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Plan B


BS3_RED

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I have always  thought that LJ sets up a good team and strategy before the game but has a lack of a plan B or that he struggles to change a game once it starts or to adapt to the changes the other managers makes. Well I think I can safely say that the last few games he has shown that he has learned how to change a game to take advantage of the opponents weakness or to counter their strengths.  Once again today he was brave to make the changes he did when he did, just like at Blackburn. Last season there was no way he would have taken off Kelly, where this year he did. LJ has grown a pair and I for one....like it. 

 

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2 hours ago, JonDolman said:

He is really getting these subs right recently. I've been impressed with the 352 he has used against Huddersfield last 20 and today 2nd half. It's something I'm sure we will see more of. Could even start with that side that ended the game. I don't think he will with us winning all these games with 4141, but the 352 in the second half looked so good going forward, and solid enough at the back. He's also used diamond a few times successfully. LJ seems to have more than just a Plan B. Many options with the depth of players we have.

Also, changing it at half time with two subs which he has done on occasion pre-empts the opposition subs.

Brave as just the one sub left, but it puts the opposition on the back foot.

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It shows for me that Plan B doesn’t have to be a huge deviation from Plan A.  You don’t have to launch it.

The 4141 morphs into the 41212 ‘diamond’ easily easily with the introduction of the second striker, but the full-backs need to provide the width.  Looking back at today it was perhaps a bit 4132.  But we still insisted on passing it.

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Totally agree. Just waiting for one or two of the regulars to come on and contradict but Lj is clearly one of the best in the business; media Selling top clubs the reason they should loan players to City, developing academy kids, getting his starting 11 right, using his subs etc. He has certainly improved but at least today I won't be facing lots of clowns responding with sarcastic claps. He's good, very good and totally Red.

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LJ looks like he may be learning as a coach which I guess was the whole point of sticking with him through a fair amount of dross and baffling decisions over the past few seasons.  It clearly wasn’t working first half yesterday but he found away to nullify wolves midfield and make us an attacking threat with just a couple of changes and a tactical tweak.  Brilliant management.  Well done Lee.  Still think not adding to the strike force with a proven striker will ultimately cost us this season but really hope I’m wrong.  We have no cover for Fam who blows hot and cold, we choose to let Duric go and have had 2 windows to replace. Feels like a massive failure of our scouting network and MA ability to sale the club to our targets.

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1 hour ago, General Zod said:

LJ looks like he may be learning as a coach which I guess was the whole point of sticking with him through a fair amount of dross and baffling decisions over the past few seasons.  It clearly wasn’t working first half yesterday but he found away to nullify wolves midfield and make us an attacking threat with just a couple of changes and a tactical tweak.  Brilliant management.  Well done Lee.  Still think not adding to the strike force with a proven striker will ultimately cost us this season but really hope I’m wrong.  We have no cover for Fam who blows hot and cold, we choose to let Duric go and have had 2 windows to replace. Feels like a massive failure of our scouting network and MA ability to sale the club to our targets.

I just think the right player is too expensive against the gamble of promotion...which isn’t guaranteed.  Assombolonga was rumoured to be a £3.5m Loan Deal....where we have no asset at the end of it.  That’s 15% of our annual turnover for 5 months!!

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3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I just think the right player is too expensive against the gamble of promotion...which isn’t guaranteed.  Assombolonga was rumoured to be a £3.5m Loan Deal....where we have no asset at the end of it.  That’s 15% of our annual turnover for 5 months!!

I just think we’ve had a couple of windows to find cover for Fam and also assume scouting/succession planning would mean we were scouting way before Duric left.  Feels poor that we couldn’t back LJ by finding the player he clearly felt the squad was lacking.  I get what you say about the cost of a loan deal and I know it’s no guarantee of success but if that’s the price these days that’s what we have to pay if we want to give the manager the tools to sustain a promotion challenge. A club like Shef Utd really back their manager and show intent.  Again no guarantees but we are left unsuccessfully battling for their cast offs which doesn’t feel where we should be given the size of our club, wealth of our chairman and that MA said we are in a great place with financial fair pIay.   think that the philosophy of bringing through our own players, thinking long term and baby steps to promotion is sound but we are at the stage, like last year when we are in a great position and a quality statement signing could have given the squad the boost needed to get over the line.  The job has now been made even harder.  If we don’t make it this year I hope that the penny will drop and SL will loosen the purse strings if we find ourselves in a similar position next season.  I have a lot of respect for LJ putting up with our poor window as he surely expected more and hope he makes his feelings known away from the press.

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23 hours ago, JonDolman said:

He is really getting these subs right recently. I've been impressed with the 352 he has used against Huddersfield last 20 and today 2nd half. It's something I'm sure we will see more of. Could even start with that side that ended the game. I don't think he will with us winning all these games with 4141, but the 352 in the second half looked so good going forward, and solid enough at the back. He's also used diamond a few times successfully. LJ seems to have more than just a Plan B. Many options with the depth of players we have.

I largely agree, and it's certainly good to see him making HT changes when needed instead of waiting until the 60 minute mark. I suppose the only down side is that it would be even better if HT changes not needed, i.e. get the team selection and shape right from the off. We certainly can't afford to not be at it in the first half against Norwich Saturday. 

