MATCHWATCH : Bournemouth (h)

[Mid Sussex Royal]

What a start to the weekend. Best game for me since 6-0 against West Ham.

I'd say best game since a more recent West Ham game, the 4-2 win under Brian as that effectively got us promoted that season.

[Hound]

Let's not forget they've shown us what they're capable of once. Blew us away second half at their place and looked really good.

Quality is there if they're up for it and can apply themselves.

I think they looked good for about 15m in that game tbh. We bossed the first half and were the better team at 2-2. Took a wonder goal which was pretty out of the blue to put them 3-2 up

They’ve got some quality of course but looked unmotivated and desperately poor at the back last night

[Snowball]

What a start to the weekend. Best game for me since 6-0 against West Ham.

I MISSED that game. Was in Florida

We gave our two Sts to a lottery winner from Newbury (16 Million)

(WEST HAM FANS!)

they didn't even give us a bottle of wine, never mind a Lamborghini

[genome]

Apparently Bournemouth's starting XI last night was worth £121m

Ours was £8m

Worth is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

It says ‘was’ rather than ‘is’ !
I read that if bmouth don’t go up this year they are financially stuffed.
Of course us getting promotion would iron out one or two financial wrinkles as well.

Even after selling Ake for £40m, Wilson for £20m and Ramsdale for £18m?

[South Coast Royal]

Left posting till this morning to let it all sink in.
Have just been to the paper shop wearing my RFC mask and my Galatasaray mate there said " I love watching Reeding (pronunciation) play" which is such a compliment from an outsider .

The last 35 minutes of the first half of last night's game reminded me of McGhee's side of 25 years ago.
For so many years we have been watching pass and stand still football under so many managers but now, oh the joy of watching pass and MOVE.
2 of the goals were scruffy and Joao's was outstanding ( great through ball from Ovie) but it was the flow and accuracy of the football that is so special and every player in this team (apart from the keeper!!) has a good first touch.

Exciting times and so important in the way that we play for Joao to stay fit (stating the obvious) as the way we play and score goals revolves so much around what he does-Meite playing in that position or Puscas (forget about Baldock) just can't do what he does.

Two further things from last night.
Does Meite get back in?
Does Liam Moore get back in?

Those issues often get sorted by injuries but based solely on last night when everybody was at their very best ( it won't always be the case unfortunately) , other than Yiadom coming back in, I don't see the need to change things.
Having said that, we are stronger in the air both in defence and in attack at set pieces with Holmes playing instead of Yiadom but seeing how often the manager takes Holmes off I expect Yiadom to become first choice again until ( fingers-crossed not) he becomes injured again.

This game meant so much to my family and fellow fans living in enemy territory so thanks to the boys for last night-the memory of Blackman & Co playing like wimps down here a few years ago when we tamely surrendered is starting to disappear.

As for Bournemouth, they have a run of so-called "easy" fixtures coming up so shouldn't be written off yet-they just came up against a side at the top of its game and described by Andy Hinchcliffe as the best performance he has seen in The Championship this season.

It doesn't get much better than that and my 25/1 about us getting promoted does not look so daft this morning.

[Nameless]

Worth is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

It says ‘was’ rather than ‘is’ !
I read that if bmouth don’t go up this year they are financially stuffed.
Of course us getting promotion would iron out one or two financial wrinkles as well.

Even after selling Ake for £40m, Wilson for £20m and Ramsdale for £18m?

No idea, but if you have a squad of players on inflated salaries you’ll burn through cash very quickly. Someone like Southcoast Royal will probably have a better idea but certainly seen comments from Bournemouth fans that their finances are not in good shape.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Left posting till this morning to let it all sink in.
Have just been to the paper shop wearing my RFC mask and my Galatasaray mate there said " I love watching Reeding (pronunciation) play" which is such a compliment from an outsider .

The last 35 minutes of the first half of last night's game reminded me of McGhee's side of 25 years ago.
For so many years we have been watching pass and stand still football under so many managers but now, oh the joy of watching pass and MOVE.
2 of the goals were scruffy and Joao's was outstanding ( great through ball from Ovie) but it was the flow and accuracy of the football that is so special and every player in this team (apart from the keeper!!) has a good first touch.

Exciting times and so important in the way that we play for Joao to stay fit (stating the obvious) as the way we play and score goals revolves so much around what he does-Meite playing in that position or Puscas (forget about Baldock) just can't do what he does.

Two further things from last night.
Does Meite get back in?
Does Liam Moore get back in?

Those issues often get sorted by injuries but based solely on last night when everybody was at their very best ( it won't always be the case unfortunately) , other than Yiadom coming back in, I don't see the need to change things.
Having said that, we are stronger in the air both in defence and in attack at set pieces with Holmes playing instead of Yiadom but seeing how often the manager takes Holmes off I expect Yiadom to become first choice again until ( fingers-crossed not) he becomes injured again.

