B-Rizzle

13 minutes ago, Bouncearoundtheground said:

I enjoy the wins and hate the losses as much as I always have. The second half today I really enjoyed. Have I enjoyed watching city more in the past? Yes, because we’ve had better players.

I’m also happy to give this manager time to develop the team and not throw my toys out the pram because it’s currently not my preference in terms of playing style. 
 

 

You’re willing to give this manager time to develop what? He’s developing naff all and showing no signs of doing so either. And, he’s had plenty of time to start doing so.

4 minutes ago, Bouncearoundtheground said:

I just don’t understand the obsession with playing styles. We aren’t at the top end of the premier league. The championship is not the type of league in which to play fluent passing ball if you haven’t got the players to do it. You’ll end up getting pulverised. 

As long as we are playing to the individual strengths of the players we possess I couldn’t give a toss if we’re playing football in the sky or on the ground. As Nige says (nicked from Clough) ‘I like to focus on what players can do, rather than what they can’t do’. 

Not every club has to have a passing philosophy with some ridiculous backstory. Not every successful club does either. Honestly it’s not that important. Just focus on winning football matches with the strengths of the players you’ve got and improve on those players if the opportunity arises. 

You enjoy watching city at the moment then?

3 minutes ago, Henry said:

It’s just a bit ‘comparing apples and bananas’ and ‘if my auntie had a set of balls’ type stuff. 
 

You’re better than that.

Bit harsh. Think it’s a valid point. The perception (by me and others) was that Swansea are doing better than us. The stats, however, say otherwise.

I agree with others that entertainment is a huge part of what makes being a football fan exciting.

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Lot of clamour for Russell Martin (or a Martin-ball type) whenever Nige’s tenure is questioned.

Would you be happy playing pretty football but ultimately being in the same position (bar GD)?  Also let’s not forget Swansea have a better squad and budget than us, having only just stopped PPs.

Just thought it was interesting.

Interesting.

Think the nature of their style of play and the performances for some of their wins have given their fans much more to be optimistic about though.

We might be level on points but they see a future under Martin and are hopeful. I’m not in the slightest bit optimistic about City at the moment under NP and our snatched, 1-0 victories don’t excite me in the slightest.

I want to go back to Johnson flunking the playoffs. We’re rubbish.

9 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Out of interest, and I’m asking because I don’t know….if we did go Cat 1 and played better opponents woukd that be better than loaning to Exeter or Weston, or whoever.  Would Towler develop better playing for our u23s than going to Grimsby?

I guess I’m asking is our loan model because we are Cat 2 or because it is right regardless of Cat status?

Good question. My understanding (and I can’t quite remember) was based on an interview Tins gave a while ago…

He basically suggested that, if we were to go cat 1, the quality of opponents we’d be up against would mean we’d have to keep our U-23 players on site, rather than on loan, in order to compete.

I guess the club have weighed up over the years whether Cat 1 is worth the investment. I suppose they’ve concluded that our best option for developing players for our first team is to stay one step behind (in Cat 2) and get players out on loan etc.

Don’t know enough about all the pros and cons myself to form a strong opinion.

Although SL clearly has the money make us Cat 1, perhaps it doesn’t fit in with our sustainability model as it would require so much extra funding each year which we cannot sustain whilst in the championship.

6 hours ago, harrys said:

Can’t believe that people on here are comparing an always underachieving middle to lower end championship club that loses money year in and out with well established premiership clubs, be thankful for what we have got, it could be the quarters

Read what we’ve said. We are very thankful for what we’ve got.

Our comments are based on the club and its media team comparing us with prem teams - not us.

Yep, on this…

It does frustrates me that we keep pushing our HPC as some out-of-this-world training complex that premier league clubs would envy. 

Yes, it is bloody brilliant and a massive step forward for us as a club and I expect there are some premier league training grounds that might be a bit dated now.

But you only have to look at this video and Brighton’s new training ground etc to realise that there are much bigger and much better training grounds at most clubs bigger than us.

When the media team ask new players or staff what they think of the the HPC and how it compares with other training complexes, it does make me laugh.

Can’t knock Lansdown’s commitment. He’s invested vast sums in this club both in terms of infrastructure (which will be his legacy) and in various playing squads.

He has made some shocking decisions over the years and hasn’t seemed to learn from them which is surprising for such a successful business man. I don’t believe Pearson is right but we’ve ended up with him because of the Holden shit show.

We did A LOT of good work progressing under LJ but failed to make the right appointments to go to the next level. All of that has been undone in only the last 18 months. Dreadful miss-management.

Depressing time to be a city fan. We’re heading straight towards Lg1 currently.

6 hours ago, Southend Blue said:

That's it, seems 19 is our limit although why not round it off to a nice 20 ?    Just fell one short of a perfect number.

I know Mark Ashton is largely rebuked or the devil incarnate over there but really, has played a pivotal part in getting these additions in.   Some of our fans while not euphoric are really enthralled by the business done and Ashton is receiving praise from rooftops.    

I think it's the manager that's holding us back.   We could bring in 1, 10, 100 new players if it were possible but when you've got someone who picks the squad, deploys formations and training routines etc who seems at times just about incompetent and more Conference League than the Third Division it does make you worry.

