The missing men

[Red-Robbo]

James, Tanner and Atkinson.

Anyone have any info on when they are likely to be back?

(We already know King and Baker are not expected to return this season and O'Dowda is 4-6 weeks)

[Davefevs]

James is unknown.

Tanner was meant to be 2 months, so end of this month (Nige said he’s doing well)

Atkinson maybe a couple of weeks.

[Major Isewater]

1 minute ago, Red-Robbo said:

James, Tanner and Atkinson.

Anyone have any info on when they are likely to be back?

(We already know King and Baker are not expected to return this season and O'Dowda is 4-6 weeks)

Even if we knew do you think we’d tell you ? 
#wearewhereweare.

 

[Red-Robbo]

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

James is unknown.

Tanner was meant to be 2 months, so end of this month (Nige said he’s doing well)

Atkinson maybe a couple of weeks.

 

It's not going to be an easy February. 

[Davefevs]

Nope…

[OneTeamInBristol]

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

and O'Dowda is 4-6 weeks

Damn is that all?

[TonyTonyTony]

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

It's not going to be an easy February. 

 

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Nope…

Huge concern for me is the midfield, not just the defence. Going to have to play HNM/AS pretty much every game with JW every now and again with Benarous as backup. As @Davefevs said in another thread, you many have to play Weimann in the middle of the park, but that takes away from the threat upfront. It's a huge amount of pressure on the young lads, and if JW goes bang again we are in trouble.

EDIT : I wonder if NP would swallow his pride and recall Bakinson? 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by TonyTonyTony

[Loco Rojo]

10 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said:

 

Huge concern for me is the midfield, not just the defence. Going to have to play HNM/AS pretty much every game with JW every now and again with Benarous as backup. As @Davefevs said in another thread, you many have to play Weimann in the middle of the park, but that takes away from the threat upfront. It's a huge amount of pressure on the young lads, and if JW goes bang again we are in trouble.

EDIT : I wonder if NP would swallow his pride and recall Bakinson? 

 

I don't think you can recall outside of the transfer window can you?

[Davefevs]

4 minutes ago, Loco Rojo said:

I don't think you can recall outside of the transfer window can you?

Correct.

[Northern Red]

22 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said:

 

Huge concern for me is the midfield, not just the defence. Going to have to play HNM/AS pretty much every game with JW every now and again with Benarous as backup. As @Davefevs said in another thread, you many have to play Weimann in the middle of the park, but that takes away from the threat upfront. It's a huge amount of pressure on the young lads, and if JW goes bang again we are in trouble.

EDIT : I wonder if NP would swallow his pride and recall Bakinson? 

 

Could put Vyner in there as well, although I do wonder if he's one of the ones who had his cards marked yesterday.

[Mendip City]

19 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said:

 

Huge concern for me is the midfield, not just the defence. Going to have to play HNM/AS pretty much every game with JW every now and again with Benarous as backup. As @Davefevs said in another thread, you many have to play Weimann in the middle of the park, but that takes away from the threat upfront. It's a huge amount of pressure on the young lads, and if JW goes bang again we are in trouble.

EDIT : I wonder if NP would swallow his pride and recall Bakinson? 

 

James Morton played for the U23s the other day. Not saying he’s any sort of long term answer but he’s another body and has sone league experience. 
 

It’s very frustrating that we signed James and King in the summer - one with a terrible historic injury record, the other has barely played in 2+ years. Guess what? One’s had a terrible injury record, the other has barely played… it felt like a gamble at the time and has proved that way. 

[Davefevs]

17 minutes ago, Mendip City said:

James Morton played for the U23s the other day. Not saying he’s any sort of long term answer but he’s another body and has sone league experience. 
 

It’s very frustrating that we signed James and King in the summer - one with a terrible historic injury record, the other has barely played in 2+ years. Guess what? One’s had a terrible injury record, the other has barely played… it felt like a gamble at the time and has proved that way. 

