BRISTOL CITY Frank Fielding's involvement this Saturday in pre-season game undecided. please log in to view this image Bristol City goalkeeper Frank Fielding. STEVE COTTERILL looks unlikely to take a risk with Frank Fielding ahead of Bristol City's final pre-season tour match with Sociedade Recreativa Almancilense this Saturday. The goalkeeper joined back up with the City squad yesterday after returning to Bristol for an injection in his back. But his involvement in this weekend's fixture with the Portuguese third division side is in doubt. The 27-year-old has failed to feature in the Robins' two games abroad with academy shot-stopper, Max O'Leary, deputising in the 1-1 draws against Farense last weekend and Braga on Tuesday night. Fielding has featured in just one pre-season match so far, the 1-0 win against Bath City, and manager Cotterill insts he will have discussions with his number one before the weekend. On the subject of Fielding's back problem, he said: "He's going to be OK and he feels a lot better already. "It's a nerve that goes down into his buttock from his back that he's had injected because it flared up. "But he's had that done and hopefully he should be fine. Whether we play him in the game on Saturday or not, I'm not sure – I'll have a chat with Frank about that. "It's one of those freak ones – he played nearly 60 games last season, so if it's going to happen, it's better that it happens in pre-season than any other time." With Fielding's fitness a concern, it has further emphasised City's need to sign back-up ahead of the Championship season. please log in to view this image Cotterill recently lost out to Aston Villa in the race to sign Mark Bunn, above, while the Robins have been linked with a move for Bournemouth's Lee Camp. There are also doubts over City's reported pursuit of highly-rated Southend United keeper Daniel Bentley. The 22-year-old, who City have been tracking for some time, has been subject to offers from Hull and Leeds most recently, but the Shrimpers are trying to prise the ambitious player into penning a new contract. please log in to view this image Manager Phil Brown, meanwhile, has recently said the youngster's head will not be turned by speculation surrounding his future. He said: "I had a long conversation with Daniel and we agreed to both be very level-headed about everything. "If agents and football executives want to get lairy about the situation then that's up to them, but Daniel and I will be carrying on as usual. "He is very professional in everything he does and although we all tend be affected by certain voices I don't think it will get to Daniel. "As things stand he's looking forward to having a good season with us in League One and he's fully focused on that as well." http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTO...k-Fielding-s/story-27465297-detail/story.html So where do we go from here, main man out injured, academy player in, failed to sign Bunn, struggling to sign Bentley,linked with Camp, oh the strains of being a Championship manager..
The post need something to write about, Fielding will be fine in a few days, the problem has been sorted. We just need a back up keeper, I'm happy with O'Leary sitting in the bench and if FF gets injured just get an Emergency loan in. No point wasting wages on someone to just sit on our bench
We didn't lose out too Aston Villa..... Mark Bunn failed a medical with us due to a problem with his hip. Frankie will be fine!
I reckon he'll be fine to start the season and that this is just precautionary. With that being said, players go through pre-season games for a reason, and as Fielding has missed at least two of them, so it wouldn't surprise me if he wasn't fully ready come our first game. Regardless of Fielding's fitness, we need another keeper.
Maybe a different type or ours was more vigorous? Not sure, but was told that was the case from a very well connected source while I was out in Portugal,
For those that have been watching our preseason matches, how has Max O'Leary been? Since he's been heavily involved in preseason and doesn't seem to have done much wrong, what are the chances we'll be promoting him to second choice keeper?
Why not, save ourselves a bunch of money and give an academy product a chance, isn't that what the academy is for.....
There's a good reason we rarely promote from the academy, and that's because our academy is still ****. Outside of Bryan we've not promoted anyone of worth in years, despite several seasons of posturing when the money dried up. I'm hoping that a bit more faith will be paid this season, but the academy needs to come good in the next two or three years. We've nearly had a full cycle of players come through the academy, so if we don't get a payoff soon there's still something fundamentally wrong with how we're doing things at academy level.
