Match Report: Lloyd banks City crucial three points

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Jacki said:

One thing that stood out for me was just how poor Maenappa is on crosses. At least 4 times he punched (flapped) the ball away when it was right down his throat....  it would have far been easier to catch it than try what he did.

Agreed 100%

2 hours ago, 1bristolcity said:

Plenty of games left for a challenge for a top 6 at the very least, look at Fulham last season.?  

No chance whatsoever imo. There are no signs of us being a team being able to challenge anywhere near the top end at the moment, not creating anywhere near enough chances. I hope I am wrong, but just see a bit of struggle until the end of the season as we are just too inconsistent and look very average at best as things stand. 

[Dullmoan Tone]

3 hours ago, Sturny said:

So do people think we should drop Pack for Smith as soon as we can? 

Not sure about this as Smith has an engine (when fit) but is not really capable of dictating play.

One thing that did strike me was how poor Adelakun was at this level - he needs loads of games or a Div 1 loan as quick as possible.

 

[Numero Uno]

3 hours ago, italian dave said:

To be fair, they were at least decent punches last night. I agree he tends to punch when I’d rather he caught, but I guess he’s the one out there making the judgement. Flapping is not doing either, and I didn’t think he was guilty if that. 

I think he is what he is: a fairly late, semi-panic signing, when we failed to land our first, second and third choice keepers during the summer. I’d fully expect that position to be near the top of the list again next summer, and that’s if we don’t get the American in Jan. 

Agreed. Flapping is when the ball goes about 5 yards when you try and punch it. Whilst I prefer to see the keeper catch at least the punches were going 20-30 yards, that’s the important thing.

[Numero Uno]

3 minutes ago, Dullmoan Tone said:

Not sure about this as Smith has an engine (when fit) but is not really capable of dictating play.

One thing that did strike me was how poor Adelakun was at this level - he needs loads of games or a Div 1 loan as quick as possible.

 

To be fair to Adelakun he’s had months out injured and will take a few more games to get up to speed at a level he needs to get used to. Don’t see the point loaning him to League 1 as we know he can tear it up at that level. Looks like a player who will be world beater one week and panel beater the next atm. Might be better used as an impact sub until he finds his feet.

[Shtanley]

Eliasson has to start on the left from now on. Him and Kelly have genuine chemistry and showed it early on in the season in games like Swansea.

[CyderInACan]

Great write up as ever, Rob. The pun in the title hasn’t escaped me either. Muito bem. 

[Sturny]

32 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

To be fair to Adelakun he’s had months out injured and will take a few more games to get up to speed at a level he needs to get used to. Don’t see the point loaning him to League 1 as we know he can tear it up at that level. Looks like a player who will be world beater one week and panel beater the next atm. Might be better used as an impact sub until he finds his feet.

If he’s fast he definitely sounds like a good impact sub 

[Dullmoan Tone]

2 minutes ago, Sturny said:

If he’s fast he definitely sounds like a good impact sub 

He still needs to control the ball (he twice spurned great chances, in a good positions, when his touch let him badly down - exactly the stuff we were annoyed at Fam for).

[Lrrr]

1 hour ago, Dullmoan Tone said:

Not sure about this as Smith has an engine (when fit) but is not really capable of dictating play.

One thing that did strike me was how poor Adelakun was at this level - he needs loads of games or a Div 1 loan as quick as possible.

 

O'Dowda, Brownhill and Elliasson all took a season before showing what they can do at this level. Think he needs time with us to also pick up what we want from him in training sessions rather than just getting game time in a different teams system. 

[RedEyez]

1 hour ago, Sturny said:

If he’s fast he definitely sounds like a good impact sub 

Looked like he was running in knee high mud last night to be honest!

All jokes aside, he is still not fully match fit and I'm sure he'll be a great asset once up to speed.

[exAtyeoMax]

1 hour ago, CyderInACan said:

Great write up as ever, Rob. The pun in the title hasn’t escaped me either. Muito bem. 