Incredibly frustrating.  And I can be a big Pearson fan and still happily question him on this one, especially King.  James has played 20+1 this season, so not all bad.

I’d like to think he acknowledges this too, and we see a bit of movement away from this in the summer.

[Mendip City]

25 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Incredibly frustrating.  And I can be a big Pearson fan and still happily question him on this one, especially King.  James has played 20+1 this season, so not all bad.

I’d like to think he acknowledges this too, and we see a bit of movement away from this in the summer.

Too many eggs in the “gamble” basket. Especially when we add in Simpson, Weimann and Baker. All with questionable availability in the past couple of seasons. Weimann has paid of big-style. The rest…. not so. 
 

Of course what I don’t know is whether they were all we could afford… surely not with a little creative recruitment? 
 

As you say, hopefully lessons learned and a more balanced transfer approach in the summer, if our recruitment team is up to the task! 

[Super]

1 hour ago, OneTeamInBristol said:

Damn is that all?

In fairness we are just as bad without him.

[Red-Robbo]

17 minutes ago, Mendip City said:

Too many eggs in the “gamble” basket. Especially when we add in Simpson, Weimann and Baker. All with questionable availability in the past couple of seasons. Weimann has paid of big-style. The rest…. not so. 
 

Of course what I don’t know is whether they were all we could afford… surely not with a little creative recruitment? 
 

As you say, hopefully lessons learned and a more balanced transfer approach in the summer, if our recruitment team is up to the task! 

 

I would argue that even before last season ended we knew the Simpson gamble hadn't worked.  Age had caught up with him and he had less pace than Captain Tom.

 

[Sarumred]

I suppose Josh Owers could come into the equation to supplement the lack of midfield cover.

[Ivorguy]

I suspect if we see wholesale use of youngsters, NP and SL have agreed, after Saturday and their reported meeting, that relegation isn’t the worst option facing the club for next season

[Garland-sweden]

2 hours ago, TonyTonyTony said:

 

Huge concern for me is the midfield, not just the defence. Going to have to play HNM/AS pretty much every game with JW every now and again with Benarous as backup. As @Davefevs said in another thread, you many have to play Weimann in the middle of the park, but that takes away from the threat upfront. It's a huge amount of pressure on the young lads, and if JW goes bang again we are in trouble.

EDIT : I wonder if NP would swallow his pride and recall Bakinson? 

 

Bakinson, No way. He jogs back to defence and Dont know what to do. Rather Palmer if we are short of people. Not say that Palmer would make impact but he had few chances to play. As everybody know there is a player in Palmer, dont know why he Dont make it.

[Davefevs]

Just now, Garland-sweden said:

Bakinson, No way. He jogs back to defence and Dont know what to do. Rather Palmer if we are short of people. Not say that Palmer would make impact but he had few chances to play. As everybody know there is a player in Palmer, dont know why he Dont make it.

Palmer out injured out of interest.

[Garland-sweden]

Ok

[Mendip City]

42 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I would argue that even before last season ended we knew the Simpson gamble hadn't worked.  Age had caught up with him and he had less pace than Captain Tom.

 

Bit harsh on Captain Tom!!!
Completely agree. The signing of Simpson made no sense at all.  
NP’s signings have not worked, leaving him with last season’s squad…..for my money he has shot the confidence of Vyner and Atkinson.
I’ve a horrible feeling that by the end of this season we’ll be saying “if the season went on another month…” (again). 

[Red-Robbo]

1 minute ago, Mendip City said:

Bit harsh on Captain Tom!!!
Completely agree. The signing of Simpson made no sense at all.  
NP’s signings have not worked, leaving him with last season’s squad…..for my money he has shot the confidence of Vyner and Atkinson.
I’ve a horrible feeling that by the end of this season we’ll be saying “if the season went on another month…” (again). 

 

I guess Simpson was a relatively cheap punt to take, but it was still as disastrous as the many Lee Johnson era flops we're always being reminded of.

