1964white wrote:
Point is Bielsa has started with easily our best XI over the last three games.
Augustin & Poveda are obviously not ready
Those on the bench are inconsistent types as proven when they have started a game
So this is a vicious circle is it not ? Without game time they will always be at a disadvantage but by playing them the team becomes significantly weaker. Bielsa has to bite the bullet and rotate more. Nothing will change this season but rotation is a must if we go up.
BGwhite wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 11:23 am
So this is a vicious circle is it not ? Without game time they will always be at a disadvantage but by playing them the team becomes significantly weaker. Bielsa has to bite the bullet and rotate more. Nothing will change this season but rotation is a must if we go up.
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Seven points from our last three games with the same starting line-up
I would take winning every game 1-0, but chances are we wont win every game. It could all come down to goal difference in the end so I would like us to be scoring a few more...
whiteswan wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 12:39 pm
I would take winning every game 1-0, but chances are we wont win every game. It could all come down to goal difference in the end so I would like us to be scoring a few more...
Yes a better goal difference could be worth a extra point Swannie
BGwhite wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 11:23 am
Nothing will change this season but rotation is a must if we go up.
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I think most of us would happily take nothing changing as that would mean we would be promoted. It isn't like we are a team like Bristol who are trying to get into the play-offs so they gamble on playing their new loan signings as they previously weren't good enough as a team to be in a play-off position. We weren't in that situation - prior to the new boys arriving we were top 2 and had been there for a considerable length of time and had never even been out of the top6. Just because Poveda and JKA have come in doesn't mean they will automatically improve the team, indeed the team may do worse with them and at this stage it isn't a case of experimenting but sticking to what has worked. If injuries bite then JKA and Poveda may come into the team - after having injuries all season we now have the flip side of a near fully fit squad.
It is a fine balancing act and the stakes are very high, sometimes it is better to stick with what you have rather than twisting and risking busting out.
Cjay wrote: ↑Sat May 17, 2025 4:23 pm
I've pretended to support a team that's been crap for most of my life as part of a long term plan
Victor_Notts-17 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2026 7:03 pm
Did you post them because there's something wrong with your brain
13th March Fulham v Brentford
17th March Brentford v West Brom
18th March Leeds v Fulham
18th April West Brom v Fulham.
These matches won't decide anything but could go a long way in doing so.
Lets hope for
Draw
Away win
Home win
Home win (possibly)
1964white wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 12:47 pm
Yes a better goal difference could be worth a extra point Swannie
Equally though I think the team learnt their lesson about goal difference last year when we were 1-0 up v Wigan and just lost the plot in an attempt to get a big win to cancel out Sheffield United's superior goal difference. Make sure of the win first and foremost and I think this was Biesla's thinking in keeping Bamford on instead of bringing JKA on against Reading. Keep us more solid as a team and win 1-0 rather than try to finish the game off and risk conceding and dropping 2 points.
If you look at the chance Bristol had against us (Nakhi Wells) it came 5 minutes after JKA came on for Bamford. The ballfell out of the sky towards Harrison. Harrison was looking to where JKA was and JKA was behind a defender thus making a pass to him hard to impossible. Instead Harrison tried to control the ball, lost it and Bristol created a chance. Now maybe if Bamford is on the pitch he is more used to how we play, is a bit closer to Harrison and gives Harrison an easy option for a pass and the danger doesn't happen.
All tiny little things that can lead to bigger things but all part of the bigger picture that Bielsa looks at but that most people wouldn't see.
Last edited by weasel on Sun Feb 23, 2020 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cjay wrote: ↑Sat May 17, 2025 4:23 pm
I've pretended to support a team that's been crap for most of my life as part of a long term plan
Victor_Notts-17 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2026 7:03 pm
Did you post them because there's something wrong with your brain
The thing that bothers me about this discussion is that it is always assumed that subbing out Bamford for JKA or whomever for Poveda is going to magically produce more offence. They are both nice, young, interesting players and I can understand people wanting to play with their new toys, but the fact is we are in a tight battle for promotion and the players who put us in this position are the ones who are starting.
JKA and Poveda were not starting on their former clubs and were viewed as disposable by virtue of their being at Leeds. Could they blossom here? Sure. They could just as easily fall flat on their faces and cost us critical points down the stretch. So I understand MB's reluctance to mess with what has been, through 34 games, a largely successful formula. And since the Premier League season is only 38 games long, I don't see his philosophy as incompatible with it either.
