Fuber

4 minutes ago, Travis said:

Pointless reply if all "fans" do is moan go glory hunt elsewhere.

Get someone to explain to you.

Fans have opinions - good and bad - as performances and results dictate. Its not up to you to decide whether fans should/not be able to have a vent on a board which is for all fans. At the end of the day.

Just now, Travis said:

Is a win positive today then? "La Di La Di La" - that is a laughable comment 

Consensus seems to be what I've read that; great, three points, we should now avoid relegation.

The inverse seems to be worry that all this has done if provide Manning time that he, longer terms, may not be qualified for nor deserve based on results and performances during his tenure.

Which considering overall 10-game form - 3W, 2D, 5L, seems fairly balanced to me.

1 hour ago, Sandhurst Red said:

Another 'look at me, look at me' post. Simply put - Bore off. 

If you don't like it, don't go. Stop making yourself out that you're important. This place has become so negative and poisoned, and irrespective of the football, it's down to the attitude of the posters. 

Yes today was poor. And yes we've not been great recently, but give Manning a chance. We saw far worse games under Pearson.

Name them. I'll start - Stoke and Birmingham we can all agree were poor under NP, however, I'd argue I could name three Manning fixtures worse. Sheff Wed, Cardiff, QPR (H+A), Preston (A), Millwall - all immediately spring to mind.

Guarantee the numbers don't favour Manning - who didn't (and shouldn't) have the excuse of injuries for the majority of his tenure so far considering we've also had a window to strengthen in the interim.

The only period under Pearson anywhere near as bad to performances under Manning was when he first had to step in - with a horrific squad culture, CEO running down his contract and bleeding £375kpw down the drain on life support with regards to FFP.

Just now, Travis said:

Think a lot fans need to glory hunt and support the top 4 sides of the Prem. Bristol City is not for you.

Pointless comment - we wouldn't be here discussing the club if we didn't care.

41 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

Does anyone think we can compete with the top 6,8 or 10 with wage structure and FFP? 

If we had competent people - why not?

On paper we have one of the highest commercial/stadium incomes in the league (events, concerts etc), which gives us a leg up over those with legacy or smaller grounds (Rotherham, Preston, QPR, Millwall, even Norwich).

Brentford and Sheff Utd managed it with similar turnovers.

38 minutes ago, Charlie BCFC said:

You don’t think Sykes and Roberts changed the game then? 

Not hard to do when you haven't had a shot at goal up to the point of the sub. And when you're inexplicably starting Cornick instead of Sykes in the first instance.

16 minutes ago, cotswoldred2 said:

Why concentrate on the negative, we were tight and how many shots did they have ?

Exactly....

If you crave entertainment go to the cinema...football is not a guaranteed outcome.

Are you braindead?

8 minutes ago, Tim Monaghan said:

Because that’s my opinion. He needs a summer to bring in some of his own players etc. He’s trying to build something. I don’t expect you to agree with me and that’s fine. 

I'd agree if I saw evidence of him getting a tune out of more than one player in that squad today.

The only one is Mehmeti for me - Conway, TGH, Pring, have regressed since he's come in. But that's merely my observation and therefore an opinion.

15 minutes ago, The Nest Egg said:

Clearly a crap game today but Birmingham at home was the worst this season, 2-0 flattered us massively

Disagree - Birmingham remain the most complete away performance I've seen this season alongside Leeds.

I can appreciate when opposition play well. Both were examples of being too good for us.

Hands down worst attendance and atmosphere since back in the Championship.

41 minutes ago, TDarwall said:

Eustace is odd in that a)decent career, b) decent managerial Job @ Brum, c) not trying to play like Pep, yet struggling to get a tune out of what looks a 1/2 decent Blackburn squad.

Blackburn were always going to struggle this season after losing Brereton (for free) end of last season.

One too many players not sold when they should have been to maximise profit and reinvest. 

We did it right, yet are only three points ahead of them - so the key issue is either manager (Manning), or how we reinvested (Tinnion), or both.

2 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

But Brian thought he had a job for loaf , took his eye off the Boule though 

Thought he was a on a roll the delusional moron. Needs his bread examined.

11 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

Might leave Brian a bit sour dough

Oh crumbs. Poor Brian.

