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Is it Lee or the players?


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We created enough chances today, which I suppose is all a manager can ask.  It really is down to individual players if they don’t take those chances.  Not much a manager can do about that.

Not too surprised about today’s result.  We looked tired at times, but then it’s been a long season and a lot of players have played most of the games.  We do lack strength in depth, compared to most of the teams around us.

But to still be in with a great shout of the play-offs with only three to go is more than we could have hoped for, so let’s not be too down if we fluffed our lines today.

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13 minutes ago, Allwaysred said:

Same as last year but not identified as a priority. I will ask you all this, if SL decides this summer to give say 20million to LJ to spend on what's needed would you trust him to do so???

Cant say i would, we have spent a lot of money on a lot of players who just havent really made much of an impact. We got lucky with the profit on kodjia, which allowed us to splash out on the first batch of young players, but so many have been brought in that havent even been given a chance.

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35 minutes ago, Allwaysred said:

I most certainly won't be ashamed of Bristol city more frustrated at the chances that have come and gone. I one major grip I have with fans who say we're not ready yet or we're tired which infuriates me. Well when actually will we be ready?? And let's not forget are 12 KO against Reading was so we could rest before playing today's team who had less rest and four 1st team injurys than us. I fear this will be another chance missed on what we actually needed instead of trying to sell £1 Easter Eggs for £7.... 

Agree.  This is a group of players good enough to get to 5th in the division...so we are ready for the play-offs.

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You all raise similar points in that we have a tired over run midfield or no striker / partner for FD and he's admitted this a few times he's got the formation tactically wrong. This is my concern as it lies with one person LJ even though he stated he's happy with the squad as he has multiple players in every position even some who can play multiple positions but still we're lacking. He's done a remarkable job with what he's chosen at his disposal but has has he got what it takes given the money to identify what's needed to achieve it? The last few transfer windows tells me no.

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59 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I think it’s predominantly about players, and those players carrying out the plans.

Not enough of them are currently winning their battles against their opposite number.  We are a side that needs to have a better sum of the parts.  We rarely have an individual who wins a game on their own, like other teams.  Weimann v Sheff Utd, a rare one-man shining light in a decent team performance.  We haven’t reached the heights, and for me the international window allowed a quick re-charge of the batteries, but they’ve quickly discharged.

It is tough for a team like City to keep it up over 46 games without the odd player sparking a 3 pointer on their own.  It probably becomes the differentiator for a team like us.  It is probably why we have streaks.

It is nothing to be ashamed of, if we do fall away.  However, we are still right in it.  The players need to find something now, or the head coach instil something.

I suppose thus is a real test of LJ, more so than the players.

I think you are right. I’ve always thought the positives of not having a Star Player is that, well, there is no star player. Everyone chips in and works as a team, no prima donnas, no one player we rely on. No one is head and shoulders above anyone else. We have no real ‘one to watch’.

Now I’m beginning to think maybe we do need that bit of star quality. Maybe not a goal scorer, but that would be nice, but certainly a leader. Someone able to turn it on and inspire others around him, easy when we are a couple of goals up but go a goal or more down and players are looking at eachother and not finding any answers. 

We are not too far away from having a good team, not great but on our day can give most a game. I don’t want to rip it up and start again, at least not as drastically as we sometimes have. Just a few tweaks here and there. A leader, a goal scorer but everyone wants them I guess, but everyone seems to find them too. I know we are up against parachute payments but players are out there and can be found, maybe our scouting needs an upgrade? 

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2 minutes ago, RedM said:

I think you are right. I’ve always thought the positives of not having a Star Player is that, well, there is no star player. Everyone chips in and works as a team, no prima donnas, no one player we rely on. No one is head and shoulders above anyone else. We have no real ‘one to watch’.

Now I’m beginning to think maybe we do need that bit of star quality. Maybe not a goal scorer, but that would be nice, but certainly a leader. Someone able to turn it on and inspire others around him, easy when we are a couple of goals up but go a goal or more down and players are looking at eachother and not finding any answers. 

We are not too far away from having a good team, not great but on our day can give most a game. I don’t want to rip it up and start again, at least not as drastically as we sometimes have. Just a few tweaks here and there. A leader, a goal scorer but everyone wants them I guess, but everyone seems to find them too. I know we are up against parachute payments but players are out there and can be found, maybe our scouting needs an upgrade? 

