Post Match Leicester 1 Barnsley 2

[Profondo Rosso]

Where IS Pantsil btw?? Have I missed something? Is he injured or just out of favour? Not seen or heard mention of in weeks. Apologies if this has been brought up already.

He's on African Cup of Nations duty.

That's crap, Nigel made a big stand against joining a reserves league when he was manager first time around, Milan had almost completed signing us up to a league when NP threw his toys out of the pram. Nigel told a forum meeting that reserves football was a waste of time and because you had to fulfill the fixtures put pressure on the squad.

Possibly so, I do not remember whether we had a reserve league in his time here before or not, but he absolutely said in that interview he wished we had one right now, we shall see next season, but it certainly is nothing to do with him that we don't currently play in a reserves league, so blaming him for that seems strange. If it's the same next season then you will have a point.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

Where IS Pantsil btw?? Have I missed something? Is he injured or just out of favour? Not seen or heard mention of in weeks. Apologies if this has been brought up already.

Who cares?

 

[Matt_B]

He's on African Cup of Nations duty.



Possibly so, I do not remember whether we had a reserve league in his time here before or not, but he absolutely said in that interview he wished we had one right now, we shall see next season, but it certainly is nothing to do with him that we don't currently play in a reserves league, so blaming him for that seems strange. If it's the same next season then you will have a point.

I always thought it was Milan not wanting to pay for one, whether that is true or not it does lead me to believe we didn't have one during Pearson's previous tenure.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

He's on African Cup of Nations duty.



Possibly so, I do not remember whether we had a reserve league in his time here before or not, but he absolutely said in that interview he wished we had one right now, we shall see next season, but it certainly is nothing to do with him that we don't currently play in a reserves league, so blaming him for that seems strange. If it's the same next season then you will have a point.

We didn't and we probably won't have one next year, Nigel made sure we didn't last time he was here. He has stopped the lads who aren't in the first team squad training with the first team. We have had far less arranged reserve matches since Sven left, these are all facts.

Milan was happy to go with the Managers requests for a reserve team.

 

[Jeff]

I always thought it was Milan not wanting to pay for one, whether that is true or not it does lead me to believe we didn't have one during Pearson's previous tenure.

One of the reasons that was given for NP having a bad relationship with the bloke whose name I've forgotten is that Nigel wanted to rejoin the reserve league but wasn't allowed to due to the costs involved.

 

[FryattFox]

They are clearly not talentless though, they just don't work as the unit they are assembled into and at the minute there are no other options.

They are clearly not working together and, as mentioned previously, I think there are 5/6 players who could clearly do well at this level but it will never be for us. It just depends whether we can find someone to take them off of our hands, or if we just have to cancel their contracts.

A good point that was raised was that our squad is filled will players who were signed under different managers, hence no cohesion. NP clearly needs time - whether he will get it is another matter.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

We didn't and we probably won't have one next year, Nigel made sure we didn't last time he was here. He has stopped the lads who aren't in the first team squad training with the first team. We have had far less arranged reserve matches since Sven left, these are all facts.

Again, you may be right, I can't remember the situation with the reserves before, but that we probably won't be having a reserve team next season is not a fact, that's just a guess.

And I only recall us having 3 or 4 reserve games this season under either manager.

 

[Babylon]

That's crap, Nigel made a big stand against joining a reserves league when he was manager first time around, Milan had almost completed signing us up to a league when NP threw his toys out of the pram. Nigel told a forum meeting that reserves football was a waste of time and because you had to fulfill the fixtures put pressure on the squad.

Perhaps he didn't want to be in it first time around because our squad wasn't over filled with dozens of expensively assembled players? Back then we might have struggled to put a reserve team out without chucking in most of the youth team.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

One of the reasons that was given for NP having a bad relationship with the bloke whose name I've forgotten is that Nigel wanted to rejoin the reserve league but wasn't allowed to due to the costs involved.

Actually, now that you mention that I do remember that one was of the reasons given for MM's poor relationship with NP was that MM wouldn't allow NP to be in a reserve league.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

Again, you may be right, I can't remember the situation with the reserves before, but that we probably won't be having a reserve team next season is not a fact, that's just a guess.

And I only recall us having 3 or 4 reserve games this season under either manager.

That's why I put probably.

We had quite a few unreported reserves matches under Sven, ask some of the trainees at City.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

That's why I put probably.

We had quite a few unreported reserves matches under Sven, ask some of the trainees at City.

How do you know this? And how do you know we don't also have unreported reserve matched under NP?

