Merrick's Marvels

2 weeks away according to Manning

Maybe against Champ teams we can afford for one or two more to gamble. Not sure it would have been a great idea tonight to go gung ho and let Gibson White kill us on the counter

Not tonight. He was 10/10 tonight.

Because Cam Pring won't be a City player for much longer after that performance tonight.

Well played, every man jack of you. Proud of the lot of you tonight, coaches included. Completely dominant, modern and progressive. Front foot football !

Best 45 in years. All outstanding. Mehmeti on fire. Quote, Mehmeti on fire. Pray god history doesn't repeat with a Nuno Espirito blah blah team being given a chasing only to come out on top. Shame the referee isn't reffing what he sees but what he thinks is happening based on the West Ham game, eg James booking was a joke.

Anyone got any idea who he's shooshing?

Don't think he's saying we didn't play better than them. Just implying that 2 of our players would have been sent off - ordinarily - in the home tie and so he's of the opinion that - with 9 of ours against 10 of theirs - West Ham would probably have found a way to win. Other than that though... He can f uc k off.

I'm baffled by the number of suggestions for his next job when the bloke has just said he's knackered - i.e. he needs a break.

"Cheering" not "Jeering"

I wonder who Nige will be cheering on tonight .

If we ever get our sh!t together and get promoted - big IF - we'd need a bigger ground. Unlike another club we could mention, genuinely need it. Some people would be turning up to watch the opposition as much as City, of course, but the Premier League and elite football is ridiculously popular compared to years ago.

"And now you're gonna believe us... "

Yeah it could still have gone anywhere, couldn't it? Perhaps we've just invented a new parlour game called 'Finish the OTIB thread title'. Round One: " For those who use the Wetherspoons Robert Fitzharding in Cannon Street Bedminster..... " We salute you??

The mind boggles

And the award of longest thread title ever goes to...

That's still all you've got, after all these years, isn't it. Just f u ck off you tiresome gass hole.

Ah ha! The old "I was spelling it fonetiklee" defence. Fair enough.

Anger? Where? "Lewis"! More to it than meets they eye perhaps. Did the club mark our record holder's birthday?

True, he is. Technically. But he won't be getting a statue, a stand or some other memorial - which record holders usually do, even at the most tinpot clubs. Which tells you all you need to know. Good player was Carey. But he should never be mentioned in the same breath as Atyeo, I'm afraid.

I prefer that to carrot crunching wurzels, mind! And it's more accurate.

Atkinson quick enough for me. Agree about left sided attacker. Certainly some potential selection posers ahead - Tanner, Vyner, Roberts, Naismith, TGH, Williams, Wells, Mehmeti, Bell not starting for me. Some depth there, if only we could steer clear of injuries for 5 minutes.

Just due to time constraints is my guess. Desperate to get him into the team, even if not in his optimum position. Manning's quote when it was suggested Twine hadn't hit the heights at Hull: "quite often he was out wide but for me I think his qualities are more inside so that's a big part for me, getting him into areas so our back players can play forwards with real purpose into players like him". So that's where I'd expect him to be playing once he's had time to bed in. As to formations. Back 4 for me, necessitating some tough selection choices there but that's what he's paid for. Twine plays behind Conway. Then 4 midfielders. The 2 wide players depend on who we're playing and how we want to play - go for it with attacking wingers pushed high and wide in more of a 433, or steady eddie's deeper and narrower in a 441, or a lopsided mix of both. For me - tin hat! - McCrorie, Dickie, Atkinson, Pring - Knight, James, Sykes, New attacking wide player this window??? - Twine, Conway. Final observation, with tin hat still on, I've no idea what Jason Knight is.

Hardly. He was no better or worse than most but I particularly didn't enjoy the brain dead pass that should have seen West Ham take the lead, only for O'Leary to save his back side with a desperate clearance that turned into an assist for Conway's goal. And a piece of indecisive after-you-Claude defending in the 2nd half when he dithered over taking control of a loose ball and then, when he eventually did, passed the ball straight out of play with about 3 unmarked red shirts just feet away ready to receive his pass - the sort of hapless, comically inept defending that continues to blight his performances. It's a No from me.

Agreed. That stupid wall is an embarrassment, by itself. If you're going to do it, include loads of other notable events too and cover the whole darn ground in it. But a massive display celebrating just one victory is tinpot. As was today. Liverpool weren't even any good at that time, ffs.