Kibs

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. 

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. 

13 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

Yes I saw that, but if LM believed he was the best option to get us back into that game then sentiment over previous performances has to take a back seat and put on the best player for that situation.

Tanner should never have been dropped if it was about how we’ve played over the last two matches and Mebude came on for a few minutes when the points were already secure against Southampton.

That certainly didn’t justify him being given game time over Twine.

Do you have access to Tanners recovery data then?

Fair play, feel free to share. 

Clearly, he’s rotating players based on data, and also trying to keep a squad happy….a new problem. 

Not saying he got it right, just saying he’s made the decision, in his mind, which is correct based on the information he has available - which by the way, we don’t have access to and so are assuming/guessing. 

27 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

So I’m struggling to see why he wasn’t used today

See my earlier post. Personally, I’d have used him, but given how we have performed in the last two games, and given our recent injury history, I can accept why he may have decided not to use him. 

3 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

So are you saying he didn’t bring him on because he wasn’t fit enough to come on ?

No. 

2 hours ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

Not if we win the next two it doesn't 

Or next 13

2 hours ago, Rob k said:

No, sorry but i don’t believe anybody would have criticised him for bringing Twine on, as said, these are the teams he’s here for as we can’t break them down. 

Fine. Agree to disagree, but Manning was fundamental to why we brought Twine in, so other than Twine not being fit (then then why have him on the bench?) I can’t think of any other reason, you? 

7 minutes ago, RollsRoyce said:

Sure for the starting 11, also maybe not upto 90 mins. But zero mins in a game we were quite awful in, against a bottom 3 side at home ? He was the jewel in the crown signing if he was not fit, then he should not be on the bench. 

Na. Easy in hindsight. Had he brought Twine on ahead of the others (and we still lost) people would be criticising him for not using those who had performed well the last couple games. 

I fully expected this result(sadly). 

Perhaps felt the players that had been available and performed well over the last couple games had earned the opportunity ahead of Twine? 

 

Yarp…….

9 minutes ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

At the 32 game point last season Coventry were 5 points off the play offs. 

I don't think anyone thought they would get play offs. But they did. Think they only lost one game for the rest of the season and that was key. 

So it can be done. 

We have 14 games to get around 30 points. More could be needed, less could be needed. 

Forget about what's happened before now. We have a 14 game season. It can be done, we can do it so let's do it. 

If say we win our next two games like we should and we then suddenly find ourselves in 6th or 7th, should we just down tools and give up because we averaged 1.375 over 32 games? So therefore it must be impossible for us to pick up enough points to stay in 6th? 

It's a 14 game season now. We don't need to play every team. Compared to others we have a favourable fixture list on paper. 

It’s mathematically possible, so yes it can be done, but if the Championship has taught us anything, it’s that points are often gained and dropped from where you don’t expect….

I think since their managerial appointments, QPR and Sheff Wed are both capable teams despite their league position so nothing would surprise me…..well, 6 points would actually

But dare to dream and all that, I’m just pleased that we’re still amongst the chasing pack and It would be great to stay in the mix as long as possible.

We’ve averaged 1.375 PPG over 32 games, and now we’re talking about getting 30+ points from 14 games - 2.14 PPG, which would be nearly 100 points over a season…..

And given we’ve won our last two, that would mean we finished the last 16 games averaging 2.25 PPG, 103.5 points over a season!!!

I’m all for optimism but I think you’re getting carried away!! 

It’s abit shit that members/POTD can rarely get a couple seats together in the south stand because it’s “sold out”……and then you get to your seat in the dolman/Lansdown and see that there are hundreds empty.

It looks crap too and it surely can’t help the atmosphere. 

I hope they either bin off the U12 offer for that stand or at least set the price so that it’s not palatable to buy the extra seat and have it empty half of the time.

The Championship is just absolutely mental isn’t it

It’s why I just didn’t get it when people were going mental after the draws away at QPR and Huddersfield…

Year after year we see a league which the top few aside, there is barely anything between the rest.

We could quite conceivably not win any of our next 2 and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit!!! It’s impossible to predict where your points are coming from.

1 hour ago, maxjak said:

I note the "Cult of Nige" are quiet tonight?  Ha!     PS.Not that i have anything against Uncle Nigel.

I think the forum needs a new rule and this sort of shite should be an instant ban 

This is just too simplistic a way of looking at it. There are two teams which influence the game.

If we play against a team (QPR possibly on Saturday) who sit back, men behind the ball and let us have it, we simply can’t play like we did tonight, even if we wanted to.
 

We have to be better in those games when possession is more equal, or in our favour. 

Just now, nickolas said:

Decent. But hes no Cam Pring! Not a bad backup though!

Different attributes to Cam, I think Roberts is possibly better with the ball, but Cams physical attributes are unreal. 

I really rate them both. 

If you read the forum, it’s actually only a handful of people who micro analyse every word/action/decision/interview and look to find something negative.

The trouble is, they repeat it numerous times on every thread.

I think the vast majority are relatively happy with him, and realise that it’s the people above him who are the problem. 

I don’t like the system (3 or 5 at the back) but I think for Mannning, it was about getting the right players on the pitch. 

Boro were always going to come out flying second half and they had to improve. Obviously we were always going to tire too, but we earned the right to defend the lead and ultimately, it worked.

Nothing short of a sensational effort IMO. Back home early hours Thursday, travelling up north again Friday so barely no recovery or preparation. 

I’ve got zero complaints!!! COYRs!