The Journalist

Obvious thing to say but this game is so open and so finely poised, it'd be nice to come out on the right side of it. Feels like ages since we last won that sort of game.

Missed the first 15 minutes and sounds like I timed it perfectly. We've had them absolutely rattled since the equaliser - shame we couldn't grab a second goal, because they won't come out and be that poor again after half-time.

Hopefully @Davefevs won't mind me speaking on his behalf - but I think the point was that the first half was all about getting a foothold in the game, feeling our way in, building confidence. That second half performance doesn't happen without the fight put in during the first half. In the form we've been in, you don't just turn up and play like all is rosy. I think *that* was the point.

I think we’ve done alright. More than alright.

Pretty bad innit? Solid enough start from us, keeping it simple and tight away from home, but neither team has strung more than three passes together.

Dreadful stuff so far. Wish I was on Virgin so I couldn’t watch it.

Is Bristol City’s new CEO. Slightly left-field but lots of experience at Crystal Palace.

“Beyond the usual voices who want him to fail”

Now hearing Pearson say “it might be a good thing for us to play away” in his post-match… just feels like the pressure is building (beyond the usual voices who want him to fail).

It’s the optics of it - he doubled down on it and it’s the sort of decision, if the result goes wrong, that’ll turn a board/fanbase.

Couldn’t really afford to lose this having played King again. In danger of becoming untenable.

Complete lack of desire in both boxes from James and then Semenyo.

Oh yeah, I didn't really mean that to sound quite as negative as it did reading back - the extra 1% or 2% is the most difficult to find and only the really special teams have it. I was more using the comparison to illustrate what that extra bit of quality/knowing how to win/ability to perform when it matters amounts to.

The discipline line is nonsense, but the sentiment is a really interesting one. Quite a good one to relate it to is the England white-ball cricket team IMO - they've elevated themselves to such an elite, world-class level whereby big games have become more run of the mill. Since 2018, just think of the number of must-win games they've come out on top in - even in the 2019 and 2022 World Cups when they lost a couple of iffy group matches, when they HAD to win they found a way - either by keeping it together under pressure or, as was the case in the two semi-finals, absolutely blowing the other team away. That's what the absolute top teams do. The England football team don't... and that's the difference.

Think we’ve played alright - just need to move it a bit quicker and take the ref out of the equation. Think a couple of times they’ve played through our press far too easily though.

Feels a bit weird that both of these things have been organised for the same half-time!

Possibly the most depressing - but relatable - single sentence I've read in two decades of browsing this forum.

How dare you come swanning in here trying to outdo my word count.

As someone who’s very much pro-Pearson, I do think there’s an interesting and worthwhile conversation to be had around his future. I’m probably a bit closer to the middle of the two polarising views you generally hear on this (his record his dreadful v it’s not his fault). There’s no doubt he inherited an absolute mess and, in my opinion, we needed an experienced leader more than we needed a top football coach to guide us through that and begin building something more sustainable. The whole culture needed to change and it went far beyond signing talented players. To use an example, there were numerous occasions during his first 6-12 months when he picked an XI that was clearly about improving culture rather than improving results - Nathan Baker had a spell at left-back, not because he was our best left-back but because he did a good job when thrown in as an emergency and his application and performance merited keeping the shirt. It was a selection purely to send a message. This is why many argue - and I agree - his results during that period are bordering on completely irrelevant and shouldn’t be used as a stick to beat him with now. When I look at the bigger picture, I see a far healthier club and squad than we had two years ago. I see a Mark Ashton-less hierarchy making better decisions, a group of players giving their absolute everything, an academy being properly utilised and some of the best young talent we’ve had in years. I think people forget the absolute apathy that engulfed the fanbase during the Holden ‘era’ - that, in my view, has gone. Whatever you think of him as a football coach, Pearson has created something we can get behind. And THAT is what we 100% needed above all else. I guess the key question, though, is when the free pass on results expires - and this is very much subjective and quite hard to quantify. For me, and to take this full circle, I do think it’s at least a conversation to now be had. I’ve always felt - and said this on this forum from quite early on - that while Pearson was the right person to set us on the path we needed to be on we wouldn’t complete that journey with him. He’s a leader and a manager, by his own admission, but there’s a point when, without the riches of other clubs, you need more than that at this level to be successful. So, ultimately, is it fair to think he should now be getting more out of what he’s got/created and could someone else pick up the baton and do a better job on the pitch? Well, quite possibly… The one massive ‘but’ hanging over that is next summer. And with the last of the legacy high earners out of contract and a strong likelihood we’ll at least lose our best player Scott, possibly Semenyo too, I’m genuinely unsure where that’ll leave us. For the record, I think Pearson will keep us up this year. I’ll stop rambling now but in summary… I do think it’s fair to start holding the manager to account much more for performances and results and entertaining the idea of moving on from Pearson is worthwhile, but the situation remains more complicated than many make out and it’s probably (but an uncomfortable probably) still safer to stick than twist.

I think this is the thing - we do have to keep playing like that! We know we’ve got it in us, but we need to make sure when we’re not quite on it we don’t just because ultra passive like we’re really guilty of every 2-3 games. As Nigel says himself, we need to turn our losses into draws instead of either being brilliant or woeful. No issue with losing games like last night in those circumstances - those aren’t our issue. As you say, we’re getting there but the next step - becoming consistent and a bit more hardened - is probably the hardest. It was arguably the one bit Lee Johnson never cracked in four years.

Biggest takeaway here is Beanhead pretending he's mates with Adrian Bevington.

So… you’re staying for the game this time?

We look more solid with a genuine midfield three.

Instant change in tactics - no splitting the centre-halves. Very much going back to basics on early evidence.

Wells has to take that early and chip the goalkeeper. Relatively easy finish.