Cowshed

My age and injury means running longer distances can be problematic. So I started setting myself smaller goals. Try the Cooper test. Google it. I found the test/tests beneficial as I could set myself targets realistic to my age and physical condition (thirty years of football and running injuries), which gave me a peace of mind where I proved to myself I was still very fit with an age appropriate target to go further, which I achieved.

Best 10k was 34 minutes, half marathon 1.24 I no longer take part in races due to age meaning I was far off my best and I had little motivation to run as slowly as I was, and was becoming . Still run several times a week but just to maintain a level fitness.

May interest ..

That's a mammoth post. Defending. Defending narrow makes sense. It makes sense with the players the team has and the way the team plays (at times). When full backs push up and it is lost, get compact, delay and look for depth its logical. You are posting about having a more combative midfield = A lot of change. Playing out - You want, or appear to want creative mobile midfield players. Its not necessary for Pack to be highly mobile at all to receive, retain, release and repeat as I put it in another post to keep possession but also be able to make penetrative passes, he can and does this. To play out a team will take risks. It requires being bold and brave. Risk and reward it will go wrong and at times the ball will get lamped. Inches … Yes improvement can be inches because Bristol City cannot buy the best in each specific role. City have to improve by inches. Hunt? Ball playing improvement? Maybe. Webster? Yes. Keeper? Yes, not hard. That is possibly marginal gain. Pragmatic and practical v budget. I would agree with stick or bust. Play out and be bold and brave, recruit and develop towards that approach.

If you want a player to drop in and receive, retain, release and repeat, when the CB's split and full backs push up the receiving central midfield player has to be assured and composed on the a ball that player in City's squad is Pack.

A point I have made about errors is due to the sides lack of cohesion without the ball. A flaw of team selection and its changes x time in preparation. Regarding touches, it is the Manager who should be setting the tempo of the side = Quick, simple, fast. It is the Managers selections/tactics which sees sides with several defensive minded midfield players killing each other's space. Indirectly Lee Tomlins frustration (your point) is also part of the same killing of space ... When he drops he closes down the teams options to move it quickly. City become congested, you do not need two and three players to do what one quick switch will. That is a muddle of the Managers making. In answer to your quesstion. A team with this much talent, this much money spent on it, with a rising star worth tens of millions should be capable of more than three points out of?? And if Mr Johnson and his coaches sent them out better prepared, minus the constant tinkering I sincerely believe the wheels would not have fallen off this season as spectacularly as they have.

Again you are over critical of Joe Bryan. Look through the last months goals. Joe Bryan has frequently made positive contributions. Unfortunately for Joe Bryan he is constantly shifted from opposition to position. Mr Johnson appears to think he is Phillip Lahm. The lethargy of City's play is due to the balance of team selection. Mr Johnson's team selection. The wide players are not as at fault ad you. The ball arrives too slowly through the thirds, too many touches, too many players killing each others space by dropping. Bryan is clearly playing (peculiarly wide) to instruction to create width and space.

Thank you for the replies. It was a simple question Spudski. How do Bristol City defend? Your answer was in numerous ways. The answer should be; As a well organised team. In answer to your later " you know what they are meant to be doing" ... At times I cannot see it because it changes so frequently, and the consequences of constant changes are disorganisation. Here I disagree with your consistent criticism of Joe Bryan. If the team was not subjected to the numerous changes in direction players would be more at ease in roles. The tinkering tactics are ruining players who do have talent. Bristol City under Lee Johnson are failing to prepare correctly. The constant changing in tactics and personnel = preparing to fail. Teams like Brighton and Reading have clear methodologies City look like they are a team of " ok boys this week I think!" And if it is a case of players simply not doing what they are told ... Mr Johnson was involved in buying them. He has been backed financially. His skills in Managing the players, motivating the players to follow instruction are wanting. Defending is not difficult. Eight/nine/ten men behind ball, one presses ball let's call him the first defender, if it's cleared, second jobs - trigger, in that zone let them have it, screen ... You know what I am getting at. That gets ever harder when the game is turned into alchemy (numerous ways of playing and starting XI' s). People state Lee Johnson over complicates football ... I agree.

If City are playing that deep the full backs should be tucking in and leaving the midfield to press the ball. The opposition then have two lines of four to play through. And City have four (at least) players to defend the cross into the box. The reality has been no pressure is being put onto the ball. Second balls go straight to the opposition as City sit in their box. Pressure onto more pressure is invited onto the defence. City are wallowing the opposition to have it in some half arsed attempt at screening and attempting to nick the ball back. What is evident is City are not attempting to press with energy above the half way line and push up. The opposite was true v Reading. Let them have it, get goalside, screen, nick ... There is a word there energy. Some players trundle back, it's languid, there is a lack of leadership stating we stay here, press here, hold there, Flint does it, the rest ... They do not know thoroughly what they are doing = Lee Johnson's tactics.

