Bristol City v Leeds United Match Day 1

[Downend2005]

Thought that was a thoroughly disappointing performance all round personally. We only really got going once we were three down, and even then it was for a short five minute spell. Leeds looked far too comfortable, too organised, and our game plan played into their hands completely. We were far too predictable and one dimensional.

Whilst Taylor Moore acquitted himself well enough, his distribution was poor and he lost Bamford completely for the second goal. Bamford intelligently played on Moore throughout, and barely went near Kalas. If promotion is the aim, then a top quality centre half to replace the loss of Webster has to be a priority.

Marlon Pack is neat and tidy, but simply does not have the ability to move the ball quick enough. There’s no urgency to him, and when he’s caught out of position, he is lacking in pace as well. If he’s going to play, it can’t be in a middle two. He has to play in front of the back four, with another bank of four ahead of him, almost as a midfield sweeper.

Famara tries, but he always seems like he’s the one marking his centre half rather than the other way around. I understand the line of thinking that he’s there to win the first ball and the three behind him are there to play off him, but Fam is frustratingly inconsistent. He either loses the first ball, making him ineffectual, or he will win the ball and then give it away with a poor pass, effectively taking four of our players out of the game. I’d also like to see him ‘gamble’ more in the box. However, I actually think we’d be a far better side playing to feet and having Wiemann as the lone striker with three or four of Brownhill, Palmer, Sammy, Pato or Eliasson playing off him.

I actually feel really sorry for Matty Taylor. He came on, he didn’t stop running and trying to make things happen, and yet he’s the one who’s heading out the door most likely. Compare and contrast that to O’Dowda, who has always flattered to deceive. For all the stick someone like Pato gets on here for being lightweight, COD is far worse. Baffling that he started today.

We won’t play many better sides than Leeds this season, but as we tend to, we showed them far too much respect.

[TonyTonyTony]

Leeds were streets ahead of us. Always had the extra man and technically very good. 

Our Midfield was poor - Pack had been poor for a while and we need an upgrade. FAM put a shift in but lumping it forward to him is not gonna work.

Moore looked very good - although the entire defence looked flakey for the Leeds header.

We have a LOT of work to do this week and LJ needs to think about tactics as we seemed to have no plan.

COD had a poor game - ship him out if he doesn’t want to be here.

Having said all that - nice to be back at the gate and witnessing the pain...

[Lew-T]

Yeah it was poor and Leeds were the better side but the thing that surprised me the most is how unfit and slow we looked? It might be just me but we looked well off the pace compared to Leeds who looked fit and sharp.

They were causing us problems down our right due to their left back pretty much playing as a left winger all game. Weimann was pushing on but leaving Hunt exposed on too many occasions. 

Really disappointed with that today. You only had to look when Leeds had the ball, we were yards off them all over the pitch. Compare that to when we had the ball, what a difference! They hounded us in our own penalty box.

 

[Fjmcity]

2 hours ago, Stortz said:

You are aware that the other side is trying to win too aren't you?

Always seems to be forgotten that one. 

some of our fan base seem to think lee Johnson should be Moses and all the crap that compete in championship should part before us

seriously, when did our fans get this complex? The most fun I had as a city fan was play off final season when we ‘always believed’ not always expected like petulant ******* school children

[Stortz]

40 minutes ago, Fjmcity said:

Always seems to be forgotten that one. 

some of our fan base seem to think lee Johnson should be Moses and all the crap that compete in championship should part before us

seriously, when did our fans get this complex? The most fun I had as a city fan was play off final season when we ‘always believed’ not always expected like petulant ******* school children

I've said it before and I'll say it again; if you gave a fair proportion of our fan base a bag with a million quid in, they would moan bitterly about the colour and design of the bag.

[BTRFTG]

The only thing surprising from the comments hereabouts is anybody thought the result and performance might be different. Like the Supporters Club Twitter feed I had it marked as a clear 1-3, though would never back to profit on us getting beat, let alone whipped.

Forget boorish Leeds who'll be one of the best sides we'll play all season but who remain as utterly loathsome as they were in my youth - I wish them nothing but ill-fortune. Concentrate on the XI WeeLee put out - keeper aside same old, same old and all our failings last term, no surprise, are still there. We've no quality striker, are unable to hold and create opportunities for those we have and, no **** Sherlock, are weaker at the back.

Man for man we were comprehensively outplayed. 'Also-ran' Bamford showed how to play isolated but with movement, touch and composure. We'd die for someone of that quality and the man from Knowle ain't it. Pass and move, they did, we didn't  and let's not get all impressed by the likes of Palmer's first two silky and jinxy touches when his 3rd is a ball straight to the opposition. He wasn't signally at fault as Pack, Brownhill and O'Holdout couldn't pick their nose let alone a pass.

Unable to hold possession it's no surprise that under relentless pressure  if the likes of Kalas struggle to account for movement Taylor-Moore, League One at best, had no chance. At fault for their 2nd & 3rd but really not to blame.  WeeLee tasked him to do a job beyond his capability.

Rose-tinteds won't like it and will point out he scored but Weimann, for all his lateral running and flappy hand antics, costs us. Failed to drop back quickly on virtually their every break and left gaps that were exploited in front of our back line, including their first that will be pointed at Kalas not coming out and closing yet the gap exploited was 30 seconds earlier of The Austrian's making. His touch and decision making offensively leaves much to be desired.

It's neither 'baby and bathwater' or 'rocket science'. As last season we need two strikers plus a holding and creative midfielder. With those in place mid table, or tad higher, should be assured and might allow the likes of Palmer and DaSilva to showcase their talents.

[chipdawg]

10 hours ago, Lew-T said:

Yeah it was poor and Leeds were the better side but the thing that surprised me the most is how unfit and slow we looked? It might be just me but we looked well off the pace compared to Leeds who looked fit and sharp.