Atko and Tanner were better acquisitions and it was a bit unlucky that they've been injured at a time when we could've really done with both being available. Re-signing Weimann was the best thing Pearson did though. We were lucky Andi didn't decide to return to Austria before we'd renegotiated terms with him.  

[Numero Uno]

27 minutes ago, Ivorguy said:

I suspect if we see wholesale use of youngsters, NP and SL have agreed, after Saturday and their reported meeting, that relegation isn’t the worst option facing the club for next season

We won't see "wholesale use of youngsters". Where have you got that idea from? Next week we will see Bentley, Kalas, Klose, Dasilva, Martin and Weimann in the side. We will see Semenyo who must have 90+ league games under his belt, Pring with approaching 50 and Scott who has at least 20. You are just making stuff up followed by blind panic for no reason whatsover.

You have just shoehorned a non-point in to repeat your previous point about us presumably losing 12-14 games on the spin and getting relegated...........

[The Bard]

5 minutes ago, Mendip City said:

Bit harsh on Captain Tom!!!
Completely agree. The signing of Simpson made no sense at all.  
NP’s signings have not worked, leaving him with last season’s squad…..for my money he has shot the confidence of Vyner and Atkinson.
I’ve a horrible feeling that by the end of this season we’ll be saying “if the season went on another month…” (again). 

I think the 3 ex-Leicester signings happened because he didn't have any trust in the club's 'recruitment department' and so went with what he knew.  

I suspect things have pushed on a lot further now that certain players have come in and become bona fide first choice and others have fallen by the wayside. 

I can see a lot more comings and goings this summer.  

[Mr Popodopolous]

James had a strong availability record last season. Think he played 23/23 for Coventry alone and a reasonable number for Barnsley.

[OneTeamInBristol]

1 hour ago, Super said:

In fairness we are just as bad without him.

Not always, if he had stayed on for the remainder of the Reading game we would definitely have conceded. Looked like he was a pitch invader. 

[Davefevs]

15 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

but it was still as disastrous as the many Lee Johnson era flops we're always being reminded of.

A darn sight cheaper flop!

15 minutes ago, The Bard said:

I think the 3 ex-Leicester signings happened because he didn't have any trust in the club's 'recruitment department' and so went with what he knew.  

In a perverse way I hope that is the case….and I hope it’s changed as relationships build.

This summer is gonna tell us a lot.

[Red-Robbo]

8 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

A darn sight cheaper flop!

 

True, but to be honest we can but speculate how many expensive flops Pearson might've signed had he access to the funds Johnson did and the, erm, recruitment expertise of Mark the shark.

The story of Leicester's ascent may suggest that answer would be "none", but as we know, others were intimately involved in building that side who aren't here with him now. 

[Numero Uno]

11 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

True, but to be honest we can but speculate how many expensive flops Pearson might've signed had he access to the funds Johnson did and the, erm, recruitment expertise of Mark the shark.

The story of Leicester's ascent may suggest that answer would be "none", but as we know, others were intimately involved in building that side who aren't here with him now. 

Fair point but at least in recruitment terms we are not hamstrung by only being able to deal with players who fall under the umbrella of Swiss Toni's agent connections in the business. Why that should have been the case when Swiss was in charge of recruitment I really couldn't begin to wonder................

[cidered abroad]

2 hours ago, Mendip City said:

James Morton played for the U23s the other day. Not saying he’s any sort of long term answer but he’s another body and has sone league experience. 
 

It’s very frustrating that we signed James and King in the summer - one with a terrible historic injury record, the other has barely played in 2+ years. Guess what? One’s had a terrible injury record, the other has barely played… it felt like a gamble at the time and has proved that way. 

Factually correct but you may not be taking into consideration that Matty  James and Andy King were also recruited to be leaders in the dressing room. The team spirit has been a significant improvement on the two previous years.

[GrahamC]

42 minutes ago, The Bard said:

I think the 3 ex-Leicester signings happened because he didn't have any trust in the club's 'recruitment department' and so went with what he knew.  

I suspect things have pushed on a lot further now that certain players have come in and become bona fide first choice and others have fallen by the wayside. 

