Kibs

Not an ideal run in for Leicester either!!! 

No easy games in the Championship….massive win for Plymouth. 

8 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

FWIW I’ve long said that I don’t think many teams come to AG and park the bus per se, I think a lot of teams see AG as a real opportunity to pick up a result.  There is of course the challenge of breaking down an organised defence, and for me (generally) that comes from playing too slow.  Perversely under Nigel (don’t blame me for mentioning his name) at times we tried to counter too quickly (yes that’s a criticism of him by me!), before we’d truly gained good possesion, and we would sloppily give the ball straight back.  Usually with Weimann having bombed on and out of position.

With all these things there’s some middle ground to be found, not too slow, not too quick.

Yeah I don’t think many teams park the bus against the mighty Bristol City, but they are aware that we can be a very effective counter attacking team. They’re also aware of our attacking deficiencies. 

And agree AG is definitely a place where teams fancy their chances!!! We’ve lost and drawn too many home games for what feels like several years now, another thing that has to change if we’re to make more significant progress.

Just now, Davefevs said:

I think the challenge (from me) to that is where did the confidence from Southampton disappear to, and why so quickly?

No idea Dave, but it was so typical. All bad runs start somewhere. We had sub-par performance against a QPR team who were (and still are) improving. 

I think as many have pointed out, we still struggle against teams who play a certain way, especially at home. Thats not necessarily new, and I think that’s one of the biggest challenges for LM. 
 

1 minute ago, Alessandro said:

Perhaps a few of these things but for me, simplistically, I feel what’s changed is the message, not the delivery of the message. 

Its likely to be a big factor, and I hope that’s what has changed, because if it is, it’s more likely to remain that way. 

I do feel confidence plays a massive part though, perhaps even on the coaches part? 

You’re much more likely to retreat if you’re low on confidence or nervous than step up and press. You’re much more likely to pass safely, or pass sideways too. 

5 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Fevs would be better placed than me here stats wise, but I think you’d have to look at the positions we’ve been winning/playing the ball in, the possession, the lower number of passes to get a shot in. All of those have shown a dial shift from the naked eye, and that can’t really be anything other than a change in intent.

I’m not sure Hogg would say that they’ve changed the plan specifically, but I don’t think you’ll see many who would suggest we havent played differently in the last three wins as opposed to the pre Easter period. It feels less “shackled”.

The one thing I would say is that one of the thematics LM has said is about being “brave”. I think we’re being braver - we’re being prepared to lose (the game and possession) in order to win (the game and possession). Thats a massive sea change from a few weeks ago.

I agree with most of that, and I’m happier with how we’re playing, but I don’t necessarily think that it has to be down to intent or all down to intent anyway.

It could be intent, but there are several other factors at play too, and factors we’re not necessarily able to see or measure.

Playing devils advocate, how do we know the intent has changed? 

Maybe it’s the execution and understanding that’s changed?

Maybe it’s the way that the message has been delivered that has changed? 

Maybe it’s partly down to confidence and opposition performance too?

Maybe it’s the return from injury or upturn in form of a few players? 

Hoggs interview last week implied that the intent has always been the same. 

10 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

I believe I said that in the rest of the post which you snipped off in your quote….

you did sneak that in there didn’t you!, that’ll teach me to read twice!! Apologies

37 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

But we didn’t win them. So the expectation that we would drop too many points for the playoffs proved correct. How do you not get that?

As for “missing the point”…how many times are you going to get facepalmed before you start to realise that maybe the communication problems are all yours and not everyone else’s?

Honestly CR, save your breath!!!

45 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

 

- Did people say Blackburn were shit? Yes, and they were. But that was coupled with people acknowledging we’ve played well so isn’t negative

- Were people treating the result with caution? Yes they were. It was pointed out that we had beaten a poor side and had come off a superhuman Max performance at Sunderland and could have lost vs Leicester so people weren’t saying “we’re great now” - they were looking at the “EBI’s”

 

And on the flip side, there is a similar lack of objectivity from the other side when we get beat. 
 

