GrahamC

My old man (83 soon & not in great health) always used to say to me when a City striker was out injured that Tom got kicked black and blue most weeks, wasn’t exactly the most robust looking (deceptive) but was always available for the next game. Must have been a dream player for AD & having spoken to the late great Gerry Gow about him once, I know his team mates (Sir Geoffrey, Cheese, Sween, etc) all thought the world of him.

I think it is harsh on 4 of them. Wells is obviously in his latter years but we don’t half miss him when he’s (rarely) unavailable. Good squad option. Weimann is in a similar category, I have a hunch this might be his final season with us but excellent servant. Cornick hasn’t worked out, if we can find a solution that works for him & us I wouldn’t stand in his way. Conway & Bell are both only 21, both have already played around 60 Championship games TC has 16 goals, Bell 7 in the league. Both have plenty of time to improve & in the latter’s case I would have no issue keeping him as a squad option even if he doesn’t. Conway will in my opinion play at a higher level than our current one & probably force the issue himself at some point but I wouldn’t rush to move him on.

He was poor at Birmingham & really poor when he came on yesterday so I’m not sure about that. I certainly wouldn’t make the deal permanent this month, let’s have a full season of him to make a considered judgement. I do think the Boro goal alone has definitely convinced a few on here, but we need to see if that was a one off. As for James & Williams I expect those two are right at the top of our wage structure & any offer to either is highly unlikely to be an increase & with King nailed on not to be on the playing staff next season we’re looking at significant changes in that area.

Legend, possibly my favourite player of all time (in our best team of all time) & far, far too modest. An all time great. Was astonished when he wasn’t one of the first 11 players inducted to our hall of fame, as there’s been no better striker in my 50+ years of supporting. Said this in a post about him last week, he scored league goals against Liverpool, Man City, Spurs & Everton. Who can else claim that whilst playing for us?

As my post history probably shows I’m supportive of our current squad but if there is one area we can hugely improve then it is this. Far too often the thrower is confronted by one simple throw possibility (usually to Williams) & one other option, often to Conway or Weimann. Everyone else is stood still, waiting for something to happen. We have to become better at this element, I understand you don’t disrupt shape by having 5 or 6 players running all over the place but we are too static & predictable.

Don’t want to appear a smart arse but I posted before yesterday’s game in response to someone who said that we would win 3-1 that it would be a slog & I wouldn’t be surprised if a single goal decided it. Bigger picture is whether Holden, Pearson or Manning is in charge we consistently struggle against the Millwalls, Birminghams & Prestons of this division whereas games against those who come to play (West Brom, Sunderland, Boro, Norwich) are usually entertaining & we often get something. It is a bigger issue than yesterday & one that needs addressing, Manning certainly has a style he wants to implement & whilst I’m not going to pretend it is what I’d like to see, he is no fool & presumably will be looking to shape the squad to better suit this style.

Remember it as 40p? Incredible really. Yep, by the end of the season they were really dog eared.

Suppose he would argue he basically only has 15 players. Clearly not having Cornick (didn’t get on at Brum, only did so today because Sykes was injured). Effectively means it is 2 from 3 of Williams, James, TGH. Wells or Conway & then one of Weimann, Bell or Mehmeti (he’s sticking with the latter). Look at the rest of the subs Knight-Lebel (appeared once in 17) Nelson (never come on), King 35 & no way is he on the bench in February unless we have injuries. Bajic. His options are limited, no idea where Yeboah was today but he’s raw & incredibly erratic & I’m not sure Manning (who has only brought him on once) thinks he’s anywhere near ready. You would have to think a couple of returners & 2 signings will see a different bench by the end of the month. Think this predated the Italians, still Elton wasn’t it?

Far better than the linesman who repeatedly allowed Murray Wallace to handoff his opponent, must have thought it was rugby. How on earth did their 7 not get booked straight after their goal, had hold of Rob Dickie’s shirt for about 30 seconds. Not why we lost but they absolutely knew they could get away with loads from today’s officials.

