So what’s going on…..

[BCFC1512]

With Mehmeti ??? 
 

is it he knows what he can do and is trying things out or have they fallen out 

[SBB]

Can only have so many players on the bench, especially now we have players coming back to fitness.
Why does there have to be a falling out? Left off the bench for balance reasons, I believe. 

[TonyTonyTony]

NP spoke of him very highly in the pre-match interview. Just because a player isn’t starting doesn’t mean there has been a falling out. We have a lot of fine players up top - they can’t all play.

[Merrick's Marvels]

26 minutes ago, Taunton_BCFC said:

With Mehmeti ??? 
 

is it he knows what he can do and is trying things out or have they fallen out 

Who would you have dropped from the starting line-up yesterday to accommodate him?

Or left off the bench to accommodate him?

[Sleepy1968]

Stop the presses

'Squad player fails to make matchday squad. Club in turmoil'

Edited April 30, 2023 by Sleepy1968

[Rossi the Robin]

Good man management I would have thought, we’ve seen Nige do this several times and it works - no drama as some people would want to believe 

[David Brent]

Nothing

[Selred]

Look at the strength of our bench yesterday. SO tough to get in the squad now, which is a good thing.

[italian dave]

34 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Who would you have dropped from the starting line-up yesterday to accommodate him?

Or left off the bench to accommodate him?

Bell. But hindsight is a wonderful thing!

And I’m not seriously disagreeing with the point you’re making. 

[Davefevs]

16 minutes ago, italian dave said:

Bell. But hindsight is a wonderful thing!

And I’m not seriously disagreeing with the point you’re making. 

My gut feel is that Mehmeti will be in front of Bell next season.

To the OP, Nige said he wanted balance on the bench, he also hinted Mehmeti might be back in next week in his post-match interview.

Nige is big on his selection policy, we won last week, so same eleven started.  He’s always said he will pick a bench based on what he think he needs.

This one is a “nothing to see here” imho.

[cidercity1987]

Just a lad overrated by the fans based on performances and outcomes to date. I'm sure he will be back better next season but does have some specific areas to work on I.e when to pass

[formerly known as ivan]

1 hour ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Who would you have dropped from the starting line-up yesterday to accommodate him?

Or left off the bench to accommodate him?

Cornick or Bell…

Next question

[formerly known as ivan]

23 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Just a lad overrated by the fans based on performances and outcomes to date. I'm sure he will be back better next season but does have some specific areas to work on I.e when to pass

In the few mins he has been given since coming on vs Stoke Mehmeti had done well. Winner in that game, lively vs Middlesbrough but then given 3 mins here and there ever since.

Hardly given a chance I’m sure you’ll agree. Our form hasn’t been great over the last few games and yet still doesn’t get an opportunity to change things for us. Yet Cornick gets given chance after chance???

If he was to have a big impact next season then surely giving him more minutes this season would be beneficial?

Makes no sense to me however people try to justify it.

[DaveF]

1 hour ago, Taunton_BCFC said:

With Mehmeti ??? 
 

is it he knows what he can do and is trying things out or have they fallen out 

Must have fallen out, we need a conspiracy.

[Numero Uno]

3 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

In the few mins he has been given since coming on vs Stoke Mehmeti had done well. Winner in that game, lively vs Middlesbrough but then given 3 mins here and there ever since.

Hardly given a chance I’m sure you’ll agree. Our form hasn’t been great over the last few games and yet still doesn’t get an opportunity to change things for us. Yet Cornick gets given chance after chance???

If he was to have a big impact next season then surely giving him more minutes this season would be beneficial?

Makes no sense to me however people try to justify it.

Both Pring and Atkinson have received similar treatment for reasons that Nige knows better than us. One is playing some great stuff since getting back in the side and the other has just signed a three year contract................

[formerly known as ivan]

10 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Both Pring and Atkinson have received similar treatment for reasons that Nige knows better than us. One is playing some great stuff since getting back in the side and the other has just signed a three year contract................

Yes I agree, but it’s those who refuse to accept that there must be more to it than just a numbers game. There is a reason others are starting/in the squad other than “balance”

[David Brent]

37 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Cornick or Bell…

Next question

That wouldn’t have been fair after us beating Rotherham. Nigel is honest and a man of his word. 

Why won’t people accept his reasoning? He’s explained his decision and people refuse to listen and would rather there was some conspiracy. 

Literally nothing in it.

[A Horse With No Name]

He was on the pitch limbering up on the touchline while the team were warming up yesterday. 

[redsocks]

Cornick for me.offers nothing.ran around yesterday doing f all.

Looked better when he went off.as for bell he needs to get in the gym and get more strength in his upper body,will be good next season.tommy looks good for next season let's hope it's our year.

[ralphindevon]

In such a short space of time we’ve gone from having one of the weakest looking benches I’ve seen for ages to yesterday’s very strong bench that even Mehmeti couldn’t get on. 

[GrahamC]

25 minutes ago, redsocks said:

Cornick for me.offers nothing.ran around yesterday doing f all.

Looked better when he went off.as for bell he needs to get in the gym and get more strength in his upper body,will be good next season.tommy looks good for next season let's hope it's our year.

This is getting really tiresome.

In the first half when I thought we were too passive, he twice came closest to scoring, once when Peacock-Farrell arsed around with the ball & he robbed him, second time when he had a snapshot which went just wide.