Edit: SD did say that already, note to self, read twice, post once!! 

It looks like we will surpass last seasons points total and league position with arguably a weaker squad, which like it or not, would be progress. Credit to both managers.

Imagine what could have been had NP been properly supported in the transfer market in the summer after Alex Scott was sold.

45 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

The best bit will be the off-season where there will be no results to base anything on but we’ll all carry on anyway!

Yes, but we can (and will) dissect and over analyse every word which comes out of his mouth in interviews just incase he says something we don’t like, something which suits our position (on either side!) or is just a bit boring!! 

Such a crazy league 

Blackburn put 5 past Sunderland 

Sunderland should have put a few past us

Sunderland also go and draw at Leeds

We put 5 past Blackburn

The sad thing is, this tit for tat will go on until either LM gets sacked, or wins us promotion.

A bit of both I expect along with some confidence returning 

29 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Fwiw I’d try to get JKL some minutes, and if ready, give AB a boost by getting him involved in the MD29, but I think the others are quite a way off.

I think it is gonna be interesting to see which players are still “up for it”.

Yep, it’ll soon show if they aren’t up for it given most of the teams we’re playing still have it all to play for.

4 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

Pearson still had a pretty good squad to work with last season

It’s an interesting comparison isn’t it 

The use of Top 6 / Promotion quotes do crack me up.

If JL/BT told you to jump off a cliff because it’s good for your health, would you do it? Or would you use your brain and reach your own conclusion? 

Our squad is weaker this season than last season IMO, certainly not stronger!

Alex Scott was never adequately replaced, Antoine Semenyo was never adequately replaced - why on earth anyone feels we should even be competing for a Top 6 spot, regardless of the manager……I just cannot subscribe to that view.  

I could just never see where the creativity and goals would come from.

Had NP been given the opportunity to use the Alex Scott money, I think we could potentially have had a bit of a go, but the second that was denied, I could never see us being anything more than mid-table. 

30 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Apparently attacking intent only comes if the opposition allow that.  It’s not about “us”, according to Hoggy (who sings from the same hymn sheet as Manning).

That’s a slightly facetious comment, but with a large element of truth about it.

That’s what we have, a team / game-plan based on what the opposition allow us, rather than us imposing our style / identity.

I can’t wait!  

My interpretation of his comment was that they send the team out with the attacking intent, but the Championship is so tight that sometimes how the opposition play doesn’t allow it. 

I was actually quite pleased to hear that, and accept it to a degree, but my concern is that they rarely seem to be able to figure out a way to change it. 

I’d like to see them be much bolder and braver in their approach (pre-game and in game), but I’m just not sure they have it in them! 

Maybe it’s just me, but the modern game/coaches seem to massively over analyse, overthink and try to be too clever. 

Im not really sure what sort of team we are now, or what we are trying to be. 

Its a massive summer for him, and I think even some of the more patient fans will lose patience pretty quickly next season if there isn’t early signs of improvement in performances. 

7 minutes ago, firstdivision said:

I think play-offs is out of reach as we stand (ie before summer recruitment - but it will need something significant to make us top six).  Success next season (for me) is top ten with some exciting performances. 
Failure is flirting with relegation/still looking  over our shoulder with ten games left. 

I think this league is brutal and there will be crap games and some poor performances. (I see myself as a realist.) We should kind of accept that , however frustrating it is.

I’ve no idea whether LM will ‘succeed’ or not, but I have some patience. I never bought the hierarchy’s supposed suggestion that we were capable of top six this season. They didn’t fund a big/strong enough squad for that. I take a lot of what football people say with a pinch of salt.