I'm glad you touched on scouting as after the reading game having a few ciders in the fan zone there we're some old faces of city gone who we're all glad to share their disappoint and 1 or 2 actually brought up city's scouting and it would hold us back at some stage. I asked the question from there exsperience who within reason to you think has the best policy and set up for player attributes and value and Brentford won hands down and let's face it they always seem to find core flare players for next to nothing..... 

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There’s been a lack of investment in key areas for far too long.  That midfield two have been flogged to death over the past 2 seasons.  No wonder they lack energy at times.  Our front two needed help and additional quality, we sold Duric, off loaded engvall  but didn’t replace with Championship ready quality in the summer or winter windows.  My criticism of LJ is he seems happy with SL refusal to back the manager when needed.  We will always be the team which falls away unless we gamble once in a while.  The seasons not over yet but for the second season running it’s hard not to think what could have been if we were prepared to invest and take a calculated gamble.

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12 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

@RedM and @Allwaysred both Brentford and Preston seem to find them cheaper than us too.

But then again, they also seem unable to push on to that final goal, the play-offs.

And that could be us Davefevs if we don't resolve are key area's out. We will all be there come Saturday giving our all but what ever happens I think this summer will be huge for different reasons so hold on tight win and we're in with a squeek lose and the holiday brochures will be out. 

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2 hours ago, MelksRed said:

The engine is most definitely tired......we need an injection of faith and motivation to oil the cogs of what was (once) a sight to behold..........want to see Pack playing beautiful disguised balls through to Fam and Weimann.....like he used too....sadly he's shattered.

I am not buying the whole ‘he’s shattered’ argument. He is a professional athlete with a lot of assistance available on tap to ensure he is not shattered - he has played a lot of games but for me the problem is that he is actually punching way above his weight at this level and is being found out.

Indecisive and wants way too many touches. He actually does not fit our style of play at all.

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1 hour ago, Allwaysred said:

Same as last year but not identified as a priority. I will ask you all this, if SL decides this summer to give say 20million to LJ to spend on what's needed would you trust him to do so???

No, he’d buy 12 players who were ‘ones for the future, still developing’ - then we’d never see or hear from them again ....

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ljs job is to improve us season on season. if we reach the playoffs and  lose in the play offs, next season lj would be expected to improve on that and so on. if we got to the pl this season,his job would pretty much be finished as I don't think hes ready for that that yet

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Bit of both I'd say.

Playing 2 centrally in midfield and often the same 2 at that can catch up- it's a big ask at this level, I know it isn't always a '2' centrally and we can be more fluid but it is tough! Injuries don't help but then that's part of the game.

LJ...doesn't always get the best out of individuals he has at his disposal tactically IMO. E.g. if you have injuries/bans and varied midfielders suited to a '3', change shape for a while.  I know he can be flexible, but I don't always see his flexibility as being deployed in the right way or at the right times.

Overall, it hasn't been a bad season IMO!

Some quite memorable wins, unexpected ones at that. As a whole, it's been good- more than I expected, but for all that? I have these little nagging doubts about LJ that are recurring.

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1 minute ago, General Zod said:

There’s been a lack of investment in key areas for far too long.  That midfield two have been flogged to death over the past 2 seasons.  No wonder they lack energy at times.  Our front two needed help and additional quality, we sold Duric, off loaded engvall  but didn’t replace with Championship ready quality in the summer or winter windows.  My criticism of LJ is he seems happy with SL refusal to back the manager when needed.  We will always be the team which falls away unless we gamble once in a while.  The seasons not over yet but for the second season running it’s hard not to think what could have been if we were prepared to invest and take a calculated gamble.

Not disagreeing with you but as we all know that is not the model.

Gambling is not on the agenda which is clear to see when our only striking addition in January was the re- call of an inexperienced kid from a Div 2 team.

Its not going to change anytime soon and I suspect that unless we do get promotion- hugely unlikely IMHO - our HC will be seriously considering his options.