I can see a lot more comings and goings this summer.  

100% to the first point, not sure about the second- think it depends on how many under contract we can shift.

36 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

James had a strong availability record last season. Think he played 23/23 for Coventry alone and a reasonable number for Barnsley.

Doesn’t fit the agenda, does it?

He played 39 games for Barnsley & Coventry last season..

[Red-Robbo]

4 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

Fair point but at least in recruitment terms we are not hamstrung by only being able to deal with players who fall under the umbrella of Swiss Toni's agent connections in the business. Why that should have been the case when Swiss was in charge of recruitment I really couldn't begin to wonder................

 

Dunno which was worse: the David Brent of football's shady deals, or old uncle Pete and his YouTube scouting approach..  

[Numero Uno]

1 minute ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Dunno which was worse: the David Brent of football's shady deals, or old uncle Pete and his YouTube scouting approach..  

Over the piece I would have to go with Uncle Pete's You Tube and to be honest I'd rather grind my balls in a cheese grater for an hour or two than go with Uncle Pete.......

There's a word for Brent...................not one we need to use on here though.

[Southport Red]

4 hours ago, TonyTonyTony said:

 

Huge concern for me is the midfield, not just the defence. Going to have to play HNM/AS pretty much every game with JW every now and again with Benarous as backup. As @Davefevs said in another thread, you many have to play Weimann in the middle of the park, but that takes away from the threat upfront. It's a huge amount of pressure on the young lads, and if JW goes bang again we are in trouble.

EDIT : I wonder if NP would swallow his pride and recall Bakinson? 

 

I keep hoping that the glorious day will dawn when we might see a midfield of HNM - James - Williams and Scott,  Currently feels like that fairground game of Wackamole where you get three fit then the fourth goes down.

[RobintheRed Red]

4 hours ago, OneTeamInBristol said:

Damn is that all?

Has he played at all 

[chinapig]

56 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

There's a word for Brent...................not one we need to use on here though.

Good human is two words.

[pongo88]

1 hour ago, cidered abroad said:

Factually correct but you may not be taking into consideration that Matty  James and Andy King were also recruited to be leaders in the dressing room. The team spirit has been a significant improvement on the two previous years.

“Leaders in the dressing room” has continually been mentioned since they were signed, but I don’t get it. It’s on the pitch where leaders are required and, on the odd occasion he played, King was OK but did nothing to inspire the rest of the team. If creating a good atmosphere in the dressing room is a requirement, why not sign Stoney Garnet?  He’d be a lot cheaper  

[Red-Robbo]

11 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

“Leaders in the dressing room” has continually been mentioned since they were signed, but I don’t get it. It’s on the pitch where leaders are required and, on the odd occasion he played, King was OK but did nothing to inspire the rest of the team. If creating a good atmosphere in the dressing room is a requirement, why not sign Stoney Garnet?  He’d be a lot cheaper  

 

Can he play RWB?

[chinapig]

17 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

“Leaders in the dressing room” has continually been mentioned since they were signed, but I don’t get it. It’s on the pitch where leaders are required and, on the odd occasion he played, King was OK but did nothing to inspire the rest of the team. If creating a good atmosphere in the dressing room is a requirement, why not sign Stoney Garnet?  He’d be a lot cheaper  

I've always been a bit dubious of the claim too. It was the justification for twice extending Carey's contract when he wasn't actually playing much if at all but there was no evidence that having him as some kind of non-playing captain improved anything about the team that got relegated.

Even if it worked we don't have the luxury of employing people just for that purpose if they are not making a significant contribution on the pitch.

[Ivorguy]

2 hours ago, Numero Uno said:

We won't see "wholesale use of youngsters". Where have you got that idea from? Next week we will see Bentley, Kalas, Klose, Dasilva, Martin and Weimann in the side. We will see Semenyo who must have 90+ league games under his belt, Pring with approaching 50 and Scott who has at least 20. You are just making stuff up followed by blind panic for no reason whatsover.

