Relax and enjoy

[RedNight]

It's crunch time. Every result counts for more than ever now. 

Understandably, tensions are high. Staff, players & fans all included. 

But so far, this season has been everything and more than any of us could of expected. Fighting for the play-offs and a cup run that saw us into the semi-finals and beating Man United along the way. Whatever happens now is just a bonus.

At worst we will finish mid table. 

We will probably finish 7th-9th.

At best we will be in the play-offs

But whatever's happens, I urge everyone to just enjoy it. The Sunderland game hurt, and everyone has been trying to dissect what went wrong, looking at the manager and the players. My initial reaction was disappointment. But then I felt myself feeling sorry for the players and Johnson, hearing them getting booed off. They probably felt they had let us down. Which they did on the day and the boos were probably/ maybe justified.. 

But over the course of the season, they have been nothing short of exceptional for this club. They have bought Bristol City out of the shadows and sparked life back into the club. 

And we shouldn't forget this, no matter what happens from now and until the end of the season. 

As fans, we should just enjoy it. Give the staff and players our full support through the upcoming highs and lows. The club has already achieved what many of us wanted at the start of the season, no relegstion scrap. Ofcourse this doesn't make results like Sunderland any easier, but it adds perspective. 

Everyone, including fans will be doing their absolute all to see this club finish in its highest possible position, no doubt. If play-offs isn't meant to be then it's not meant to be this year. But we'll be back for more next year, that's a guarantee.

For now; relax, enjoy and get behind the boys!

Come on you reds! 

 

[Davefevs]

Have a look at Experimental 361’s website.  According to that we are 50:50 to finish in the play-offs based on Expected Goals For / Against formula. 

We aren’t playing catch-up, we aren’t chasing the pack.

I agree that this season has been a very enjoyable one.

I still expect it to stretch to games 47 and 48....hope it’s 49 too.  I don’t expect us to make 2nd spot, we are the chasing pack in this race.

We do need to find some momentum though.

[pongo88]

Come on @RedNight, you don’t watch City for relaxation and enjoyment!  If I wanted that I’d take up knitting. Watching City = frustration, agony and despair interspersed with a tiny bit of hope. It's not the despair. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand. 

[RedNight]

6 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

Come on @RedNight, you don’t watch City for relaxation and enjoyment!  If I wanted that I’d take up knitting. Watching City = frustration, agony and despair interspersed with a tiny bit of hope. It's not the despair. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand. 

And I'm I wrong in saying that everything you had hoped for at the start of the season hasn't already been realised. 

Ofcourse we find ourselves in a play-off challenge and that brings fresh hope. I understand that. 

But for me, it's all a bonus. Thst doesn't stop me wanting City to win every game, nor did it stop me feeling bitterly disappointed after the Sunderland game. But it does stop me overthinking and interrogating everything thst doesn't go our way. I'm more relaxed about our position and just hoping for the best.  

[JoeAman08]

15 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Have a look at Experimental 361’s website.  According to that we are 50:50 to finish in the play-offs based on Expected Goals For / Against formula. 

We aren’t playing catch-up, we aren’t chasing the pack.

I agree that this season has been a very enjoyable one.

I still expect it to stretch to games 47 and 48....hope it’s 49 too.  I don’t expect us to make 2nd spot, we are the chasing pack in this race.

We do need to find some momentum though.

It is still only 7 points to second. Agree it is unlikely but the way we usually perform after February leaves room for some hope. I still think we will make playoffs. Most teams below us have been inconsistent and I expect that to continue. 

Maybe most teams can probably come up with an exciuse but I genuinely feel our recent form is down to the injuries and cup run. Even the past few games have been with new signings getting to grips with our play style and a drasticly team changing suspension. Baker gone, Wright at LCB and Korey or Brownhill at RB. 

Baker back after Leeds. Possibly Pisano too. Djuric and COD only main players out and due back soon enough to make a difference. Diedhiou looking more match fit. I feel the best Bristol City is still to come. I wouldn’t rule us out of auto just yet. Playoffs likely and imo higher than 6th

[Major Isewater]

1 hour ago, RedNight said:

It's crunch time. Every result counts for more than ever now. 

Understandably, tensions are high. Staff, players & fans all included. 

But so far, this season has been everything and more than any of us could of expected. Fighting for the play-offs and a cup run that saw us into the semi-finals and beating Man United along the way. Whatever happens now is just a bonus.

At worst we will finish mid table. 

We will probably finish 7th-9th.

At best we will be in the play-offs

But whatever's happens, I urge everyone to just enjoy it. The Sunderland game hurt, and everyone has been trying to dissect what went wrong, looking at the manager and the players. My initial reaction was disappointment. But then I felt myself feeling sorry for the players and Johnson, hearing them getting booed off. They probably felt they had let us down. Which they did on the day and the boos were probably/ maybe justified.. 

But over the course of the season, they have been nothing short of exceptional for this club. They have bought Bristol City out of the shadows and sparked life back into the club. 

And we shouldn't forget this, no matter what happens from now and until the end of the season. 

As fans, we should just enjoy it. Give the staff and players our full support through the upcoming highs and lows. The club has already achieved what many of us wanted at the start of the season, no relegstion scrap. Ofcourse this doesn't make results like Sunderland any easier, but it adds perspective. 

Everyone, including fans will be doing their absolute all to see this club finish in its highest possible position, no doubt. If play-offs isn't meant to be then it's not meant to be this year. But we'll be back for more next year, that's a guarantee.

For now; relax, enjoy and get behind the boys!

Come on you reds! 

 

Nah !

[Major Isewater]

1 hour ago, pongo88 said:

Come on @RedNight, you don’t watch City for relaxation and enjoyment!  If I wanted that I’d take up knitting. Watching City = frustration, agony and despair interspersed with a tiny bit of hope. It's not the despair. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand. 

You find knitting relaxing ? 

You've never dropped a stitch or knitted your beard into a pullover that you working on , like my Nan ? 

 

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, RedNight said:

And I'm I wrong in saying that everything you had hoped for at the start of the season hasn't already been realised. 

Ofcourse we find ourselves in a play-off challenge and that brings fresh hope. I understand that. 

But for me, it's all a bonus. Thst doesn't stop me wanting City to win every game, nor did it stop me feeling bitterly disappointed after the Sunderland game. But it does stop me overthinking and interrogating everything thst doesn't go our way. I'm more relaxed about our position and just hoping for the best.  

It’s a definitely a valid view that we’ve over-achieved and we will slip back into a lower than Playoff position.

Playing devil’s advocate for a moment....were the signs there early last season and late last season (horrendously spoiled by that mid-season meltdown), when we displayed top 6(ish) form.  I don’t have the ‘math’ to know this for a fact, but we definitely did ok in those spells.  You could argue (if you’re that way inclined) that we’ve extended the early season form up until Xmas, are hopefully gonna make the middle spell of poor form much shorter than last season, and start the end of season form earlier.

I don’t necessarily buy the above paragraph, but it wouldn’t surprise me either.

I do wonder whether the slightly heavier pitches (not 1970s mudbaths I hasten to add), with overplayed players has had some impact...especially on the lightweight frame of Paterson.

I do think there is a sense that if we do drop beneath 6th, then that’s it.  It’s about finding some momentum.

I’m certainly enjoying the ride.

[wendyredredrobin]

Well I certainly didn't expect us tobe beating a full strength Man U in the quarter filal of the FL Cup or narrowly losing to a full strength Man C side in the semis when the season started.

Irrespective of whether we go up, this season has been memorable in many ways.

[INCRED]

2 hours ago, pongo88 said:

Come on @RedNight, you don’t watch City for relaxation and enjoyment!  If I wanted that I’d take up knitting. Watching City = frustration, agony and despair interspersed with a tiny bit of hope. It's not the despair. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand. 

Couldn't put it better myself!

The hope is the killer

[1960maaan]

It's been a strange season, expectation (mine, or at least hope ) mid table with a chance of Playoff's .
The early season was good , and just kept going. The strange thing was , when we got injuries to the point of no strikers left, we still kept going. We actually played some of the best football I've ever seen by a City team. Strange again that , as players returned to fit ness our poor spell continued . It's yet another strange thing that, it's not just the team , but individually 2 or 3 players are really struggling and I think this has impacted on us not shaking off this poor run.
We have probably ruined the season for every one, like last year , if we took an average of our results instead of batches of win and losses as it seems to have been we would have been pleased. Last years position was ok, and this year , if we had spread the last 10 games through the season then our position is as good as anyone would have hoped for Feb. 
As said above, we don't do relax . Instead we do awesome footaball followed by slump ,it is the way of the city We could win at Leeds and Patterson and co find something like their early season form and playoffs wouldn't be a possibility, they would be a certainty. Sadly , we all know it's not the straight forward. I'm guessing the season won't just peter out though, we don't usually do boring.

[Lanterne Rouge]

11 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

. I'm guessing the season won't just peter out though, we don't usually do boring.

I think the season could just peter out now TBH, it`s certainly in danger of it. As you say, we don`t usually do boring but I reckon this could end up being one of those rare occasions when we do and the last four games are just formalities. Hope I`m wrong though and we do get things back on track for a renewed push for the playoffs.

it`s arguable though whether this season will be regarded as boring though given what`s happened already even if we did finish 10th and eight points off the playoffs - we`ve had far more excitement in the first two thirds of it than any of us could have expected in August.

[1960maaan]

1 hour ago, Red Right Hand said:

we`ve had far more excitement in the first two thirds of it than any of us could have expected in August.

That's the thing, as I've said before. If we got to the same place/points in a sort of WLDWLDWLD way, instead of WWWDLLDDL there would be less knee jerk reaction and many more people would be happy. We just seem to have the capability of bad spells that are hard to shake . This years is easier to explain or understand, but no easier to shake off. With Leeds,Fulham and Cardiff to come , we might not be through it just yet.
It's also down to hope and expectation. We were so good early on that, that becomes the expected, and when you drop below THAT level you are underachieving rather than going back to a more sensible/normal level. We can still hit some form and make the playoffs, I'm looking 5/6th , but with teams really hitting form around us it will be very difficult.

[glynriley]

6 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

That's the thing, as I've said before. If we got to the same place/points in a sort of WLDWLDWLD way, instead of WWWDLLDDL there would be less knee jerk reaction and many more people would be happy. We just seem to have the capability of bad spells that are hard to shake . This years is easier to explain or understand, but no easier to shake off. With Leeds,Fulham and Cardiff to come , we might not be through it just yet.
It's also down to hope and expectation. We were so good early on that, that becomes the expected, and when you drop below THAT level you are underachieving rather than going back to a more sensible/normal level. We can still hit some form and make the playoffs, I'm looking 5/6th , but with teams really hitting form around us it will be very difficult.

You're right of course, but there would still be some moaning that we're inconsistent and can't get a run going!