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6 minutes ago, General Zod said:

There’s been a lack of investment in key areas for far too long.  That midfield two have been flogged to death over the past 2 seasons.  No wonder they lack energy at times.  Our front two needed help and additional quality, we sold Duric, off loaded engvall  but didn’t replace with Championship ready quality in the summer or winter windows.  My criticism of LJ is he seems happy with SL refusal to back the manager when needed.  We will always be the team which falls away unless we gamble once in a while.  The seasons not over yet but for the second season running it’s hard not to think what could have been if we were prepared to invest and take a calculated gamble.

FFP restricted us in January 2018. Let's not rewrite history eh! Now a different way of looking at it might be, did we spend what we could that January as well as we could? We did not- but there wasn't really much wriggle room financially tbh in addition to our 3 years to May 2018...if we had signed one higher calibre or more Championship high end ready player in that time, yeah could have gone well- but we would have lacked the depth. Should still have made playoffs last year though IMO.

January 2019? Agree, in part- Palmer was useful but Assombalonga on loan? That would have been a great calculated gamble. Wouldn't have wrecked us financially either IMO. Should have pushed harder for him- weould have dovetailed very nicely with what we have at our disposal.

A big miss in many ways was January 2008. For me anyway,.

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1 minute ago, General Zod said:

There’s been a lack of investment in key areas for far too long.  That midfield two have been flogged to death over the past 2 seasons.  No wonder they lack energy at times.  Our front two needed help and additional quality, we sold Duric, off loaded engvall  but didn’t replace with Championship ready quality in the summer or winter windows.  My criticism of LJ is he seems happy with SL refusal to back the manager when needed.  We will always be the team which falls away unless we gamble once in a while.  The seasons not over yet but for the second season running it’s hard not to think what could have been if we were prepared to invest and take a calculated gamble.

Exactly this........ he chose not to take a certain Sheffield United striker on because he didn't fit with our identity but scored goals but instead bought a injury prone Norwich flop who's fans actually laughed when we bought him and apparently that was good business baffling.

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3 minutes ago, ScottishRed said:

I am not buying the whole ‘he’s shattered’ argument. He is a professional athlete with a lot of assistance available on tap to ensure he is not shattered - he has played a lot of games but for me the problem is that he is actually punching way above his weight at this level and is being found out.

Indecisive and wants way too many touches. He actually does not fit our style of play at all.

I think there’s a fair bit of truth in what you’ve written above....but I do think he has nothing left in the tank, nothing to lift us, but LJ is counting on Marlon.

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1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

I think there’s a fair bit of truth in what you’ve written above....but I do think he has nothing left in the tank, nothing to lift us, but LJ is counting on Marlon.

I am sure you are right Dave but LJ needs to be brave on Saturday, this is it now, no more second chances, to get in the play-offs we need to beat Derby to a set-up a final week showdown.

Playing Marlon would be a big mistake.

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8 minutes ago, redsquirrel said:

ljs job is to improve us season on season. if we reach the playoffs and  lose in the play offs, next season lj would be expected to improve on that and so on. if we got to the pl this season,his job would pretty much be finished as I don't think hes ready for that that yet

Why would his job be finished??? Surely it would only just be starting against the best managers and teams in the best leauge in the world with over 100million in the bank to spend infront of a sell out AG week in week out????? 

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56 minutes ago, Allwaysred said:

Exactly this........ he chose not to take a certain Sheffield United striker on because he didn't fit with our identity but scored goals but instead bought a injury prone Norwich flop who's fans actually laughed when we bought him and apparently that was good business baffling.

To whom are you referring?

I know Watkins is the Norwich player, but Sheffield United striker- they've had quite a few of late. ?

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48 minutes ago, ScottishRed said:

I am sure you are right Dave but LJ needs to be brave on Saturday, this is it now, no more second chances, to get in the play-offs we need to beat Derby to a set-up a final week showdown.

Playing Marlon would be a big mistake.

Couldn’t agree more.  Time for LJ to show his space-hopper sized gonads and make the right decision / team selection.  That decision would be easier with Korey Smith fit!!

I would seriously think about bringing Morrell in.  LJ won’t, but I think he’d be a better fit than Walsh for this game.  Imho, Morrell v  Bolton was better than Walsh v Stoke.

I would also seriously consider leaving Fam out and letting Weimann and Taylor be complete pests around Keogh.  Again it won’t be what LJ does.  Fam has shown his effective he can be as a sub too.