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21 hours ago, General Zod said:

I just think we’ve had a couple of windows to find cover for Fam and also assume scouting/succession planning would mean we were scouting way before Duric left.  Feels poor that we couldn’t back LJ by finding the player he clearly felt the squad was lacking.  I get what you say about the cost of a loan deal and I know it’s no guarantee of success but if that’s the price these days that’s what we have to pay if we want to give the manager the tools to sustain a promotion challenge. A club like Shef Utd really back their manager and show intent.  Again no guarantees but we are left unsuccessfully battling for their cast offs which doesn’t feel where we should be given the size of our club, wealth of our chairman and that MA said we are in a great place with financial fair pIay.   think that the philosophy of bringing through our own players, thinking long term and baby steps to promotion is sound but we are at the stage, like last year when we are in a great position and a quality statement signing could have given the squad the boost needed to get over the line.  The job has now been made even harder.  If we don’t make it this year I hope that the penny will drop and SL will loosen the purse strings if we find ourselves in a similar position next season.  I have a lot of respect for LJ putting up with our poor window as he surely expected more and hope he makes his feelings known away from the press.

To be fair, we don't actually know if SL would have backed the BA loan deal or not, given that he wasn't available in the end anyway.

We know there were some other high profile/cost targets we were looking at that also went elsewhere, so I believe that the 'right' investment would have been made if it could - but that both upstairs and downstairs of the club didn't want to make a signing for the sake of it, and disrupt what is currently a well balanced squad harmony.

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21 hours ago, General Zod said:

. A club like Shef Utd really back their manager and show intent. 

Demonstrates the difference between clubs that have been there (Prem), fans demand to be there, owners insist on being there and Bristol City. They all believe that they belong there!

We are the biggest club in the country (support, population, stadium etc.) that have spent only four seasons in the top tier in the last one hundred years. We would like to be there one day!

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5 minutes ago, cidered abroad said:

Demonstrates the difference between clubs that have been there (Prem), fans demand to be there, owners insist on being there and Bristol City. They all believe that they belong there!

We are the biggest club in the country (support, population, stadium etc.) that have spent only four seasons in the top tier in the last one hundred years. We would like to be there one day!

@General Zod too

See the FFP thread for how Sheffield United could push the boat out somewhat this season- and actually fairly self funded from the Brooks sale- we had no such luxury but we might this summer if we're still in this division.

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5 hours ago, Alessandro said:

 

To be fair, we don't actually know if SL would have backed the BA loan deal or not, given that he wasn't available in the end anyway.

We know there were some other high profile/cost targets we were looking at that also went elsewhere, so I believe that the 'right' investment would have been made if it could - but that both upstairs and downstairs of the club didn't want to make a signing for the sake of it, and disrupt what is currently a well balanced squad harmony.

I still think it’s poor that over two windows and presumably a good few months of planning before letting Duric go we couldn’t identify a player who could make a difference and attract him to the club.  LJ openly said we needed cover for Fam and you can see why as it’s a hard job being a sole striker and I hope LJ made his feelings clear behind the scenes that we haven’t landed anyone.  For another season our lack of ability to get sufficient quality on board makes the task LJ has which was already difficult, much much harder.

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On 19/02/2019 at 17:20, General Zod said:

I still think it’s poor that over two windows and presumably a good few months of planning before letting Duric go we couldn’t identify a player who could make a difference and attract him to the club.  LJ openly said we needed cover for Fam and you can see why as it’s a hard job being a sole striker and I hope LJ made his feelings clear behind the scenes that we haven’t landed anyone.  For another season our lack of ability to get sufficient quality on board makes the task LJ has which was already difficult, much much harder.

Yes I know where you're coming from. It is a frustrating situation. But that statement you've made isn't true, we've brought in a huge amount of quality. 

The missing piece is the most difficult to find, the hen's tooth, a forward. Especially now, it is even tougher, as we are a team that doesn't have a budget to rival the bigger spenders, yet we're rivalling them in the league, so looking at the same calibre of player, also in the hope of getting over the promotion line.

But we've seen how difficult that is, at home we've been outbid for the likes of Marriott and Solanke, abroad is a gamble, see Diony. We won't be the first choice for Tammy, Gray, Wells, Gayle etc.

And ultimately, all the best planning in the world can go out of window on a transfer, when you're dealing with so many variables and different parties - especially with a prized asset, like a coveted forward.

I suspect the club hoped for more from Eisa, he was the long term plan. That's not worked out this season, so you're left at the mercy of the January window. I also suspect we would have got BA in had he become available, he didn't. So as i've said already, i'm glad we didn't make a Diony type mistake again.

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I hope Eisa does come good, or at least shows justification for buying him...and that it was the early season injury that hampered his progress.

Ditto with Adelakun to some extent (although I doubt compensation will anywhere near the £1.5m we paid for Mo, at least up front anyway).

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6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I hope Eisa does come good, or at least shows justification for buying him...and that it was the early season injury that hampered his progress.

Ditto with Adelakun to some extent (although I doubt compensation will anywhere near the £1.5m we paid for Mo, at least up front anyway).

Add Semenyo to those two.

All inexperienced at Championship level and all three need to acclimatise to the way City go about things both on and off the pitch. Simply being around and training with the squad are crucial factors in their development. If and when they become available for match day selection they’ll have have had plenty of exposure to way LJ wants the team to play.

They all need time.....

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