Alistair Durden ‏@alidurdenBBC 10m Derby County right-back James O'Connor is training with Bristol City with a view to a move, I understand Beat you to it OTIB and shiny
and hawk beat you to it by about 16 hours http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/225609-According-to-the-Oracle
Interesting that we are looking at 2 full backs, which I presume is for cover- I still think the LCB is the priority position. Havent heard much feedback on Williams performance on Saturday- I thought that after a bit of a nervous start and a bit of an unfair booking, that he did very well, especially as it was his first game- He put in one excellently timed tackle in the 2nd half in particular. I think and do hope that he did enough to keep hold of the shirt for next week but he is still untried and the alternative is where most of our problems have been
BCFC Supporters Page ‏@BCFC_Supporters 16m O'Driscoll is expected to offer a deal to O'Connor before the transfer window closes on the 2nd of September.
<now other news..... the titanic has sunk> According to Redprintt and crazyboy Invermeremike, it was Kilkenny/Fontaine/Johnson/Dickie Rooks/et al/ad nauseum/ (delete as appropriate, use any scapegoat you prefer, you obviously have a psychotic need to blame everything and anything that moves) what done it.
How the hell did I get roped in to this one as crazyboy Invermeremike. I am sound in mind and certainly not a boy but rather a level headed genius who writes only sensible threads - so stick that in your pipe dicksout (the handle says it all really).
I dont know anything about this player but says on wiki that he can play anywhere across the back four so he might even play in the middle. The 3 key words for when they talk about his style of football are: vision, organised and disciplined which is what we need
Starting to think that SoD does not trust the senior pro's he inhertited. The policy of recruiting younger players seems to be temporarily on hold - he talked of Marlon Harewood's attitude in and around the dressing room being a great example - now Shorey and O'Connor training with us
I think you need a balance. I dont want a team of all over 30 somethings, but some maturity in places is a good move IMO, especially in pressure games or if the team is behind and youngsters heads drop.
Any squad needs structure and experience. SOD has a number of young prospects, but since the old guard seem to be letting the team down a bit it seems that some experience from outside would be useful. It's worth noting that a few of our older players probably won't get a chance in the Championship again, so they're probably not the best people to have around the youngsters in the squad. The last thing you want is an experienced member of the squad feeling bitter because they couldn't get out of what they perceive to be a sinking ship.
The inclusion/acquisition of 2 new full backs as cover ..more mature ....should help Cunningham and Moloney to stay on their toes...O'Connor is good cover for the back four!
Not sure if its true or not but i have heard a whisper that Cunningham may be going to forest and Dexter Blackstock coming to us
I do understand the thought process towards youth, after Kilkenny went off, I did hear it said that the oldest player on the pitch for us was 25- That said, we had a very good 2nd half. Some of our more experienced players are not those that we want in the team. Experience is good, but not necessarily the answer
Perhaps had we had different experienced players on the field helping the younger players we wouldn't keep finding our selves in the position of having to fight back all the time. The youngsters play without fear but will make mistakes, if we can eliminate most of the costly results of those mistakes we would be in the position of being able to overrun teams without worrying if as soon as we score or get level we will concede again yet again it was shown that Kilkenny and Fontaine are currently the players who are not at their best It might be that giving Fontaine some time out will allow him to return to the player he seemed to be when he arrived. I'm sorry to say that I don't see how Kilkenny is going to improve the team within 5 mins of him going on to the pitch he seems to forget how he is supposed to play and drifts back into his ingrained useless habits, about the only thing he could be useful for would be to allow JET to have a rest after 60-70 mins if he is getting lumps kicked out of him.
Full back is the last position before the season started that I think anyone really thought would be a problem. But harking back to the first goal we conceded against Bradford City when a simple long ball straight between Flint and Fontaine resulted in an easy goal. The pass dissected Flint and Fonts with Flint looking at the player between himself and the touchline. Fontaine was slow turning and so Fielding came charging out to push the big centre forward (Hanson?) wide of the penalty area but he turned and passed it to Wells who shot through Fonts legs for a simple goal. I just watched this again on the video and that's my take on what happened - but nowhere to be seen until after the goal is scored are the two full backs who being part of a back four, should be somewhere near enough to attempt to cover the centre halves. I know he's now gone and many did not rate him, but Foster's covering of the two centre backs was far better than this piece of inaction from the current occupants. I believe that is why SO'D is looking at at least one and maybe two full backs.
My view of the situation was somewhat similar though I think it was the fact that there was a lack of understanding between Flint, Fontaine and Fielding as they had hardly played together Fielding rushed out because he couldn't be sure if either Flint or Fontaine could or would head out to try and deal with the situation as it was Flint did and probably will in future situations if that happens so Fielding will fell safer waiting to see what developes before rushing out where he is NOT favourite to get the ball. Had they managed to play a few more games together in preseason that might not have happened. Similarly the 4th goal in the Coventry game if Fontaine did have a rib injury which was preventing him from jumping to head the ball he should have told the bench and come off I think we still had one sub available at that time if not then OK it was one of those things. As a former player I can say from experience we would rather play with 11 fit players and change the set up to playing with 10 and a half players and stick to what we were doing especially when it is a central defender.
