Dr Balls

@Davefevs Maybe this is the new norm? Another 2-0 at home and another good performance. We can only hope but the next few games up to the international break, which include both Norwich and Burnley away, will really show how far we have come - or not.

It’s fair to say that Nige has been a very significant part of the Andi Weimann renaissance, to the point of AW returning to the Austrian National squad for the first time in 7 years and then scoring his first international goal against the world champions. He’s been the first manager in a long time either at City or elsewhere to play AW in his best position. That’s not luck.

Considering two of our most successful managers of recent times were called Dicks and (Gary) Johnson, I think we should be careful about suggesting anatomically-suggestive named managers for other clubs!!

I would suggest the League 2 referee hit the decisions right in that game and the guy we had on Tuesday missed the penalty on Atkinson (I thought it was clearly a foul at the time and having watched the multi-angle replays even more convinced) plus under-appreciated the violence of Freeman on Sykes. A shove from behind knocking someone to the floor with the ferocity that Freeman used was violent conduct, hands or no hands. As for VAR at this level, considering most linesmen seem to struggle with getting offside decisions correct (Tuesday night in the first half there was one Luton forward who was a yard offside as the ball was played through to him but no flag was forthcoming) and referees can’t tell a dive from a foul or vice versa then it does seem just a matter of time before it appears.

Oh I think we could have managed to lose against Millwall in similar circumstances. The Jacks are Johnny-come-lately amateurs at injury time collapses by comparison with our long-standing record of late capitulations!

Thankfully keeps Scott and Weimann well out of sight as most others will have switched off by then! ?

Interesting point. Could Pep be successful on a very limited budget? A bit like F1 and the best car v best driver argument. Turns out Hamilton is still a great driver in a less good car but could Pep do as well as say Paul Warne at Rotherham on the budget that he has? I remain unconvinced. Klopp on the other hand started at Mainz, so perhaps he might have more chance.

Easiest from the M4 is Chiswick The only issue is that it’s a bit more of a tube ride than say Uxbridge as you have go into Green Park to get the Jubilee line to take you to Wembley Park. Takes about 40 minutes on the tube but easy drive out on the way back. If it’s a Sunday you can park for free on Turnham Green Terrace (if you get there early enough to get a space) then get the tube at Turnham Green which is the very edge of Zone 2. It’s what I did with my son for both the 2012 Olympics and the JPT final in 2015. Back around 2000, I used to live around the corner off Chiswick High Street on the same street as John Thaw. Couldn’t afford it now!!

If you look at the substitutions there are 2 common themes. Experience and height, both of which were needed when we went down to 10 men. Martin holds up the ball so more possession further away from the goal plus is an asset at defending corners. Williams added more bite in midfield. Klose is taller and more experienced than a tiring Vyner who can move to RWB, just what was needed against Cameron Jerome who Luton had brought on. Finally King slots in as more defensive cover in midfield and is also 6ft tall. My only frustration at the time was how long it took the coaching team to make that initial substitution, when we were rocking a bit in that first 5 minutes after the sending off.

The difference with the rugby refs and the football ones is that the former have usually spotted something but want clarification, whereas the latter just get it wrong or miss the incident and need to be corrected. But agree that as per both rugby and cricket, we should get to see and hear it all as the video referees watch it back. And as for asking the referee to review it on a screen, we should all be allowed to see what he/she sees in real time. That said given the standard of Championship refs and their assistants games would last 2 hours plus (not including half time) as so much time would be taken up reviewing their incorrect decisions!

So a few games in and all 3 promoted sides have played 3 and are still unbeaten. I think you would have got pretty long odds on that pre-season. Admittedly 2 of those 9 games have included us as opposition, but it also suggests that the battle at the bottom of this league could be even more tough than usual.

