Port Said Red

40 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

It’s the comparison of power and pace versus technical and subtlety isn’t it?

I thought that before Tuesday night, but there was that one run where he shrugged off the defenders challenge in the 2nd half that got me thinking he's stronger than he looks.

It will be good to see some of those 70's players on the pitch again. As an aside, my father in law lives in the same retirement apartments on WSM seafront as John Sillett's widow, she's a lovely lady and loves the City.

1 hour ago, mozo said:

According to Transfermarkt LM has played 7 of his 17 league games with a 3, and 10 with a 4.

What that doesn't tell you on the face of it is who he had available for those games. I am not great at remembering these things, but how many times was it through choice, or because of working around who was fit and available. 

What ever the answer is, it shows that he is not blindly wedded to a set formation to the detriment of tying to fit players into a position they are not capable of playing.

I meant to post this a while back. 

Better late than never I guess, shame it's posthumous for Walter Becker.

https://www.vulture.com/2024/01/steely-dan-rem-songwriters-hall-of-fame.html?fbclid=IwAR2pXMklTM3IQqZElkf5egIxOB94SYOTD2GSkF6W1zB6ZMT_2T4j-53WnOg

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The only reason I mentioned it was because at least 3 players (non-pros) I know who had ACLs, had issues in the other hamstring.  Not saying it is the reason though.

All the best to Rob, though, what a bummer (worse words are an available).

It could be Dave, it might not be, I think the point I was trying make was that why it is a problem with some and not others seems to be a mystery to even the experts.

35 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

No positivity or negativity expressed at all, just simple words to explain how we are getting different kinds of insight now, and further explained in the section beneath it too.

The post from me was nothing to do with your final bit (which I’ve underlined in italics) purely about the type of info we are now getting, which are great…and not to mean the ones before weren’t either…just different.

Yep, the last few interviews have really opened up his thinking.

What the challenge is now (for me) is seeing how that comes out in games…and I know it won’t look the same each game.

The classic today was (aided by Piercy’s Q) that “control does not necessarily mean possession”.  And if we take that notion into Southampton, it’s how we controlled the game out of possession with our excellent 442 press / block.

I feel this matches what I said before about "front foot football" not necessarily meaning having the ball and attacking, it's about being positive in all aspects of the game, with and without the ball. 

I don't believe he has adapted his approach, I think it's more about the players "getting it" and being confident that it works.

2 hours ago, George Rs said:

In a lot of surgery’s to fix key ligaments in the leg (ACL, MPFL etc) the surgery takes part of the hamstring tendon to make a graft to reconstruct the ligament. ( I’ve had one myself ) 

This process will tend to temporarily weaken the hamstring itself post surgery. About 1/8 patients suffer at least a mild hamstring strain after an ACL repair. That’s just with your regular patient as well id assume that number would be higher with athletes as they evidently have to put more strain on the legs then most. 

Is it common problem post ACLR? To a degree 

Is it a coincidence that it happened to both Ayman and Rob? Most likely 

Is it specific to BCFC? No 

Is it just Bristol City rotten luck striking again? Oh of course 

The type of injury Rob has is in a place that wouldn't be affected by the operation to remove the tendon and use it in the knee. 

2 hours ago, petehinton said:

Believe someone said the hamstring he’s torn isn’t the one they took muscle from to reform the acl. So it’s unrelated. 

This is correct

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Non-medical logic - over-compensation on the other leg???

Slightly different with my ACL.  I’m sure before I did mine, I never worried about which leg I landed on, but afterwards, I always tried to land on the other…and I knackered the cartilage in the other.

It could be I suppose, as Manning says they are currently working out if there is a specific cause but it seems unlikely to me. Maybe it's a balance issue? Rob did say that the surgeon said he will always have less power in the hamstring that was operated on?

The operation for the ACL is a common one these days, Weimann had a similar one and recovered well, I believe I am right in saying it was the same surgeon as well. I think from what Rob has said it's just one of those things.

I don't think he/the club/we will know anymore until he sees the consultant, waiting for that must be very hard.

As far as Naismith is concerned @Mr Popodopolous and @Lew - T should know that the two previous occasions he had problems with his calf he reported stiffness and was told to work through it, maybe a more circumspect approach should be applauded, rather than criticised?

10 minutes ago, 22A said:

I know football is heartless, but on the radio they've just announced who is lined up by Palace to replace Roy "As he may be losing his job".

Talksport by any chance?

Did we win? 

14 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

"Quit being a cheapskate.
I bet people whinging about it still spend money on sky tv and scratchcards.
Every pound spent goes to the club. This isn’t a charity.
We don’t want fans who want it on the cheap. There’s plenty more who will be happy to pay for entertainment. "

Wow! A man with literally no empathy or understanding. Is it Joey Barton? 

Clever move by Alf and his band of merry men? 

Promise to spend money on bringing the ground up to a standard, then raise the prices so they lose fans. 

Now they can say, "well we said we'd improve the ground, but the attendances don't warrant us spending that kind of money"

4 minutes ago, mozo said:

Yeah if football went by the script I'd have actually won some accas over the years 

Yes a bit annoying when your wife picks out teams based on whether she likes their names and does better than you. 