Callum Styles can’t get in the Barnsley side one division down, I get Murphy (18, loads of time to improve) but Styles isn’t the answer. I’d be amazed if we bring in 3 more midfielders next summer alongside Knight & Murphy. 2 possibly, depending on whether any of James, Williams or TGH are still here, but can’t see 3.

There’s ambition & there’s complete confusion. We paid a million on Thorpe, a third division striker that we didn’t remotely need (we already had Akinbiyi, Andersen, Cramb & Torpey). Our only defensive acquisition was Julian Watts, a terrible CB who made Jamie McCombe look like Franco Baresi on the ball. John Ward’s idea of a Championship midfield was to pair Matt Hewlett with Carl Hutchings a third division defender who ran around a lot to no effect trying to control the ball, he made Carlton Palmer look like Glenn Hoddle. Ward never managed at Championship level again after we sacked him (can’t think why). Lennartsson who expected to be Director of Football then was asked to become Head Coach & added a random assortment of foreign players seemingly without a plan, Bo Anderson was the shortest Dane I have ever seen, unfortunately he was a goalkeeper, Vilmos Sebok was good on the ball but seemed not to like defending, unfortunately we played him at CB (he was sweeper for Hungary) & Testimitanu who was the only one with any guts, got badly injured soon after signing. A absolute shambles of a season where we finished 24th, the season after going up neck & neck with Watford.

When memorably the coach got lost on the way to the game. There’s definitely a metaphor there, though I actually liked Benny & don’t think for a minute he expected to be Head Coach, but there was some seriously confused thinking going on from the outset that season.

Barnsley was pretty special too. Think that was the game after Holden had been sacked & Paul Simpson came out afterwards & basically admitted it was as bad as he’d seen & Kalas gave an interview where he said we had to defend all game because we kept giving the ball back to the opposition. There were loads that pandemic season that were pitiful.

We lost there 4-0 in December 92, we were even worse, Dziekanowski allegedly “played” in that game. Reality is he stood around for 90 minutes watching Gary Shelton try to tackle 3 opponents.

More recently nearly every game under Pulis circa 1999 was awful. Today was poor but the lack of perspective is embarrassing.

Did not expect to think at the halfway point of the season that he would be first pick in midfield but now looks that way. TGH was really poor when he came on today & James was 6/10 but Joe, who was good at Birmingham & apparently outstanding at Watford, certainly edged him.

There were loads on here saying we should beat Birmingham (1 win in 7, Rooney struggling) it doesn’t work like that. This is our 4th game in 8 days with basically the same 14 or 15 players, so simplistic stuff like “let’s get into them” is pointless. I expect a real slog today & if we win it will be a tight one. After today we don’t play a league game for 12 days so assuming no replay v West Ham, can hopefully use the time to get at least one in & give a few a bit of recuperation.

Fair enough, wasn’t aware of the capacity restriction. Is that a long term thing? Wikipedia says it can hold around 18100 in total as a result of this.

Huge opportunity for the club where “something special” is happening.. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67833411

It wasn’t theirs then though. Didn’t steal it until much later.

Really small club at our level, in the bottom five for home attendances & one of those (Argyle) are only below them because their ground is smaller, every game at Home Park has sold out. When you consider the number of away fans for London games it shows how tiny they are.

Thought Manning’s response last week to the question as to whether we would make it permanent next month was remarkably non committal, even by his standards. Worth pointing out though that those saying another club could come in for him in January are definitely barking up the wrong tree, as having already featured for West Brom he can’t play for anyone else this season. Not ITK but have a hunch we’ll wait until the summer to decide.

Rotherham haven’t had enough players to name a full subs bench in any game since Leam Richardson took over. In the last 3 they have named 6 subs twice & 7 once, so have been a minimum of 2 short. Pretty obvious why he’s been recalled in those circumstances, unless you’re a sag, of course.

I reckon he might even be our top earner. James will be top few too, very much Pearson’s statement signing when he took over, & bound to have been in demand. Like you I’d keep one of these two & let King move on as well.

Think he won them a penalty that Akinfenwa scored from a Bakinson handball.