Dr Balls

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/tv/bristol-bears-go-back-to-attacking-as-owner-steve-lansdown-was-bored-with-rugby/ar-BB1lNX10?cvid=480deb1971ec45e18dae23fb2f005236&ei=25 If this is how Lansdown has felt about the rugby, goodness knows what he has thought of some of our home games recently. Excitement in terms of our playing “style” has been in short supply much of the time. And no I am not going to mention “that” game as a counter argument, although it was a return to how this team plays best.

Funny you should mention Paterson, because I would suggest that he’s a better player than Twine even now. Not that I would be looking to get him back either. The point being that there are better players with a greater Championship pedigree out there than Twine, who probably wouldn’t cost more in fees or wages. The advantage Twine has is that Manning clearly likes him and trusts him, evidenced by despite yesterday’s shocker, he wasn’t subbed off.

Out of those 6 previous games, the best performance was against Ipswich, when a draw would have been a fair result. We were lucky against Swansea, having been bobbins for most of the game, we were undone by a corner against Cardiff, but did nothing to deserve any more from that game, and the other 3 losses were deserved as we were really poor. I know it’s often said that the sign of a good team is one that wins when playing badly, but the opposite argument which fits us is that if you play badly most of the time you really can’t be that good!

The more I see the less convinced I am about Twine. Best performance was his first game against Watford when he scored. Since then it’s been diminishing returns and today he veered between anonymous in the first half to dreadful in the second. Are we more creative with him in the team? No. If anything in the same position, Mehmeti has looked better than him recently, which hardly suggests Twine is going to take us to the next level. Against all that though, is a shared history with Manning, so the likelihood is that he will want to sign Twine permanently whatever anyone us might think.

So unbeaten in the last 5 games, which is good, but the results have generally been better than the performances. Dreadful first half against Huddersfield today, a copy of the Swansea game last month, with not a single shot in the first 45 minutes. Last weekend indebted to Max for keeping a clean sheet against Sunderland. Good win against Leicester, decent performance versus Plymouth, while the Blackburn defence was giving away more gifts than Santa at Christmas! Happy we have the points, and defensively we look pretty good, accepting that we were missing both Dickie and Vyner today. However, still unconvinced that Manning has really cracked how to get us playing forward, particularly how to break down teams that sit in and play 2 banks of 4 across the pitch and are happy to watch us huff and puff in front of them with minimal penetration. Also very lucky to come away with a point this afternoon.

On recent performances the term “show pony” comes to mind. Thinks he is better than he is , but really isn’t all that good. Gave the ball away countless times today, offered little going forward, and had a shot near the end that was just a “look at me” punt when there were far better options available. He’s lucky we got the penalty or otherwise he could be up for belters over that one! Would I shell out £5+ million on him in fees and many thousands per week in wages on the basis of what we have seen so far? Absolutely not. He’s very lightweight and easily robbed of the ball at this level. He may have torn up League 1 a couple of years ago, but on a similar level, scoring all those goals in League 1 didn’t make Kieron Agard a championship level player.

Agree either King or Knight-Lebel could have played in the middle of a back three. We had nothing to lose so why not play them. With Tanner and Roberts there we had no height at all against a tall physical centre forward, and it showed.

They wasted at least the first 2 minutes of the added 5 with the shot to the midriff from distance, for which the player went down as if he had been hit by a sniper. Then there was their substitution with Sorba Thomas walking from the far side of the pitch to go off , hugging his teammates and waving to the Huddersfield fans in the Atyeo, so that was at least another 30 seconds. It all added up and the penalty award can’t have been more than 20 seconds before she was planning to blow for full time. Then it took ages to get taken, because of Huddersfield arguing and time wasting. Which is why there was only about 20 seconds played after the restart. All makes sense and perfectly managed by referee sticking to the rules of the game. God knows we have had some awful refereeing performances at home in the last few seasons and this definitely was not one of them!

