The Millwall Debacle

[BCFC Rich]

 

1 hour ago, redandy1 said:

There  is no value in sticking with a Manager for it's own sake. They have to be able to do the job. The differences between McCarthy and Johnson are massive in terms of experience.He gets nothing like the funds Johnson has been given. Yet comes up with Waghorn and Garner for the price we paid for Engvall who seems destined never to play for us. I do agree judging a Manager on 4 games is ridiculous but how can you still play that card when he is managing us for his third season.

The point I am making is that MM start at Ipswich was pretty much the same and as LJ has been for us. They picked a manager they believed in, he took over and gave an immediate improvement. Then the following season was disappointing and showed very little progress, the fans wanted him gone thought he was vastly overrated but the board stuck with him and things got better. The board had faith where the fans did not. Whether our board ends up being right or not Ipswich are a team that shows sticking with someone can pay off.

8 hours ago, Portland Bill said:

I'm not judging anyone after 4 games, I'm judging someone after 18 months, 18 months of dire, negative mostly clueless losing football. 

 

People talk about him having had time already (used to be you'd get at least two full seasons but hey ho) and wanting to judge him on his overall performance, not just this season.  But part of that seems to forget out about the good spells and pretty much fixate on that terrible run. This is his record P 74  W 28 D 15 L 31   That a total of 99 points which is about 1.337 a game which over a season is 61.5 points a high mid table in pretty much every season for the last 5 years. 

That is his record, I suggest if you are not happy with his overall performance it's because of one of three things - 1. you never liked him or wanted him 2. You are completely fixated on the terrible run and cannot see past it. Or 3. You actually deep down are expecting too much. You are expecting us to be minimum in the playoffs and would see mid table stability as a failure. 

I'm pleased we are a club sticking with their manager and backing them. I wish we'd started earlier (still think Cotts could have improved things). It's not blind allegiance, it's looking at the overall picture and giving the manager a fair amount of time. He has a very acceptable record overall and 4 games into the season it's crazy to call for him to go. Give it to at least 10 games and then see where we are.

 

[Jin]

16 hours ago, Davefevs said:

 

 

 

Start of last season, I thought it was our superior fitness that came through and got us those 'turnaround' results.  By Xmas we looked incapable of looking strong at the end of 90 minutes.  I do think ball-chasing at Brentford had an effect yesterday.  That's not an excuse.  With all the science we should be able to spot those players who are about to dip.  Maybe we did, but thought they can have their rest on Tuesday.  I know the great AC Milan had to really get their players to buy-in to their science approach, e.g. A striker in good form being rested because the science told them he was about to dip against the curve.  I do think Barnsley was an easing off, not a fitness issue. 

True, and to some extent I was just waiting for Millwall to score.  Not because they deserved it (nor did we), but for the sheer volume of balls they put into our box, and more importantly we are Bristol City, and we usually gift goals to sides like this and leave ourselves a mountain to climb against a cynical side, who suck the life out of the game and suck the time off of the clock.  In some ways a point is better than we would've got last season.  Still see it as two dropped.  But I did respond to someone last week that if we could turn 5 defeats into 5 draws and therefore 5 more points we'd be midtable.  I think we got one on Tuesday and maybe another yesterday.

I've posted plenty of times that Garner (for all of his poor goals record at this level) is a decent player, and a good partner.  Nice to see him get some goals too, because he is an unselfish player.  I dislike him as an opponent, but would have happily had him on our side.  No little about Waghorn.

There would've been an uproar on here had we signed Garner.  Gonna have to do a search of Garner and Waghorn to see if you've been a previous 'nay-sayer' on them 

The one yesterday with Frank was driving me mad.  He ended up taking the free-kick further away from the original incident that Frank initially took the free-kick from.  The ref wasn't great, but he didn't have much choice with some of our silly, needless fouls.

Let he ask a question.  Scenario: You are playing a team that try every little trick in the book, trying to waste time, wind you up.  You get a free-kick, but the ball is 30 yards from the infringement and you need to return the ball to that spot.  There is a player 10 yards from the spot of the infringement, in a direct line from the ball.  Do you.

a) try to curl it around him

b) try to chip it over him

c) roll a pass straight to him

Answer:

c) every time.

Player, usually Morison or Gregory, then either stop it dead and move away, or if another City player is near them, they deflect the ball somewhere else.

How come I can see that and am up in arms at it, but:

1) City players / coaches can't

2) the referee can't

Depends on the scenario, if one of our players is unmarked with space to run into, I'd rather we quickly played it around the opponent to our unmarked player instead of whacking it into the opponent which wouldn't even guarantee a card for the opponent.

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, CityLew said:

Depends on the scenario, if one of our players is unmarked with space to run into, I'd rather we quickly played it around the opponent to our unmarked player instead of whacking it into the opponent which wouldn't even guarantee a card for the opponent.

You misunderstood my scenario. We are trying to return the ball to the place of the infringement, because we have a pedantic ref!  The ref won't allow us to take it from where it is. 

[Jin]

27 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

You misunderstood my scenario. We are trying to return the ball to the place of the infringement, because we have a pedantic ref!  The ref won't allow us to take it from where it is. 

Ah my bad... I wasn't completely sure what you meant.

[havanatopia]

On 8/20/2017 at 21:12, samo II said:

Brilliant example of a manager who can set a team up that has the tactical nous to adapt to another side's game plan and build a platform to play off taking place right now in the Huddersfield Newcastle game.

Huddersfield set up and kicked off with their swashbuckling, forward thinking style, putting Newcastle under great pressure.  But Newcastle have identified they are being overrun out wide, and this is being dictated by Mooy, so are doubling up in those areas and hunting Mooy down, forcing him further back.

Benitez is an absolute master are imbuing his sides with the flexibility and intelligence to adapt to and counter opposing game plans, and brilliant display of it today.

Huddersfield had too much for them yesterday though. As others have said I cannot see Benitez staying there unless Ashley properly backs him. And if not can see their early season start going from bad to worse.

23 hours ago, Portland Bill said:

I'm not judging anyone after 4 games, I'm judging someone after 18 months, 18 months of dire, negative mostly clueless losing football. A manager who still blames 'his ' players when 'his' tactics fail.

Ipswich have a proven experienced manager, someone we all know will get it right in the end, someone who hasn't had the luxury of buying 20 plus players for massive amounts of money ( massive amount for our club). 

A MM led Bristol City team with £20 million spent on it over 18 months, would knock spots off the current BCFC managers team, plus, he would have spent the £20 million on players who 'would' fit into the system he wants to play.

Or perhaps I'm completely wrong, perhaps I'm the only one that doesn't believe the team who played Millwall yesterday represents £20 million well spent, and that the players all look comfortable fitting into the system our current manager tells us he's employing!.

 

 

Don't fret Bill.. you are far from alone. 

Looking at that fellow poster who listed the spend since LJ arrived I think the one that stands out most is Taylor Moore. A million plus for a player that is nowhere near the first team. And 20 million spent since LJ came in. He has to be the luckiest manager in England. I am sure he does not feel that way though. Well I hope not.