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The Man Utd season


Alan Dicks

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Some of the best attacking high press football I’ve seen at this club.

We were a pleasure to watch and the football was exciting.

We were making some premiership clubs look stupid in the cup.

At one point we were right up there with a very good Wolves team, who went on to comfortably finish as champions.

At this point MA came out and said “We weren’t necessarily looking to go up that season”

I personally was astounded by his comment!

Can you imagine the CEO of Liverpool saying they weren’t necessarily looking to finish as champions last season?

Almost immediately those words came out of Ashtons mouth we have gone down down deeper and down , to the point of being quite possibly the worst team in the championship.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Alan Dicks said:

Some of the best attacking high press football I’ve seen at this club.

We were a pleasure to watch and the football was exciting.

We were making some premiership clubs look stupid in the cup.

At one point we were right up there with a very good Wolves team, who went on to comfortably finish as champions.

At this point MA came out and said “We weren’t necessarily looking to go up that season”

I personally was astounded by his comment!

Can you imagine the CEO of Liverpool saying they weren’t necessarily looking to finish as champions last season?

Almost immediately those words came out of Ashtons mouth we have gone down down deeper and down , to the point of being quite possibly the worst team in the championship.

 

 

That was a turning point for one reason or another. The wolves defeat followed by the Man City games it just felt like the players gave everything those nights and had nothing left to give, ran into the ground.

then the Sunderland capitulation was the start of the downturn in form I think

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What is this thread about? Many fans , though few on here, knew the LJ seasons were probably the best we'd have for a while - correct!

The first half of that season is possibly the best we have seen for 40 years

MA said things for very specific reasons only he and the owners would fully understand. Klopp said today they will be a very long way behind Man City NEXT season - Same thing?

We are certainly the worst team in the Championship over the past 20 games, half under DH and half under NP = 12 points. which equates to 28 points per season

 

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3 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

That Man Utd match was the worst thing that could have happened is what I know

 

Players got Billy big time on the back of it and left quicksharp

Interestingly I argued with a Swindon supporting mate before that game. I was called many things for saying I’d sacrifice beating united to beat wolves. Though it was one of my top nights supporting city and so we’re both city games, I still stand by that

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31 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

That Man Utd match was the worst thing that could have happened is what I know

 

Players got Billy big time on the back of it and left quicksharp

For me it wasn’t the players that got big time it was LJ- he started getting some really good press and started to overthink... I loved that team that year and against Man City I have never been so proud of a Bristol city team. LJ for me started to think he was the real deal and the tombola came out

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11 minutes ago, MC RISK77 said:

For me it wasn’t the players that got big time it was LJ- he started getting some really good press and started to overthink... I loved that team that year and against Man City I have never been so proud of a Bristol city team. LJ for me started to think he was the real deal and the tombola came out

And the measuring the grass and spending a day in a Michelin starred restaurant kitchen...

No mate, just play a centre back at centre back FFS!

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Perhaps a reason for that form at the time was that we had a strong 5 man midfield with Reid (Fam, who has other strengths, was out) up front but full of running on his Tod. The mobility seemed to suit us. However should also remember that the high press game we performed at that point does generally tend to run out of steam as seasons go on. Not always and not just us, but certainly we ran out of steam that season.

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43 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

I still can’t fathom out how LJ stumbled upon that style of football for those 4 months. What a complete fluke it must have been. 

Why would you say it was a fluke ? Surely he had every player putting in 100%, wow man anyone that has been successful you simply call a fluke ? You must be a very bitter person 

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I would have taken a respectable close defeat against Utd and firmly believe we would have had better league form off the back of it.

The whole club took their eye off the main goal which was the league and with a CEO and Manager who love the glitz and glamour above their station, hobnobbing with Pep and doing little tactics shows about “out-witting Jose” became more important than grinding out points.

Unfortunately this filtered through to the players who had to play out of their skins to avoid a battering against Man City (twice) and it had a knock-on effect.

Worst thing that happened to us was beating Utd, and once Frank had his rush of blood against Wolves it all unravelled in line with the City games.

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Just now, LoyalRed said:

Why would you say it was a fluke ? Surely he had every player putting in 100%, wow man anyone that has been successful you simply call a fluke ? You must be a very bitter person 

I call it a fluke because after that Man United game we had 3 years of getting absolutely nowhere near it. He couldn’t possibly have known how he did it, because he had no clue how to replicate it... i.e fluke. 

