Back to what we do best

[allyolly]

To me the difference in recent games has been the work ethic, never say die attitude and willingness to play as a team. Not saying we lacked effort before but the return to the team of Little, Smith, Pack and Paterson has been key.

Onwards and upwards BCFC  

 

[joe jordans teeth]

Just now, allyolly said:

To me the difference in recent games has been the work ethic, never say die attitude and willingness to play as a team. Not saying we lacked effort before but the return to the team of Little, Smith, Pack and Paterson has been key.

Onwards and upwards BCFC  

 

Maybe lee has stumbled onto it,he must take credit for once tho from me

[Hampshire Red]

Can't be anything to do with the manager can it?!! Taxi for Tfj and CoYRs

The noisey minority of  Forum freaks will be quiet again tonight 

[allyolly]

1 minute ago, Hampshire Red said:

Can't be anything to do with the manager can it?!! Taxi for Tfj and CoYRs

The noisey minority of  Forum freaks will be quiet again tonight 

Agree mate! LJ is only there to blame when we lose. There will be some significant absences on here tonight....

[downendcity]

I thought that what we do best this season is lose!

[allyolly]

Just now, downendcity said:

I thought that what we do best this season is lose!

You are so retro!

[downendcity]

Just now, allyolly said:

You are so retro!

Only with hindsight!

[RumRed]

11 minutes ago, Hampshire Red said:

Can't be anything to do with the manager can it?!! Taxi for Tfj and CoYRs

The noisey minority of  Forum freaks will be quiet again tonight 

Nope, a good game and a good victory.  Unfortunately one we required to help us stay in this division, a position we should not be in.

LJ out at the end of the season wherever we are.  I don't trust him to find the right players and play them in the right position.

im enjoying the result though! 

Onwards and upwards.

[Dastardly and Muttley]

The criticism of LJ has been fair. I've been quite vocal over the last 6 weeks or so, after defending him initially.

It will be hard for him to win many of the fans back, and this is new territory for many of us, as the manager has the full backing of the board despite what many fans think. It will be interesting to see what happens with LJ as a "football experiment", with the board choosing to stick rather than the normal trend of twist.

Hopefully LJ works out for the best for City; I expect many owners will be looking our way to see what happens.

My biggest concern over LJ had been the public criticism of players. To me, that doesn't show good management. The odd occasion of calling out a poor performance, yes, but when it comes after every defeat it becomes predictable and damaging.

I hope he turns it around and learns from this season, but he has a hell of a lot to learn.

[Engvall's Splinter]

27 minutes ago, Hampshire Red said:

Can't be anything to do with the manager can it?!! Taxi for Tfj and CoYRs

The noisey minority of  Forum freaks will be quiet again tonight 

I'd imagine their enjoying the win. 

[nellie]

i have been very vocal in the fact i want LJ out and at the moment i still want him out but at no point have i ever wanted us to lose and i for one would be delighted if LJ turned it around and proved me wrong as that would mean the team would be winning but its still along way to go for me to change my mind in wanting him to stay 

[Pickle Rick]

18 minutes ago, RumRed said:

I don't trust him to find the right players and play them in the right position.

The balance of the current starting XI is superb. But he can't get that right, right?

[Meryl Goodrum]

13 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

Hope he brings in more players with the work ethic of those 11. No more tomlins or hegelers. If Johnson wants a busy little team of players, then he has to have ones that are busy. 

Want Little to stay in there too. He gets so much stick but was so Lacey and on the money today

[RumRed]

5 minutes ago, Captain Hindsight said:

The balance of the current starting XI is superb. But he can't get that right, right?

1. You're correct it is

2. About time too

3. How many of his huge number of signings started?

[Pickle Rick]

15 minutes ago, RumRed said:

1. You're correct it is

2. About time too

3. How many of his huge number of signings started?

Point three is irrelevant. That's clutching at straws to criticise surely?

[RumRed]

11 minutes ago, Captain Hindsight said:

Point three is irrelevant. That's clutching at straws to criticise surely?

You quoted a post in which I stated I didn't trust him to find and play the players in the right position, I think point three is the most relevant.

[Red Grovesy]

He is playing players in their proper position (apart from Bryan who IMO  is not a fullback). He is also playing 442 at home with two natural strikers (I don't class Tomin as an out and out striker). That's what he has 'stumbled' upon.

