Next Season....Recruitment etc

[Selred]

Priority:

CB - Kalas goes. 
LB - Dasilva goes. 
CM - multiple injury worries.

CAM - if Scott goes.

I’d personally like a mobile big man to come in, we whip lots of ballers into the box but have no height in there. Although we do have Conway coming back who isn’t too bad in the air to be fair.

[Rocky]

1 hour ago, Rob k said:

Massengo played 99 times for us, by all accounts he didn’t play 100 as wouldnt sign a contract and that next game would have triggered something in his existing contract (probably a bonus or extra wages). That’s why he’s not played for us. (By all accounts anyway)

Pearson and possibly Gould said this was not true.  

[BCFC_Dan]

9 hours ago, firstdivision said:

Doesn’t that smack of double standards. We’re allowed to run down a player’s contract but woe betide him if he runs it down. 

I think some of it depends on the age of the player. Massengo is still a young player and his performances were very inconsistent. If he's going to be around for a while then you accept that as part of his development, play him, and hope he has a good game. If he's not sticking around, why take that risk when you won't reap the reward? Experienced players like King, Kalas and DaSilva are going to do what they do every game, so there's no reason not to play them.

[Rob k]

12 minutes ago, Rocky said:

Pearson and possibly Gould said this was not true.  

Ah fair enough - made sense at the time i suppose 

[firstdivision]

2 hours ago, Rob k said:

Massengo played 99 times for us, by all accounts he didn’t play 100 as wouldnt sign a contract and that next game would have triggered something in his existing contract (probably a bonus or extra wages). That’s why he’s not played for us. (By all accounts anyway)

Yes, I’ve heard this story but as  BCFC Dan says the club appeared to have denied it. It’s not clear if it’s true or not.

[formerly known as ivan]

Bringing in a decent keeper is a must. O’Leary is a decent back up at this level but not long term solution. I see Karl Darlow is on loan at Hull. Would be a great signing but think he still have a couple of years to run on his Newcastle contract, unless there is an agreement to terminate it.

Other than that, I would expect to see a minimum of two defenders and two midfielders come into the club. Once Conway is fit again I don’t think upfront is somewhere we would look to sign someone.

[Robbored]

3 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Bringing in a decent keeper is a must. O’Leary is a decent back up at this level but not long term solution. I see Karl Darlow is on loan at Hull. Would be a great signing but think he still have a couple of years to run on his Newcastle contract, unless there is an agreement to terminate it.

Other than that, I would expect to see a minimum of two defenders and two midfielders come into the club. Once Conway is fit again I don’t think upfront is somewhere we would look to sign someone.

Why do you think that? I reckon O’Leary is a very decent keeper and gaining experience every game. However another keeper is needed to provide backup and competition fo him.

[Davefevs]

35 minutes ago, firstdivision said:

Yes, I’ve heard this story but as  BCFC Dan says the club appeared to have denied it. It’s not clear if it’s true or not.

Massengo was included in the match day squad whilst on 99, so I’m gonna err on the side of no clause.

7 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Why do you think that? I reckon O’Leary is a very decent keeper and gaining experience every game. However another keeper is needed to provide backup and competition fo him.

Agree.  @formerly known as ivanwhat is it about the 20+ games Max has played this season that concerns you?

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

10 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Why do you think that? I reckon O’Leary is a very decent keeper and gaining experience every game. However another keeper is needed to provide backup and competition fo him.

Isn't Bajic supposed to be his competition? If that doesn't work out perhaps we'll sign Halkin on a more permanent basis. 

[formerly known as ivan]

22 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Massengo was included in the match day squad whilst on 99, so I’m gonna err on the side of no clause.

Agree.  @formerly known as ivanwhat is it about the 20+ games Max has played this season that concerns you?

Decent shot stopper but that is about it. Kicking is atrocious. Doesn’t command his area. I don’t think Bentley did either for comparison.

By no means a terrible keeper, just more of a championship No.2. I see O’Leary as a weak link in the team. There has to be stronger options out there.

If everyone at the club was fit you would I don’t know what other area you would look at and say it needed strengthening more than in goal. Right back is covered, as is left back and centre backs. Midfield and attacking are all decent with the youngsters growing season by season. Yes some will leave, some are entering their twilight years. But man for man as it stands, keeper would be the first area I would look to improve on.

[Rob k]

9 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Decent shot stopper but that is about it. Kicking is atrocious. Doesn’t command his area. I don’t think Bentley did either for comparison.

By no means a terrible keeper, just more of a championship No.2. I see O’Leary as a weak link in the team. There has to be stronger options out there.