Saturday is a long time coming.

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1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Couldn’t agree more.  Time for LJ to show his space-hopper sized gonads and make the right decision / team selection.  That decision would be easier with Korey Smith fit!!

I would seriously think about bringing Morrell in.  LJ won’t, but I think he’d be a better fit than Walsh for this game.  Imho, Morrell v  Bolton was better than Walsh v Stoke.

I would also seriously consider leaving Fam out and letting Weimann and Taylor be complete pests around Keogh.  Again it won’t be what LJ does.  Fam has shown his effective he can be as a sub too.

Saturday is a long time coming.

Dave, you were getting it right until you suggested Taylor.

Waste of a shirt. Can't score, just runs around barging into big defenders trying to wind them up. Need someone with finishing quality alongside Diedhiou, not a clown.

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I do think LJ has the tendancy to overthink things, and worry too much about the opposition. Often, it works out for us and we have got some fantastic results this season. Sometimes it backfires though, and I can't understand some of the decisions from yesterday and against Reading where we played into their hands by being overly negative.

Players are just players. All but the very best of them drift in and out of form, go through periods of underconfidence/injuries etc. It's the HC's job to manage all that and ensure he is picking a team that know's it job and can perform confidently. For me, it's LJ who has been lacking in these last couple of fixtures.

To criticise him.too much however would be ridiculous given the season we've had, and the posts calling his team gutless and spineless are pathetic. He simply makes mistakes, as we all do but we can clearly see the progression made.

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8 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Couldn’t agree more.  Time for LJ to show his space-hopper sized gonads and make the right decision / team selection.  That decision would be easier with Korey Smith fit!!

I would seriously think about bringing Morrell in.  LJ won’t, but I think he’d be a better fit than Walsh for this game.  Imho, Morrell v  Bolton was better than Walsh v Stoke.

I would also seriously consider leaving Fam out and letting Weimann and Taylor be complete pests around Keogh.  Again it won’t be what LJ does.  Fam has shown his effective he can be as a sub too.

Saturday is a long time coming.

Would definitely drop Fam to the bench. I appreciate he adds to us defensively at set pieces and has been better offensively up until the last couple of games.

As a CF in a ‘one’, his touch, lack of pace and lack of desire to attack the ball let him down.

If we stay in this league and LJ continues with the same style of play, we desperately need an ‘upgrade’,  IF we were to get promoted then he would be highly likely to be moved on - he is certainly not going to get much game time in the PL.

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I think it's a continuation of the issues we've had for the last two seasons. Our style of football tends to tire our players out mid-way through the season. Two years ago it resulted in a record losing run, a year ago it turned a playoff challenge into a race for mid-table, and this year it's become a dropoff near the playoff spaces.

There is definitely an improvement each year, and I think this is a mixture of LJ adjusting his tactics, and the squad restructures over the years. Despite losing some key players, we've consistently improved, and it's likely that we'll defy pre-season odds by improving our position this season.

While it's a shitter for this season, it fills me with hope that next season could be our season. We're not in a position where we need to sell players, and few players seem to be looking out for greener pastures, meaning that a Lansdown injection could fix some of the holes in the spine of this squad. It feels like we're maybe 1-2 top players away from challenging at the top-end of the table.

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I think it’s down to a lack of real quality. We need our players to be at their maximum week in week out to compete in this league. Other teams don’t necessarily need the same from their players and can afford 75% from players of real proven quality.

We have a fairly young side who are improving, but they lack experience of getting to and playing in the Premier League.

Is anyone really surprised that we have now dropped out of the playoffs? It was a very tall order to dispatch so many quality teams and remain firmly in the playoffs. 

I also agree with others that we suffer most in the middle of the park. We lack someone who is experienced, a real battler and creative outlet. 

From the games I have seen we have rarely dictated in the middle. We can ping it around in defence and get forward down the flanks, but we are often second to the ball in the middle of the park or jockeying. We lack physical strength.

If we make the playoffs then that would be a marvellous achievement, but realistically we have over-achieved with the squad we have and we are too reliant on certain players and when you look at the bench we don’t have any like for like options.

We’re not going down though so that is a relief. 

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