Maybe it’s because Championship referees are not much cop compared to the rest of the European leagues included. They either give ones that aren’t or miss ones that are, or some do both with amazing frequency! To have just 1 penalty awarded for every 91 scoring chances is beyond ridiculous. And you only have to go 20 places up the table out of roughly 600 teams in Europe to find the team that gets awarded penalties twice as often as us based on minutes played. Only 4 penalties awarded in 2.5 seasons would suggest something more than random chance is going on. No wonder Pearson is complaining about officiating standards…

Absolutely. Sykes was badly fouled by Freeman, which the ref completely missed, so Sykes took matters into his own hands with his two-footed lunge at Freeman in return. Then Freeman had a go at Sykes which started the whole melee out on the pitch. Sykes had to go but so did Freeman. And none of this would have happened if the ref had been any good and spotted the original foul on Sykes in the first place. And if the referee was bad, the linesman in front of the Lansdown was even worse. Saw nothing all game, couldn’t keep up, and only gave one offside decision all game, which was against Martin and was wrong. Missed any number of offsides and infringements in the first half when Luton were attacking the South Stand. Stealing a living and getting to watch games into the bargain!

That’s another similarity with us then!!

I see a lot of similarities between ourselves and Man United at the moment, just at different levels of both leagues and supporter expectations obviously (although that may be questionable of some on this forum!) 1. Lots of talent upfront who should get goals but perhaps as a team are set up too much in terms of attacking rather than not conceding. 2. A midfield that doesn’t seem able to shield the defence and always looks a man short. 3. A defence that is at times struggling to do the simple things well. 4. A goalkeeper who is a great shot stopper but can’t play it out from the back without putting his own players into trouble. 5. Starting the season with 2 defeats and in the relegation zone. 6. Discontent with the club owners… But at least we don’t have the disruptive presence of Cristiano Ronaldo stood at the top end of the pitch throwing his arms up in the air every time things go wrong on the pitch and blaming his team “mates”!

I don’t mind Martin starting up front as he does act as a foil for Weimann, occupying and tiring defenders. However, by 60 minutes he’s usually looking puffed, which is when I would be liking to bring on Wells as a completely different and more pacy opponent for the now somewhat tired defenders to deal with. The fact Nige rarely subs Martin and usually gives Wells less than 5 minutes (including injury time) is the bit that baffles me, especially as we are supposedly a team that prefers to counter attack, which should suit Wells just fine.

The problem is that for the amount we might get for Weimann, there is no chance that we will manage to replace him with anyone near as good. We would lose 20 goals per season, plus a decent number of assists at a stroke, and given our defensive frailties, we need to score consistently to get anything from a game at the moment. The thing to remember is that he has come good under Pearson, who has played him in his best position, just behind a central striker, plus they have a professional relationship that goes back years. I wouldn’t begrudge Weimann a move for that last chance at playing in the Premier League again or even going to the Bundesliga, because he is in the form of his life, including even resurrecting his international career. That goal against France at least added a decent chunk to his value. The question for him would be would he be played in the same way anywhere else, because as we and the fans of other clubs where he has played know that if you shunt him out wide, he won’t be half as effective.

Also remember that in his first transfer window LJ (and Ashton) benefitted from a £15 million boost with sale of Kodjia, while still managing to sell Ayling for a pittance. And even then, they spent a significant amount of that straightaway on the likes of Tomlin, when the core of the team for the next 2 years was actually inherited from Cotterill. Look at that successful 2017/18 team and only a few were Ashton and LJ choices - most were part of the “League 1 Galaticos of 2014/15.” The problem Pearson has inherited is a squad assembled at significant cost and high wages for this level, who are not significantly better than others have managed at much less cost. The pandemic and then the wider financial situation has upended the “bring “em in cheap(er) and sell them on at huge profit” policy, which was always risky anyway because no one has ever had a 100% success rate with it and we have been caught with our pants down when the music stopped. This in a financial landscape where only Premier League clubs have money for transfer fees, with most of the bigger ones looking for talent from overseas, leaving perhaps just 10 or so clubs looking out for domestic talent from the Championship. The only way that the “selling club” policy makes financial sense now is developing youth talent coming from the Academy and moving them on at an appropriate time, with the relevant sell-on clauses, but even then that is a lottery because it’s now a buyer’s rather than a seller’s market. On that basis, I would suggest that Pearson hasn’t done a bad job of bringing on young talent from our own ranks, buying players from Leagues 1 and 2 (Atkinson, Sykes, Wilson) and picking up free transfers/out of contract players (Naismith, Klose) the question is whether he can fashion a successful team from them. We have looked pretty good in the first half of every game so far this season, so the rest of your outlook depends on whether you are glass half full or half empty person. For some on here at the moment, it’s more like a quarter full and someone’s pi$$ed in it!