Can anyone explain why we were playing Sykes behind Knight/ Knight ahead of Sykes on the right side until Williams went off? Made absolutely no sense and really didn’t work. Neither player looked comfortable playing out of position. That one’s on Manning.

The penalty was awarded in the 97th minute. The Huddersfield players then spent 2 minutes arguing with her about it and time-wasting, which earnt them 2 more yellow cards, and that’s why it wasn’t taken until the 100th minute. Huddersfield only have themselves to blame for such blatant time wasting, especially as it came back to bite them hard on the arse!

Playing James and Williams in central midfield in a 3-4-3 formation and shunting Knight out to the right forward position was bizarre. It didn’t work and we only looked any better when Knight went back into midfield as he at least looks to take and pass the ball forward. James and Williams were safety first, creativity zero today.

Proper centre forward, something we have missed since letting Chris Martin leave last January. Never been replaced and it shows.

Twine was awful today. When he wasn’t giving the ball away, he was weak in possession, wasting opportunities and generally just really poor. If I was a scout watching him today, I would have had nothing positive to report. Contrast the Huddersfield no. 8 Jack Rodoni who was awesome, should have scored, and set up their goal. I would pay £5 million for him over Twine as younger and more potential.

Unlikely being from Portsmouth that he would support ‘Uddersfield, but look forward to him attending “The Gate” next season and getting worked up to the point of exploding, especially if we have a female referee!!

The 24 finger derby as it’s otherwise known!

Stayed to the bitter end as I always do but my god it was poor today and I wouldn’t blame anyone who lost patience and left early. It was akin to the game against Swansea, especially as we again didn’t register a single shot on goal until about 60 minutes, and then it was the tamest of efforts. Yes we were missing Dickie and Vyner but the set up was wrong, with players playing out of position, and quite a few just being really poor. In today’s performance Burnley should be paying us to take Twine off their hands, but he wasn’t the only one to have a shocker. And please can we stop playing Jason Knight anywhere other than his best position in the centre of midfield. He’s become the Weimann of this team, far too good to be dropped but played out of position to accommodate other less good players.

This division is bonkers. Whoever of the top 4 doesn’t make it into the automatic places will be worried about facing a team on form in the playoffs. And the team currently best in the form table are Norwich. Until we do the unthinkable and win at Carrow Road next weekend!

The Noddy Holder “school” of spelling!

Like an even worse version of David Luiz as a defender - with obviously the same hairdresser!

Leicester away form is amongst the worst in the league. Lost their last 3 away games 1-0 against us, Millwall and now Plymouth. It’s only their home form that’s keeping them near the top.

1. Dickie - like a cross between the best parts of Webster and Flint. 2. O’Leary - a large reason why our goals conceded is the lowest it’s been for many seasons. 3. Knight - finally a goal-scoring midfielder, who can leap like a salmon; far better when he plays in midfield than up front. 4. James - you only realise what he must be doing when he isn’t playing. 5. Pring - not quite at last season’s stellar level but still one of the best left backs in the division. Honourable mentions: Roberts - play like he has the last few games and he is a shoo-in for top 5 players next season. Williams - finally looks like the player we thought we were getting years ago. Tanner - definitely improved defensively, but still fears getting a nosebleed every time he crosses the halfway line! Vyner - great defensively and quick, but a liability playing out from the back. Plays at least one telegraphed or badly misplaced pass every game. Conway and Wells - undone by the managerial change which means we almost never saw them play as a pair, instead feeding off scraps and defenders’ mistakes. Both lucky that the “Bristol City penalty drought” finally ended as otherwise they would have even fewer goals!

Can’t argue with those choices. The Cheese always deserved another chance after being crocked by Shilton in our first home game in the First Division in 65 years. Career-ending injury then but these days that’s not the case.

Less breathless more suffocatingly dull!

And that they started with 2 players considered as wingers in Grealish and Doku. Out with the new and in with the old?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68708981 Apparently no.44 shirt now withdrawn. Hardly surprising given the Nazi overtones.