Some in here are ******* obsessed, he could find the cure for cancer & they’d still moan.

I actually thought Bell was decent yesterday, won a surprising amount in the air (our goal came from this) & I’m not seeing much between him & Memehti at present.

To me Sykes has far more of a cause to complain about not starting games than he does.

[Johnny Musicworks]

The bench we had yesterday was probably the strongest all season. If we are to challenge next season then we need at least as strong every week even allowing for the inevitable injuries and suspensions. With that depth of squad it will mean that every week there will be good players who don’t even make the bench. As Nigel has already said he expects players to be disappointed but they have to deal with it. The bigger concern is whether OTIB can deal with it.

[sunningdalered]

3 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

In the few mins he has been given since coming on vs Stoke Mehmeti had done well. Winner in that game, lively vs Middlesbrough but then given 3 mins here and there ever since.

Hardly given a chance I’m sure you’ll agree. Our form hasn’t been great over the last few games and yet still doesn’t get an opportunity to change things for us. Yet Cornick gets given chance after chance???

If he was to have a big impact next season then surely giving him more minutes this season would be beneficial?

Makes no sense to me however people try to justify it.

Might be a hangover from the game against Reading at home, when, despite having multiple chances to make a telling contribution, his end product was non existent. More likely that Nige just wants to mix things up though. 

[Rocking Red Cyril]

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

My gut feel is that Mehmeti will be in front of Bell next season.

To the OP, Nige said he wanted balance on the bench, he also hinted Mehmeti might be back in next week in his post-match interview.

Nige is big on his selection policy, we won last week, so same eleven started.  He’s always said he will pick a bench based on what he think he needs.

This one is a “nothing to see here” imho.

'Mehmeti in front of Bell' .

Interesting to see how that pans out. Mehmeti is still very new and a pre season with the squad be good for him. And Bell needs to build some muscle and strength.

It can only improve the team I feel.

[Merrick's Marvels]

3 hours ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Cornick or Bell…

Next question

Bell has 5 goals and a couple of assists this season. That puts him ahead of Mehmeti for me, at present, who needs to improve his end product. Hopefully that comes in time.

We were playing a side likely to dominate possession and our best bet of getting a result was quick counter attacks on transition - a tactic well suited to Bell's strengths. For exactly the same reason, Cornick was selected because he's good at constantly harassing the opposition and forcing mistakes against teams who can keep the ball better than us.

Did you see how we got a result against Boro the other week, for example? Did you see how well Bell and Cornick played that day? Yesterday's plan was clearly to try and do the same again.

Bar uncharacteristic individual errors that led to both their goals - the first still requiring a worldie finish from Benson - those tactics and that team selection would have got us a result against the best team in the league. 

Mehmeti is full of promise and technically excellent. But apart from an excellent assist against Wigan and a tap in against Stoke you or I could have scored, his contributions so far have been that of a show pony - nutmegs, step overs etc. All well and good but there needs to be end product. I hope it comes, it'll be great fun if it does.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Merrick's Marvels

[PooPants]

52 minutes ago, sunningdalered said:

Might be a hangover from the game against Reading at home, when, despite having multiple chances to make a telling contribution, his end product was non existent. More likely that Nige just wants to mix things up though. 

**** otib

[bengalcub]

6 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Who would you have dropped from the starting line-up yesterday to accommodate him?

Or left off the bench to accommodate him?

Sam bell , great prospect  but not a week in week out starter for me …. 

[W-S-M Seagull]

3 hours ago, redsocks said:

Cornick for me.offers nothing.ran around yesterday doing f all.

Looked better when he went off.as for bell he needs to get in the gym and get more strength in his upper body,will be good next season.tommy looks good for next season let's hope it's our year.

Where as I think he pressed really well and thats what he was brought in for. 

Bell had a good game too and was unlucky not to get a goal. 

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

12 hours ago, SBB said:

Left off the bench for balance reasons, I believe. 

If he can't even sit on a bench without falling off then he probably shouldn't be selected. I'm with NP on this one.

[tin]

8 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Bell has 5 goals and a couple of assists this season. That puts him ahead of Mehmeti for me, at present, who needs to improve his end product. Hopefully that comes in time.

We were playing a side likely to dominate possession and our best bet of getting a result was quick counter attacks on transition - a tactic well suited to Bell's strengths. For exactly the same reason, Cornick was selected because he's good at constantly harassing the opposition and forcing mistakes against teams who can keep the ball better than us.

Did you see how we got a result against Boro the other week, for example? Did you see how well Bell and Cornick played that day? Yesterday's plan was clearly to try and do the same again.

Bar uncharacteristic individual errors that led to both their goals - the first still requiring a worldie finish from Benson - those tactics and that team selection would have got us a result against the best team in the league. 

Mehmeti is full of promise and technically excellent. But apart from an excellent assist against Wigan and a tap in against Stoke you or I could have scored, his contributions so far have been that of a show pony - nutmegs, step overs etc. All well and good but there needs to be end product. I hope it comes, it'll be great fun if it does.

Bell’s running/fitness stats are said to set the standard, so that might explain why he’s had more opportunities. 

But, for me, Bell has to bulk up over the summer and not get bullied so easily. I’ve long suspected he doesn’t have that bit of dog in him that Conway does. 

As for Mehmeti, he also has a big summer ahead of him. I agree with @Davefevs that he will be ahead of Bell for the LF role come August, but I suspect he’ll be more central next term.