If everyone at the club was fit you would I don’t know what other area you would look at and say it needed strengthening more than in goal. Right back is covered, as is left back and centre backs. Midfield and attacking are all decent with the youngsters growing season by season. Yes some will leave, some are entering their twilight years. But man for man as it stands, keeper would be the first area I would look to improve on.

Fair enough we’re all entitled to our views, for what it’s worth the Keeper would be around 5th on my priority list of replacing currently, behind a CB (potentially 2) 2 x midfielders, and a striker 

[W-S-M Seagull]

I read it as we will bring in 3-4 on top of what we have now and that number could be higher depending on outgoings.

[Davefevs]

19 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Doesn’t command his area

Max pre this season, maybe.

Max this season, most definitely not.  It’s been a real feature how decisive he’s been in his punching and claiming.  How many times have we seen him come 15 yards to take a cross / punt forward to relieve pressure on our defence.  Our dealing with set plays has been very good since Max got his latest chance.

[Simon bristol]

What do we think of elliott anderson as a scott replacement this summer?

[spudski]

8 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Max pre this season, maybe.

Max this season, most definitely not.  It’s been a real feature how decisive he’s been in his punching and claiming.  How many times have we seen him come 15 yards to take a cross / punt forward to relieve pressure on our defence.  Our dealing with set plays has been very good since Max got his latest chance.

He's improved immensely.

He needs to improve his longer kicks wide. So many go straight into touch. 

The defenders feel comfortable with him as well.

I do like my keepers to be very vocal and dominant.

He does have a passive demeanor about him. A more aggressive and commanding presence would be an improvement, that might come with age.

[Son of Fred]

7 minutes ago, spudski said:

He's improved immensely.

He needs to improve his longer kicks wide. So many go straight into touch. 

The defenders feel comfortable with him as well.

I do like my keepers to be very vocal and dominant.

He does have a passive demeanor about him. A more aggressive and commanding presence would be an improvement, that might come with age.

He's been great...

Some here still questioning whether he's Championship keeper

 

 

[Clutton Caveman]

23 hours ago, spudski said:

Yes I agree. 

Bell and Conway have been fantastic.

Scott and Semenyo star Premiership level stars. Both not here next season.

We are very very unlikely to replace with that star quality. 

Any players like you say, that come from League 1 with the identified profile, won't have any of the vast experience and quality from Prem/ international level of Kalas, Naismith, Weimann, James, King and Wells...who like I've pointed out are all on the downward slide...either injury prone, age related. Basically past their best. 

If we keep some of those experienced players, the chances of them playing to a better standard than this season or even equal too, is very remote. Odd game maybe, but not sustained over a season. 

What we are left with in the majority are academy players and youngsters with no more higher experience than the level they've played at already. 

So aging experienced players on a downslide mixed with players that are academy products, and players that have no more experience than league 1 level or mid Championship level. 

To me...that's a concern. 

On paper...and we know games aren't played on paper...we will look far weaker than this season. A season in which we've struggled. 

For me...we need the equivalent of a Kalas, James and Wells, but younger,  added to the spine of the squad to give that leadership and experience that will be needed. 

 

 

For me we know that our owner tried the big promotion push by throwing money around and unfortunately he chose the wrong people to spend it. This won't happen again. So we have to accept we sell our very best players and recruit players with promise. Year by year the kids that don't get sold get better (like Pring) and we hope that our recruitment brings in young players that also improve like Tanner and an Atkinson. Our best hope is that at a certain point our squad is good enough, well organised and motivated to create a serious push for promotion. Based on our current squad less Scott (who will create a lot of income) and Kalas who will free up some wage space, if we recruit 5 players of the standard of recent signings I would say in 2-3 years we have a chance. Always believe 

[James54De]

4 hours ago, Rob k said:

Massengo played 99 times for us, by all accounts he didn’t play 100 as wouldnt sign a contract and that next game would have triggered something in his existing contract (probably a bonus or extra wages). That’s why he’s not played for us. (By all accounts anyway)

“By all accounts”? Bar any accounts that actually mean anything. 

[LondonBristolian]

16 hours ago, spudski said:

'Should be enough'...for what?

I look at that list, the age, experience, injuries, with trepidation. Hence my Op. 

I think pragmatically the players are under contract and we're not going to go down a route of having a huge squad. There are obviously risks with older players but there are also risks from having a squad size where a number of players aren't anywhere near the team and are bringing down morale. Pearson has been pretty explicit he does not want that so the reality is that we are unlikely to get more than three "outright" additions (i.e. players that come in that aren't replacing anyone leaving) and anyone else will only come in if and when players move on. 

Being honest, I also think that two additional centre-backs and one additional midfielder would be enough outright additions for us to be able to manage the majority of injury crises, especially as we have players who can cover. We're going through a few weeks of excessive bad luck with injuries - three injured centre-backs, three injured midfielders and one injured striker - and I think there's a limit to the extent that we can legislate for that economically.