I can’t stand many of the unequivocal postings on this forum. They lack nuance and context. And I don’t like the personal attacks on LM. But that’s the world we live in: too much social media short-termism and knee-jerk reactions. Thirty years ago we went down the pub after a game, or whatever, and ranted with two or three mates about  a performance. Now we come on here and other sites, and everything is amplified. It’s nuts, frankly. Plus, some people take themselves far too seriously. I’ve hardly posted recently because I can’t be bothered with the aggro. 

Only two Bristol City managers in history have succeeded in getting us into the top division and I don’t even know the name of the first one. Mid-table in the Championship is not the worst place to be. Ten seasons in the Championship have been pretty good compared to many of the other forty-four seasons I’ve witnessed. I’d like to see us in the PL before I die but it’s a damn hard thing to achieve. It needs wisdom, skill, money, patience and luck. I’m not holding my breath. 

I really hate losing and I want every BC manager to succeed. I don’t mind a sacking (ruthless when necessary) but I think LM deserves more time. I’m surprised you’ve nailed your colours this early in his tenure but that’s your prerogative. I’ve seen good and bad under LM and I expect that will continue under him and every other BC manager I’ll see. Because that’s pretty much football life. 

 

This is a great post. And whilst we should of course aim high, it’s probably the most competitive league in the world. 

Theres not many teams above us that I look at and think “we should really be above them”, and similarly, there are a few below us who I think should probably be doing better, which leads me to believe we’re roughly where we should be right now. 

Losing Semenyo and then Scott, and to not adequately replace them (I know we couldn’t fully replace them, they’re too good) led me to the conclusion very early that we’d be mid table at best. Had we replaced them, I think we could possibly be abit closer to the play-offs. 

We’ve all watched loads of non City Championship games which are absolutely turgid, but when City are involved, it seems unacceptable. It’s just the league we’re in, good days, bad days, average players, very little between anyone on any given day. 

I think Mannings tenure has been underwhelming, but more in terms of performances than outcome - I know many will disagree, but I really think we’re pretty much where we should be with the “quality” of our squad. 

Will be a tougher division IMO next season, so without some real quality recruitment, I don’t see us mounting a top 6 challenge next year either I’m afraid - whoever is in charge. 

6 months ago I’d have been happy to see him replaced and sat as our number two. Now I’m more concerned he’ll be one of the next ones off to better things in the summer! 

Delighted for him. Just goes to show how players can improve given the time and the opportunity, and how important consistent minutes are to help that development. 

46 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Subtitle of thread needs to be “HIS PLAYERS”

Put simply, if you think Liam needs “His Players” then you should be recommending 5-6 incoming's - and starting ones. If you aren’t recommending that then the conclusion is he’s underperforming with a capable squad.

So, what side you going to fall on? Shit squad or poor manager.

There is no other option.

 

How about very average squad, with a very average manager?

5 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

I agree with this and surely until LM has a squad that can play the style of football he wants then he has to get the team to play in the style that best suits it.

Yeah definitely I also agree with an earlier comment (think from WSM) that’s it’s abit of a mentality issue too!

4 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

I’d counter that with do you have access to those records.

neither of us do so that can’t really be used as an argument for that decision.

Unless there has been an interview where Manning has confirmed that’s the reason for the change.

If Twine is in the bench then I would assume LM has data that shows he’s fit to play some part.

The substitutions seemed pre planned and like for like and we needed something different.

I don’t think I’m the only one today who thinks Twine should of been used and I wouldn’t have criticised LM for using him.

Of course I don’t, but I’m assuming Manning does….which is a pretty logical assumption isn’t it? 

I’ve already said it’s not the way I’d have gone. 

We don’t know 10% of what Manning does, and there are some things you have to trust that he has made a decision in his mind, which is right based on the information he has available.

For me, this is one of those. Sorry if you disagree. 

I think this squad is built to play on the break and without the ball, so it’s absolutely no surprise to me that we’ve played well in the games we have and struggled in games like today. 

It’s on Manning to work it out and change that.