What your are describing is a team in a malaise. There is no clear defensive strategy present as a team. If somebody asked me how do BCFC defend I could not describe clearly what is being attempted. Have a go Spudski ... How are BCFC setting out to defend? ..

Do you think George Graham changed his team by the week? Do you think he expected Lee Dixon to play LB, LM, LWB, CM and left out in a timescale of a month in the manner Joe Bryan has? What defensive lines are City playing? High? Low? It changes by the week by the half! Where is the midfield in this? What line is there to deal with second balls? Two? One? They are often caught between tucking in and pressing/screening. It is uncoordinated. Pressing is a basic, a basic honed on the training pitch. This is inept management of players who have been through lives of coaching drills, talking about triggers. depth, denying space ... Put into a world of soup with a fork by Lee Johnson. It's comedy. Youth teams ... I am serious can have a better shape without the ball than BCFC. These are Lee Johnson's players, He was part of bringing them in. He knows all about their DNA for the project!! He is not motivating, and above all not Managing his players adeptly.

Walked from Town centre and saw a couple of minor scuffles. Prestons "yoof" making a lot of noise then running from a larger, and much older group of City fans.

Weak. Bristol City have not provided reasoning why they appear to not understand how to use a calendar.

Lost me money and let down my young son. Shows a total lack of respect for the idiots they call fans. FC = ******* Classless.

The performance of the team Saturday in the Managers words was abysmal. The performance level of the team in the last two months has been frequently poor. The performances at Wolves and Brentford were very poor and pathetic. Brentford the team was only that on name. Fans left Griffin Park angry. At Ashton Gate the team is often bossed by the opposition, the defence appears to be getting worse despite the "Winners" obessession with centre halves. the XI has left thd first forty five minutes in the dressing room, the form of JET, Reid and Bryan has deserted them, tactics are baffling, players inhabit positions were they are clearly not happy ... I could on but don't want to mention those pillars. The perception is there that Mr Cotterill is a bullshitter. He can change that.

Then your view is not well rounded. At Wolves the team did not compete and played in a manner where it could not contain Wolves, so could not get any form of result. Brentford was sans everything. Basic fundamentals were not achieved by a professional " coached" XI. Sheffield Utd ... Abysmal in Mr Cotterills words. Orient feels like a fluke. The abysmal is starting to outnumber the good, or even poor. That is indefensible.

An overlooked "benefit" of Mr Holloway's integrity is his insistence on shaving off his contractual cut of transfers fees. Other benefits? His passion failed to inspire CPFC and Leicester City. His loyalty sees him being a serial walker away from contracts A toxic relationship with Citys more vocal support. Amusing if anything else the topic.

Last one. Somebody from the working party can confirm or deny that the safe standing area has been altered. The image of the Wedlock at the open consulation day isn't the one now on the verge of being built. That will not affect the outline application.

I don't know. I was informed by those who have no habit of just making stuff up. It seems appropriate that somebody should be informing supporters what that stand actually looks like. Fans were going to be consulted and informed at "every" step said BCFC.

I did speak to the architect regarding the boxes being removed from the Wedlock design. It was not due to fans. It is straight economics. They will be more profitable elsewhere and each stand will cater for a different demographic. Top end facilities in the Williams, then the Dolman and then the Wedlock/Atyeo. The architect oddly could not confirm the rake of the stand by % v the Dolman. It will be steeper obviously than it is now. The design at the open day was not the final Wedlock design. Many of the points here should have been already addressed by the "wide" consultation. They have not been!!

At the public consultaion the architect described the design as having bowl like characteristics. The Bristol post go further and says its been designed to look like a bowl. The design is generic. The Wedlock design. Which one? It is, or was uniform. The design has been changed since the paper thin consultation.

B Various home secretaries who included the legislation in criminal justice acts for widespread use e.g political demonstrations, free party scene, travellers .. Football provides a test environment.

Semblar the club are not adhering to their own statements. Fans are being banned for life who have not committed any violent offences. If the community trust works with offenders service e.g Community payback shouldn't this work now cease? Effectively BCFC are saying that offenders cannot be rehabilitated, but players have appeared in City color's who have had criminal convictions. Will BCFC now have a policy in place regarding ex offenders?

I have questioned the clubs policy. Where does a player with a criminal conviction fit with BCFC ordering fans be banned for life for minor offences. Players were deemed worthy of rehabilitation. Does this not apply to supporters anymore?

It goes further. Bristol City FC are making their own rules up as they go along with little thought. The five pillars includes Community - the Bristol City Community Trust. How can the Bristol City Community Trust work with youth offending services/probation etc when the club themselves are banning fans for life!