I get your point and there is always a question about whether we have the right players under contract but players under contract will only leave if someone wants to buy and want to sell. I just don't see the squad getting any more than 3 players bigger. 

[glynriley]

35 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Max pre this season, maybe.

Max this season, most definitely not.  It’s been a real feature how decisive he’s been in his punching and claiming.  How many times have we seen him come 15 yards to take a cross / punt forward to relieve pressure on our defence.  Our dealing with set plays has been very good since Max got his latest chance.

 

27 minutes ago, Percy Pig said:

Doesn't command his area is up there with the worst shouts I've seen. 

 

 

Couldn't agree more. I no longer panic when we are defending corners and free kicks into our box. Still needs to work on his kicking, although it was better Tuesday night, but in terms of coming for catches, compared to Bentley he's like Peter Schmeichel..!!

[spudski]

7 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

I think pragmatically the players are under contract and we're not going to go down a route of having a huge squad. There are obviously risks with older players but there are also risks from having a squad size where a number of players aren't anywhere near the team and are bringing down morale. Pearson has been pretty explicit he does not want that so the reality is that we are unlikely to get more than three "outright" additions (i.e. players that come in that aren't replacing anyone leaving) and anyone else will only come in if and when players move on. 

Being honest, I also think that two additional centre-backs and one additional midfielder would be enough outright additions for us to be able to manage the majority of injury crises, especially as we have players who can cover. We're going through a few weeks of excessive bad luck with injuries - three injured centre-backs, three injured midfielders and one injured striker - and I think there's a limit to the extent that we can legislate for that economically.

I get your point and there is always a question about whether we have the right players under contract but players under contract will only leave if someone wants to buy and want to sell. I just don't see the squad getting any more than 3 players bigger. 

I agree with your sentiments. It's just finding the right balance of young hungry players and experienced heads that aren't past their best, that can still add quality football, have legs, as well as sharing knowledge.

It's tough, I can see that. 

[Major Isewater]

16 hours ago, Percy Pig said:

 

We've just gotta be patient for once!

Most of us have been patient for five decades or more . 

[1960maaan]

30 minutes ago, glynriley said:

Still needs to work on his kicking, although it was better Tuesday night

Funny enough I thought it wasn't great Tuesday. I do think it makes it difficult for Max as he seems to be under instruction. The plan seems to be hit either Pring or Sykes, who pull wide. It gives a fairly narrow target for him to hit and it's easy to hit touch.
He always looks for the quick throw or kick, but we are rarely ready and it can lead to the ball getting nicked back.
If we had a Target man it would mean his aim would be further infield and little chance of hitting touch. When he first came in the side his distribution was very good, I do think we are trying to work to a plan now.

[Rob k]

46 minutes ago, James54De said:

“By all accounts”? Bar any accounts that actually mean anything. 

Tbf it made sense as he suddenly just didn’t play at all, and let’s be honest, it’s not like football clubs always give you the exact truth on everything is it. Not that it really matters anymore as he will never play for us again anyway 

[Banjo Red]

1 hour ago, Simon bristol said:

What do we think of elliott anderson as a scott replacement this summer?

Gas mate said few rumours circling Anderson and cash for Scott.

[Son of Fred]

7 minutes ago, Banjo Red said:

Gas mate said few rumours circling Anderson and cash for Scott.

Wouldn't say no...

I'd also say sadly it wouldn't happen.

[Davefevs]

13 minutes ago, Son of Fred said:

Wouldn't say no...

I'd also say sadly it wouldn't happen.

@Fuber, @Harry I’d be going for Finn Azaz.

Not sure what his contract situation is at Villa, but potentially OOC this summer but year option.

Tins could get a good reference from his mate Flynn at Walsall (ex-Newport).  Plus he must’ve watched him at At Cheltenham and Newport.

Was at West Brom with Kane Wilson too.

Different type of player to Alex, but think he’d compliment what we’ve got.

[James54De]

1 hour ago, Rob k said:

Tbf it made sense as he suddenly just didn’t play at all, and let’s be honest, it’s not like football clubs always give you the exact truth on everything is it. Not that it really matters anymore as he will never play for us again anyway 

Do you know what an “account” is? 

[Rob k]

3 minutes ago, James54De said:

Do you know what an “account” is? 

Wtf you on about now? 

[Dynamite Red]

So to clarify, Tinnion said there  will be 3 or 4 coming in but this figure will change dependent on outgoings . Which makes sense.

Massengo from what I have seen this season essentially downed tools putting in half hearted performances and probably looking to his future elsewhere so unsurprisingly he has been excluded and now sent on loan. Other out of contract players still seem committed and hence involved.

Edited March 9, 2023 by Dynamite Red