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The Man Utd season


Alan Dicks

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That January 2018 transfer window was a massive missed opportunity, imagine if we had signed another Tammy on loan for 6 months or a Webster type centre back at that point bearing in mind we only really had 13 or 14 players for the bulk of that season.

A club of our size only gets the chance to really go for it when we are already in a strong position  like we were once every 5 - 10 years at this level. I bet Lansdown secretly regrets not getting the cheque book out at that point as it was there for the taking.

Ironically the last time you could say that was January 2008 with GJ in charge.

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Newquay; well said , as always. Fordy is so negative or gas it is worth ignoring him/her. He cant admit LJ did a really good job in saving us, then creating great runs of form, bringing on young players, getting cup runs we'll never forget and making us competitive (very competitive) in this league. Fordy is like someone who didnt vote for Boris so can never accept that the vax programme is magnificent., he wanted Lj out and cant stand the fact that we have looked poorer ever since

 

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Bobby Reid was vital for us that season. Would love to see the amount of goal involvements he had. He was also excellent at leading the press. 

I do wonder if LJ started to over think think things after this season as well. 

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2 hours ago, Hampshire Red said:

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

 

Incorrect.

We appeared to be good enough for the playoffs for the period August to December 2017 and from then on we flattered to deceive.

I’m sorry but competing in the top 3 up until January every year, then seemingly capitulating to a far lower position isn’t progress, or good or anything to be proud of. It’s failure, pure and simple. 

I wouldn’t follow or trust anyone who tries to convinceyou otherwise. They are not winners, they are bottlers.

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2 hours 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

I know for a fact that he became a bit billy big bollocks in general after the Man U game 

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7 hours ago, Hampshire Red said:

Newquay; well said , as always. Fordy is so negative or gas it is worth ignoring him/her. He cant admit LJ did a really good job in saving us, then creating great runs of form, bringing on young players, getting cup runs we'll never forget and making us competitive (very competitive) in this league. Fordy is like someone who didnt vote for Boris so can never accept that the vax programme is magnificent., he wanted Lj out and cant stand the fact that we have looked poorer ever since

 

Thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated. Although if we’re having an honesty amnesty please allow me to tell you that you’re without doubt the very worst of the posters on OTIB. Truly you literally make me wince every time I see that you’ve posted, I would say your posts were semi coherent, but that’d be giving you too much credit.

You’re like our ‘Henbury Gas’ equivalent. 

Thanks though. 

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11 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

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

LJ was good at keeping the ship afloat but the nasty Pirate Ashton sold off all the gold & filled the ship with mutinous sailers who made him walk the plank.

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It's weird, I thoroughly enjoyed that time too (Bobby Reid's energy and press was inhuman and transformative) but memory is a funny thing, as everyone seems to rewrite history to fit the narrative that we were an amazing team and peaked at the Man Utd game. There are so many myths about that time:

  • We were an amazing team
  • We peaked at the Man Utd game
  • The players ran out of steam
  • We became better after injuries forced LJs hand
  • We stumbled on the right team after Fam got injured
  • It's the best LJ had us playing
  • It's the best season under LJ
  • It's all been downhill since Wolves beat us

None of it is quite as black and white as is made out and as someone who was pretty balanced on LJ and tore into him when needed, the idea that LJ "lucked into" a December peak due to injury is a retrospective storyline that isn't true and is actually pretty unfair on LJ who has us better before (and after) that month.

Let's have it right:

  • That team was overachieving by December - it was an anomaly not long term sustainable form 
  • The football was better in September not December (like many seasons we just started well, no more than that) - the prototype performances for LJ were Derby at home (4-1) and Ipswich away (3-1) which included Fam as part of our strongest side, against two sides who were also going well in the league
  • Last minute winners away at Sheff Utd and Hull (games we struggled for long periods in) in League form terms disguised a decline that was already underway heading into winter - accelerated by injuries NOT tactically focussed by them as everyone likes to now claim LJ was the "beneficiary" of
  • By December we'd lost Fam, Djuric and O'Dowda, in January we lost Matty Taylor too. Do people remember Cauley Woodrow playing up front for us in November/December? Giving absolutely nothing at Hull as we went 2-0 down? Or scoring a consolation goal when we lost to Preston at home? Thought not. Hardly us peaking was it, hardly benefiting from injuries.
  • In January our solution was Lois Diony (someone who managed 1 shot in 3 and a half hours of football) and a headless chicken sorry Ryan Kent (forgotten about him too?). For a team that had created a lot of chances this wasn't "running out of steam" so much as simply terminating us as an attacking threat all together as anyone who was at Cardiff away (Bobby and Diony) or Millwall away (Bobby solo) will recall

It doesn't fit with the starry eyes everyone has for that period and the cup run and anchoring our peak to the Man Utd game and league position pre-Wolves - but in League terms that had been built up from earlier in that season (remember being 3-2 up away at Wolves just days before we dismantled Derby?) and performances in the league were already becoming more stretched with results always on track to revert to mid-table norm 

Perhaps the greatest irony is to say "it's been downhill ever since" when in fact the best we played statistically under LJ was a year later when we won something like 7 on the spin and went 13 unbeaten - actually grinding out results like a machine and far more solid defensively, even with so called show ponies like Kasey Palmer in the side! And we won at Sheff Utd and Boro in the same week a further 3 months on and went the closest of any of LJ's seasons to reaching the play offs. None of which has anything to do with beating Man Utd.