You have just shoehorned a non-point in to repeat your previous point about us presumably losing 12-14 games on the spin and getting relegated...........

What will be we shall see

 

PS I think you failed to read the word ‘if’ by the way in my last contribution which you comment on

Edited February 14, 2022 by Ivorguy

[TonyTonyTony]

2 hours ago, Southport Red said:

where you get three fit then the fourth goes down.

Sounds like my sex life when clubbing in the 90’s

[The Constant Rabbit]

6 hours ago, TonyTonyTony said:

 

Huge concern for me is the midfield, not just the defence. Going to have to play HNM/AS pretty much every game with JW every now and again with Benarous as backup. As @Davefevs said in another thread, you many have to play Weimann in the middle of the park, but that takes away from the threat upfront. It's a huge amount of pressure on the young lads, and if JW goes bang again we are in trouble.

EDIT : I wonder if NP would swallow his pride and recall Bakinson? 

 

Could he recall Moore and push Vyner to midfield?

Its not as if our defence could conceed many more goals anyway!

[The Constant Rabbit]

4 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I guess Simpson was a relatively cheap punt to take

I suspect Simpson was used to give NP an 'insiders view' of the dressing room - report back to see who the 'wrong 'uns' were, so NP had more of a clue who he was working with.

[Red-Robbo]

1 minute ago, The Constant Rabbit said:

I suspect Simpson was used to give NP an 'insiders view' of the dressing room - report back to see who the 'wrong 'uns' were, so NP had more of a clue who he was working with.

 

I guess that's possible, but I think the fact he was a cheap and available defender was the real motive for bringing him here.  He hadn't actually worked under Pearson for 6 years before last season. 

[Davefevs]

8 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I guess that's possible, but I think the fact he was a cheap and available defender was the real motive for bringing him here.  He hadn't actually worked under Pearson for 6 years before last season. 

Free transfer, re-signed on possibly lower wages to his initial contract…with the hope of getting us through to this summer.  It hasn’t worked, but let’s hope he’s added value off the pitch at least.

[Southport Red]

46 minutes ago, TonyTonyTony said:

Sounds like my sex life when clubbing in the 90’s

Wow, your memory is fading fast

[Red-Robbo]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Free transfer, re-signed on possibly lower wages to his initial contract…with the hope of getting us through to this summer.  It hasn’t worked, but let’s hope he’s added value off the pitch at least.

 

Repainted the changing rooms?   He's quite good at litter picking as well apparently.

[Ziderarmy]

5 hours ago, Ivorguy said:

I suspect if we see wholesale use of youngsters, NP and SL have agreed, after Saturday and their reported meeting, that relegation isn’t the worst option facing the club for next season

@Ivorguy What meeting was this? I’ve not seen anything. Can you elaborate please? 

[Garland-sweden]

5 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Palmer out injured out of interest.

Ok

[Ivorguy]

6 minutes ago, ziderheadarmy said:

@Ivorguy What meeting was this? I’ve not seen anything. Can you elaborate please? 

Reported on Twitter if memory serves.

[Rocking Red Cyril]

6 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Palmer out injured out of interest.

How long for ?

He might yet have some use season 

1 hour ago, Ivorguy said:

Reported on Twitter if memory serves.

What was reported ?

By who ?

[GrahamC]

3 hours ago, chinapig said:

I've always been a bit dubious of the claim too. It was the justification for twice extending Carey's contract when he wasn't actually playing much if at all but there was no evidence that having him as some kind of non-playing captain improved anything about the team that got relegated.

Even if it worked we don't have the luxury of employing people just for that purpose if they are not making a significant contribution on the pitch.

To be fair though King’s career has reached heights that Louis’ never did (though in his day he was a top defender for us) & we only offered King a year on what I fully expect were the lowest terms he’s been on in years.

I think the hope was he’d be in & around the squad for at least 50% of the games & his high standards (you don’t have the career he’s had otherwise) would rub off on others, but bluntly he hasn’t & I expect that we have seen the last of him in a City shirt.