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20 minutes ago, MC RISK77 said:

For me it wasn’t the players that got big time it was LJ- he started getting some really good press and started to overthink... I loved that team that year and against Man City I have never been so proud of a Bristol city team. LJ for me started to think he was the real deal and the tombola came out

100% correct imo.

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6 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

I call it a fluke because after that Man United game we had 3 years of getting absolutely nowhere near it. He couldn’t possibly have known how he did it, because he had no clue how to replicate it... i.e fluke. 

But we did well and consistently were doing well, even though he had to sell our best players every season.  Now where are we ? 
You call it a fluke but I would much rather have stability than this carp

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1 hour ago, Alan Dicks said:

Some of the best attacking high press football I’ve seen at this club.

We were a pleasure to watch and the football was exciting.

We were making some premiership clubs look stupid in the cup.

At one point we were right up there with a very good Wolves team, who went on to comfortably finish as champions.

At this point MA came out and said “We weren’t necessarily looking to go up that season”

I personally was astounded by his comment!

Can you imagine the CEO of Liverpool saying they weren’t necessarily looking to finish as champions last season?

Almost immediately those words came out of Ashtons mouth we have gone down down deeper and down , to the point of being quite possibly the worst team in the championship.

 

 

I blame Frank Fielding getting sent off v Wolves when we were 1-0 and cruising, we lost it after that, a real sliding doors moment

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Just now, LoyalRed said:

But we did well and consistently were doing well, even though he had to sell our best players every season.  Now where are we ? 
You call it a fluke but I would much rather have stability than this carp

He made this squad. By trebling the wage bill.

He laid these foundations and Holden laid the damp course. 

This ship was sinking well before Johnson left. 

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It tired us out, getting to the semi finals remember. All those games. No let up. Players were knackered, tired from all the winning. That's why we fell apart. But if this explanation doesn't do it for you (and why would it: Brentford this season, anyone?) then go for the "Flint, Bryan and Reid decided they were off, and gave up" one. But don't even think about the January transfer window that season, because it was Flint and Reid and Bryan: they were tired. And they were nasty to Diony. And told Ryan Kent he was a "****"

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Completely disagree with many posters on here. In football, especially if you support a crap team like us, you need to take the moments when you get them. That United game was that moment. No point in thinking about what else could have ever been; I was in tears of joy that night and it made the many years of suffering worth it.

We get enough misery as City fans as it is; why look back in such a negative way on what was such an iconic night? 

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3 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

He made this squad. By trebling the wage bill.

He laid these foundations and Holden laid the damp course. 

This ship was sinking well before Johnson left. 

But the ship wasn’t actually sinking while Johnson was here was it ? We were always falling short of the playoffs.  Would much rather take that right now rather than being hammered every game with an experienced manager in charge 

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3 minutes ago, LoyalRed said:

But the ship wasn’t actually sinking while Johnson was here was it ? We were always falling short of the playoffs.  Would much rather take that right now rather than being hammered every game with an experienced manager in charge 

You don’t think the ship was sinking while LJ was here? Alright mate. Nice one. 

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4 minutes ago, Newquay-Red said:

Completely disagree with many posters on here. In football, especially if you support a crap team like us, you need to take the moments when you get them. That United game was that moment. No point in thinking about what else could have ever been; I was in tears of joy that night and it made the many years of suffering worth it.

We get enough misery as City fans as it is; why look back in such a negative way on what was such an iconic night? 

Depends your viewpoint, I personally do not think we are “a crap team like us” as you say, and we are underachievers that had the opportunity to actually push on and achieve promotion. Tears of joy at beating a Utd side (and not even one of their great ones) is respectfully a bit much.

I would take 3 points on any Championship fixture if it meant getting close to fulfilling our potential, than a victory on a one-off night in a Cup we were/are unlikely to win.

We are not/were not Sutton v Coventry or Hereford v Newcastle.

We were a top Championship team at the time, on the crest of a wave, beating an out of sorts transitional Utd team.

What it meant was that we had to play 180 mins of football against a side that were a proper team whilst in the midst of a busy Championship campaign, and it cost us, hard to see how it didn’t. Between the two Man City games we took 1 point from 6 and did not score a goal.

 

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7 minutes ago, TomThumb84 said:

Depends your viewpoint, I personally do not think we are “a crap team like us” as you say, and we are underachievers that had the opportunity to actually push on and achieve promotion. Tears of joy at beating a Utd side (and not even one of their great ones) is respectfully a bit much.

