Dr Balls

We have improved defensively since the start of the season, not just the last 10 matches. It was a definite weakness in previous seasons, so that even though we had Weimann, Semenyo and Martin scoring for fun, we were also conceding as many. Successful teams have tight defences but also know how to score. We have sorted the former at the expense of the latter it would seem. And that doesn’t make for great entertainment either, which is one of the criticisms of some on here have about how we are playing now.

Potential captain material? Or is that TGH? As said before on here, of our best performers this season, Dickie, Knight and TGH all stand out as great acquisitions in the summer. Hopefully, despite all the behind the scene changes at the club, the scouting hasn’t changed that much and we can continue to pick up relative bargains.

Well done Maidstone! Great effort and showed how even supposedly far better teams can be picked off by smart, quick counter-attacking football and great finishing. They deserve all the plaudits! Meanwhile the second half of Ipswich’s season doesn’t appear to be going as well as the first half. Not that that upsets me at all…

I thought that was George Tanner going over the halfway line!

A fantastic signing in the summer. Can do everything required of a central defender, good distribution, great at reading the game, dominant with his head, and so comfortable both bringing the ball forward and playing a pass forward. That latter attribute has become more evident in the last few games. He may have even shown Zak how to dribble with the ball for last night’s very unexpected run into the penalty box!

To bring the thread back to Cam Pring, the reality is that he is now one of our fittest and strongest players. Few attackers get past him and the fact that he was up with Cornick on that break at the end is witness to that. He really has stepped it up in the past 18 months and there are arguments to be made for him being the best left back in the Championship. So hardly surprising if Premier League clubs are eyeing him as a potential recruit. But with 2.5 years on his contract we should really be looking to hold onto him at least until the end of next season.

Over the years most successful teas have needed a strike partnership up front. We have it with Conway and Wells but they haven’t been on the pitch at the same time all season. There is no variety or change in the formation with the subs, just like for like in the same formation that wasn’t scoring goals before. Doing the same thing and expecting change is the definition of madness!

Lots of “nice football”, some players really stepping up, but no cutting edge, as confirmed by not a single shot on target. Conway is not a lone striker and the lad is living off scraps at best. Not helped by him struggling to stay onside. The reality is that we are not likely to be hammered by anyone other than a really good team (but that was also true under Pearson) but by the same token we are unlikely to get a hatful of goals in a match, Watford away being the exception as we played on the break, which is still the tactic that suits us best considering who we have up front.

Just hope we have a decent sell-on clause. And agree that there are likely to be some big bids from some of the top PL clubs this summer.

Agree with you and other posters on this. If Dave Brailsford was here rather than Man United, I can assure you we would be practising throw ins and how to play out of tight spaces so as to keep possession. It’s not even a “marginal gain”, at the moment it’s a huge weakness, because 9 times out of 10 if the ball goes out when we are attacking we completely lose any momentum and the ball gets thrown back to a defender for another round of “play it along the back line”. Really frustrating, and although a lack of decent options doesn’t help him, Tanner is the worst offender.

The newspaper section used to be in the basement of the Central Library. That went years ago when the Cathedral School needed somewhere for its junior school. Probably almost all of the old copies will have been digitised by now (assuming that they weren’t just binned) while God knows what you would keep from the click bait that is now Bristol Live. The internet has been the death of local journalism but the reality is that very few people now know what is going on in their local area whether it’s sport, politics or other things that affect their lives. And that’s a sad reflection of how some things have not improved in the past 20-30 years.

The tactic of the goalkeeper going long and kicking it over the head of the full back / wing back didn’t start with Max. It goes way back. Frank Fielding did it regularly towards Joe Bryan and it was just as frustrating then! Max is a decent goalkeeper at this level and I would say is still improving. He’s no longer “young” as such but for both Pearson and Mannimg he offers something that Bentley couldn’t do, which is use his feet. It is akin to Joe Hart versus Ederson. What Max does well is anticipate danger and come out, whether it’s with his feet, his head or his hands. He can kick off both his left and right foot which not many keepers can manage and he’s a more than decent shot stopper. Yes he still needs to practice his distribution and not play players into trouble at the back, but those mistakes happen with almost all teams playing that way, given that playing out from the back is now the only way to play at higher levels for many coaches and managers it seems. Max is a decent Championship keeper, who has grown into the role under Pearson, and anyone who thinks that’s where we most need an upgrade right now is kidding themselves, as it wouldn’t be cheap and any improvement marginal. The bigger concern remains what happens if Max got injured as Bajic as his understudy really is an unknown quantity at this level.