Been told he’s been doing some coaching with the U18s whilst injured though & of all of those unlikely to get another playing contract he’s the one that I would not be shocked to see join the coaching ranks.

[Davefevs]

57 minutes ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

How long for ?

He might yet have some use season 

What was reported ?

By who ?

I don’t believe Nige gave a time frame, but it seems to have become 2 months / 6-8 weeks???  I don’t recall Nige even saying it was that bad.

[Redrascal2]

10 hours ago, TonyTonyTony said:

 

Huge concern for me is the midfield, not just the defence. Going to have to play HNM/AS pretty much every game with JW every now and again with Benarous as backup. As @Davefevs said in another thread, you many have to play Weimann in the middle of the park, but that takes away from the threat upfront. It's a huge amount of pressure on the young lads, and if JW goes bang again we are in trouble.

EDIT : I wonder if NP would swallow his pride and recall Bakinson? 

 

What would be the point of recalling Bakinson. You may as will give a chance to a youngster who will at least put some effort and desire in to a game.

[Son of Fred]

12 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Can he play RWB?

No....

But he'd be a better referee than some of the sacks we've had this season

[Numero Uno]

11 hours ago, Ivorguy said:

Reported on Twitter if memory serves.

98.45% chance that it was total bollocks spouted by someone then.....................

[Numero Uno]

18 hours ago, TonyTonyTony said:

 

Huge concern for me is the midfield, not just the defence. Going to have to play HNM/AS pretty much every game with JW every now and again with Benarous as backup. As @Davefevs said in another thread, you many have to play Weimann in the middle of the park, but that takes away from the threat upfront. It's a huge amount of pressure on the young lads, and if JW goes bang again we are in trouble.

EDIT : I wonder if NP would swallow his pride and recall Bakinson? 

 

Not having a pop at you but this is EXACTLY the short term thinking that the club needs to consign to the dustbin. You can see the fruits of giving players ninth and tenth chances (out of necessity unfortunately) in our capitulation on Sunday and a host of other capitulations recently. So to call back a player that has clearly been deemed a lazy bastard because we are not in fantastic form really isn't the way to go. That only enhances the Cosy Club mentality rather than gets rid of it.

It doesn't matter if 50 posters with an agenda on here think Bakinson has been harshly treated, the Manager has deemed him lazy, he only plays on his own terms and has binned him. He should never put our shirt on again, or certainly not while the current Manager is here anyway. Whether the decision is considered to be right or that Nige is a gert big bully who picks on players who run half the distance of other players picked in the same position (he has the stats, we don't) it has to be maintained for the greater good.

[tin]

16 hours ago, The Bard said:

I think the 3 ex-Leicester signings happened because he didn't have any trust in the club's 'recruitment department' and so went with what he knew.  

I suspect things have pushed on a lot further now that certain players have come in and become bona fide first choice and others have fallen by the wayside. 

I can see a lot more comings and goings this summer.  

That’s my take on it, too.

To add to your point, the three of them were brought in to “set the standards” and looking at how Scott, Semenyo, Pring and Massengo are developing, they’re showing them the way. Too many people overlook that. 

[Rocking Red Cyril]

10 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I don’t believe Nige gave a time frame, but it seems to have become 2 months / 6-8 weeks???  I don’t recall Nige even saying it was that bad.

2 months a lot of points to be won, strikes me as bad .

[Davefevs]

39 minutes ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

2 months a lot of points to be won, strikes me as bad .

No, the point I’m making is that Palmer is injured, he said it isn’t something that needs an op…I.e. not that bad. Yet the speculation is 6-8 weeks.  That speculation appears to have come from “nowhere”.

[Rocking Red Cyril]

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

No, the point I’m making is that Palmer is injured, he said it isn’t something that needs an op…I.e. not that bad. Yet the speculation is 6-8 weeks.  That speculation appears to have come from “nowhere”.

Okies get your piont now 

You made perfect sense as always.