If Manning is let go, and by some miracle Tinns was removed. We could do worse than Mark Warburton in as DoF. 

Then I wouldn't mind a younger/inexperienced coach out of work but would be a bit of a statement - Van Nistelrooy as an example.

Leave me alone - I can be optimistic in my dreams.

6 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

And yet still safe by a win plus goal difference. Looks like you've given us one win, three draws, and six presumably narrow losses to land on 50 with -9.

So as many people point out - not pretty, not good to see, but also crucially not actually any threat of actual relegation.

I assume that your prediction doesn't have us dipping into the relegation zone at any single point either?

Maybe my definition of a "relegation battle" is wildly out of line with everyone else's? But we're not in it. 

Stoke are. Huddersfield are. QPR are. We are not.

My results were due to the prediction that we beat Rotherham - and even then I had no faith we actually will - i.e. we turn up thinking they'll roll over rather than be professional like Coventry were the other week.

1 minute ago, bearded_red said:

Still find it impossible to believe we’re actually in any trouble. Too many teams need to make up points, we probably only need 6/7 points to be safe and whether we play well or badly there’s rarely many goals in our games which should see you come out on the right end of the result enough.

However, if we don’t get a result this weekend then we could definitely be in trouble after the Leicester game. 
 

Utterly ridiculous this is even being thought and spoken about to be honest. What a self sabotage of a season.

What worries me - is that Swansea's record away, in the last five games have been DLWWD. The loss being Leicester. We need to put in a performance like we did at Ipswich, but show more steel.
They've beaten Sunderland, who we scraped past at AG, and Hull - who had some great recruitment in Jan and have since gone five unbeaten (2W, 3D).

2 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

And you know what. People get agitated about dropping into relegation so often. But what was the bottom seven on Christmas Day?

Same seven teams. 

So for all the form, all the slumps, all the manager changes and the rallies from different teams.

It's the same shite at the bottom as it was 13 matches ago.

Birmingham, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday, and Millwall in their last three games have more points than we've gotten in 5. Doesn't bode well.

I got curious and decided to have a crack at a few predictions myself using a template and a spare five minutes with array formulae.

Did not like my pessimistic results - way too close for comfort.

12 hours ago, Cole Not Gas said:

I think you may mean under Pearson the late goals used to kill us; both in terms of points and supporter loyalty. He was an average defender in his day and he couldnt coach our decent defenders to save his life (job). Good riddance

Pearson (finally, almost completely) solved that this season though.

The only game iirc we conceded a winner in last ten or added time, was Stoke.

8 hours ago, S_C said:

I absolutely believe that the manner in which he arrived is contributing to the current mood. That isn’t to say the mood would be dramatically different but I absolutely believe that if JL/BT had been more honest, if they’d thanked Pearson for his work in righting the ship and stated Manning is a promising young coach who will need time and understanding to adapt to the Championship, I think plenty would be more forgiving.

Everyone knew the top 6 squad stuff was nonsense, I’m not implying fans swallowed it and are now confused why we aren’t 5th, but they massively fumbled both Pearson's exit (in creating a false narrative about someone who had been hugely media savvy in the run up to his departure) and Manning’s appointment. It left a sour taste in a fanbase already sceptical of the hierarchy, whilst lumping Manning in their corner as their man. It created undue pressure. Had they not, I think for some the tone shifts to ‘we’ve had some good performances, look at Watford, look at Southampton, a nice win over PL West Ham, there are signs of potential, but he needs to improve if he’s going to take us forward' rather than ‘out of his depth, get rid.’

I do get the criticism regarding trying to impose his style of play on a set of players that aren’t suited to it, but managers come in with their own ideas and methods. He isn’t going to play the same style/system as his predecessor, and I think 10/15 games is probably around the mark you’d realise what you want to do might not work. It’s all well and good criticising that he isn’t being flexible but you don't get the green light to implement your methods, struggle for 4 games, and then revert to what the bloke who just got fired was doing. Clearly it will take time, either for it to work or realise it isn’t. Even if its acknowledged that the players don't quite fit, that must be known prior to appointment, otherwise BT/JL sat in an interview with LM and said 'What we're looking for is exactly how we're playing now..'

