17 Oct 2021 13:46:17
We obviously miss raph and Phil.
But maybe ayling and Bamford too.
Maybe it's all their characters as well as ability that we miss.
4 out of 11 is a big chunk.

1.) 17 Oct 2021
17 Oct 2021 14:24:35
Alioski and Pablo too ( even Berra perhaps for team spirit )

2.) 17 Oct 2021
17 Oct 2021 16:10:40
Bring Back Pablo, bring back Pablo.

3.) 17 Oct 2021
17 Oct 2021 16:21:22
Who would you prefer coming on from tbe bench MG? Pablo or Roberts? Even at 36, Pablo is 4 times better than Roberts.

4.) 17 Oct 2021
17 Oct 2021 20:33:46
Baz - Pablo wanted to be in Spain to be with his family, and to help galvanise his beloved Castellon, who had just been relegated to the Spanish third division, and could have been in danger of dropping further.

As for Alioski, apparently we would have had to increase his wage by around two thirds in order to compete with what Al-Ahli offered, and that club apparently also offered a rather nice signing fee on top. Also funny how so many often slated him while he was here, but now he’s gone, suddenly he’s one of the players we miss most. Perhaps that should give some on here pause for thought.

As I’ve said before, I feel it probably would be best if Roberts were to go on loan in January, and I’d welcome Bogusz back from UD Ibiza. He couldn’t stop them going down at home to Mirandes today, despite Ibiza having 60% possession and well over twice as many shots. Mirandes were more clinical in front of goal, probably helped by having two forwards on loan from Athletico Madrid and another from Athletic Bilbao. However, Bogusz did score one and assist two for Poland U21s last week. The lad’s obviously playing with confidence, which is unfortunately more than can be said of Tyro.

5.) 17 Oct 2021
17 Oct 2021 20:59:47
Clu we have had this conversation before about Pablo and Bielsa

As for Alioski ; plenty of positive posts on him from me on here (as with Pablo) . I loved the fella.

6.) 17 Oct 2021
17 Oct 2021 21:38:45
Yes, Baz, I know, you hardly ever stop talking about Pablo, give it a rest. He’s probably far happier where he is, and had Tyro stepped up as Bielsa obviously hoped he would, we’d have been happy too.

You may well have been positive about Alioski, but you’ll surely admit that some on here we’re far from complimentary about our (North) Macedonian friend.

On the wider point, we’ve been particularly unlucky that a spate of injuries has coincided with other problems such as Harrison getting c.v., which has evidently affected his match fitness and some personal issue for Dallas which has clearly caused a huge drop off in his performance. It is particularly grating seeing some on social media slating Dallas given he was player of the season last time out - he wouldn’t go from that to supposed absolute zero without some external reason, for which he deserves support not brickbats. Add to those factors the ridiculous Brazilian fixture cock-up which ruled out Raphinha. And with all our international call ups, including u20/ 21s Bielsa only had the game day squad together from Wednesday and lost Firpo at some point on Thursday - so it’s perhaps there are some mitigating circumstances for yesterday’s underwhelming performance.

With Raphinha, and hopefully KP back, and a whole week to prepare, we should see a far better performance on Saturday. Bielsa was clearly pretty pissed off after the match, possibly partly with himself, so will obviously looking to stimulate a strong reaction in the squad.

7.) 17 Oct 2021
17 Oct 2021 22:34:46
Good post Clu.

8.) 18 Oct 2021
18 Oct 2021 16:58:27
Miss Gianni hugely, and I think the impact that the loss of BamFord should not be underestimated. He is a massive player for us, whether he scores, or not, and at £10m, looks a right bargain! We need the BamBam back, for the good of the rest of the team!