Bristol City v Nottingham Forest Match Day 17

[1bristolcity]

1 minute ago, RumRed said:

You realise a win is worth more points than just not losing?

I do, but any team that don't lose more than 6 all season will be in the shake up at the end.

[WhistleHappy]

2 minutes ago, RedDave said:

Yep and 13th in home league table. Thankfully 5th in away one 

& 7th in the one that counts.

[And Its Smith]

1 minute ago, WhistleHappy said:

& 7th in the one that counts.

Yep. 2 points off third. Pretty good 

[Mihai]

9 minutes ago, RedDave said:

You think we need a 15 million pound striker? Don’t get that. We need a striker but not a £15m one!!

Yes, I want one of the best. We got a lot of money from transfers these years. I know we have to pay bigger salaries and stuff, but I am sure they can manage to get an over 10 million striker, we won ` t have financial problems. That is our biggest problem, a hole in that striker area. 

[joe jordans teeth]

1 minute ago, 1bristolcity said:

I do, but any team that don't lose more than 6 all season will be in the shake up at the end.

Not if they draw 33 they wont

[Gakoe]

Forest defended very well but jeez, we looked so toothless and predictable.

[And Its Smith]

1 minute ago, Mihai said:

Yes, I want one of the best. We got a lot of money from transfers these years. I know we have to pay bigger salaries and stuff, but I am sure they can manage to get an over 10 million striker, we won ` t have financial problems. That is our biggest problem, a hole in that striker area. 

You know we lost £15-20m per year yes?

[Major Isewater]

I wrote earlier, every match in this division is tough .

We fought hard but lacked a bit of quality and luck in the final third.

We only threatened when Elliason came on .

If anything the sending off disturbed our rhythm more than Forest. 
 

All in all disappointed not to have won but there was another decent team trying to stop us . 
 

The margins are tight. 
 

A clean sheet is good . 
 

On we go . 
 

 

[RedRock]

We have nowhere near the quality up front in the attacking third. If we can limp over the January transfer window line in, or on the fringes, of the play offs we’ve done well.

The management decided that the emphasis in the last few windows should be placed on building a defence. We now need to import someone into the management  team with some attacking nouse who knows how to build quality attacking partnerships/formations.

Attacking midfielder and two strikers required imo. Don’t think ‘give me a pre season with him’ Palmer is the solution. None of our strikers have the necessary consistency or ruthless goal scoring ability to sustain a genuine challenge for promotion.

[old_eastender]

IF we can stay in contention and then bring in a goal scorer in January, a play-off spot at least is still there for the taking. A proper goal scorer in the side would have seen us win today - poor efforts over the bar from Wiemann and Rodri showed that. 

[nickolas]

15 points until safety, that will do first! 

 

[Red Exile]

Frustrating. By no means a poor performance against a decent side but we are desperately predictable. Should have won against 10 I'm afraid. 

[maxjak]

6 hours ago, JBFC II said:

It was in Leicester wasn’t it?

Yes........my mistake.  You are right, it was Leicester. Thanks for putting me straight

[054123]

16 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

IF we can stay in contention and then bring in a goal scorer in January, a play-off spot at least is still there for the taking. A proper goal scorer in the side would have seen us win today - poor efforts over the bar from Wiemann and Rodri showed that. 

I have no faith that we will bring in a striker in January 

[Redrascal2]

13 minutes ago, 054123 said:

I have no faith that we will bring in a striker in January 

That is a terrible thought. Surely they have to sort this out once and for all.

[054123]

Just now, Redrascal2 said:

That is a terrible thought. Surely they have to sort this out once and for all.

There will be a host of really plausible reasons why it didn’t happen, and the season will fizzle out, again.

[Nibor]

That was a very frustrating game to watch today.  We set out again in a shape that I don't think suits us much and played with a cautious approach.  Watching two counter attacking teams play each other is either enthralling or dire and today was the latter from an entertainment point of view.  On top of that the ref was extremely fussy and blew for everything. 

Forest were the better side in the first half and should really have gone in front during one particular spell where we massively rode our luck.  We didn't create much, we didn't win the midfield and the ball didn't stick well when we went over it. 

Second half we improved even before the sending off.  A note on that, I thought it was a yellow not a red - not seen a replay yet - but I really disliked the play acting and faux outrage that helped to make it a red.  As soon as that card was shown Nagy made a miraculous recovery and was on his feet in a couple of seconds - I don't ever want to see that from a city player.

We finally brought on some creativity with Palmer and Eliasson, and Rodri.   I think despite missing a couple Rodri looks a better option than Diedhiou and should get more opportunity, likewise Eliasson over O'Dowda who despite being good at running at defenders doesn't produce many chances. 

It's been difficult with the injury list so I have some sympathy and patience with it.  I sincerely hope the club have a striker ready to sign on January 1st but I expect it will be difficult, I think if Afobe were fit we'd have already have had another 6 or 8 points so where do we find the next one?

[Ska Junkie]

56 minutes ago, bristolcitysweden said:

Great effort second half but that little bit of technique is still missing. COYR 

No lack of effort but we were very predictable once Eliasson came on. Every time we ended up with a cross from the right. Hardly anything from the left and nothing through the middle. Maybe a bit of variation would have helped, especially with Kasey on the field, but credit to the Forest defence.

[054123]

13 minutes ago, Ska Junkie said:

No lack of effort but we were very predictable once Eliasson came on. Every time we ended up with a cross from the right. Hardly anything from the left and nothing through the middle. Maybe a bit of variation would have helped, especially with Kasey on the field, but credit to the Forest defence.

Your opening line sums up our modern approach. Players like ODowda are fit and can rack up sideways pass stats, but ultimately there is no real end product or drive.

