Lack of Action Man

4 hours ago, REDOXO said:

Sometimes I feel like OLearys number one fan! 
 

If thee boy doesn’t get in the next Irish squad then there is no justice!

As for someone coming in, I think it’s inevitable he’s on the radar of ‘bigger’ clubs. Whether that amounts to a bid/bids who knows, but what I know is he has earned the respect of the players in front of him!

Was having this chat recently. He is surely deserving of a call up on current form.

Just now, Mr Popodopolous said:

Tbh in the case of Bird, Derby were clearly driving a hard bargain and are past their existential financial crisis..buying and loaning back for half a season isn't altogether uncommon.

Whether it is common or not, that type of transfer activity doesn’t inspire much confidence to the fans that the club are/were giving this season “a real go”. 
 

10 hours ago, stokes7 said:

Season was written off in the January transfer window 

This 100%.
 

Signing players in the January window that won’t be available until the following season? Yeah, that really inspires the fan base that were a dynamic and ambitious club (not).

45 minutes ago, Shauntaylor85 said:

Great side and brilliant result that day….why? Good recruitment, a midfield that created chances and scored goals, a manager who inspired the fans and dressing room and most important kept it simple, no square pegs in round holes, no clubs in the bags PR rubbish, no need for these modern head coaches who are over complicating an easy game if I’m honest! 

Spot on!

3 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

In respect of the last line, I kind of hope he does. If he “betrays” us and goes to another club it’s likely that opportunity will arise if he’s done well/acceptably for a period.

I’m in no doubt he’ll leave at the first available bus that takes him to a higher location. He owed Oxford and didn’t stay - he owes us nothing and is a polarising figure at best so his incentive to stay is arguably less than at Oxford.

But, if I had to put money on it, based on what we’ve seen so far, he’s more likely to leave with his sandwiches in a roadmap. My hope is that if he does make signings they are better than Murphy (injured), Twine (indifferent), Mebude (God knows) because if they aren’t we could be left in a little bit of a pickle if and when that does happen.

 

Are they his signings? Or are they players that Tinnion has proposed based on our “system” that Manning gets a day in? Mbude might be an exception to that, given the Man City link.

Either way, it doesn’t inspire confidence does it… 

4 minutes ago, kmpowell said:

 

1. The Shop stock (and availability) is different & separate to online stock (and availability).
2. All online orders are processed and fulfilled at Huboo warehouse, not the shop.
3. You are unable to buy anything from the shop over the phone and have it dispatched to you.
4. You are unable to reserve anything in the shop over the phone.
5. Getting somebody to answer the phone in-store is nigh on impossible.
6. Online orders cannot have personalisation (names/numbers) because online orders are processed at Huboo which has no printing facilities, and all stock can't be unwrapped during processing.
7. Click and collect isn't processed in-store, it's processed at Huboo and sent to the club shop for collection.
8. The shop staff have zero view of Huboo stock levels, and vice versa.
    

A complete & utter joke. 

Spot on.

Not sure what to make of city at the moment really. I was there to savour the 5-0 victory, which let’s not lie - was excellent. Yet today I was offered a game for my local amateur side. I went and played instead, and have to say I enjoyed it more than I would’ve done going to AG. 
 

Probably says a lot that the 5-0 win wasn’t enough to motivate me to come watch today, and find something else to do. 
 

Whilst rattles, whistles and peaky blinder-esque flat caps have gone the way of the dodo, somehow (despite the truly awful taste) Bovril persists on the terraces of UK football. 

7 hours ago, Roe said:

Lita?

This has all the makings of the Tony/Anthony Rougier moment again…

On the subject of shirts, those of us who ordered a heritage shirt must be hearing about a ready for collection date soon?

Also if you were one of those who snapped up the GK jersey before I was able to - I will booooo you

Radio Bris interview, he’s already waffling about behaviours and attitudes.

Great performance tonight, but LM makes it really hard for me to like him with his FA handbook media speak

Mbude is in danger of slipping into…

100% “pressure off” but at the end of the day winning breeds confidence and confident players perform. 
 

For the moment, LM is proving me wrong. Long May that continue!

This is looking likely to be another good performance, another 3 points and probably another clean sheet. All in all, I’m pretty chuffed.

Well done Liam - this is much more like it. Keep it up. 
 

Disclaimer: Blackburn are woeful.

Still in the game:

Luke Ayling.

1 hour ago, Sir Geoff said:

If that's the case I think he has misread the room. Imo performances and attacking intent / style of play are far more important than a couple of dull 1-0 wins.

Agreed

On 03/04/2024 at 23:58, ATRUEREDBLUE said:

Love the Forever Bristol City Podcast - but are they becoming too accepting of the clubs current strategy?

