mozo

Come on City, we need a winner to stay in contention for the playoffs!!

We're playing some nice stuff now. 3rd or 4th shot actually

City have taken control this half. Much better. Sykes just totally off it.

It's a strange one, because we clearly look like the better team technically, but they're doing the basics better and both teams wasteful in the final third. I think if we up our game by 10% we walk away with a forgettable 1-0.

It's a sign of the times that we're now thinking about Mehmeti as being a good option. I'd bring him on now.

No, but a win would make your apologist comment look a bit daft.

I must remember to quote this post when we score the winner

Besides that he's been sloppy. Feulling the Sykes thread atm

Finally some good play, probing down one wing back and round to the other wing and attack.

We praise O'Leary when he does things well, but his kicking isn't his finest quality and letting us down today.

Manning started strong if you look at the fixtures mate! It was something like 14 points from the first 8 games.

Agreed, I would definitely give JKL the opportunity. I suppose making McCrorie or Tanner sit out is a little harsh, but still, this is an ideal game for a young player.

No you've probably heard that Huddersfield is the biggest public toilet in the UK?

I really don't know how to answer your question. Will Huddersfield pose a different threat? Probably. Will we adapt? I don't know.

I think that's fine so long as you're open-minded and reasonable enough to give Manning credit if by October we're in or around the top 6.

I didn't follow this. Did we get relegated or not?!

That would be such a sweet end to the season

Even if he can't get there, he should absolutely be aiming to hit those levels. That what Nige and Co were trying get out of him I'd imagine. He's one that needs a carrot not a stick perhaps.

I spoke to one of the NP coaching staff about Sykes and he said that they made a point of bigging him up because the player was too modest, and maybe didn't realise he had the potential to play in in the Premier League.

That's a great suggestion, I'm just going to dig them out now and indulge in some after timer ridicule

A better phrase would have been shit form

The most frustrating thing during LJ's reign was that the same set of players could look like promotion candidates for a spell, then the exact same players would look meek and disjointed for a spell. Infuriating and unfathomable. They're the same bloody players!! The other weird thing about this, is if we think of the post-Easter form as proof that Manning finally hit upon the right formula, that's implying that we could have stormed it in those first 20 games too, which means promotion was there for the taking. I can't accept that to be true! My head hurts...

Interestingly, between GW 9 and 19 last season, we picked up 8 points from 11 games. Later, from GW 25 we went on a run of 17 points in a block of 10 games. So we had a lesson last year in patience. I find the symmetry quite telling, particularly as most of the players are the same. Execution and consistency are the tricky bits, I guess.

Just out of interest, do you think there was a consistency of intent last season?

I was just responding to your point about that run of games, but I think I've said a few times, I personally think that even 6 months is a small size (within reason!) For me, the fact that the effort levels were high, that we had spells of good play, a handful of very promising games and were only being edged out of games (WBA the only two goal margin), was enough for me to not give up hope. It's strange really, because despite neither of us having any particular prejudice for or against Manning we saw the performances so differently. Funny old game!