BFTT Bournemouth

[Forty]

Shocked you haven't offered up Tennai Watson as a RB solution.........

Must be given a go, surely.

- were definitely grumbles about Antonio, Stacey, Cooper and Dickie, Tish, Kelly

[SCIAG]

Tshibola was sold to a bigger club for a good fee at a time when we were short of money, slightly different to the others.

[URZZZZ]

Same ones who let Antonio go no doubt, oh and Jake Cooper.

I can understand Cooper and Antonio to an extent, they were both well down the pecking order and needed first team football.

We had way better wide options than Antonio at the time and Cooper didn't fit in with how Stam wanted to play, and to be fair we finished 3rd that season

Weren't many grumbles on this forum either at the time

Stacey different story altogether though

Antonio and Cooper weren’t up to the standard we required (although Cooper was absolutely suited to the way Stam played, it is the way he’d been playing his whole career).

Stacey probably was up to the standard, but McCleary and Beerens were both in great form, Meite was very promising (although sent out on loan), Harriott was good, and we’d just signed Popa and Barrow. In hindsight, we were right to add Barrow and Meite but Popa was a flop, Harriott was no better than Stacey and Fosu, and Beerens and McCleary were never the same again. Stacey could have been back-up to Gunter but that wouldn’t have led to many starts. Maybe choosing Barrow, Meite, Stacey and Fosu as our wingers and Stacey also as second choice right back would have worked - but it would have been extremely bold to get rid of McCleary and Beerens after the play off final.

Constant managerial turnover is a really mixed bag for young players. It can shake things up and give players a chance they wouldn’t otherwise have got (think of Scott Davies, Liam Kelly, Tennai Watson, Josh Barrett) but can also mean that a promising player doesn’t get the chances they deserve. When Stam came in he fell in love with Kelly and Watson and some of the younger centre backs, but wasn’t enamoured with Stacey, Fosu, Kuhl, Tanner, etc. Fortunately for him, two of those had their careers destroyed by injury but two of them have proven themselves perfectly capable.

So yeah, Stam was the idiot who let Stacey go. Antonio was McDermott. Simon Cox was Coppell. Sometimes it happens.

Mostly this

In hindsight, I’d have fancied Stacey to have been given a run at RB in Stam’s second season given Gunter spent the season at LB to cover Blackett’s horror run of form. But football doesn’t work in hindsight

What’s important is to remember is that he’d just come off a loan at a L2 side and whilst he was solid there, he still didn’t stand out remarkably. We’d just finished 3rd and he wanted regular game time. Given all that, there’s no way we could guarantee him that and at that time, there wasn’t anywhere near enough evidence to suggest he should have been playing

Take Kelly for example. It’s clear he has some form of talent. But he’s ended up at Oxford (struggling L1 side). You could perhaps argue if Stam didn’t take such a interest on him, he’d have dropped to L1/L2 level quicker (rather than going from the conference to the champ), he wouldn’t have got too big for his boots and he may have had the career that others like Stacey, Cooper and Antonio are having (and Dickie)

That’s the crux of it. No one knows what’s going to happen. Not a single person can say Stacey would have had the career he’s having if he stayed at us

[Hound]

Kelly not even getting in the oxford side last I saw interestingly enough

[URZZZZ]

Kelly not even getting in the oxford side last I saw interestingly enough

From what I've heard, he was really struggling there, he was being played at the base of midfield and wasn't having any influence on the game (safe, sideways passing etc), easily being overrun, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about

But then he started on Saturday further up and had his best game of the season. Be interesting to see if he can change his career around again as I was one of the few who did rate him

[Millsy]

Anyone know what some of our players said to Riquelme when he came on? Apparently a few went over to have a word.

I wonder if it'd be more of a "hey, nice to see you how you doing?" or a "f**king traitor, hope you're proud of yourself."

[Hound]

Kelly not even getting in the oxford side last I saw interestingly enough

From what I've heard, he was really struggling there, he was being played at the base of midfield and wasn't having any influence on the game (safe, sideways passing etc), easily being overrun, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about

But then he started on Saturday further up and had his best game of the season. Be interesting to see if he can change his career around again as I was one of the few who did rate him

back on the bench last night