TDarwall

It's easy to forget how good Bakes was, he's played in the Prem & in an FA cup semi final. I mean it as a compliment when I say no forward would have ever enjoyed playing against him. Such a shame he's had to retire early but clearly his health is paramount.

Dave Smith is one of the few times I've really admired an opposition player, we've signed him & he turned out ad good as I'd hopes. A pretty basic player, but quick as a whippet & foot like a traction engine. He was also involved in 1 of my fave all time goals at the Gate, home to Blackburn, 1st game of the season after promotion, a fantastic left foot cross headed home with aplomb by Nicky Morgan.

Wasn't it Fam that punched the ball in? Closest Diony got to a goal was debut v QPR when their keeper kicked the ball into him & it drifted wide I think.

That was my expectation too, we'd be a scruffy "win ugly" team rather than expansive.

Disagree with point 3. We scored 2 & could easily have had 3 more. The probs are not at that end of the pitch, but I agree we're better with Semenyo in the team.

A really strange one is KP. Clearly talented would often put a shift in (in fact some of his slide tackles terrified me) & decent goals/assists ratio for minutes on the pitch. However the no. Of managers that he has underwhelmed grows ever larger & he has to take responsibility for that. Grateful for some of the glorious through balls (esp. to Brownhill home to Charlton) & wish him the best for the future, but I hope for his careers sake he knuckles down & listens to whatever advice Robins gives him.

I thought we played pretty well, there was nothing in the game & other than the goal neither side really looked like scoring. Had McCombe not been ill & Orr not crocked, I think we may well have won. I didn't expect much that season so wasn't that disappointed. The loss to Brighton at the Millennium Stadium was much worse. Thay ranks with 2nd May 1990 as the worse City experience. It was as if no one had told City it was a big game, we were just so flat & in truth BHA were no better.

To be fair I'm pretty sure there were posts on here saying the exact same thing!

Wouldn't let me buy an u19 ticket for my lad. I bought him an adult ticket & Jerry the SLO sorted it (as he always does!). Def some issues with concession tickets.

Some clubs definitely have life insurance & the sums assured can go to 10's of millions for top players. The benefit would go to the club not the dependents of the player (you'd expect most players to have their own life ins in place). In my experience more clubs buy Personal Accident cover (which would cover a career ending injury) than life cover (as its more likely to occur). Things could get very tricky with any policy covering Bakes as its an accumulation of similar incidents rather than a defined incident, would all come down to the precise wording (& poss some expensive lawyers!).

But during winter i think that carpark closes early.

Not sure about Flint being a leader (other than in a talismanic way). Great 1st ball defender & a fantastic goal threat for a CB, but he seemed to have to focus 100% on his own game. I don't recall him directing others at all. Like Kalas, he was better alongside a true leader.

Only watched the 1st half. Thought we were totally dominant for about 30 mins & if anything complacency crept in & our passing got sloppy. Clearly we're a work in progress but I'd be surprised if people can't see that we're improving. Another assist for Semenyo & a goal for AW, they will both be on for some impressive stats at the end of the season if they continue in this form.

I look at last night different from the others. In the other games it's been like the alamo late on & the whole ground was just waiting for the inevitable. Last night I thought we were pretty comfortable. Our defensive record at corners has been v good this season, but it was a great delivery & a good header from Barbet. I think you put last night down to one of those things & hopefully we can replicate the performance on Sunday.

If infections keep going as they are, hospitals will quickly fill up, especially the limited ICU capacity. A more transmissible, but less severe virus creates a huge base of infections. Even if the hospitalisation rate of those infections is way smaller than previous waves, in absolute no's we will end up with large no's getting very ill. Prescient to compare what the experts have learned (in terms of action, you need to go quicker & further than you think you do) with what, as a country we're actually doing.

For non Bristolians I often explain how the 89/90 promotion season epitomises supporting us. It was my fave season ever. Aged 17/18 with a few ££'s in my pocket I went to most games home & away. To ensure we didn't miss the 3pm KO we would often go for breakfast at 9am & be in the Hen & Chicken for opening time. The whole season was amazing & yet we somehow still managed to balls it up at the end. Had Jordan stayed with us, I honestly think we could have pushed on to the top flight.

For me, the issue is that KP is neither a conventional midfielder nor an orthodox striker. To play him you need to build the team around him & to date a succession of managers just haven't trusted him enough to do that consistently. There is clearly a decent player in there but as Messrs, Mowbray, Johnson, Holden, Cooper & now Pearson have all reached the same conclusion, you have to wonder if he'll ever do it at out level. Obviously this bit isn't his fault, but for a club in our financial position to be paying such a wage for someone who is about as close as I am to the 1st team, is scandalous.

The reality is that collectively the whole team panic when we're under pressure & end up giving the ball away far too easily. When HNM 1st joined us his passing was very "safe", always a short pass, however over time he seems to have moved away from this. Has he been encouraged to do this or has he a) not got confidence in his team mates or b) decided ball retention isn't the English way??. Not surprisingly, players whose passing is usually a bit hit & miss, struggle even more when the mass panic sets in. Really it should have been 3 nil at half time & Derby hardly threatened us all game so not too much to grumble about for me.

Am pretty sure he didn't mean injuries at all. He meant players out of form, including those that might not be here for the long run may be needed as we've a small squad & have been hit by injuries. I'm 100% sure he didn't mean players having to play despite not being fully fit.

Pretty likely that Points Deduction will win our POTY for this season.

We'll probably get Shakespeare's sister.

I actually thought Vyner did well for a lot of last night. Losing a flick on to Deeney is no crime & shouldn't have led to a goal. Didn't see the 3rd goal. For me, Bakinson was our best player 1st half but like the others disappeared once James went off.

Maybe its our position in the ground Dave as me & Josh thought similar. Though he played 1 awful pass to Weiman when we had a break. However, picking the wrong pass when in a promising position is 1 of out common failings. Whilst we were more solid 2nd half, they still carved us open down the right somewhat. It's hard to figure exactly where the issue is, but it does worry me how easy teams slice us open & if we're that open v Fulham it will be all over by half time. 2 subs by the start of the 2nd half is very un-Nige like, hopefully it won't be a regular occurrence. I think the home form has def got into the players heads & we're so nervous defending a lead late on. Shame as I think the fans have been excellent in the last 2 games.