Took me ages to get the last one...doh

[Major Isewater]

4 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Genuine question but is there a chance he is affected by a drop in status in the dressing room pecking order? Let me explain my complete guesswork.

For the past three seasons we had a core of Flint, Bryan, Pack, Reid, Smith and Fielding. Well known to be mates on and off the pitch. In particular Flint, Pack and Bryan were regularly seen to be good mates off the pitch, golfing together, those Vegas trips, I think even Flint and Pack's other halves are sisters or cousins or something? I personally met Pack and Flint (Wright, Steele and Paterson as well) in a pub in London towards the end of last season and it's obvious how tight they are.

Now, translate that to the dressing room and you get a tight group who I suspect dominated the social order. They were the "cool kids" that everyone else looked up to. They were the Alphas.

That group has been shattered. Flint has moved hundreds of miles away, and Bryan and Reid are now literally in a different league to Pack. Smith and Fielding are long term injury lay offs, and Fielding has by all account been very seriously ill.

In short Pack now exists in a dressing room that has a very different dynamic. He is likely no longer part of a dominant and tight knit group of guys. He is now just another bloke in the team, albeit a senior and long-standing member of that team, but he's without those strong allies.

Essentially his best mates have left or are out of the first team. Maybe I am imagining  all of this but I can understand how such a loss of status could affect your confidence in both yourself and other players, and therefore affect your form.

[Hampshire Red]

A constructively critical report as always Ole. It is amazing how easy it is to see the people who respond and didnt go (or even chose to watch the game. This category talk about 'rubbish ipswich' (untrue because Sears and Skuse would get in to most Championship teams), scrappy games (usually the way with two teams on a dip of form), 'not giving me confidence (if anyone gives a monkeys a** about a non-supporter being confident) etc 

For those 290 who went, we will comment differently to those who dont go, dont care, dont want to be remotely positive. Only additions I'd make to your post is how good some of the opposition were, already mentioned Skuse and Sears but also their left wide player and their right back. They played well at West Brom and showed enthusiasm last night. Our boys played for their shirt (a crap expression for they played hard for Lj)

See you at Bham if not on Sunday

[Bazooka Joe]

Pleased with the three points, but it was a game between two poor teams, and Ipswich are about as rubbish as it gets. Poor old Skuse !

As someone said earlier, there was little or no quality, and the 2-3 scoreline suggests the game was far more exciting than it really was.

It looked like two Division One teams slugging it out. with too much passing bck and sideways to no effect. This dreary football, rather than the red button, is why people aren't bothering to go.

Kelly was the stand-out in an otherwise drab affair.

Hoping for better in the future.

[Davefevs]

8 hours ago, Harry said:

Agree that Kelly was the best player on the pitch. Had a few tricky defensive situations early on with Edwards but he did well, kept in solid positions and cut out a few crosses. Then, going forward he was superb and had a hand in all of our goals. Brilliant. 

Pato I thought was showing snippets of what he is about and certainly gave plenty of energy to the game too. Weimann also gives the energy but he seriously lacks any idea of what to do with the ball when he gets it. 

Pisano looked exactly what he was - out of the game for months. 

Eliasson was excellent. He’s often had his off the ball work criticised but last night he worked his socks off, seemed stronger in the tackle and did excellent work going forwards and delivering dangerous balls. 

Walsh was certainly very ‘busy’ until his injury but he did have a couple of moments where his touch let him down and he lost the ball in his own half. 

Pack had probably his quietest game ever for City. He’s usually given the ball through almost all of our possessions and it’s usually he who sets the tempo. Last night, whether it was just the whole scrappiness of the game or if it was an intended game plan, but the ball just didn’t go through him as much as usual. Our attacking moves were much quicker and generally built down the flanks, and we didn’t look for the slower ball retention through the centre midfield as we usually do. I also noticed that whilst Pack didn’t get as much of the ball, he also seemed to be operating further forward than usual. So he wasn’t stationed solely in that DM position but was more of an orthodox CM. This could be a reason Sears had lots of space to come inside for his first goal, as our DM would usually be shutting down this kind of space forcing the player to stay wide. Overall, I think this was Packs quietest game ever in a City shirt - would be interesting to see the stats for him last night for his amount of touches,  I’d imagine it’s a lot less than his average. 

