Klose. Next season.

[CyderHead92]

Need to sign this man up! Captain material 100%! 1 year contract with the option of a second. He’s got a another good 2/3 seasons I reckon, just look at Phil Jagielka 

[Simon79]

21 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Just bumping this. He was excellent again today for me and my MoM, narrowly ahead of Atkinson and Martin.

If the finances work, it seems to be a no-brainer to offer a year with a trigger clause for a second if x games played

Agree with that. Looked composed, read the game well & actually looks like he’s getting better with games. No brainer in the current financial restraints, we know him, he knows us & also seems to be quite a positive influence, along with being popular. COYR 

[Akira]

Thought him and Atkinson were absolutely brilliant today. 

We have to sign him up for another season with an option for an additional year, so long as his demands aren't too high, always feel like he has a really calm head, no matter the situation. Very much needed especially with some of the younger players being around him. 

Edited April 18, 2022 by Akira

[GrahamC]

50 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Just bumping this. He was excellent again today for me and my MoM, narrowly ahead of Atkinson and Martin.

If the finances work, it seems to be a no-brainer to offer a year with a trigger clause for a second if x games played

Mine too, thought it was the best game he’s had for us.

Liked how he left a few on that diving ***** (no 27), certainly he’s a competitor & as has been said, clearly very popular with his team mates.

[Sir Geoff]

Had to chuckle at half time, some of the usual negative posters were slaughtering him and the other two Centre backs.

Imo the back three has looked better without Kalas the last few weeks 

[Davefevs]

29 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Had to chuckle at half time, some of the usual negative posters were slaughtering him and the other two Centre backs.

Imo the back three has looked better without Kalas the last few weeks 

Thought all three were physical today….wasn’t always easy to get too tight first half as they (Utd) moved it really well in and around the box when they got a man spare.

[LondonBristolian]

33 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Had to chuckle at half time, some of the usual negative posters were slaughtering him and the other two Centre backs.

Imo the back three has looked better without Kalas the last few weeks 

I think Kalas is a real dilemma. There is no doubting his quality and individually he is arguably our best defender but - and I don't know whether this is a product of him developing with Chelsea and proving himself on loan in a Fulham team that dominated the division - he only seems to thrive when paired with a defender who is of his quality or better and arguably hasn't managed to form a successful partnership with anyone since Webster left. 

He is a very good defender but he is a very good defender who, in the past two or three years, has been a consistent presence in some very poor defensive units. Klose, Cundy and Atkinson might not be quite of the same quality individually as Kalas but the three of them show signs of developing as a defensive unit in a way that we just haven't managed with Kalas in the team. To my mind. Kalas needs to prove he can play along side the players around him if he is going to find a way back into the team. And, if our record signing and most saleable asset is not getting in the team when we are desperate for funds, it really has to raise a question about moving him on. 

[spudski]

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Thought all three were physical today….wasn’t always easy to get too tight first half as they (Utd) moved it really well in and around the box when they got a man spare.

I disagree with you there Dave. I thought we sat off massively when defending. Mostly giving two yards of space. Sheffield were strolling. We were marking space rather than men. It was that noticeable I mentioned it previously. Thought we were defensively reactive rather than proactive in reading the game. Look at Massengo...chase, chase, chase, close down. He's got the energy to do it....now look at how Sheffield defended...hardly in 2nd gear as they read the game.

We defend marking space...it's obvious it's an instruction. Go between those spaces, then we have to react. Watch it back...we react, never Pro active watching player or reading game.

Semenyo... opposite. Reads game, pro active, ignores instruction. It's very obvious. He plays to his strengths. Others are being held back by instructions imo.

[Offside]

8 minutes ago, spudski said:

I disagree with you there Dave. I thought we sat off massively when defending. Mostly giving two yards of space. Sheffield were strolling. We were marking space rather than men. It was that noticeable I mentioned it previously. Thought we were defensively reactive rather than proactive in reading the game. Look at Massengo...chase, chase, chase, close down. He's got the energy to do it....now look at how Sheffield defended...hardly in 2nd gear as they read the game.