 

[Jeff]

Milan was happy to go with the Managers requests for a reserve team.

Not according to the mockery:

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co....y-inevitable/story-12072986-detail/story.html


He lost reserve team boss Gerry Taggart when his request to join a reserve league next season after two years of merely playing friendlies was denied, which added to his discontent.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

One of the reasons that was given for NP having a bad relationship with the bloke whose name I've forgotten is that Nigel wanted to rejoin the reserve league but wasn't allowed to due to the costs involved.

Nigel asked to join one when we had a major injury crisis and he couldn't get players back fit then changed his mind when we were most of the way to joining one for the next season, it was minuted in a forum meeting.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

How do you know this? And how do you know we don't also have unreported reserve matched under NP?

Because trainees at the club have reported being fed up of having no matches since NP came back.

 

[Redditch Fox]

There are definitely splits in the squad, but that was evident last season and there have been reports that many of the old guard were frustrated that players of no better ability were coming into the club on far better wages, this isn't down to Pearson but to Sven and the board who sanctioned such ridiculous wages to players who had achieved very little and did not justify such lucrative contracts. The worst part of all this, is taking the midfield as an example, Erikson bought in a number of high profile signings, Fernandes, Johnson and Danns and yet he continually turned to Wellens and King as his main selections, Danns was largely deployed out of position if he played, Fernandes flitted in out of the team and Johnson hardly made an appearance. If Sven didn't have faith in them, then I fail to see why Pearson should, the problems in the dressing room have been apparent long before Pearson came back.

Our obvious weaknesses have been done to death now and I doubt if there is any quick fix available.

One point that is relatively new is this stuff about alleged internal discontent. This is based on heresay but I take the point that if Sven introduced a sort of wage structure for his signings which left behind most of the old guard then there would be bound to be trouble when the realisation dawned that these new lads were no better than the old guard. To make things worse Pearson has made some strange calls most obviously in seeming to ease out Fernandes when the existing midfield is so poor. I think it now needs time and Pearson to up his game.

 

[Kingy_85]

They are clearly not talentless though, they just don't work as the unit they are assembled into and at the minute there are no other options.

On Brown Noses reserves point, I heard someone mention on TalkSport that there are no reserve leagues any more at all, is this the case? I always thought it was a case of us opting out, but is there anything to opt in to?

Fair point. Talentless was the wrong thing to say.

 

[bocadillo]

All Premier League clubs must field a reserves team in the Premier League Reserves League, that is why they kicked out the Championships teams. There are reserves leagues that league clubs can sign up to but Nigel doesn't like reserves football and has told the club he doesn't want reserves football in the past.

I don't think City have had a reserve team playing League games since 2006 when Football League teams were kicked out of the Premier Reserve League. I can't remember now why it was decided not to join an alternative league but the decision was taken long before NP appeared on the scene. It's not true to say though that Premier League teams must field a team in this league; none of QPR, Man City, Tottenham and Stoke do so at the moment.

The alternatives for Football League clubs are the Football Combination and the Central League; both are reserve team leagues, the former with clubs mainly from the south of England and from Wales, the latter with clubs from the midlands and north. NP's opinion on whether he would like to field a reserve team in a league has varied; he certainly said that he favours the idea in a recent interview.
.

 

[gregs_y2k]

He's on African Cup of Nations duty.



Possibly so, I do not remember whether we had a reserve league in his time here before or not, but he absolutely said in that interview he wished we had one right now, we shall see next season, but it certainly is nothing to do with him that we don't currently play in a reserves league, so blaming him for that seems strange. If it's the same next season then you will have a point.

I'm pretty sure we weren't playing any reserve matches under Pearson as well

 

[OldGit]

I don't think City have had a reserve team playing League games since 2006 when Football League teams were kicked out of the Premier Reserve League. I can't remember now why it was decided not to join an alternative league but the decision was taken long before NP appeared on the scene.
.

One reason given at that time was that the reserve leagues were too big - which was also one reason given for kicking the non-prem teams out of the premier reserve league. The reserve team would have had as many or more fixtures as the first team, at a time when most of them would also have been playing in the youth league most weeks. I recall that towards the end of the last season in the premier reserve league they were having difficulty putting out a full squad for several games, with some players turning out 3 times in a week.

 

[Matt_B]

I've just watched the goals again and both goals were the fault of the full backs and King. I like Konchesky and Peltier and think they both look decent enough during games but there's no getting away from the fact that we seem to concede the majority of our goals from people crossing the ball in from either flank.