His first 10 games were W4 D3 L3. I’d say that’s pretty fine and argue, actually, that he’s therefore had 15 games to consider what he’s trying to do might be too much too soon. For what it’s worth, we’ve had 14 games between 1st Jan and 2nd Mar, several against PL teams, including an ET and demoralising penalties loss. That’s a lot of games, many against superior opposition. Though I don’t condone it and acknowledge its dangers, there’s been an air throughout that we’ll finish mid table. It's his responsibility to manage that of course, but it isnt hard to see how complacency and fatigue, both physically and mentally, can set in.

As has been said elsewhere, poor and lose to Swansea and the club are staring down both barrels. I can’t help but feel, though, that whilst both Pearson and Manning had their challenges, Pearson’s were used to excuse him whereas Manning’s are brushed aside.

Depends on the period you're comparing.

Manning doesn't exactly have many excuses outside of it not being his squad.

He inherited a strong culture. He inherited a near fully fit squad after players such as Vyner returned from impact injuries. We were in a stable position four points off playoffs.

Outside of the former I can't really think of any that apply to him, that didn't apply to NP also at least, such as dealing with Crayon-boy and Tinns above him, etc.

Pearson, Marsch, Duff. In that order (provided they want the job).

1 hour ago, Jacki said:

I don't disagree with the logic here but I can't see them sacking Manning even if we lose to Swansea. We tend to support managers through poor runs of form (LJ and Nige both benefitted from that), and there is no way that Tinnion and JL are going to want to admit they've got it so horribly wrong this quickly. IMO anyway - I just can't see it. 

I think Manning will stay until after the international break, and they'd only get rid if we really did look like we were going down. Which is entirely possible the way things are going at present. 

 

 

Let's be real - NP inherited one of worst squad culture situations including the Wilson Drinking culture I've seen since I supported City and anybody could see it - 12 players were out of contract that summer and only 1 iirc signed a deal.

Non-starter of a comparison regrading the context of the situation - has been pointed out time and again.

24 minutes ago, TheReds said:

Any reason why the OP never chose 15 games? 

What were the 3 games before those 12, I just had a look.....  Watford - won, Hull - won, Sunderland - won, so add those 9 points and where would we be?

As much as I am certainly not convinced by what has happened, and probably agree that it actually seems we have regressed, it does show that plenty on here will choose what to present to suit their own stance (both sides too).

12 games is 12 games, I could easily look at the last seven.

With all respect - it matters sweet **** all when the momentum on paper the smaller the sample to present gets, it gets worse not better.

12 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

Imagine.

Imagine we’d not lost the last three and we’d gone to second in the league and matched them for most of the game. There wouldn’t be any real negativity. The negativity, quite understandably, is driven by wider factors. But tonight, in isolation, wasn’t horrific.

I think until we went ahead Manning got it spot on. The first half was boring as hell, but contained them. This led to frustration from Ipswich and we reacted well - we could have been two up easily. What was totally noticeable though is how much better we were when attacking at pace. Real lesson there.

I do go with that after we went ahead that McKenna managed the game better than Manning. Our second was great but a bit against the run, and not even making a disruptive sub when things were drifting last ten is a big no no.

I said pre match that what happened changed nothing. It really doesn’t. It was better, but similar concerns remain. If Liam was a 4 last three games he’s a 7 tonight. But the aspects that drive that grade down are still there.

Not hanging him in isolation and 2/3 good tonight. But it’s still not enough.

I mean. If it wasn't for Max, it finishes 4-2.

That comes from not taking Pring off or adjusting shape by Manning due to Ipswich's changes. 

11 hours ago, petehinton said:

Sounds like it’s ANOTHER bad hamstring injury picked up, this time for Cornick. 
 

Good thing Tinnion & JL didn’t publicly blame the previous medical team for our injury problems (when 90% were in-game injuries), they’d really be looking very ******* stupid if they did. 
 

Oh….

*pretends to be shocked*

1 minute ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

That nails it I think. Big gap between perception and reality. He has the image of a dinosaur which is nonsense.

We saw 3 or 4 tactical phases, iterations in his time here. We were continuing to develop until the failure to replace Scott.

Second Tier are perhaps somewhat biased as there is at least one Derby fan in there, Dilks iirc and they (Derby fans) really don't rate him. His short stint there probably the reason why.

Which never made sense to me when you have Mental Mel flying drones over training sessions, but sure the manager is to blame.