I would take 3 points on any Championship fixture if it meant getting close to fulfilling our potential, than a victory on a one-off night in a Cup we were/are unlikely to win.

We are not/were not Sutton v Coventry or Hereford v Newcastle.

We were a top Championship team at the time, on the crest of a wave, beating an out of sorts transitional Utd team.

What it meant was that we had to play 180 mins of football against a side that were a proper team whilst in the midst of a busy Championship campaign, and it cost us, hard to see how it didn’t. Between the two Man City games we took 1 point from 6 and did not score a goal.

 

I can understand this although the notion from people that we could have continued our form is optimistic. The subsequent couple of years showed that our team culture (and Johnsons leadership not suiting high pressure situations in the league) did not suit getting a late surge of form which is the essential component for promotion.

From a neutral perspective it didn’t seem like a historic giant killing although we had not had a moment like that for twenty three years. 

I do think that historically we are a crap team or, as I regularly call us, ‘the best of the worst’; as evidenced by our JPT dominance. Obviously on a personal level I happen to think we are the best team to ever exist although really we are relatively small fry in the grand scheme of things.

I have never been more proud of this team than those games against Man City. They were arguably the best team in the world at the time and we put three goals past them over two legs!

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3 minutes ago, Newquay-Red said:

I can understand this although the notion from people that we could have continued our form is optimistic. The subsequent couple of years showed that our team culture (and Johnsons leadership not suiting high pressure situations in the league) did not suit getting a late surge of form which is the essential component for promotion.

From a neutral perspective it didn’t seem like a historic giant killing although we had not had a moment like that for twenty three years. 

I do think that historically we are a crap team or, as I regularly call us, ‘the best of the worst’; as evidenced by our JPT dominance. Obviously on a personal level I happen to think we are the best team to ever exist although really we are relatively small fry in the grand scheme of things.

I have never been more proud of this team than those games against Man City. They were arguably the best team in the world at the time and we put three goals past them over two legs!

I think with Korey scoring so late it fuelled the celebrations, and created a perfect storm a bit. I remember MK Dons smashing Utd 4-0 a few years before and they did not celebrate like we did.

Agree that the players performed so brilliantly across the two legs v Man City, but bittersweet for me when the same players put in collectively one of the worst performances I can remember, a few days later, away at Bolton.

 

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37 minutes ago, Newquay-Red said:

Completely disagree with many posters on here. In football, especially if you support a crap team like us, you need to take the moments when you get them. That United game was that moment. No point in thinking about what else could have ever been; I was in tears of joy that night and it made the many years of suffering worth it.

We get enough misery as City fans as it is; why look back in such a negative way on what was such an iconic night

This is, in a nutshell, the problem with our club in many ways. We should be aiming to get to that position on a regular basis,  not constantly reminiscing about one good result once in a blue moon. Cup shocks happen a lot, it’s really not that big a deal, and that so many hang their hat on the Utd result and basically say ‘that’ll do’ is what holds us back. It’s a defeatist attitude imho. Yes it was fantastic but dwelling on it does no good. The best in the business park success the next day and then look for the next one. I and many others want more than a shock result every 10/20 years, given the resources we have had at our disposal.  

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48 minutes ago, Tinmans Love Child said:

I blame Frank Fielding getting sent off v Wolves when we were 1-0 and cruising, we lost it after that, a real sliding doors moment

I've said this countless times before, it was LJs fault for not putting Flint back to centre back after we scored. It was absolute madness keeping him up front, leaving a huge gap at the back which Fielding felt as though he had to fill. Badly as it turned out. In a hundred years time, when the history of Bristol City is written again, this one game will be referenced as a huge turning point in our fortunes.

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28 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

17/18 season was great getting to the league cup semis.

In the league though we failed. Teams sussed us out around christmas time and we were awful for the rest of the season

A more ruthless owner would have shown him the door at the end of that season. He was learning but had shown enough by then to conclude that he wasn't going to lead us to promotion any time soon, or even manage the process of preparation. Out of his depth.

Dithering for 3 years has left us where we are today.

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1 hour ago, Fordy62 said:

I still can’t fathom out how LJ stumbled upon that style of football for those 4 months. What a complete fluke it must have been. 

Bare in mind we were forced to play that formation and team after Fam got injured, basically had 3 players out of position every game and were unreal. 
 

LJ always seems to fall apart when we had a fully fit squad for whatever reason. Too much choice maybe 

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