The Journalist

Has anyone ever taken their shirt off to celebrate, ran around like a lunatic waving it above their head but have another identical shirt on underneath to try beating the system?

Feel like that would be a mildly amusing celebration but surely been done already.

28 minutes ago, mozo said:

So in Manning's 10 wins, only 2 showed the right intent?

That’s clearly not what I said or even intimated, but also I think you know that.

We’ve been good this weekend and Manning deserves real credit for that.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your Easter Weekend after back-to-back wins.

3 minutes ago, DaveF said:

Would argue James has made as much if not more difference? James, Knight and Twine is a nice midfield 3.

Would agree with all of the above - but I maintain the biggest difference has been the intent.

Playing 20 yards further up the pitch against Leicester, going after the ball, closing people down, putting tackles in, playing at pace... All far more important than any personnel or formational change IMO.

Well done all. Forget about the results, two much more positive performances. That's more like it.

Missed the first half an hour, which was no bad thing by the sounds of it, but I've enjoyed watching us again today. Much more intent, much more pace and purpose.

This is the Bristol City I remember from earlier in the season. This is the Bristol City Liam Manning needed to tweak, not rip up.

Please keep going with this!

Unpopular opinion = Harry Kane is a far better player than Erling Haaland.

If we play with that intensity and aggression every game Liam Manning won’t have any problems.

But we haven’t been. We’ve been powderpuff, we’ve been negative and we’ve sat off teams. Often poor teams and in front of our own fans. And our level of intensity and aggression has nothing to do with the opposition, that’s down to us.

We won’t always get it right and that’s fine. But he has to learn from today. That is on him.

1 minute ago, gornagain said:

We are beating a premiership team and all you can do is make a snide comment

They're a Championship team and just a bit of fun, innit? I've already posted more than once in this thread about how well we're playing compared to recent weeks.

Ultimately, this is an internet forum and you're swearing at people. Hope you enjoy the rest of the game and have a good Easter weekend. x

Just now, gornagain said:

Stfu

Excuse me?

Brian will be talking about this game for weeks.

Dare I say it, Manning's changed the game a bit here with his subs... 

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Good first half.

Amazing what a of intent has when we press rather than block.  It’s like a pentagon with the two DMs, both 10s and TC, but importantly the DMs are 20 yards higher than normal.  Why only now are we doing that?

James excellent, Pring too both ways.

Posted this inside the first 10 minutes:

"We're a much better team when we actually try to get the ball back off the opposition rather than just letting them have it.

"Clearly playing about 20 yards higher up the pitch already."

It was clear immediately there was a complete approach/attitude change to recent games.

We're a much better team when we actually try to get the ball back off the opposition rather than just letting them have it.

Clearly playing about 20 yards higher up the pitch already.

On 24/03/2024 at 17:24, Davefevs said:

what a wonderful season of missed opportunity.

They worked so hard to get promoted last season (always hard when it’s only one promotion spot available), and then playing WSL games at AG too.

We can see from the men’s side, SL is bored of it.

Just sell it / give it away and enjoy Le Mare Golf in Guernsey.  Put yourself and us fans out of our / your misery.

 

 

And the worst bit is the big clubs are only going to keep getting bigger and the gap is just going to get wider.

We'll reach a point where the elite women's teams are basically uncatchable just as they are in the men's game.

And we'll look at back at this period and wonder why we didn't go for it.

Standard stuff under this ownership, unfortunately.

10 minutes ago, transfer reader said:

So you'd rather wait then moan they're cashing in on good results.

Lose/lose for the club then.

Not at all, but obviously football clubs can get away with a lot more when things are going well and the fanbase is onside. I'm not talking about a couple of good results, I'm talking about when there's generally a better feeling about the place. Obviously results contribute to that, but it's not just about results. It's about perception and, to use the same word again, feeling.

Just to use an example, if I'm still not being clear enough - Lee Johnson talking about bottles of wine with Jose Mourinho ahead of the Man Utd cup tie was lapped up and loved at the time because the fans were up and things were going well.

If Lee Johnson gives an identical answer to that question during his final season ahead of the same cup tie but when fans are getting frustrated with how things are going and becoming bored of his David Brentisms the reception is completely different.

Edit: Just to add, as @Silvio Dante says, the idea is a dreadful one full stop. But I still think *if* you're committing to it you can pick your moment.

Just now, transfer reader said:

Or perhaps it's just the time the stuff was ready?

If they'd waited for us to win 3 on the bounce the same people would be say it's capitalising on a few good results.

It's a frankly stupid thing for people to give a shit about one way or the other.

I understand where you're coming from but if you really want to run with it, maybe just park the whole thing until the club - or Zak himself - is doing better? When there's a better feeling about the place?

The broader point is as a club we're just absolutely horseshit at reading the room.

1 minute ago, Northern Red said:

It's a bit weird but I'm not getting the outrage tbh.

Surely nobody is actually outraged? It's just funny/weird.

When you think about it... the team 14th in the Championship, off the back of losing six of their past seven games, have decided it's a good time to release a clothing range alongside a solid and reliable but not spectacular mid-20s centre-half.

I mean... what?!