We defend marking space...it's obvious it's an instruction. Go between those spaces, then we have to react. Watch it back...we react, never Pro active watching player or reading game.

Semenyo... opposite. Reads game, pro active, ignores instruction. It's very obvious. He plays to his strengths. Others are being held back by instructions imo.

I agree with this. So many times today (and loads this season) we allow the opposition to have the ball and stand off them, making it easy for them to pick out a pass. In the second half today when Massengo got more aggressive at getting in their faces we looked much better. 
 

Also often when we are pressing teams in their half our players (Weimann seems to do this a lot) run to where they think the pass might go and in doing so give whoever has the ball acres of space to turn and go the other way. 

[Merrick's Marvels]

28 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

I think Kalas is a real dilemma. There is no doubting his quality and individually he is arguably our best defender but - and I don't know whether this is a product of him developing with Chelsea and proving himself on loan in a Fulham team that dominated the division - he only seems to thrive when paired with a defender who is of his quality or better and arguably hasn't managed to form a successful partnership with anyone since Webster left. 

He is a very good defender but he is a very good defender who, in the past two or three years, has been a consistent presence in some very poor defensive units. Klose, Cundy and Atkinson might not be quite of the same quality individually as Kalas but the three of them show signs of developing as a defensive unit in a way that we just haven't managed with Kalas in the team. To my mind. Kalas needs to prove he can play along side the players around him if he is going to find a way back into the team. And, if our record signing and most saleable asset is not getting in the team when we are desperate for funds, it really has to raise a question about moving him on. 

We can't afford him. 

[Davefevs]

20 minutes ago, spudski said:

I disagree with you there Dave. I thought we sat off massively when defending. Mostly giving two yards of space. Sheffield were strolling. We were marking space rather than men. It was that noticeable I mentioned it previously. Thought we were defensively reactive rather than proactive in reading the game. Look at Massengo...chase, chase, chase, close down. He's got the energy to do it....now look at how Sheffield defended...hardly in 2nd gear as they read the game.

We defend marking space...it's obvious it's an instruction. Go between those spaces, then we have to react. Watch it back...we react, never Pro active watching player or reading game.

Semenyo... opposite. Reads game, pro active, ignores instruction. It's very obvious. He plays to his strengths. Others are being held back by instructions imo.

I disagree , but will watch it back though.  As a team we might defend space, but I thought the 3 CBs marked men better than they have a lot this season.  I’m often critical of 3 marking 1, or worse 3 marking 0…but I felt they marked properly tonight 25 yards and closer.  Second half they helped squeeze to near the halfway line which aided us stopping them playing out, and making them go longer.

There are times when we don’t shift across the pitch quickly enough and then you might question whether to mark or just take up space.  I agree with that part, we do allow that too much as a team….we end up doing more running too!

[spudski]

2 minutes ago, Offside said:

I agree with this. So many times today (and loads this season) we allow the opposition to have the ball and stand off them, making it easy for them to pick out a pass. In the second half today when Massengo got more aggressive at getting in their faces we looked much better. 
 

Also often when we are pressing teams in their half our players (Weimann seems to do this a lot) run to where they think the pass might go and in doing so give whoever has the ball acres of space to turn and go the other way. 

Totally agree...another thing that stands out is our reading of the game if we lose the ball. It's really poor...very poor. Part of football is like chess...make a move that percentage wise won't put you under massive pressure if it fails.

In my head today I was screaming on so many occasions not to cross...as when we lost possession, as we did, we were immediately under pressure and defending for our lives after losing possession to a hopeful ball into the box.

It's been a fault all season. Which has led to us on the back foot after being offensive.

We are better driving into the box and passing to player, rather than crossing aimlessly making it 50/50. 

I'd love to know the stats on how many times we go offensive, then lose the ball in the opposition's  third, then end up massively under the kosh

 

[Davefevs]

12 minutes ago, Offside said:

I agree with this. So many times today (and loads this season) we allow the opposition to have the ball and stand off them, making it easy for them to pick out a pass. In the second half today when Massengo got more aggressive at getting in their faces we looked much better. 
 