Credit for that.  Why has it taken him so long?

[AppyDAZE]

Just now, Red Grovesy said:

He is playing players in their proper position (apart from Bryan who IMO  is not a fullback). He is also playing 442 at home with two natural strikers (I don't class Tomin as an out and out striker). That's what he has 'stumbled' upon.

Credit for that.  Why has it taken him so long?

If we stay up and he genuinely can kick on next season, why should it matter why it's taken so long. I've been pretty critical, but it would be unfair not to praise not only the players but LJ too for what has happened since the 5-0. If you give him nothing else, you have to hand it to LJ for being a tough little so n so seeing this through

[Pickle Rick]

4 hours ago, RumRed said:

You quoted a post in which I stated I didn't trust him to find and play the players in the right position, I think point three is the most relevant.

5 out the starting 11 were Johnson signings, correct?

All 5 played their role and in the correct position.

11 out of the 18 in the complete lineup signed by Johnson. Ok.....

Still don't get the random jibe at LJ.

[EnclosureSurge]

15 hours ago, allyolly said:

the return to the team of Little, Smith, Pack and Paterson has been key.

You can hardly say Johnson foresaw the form of Paterson. He's tried him before and he's been ineffective. He'd just run out of options, having tried everyone else. And as for Little - who has played superbly these last 2 home games, although hasn't been attacked as he should have as he is our weak link - I don't think anyone was saying, "What we need is Mark Little back in the team". Again, this has been a forced selection - no Adam Matthews, Korey Smith has had to move back to midfield to replace O'Neill, so there was no-one left (again, I'll say what a great job Little has done in these 2 home games).

Pack has played well, too, in these two games (in fact it is this that has been key, the fact that all 11 players have played well, not 4) but Pack is still League One. He'll end up having a couple of nondescript games and we'll be back to square one, wondering who the best central-midfield pairing is.

To try and claim this is all Johnson's selection wonders is nonsense. As others have stated, if he's such a selection guru how has he got it so spectacularly wrong for 2/3 of the season? Nothing changed, he's still a novice, error-prone and won't admit his mistakes.

Excellent team performance - including back to what is best about giving yourselves a chance of winning, ie your allusion to getting in their faces/movement/snapping into tackles (where was that at Brentford, ffs?) - but we're not out of the woods, a defeat on Monday and a wobble against Barnsley, will we all be saying what wonderful team selections?

[Dastardly and Muttley]

It was interesting to read the comments on a QPR fan's preview, where they spoke about Hollowhead's "tombola teamsheet generator" and made comments such as, "one player played on Saturday so we won't see him again this side of the next Doomsday."

Is it just the modern manager's way to tinker and be more 'tactical' in their selection/approach?

[Xiled]

21 minutes ago, Dastardly and Muttley said:

It was interesting to read the comments on a QPR fan's preview, where they spoke about Hollowhead's "tombola teamsheet generator" and made comments such as, "one player played on Saturday so we won't see him again this side of the next Doomsday."

Is it just the modern manager's way to tinker and be more 'tactical' in their selection/approach?

Lots of comments on one of their forums (at the end of March) that Skeletor was experimenting to find a formation/team for next season. At the time they were fairly comfortable in the table.

Last night's comments from their fans were not quite as accepting. Many now saying his points return is as bad as JFH. And a few warning that relegation is still possible.

It proves again that wholesale team changes are a big risk. We're doing better with a mostly settled team.

[Bobfish]

Does LJ deserve thanks for the last two games, yes I think he does, but he has only done what many on here have been screaming for all season. When we dropped into the relegation zone a few weeks ago, LJ mentioned in a interview “it will wake a few up” – I think he was the one who has woken up. Mark Little revealed much in his interview yesterday on RB post match, talking about how he and Flint were discussing how they know how to do the simple things, running, tackling, heading well, but get confused (can’t remember his exact phrase) with all "the technical stuff". He seemed to indicate that the focus had changed from “technical and complicated” earlier in the season to a back to basics approach. It is no surprise then that Little’s game and our defensive (forget preston) performances have improved. Look at the team selection, a settled 442, an actual battling midfield pair, young hungry players on the wings to chase back and cover our frailties. High work rate all over the pitch. Hungry, hard working players, such as Taylor upfront. It appears LJ has had to do away with the luxuries of attacking midfielders in the centre of the park (ie Tomlin, Reid) or more “luxury” signings such as Jens, O’neil. It also appears LJ has had to do away with his more “creative” tactics, such as 4231, 352. Will he learn from this and maintain these 442 tactics next season, "back to what we do best" as the op said, or will he revert to his previous style? God knows. But we should not get ahead of ourselves, these last two wins, whilst gratifying, were against teams with nothing really to play for who barely turned up.     