This game meant so much to my family and fellow fans living in enemy territory so thanks to the boys for last night-the memory of Blackman & Co playing like wimps down here a few years ago when we tamely surrendered is starting to disappear.

As for Bournemouth, they have a run of so-called "easy" fixtures coming up so shouldn't be written off yet-they just came up against a side at the top of its game and described by Andy Hinchcliffe as the best performance he has seen in The Championship this season.

It doesn't get much better than that and my 25/1 about us getting promoted does not look so daft this morning.

Agree - I wouldn't write Bournemouth off, they can easily go on a decent run given their squad size; not sure about Tindall though. Why did Danjuma go off at half time? Why didn't Brooks start?

Re Moore & Meite, I'd start with Meite over Olise next Sat, Stoke is a completely different type of game and we will need his physical presence in my view.

[NewCorkSeth]

It says ‘was’ rather than ‘is’ !
I read that if bmouth don’t go up this year they are financially stuffed.
Of course us getting promotion would iron out one or two financial wrinkles as well.

Even after selling Ake for £40m, Wilson for £20m and Ramsdale for £18m?

No idea, but if you have a squad of players on inflated salaries you’ll burn through cash very quickly. Someone like Southcoast Royal will probably have a better idea but certainly seen comments from Bournemouth fans that their finances are not in good shape.

I'm sure I read during preseason that they have a lot of debt but that was before the aforementioned sales.

[South Coast Royal]

Apparently Bournemouth's starting XI last night was worth £121m

Ours was £8m

Worth is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

It says ‘was’ rather than ‘is’ !
I read that if bmouth don’t go up this year they are financially stuffed.
Of course us getting promotion would iron out one or two financial wrinkles as well.

I did find it a bit disconcerting that the commentator said more than once that we will be in dire straits if WE don't get promoted.
It didn't just sound like lazy journalism and has been mentioned during other games and of course, despite having a great chance of promotion the talk of bringing in new players has only been of free transfers or OOC players.

I'm not sure that Bournemouth will be stuffed-they have brought in fees of around £80 million without spending anything on new players and will of course have 2 more years of parachute payments.

I don't care about them but I do have concerns about us.

[Hound]

No concerns about us tbh

Lose two big wages in baldock and Aluko at the end of the year

Not spent anything this year. Worst case we sell any one or two of Ejaria, Swift, Meite, Olise, Joao or Puscas the end of the season. Sure there will be plenty of takers

Ok we’ll be a weaker side but financially should be fine

[John Madejski's Wallet]

IMO too many clubs getting promoted forget to scout the Championship and lower leagues. They spend £30m on a player like Jefferson Lerma when you can pick up a Josh Laurent for nothing. Hopefully with tighter immigration controls for EU players may result in more British players getting more opportunities in the higher leagues. All bar Joao and Rafael are “British” though I accept some choose to play international football for their family’s heritage countries, which is fair enough. Not trying to be xenophobic but the dipping into international players has been the easy option for many years

Meite

[South Coast Royal]

No concerns about us tbh

Lose two big wages in baldock and Aluko at the end of the year

Not spent anything this year. Worst case we sell any one or two of Ejaria, Swift, Meite, Olise, Joao or Puscas the end of the season. Sure there will be plenty of takers

Ok we’ll be a weaker side but financially should be fine

Not that worried financially because there is a solution but if we don't go up do you really believe that we can readily replace the likes of Olise, Richards and Joao?.

A big season this and a crossroads for RFC.

[Snowflake Royal]

As I just said on another thread, I don't believe we're in danger if we don't go up. Not one bit.

Firstly, there's no way the league is going to seriously punish a club for FFP violations for seasons effected by Covid.

Second, we've had loads more televised games and our prize money will be up, plus IFollow, should go a very long way to making up lost revenue from empty stadiums.

Third, we took some big wage earners off the books in the summer and didn't noticeably replace them with high earners.

Fourth, we'll be losing at least two more big wage earners from the squad at the end of this season.

Fifth we've got half a dozen players we could sell for seven, maybe 8 figures in some cases if we really need to.

Bournemouth on the other hand will still have a lot of PL earners, and parachute payments take step cuts each season. Reports of financial peril are usually overstated, so they'll probably be ok, but I'd rather be us.

[South Coast Royal]

IMO too many clubs getting promoted forget to scout the Championship and lower leagues. They spend £30m on a player like Jefferson Lerma when you can pick up a Josh Laurent for nothing. Hopefully with tighter immigration controls for EU players may result in more British players getting more opportunities in the higher leagues. All bar Joao and Rafael are “British” though I accept some choose to play international football for their family’s heritage countries, which is fair enough. Not trying to be xenophobic but the dipping into international players has been the easy option for many years

Meite

Semedo, Aluko,Esteves?

[Hound]

No concerns about us tbh

Lose two big wages in baldock and Aluko at the end of the year

Not spent anything this year. Worst case we sell any one or two of Ejaria, Swift, Meite, Olise, Joao or Puscas the end of the season. Sure there will be plenty of takers

Ok we’ll be a weaker side but financially should be fine

Not that worried financially because there is a solution but if we don't go up do you really believe that we can readily replace the likes of Olise, Richards and Joao?.

A big season this and a crossroads for RFC.

No of course we’ll be weaker. But then we picked out Olise and Richards out of nowhere and who knows, the likes of Tetek and Nevers may be next in line

Obvs Joao is the one you’d most want to keep hold of. Would say Swift is currently better than Olise

[South Coast Royal]

No concerns about us tbh

Lose two big wages in baldock and Aluko at the end of the year

Not spent anything this year. Worst case we sell any one or two of Ejaria, Swift, Meite, Olise, Joao or Puscas the end of the season. Sure there will be plenty of takers

Ok we’ll be a weaker side but financially should be fine

Not that worried financially because there is a solution but if we don't go up do you really believe that we can readily replace the likes of Olise, Richards and Joao?.

A big season this and a crossroads for RFC.

No of course we’ll be weaker. But then we picked out Olise and Richards out of nowhere and who knows, the likes of Tetek and Nevers may be next in line

Obvs Joao is the one you’d most want to keep hold of. Would say Swift is currently better than Olise

Yes we MIGHT in time but it has taken these two years or more to become what they are and there are never any guarantees that promising youngsters will make it.
Wouldn't disagree about Swift but I suspect he would be much sought after as well and could be sold
Remember the exodus of the 2006 side once we were subsequently relegated and money became such a major issue.

I don't think this is quite a do-or-die season but it surely is a do-or-wait-for- some -years -for- another-such --good-an-opportunity season.

Having said that, regarding RFC I have for over 60 years been a half glass empty person when it comes to the club but, from your many corona postings , you are clearly someone who is always looking for positive news in the hope that the bad stuff goes away
.
I wish I could be like that but so many hopes have been dashed when it comes to football that my glass really is generally half empty and it takes a lot to fill it up.

[NewCorkSeth]

As I just said on another thread, I don't believe we're in danger if we don't go up. Not one bit.

Firstly, there's no way the league is going to seriously punish a club for FFP violations for seasons effected by Covid.

Second, we've had loads more televised games and our prize money will be up, plus IFollow, should go a very long way to making up lost revenue from empty stadiums.

Third, we took some big wage earners off the books in the summer and didn't noticeably replace them with high earners.

Fourth, we'll be losing at least two more big wage earners from the squad at the end of this season.

Fifth we've got half a dozen players we could sell for seven, maybe 8 figures in some cases if we really need to.

Bournemouth on the other hand will still have a lot of PL earners, and parachute payments take step cuts each season. Reports of financial peril are usually overstated, so they'll probably be ok, but I'd rather be us.

Yep. Actually we could be in a really strong position if we recruit well.

[3points]

Worth is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

It says ‘was’ rather than ‘is’ !
I read that if bmouth don’t go up this year they are financially stuffed.
Of course us getting promotion would iron out one or two financial wrinkles as well.

Even after selling Ake for £40m, Wilson for £20m and Ramsdale for £18m?

Ramsdale is not worth that. Decidedly average keeper - put into the Vito Mannone category. Never rated Billing when he was at Huddersfield either. Was surprised when they signed him in the Prem

[3points]

IMO too many clubs getting promoted forget to scout the Championship and lower leagues. They spend £30m on a player like Jefferson Lerma when you can pick up a Josh Laurent for nothing. Hopefully with tighter immigration controls for EU players may result in more British players getting more opportunities in the higher leagues. All bar Joao and Rafael are “British” though I accept some choose to play international football for their family’s heritage countries, which is fair enough. Not trying to be xenophobic but the dipping into international players has been the easy option for many years

Meite

Didn't start

[3points]

IMO too many clubs getting promoted forget to scout the Championship and lower leagues. They spend £30m on a player like Jefferson Lerma when you can pick up a Josh Laurent for nothing. Hopefully with tighter immigration controls for EU players may result in more British players getting more opportunities in the higher leagues. All bar Joao and Rafael are “British” though I accept some choose to play international football for their family’s heritage countries, which is fair enough. Not trying to be xenophobic but the dipping into international players has been the easy option for many years

Meite

Semedo, Aluko,Esteves?

none of those players started. I only considered the starting 11 from last night when making the original comment. But even taking the bench into account it feels like we have more British qualified players than in the recent past, especially under Stam.

I would expect Aluko could play for England given his sister played for England didn't she?