LondonBristolian

For me, this win is a bonus, an unexpected and excellent one, but a bonus never the less.

 

The next four games were always more important than yesterday; a good performance there, even if we'd lost, that set us up for facing our fellow relegation scrappers was the most important factor.  

 

Brilliant to have another three points on the board of course, and that the team seemed to have 'gelled' in this formation, but if we don't aggressively build on it, will be about as meaningful as our impressive win over Nottm Forest was last season.

 

Tranmere are on a relatively decent run, so we'll need to come flying out of the traps again, and impose ourselves.

Absolutely.  A great result last night but we've got to be aiming 8 or 9 points from the next 4 matches.  I'm not saying it's easy but it's doable.  And I reckon getting those points on the board will put us a long way towards safety.  But if standards slip again, we're right back we started.

Round pegs in square holes again?

Don't know why we need El Abd in with the defence, they were much settled as a three before he was chucked in

I don't know why our best centre-back is suddenly playing as a right-back and our best right-back is being used in emergencies only.

I remember a couple of years ago when McInnes picked an utterly baffling line-up away at Southampton and it proved to be a tactical masterstroke as we came away with a 1-0 win.  I really hope something similar happens tonight - on paper that line-up concerns me a lot...

Open your eyes and see that we have been making more clear cut chances this season than for many years. Partly down to Baldock's very good workrate and movement, it's a shame his finishing in positions of great potential is so shoddy.

I think that is a key point, though and one that a lot of Baldock's detractors are missing.

Yes, he misses a lot of chances but much of the reason he scores a lot is because he makes himself available for chances in a way many strikers struggle with.  Maynard was a great player of us when on form and a more clinical finisher than Baldock but I don't think he was great at getting himself inside the box and available for the ball and I don't think we'd be creating anywhere near as many chances if we still had Maynard in the side as we do with Baldock.  I suspect the number of goals Maynard would get would still be similar as he'd put more of the chances he did get away but I don't reckon Maynard would be out of sight by now on number of goals scored simply because I don't think Maynard would have had anywhere near as many opportunities.

piss off how is that fair on williams???  looks like the youth policy is slowly leaving

That's a bit much too read into one team selection.  Isn't Williams coming back from injury anyway?

I'd probably take Williams over Flint but, to be honest, I think we've relied on Williams a lot more heavily than anyone (even him) expected at the start of the season.  There's plenty of time for him to force his way back into the picture and hopefully we'll finally have four decent centre-backs...

Let's look at his jobs:

Bristol Rovers - play offs, mid table, sacked. FAIL

QPR - relegated, promoted, mid table, sacked. EVENS

Plymouth - quit to go to Leicester and later admitted to being dishonest - FAIL

Leicester - relegated, sacked - FAIL

Blackpool - promoted, relegated, play offs, left. - SUCCESS

Crystal Palace - promoted, left. EVENS

To qualify the last one, he signed so many players in the summer and made a right mess of things and then resigned as he couldn't handle it. Hardly an overall success.

So, one success out of six.

Amazing that some fans want this man at our club.

I think that's harsh - I'd say he succeeded for the most part at Rovers and QPR too, even if ultimately ended on a bit of a sour note with both clubs.  He also did a very, very good job at Plymouth before - admittedly - leaving in contentious circumstances.

But crucially his last season in Blackpool ended very badly, Palace struggled to promotion based mostly on Freedman's work and then he seems to lose enthusiasm quickly when things went wrong.  Holloway's had a good career and up to a couple of years ago, I'd have said - Rovers connection aside - he'd have been an excellent choice.  But the Holloway of the last couple of years isn't the Holloway who got Blackpool promoted or did well at Rovers or QPR or Plymouth.  I think he'd struggle - and that's nothing to do with his previous allegiances.

What should the top priority be?  Coaching. tactical nous or grandiose philosophising?  SOD apparently excelled in all those and proved to be crap.  I think just a smattering of passion can go a long way.

"Passion" is a buzzword people who know nothing about football use to describe an imaginary quality.  In answer to your question, I'd say the ability to motivate players and tactical awareness to get the best out of a limited group on limited resources.

Has nobody followed Holloway's career over the past couple of years?  Stuff the Rovers connection - the guy admitted to losing enthusiasm for the game at Blackpool and threw the towel in at Palace when he realised he no longer had the appetite for it.  The guy badly, badly, badly needs a rest.

