LondonBristolian Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 I know this isn't Bristol City-related but I thought it interesting. One year ago, Stones was out of the team, widely not seen as good enough and rumoured to be on the way out. Twelve months on and he's been a mainstay of a vastly improved Man City defence AND an England side that only conceded once on the way to a European Cup final and has now signed a five year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58157599 I think it is a real lesson in the fact that we're very quick to write players off or decide they aren't good enough but, if a player finds the right partner and develops a bit of confidence, things can turn around fast. Let's home some of our more maligned players come good in a similar (albeit less high-profile) way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ska Junkie Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 What a great shout LB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cidered abroad Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 The best example I can give ftom City players is Gordon Parr who will be well remembered by any City fans who saw him play. Big, strong defender who would never be regarded as a brilliant footballer but as a defender when he reached his peak, awesome. Here is his appearance record. 1957/8 ; 2 (age 19) 1962/3 ; 16 1963/4 ; 38 (age 25) 1964/5 ; 21 1965/6 ; 17 1966/7 ; 38 1967/8 ; 36 1968/9 ; 42 ( ever present) 1969/70 ; 38 1970/71 ; 31 (2 subs) 1971/72 ; 2 (3 subs) Football hasn't changed so much. So while I know that for many they will never make it even if they live to be one hundred. But there are those who take longer and thank goodness Fred Ford was the one to give Parr a bit longer than most. So for every Alex Scott and Gerry Gow, there are plenty of Gordon Parr's. So give those like Taylor Moore, Pring, Morrell, O'Leary support instead of writing them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bs4Red Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 I feel the difference with Stones is to anyone who has watched him you can see he is a fantastic defender and has all the ability in the world. A lot of his struggles outside of football were affecting him and now he is through that you can see the benefits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyTonyTony Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 A big factor not to be understated is his partnership with Rueben Dias. He came in to replace Stones, and partner up with Laporte but the opposite has happened. That partnership has clicked, for whatever reason, and he got his confidence back. Seems to be a thing with CB's - Kalas looked better with Webster, but ever since Adam left Tomas has not looked as good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hampshire Red Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 Well done LB for bringing this up as part of the wider subject of 'fans/public' being so interested in 'Nescafe footbaal - everything has to be instant and much less thought, time and patience given to what is essentially the same game and sport. Gordan Parr is a glassic case and there have been many more; sadly most of those have improved since leaving AG, eg Bolassie - no-one i know regretted selling him for £500k then there is a £30m forward in the top flight. Sometimes we have had good coaches who called it right, eg Bobby Read and i guess we all hope NP will call some of our youngster the same, astute way. I also agree that pairings is a factor, as mentioned abouve where Kalas complimented Webster, Merrick complimented Collier, Bell complimented Tinnion, Riitchie/Cheesely and many more. With the apparent need to sell 3 or 4 players who will appear tonight/Saturday, Pearson will reap what he sows from these decisions; - managers are paid to get results and us fans just look on and comment. Hopefully he gets the key ones right. Many on here calling for City to hold on to Joe Morrell who has already been dumped by Luton so what do the fans know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chinapig Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 59 minutes ago, Bs4Red said: A lot of his struggles outside of football were affecting him and now he is through that you can see the benefits. Yes, it would be good if fans remembered that footballers are human beings. Think twice before slagging a player off, you never know what factors might be affecting their performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcusX Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 46 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said: A big factor not to be understated is his partnership with Rueben Dias. He came in to replace Stones, and partner up with Laporte but the opposite has happened. That partnership has clicked, for whatever reason, and he got his confidence back. Seems to be a thing with CB's - Kalas looked better with Webster, but ever since Adam left Tomas has not looked as good. I'd imagine CB pairings are the most obvious example of this because when it goes wrong it can go Fontaine / Nyatanga levels of wrong. Fontaine was class for us and I think a combination of that big Southampton transfer falling through, and then lack of confidence and being paired with an inexperienced (and frankly not very good) defender just ruined him. I'm glad Stones had the year he did, on his day he's a brilliant defender. Same goes for Maguire too. Much was made about our defensive frailties going into the Euros but tbh, we had the ability they just needed some confidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcusX Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 1 minute ago, chinapig said: Yes, it would be good if fans remembered that footballers are human beings. Think twice before slagging a player off, you never know what factors might be affecting their performance. I think and say this a lot. Too many times we're told about how much money they are on and how hard it must be, but just think about some of the things that go on in our day to day lives that have nothing to do with money. You never know what someone is going through off the pitch, and even a poor run of form could be really hard to deal with at the top level because every game you have to go out infront of thousands of fans and try and shake it off. They get paid very, very well, but I'm not sure everyone who criticises footballers (and other top level athletes) could actually do the job if they got the chance - not to mention the level of sacrifice, commitment and discipline required to get there in the first place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBristolian Posted August 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 1 hour ago, MarcusX said: I'd imagine CB pairings are the most obvious example of this because when it goes wrong it can go Fontaine / Nyatanga levels of wrong. Fontaine was class for us and I think a combination of that big Southampton transfer falling through, and then lack of confidence and being paired with an inexperienced (and frankly not very good) defender just ruined him. I'm glad Stones had the year he did, on his day he's a brilliant defender. Same goes for Maguire too. Much was made about our defensive frailties going into the Euros but tbh, we had the ability they just needed some confidence. I wonder if this has a lot of impact on the current Kalas situation too. In 2019/20 I felt that Kalas was our best defender but Baker and Williams were our best partnership. And last year, I felt one of the problems we had was that Kalas and Vyner were both good very defenders but I was never convinced they played well together. There's a lot of theories at the moment as to why Kalas is out the team - and it could even just be he is not being rushed back from the Euros - but I reckon a major factor may simply be that - excellent as he is in his own right - Pearson feels Baker and Atkinson are stronger as a pairing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballwinningcentrehalf Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 You have to feel reading this that on reflection we all wrote off Tony Dinning far too quickly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East End Old Boy Posted August 10, 2021 Report Share Posted August 10, 2021 Wasn’t Stones kind enough to concede a penalty the last time we played in Manchester? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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