CliftonCliff

And by the way, I’ve forgiven you now, after a few sherbets, but please don’t go upsetting me like that again. (Nathan Jones is an odious bastard, isn’t he? And the total antithesis of NP.)

Absolutely one hundred per cent spot on. But quite a lot of people don’t appear to understand what you’re referring to. Compare it, if you like, with the England setup. Gareth Southgate is a man of considerable personal integrity, for whom I have a good deal of respect. Without getting too carried away, there are certain parallels. You don’t, as a rule, get players now who seem indifferent about whether they play for their country or not. Not so many, if any, late withdrawals with suspect “injuries”, and the young men who play for the national team seem to conduct themselves in a much more restrained and respectful manner. They are very committed. You don’t often hear it mentioned, but actually it’s a huge cultural shift. Not many John Terry types around nowadays. Phil Foden got into bad company, and got sent home with Mason Greenwood a few years back. He won’t make that mistake again. And at Ashton Gate, no more Marley Watkins hiding away from training, either, or Bakinson strolling around like he’s on a frigging nature ramble. I’m rambling myself a bit now, but I kind of see Nige as City’s Southgate. Just watch what happens if he goes. And I wouldn’t put it past SL. I don’t weigh in when people are having a pop at the owner, because he’s done a huge amount for the club. Established Championship status, massive stadium upgrade: I doubt those things would would have happened without him. He understands finance, and land, and buildings, and business development, and, and, and… But he doesn’t get people (or football, either, sometimes). We have a diamond in Pearson. He’s a very unusual guy, as football managers go, and in the immortal words of Joni Mitchell, you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone. I’ve had too much wine. I hate to think what the response will be when I wake up in the morning with a headache and log on. But maybe someone will get what I’m driving at. Good night all. Over and out.

Just started reading this thread and this is as far as I got. You just ruined my Sunday. Going to log off now, sit in the sun in the garden with a glass of wine, and try to eradicate that thought from my mind. And I'd been in such a good mood all weekend after yesterday's result, up until that point. Killjoy.

I simultaneously started another thread saying exactly the same. Maybe somebody can merge.

Championship at its topsy-turvy best with some surprising scores. Huddersfield won away at WBA, QPR likewise at Boro. Rotherham beat Norwich. Southampton trashed by Sunderland. Don't you just love this terrific league? Especially on a day when we put in a cracking performance and win away. An uplifting antidote to the gloom of recent days.

Hard to pick one of the midfield three above the others, but I thought Joe W was immense today. So heartening to see him looking at last like the player we thought we'd originally signed. Big part of the reason we won and showed much improved physicality after being out-muscled on a couple of occasions by previous opponents. Just so many good aspects of our play today to celebrate. Made my day. I'm going to have a beer.

One of the very best performances I've seen under Pearson, not just the quality of our attacking play, but how we saw it out. Would have been a travesty if we hadn't got something out of that game. Really gives you hope after a disappointing week.

We are battering them. Bell outstanding. How the hell have we not scored?

For those who are questioning Bell, several reminders already as to why he is rightfully selected ahead of Mehmeti.

So bloody frustrating. We are by far the better side.

Yep, pretty much as expected, though you have to feel for Dickie a bit: done little wrong, and he is comfortable with ball at feet and perfectly capable of playing out from the back, so it is arguably quite a tight call between him and Naismith. Tanner I have a lot of time for and I think he will develop into a good Championship full back, but he's still young and he did have a very tough day at the office on Tuesday evening. Mehmeti, by almost an universal consensus, was poor in midweek and, whilst technically skillful, has an awfully long way to go in terms of acquiring Champ level football intelligence. Unsurprisingly, currently low on confidence. Bell is also a better finisher and more likely scorer. So. all in all, given who's unavailable, hard to argue much with any of that. A good performance and some sort of result would give everybody a lift after what's been a rather deflating few days. If there is any good to come out of it, it is that expectations have undergone a realistic reset, whilst at the same time there has been a groundswell of positive sentiment towards Pearson, who previous critics are now at least prepared to cut some slack on the grounds that he's having to do the job with one hand tied behind his back. Maybe we can build on that.

