You could see it coming.

[Londoner]

5 minutes ago, Cheesleysmate said:

You must have been watching a different match to me then? We scored both goals in the first 16 minutes and started to slow down towards the end of the first half in preparation for being inept in the second half.

Yes so what we scored 2 goals we didn' do it by playing excellent football we did because of mistakes!!! 

Leeds came into the game and you could see us losing composure and them starting to dominate possession.

If you think we played well first half you'e deluded we were ok against a dire team

[Gert Mare]

2 minutes ago, Londoner said:

Yes so what we scored 2 goals we didn' do it by playing excellent football we did because of mistakes!!! 

Leeds came into the game and you could see us losing composure and them starting to dominate possession.

If you think we played well first half you'e deluded we were ok against a dire team

We went 2 up away from home at Leeds which is never easy. Yes Leeds were dire but we played ok, I didn't think we were playing like Barcelona by any stretch.

The problem was that Leeds stepped up and we got worse. Same problems as last season creeping back in. 5 points chucked away in games we should have wrapped up. 

There is no need of it. Frustration abounds tonight, but it's typical City.

[Super]

Only surprise was we didnt lose in the end.

[Londoner]

4 minutes ago, Cheesleysmate said:

We went 2 up away from home at Leeds which is never easy. Yes Leeds were dire but we played ok, I didn't think we were playing like Barcelona by any stretch.

The problem was that Leeds stepped up and we got worse. Same problems as last season creeping back in. 5 points chucked away in games we should have wrapped up. 

There is no need of it. Frustration abounds tonight, but it's typical City.

Yes we agree. We played ok first half. We certainly weren' excellent or good or anything above ok

 

[slartibartfast]

Tell what's coming...................Baker's back !

[robin_unreliant]

While the league table shows we've progressed in the last 12 months we seem to have regressed in the last few weeks. 

I remember all the jokes a year ago about needing to be 3 or 4 up to win. It seems now we haven't progressed as far as we thought.

[maxjak]

4 points dropped.....................however it's sugar coated,  , 3-0 and 2-0 leads thrown away...............LJ i t's time to organise and manage victories,  rather than squander winning positions.  There is a lack of organisation.........please sort it

[Londoner]

4 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

I could see it coming at 2-0 second half. Pushing players like Smith forward, joining in attacks. I just don't get it. Keep a solid shape like as if we were playing QPR with 10 men again, when we looked solid. They were beginning to win most of the the loose balls, and were getting down our sides far too easy. Put Reid back into midfield, or even bring on Walsh. We desperately needed an extra man in midfeld imo. Or even bring Brownhill inside and put on another wide man. Also needed to bring on Diony for Famara who was knackered. 

Yep. I don' understand this obsession with brownhill out wide. Square pegs in round holes again.

At 70 minutes j could see it too with Leeds starting to dominate possssion and for the first time in the game look like threatening especially the service.

[dereks no1]

35 minutes ago, simon uk said:

Thats what happens when you rely on the same core of players to play a high press game for 6 months, then do nothing in the january transfer window.

Agree although imagine if we had O'Dowda, Pisano, Djuric and O'Niel on the bench to bring on. O'Dowda is being sorely missed IMO. LJ had a pretty poor bench when looking to secure the game at 2-0/2-1

[Bazooka Joe]

33 minutes ago, Spike said:

Hardly a surprise when we keep throwing games away. As much as some may hate to admit it this team are not showing the fighting mentality they have in the cup run. We've played two games against Man City and beaten Man Utd showing no fear. In this game, it looks like the players are scared of their ******* shadows and are clinging on for dear life! We've just got deeper and deeper into our own third and now we're just hitting it long and hoping, it's f*cking woeful!

Probably, the biggest thing we are missing.

Most of the players seemed to shirk the 50/50s and were afraid to put their foot in where it hurts.

Regardless of the other mistakes that preceded theri goals, neither did Bryan or Wright put in enough of a strong challenge to stop their two scorers.

[SedRA]

31 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

iegardless of result I would prefer to see the soft side of football displayed e.g. Passing the ball accurately to a team mate.

All this hard long ball scrapping for bits .. If you are that uncomfortable in possession that it has to launched every two or three passes conceding goals can come as no surprise.

City have taken plaudits for the  quality of their football. That was Bristol Rovers like hoofing.

Do you think we're not quite fit enough to keep up our pressing game? We seemed to descend in to the hoof ball the longer the game went on. 

Of course the lack of quality squad depth plays into this as well, as Lee seems reluctant to introduce subs to keep the energy high.  

[old_eastender]

4 minutes ago, dereks no1 said:

Agree although imagine if we had O'Dowda, Pisano, Djuric and O'Niel on the bench to bring on. O'Dowda is being sorely missed IMO. LJ had a pretty poor bench when looking to secure the game at 2-0/2-1

Disagree; Diony or Pato for Fammy, Pato or Walsh for Brownhill whilst we are still 2 up and I think we go on to see the game out. 

[tinman85]

48 minutes ago, Jacky Boy said:

I'm sorry to say this again, far too soft, they be talented bunch but they lack serious character.

We miss two characters in Pisano and Baker.

[Cowshed]

17 minutes ago, RedSA said:

Do you think we're not quite fit enough to keep up our pressing game? We seemed to descend in to the hoof ball the longer the game went on. 

Of course the lack of quality squad depth plays into this as well, as Lee seems reluctant to introduce subs to keep the energy high.  

If you want to press consistently it pays to be close to the ball. In possession and out. The best pressing teams will be compact in lines .

City's patterns (??) of play to today were pass, pass , smack ... Players have to then cover serious distances to press in a unit. There was consistently fifty metres from back to front creating space for Leeds to play through,  as City were strung out..  

Play tighter and lose it the team is then in a better position due to having more players closer to the ball to win it back or to screen. 

The players are not fit enough to keep up that game, because its not the one they were playing. 

[WestonRobin]

Lacked a real leader on the pitch after Leeds scored their first.

Looked nervous and sat back too much. Baker’s return on Weds is much needed. He will help Just calm things down as well as organise.

Think some of these players, who lets not forget are very young, are feeling the pressure. We are in the top 6 and in sight of the ‘prize’ and the pressure is getting to some of them.

[WECANDO]

1 hour ago, Buster said:

Joke of a result 2 points dropped again Kent woeful performance again just pass the ball

He wasn’t woeful in the first half. He was bloody good. But as the second half progressed he did keep trying to run through the opposition and losing the ball. The time for LJ to tell him to pass the f.    g thing or take him off.

[cityexile]

49 minutes ago, WestonRobin said:Lacked a real leader on the pitch after Leeds scored their first.

Looked nervous and sat back too much. Baker’s return on Weds is much needed. He will help Just calm things down as well as organise.

Think some of these players, who lets not forget are very young, are feeling the pressure. We are in the top 6 and in sight of the ‘prize’ and the pressure is getting to some of them.

I don’t like sitting back, but we are just not very good at it!

I can reel off the teams that have played with two banks of four against us, and we have not looked like ever creating a thing. When we put our mind to it, we even made it difficult for Man City twice. I think we get caught in no mans land strategically, half heartedly sitting back, but with still to many players looking for the next goal.

Is a balance of course, but we are not getting it right.

[shelts]

1 hour ago, simon uk said:

Thats what happens when you rely on the same core of players to play a high press game for 6 months, then do nothing in the january transfer window.

I must agree we play a massively high energy system with little or no back up . I’m surprised we are where we be . 

[Three Lions]

 What identity was that today??? no surprises as the hoofball was Leeds ally.

 

[poland_exile]

lacking character? Are you serious? The same team rallied 4-1 down to Man City on aggregate to take the best team in England to the dying seconds. No lack of balls in the team. Lack of experience, yes. We've had problems closing games off and shutting them down. That comes not from any lack of character. Absolute clown. 

[Sixtyseconds]

 I preferred that one two touch footballing side.  

[OldlandReddies]

2 hours ago, mozo said:

For 45 minutes we were superb. We then looked leggy after an hour. Brownhill and Famara weren't as sharp and the cohesion fell apart. 

We were far from superb. Gifted two goals and Leeds were woeful first half.

[Baldyman]

We have no ability to change our shape so are becoming easy to work out as games go on . Our strikers fade from half time onwards as our midfield runs out of steam . Brown hill , Patto and Kent are all similar types of player and nothing off the bench gives us the chance to do anything differently which will effect the game . Teams have sussed that they have the full 90 mins to play their own game because ours will never change Whoever we put on the pitch . I actually think we're missing Matty Taylor who could come on and give something a little different in the no.10 role allowing Bobby to drop back and give our midfield a little energy ! 

[pillred]

2 hours ago, Baldyman said:

We have no ability to change our shape so are becoming easy to work out as games go on . Our strikers fade from half time onwards as our midfield runs out of steam . Brown hill , Patto and Kent are all similar types of player and nothing off the bench gives us the chance to do anything differently which will effect the game . Teams have sussed that they have the full 90 mins to play their own game because ours will never change Whoever we put on the pitch . I actually think we're missing Matty Taylor who could come on and give something a little different in the no.10 role allowing Bobby to drop back and give our midfield a little energy ! 

sound far to sensible, what are you doing on here, good luck with your opinions you may be right but they wont be very popular, you cant criticise on here as I have found to my cost.

[Ivorguy]

May I say that our major problem is not the quality of the players (although, of course, we need strengthening in some positions and this was not addressed in the window) but our problem is clearly on the coaching side of things - e.g. Teaching Fielding to distribute, teaching Kent to pass, playing Bryan in his best position, selecting a captain who can lead on the pitch, improving set pieces (e.g. Magnússon' s free kick just outside the box yesterday), general 90 minute fitness levels etc etc.