Interstingly, Pack looked more comfortable when Morrell came on. I’ve always said that Pack & Smith are a great partnership and that Pack & Brownhill are not. I’m thinking Pack also struggles with Walsh but perhaps has a better partnership with Morrell? Don’t know. Too early to tell, but it’s an inkling I have. 

All in all, a scrappy game, we took our chances but could easily have ended up as a loss or a draw. Kelly & Eliasson the two standout players. 

I’ve now seen about 70 minutes of Morrell in a City shirt and another 90 in a Wales u21 shirt (v a strong Portugal side) and I like his energy and movement.  Brownhill has energy, but sometimes I think it is wasted energy and that is why we see flashes of a very good player but times when you wonder if he’s playing.  For a decent technical player, Brownhill always seems rushed at crucial times around the box.  

Far too early to be getting over excited about Morrell (better watch what I say in case his dad is reading), but he is the busy player, give and go merchant who is willing to sprint 5 yards to make an angle for a  pass.  In our current lack of playing in any defined way, he actually gave us a bit of control in the centre of the park last night.  He is very different to Korey, but he gave us a shape like Korey does.  It was a nice little combo / triangle on the left side with Kelly and Eliasson.  Guess he’s played a bit with Lloyd.

[Tin Soldier]

Pretty accurate report that. I watched the game in it’s entirety, we were awful, Ipswich were bloody awful! We got the 3 points though. At the end of the day, that game was always about the result. But we need to improve big time to avoid a relegation fight.

At the moment, it is about results for City.

[wayne allisons tongues]

8 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Genuine question but is there a chance he is affected by a drop in status in the dressing room pecking order? Let me explain my complete guesswork.

For the past three seasons we had a core of Flint, Bryan, Pack, Reid, Smith and Fielding. Well known to be mates on and off the pitch. In particular Flint, Pack and Bryan were regularly seen to be good mates off the pitch, golfing together, those Vegas trips, I think even Flint and Pack's other halves are sisters or cousins or something? I personally met Pack and Flint (Wright, Steele and Paterson as well) in a pub in London towards the end of last season and it's obvious how tight they are.

Now, translate that to the dressing room and you get a tight group who I suspect dominated the social order. They were the "cool kids" that everyone else looked up to. They were the Alphas.

That group has been shattered. Flint has moved hundreds of miles away, and Bryan and Reid are now literally in a different league to Pack. Smith and Fielding are long term injury lay offs, and Fielding has by all account been very seriously ill.

In short Pack now exists in a dressing room that has a very different dynamic. He is likely no longer part of a dominant and tight knit group of guys. He is now just another bloke in the team, albeit a senior and long-standing member of that team, but he's without those strong allies.

Essentially his best mates have left or are out of the first team. Maybe I am imagining  all of this but I can understand how such a loss of status could affect your confidence in both yourself and other players, and therefore affect your form.

Maybe being captain isn’t helping him. Flint said he didn’t want to be captain when here just play his game. The extra responsibility is making him think and try to much.

[1960maaan]

Love the write up's @Olé ,  I do sometimes think you're a little generous but your memory of games is clearly better than mine. 
I have to know, do you take notes ? Maybe a dictaphone (do they still exist ?) or are you like the memory man form the 39 steps (there's a reference for the kids  ) .

The thing I liked about Kelly was that he looked full of confidence, and happy to go forward and take a player on. My one criticism of him has been he's too eager to lay the ball back, and not to use the space in front of him. He's the opposite of Bryan, I thought Joe was better left side of MF and only ok FB. I said last year Kelly is a better FB than JB, positionally at least. What he needs to learn is the offensive side, last night he showed he's more than capable .