It was clear to see from the start that he has technical skills on the ball. What was quite quickly called into question, and will continue to be questioned, based on his performances so far, is his football intelligence, in which I personally can see very little development at the moment. It’s disappointing, but one hopes it is just a matter of time, perseverance and patience.

I may have missed it, but I haven't seen anywhere any reference to the fact that the match is not being live-streamed on Robins TV. Am I wrong in thinking that in previous seasons, Friday night games have often been shown? Not on Sky, either, as far as I can see, so just wondering why RTV can't cover it. Hull not willing to grant permission?

Absolutely spot on

Not the first time in this tournament that I’ve been seriously unimpressed by this particular referee.

That could be game over… Pen seems inevitable.

Also no.39, Ekwah, very tidy and uncomplicated.

Massively so. And frankly, pretty jammy with it, as well.

Interesting and very detailed analysis. Lot of time and thought obviously gone into that, thank you. On a much more simplistic level, I would focus on one single issue from the match and that would be physicality. I don't think it would be a huge exaggeration to say we allowed ourselves to be bullied for much of the game. Players were harassed into hurrying their passes, which were frequently misplaced as a result. Even James's customary composure was disrupted, causing him to rush things and not find his intended target, and you don't see him get flustered very often. Someone said on another thread something to the effect that we lack a tough, ball winning midfielder. It's valid point. Many of us thought that Joe Williams would be that player when he signed: he certainly was for Wigan. That it hasn't turned out that way is not his fault and is largely down to his rotten luck with injury. I know it's not an aspect of the game that purists value highly, but the Championship can be a brutal league, as we all know. You have to be able to cope with this stuff and I don't think we did. Preston were a big, strong side and they won't be the only ones to fit that description this season. I entirely agree about the impact that Scott's absence had. Not only would he have been able to turn players in midfield; he would also have drawn a lot of fouls and won free kicks in dangerous areas, which might well have forced Preston to tone it down a bit, for fear of incurring more bookings. That said, it would not have solved the problem altogether. We were muscled off the ball too often. An intentionally one-dimensional take on it, as I said at the top, but I think it is worth emphasising.

High quality Championship game and a missed opportunity for Coventry. Puts yesterday’s fare at AG in perspective.

Fair comment. I don’t disagree for a moment that he underperformed here, for whatever reason, and didn’t justify his high earnings. Nor do I have any criticism of the decision to let him go, which was fully justified. It will be galling, though, if he plays like this all season and Coventry finish top six again.

Great finish. Looks like Coventry will pay the price for missed chances. They could have put the game to bed before DH scored.

He looks like the player we briefly saw here when he had the movement of Adobe ahead of him. Coventry’s front men are making some good runs and KP’s passing has been for the most part spot-on. He’s a dangerous and creative player in this form, and with Hamer in there as well Coventry pose a real threat. I think they are likely to replicate their performance of last season, even without Gyokeres.

I know you're being ironic, that it's a rhetorical question and you (and nearly everyone else) already know the answer, but I can't resist supplying it anyway, for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with Albert Einstein's famous reply, when asked to define madness: "Repeating the same actions and expecting a different outcome". Devastatingly simple. By this criterion, I am, as a supporter of 62 years and counting, completely stark, raving bonkers. I'm in good company, though: what's the total membership of OTIB...?

Probably my number one grievance about the way the game is refereed. It drives me absolutely nuts watching players standing over the ball to delay a free kick from being taken, thus negating much of the benefit of the kick being awarded in the first place, and referees doing nothing whatsoever about it. I’ve thought for years that if bookings were issued for this, you would see it stamped out in pretty quick time. If it’s true this change is coming, and equally if not more important, if it’s enforced rigorously and consistently, it will have eliminated one major scourge of modern football. Bring it on.