway.