Indeed, I also stumbled across that fact yesterday.Originally Posted by Loramski
The cynic in me thought his friends and family have busy keyboards immediately after a game.
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Indeed, I also stumbled across that fact yesterday.
The cynic in me thought his friends and family have busy keyboards immediately after a game.
Isaak Davies scores again.
Get him in the Wales squad!
Is that his seventh goal of the season? If it is, then he’s scored more in a bottom of the table team than anyone in our first team squad has done for a side in the middle of the table.
I think he was on 6 so yes.
The club's loan report from today:
https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news...eport-04032024
Thanks for posting that.
Bagan's been in and out over there lately. He signed a 3-year contract last summer, it'll be interesting to see how his future plays out here.
Benjamin has sat out the last two Dunfermline games, I think they've gone from a back five to a four and he's the one who's missed out. They obviously see Fagan-Walcott as the better bet for now, two clean sheets this week makes it hard to argue with that. No mention of Crole there, by the way. Still no sign of him.
Keiron Evans has an FA Trophy quarter-final coming up this week which I assume he's eligible for. A Wembley appearance on top of likely play-off games would make it a worthwhile loan spell there I'd have thought.
It's a shame for Ryan Kavanagh. Quite a prospect here but injury has ruined his development. I saw him play for our under-21s against Sheffield United a while back at the CCS. He was only 16 so I thought he might be a bit nervous and struggle to get involved. What actually happened was that he spent the whole first half kicking lumps out of the Sheffield players to the point where their coaching staff had to start appealing to all the match officials to stop making allowances for him. It was pretty funny to be honest. I wondered how long ago that was, guessing it was about 5 years. Looked it up, it was Monday, March 4th, 2019. Quite a good guess then.
One more thing about the Truro v Taunton game that will be of absolutely no interest to anyone but that's how I roll. They played it at Gloucester City's ground, as you do. Apparently Truro haven't played a competitive home game even in Cornwall since 2020, they've been ground-sharing with Plymouth Parkway among others. They've got a new stadium being built which, I imagine, will be a relief for the home fans there.
Isaak Davies and Eli King have had very good loans - and my guess is both will be part of the squad next year. I imagine Ryotaro Tsunoda will too.
Has anyone else? Tom Davies, Joel Bagan and Xavier Benjamin trading water?
Fagan-Walcott seems to be ticking boxes - but he is not likely to break into the first team squad - is he?
Ebou Adams doing OK at Derby - but probably just enough to earn permanent transfer interest?
Zimba, Evans and the others on their way out?
Hard to know, isn't it? Especially as we're not sure yet if Bulut will be here.
I said earlier that central midfield is complicated, plenty of competition there as it stands. King seems to be doing well and is playing regularly in the Scottish Prem but then so are Matty Kennedy and Marley Watkins so it's tough to say what level he's at. I'd like to think he'll be pushing for a place next season, Davies too, but I don't want to let my heart rule my head and go overboard about their chances. Surely an on-form Davies could fit in somewhere but we'll see.
I'm not sure what the issue is with Fagan-Walcott. If it's an injury/fitness thing then the regular games he's getting may help dispel that. Even if we don't want him for now he may be a player we regret letting go for nothing, as it turned out with Ajayi. Ditto for Evans, who's a nice little player. No real sign of him turning into a Foden yet but I'd like to see him here a bit longer personally.
I can only see Isaak Davies, King and maybe Tsunoda getting a chance with our 1st team in pre-season.
There's a lot of Ebou Adams love at Derby!
https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/de...der-in-summer/
There's some value there if we sell him but I've no idea what's going to happen. Him and even Rinomhota seem to be Championship material but they couldn't get past an out-of-sorts Wintle and Siopis or a barely fit Ralls this season so it makes you realise how tough it'll be for Eli King to break in when he comes back.
An interview with Ollie Denham here. He's playing every game for Sligo and made the League of Ireland team of the week after a 5-0 away win on Monday. Seems a bit of a weird move but good luck to him there.
https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soc...ollie-32244779
Not a lot to report here, things seem to be moving along much as expected. That probably won't stop me turning this into an essay though.
Isaak Davies is getting a lot of mentions on here, and rightly so. I'm certainly no expert on him but he seems to have gone full circle since I first saw him play. He looked like a striker then but Bellamy's Academy team had another player like him so Isaak played a bit at number 10 and out on the wing as well as up front. While he struggled to adapt at times he soon picked it up to the point, a year or so later, when he started an FA Youth Cup tie against Ipswich as a striker, scored the opening goal then switched to the wing when Crole came on. Having been a handful out there he then came up with a brilliant bit of play to beat his full back and pull it across for Crole to tap in the winner.
Having developed an all-round game, however, the goals started to dry up. I seem to remember mentions of bad misses and a general decline in front of goal at under 23/21 level and while there was plenty to be encouraged by when he broke into the first team there wasn't as much threat in front of goal as there could have been. That threat seems be well and truly there now though. His striker's instincts are back from the goals I've seen; good positioning and movement along with confident finishing.
What now though? If Bulut sees Kieffer Moore as his ideal striker then it's hard to imagine him starting Isaak up front but will we be killing the goose that lays the golden egg a bit if we stick him out wide again. Him and Tsunoda both seem to be flourishing in a 5 at the back system, maybe that would suit them both best here too. Time will tell.
Malachi Fagan-Walcott seems to going from strength to strength at Dunfermline. Excellent performances week in week out, mature interviews and an obvious desire to be a team player while working on improving his own game. I don't think I've seen a bad word said about him yet. I never quite got how Casey Ryback ended up as a chef on a train in Under Siege 2 and I'm equally unsure why Fagan-Walcott is at Dunfermline. Maybe he's going to save the planet too, we'll see.
As I mentioned in the Academy thread, a few loan players are missing out. Benjamin, Crole, Kavanagh, Bagan and King didn't make their squads this weekend, King's injured but I'm not sure about the others. Zimba hasn't got on for three games, Keiron Evans was sacrificed ten minutes in after an early red card for Gateshead and Sheyi Ojo didn't get on for Kortrijk.
Ollie Denham is still going well at Sligo though. Him Adams and Rinomhota all got 90 minutes in this weekend. Joe Ralls new deal means we've now got seven central midfielders still under contract going into next season. I'm sure we'll be looking to get Joel Colwill out on loan and probably move Rinomhota on but that still leaves five going for two places.
While some players are struggling to establish themselves on loan it's nice to see 18-year-old Jake Dennis getting into the Gloucester City team. He'd been on the bench until the regular keeper shipped seven recently and he's done well in the two games since. A 2-1 defeat at league leaders Tamworth was followed by a last minute win at Warrington yesterday, the winner being scored by City old boy Harry Pinchard. A happy ending for you there, just like Under Siege.
Great report, Thankyou. Dunfermline because he was previously at Dundee under the same Manager (He must like Malachi (Great name) on loan from Spurs.
It is. Thanks, Loramski from me too. Interesting read and really well written
Yeah, I was aware of that. I just meant I don't get why he's playing at that level. Mourinho rated him enough to bring him on in a Champions League game and yet here he is. That loan spell at Dundee was ended by injury and there seem to have been other injuries at Spurs so if the guy is made of glass then obviously that'll hold him back but he's just gone straight into the team at Dunfermline (ahead of Benjamin) and plays 90 minutes every game. I've probably jinxed him now but it's been an impressive start for him there in a number of ways.
Malachi is an excellent name, yes.
Thank you
Andy Rinomhota was MOM for Rotherham against Huddersfield (0 - 0).
https://www.themillers.co.uk/news/20...e-match-award/
Sean Morrison came second in the vote.
Not much to report this week but a few players saw some action.
Ninety minutes and an important goal for Keiron Evans as Gateshead won 3-2 at play-off rivals Altrincham. He got the equaliser to make it 2-2. He gets interviewed after the game and just manages to keep the lid on his excitement.
https://x.com/GatesheadFC/status/177...919381719?s=20
Another 90 minutes and another clean sheet for Malachi Fagan-Walcott as Dunfermline won 1-0 at Greenock to go fifth.
A couple of chances for Ebou Adams as Derby went down 1-0 at Northampton. It was the first time Northampton had beaten Derby in 115 years of trying. Look out for us beating Maidstone in 2105 then.
A rare start for Ryan Kavanagh in Truro's game at Tonbridge today. To call it an away trip doesn't really do it justice. I was reading about Ernest Shackleton earlier, even he would've said 'f**k that' to following Truro every week. Last Saturday was a 540 mile round trip to St Albans, today was a 575 mile round trip to Kent (in a league that's regionalised to simplify the travelling). 1-0 up with six minutes to go, Truro first let in an equaliser then conceded a winner 3 minutes into injury time. They'll laugh about it one day.
A few weeks back, Dunfermline fans were worrying about relegation but now they're 1 point from a promotion play-off spot. However, they're still 6 points above the relegation play-off in the ten team division. Now this is a format I can get behind; none of this shambling around mid-table for 8 months.
Jake Dennis was on the bench for Gloucester who lost 3-0 at Spennymoor.
One of the most enjoyable threads I have read in a long time. Thanks loramski in particular. Please keep it going. I for one really do hope Isaac is integrated into first team next season. Maybe heart over head I am prepared to admit - but really has grant got that much more than him, and many city fans seem to rave about grant. Personally just dont see it.
Thank you, appreciate that. You're not the only one who lets their heart rule their head when it comes to the youngsters here, we all get a bit carried away at times.
With Isaak, the issue seems to be whether we should be sticking him on the wing at all now he's playing so well as a striker. As I said last week, the 3-5-2 that Kortrijk play would seem to suit him best, Tsunoda too. I've seen Peter Crouch say there can be lot of luck involved as a footballer, just finding yourself in the right place at the right time with the right manager, set-up and players around you. Seems to have fallen like that for Isaak with Kortrijk, fingers crossed it'll be the same for him next season with us but time will tell.
Tsunoda has a hamstring tear. Might well be the end of his season.
https://twitter.com/kvkofficieel/sta...62406691013011
Shame. Gutted for him if he misses the play-offs.
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