It was good to see Morrell , looked promising. I have started to get quite excited about Walsh though. Some great slide rule passes, great longer knocks out to Eliasson , busy and quick with a decent shot.  This is where I repeat myself ,  I would love to see us play a 3. Pack/Smith holding and Walsh, Brownhill and now Morrell given a little licence. @Davefevs , I know what you mean about Brownhill. I was banging on about him being wasted wide, but he still goes missing for spells centrally. Then , specially later in games he can come alive, he can go past players and find passes in very little space. As you say , looks rushed around the box, specially his shooting. You only have to see his dead ball striking, give him a little time and he's deadly. Compare that to his shooting in open play.

To the three  pluses above, I would add Webster. A very good footballer , it's great to see someone bring the ball out of defence like he does. Eliasson looked a little more like the player we saw earlier in the year, and Fam's smart finish was impressive. With luck it will fill him with confidence.

The minuses ....... well to give 2 players as much space as we did for their first, and let him  run on goal like that. Not sure why Hunt was dropped, not the worst player recently . Adelakun , very poor , but I really think it was asking a lot to throw him into these two games. Surely a few sub appearances first. I guess injuries/illness forced LJ's hand on this one.  Weimann works so hard, and unselfishly but at the moment seems to lack end product and purpose. Not sure what has happened to Pack. I thought he may have run himself into the ground , but he's had the break to sort himself out. The problem is, and it's one I lay squarely at LJ's door, we lack replacements. Yes if Smith hadn't got injured we would have a ready made replacement. Thing is plenty on here said we were at least one player short in MF. He needs resting but a midfield of Walsh and Brownhill looks very weak. I hope he finds his mojo soon, I had him down as the most improved player over the last couple of years, looks worse now than when he joined us. 

Very important win, all be it a stinker of a game. I still worry we concede too much possession and misplace too many passes in threatening areas , but if we can get another win Sunday and get some confidence maybe we can get a good streak going for a change. 

[Fiale]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

 It was a nice little combo / triangle on the left side with Kelly and Eliasson.  Guess he’s played a bit with Lloyd.

 

I wish Kelly and Eliasson were played more on the left together, they seem to just have a understanding in each others play which seems to go missing with De Silva or when Eliasson is played on the right.

[Charlie BCFC]

Player ratings (I watched on Sky)

Maenpaa- 6- Controlled his area well. Couldn’t really do anything about the two goals both great finishes.

 

Pisano 6- Solid game considering it’s his first game back. Although should’ve done better for the first.

 

Kalas 6- Solid game 

 

Webster 7- Another great performance. Made some good tackles.

 

Kelly 8- Joint Man of the Match. Brilliant performance and first half he should’ve been running at the defenders more but he more than did that in the second half and played a huge part in all three goals.

 

Adelakun 4- Poor performance. Doesn’t look like he had the confidence to run at the defenders and played it safe all of the time. Rightly tooken off at half time.

 

Pack 6- Better but still not great.

 

Walsh 6- Did well and played some great passes. Hopefully the injury isn’t too serious.

 

Eliasson 8- Joint man of the match. Only player in that first half who wasn’t afraid to run at the defenders and in the second half him and Kelly were giving Spence a dreadful time.

 

Paterson 6- Playing a lot better. Scored and although Bialkowski could’ve done better with it he made a great run and tested the keeper. Hopefully he’s starting to get back to his best.

 

Weimann 6- His best game for a while. No one can knock his work rate however still struggling to score again.

Subs

Diedhiou 7- Changed the game. Worked harder, touch was better and put the pressure on the defender for the first aswell as a smart finish for the winner. Hopefully this Diédhiou is here to stay.

 

Morrell 7- Great Championship debut. Very calm on the ball and took his chance very well.

 

Hunt 6- Not on for long but helped close the game out.