Regarding the upcoming games, I think it depends whether we can maintain that cutting edge from Tuesday night or if that was a one off. The interesting thing was that although Southampton played a more open game, only the last goal could really be classed as a counter attacking style goal.

I think certain players have grown in confidence (Mehmeti, Bell, etc) due to the games against West Ham and Forest, and our options are improving all the time with Sykes back, and Mebude. It looks exciting on paper.

26 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

Kids prices are woeful, no monthly D/D option either, that's bound to put many off

No family ticket either, looks like two adults two kids will cost close to £200 more if they continue to go. 

22 minutes ago, spudski said:

I thought the pace of the pitch was perfect for when we were playing fast one touch passes. 

Hit hard and fast, but it slowed nicely for the players to pass without having to take a touch to control. 

It was noticeable. 

Certainly helped the pass down the line from TGH to Ross M on the 3rd goal.

I wanted to start a new thread on this, not so much Max himself but the tactics of the distribution.

I don't quite understand the passing to the wings, it seems to me that it has a low success percentage, but it has been used by successive managers and goalkeepers. 

If the ball is over hit possession is given away, if it is under hit, you run the risk of an interception that takes the receiving player out of the defensive shape. That's before you have the issue of the likes of Bell and Mehmeti trying win the ball in the air. It's not so bad with Ross and Cam playing, but it still requires a degree of accuracy that few goalkeepers possess. 

Then you have the situation last night where, having made two good blocks and having the crowd calling his name, obviously gets a rush of adrenalin and hoofs the ball a mile out of play.

I don't quite see what the advantage is compared to playing through the middle, unless any of the coaches on here can explain it to me?

20 minutes ago, t_b said:

I’d wager you’ve bumped into him around the marina and had a chat at some point? Or just taking a sensible stab at a likely thought process?

I haven't approached him, but I have said before he looks a bit of a lonely figure sat outside Costa face timing presumably his family on a  Friday night.

Really, really good last night. 

Not just the noise once we got on top, but the fact that we stayed as patient as the players when Southampton had the ball. 

There were none of the **** 'em up, get into them type chants, everyone could see how we were using our shape and press to keep them at arms length as much as possible. 

Maybe people are buying into Manning ball?

I shall stick to calling him "deary", I'll bet Manning never thought he would have luxury of bringing him on in such a stress free situation and be able to tell him to just go and have fun.

I also think the atmosphere and the whole night will have convinced him he would be making the right move coming here.

I don't think it's about the offer we make, it's about what he wants his personal circumstances to look like for another 2 years. 

Does he really want to be away from home and a young family 4-5 nights a week? It will be a tough decision for him.

12 minutes ago, Midred said:

After the game Martin was saying that perhaps they should foul a bit more! And perhaps they should get booked a bit more.

Well another referee would have handed out 4 or 5 tonight, so how many more fouls did he want them to commit?

5 minutes ago, MrBibs said:

Our AG2 took a bizarre route back to Bris via Whitchurch and Stockwood

Wow, that must have been fun for the locals! 

Great centre halves usually come in pairs and these guys are no exception, I am struggling to remember when we last had such an effective pairing so well matched in their relative talents.

They seem to get stronger and stronger with every game, Vyners pace covers for Dickie, Dickies aerial ability is a godsend for Zak. They are both relishing the way we are set up now as well, they have so many more options when they win the ball, they can stride forward knowing there is cover, they can pass short or long knowing there are options. 

For all the changes that Manning has made, they have been the bedrock for him to work from.

Just now, formerly known as ivan said:

Seeing as the football was so good I need to find something else to moan about so here it is…

Those bloody buses after the game are getting on my nerves! Never ready to let people on as the crowd floods out which causes a build up. People queuing all over the pavement making it impossible to walk past.

Surely they can find a better system for this. So annoying week in week out!

There it is, feel a little better for it now. 

Mentioned it in the Fans Forum thread last week, @phantomsaid he would bring it up at the next meeting. AG1 was actually a little better tonight, but the non bus users were still walking in the road in front of the bus to avoid the queues.

I didn't feel it was a completely counter attacking style, it was always going to look a bit like that because Saints are obviously coached to retain the ball, but our defensive shape was so good a lot of their 68% possession was going backwards to their keeper. 

The way Vyner and Dickie are able to play out of defence because of the options they have is the biggest change. Instead of just clearing the ball they can run forward or make little short passes into midfield that change the angle of attack beautifully.

4 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Oh and a back 4 please mostly.

I don't think it's very important, the back 3 has it's advantages in periods as well, people asking what the identity of Manning Ball is, I would say flexibility and adaptability.

2 minutes ago, italian dave said:

I think what the past few weeks have demonstrated is that it’s no longer about our best 11, it’s about our best 17. 

Been saying it for months now Dave, some posters get so hung up on starting 11s, but it's been so much more than that for years now. Even before today's game, there were posters questioning starting with Mehmeti and keeping Cornick back, but it worked a treat. 

Potentially Southampton had the far better options off their bench, but every one of our subs trumped what they could bring to the party.