For the first time, i honestly watched he game and just thought if the same shit is to be served up again against Huddersfield then I could see why people wouldn’t bother. It’s not even as if we are outclassed and getting battered, if we were then at least there would be a spectacle of sorts on display.

The last 18 months at home have been bereft of attacking intent or dynamism. I’m sure someone will point to some stats that make me look foolish, but all I can say is if you’ve played football and go along to watch our games then you know its crap.

[Sir Geoff]

Obviously I’m in the minority that enjoyed the tactical element of the game.I thought I was watching two decent sides that will both be in the shake up at the end of the season. We put a number of quality crosses into the box and just needed a forward on his toes to get across the front of his marker or the keeper to get on the end of one of them. No one had a poor game. To me there were a lot of positives and I have no doubt we have enough quality to finish top 6.

[Offside]

Frustrating. First half was uninspiring and typical of our home form. 
 

We started the second half much better, playing the ball more quickly and with improved movement. After the sending off we didn’t do enough and Nottingham dealt with what we threw at them pretty effectively. 

[054123]

7 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Obviously I’m in the minority that enjoyed the tactical element of the game.I thought I was watching two decent sides that will both be in the shake up at the end of the season. We put a number of quality crosses into the box and just needed a forward on his toes to get across the front of his marker or the keeper to get on the end of one of them. No one had a poor game. To me there were a lot of positives and I have no doubt we have enough quality to finish top 6.

Solid first point. Forest did nothing after 52 minutes apart from sit deep and dare us to do something different other than knock it to the right and whip a hopeful ball in, which we didn’t.

If I were Forest I would have crapped myself at the sending off, but 5 minutes later I would have been confident that our simple 10 man shape was more than enough for a city side devoid of direct attacking intent or quick creative movement.

[WhistleHappy]

1 hour ago, CiderHider said:

Bring on the Brum

…. Taxi for CiderHider! 

[City 62]

43 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Obviously I’m in the minority that enjoyed the tactical element of the game.I thought I was watching two decent sides that will both be in the shake up at the end of the season. We put a number of quality crosses into the box and just needed a forward on his toes to get across the front of his marker or the keeper to get on the end of one of them. No one had a poor game. To me there were a lot of positives and I have no doubt we have enough quality to finish top 6.

Sir Geoff, couldn't agree more. I enjoyed the game ,two evenly matched teams even when it was 11 v 11. Perhaps we watch a different game from the others

[wendyredredrobin]

Scoring was going to be impossible today because every time the ball went into the penalty area the referee gave s free kick.

I suspect Wednesday night will provide a much more open game.  Hope we can raise our game and get something out of it.  Even taking a point at The Hawthorns is going to be a very good result.

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 hour ago, wendyredredrobin said:

Scoring was going to be impossible today because every time the ball went into the penalty area the referee gave s free kick...

Yeh, but it’s possible to score from outside the penalty area, so it was never going to be ‘impossible’ to score today - I seem to remember a recent long range strike from Mr Brownhill ....

[mozo]

1 hour ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

Yeh, but it’s possible to score from outside the penalty area, so it was never going to be ‘impossible’ to score today - I seem to remember a recent long range strike from Mr Brownhill ....

Why didn't he strike it today?! There were two times late on where he tried, and overcooked, a drink over the top. He could have banged both of them at goal and who knows, it might go in or deflect kindly.

[Allwaysred]

8 hours ago, Reigate Red said:

I guess a point is a point and it keeps us in contention but things need to improve if we are serious about the top 6. Players are returning from injury so expectations are rising.

I've stated this before and I'll do it again..... if you we're there today and witnessed that hand on heart you now realise we are simply not good enough to reach top 6 especially under LJ & Co. FACT. So negative at home and only when they went to 10 men did he show any intent with substitutions...... 90 +6 and NO shots on target = Mid Table. Wake up all it's time for change if you want the so called promise land. BORING PREDICTABLE AND LACKLUSTRE........ 

[Major Isewater]

Whilst it wasn’t a scintillating game of open attacking football it was a game with two evenly matched , well drilled teams who will be there or there abouts come the end of the season.

We aren’t perfect but neither is any other team in this division. 
 

Does LJ unleash the attacking forces and risk being torn apart as has been the case in previous seasons in this division or do we accept that we need to build from a solid base whilst trying very hard to improve our forward play ?

Risk v Security. 
 

The table says that LJ is on the right tracks . We are not the Harlem Globetrotters just out to entertain, the stakes , like students at a rave , are too high. 
 

 

[Red Exile]

2 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

Whilst it wasn’t a scintillating game of open attacking football it was a game with two evenly matched , well drilled teams who will be there or there abouts come the end of the season.

We aren’t perfect but neither is any other team in this division. 
 

Does LJ unleash the attacking forces and risk being torn apart as has been the case in previous seasons in this division or do we accept that we need to build from a solid base whilst trying very hard to improve our forward play ?

Risk v Security. 
 

The table says that LJ is on the right tracks . We are not the Harlem Globetrotters just out to entertain, the stakes , like students at a rave , are too high. 
 

 

All fair points. I don't personally disagree. But one observation. 

As I waited for the customary age to get down the stairs of the Dolman after the final whistle yesterday three blokes of my vintage, 50s, obviously long time fans, were chatting about what poor entertainment the match was, lamenting the cost of their match tickets and feeling sorry for season ticket holders if they have to watch that every week.

It's easy to forget that many people in a 20k plus crowd are occasional visitors. They expect to get some entertainment for their money. And no one can blame them, it's not a cheap afternoon's entertainment...and unless you were a tactical purist yesterday was a bit of a bore, and a frustrating one at that. Football is, after all, a branch of the entertainment industry.