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Hey Rob,

Welcome back, good to see more logic and fact on here. Once we are allowed to get to games again, i really hope some of the numpties on here get to midweek away games and make themselves known. Actually many will be at home listening to their beloved Gas claiming they have taken 4000 to Barrow, Harrogate, Salford (could soon be Saltford!) etc etc whilst never actually leaving their hole in Horfield

@Fordy, You can think what you like, my posts are for constructive Bristol City fans, not people like you

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19 hours ago, Hampshire Red said:

Newquay; well said , as always. Fordy is so negative or gas it is worth ignoring him/her. He cant admit LJ did a really good job in saving us, then creating great runs of form, bringing on young players, getting cup runs we'll never forget and making us competitive (very competitive) in this league. Fordy is like someone who didnt vote for Boris so can never accept that the vax programme is magnificent., he wanted Lj out and cant stand the fact that we have looked poorer ever since

 

The poster has a negative view but could you explain why Mr Johnson could not repeat the football post January 2018?

 

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20 hours ago, The Horse With No Name said:

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.

Spot on. And something I've had to remind people many times. Flint being allowed to stay up front was madness from LJ.

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9 hours ago, Olé said:

It's weird, I thoroughly enjoyed that time too (Bobby Reid's energy and press was inhuman and transformative) but memory is a funny thing, as everyone seems to rewrite history to fit the narrative that we were an amazing team and peaked at the Man Utd game. There are so many myths about that time:

  • We were an amazing team
  • We peaked at the Man Utd game
  • The players ran out of steam
  • We became better after injuries forced LJs hand
  • We stumbled on the right team after Fam got injured
  • It's the best LJ had us playing
  • It's the best season under LJ
  • It's all been downhill since Wolves beat us

None of it is quite as black and white as is made out and as someone who was pretty balanced on LJ and tore into him when needed, the idea that LJ "lucked into" a December peak due to injury is a retrospective storyline that isn't true and is actually pretty unfair on LJ who has us better before (and after) that month.

Let's have it right:

  • That team was overachieving by December - it was an anomaly not long term sustainable form 
  • The football was better in September not December (like many seasons we just started well, no more than that) - the prototype performances for LJ were Derby at home (4-1) and Ipswich away (3-1) which included Fam as part of our strongest side, against two sides who were also going well in the league
  • Last minute winners away at Sheff Utd and Hull (games we struggled for long periods in) in League form terms disguised a decline that was already underway heading into winter - accelerated by injuries NOT tactically focussed by them as everyone likes to now claim LJ was the "beneficiary" of
  • By December we'd lost Fam, Djuric and O'Dowda, in January we lost Matty Taylor too. Do people remember Cauley Woodrow playing up front for us in November/December? Giving absolutely nothing at Hull as we went 2-0 down? Or scoring a consolation goal when we lost to Preston at home? Thought not. Hardly us peaking was it, hardly benefiting from injuries.
  • In January our solution was Lois Diony (someone who managed 1 shot in 3 and a half hours of football) and a headless chicken sorry Ryan Kent (forgotten about him too?). For a team that had created a lot of chances this wasn't "running out of steam" so much as simply terminating us as an attacking threat all together as anyone who was at Cardiff away (Bobby and Diony) or Millwall away (Bobby solo) will recall

It doesn't fit with the starry eyes everyone has for that period and the cup run and anchoring our peak to the Man Utd game and league position pre-Wolves - but in League terms that had been built up from earlier in that season (remember being 3-2 up away at Wolves just days before we dismantled Derby?) and performances in the league were already becoming more stretched with results always on track to revert to mid-table norm 

Perhaps the greatest irony is to say "it's been downhill ever since" when in fact the best we played statistically under LJ was a year later when we won something like 7 on the spin and went 13 unbeaten - actually grinding out results like a machine and far more solid defensively, even with so called show ponies like Kasey Palmer in the side! And we won at Sheff Utd and Boro in the same week a further 3 months on and went the closest of any of LJ's seasons to reaching the play offs. None of which has anything to do with beating Man Utd.

+ to this two dull as **** 0-0s at home to Burton and Millwall. 
 

People also say the Man City games killed us but we had one of the most straight forward 2-0 win over QPR as the first home game straight after. 

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21 hours ago, Hampshire Red said:

Newquay; well said , as always. Fordy is so negative or gas it is worth ignoring him/her. He cant admit LJ did a really good job in saving us, then creating great runs of form, bringing on young players, getting cup runs we'll never forget and making us competitive (very competitive) in this league. Fordy is like someone who didnt vote for Boris so can never accept that the vax programme is magnificent., he wanted Lj out and cant stand the fact that we have looked poorer ever since

 

Lee Johnson didn’t do a good job for us. He was average at best. Johnson had access to an unbelievable amount of resources. Resources other managers could only dream about, and have probably asked for and been shot down. His ability to make everything about him was heinous. The constant formation swapping and tombola work was terrible, and his downfall. Lee Johnson thought he was better than he was. In truth, he wasn’t very good at all. 

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Remember going to Villa on New Years Day after this and watching as the wheels came well and truly off.

We played some nice stuff for about 20 minutes and had a couple of chances before Villa scored with their first real chance. They ripped us apart after that. 

Heads went down, confidence drained and we looked knackered. 

The team never really regained any confidence or momentum 

 

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