Silvio Dante

To be fair, that **** Francis has still got the same haircut.

As expected, following the announcement that said nothing but placated idiots, they’ve launched their STs for next season. Worth comparing the price of their South Stand with ours, and also note that they charge more to watch from the sides than a Dolman wings ticket costs….

See, I wasn’t. If you listened to Martin post match about how they’d react he said that things wouldn’t change, he’d do exactly the same thing for the next game. Martin (a lot like Manning) believes in process. If he continues the behaviours, then they’ll win (and they’ve got better players than most of the division so do often). Emotion is a bad thing as it detracts from the behaviours. So reacting emotionally to being behind was never going to happen.

You’d think so wouldn’t you? The more I think on tonight and how it was a shape we were comfortable with and therefore it’s one you refine to get the best chance of success, it says to me that the (again, without getting hung up on formations) 4-2-1-3 as played is our way forward. Every good side needs two players per position. If we renew James and Williams, and even disregarding Naismith/assuming no academy come through then you’d have the following for the “2” TGH/James/Williams/Bird I think that looks decent at this level. The “1” is then covered by Knight - possibly Stokes depending on development as backup. I keep coming back to - would we sign James or Williams if they didn’t play for us. I would, and I think they fit in the formation we play best.

Well. I said I’d take 4 with a consistent improvement in performance. We got 7 with the following: - 1 x very poor (Leeds) - 1 x Curates egg that I saw (Cov) and 1 x Curates egg that I didn’t (Boro) - 1 x superb (Southampton) Avoiding recency bias (not getting too high etc) then it’s a very good haul from a mixed bag of performances. So points have exceeded expectations but performance (on a consistent basis) probably hasn’t. However, of the last 180 minutes I think the consensus would be that we’ve been very good for 135 so the trajectory is definitely the right way…!

On the theme, it was interesting to listen to Radio Bristol post match where LM opined that we’d been up to the standard in 45 minutes or 60 minutes in games (other than Leeds) but that was indeed a first time where we’d done it the whole game. He did reference James in the post match as well in terms of speaking to the side and saying similar - I wonder if he’s viewing James as more integral dressing room wise and thinking it may be a very good idea to retain him.

It’s a good point. Without getting hung up on formations(!) that was a 4-2-1-3 (or 4-2-1-2-1) at base and the main strength was in the double pivot of Williams and James at the 2 in midfield . It’s how we’ve played best for a fair while now, and if LM is in the position where he refines as opposed to redesigns, then I think we’re in a far better place. If that means Twine (when back) is forced wider then probably so be it as I think Knight is so integral to an aggressive press.

You’re welcome:

And this is why @ExiledAjax titled the thread as he did - great work fella!

That was as good as a CM performance as you’ll see tonight. Clip it. Show it to the academy. Show it to everyone. That is how you play that position.

As someone who has been critical of LMs game management and the inability to complete a 90 minute performance, can I be one of the first to say that from minute 1 to 90 that was superb. The only thing missing half one was cutting edge and that came with aplomb second half. The subs were right, the game was managed excellently and we made a very good side look bloody ordinary. Superb by all concerned tonight. But especially Matty James.

I think so - there’s definitely dancing, behind movie scenes in the ground

I hope I don’t regret this as I posted pretty much exactly the same at Soton away, but that’s the best 45 minutes under Liam for me. Plenty of work rate, good passing, look solid but just lacking in the last third thus far. Making a very good side look ordinary, great stuff thus far

Just on the point of “agreement” to the current approach (because it looks as if it was me who agreed it ). My preference was, and remains, re-merging the forum. I think the fact this thread has come up again demonstrates the depth of feeling and @Red-Robbois right that it won’t go away until that happens. When the decision was made by the mods not to re-merge the forum I didn’t agree with it but acquiesced- they do far more work than I do on this place, and if this change makes it easier for them then I can accept that. I suggested a delay of x hours before threads were moved as previously we had a “LJ” scenario where loads of threads were started and moved in quick succession. The mods have stuck to this, and absent a remerge, it’s the best but a non ideal solution. I don’t think any stock can be necessarily put in saying only x% of people engaged with the poll - as we know, most users don’t engage fullstop! My preferred option would remain a vote of OTIB supporters to determine the “final” decision here. Absent that, then I think the position is that the mods consider this is the way they can best manage the forum, then it is what it is but expect a similar thread to come up on a regular basis. My instinct is the current setup is more work, but I’m prepared to be wrong!

I hate him.

I think Man Utd comes in first for me for family reasons. I may have mentioned before but it was my wife’s 40th and she acquiesced to me going, on the basis that otherwise myself and my daughter would have just been in a piss all night! I will take to the grave with me the look of pure joy and shock on my daughters face when Korey scored - she stood open mouthed and stunned and said “I’ve never felt like this before”. It’ll pretty much always be number one for that reason. Second for me is the Donowa game. Went through so much shit of not beating Rovers so for Holloway to miss a penalty and then a last minute winner was so sweet it was untrue. Hereford in third. Primary school aged me seeing the team I’d not long supported get to Wembley set a dangerous precedent though!

The 5-2 was Crewe in the following season (or the one after?) and was Goodridge and Akinbiyi (the ones where they wore the “so stick with us we need you” t shirts). It was also an afternoon game. The Luton one was a 5-0 - see below:

Think a poll may be skewed by ages but it is worth linking to a few of the games mentioned:

To be fair, the exact quote from the Telegraph at the time was as detailed below. I’m not sure, for once, @Robbored is talking complete nonsense and it’s a bit of semantics to pull him up here. Edit - @The Fat Controller posted at the same time

I’d imagine there will be a lot of votes for Pompey in 1976 but in my time since the early 80s I can think of the following contenders: - Man Utd and the 2-1 win - Rovers and the Donowa goal - Hartlepool playoffs - Palace playoffs - West Brom under Lee Johnson when we went 3-0 up early (special as it was my sons first night game and we were unbelievable early, Webster playing CM IIRC!) - Swindon “no,no,no” - Hereford in Freight Rover Anyone got other contenders?

Priority window now open for Somerset T20 games. Tickets for Hants and Glos secured!

One of my best mates is an Ipswich ST holder. Obviously loves McKenna but the one weak spot he says he has is that he can sometimes be slow to change things when it’s not going to plan. He’s a huge fan of Manning as well and sees him as the next candidate if McKenna goes elsewhere as they’re mates with a similar philosophy - and it seems a similar weak spot

Yep, bang on. In a way, he’s now got a bizarre advantage - nobody seriously expects us to be troubling the scorers. This is the extended “pre season” people say he needs - it’s normal schedule with limited pressure. And it happens early. I’m very much on the sceptical side thus far but these 15 games will shape my view as to what we do have in LM.

A lot depends on the style. I’m personally more comfortable with a lower points return than that if there are consistent signs we’re moving the right way. In effect (and I know things aren’t mathematically decided), Liam has a 15 game pre season to shape what he needs for next year. I’ll take less points with a consistent plan and improvement on the in game management. If we gain 64 points but look sketchy over the next 15 and continue to be inconsistent (particularly in game) I’m less happy. It’s a big 15 games. But I don’t think results are the determining factor. We all saw Holden win games and we knew it couldn’t last for example.