[Olé]

15 hours ago, allyolly said:

Agree mate! LJ is only there to blame when we lose. 

Aha sir, but does your own post not point out that the significant change was the return of 3 players that LJ publicly wrote off in December? Hardly a ringing endorsement of LJ!  Hopefully his third transfer window will bring us full circle to the players we either already had or that he has bought and made a bad job of so far. The talent is all there! Sorry not to see you yesterday (or Paddington last Saturday), but will see you on some train somewhere on Monday no doubt!

[AppyDAZE]

3 minutes ago, Olé said:

Aha sir, but does your own post not point out that the significant change was the return of 3 players that LJ publicly wrote off in December? Hardly a ringing endorsement of LJ!  Hopefully his third transfer window will bring us full circle to the players we either already had or that he has bought and made a bad job of so far. The talent is all there! Sorry not to see you yesterday (or Paddington last Saturday), but will see you on some train somewhere on Monday no doubt!

I can't ever remember LJ publicly writing off anybody ?

[OldlandReddies]

Finally it looks like he's found his best team. Took 41 games, but he got there in the end. Got to give the fans a lot of credit too. We have been back to our intimidating best the last few home games. 

[Wrongagain]

15 hours ago, RumRed said:

 

LJ out at the end of the season wherever we are.  I don't trust him to find the right players and play them in the right position.

im enjoying the result though! 

Onwards and upwards.

Do you really think it's down to the players? Way back when we lost to everyone the first player reported on OTIB to have fallen out with LJ was Pato, strange that since then and until the last 2 games he has struggled to make the bench - so is the latest upturn due to ability once again being more important than LJ's personal feelings?

[Olé]

Just now, AppyDAZE said:

I can't ever remember LJ publicly writing off anybody ?

He made a series of remarks in December when things really started going badly, that he had learned a lot about his existing players and would need to bring in their replacements, in fact the worse we got, the more he cheerleaded for the importance of his own January recruitment (which I doubt was constructive to the morale of those existing players, who largely nosedived in form for several months). As he predicted, he brought in as many players as he could, and yet starting with Wigan away, here we are winning matches largely back to those same players. Let history show that it is those players, not the manager, who are vindicated.

[allyolly]

1 hour ago, Olé said:

Aha sir, but does your own post not point out that the significant change was the return of 3 players that LJ publicly wrote off in December? Hardly a ringing endorsement of LJ!  Hopefully his third transfer window will bring us full circle to the players we either already had or that he has bought and made a bad job of so far. The talent is all there! Sorry not to see you yesterday (or Paddington last Saturday), but will see you on some train somewhere on Monday no doubt!

I dont remember any direct writing off players with the possibile exception of Matthews. Maybe you've got a better memory than me Rob!

I think Korey has only recently got his proper fitness levels back and that is making a huge difference. The same to some extent with Little - what he lacks technically he is making up for in sheer determination.

I think the point I was trying to make is some of the more technically gifted players have been left out in favour of those that are better equipped to roll their sleeves up and fight. Not really rocket science is it but credit to all at BCFC for what it is currently achieving. 

No doubt will catch up somewhere tomorrow!

[glastonred]

16 hours ago, AppyDAZE said:

If we stay up and he genuinely can kick on next season, why should it matter why it's taken so long. I've been pretty critical, but it would be unfair not to praise not only the players but LJ too for what has happened since the 5-0. If you give him nothing else, you have to hand it to LJ for being a tough little so n so seeing this through

I absolutely agree with that! Unsurprisingly as I've more or less kept faith with Lee, even during the Dark Times. Nothing would please me more than for him to turn things around, head into next season full of hope and expectation of a more extended run of wins, and prove that Lansdown was right to stand by his man. That would be a refreshing change to the usual pattern of dumping your manager as soon as there is any drop in form. Roll on next season!