Any formation that requires Vyner to play out from the back is bound to fail. He can’t pick a pass and when he does try invariably gives it away. In a back 3 with Atkinson and Dickie, I would play Vyner in the middle, just their to defend with pace and allow the other 2 to bring the ball out. This also means no place for Tanner, who is a reasonable defender but risks a nose bleed if he passes the halfway line as it’s too far up the pitch for him. He also can’t take a throw in that goes forward. When he’s on the ball and we are attacking, a guy behind me shouts “goalie’s open” and more often than not that’s where it ends up no more than 2 passes after Tanner has turned and gone backwards with the ball. So frustrating!

Are you really suggesting City’s owners would really withhold funds from a manager then make them suddenly available for a new one? I can’t imagine that happening… Oh hang on, that does sound familiar!!!

Yep, Scrooge McDuck might throw a few more pennies at the women’s team than the Lansdowns. I just don’t understand the logic of the only top flight football team in the whole organisation, with massively bigger crowds this season, in a competition that is growing, with a relatively high media profile, and not at least investing enough to ensure survival at that level. It’s just a fraction of the men’s team. Crazy but then bonkers decisions at Ashton Gate is hardly new!

Good job there’s no VAR in League 2. Basically cleared out the opposition player after the ball had gone. At least a yellow, even at that level, for a really poor challenge. Is that what the naming and shaming was hoping for?!

I thought that today exposed some weaknesses without us being punished for them. Case in point - Vyner and Tanner are both decent defensively at this level, but they offer nothing other than that. Poor passing, no forward commitment, and certainly not players who are going to get us to the playoffs or beyond. Championship is the highest level that they are going to achieve. And they have are fine if survival at this level is all that the owners are willing to finance but they aren’t going to take us any further than Championship mid table mediocrity. We have had better in the recent past but those players cost more in both fees and wages.

Would be good to see a back three that included Atkinson and Dickie. Vyner and Tanner on the right of defence is definitely a weakness coming out from the back. As for Twine, good debut but needs to know when to play the simple ball rather than the speculative one and also understand his defensive role in the team. The one good thing with him in the team is that it should stop us wasting corners by playing them short. Great delivery and with him and TGH on the pitch we have 2 players who can really make the most of dead ball opportunities.

It’s because buying young players is cheap as are their wages. But as they improve, they leave for better options and success elsewhere, while Bristol City remain at best also-rans. The similarities with the men’s team is perhaps bigger than we think!

You have to love fickle football fans, even those from the PL! Under Moyes, West Ham are now a consistent Top 10 team and he has just won them their first trophy in 43 years and their second European Trophy 58 years after their first, which by comparison was won with 3 players who subsequently won the World Cup the next year. But he’s underachieving! The other thing Moyes has done is stopped West Ham’s tendency to splash ridiculous fees on overseas players who don’t suit the PL. Losing Rice was a blow, but predictable; buying Ward-Prowse was canny, and amazing that no other PL club seemed to be after him. Moyes has also helped to develop Bowen into a top notch striker who has got international recognition from Southgate. So no West Ham may not be challenging for the PL title against clubs with even deeper pockets, but they are still in the Europa League, which given where they have been in the past 20 years has to be seen as significant progress.

Did you have to mention him?! The only footballer ever to have had the on-field position of “pointer”. Because that’s all he ever did! As you can tell I wasn’t a fan… As for Seb, seems another good prospect from the Academy and will hopefully have benefitted from playing proper league football rather than more u21s.

Fulham made it to a UEFA Cup final as well under Hodgson. Also frustrating when you realise that other clubs at our level and below have won cups e.g. Cardiff, Swansea, even Swindon. Some a long time ago admittedly but can never be taken away from them…

Maybe we have just been included on the back of last night’s result, but interesting that ahead of Saturday’s game against Watford, the two clubs are the only non-Premier League ones amongst those highlighted. And strangely no mention of Bournemouth! https://sportsunlimitednews.com/united-states-global/sport/who-are-the-biggest-english-clubs-not-to-win-a-major-trophy/

It was more of a disappointing result rather than a bad performance. On lots of the stats the Vixens outplayed Liverpool but the lack of goals remains a major concern (similar to the men’s team). And the bigger position of relegation remains worrying, considering the recruitment by other clubs, especially West Ham.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Not part of Bristol Sport? So does that mean that the Women’s team are expected to be purely financially self-sufficient, whereas other WSL clubs can bundle their funding in with all of the other football club spend including sponsorships etc? That includes all of those major men’s Premier League clubs who now have successful Women’s teams, in large part financed through their men’s teams. If so, poor Lauren Smith is even worse off than Nige was compared to the other clubs in the division.