I'd be shocked if he was back in management this season and reckon it'd be a disaster wherever he went.  Much like the old problem with signing journeymen players, we simply cannot afford to appoint a manager based on their success three or four years ago and completely disregard their recent record.

what about millen tinnion Merson etc

That's a risk of course.  But I could just as easily give you a list of managers with proven track records who've failed at clubs - O'Neill at Sunderland, Warnock at Leeds, Hughes at QPR and Scolari at Chelsea will do as a starting point.  And it's not about a sticking a load of new managers' names out the hat and picking one at random (I'd suggest Merson and Tony Adams got jobs from their reputation as a player whilst Millen and Tinnion got them through their association with the club) but meeting and interviewing new managers and finding one with the vision, ideas and work ethic to get the top.  But the likes of Steve Cotterill will never be better than half-decent and the likes of Warnock and Holloway have their best days behind them (or need a break at the very least).  Other managers are appealing but too expensive.  So we have to find not just any new candidate but a good new candidate - there's nobody suggested so far who brings up even a flicker of enthusiasm.

I think it absolutely has to be a new first-time manager.  The names being bandied either aren't suitable or have their best days past before them or were never much cop in the first place.  We envy clubs who had the foresight to give Adkins, Poyet, Rosler, Robinson, Rodgers, Martinez, Moyes and - hell - even Di Canio their first breaks but the only way we'll ever get a manager of that calibre is to identify them before someone else does.

Yes - inexperience is a risk but there are no experienced candidates who'd not be a risk.  It absolutely has to be a new appointment.  If it were down to me, I'd invite David James to an interview and see what he had to say for himself.  Throw in four or five more intelligent, articulate young coaches and former players who've got their badges and we might just unearth a diamond...

Because his record is terrible....

His recent record isn't great.  He did a great job to get QPR up but then his tactical naivety was exposed in the Premier League (he literally had QPR players screaming at him from the pitch that his tactics weren't working shortly before Norwich scored against them, for example).  But, far worse, at Leeds it seeemd his passion and spark has gone.

And frankly we've tried appointing managers with good past records but worry question marks over their recent enthusiasm before.  It'd be Coppell mark II.

If i could set his personal opinions of facism aside, i would have Di Canio. If we are looking to change the club then it needs to be focused, maybe an over discplined manager could be good for the club. Every business needs to have it!

I really, really, really wouldn't and cannot imagine someone less suited to what's actually needed.

If Jet goes, he goes. All players do eventually. Neither here or there really as to what happens if Im honest

 PS Lay off G.O.B mind, pack mentality on here is horrendous, we're all Bristol City Fans, we all support the club in our own unique way and have our own views on things, there's no need for the rest of it. 

Steady on - Pack's mentality isn't that bad.  Personally I think it has improved the last couple of games...

Is that what we've become then? A selling club? So to sell JET would give SL his money back would it?

I know we need to be realistic but why come out with a statement like that, now? Bizarre.

Of course we're a selling club.  Every club in the football league is and half the Premier League too.  Whether or not you think it's good for SOD to publicly say that, it's beyond naive to think that we won't sell any player if a good offer comes in.

It's really important we beat Boro but, if we do, 5 points from those 3 matches would be a decent return.

I'm not too worried about the teams around us doing well - I'd rather they didn't obviously but we really look like we've improved and, as long as we can keep playing well (which obviously isn't guaranteed), I think we'll ultimately get enough points to be out of the bottom 3.

16 and we're 5 points behind Wolves and 7 behind Ipswich, Sheff Wed and Bolton. We're even currently 3 points behind a team who are in the relegation with us.

I swear sometimes people need to accept we're in the s***, yes it's possible to get out of but it's also possible for Liverpool to win the Premiership but let's face it.... it's not likely.

I've not given up but the fact is we need to turn this result around, we need to average 1.3 points a game, this game we're getting 0 which mean the points per game needed will go up! It's not getting better is it!

Obviously it'll be better if we win but, even if we don't, we're on 2 points a game this last week and 1.5 points a game since SOD took over so we'll still be up on that average whatever happens today. The last thing we need is the players and fans all to lose all hope again and put us back to square one.

Yes, we're deep in the s*** and today is looking worse for us. But the reality is we're not going to win every game (and nor do we need to in order to stay up). The 7 point gap looks worrying but all the teams around us are there for a reason - that they're going to lose more than they win. We just need to keep going, no matter what happens today - I still reckon we can get 7 points from 15 this month and that should see us narrow the gap at least a little...