Also often when we are pressing teams in their half our players (Weimann seems to do this a lot) run to where they think the pass might go and in doing so give whoever has the ball acres of space to turn and go the other way. 

See above, I was talking about our 3 CBs, not our team as a whole.

352 or more accurately 3412 has some structural weaknesses in the way we play it….in the main.

[Offside]

5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

See above, I was talking about our 3 CBs, not our team as a whole.

352 or more accurately 3412 has some structural weaknesses in the way we play it….in the main.

Yep, fair point. Our CBs were really good today. And giving the opposition too much space is a problem in how the whole team sets up. 

[spudski]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I disagree , but will watch it back though.  As a team we might defend space, but I thought the 3 CBs marked men better than they have a lot this season.  I’m often critical of 3 marking 1, or worse 3 marking 0…but I felt they marked properly tonight 25 yards and closer.  Second half they helped squeeze to near the halfway line which aided us stopping them playing out, and making them go longer.

There are times when we don’t shift across the pitch quickly enough and then you might question whether to mark or just take up space.  I agree with that part, we do allow that too much as a team….we end up doing more running too!

 

5 minutes ago, billywedlock said:

I do recall Pearson saying we struggle when marking directly so they devised a mixed approach, certainly at corners . Agree first half we were miles off , in particular HNM who was chasing shadows and jogging around .  They had so much time and space . We have allowed too many crosses into the box this year and that has to improve , as we leave ourselves short in midfield when having to play 3cb .

it was a bit better but there were gaping holes again 

We stood off two yards in pretty much everything. We reacted...rather than read the game. We allowed them to control and pass before closing down. It was easy.

We've allowed balls into the box easily for seasons. You'll find posts of mine about it years back. We organise...get in position, but it's ' Symbolic' when defending.  We don't bust a gut to stop the ball into the box.

That's one of the reasons our defence are under pressure in our own box constantly.

After time...they give themselves ' space' in fear, as we witnessed today.

 

[pillred]

24 minutes ago, Offside said:

Yep, fair point. Our CBs were really good today. And giving the opposition too much space is a problem in how the whole team sets up. 

We still only conceded 1 goal in  two games that most of us before the weekend would have snatched your hand off for, couple that with four points from two games that most would have been happy with two at best I would say well done to the team all round, at last we look like a team again long may it last hope we can keep the bulk of them together for next season and if we can well who knows what we can do. 

Edited April 18, 2022 by pillred

[Offside]

1 hour ago, pillred said:

We still only conceded 1 goal in  two games that most of us before the weekend would have snatched your hand off for, couple that with four points from two games that most would have been happy with two at best I would say well done to the team all round, at last we look like a team again long may it last hope we can keep the bulk of them together for next season and if we can well who knows what we can do. 

Yep, we do look like a team again. What really pleased me today was how after a difficult first half we rallied and in the second half contributed to a really good game. Thankfully those days earlier in the season when we became shapeless desperately trying to hold on for the last 20 mins have gone. A few months ago we would have lost a game like today’s, and it felt great that City gave an entertaining second half performance that would have been deserving of 3 points had we scored one of those chances. 

[Guest]

We did ok in defence against what was Sheff Utds reserve strike force our captain and goalkeeper was comical at times. We did have chances but they could have been at least 3/4 up by halftime, we improved 2nd half but AW hardly got a look in and we lacked any real goal threat.

If this was us much improved we will need changes to survive next season.

[Sturny]

3 hours ago, gl2 said:

We did ok in defence against what was Sheff Utds reserve strike force our captain and goalkeeper was comical at times. We did have chances but they could have been at least 3/4 up by halftime, we improved 2nd half but AW hardly got a look in and we lacked any real goal threat.

If this was us much improved we will need changes to survive next season.

I agree with the first bit, I'm seeing people get way carried away with our defence. It's like they didn't watch the first half where we could've easily been 2 down. 

Never understood the posters who feel on their high horse about our defence getting slated on here at half time. It was correct to call it out, Sheffield were slicing through our defenders and it looked so easy for them. I imagine Pearson agreed with that and told them to get closer at half time. 

The defence played much much better in the second half and we conceded. Funny game isnt it.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Sturny