It's all about the 'give it time' philosophy.    You know, something you could have said 15 years ago when the real fall started except near to nothing was or has been done in the time inbetween.

The time ahead is critical.     No wins or beaten by a number of arse-hat teams from Morecambe to Newport and not far off the League One relegation spots.   We won't go down, I'm sure of it, it can't happen - won't happen - but it's a tall order to bring in 20 new additions and make a complete new team in such a short space of time.

Think it just puts more pressure on us than ever before.  Pundits and commentators will be perplexed if we don't make the play-offs at very least.     Think we've done too much changes in too short a time.    Not only the players, but Cook and the Yank ownership takeover with it.  There is a big risk this could implode but have to believe this will work out for the better.  

 

Of course your fans are enthralled. Signing players is exciting and gives you hope. You’ve signed 19 so are going to be buzzing. No ones ever doubted Ashtons ability to get deals done - he signed many players here too and got our Fam base excited for the season ahead.

That doesn’t mean this is a god thing though. Signing 10 players is too many in a window but 19?! Regardless of their quality, how is Cook meant to gel a team there and keep everyone happy. It’s bizarre.

At BCFC, we’re now taking a different approach with Pearson being keen on a smaller, tighter, more competitive squad and we’re starting to see some positives with that now.

 

No surprise but Flint has not travelled with the team. Just driven past his car. (Disclaimer: Unless someone else was driving his car!)

We still need to sign a few players but we needed that before today and we would have needed that if we had won 4-0 today. Wake-up call to the championship today. Always thought it would be a tough game and those in cuckoo land need to get there feet in the ground. Next game Luton!

Who's captain today with Wilbs and Elliott both not playing?

PNE 1-0

Get in!

Ah yes- I did miss the point. I thought there was one spare sub not two. Either way, as Cunningham, Elliott and Wagstaff have all been part of the first team then I can see why he wants to stick with them. It does indeed seem pointless ( and extra expense) to have a couple of yoof with no prospect of playing. SC is not trigger happy when it comes to substitutions often waiting til 89th minute.

Agreed. As others have said, it suggests that Cotts doesn't view any of the youngsters as anywhere near breaking into the first team.

Perhaps but maybe it's just that SC is fiercely loyal to his first team squad and there's just not enough of a good reason ( for him) to send one of his players to watch from the stands. Steve will want to end the season with a couple more wins and knows how best to achieve that.

You're missing the point. We don't have enough first team players to fill the bench. Only 5 on the bench today. Nobody's saying a first team player should be dropped from the bench for a youngster. I agree Cotts is loyal to his team and wouldn't do that. What we're questioning is why hasn't Cotts included a couple of youngsters to make up the numbers even if he wasn't going to put them on?

Maybe it's just that. If he has no intention of putting them on maybe he thinks it's a pointless exercise.

What's the rational for not including a youngster or two on the bench?

Have the under-21s had a game in the last day or two that Cotts didn't want to pull them out of just to bench warm? Does he not rate any of them enough to include on the bench? I don't think the under-21s have had the best season so maybe Cotts doesn't see a future for any of them at the club?

I've never had cause to question Cotts before but this persistent nonsense of picking Agard above JET is really costing us points.

Our form over the last couple of games is abhorrent and any further performances likes these and we'll be plying our trade in the third division again next year.

Now don't get me wrong, I was a big admirer of Cotts, but for me the cracks are just starting to show. I really hope we can turn things around, but as it stands there's only one direction in which we're headed and it isn't up.

Sort it out Cotts. Play JET, or leave.

Wow. Surely looking for a reaction!

No need to panic!

At the start of the day I would have taken a point, equally I would have taken 'matching' MK Dons and swindons results, which we have. Still the same lead at the top when we had the significantly harder fixture.

Sheff Utd are starting a little too late for automatic promotion but they will finish in the play-offs and are very much promotion candidates.

Poor result today but fairly positive outcome, if that makes sense...

Not at all.

 

Realistic - look at MKD.

 

But we are losing 0-1 to the bottom team...

ha!

Naive to think any game is a walk but bottom of the table vs top, if you want to get promoted you need to be a team who can win those games without breaking much of a sweat. Another thing title winners do is capitalise on their opposition slipping up, with Swindle losing we should be looking to get as many points as possible to build that gap.

But neither do title winners win every game, including against bottom of the league.

Should be at least 2-0

But it's not. You can't say it should be this or that. People miss chances in every game. The reality is this has been a tight game regardless of possession, wilbs missed chance or a sending off.

Anyone still think this will be an easy 4-0 win?

Naive.

Always bemused when fans predict 0-4 victories. Going to be way closer than that!

The manner of the defeat was very disappointing, can't believe Cotts didn't use Jet in the 2nd half to try and conjure something out of nothing.Still time to regroup .v. Preston who have lost there last 3 league games now...

We had to play for the point rather than gamble for the win. That's at least how Cotts felt and what 90% of managers would have done.

Defeat was always going to come at some point. Now that's out of the way and 'the run' is over we can move on and focus on the rest of the season.

COYR!!!