 

In short, yes they are. Ian and Mark culpable of this, whilst Neil, Tom and Dave P seem to be a bit more representative of the level of concern I’d say that a lot of fans have about the general mismanagement at the club from top to bottom. 
 

Ian had a lot of air time in the most recent episode, as a result he seemed to have the biggest opportunity to control the narrative of the pod.

Personally I’d like to see Tom back asap and more contributions from Neil who I rarely (if ever) find myself disagreeing with. The pod is certainly enhanced by both of them being present on the panel.

21 hours ago, Hello Dave said:

That’s the problem, I honestly don’t enjoy it anymore. There was a time when a defeat would ruin my weekend and a win would make it. Now, I couldn’t really give a ****, which is sad. If it wasn’t for the social side, I wouldn’t bother.

Same!

2 wins from 2. 2 clean sheets on the bounce.

Dare I say it?

Is this the beginning of something?

47 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Certainly not aiming at you, but if you watch the modern day era of football, and don’t understand what the role of players like Matty James and his ilk is, and their importance to the team, then you’re probably someone who thinks Kante or Makelele were rubbish too.

It is also possible to appreciate what a deeper lying midfielder does without getting a massive hard on over it? 
 

At risk of using a Keane-ism here, but many of the roles/tasks MJ is picked for are ultimately “his job” I.e. that which is expected of a player in that position.

We are fortunate he is very good at executing them, and filling that role. But I maintain he isn’t the type of player, or rather operates in a position, that I can write an overly enthusiastic post about

Nothing to do with the pervading “modern era vs old school” football argument for me. And FWIW Kante and Makelele were class.

3 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

I haven’t read past the post I responded to so apologies if it’s been covered. Every team needs a Matty James . You can’t have a Scott twine (who won’t be with us next season ) creating if you haven’t got a player like Matty . He’s not a defensive midfielder as such although I don’t like the modern fixation with pigeon holing players , especially midfielders . He moves players around . He’ll drag opposition players out of position by his subtle movement . He’s very good at finding space. It’s no coincidence we’re a poorer side when he’s not available & he’ll be a massive loss on & off the pitch next season . Players trust him . He’s a 7-8 out of ten every week . Take just 5 minutes of our next game to just watch him . I did against West Ham . He makes us tick 

On this point, I do agree.

If it was a choice of keeping MJ or JW, then it’s MJ for me (provided we go out and get that dynamic attacking midfielder to complement him - assuming Twine does not stay).

11 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

Killer passes are not his game . You’ve completely missed what he does. He knits us together he dictates games and our play goes through him . 

Not at all. If you read my subsequent contributions to this thread you’ll see I’ve addressed that in a subsequent post. I cannot deny that it’s a valuable contribution to the team but it ultimately isn’t what gets me out of my seat and excited/entertained. So for me personally, I struggle to get overly enthused or wax lyrical about MJ. 

He’s a good player, and he’s undoubtedly valuable to the style of play we want to achieve. However, I hope Twine is the advanced midfielder we’ve been lacking, and that the combination of them both will get me out of my seat, excited. 

9 hours ago, eardun said:

I think Manning is of the same view, which is why he brought Twine in. (Shame we couldn’t keep Scott longer of course).
 

 

Agree. If buts and maybes isn’t it. But yes, I do miss the raw dynamism of Alex Scott in our side. 
 

2 hours ago, RedEyez said:

His role in the team isn’t to be the one looking to make “the killer pass” thought, is it? 

If you’re unable to see what MJ role is and what he brings to the team I dunno what to say

I see his role and what he brings. It just doesn’t cause me to get overly fussed by it  

Perhaps I have a tendency to favour the more advanced lying midfielder, for their creativity and ability to run at defenders.

Having said that, as deeper lying midfielders go the best I have seen at AG (in recent memory) in a red shirt is easily Paul Hartley. Such a shame we got him at the end of his career. But he was a prime example of someone who kept things ticking over and was capable of spreading the play and getting us in on goal.

2 hours ago, 1960maaan said:

 

What did you think of Wade Elliot ?
All he did was be available , get and pass the ball t a Red shirt and keep us moving.

It's not all about killer balls or Hollywood passes , the game is much more than that. 
 

Didn’t mind him. Played a pivotal role in the team of that era. Complemented our style at the time nicely.

Think we benefited massively from having him and Freeman though. Elliot deeper, keeping things ticking over. Freeman pushing forward running at defenders or playing that killer pass. 
 

Maybe that’s the issue now? We lack not the Elliot-type player (MJ) but the Freeman-type one.