They were causing us problems down our right due to their left back pretty much playing as a left winger all game. Weimann was pushing on but leaving Hunt exposed on too many occasions. 

Really disappointed with that today. You only had to look when Leeds had the ball, we were yards off them all over the pitch. Compare that to when we had the ball, what a difference! They hounded us in our own penalty box.

 

I thought we looked completely undercooked. I think all that messing around with 30 minutes quarters and splitting the squad for Forest Green/Swindon 10 days before the season was a mistake. The players obviously needed more game practice going into the season and hopefully a lesson has been learned there. The only bright side is that presumably they will improve over the first few weeks of the season

[SPAZZA]

Sat on my hands for the entire game in the Dolman, save for a couple of attacks from you which I half applauded to help "blend in".

Things I noticed.

Having watched City vs Leeds for the past (must be  5 years now) I notice that the whole pattern of City's team has not changed one bit.

When you drew 2-2 at ours a year or two back, you actually seemed to have some cohesion and it was only us fans that dragged the team from 0-2 down.

Yesterday there was zero composure on the ball, which after 15 minutes then led to hoofs up to Diehdou (whatever his name is) which our CBs and Phillips mopped up all day as the gap between him and your midfield must have been 30 yards most of the time.

The blueprint to beat us last season was laid bare, sit back and absorb then exploit us with pace on the break. I was surprised to see you didn't have anyone with any real pace.

Your right midfielder was awful, I think its Wiemann, absolutely no tracking back which meant the 40/50 yard diagonal was on as a get out ball all day long. I even seem to remember saying last year that he should play just behind your big lad up front through the middle as he is a danger there.

You have spent money this year, Kalas £8m. A signing I would have liked to replace Jansson, on reflection I'll sit back and let Bielsa decide as Ben White (our loanee) was head and shoulders above most on the pitch.

The fans, it is the FIRST game of the season. When you were closing us down quite well in the first 10 minutes there was no reaction from the crowd in support whatsoever, almost a feeling of inevitability that we'd score which (funnily enough) gets transmitted to the players.

Corners, 15 minutes to go 0-3 down, yet leave 2 people on the halfway line marking........no one. Why?

Set pieces, I thought they were poor and you could have easily exploited our lack of height.

I was actually very nervous about the game but in truth like last season, we weren't spectacular but did all we had to in order to secure the win.

Bars - Food = wow, you need more outlets as some of the queues were (I can't be arsed with that worthy) ended up walking out of the ground and going back up to the Rising Sun pre kickoff.

Conclusion.

Lee Johnson is holding you back and I would not give him a penny of the Webster money to spend, he has no idea 

a) What system he wants to play

therefore

b) has no idea what players are needed in order to fit said system

I personally think he is stealing a living as a manager and the only reason you have had brief periods of success during seasons (winning runs) has purely been down to player ability rather than the manager.

Lansdown has invested an absolute fortune in the side, does he not care about the club or does he only care about Bristol Sport?

Surely it is about time he invested int he single most important position at the club, the manager.

Get a good manager, get an identity and a style of play then you may well find yourself where you want to be.

Good luck until 15/02.

[Slippin cider]

3 minutes ago, SPAZZA said:

Sat on my hands for the entire game in the Dolman, save for a couple of attacks from you which I half applauded to help "blend in".

Things I noticed.

Having watched City vs Leeds for the past (must be  5 years now) I notice that the whole pattern of City's team has not changed one bit.

When you drew 2-2 at ours a year or two back, you actually seemed to have some cohesion and it was only us fans that dragged the team from 0-2 down.

Yesterday there was zero composure on the ball, which after 15 minutes then led to hoofs up to Diehdou (whatever his name is) which our CBs and Phillips mopped up all day as the gap between him and your midfield must have been 30 yards most of the time.

The blueprint to beat us last season was laid bare, sit back and absorb then exploit us with pace on the break. I was surprised to see you didn't have anyone with any real pace.

Your right midfielder was awful, I think its Wiemann, absolutely no tracking back which meant the 40/50 yard diagonal was on as a get out ball all day long. I even seem to remember saying last year that he should play just behind your big lad up front through the middle as he is a danger there.

You have spent money this year, Kalas £8m. A signing I would have liked to replace Jansson, on reflection I'll sit back and let Bielsa decide as Ben White (our loanee) was head and shoulders above most on the pitch.

The fans, it is the FIRST game of the season. When you were closing us down quite well in the first 10 minutes there was no reaction from the crowd in support whatsoever, almost a feeling of inevitability that we'd score which (funnily enough) gets transmitted to the players.

Corners, 15 minutes to go 0-3 down, yet leave 2 people on the halfway line marking........no one. Why?

Set pieces, I thought they were poor and you could have easily exploited our lack of height.

I was actually very nervous about the game but in truth like last season, we weren't spectacular but did all we had to in order to secure the win.

Bars - Food = wow, you need more outlets as some of the queues were (I can't be arsed with that worthy) ended up walking out of the ground and going back up to the Rising Sun pre kickoff.

Conclusion.

Lee Johnson is holding you back and I would not give him a penny of the Webster money to spend, he has no idea 

a) What system he wants to play

therefore

b) has no idea what players are needed in order to fit said system

I personally think he is stealing a living as a manager and the only reason you have had brief periods of success during seasons (winning runs) has purely been down to player ability rather than the manager.

Lansdown has invested an absolute fortune in the side, does he not care about the club or does he only care about Bristol Sport?

Surely it is about time he invested int he single most important position at the club, the manager.

Get a good manager, get an identity and a style of play then you may well find yourself where you want to be.

Good luck until 15/02.

Otherwise ok? ....