Thanks Rob. From your report and player scores, the same old problems seem to be evident. The defensive set up seems so woeful in large part because we cannot seem to exert any control In midfield and that situation gets worse the longer the games go on as we drop deeper and deeper. And Chris Martin has done very little upfront, with even his goal last week a scruffy scuffed effort from 2 yards out. At least Tommy Conway had a decent showing and as you commented Sykes looks like a great signing. The more this goes on the more you are left wondering if the formation is as much of a problem as the players themselves.

The assistant in front of the Lansdown was useless. Missed a couple of clear offsides in the first half, one of which wasn’t even close, as in the Sunderland striker was a good yard ahead of the last defender as the ball was played. As for picking up defensive fouls by Sunderland in the second half, forget it. So at least he was consistently crap - in their favour! ?

You mean someone like Marlon Pack?? That ship has sailed unless we play Naismith in that role and play 2 proper central defenders (not including Vyner) behind him.

1. Our midfield cannot continue as a 2 whoever plays there. We need 3 in the middle or we will continue to be over run and our defence will continually be under pressure. 2. Even though he is only 18, Alex Scott is probably our best central midfielder. 3. The lack of threat upfront without Semenyo is really worrying. Other than score the scruffiest goal ever, Martin did nothing today. He certainly did not give their centre backs a hard time, while in contrast the 2 Sunderland forwards gave our defenders a torrid time. 4. We have yet to work out our best formation and how to fit our best players into one that actually works, assuming that the coach even appreciates who the best players are. 5. Zak Vyner is not a championship centre back. When your best contribution as centre back is assisting for a goal that is actually damning with faint praise. 6. If we lose Bentley in this transfer window, we will concede even more goals. At this level, we can’t keep expecting a keeper to make a couple of world class saves every game, and even then we are still losing. 7. Likewise we can’t afford to lose Weimann. He is the Duracell bunny/human dynamo and has clearly continued last season’s form into this. He was yet again the City MOTM today, IMHO. 8. Massengo has not improved since the day he arrived at Ashton Gate. If any scout was watching today’s performance, they will be reporting back that he is not up to playing at this level and is more of a liability than an asset. 9. Nothing much has changed from last season, but then we are playing pretty much the same team and formation so what did we expect? We continue to score but concede even more, which suggests that the pundits who had us down for another relegation battle were right. A potential top 6 finish, although far from impossible, looks extremely improbable on today’s performance, even given how tight this league can be. 10. Other clubs boost themselves in the short term with loans. Pearson may not like them per se, but we appear to be missing a trick here. We supposedly can’t afford to buy anyone better than what we have got, so surely loans are the next best option to bolster the squad.

Seri and Figureido are both decent enough players at Championship level. The rest are unknown quantities and creating a team out of so many new arrivals, especially a few who have arrived relatively late, sounds somewhat unlikely. Lewis-Potter and Honeyman, who were their 2 best players last season have both left, which also suggests that they might struggle. If the above is true, then he was the same dodgy keeper who let in 5 at Ashton Gate in the last home game of the season.

As someone earlier put it, my first reaction on seeing this topic was “Oh no!”. RIP Stoney - that trademark red fedora will live long in City fans memories. No one else could carry off that look so well!

Yes but… If 3-4 teams from a particular league automatically qualify for the league stages of the Champions League then immediately that league is going to do better than a league where only one team qualifies for the qualifying stages and has to get through those even to make the group stages. Basically like so much of life these days it pretends to be meritocratic but actually just reinforces privilege by skewing things right from the start. If all the teams from the “bigger leagues” of England, Spain, Italy and Germany had to go through qualifying they wouldn’t all make it to the group stages through a knockout process, because football often throws up surprising results. That’s the joy of cup competitions, which those who want a guaranteed income stream hate of which the ultimate would be the breakaway European league.