In my view, the new boys are insurance- not vital cogs in a well oiled machine, or offensive saviors that some are making them out to be. The current starters are who we are and we just have to hope they are good enough to get the job done.
All that said, the short turnaround between matches this week does present an opportunity to give the new guys some minutes. But I don't expect them to see the pitch unless we're comfortably in front or playing below expectations. If things are tight, expect MB to stay the course.
onemoreslogan wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2020 1:09 pm
The thing that bothers me about this discussion is that it is always assumed that subbing out Bamford for JKA or whomever for Poveda is going to magically produce more offence. They are both nice, young, interesting players and I can understand people wanting to play with their new toys, but the fact is we are in a tight battle for promotion and the players who put us in this position are the ones who are starting.
JKA and Poveda were not starting on their former clubs and were viewed as disposable by virtue of their being at Leeds. Could they blossom here? Sure. They could just as easily fall flat on their faces and cost us critical points down the stretch. So I understand MB's reluctance to mess with what has been, through 34 games, a largely successful formula. And since the Premier League season is only 38 games long, I don't see his philosophy as incompatible with it either.
In my view, the new boys are insurance- not vital cogs in a well oiled machine, or offensive saviors that some are making them out to be. The current starters are who we are and we just have to hope they are good enough to get the job done.
All that said, the short turnaround between matches this week does present an opportunity to give the new guys some minutes. But I don't expect them to see the pitch unless we're comfortably in front or playing below expectations. If things are tight, expect MB to stay the course.
I don't know why you are not contributing Faaip as generally the agreement is there. Mo one, myself included, is at present praising Bamford's goal return. I think he is a better finisher than he has looked this season but that is an irrelevance to the point about keeping the shape, keeping the machine well oiled etc rather than slotting in new pieces. I would like nothing better than our striker, be it Bamford or JKA, to be banging the goals in but at 1-0 up yesterday I can see why Bielsa kept Bamford on, for all the reasons I have given.
Only once out of all the times Nketiah came on when we were leading did we actually improve our position and that was when we beat Huddersfield 2-0 with Eddie coming on at 1-0 and Hernandez scoring a minute later.
Cjay wrote: ↑Sat May 17, 2025 4:23 pm
I've pretended to support a team that's been crap for most of my life as part of a long term plan
Victor_Notts-17 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 01, 2026 7:03 pm
Did you post them because there's something wrong with your brain
Faaip made his sentiments on Bamford clear some time ago and promised to bite his tongue going forward. I respect his commitment to his word (although I think it's a shame because I enjoy his take on things).
For the record, I fully agree Bamford's finishing has been utter sh*t and inexcusable. Furthermore, I get the feeling he is spending too much time scrolling through social media posts concerning himself and it's messing with his head. Hence the ear-covering bit. He's wilting. Wilted. And I don't know if he's coming back.
I'm not an expert on tactics and I don't review the tape of past results obsessively, so I don't feel qualified to pronounce on whether the rest of his contribution to the team is enough to warrant his place among the starters. But I am convinced that Bielsa is, and I wager that he does, and he keeps putting Paddy out there. For now.
Given that, I don't see any choice but to hope Bamford breaks out of his slump or JKA manages to earn Bielsa's confidence and then proves he can be a difference maker.
I just worry that we have unused talent on the bench which could actually make our job of getting promoted easier.
Bielsa says all the right things, he has mentioned how some players just perform at a higher level than their training suggests but I wonder if he carries that through?
I watched the game yesterday and it is clear that we need to change the dynamic up front.
' "Football is about the people and the players,” he said. “Then there are those who will mingle in the middle: the coaches, executives and journalists. That last group represents the worst part about football" Marcelo Bielsa
Irish Ian wrote:I just worry that we have unused talent on the bench which could actually make our job of getting promoted easier.
Bielsa says all the right things, he has mentioned how some players just perform at a higher level than their training suggests but I wonder if he carries that through?
I watched the game yesterday and it is clear that we need to change the dynamic up front.
Bamfords body language sucks ! I think he's just going through the motions until end of season and do I wish he's binned off at that point. He's a striker who is there to score goals but with no skill, pace, vision or even an ability to put any power into a shot it's not surprising he's the biggest waster by far.