We're a bloody weird club.

Just now, GrahamC said:

So have I but occasionally his nonsense gets through (especially if others quote him).

Every time I see him talking about Gary Johnson in a thread I picture myself holding you back in a bar shouting "it's not worth it Graham, the bloke's an idiot".

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Really irritating facts, aren’t they?

I've had to put him on ignore. I just couldn't go through it anymore, so you're a better man than me.

5 hours ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

GT became very accomplished although he was very Rovers biased initially for some time, regularly interviewing his old Rovers mates 'Ollie', 'Boris' Mehew etc and reliving their old dressing room in -jokes and chumminess, which was irritating, and it took him some years before he cut out that crap and emerged as the respected figure he eventually became among City fans.

Don't forget he left RB at one time to become assistant to Hollowhead at Rovers and had a bit of a nightmare in his early RB days with his OTT countdown to 'Judgment Day' before a Bristol derby which ended in serious trouble.

He certainly became a good interviewer and held SL to account, although I saw less evidence of probing questions towards Rovers!

Sims and Ray are long term fans and Owers and Honor previous long serving players who have genuinely strong feelings the club so I think we're better served than ever for City representation on RB, None of these are interviewers to compare with GT at his best when it comes to pushing awkward questions although I think Owers is definitely showing recent signs of getting there.

Hoskin, Durden and Hadwin all have to commentate and chat about Rovers just as much as the do City so they can't be partisan in any way even if one of the local clubs was in their blood (which they aren't) and as non Bristolians this suits them, as does having ex-City players with more knowledge and experience of the club to talk things over with.

They all let themselves down in my book by screaming about 'fantasic play by Rovers', 'brilliant goal by the gas', 'the Mem's rocking' etc none of which seem remotely possible to me but it's part of the job to appear excited and hype them up I suppose.

.

 

 

I’ve never understood why they’ve not gone down the route of having dedicated City and Rovers reporters like most stations of a similar size.

They’ve kept everything pretty comfortable for a long time now and, like much of BBC English Regions, are probably a bit guilty of the whole “we’re doing it this way because this is how we’ve always done it”.

That said, working in local radio sport is bloody difficult. People almost become trapped in it because there’s simply no pathway or route to a bigger/better level, and subsequently no turnover of staff, which personally I think is really unhealthy.

It’s basically the primary reason I got out of it within 18 months or so. I scratched the itch of commentating on Bristol City for the BBC - which was a bit of a dream come true - but sticking around wasn’t going to do much for my career.

47 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Some interesting stats, after a few games under LM I thought we started to change style and seen some good signs without maybe the results.

Over the recent group of games we have regressed and at times gone away from trying to keep the ball and gone back more to how we played under nige of hitting hopeful balls in behind teams into the channels and trying to catch them, but in reality give the ball away quickly. The difference under Nige we pressed very well and won the ball back alot high up the pitch.

I never wanted NP sacked nor did i want LM, but equally do not pretend the football was always that great either under NP.

It's understanding why LM has gone away from Manningball he was trying to introduce to something that sits between the 2 styles and so ineffective. Comments have been made about stubborn to not change, but I think he has and for the worse.

Maybe trying to be to clever and altering our game plan each time we play depending the opponents?

lack of consistency of starting line up?

Maybe down to player confidence, we seemed to be moving the ball slow and with a lack of movement, players lacking bravery to take a player on when it's easier to play backwards.

Have we been missing James much more than we realise?

LM needs to start showing very quickly he can get results and has ideas on how the team will be set up and play next season otherwise the rest of the fans will follow those who want him out and maybe the people who make the decisions will also loose faith

 

 

I always qualify this sort of thing by saying many of you watch way more of us than I do, but this is one thing that's definitely stood out to me too.

It was pretty obvious when he first came in he wanted us to be more patient/less aggressive both in and out of possession, but we've gone from picking our moments to press to actually just letting the other team have the ball and sitting in a lower block.

I wasn't really convinced what he was trying to do from the outset really suited us, in all honesty, but what we've been for the past dozen games or so is so far away from the team he inherited. It's been a complete car crash.

Has the squad surprised him? Is it not what he expected? Has he lost trust in the players? Or is the message just not getting across?

Whatever it is, it's pretty major alarm bells for me when a manager goes down that sort of road - especially within 4/5 months!

22 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Good points & you’re right, it could be too soon or we find out that he’s not cut out for management.

However the alternative (unless we sack Manning with someone else lined up, which we clearly didn’t do last time) is to do nothing & that’s not an option.

I just don’t get Dean Holden vibes about King, I think he could transition to the dugout quickly, you don’t have the career he’s had without a bit of ruthlessness.

The backdrop is a mess but if you look at Gary O’Neil (I know he had managed for a short spell before) he walked into a shambles at Wolves & has done a brilliant job.

Yeah - I’m not saying it’s a reason not to give it to King, just that it’s a concern.

Bit what isn’t a concern with this lot?!

I’ve gone for Manning - but only on the assumption having to sack the manager will lead to Steve Lansdown reigning Tinnion in a bit.

Tinnion is part of the problem, but the overall problem still remains the overall structure.