The Swan and Cemetery

Not saying this was the rationale, but guess a sending off and an injury, whilst very unlikely, maybe plausible and given a game that could well end in penalties, being confident of having a fit keeper on the pitch maybe more important. Given 7 other subs to cover 10 positions, not necessarily madness, particularly as also gave Wiles-Richards the matchday experience others have alluded to.

Difficult to drawn any statistically robust conclusions given low volumes, but feels like last season a lot more very long/season ending injuries, this season only Williams that we’re finding very difficult to get on the pitch, plus Baker which is an issue that don’t think any medic can really solve. This year’s King/James injuries would have been Weimann/Martin etc last season, ie not ideal this season, but much shorter. Don’t necessarily think that means Rennie performing miracles, more the previous regime were poor.

Ifs, buts and maybes re the draw we’d get. It’s not as if we didn’t try or put in a decent performance, we lost, unluckily in my view, by one goal, in extra time, to a decent team.

Yep and posted similar on the TC thread, comments here were more that it’s very understandable not to be banging in goals galore on first appearance of season. Definitely lots to like, good runs, pace and putting himself about. And reports from age groups would indicate he’s a much more natural finisher than most, my Conway glass is definitely between half full and spilling over.

Think most on here are very level headed, match day threads and a very few (not you for clarity!) who are hardwired (or agenda driven) to never see positives, aside. A lot of the recent progress is due to players that we couldn’t plausibly see as being part of NP’s plans for this season in the Championship (eg Scott and Benarous). As others have said above, don’t think anyone’s suggested we’re sorted and Nige is King, more that, slowly but surely, the terrible performances/surrenders are fewer and better performances more frequent. We’ll still see poor performances, but the overall direction is improving. Mid table (including lower mid table) is success this season, so definitely nothing to get carried away with, but still positives to be seen.

Think in time he maybe the reliable finisher we’ve missed (at least there’s a chance) - as mentioned above first minutes this season mean he was always likely to be rusty and neither chance was straightforward. Some of the chances that fell to more experienced players were far easier. He looked to have a bit of pace as well, looking forward to seeing him get more minutes.

Reasonable for Conway to be rusty after so long out and neither of his chances were straightforward, decent keeping for first and defender hustling him for the second. Thought he put himself around and looked useful. A bit more game time and hopefully the finishing has the rust removed as like the look of him. Clearly a proven Championship scorer would be delightful, but generally they involve being exchanged for money, so we probably have to get by for now.

Good run though.

Their keeper’s decent on crosses, need to try to keep it away from him a bit more.

And, as a result, solidity.

Personally find betting sites better than streaming sites, I’m on Betfair and working fine.

Maybe there’ll be a stand off in the car park between Cheshire Police and Heddlu Gogledd Cymru.

You can argue as to whether Welsh government taking a sensible stance or not, but if Google Maps is correct, seems odd if Chester didn’t realise they were hosting matches in Wales (white line being the border).

Media might promote out of control, but don’t think stats support that perspective. Murder rate not out of line with some other parts of the UK and given a population broadly in line with Hungary or Portugal, unsurprising that there’s some violent crime. Clearly there are issues, often linked to drugs/poverty and this initiative is looking to address some of those, but fair way removed from out of control.

Hints of City about the Bears this season, lots of backward steps, but last few games starting to put something together. Vs Leicester we were a bit unlucky to lose to last play of the game, Exeter we were well beaten, but defence sound and we weren’t thrashed, and then tonight. Best attacking play for a long time, combined with decent defence and a try bonus point win. We had the rub of the green, but that makes a pleasant change and plenty still to work on, eg gathering high balls. Also a la City, good to see some youngsters leading the charge (Lloyd, Harding and Hawkins all great this evening). Maybe it’s all part of the SL Bristol Sport master plan, be a bit rubbish and then the yoof ride to the rescue.

We’re not awash with players who’ve got Premier League on their CV to any significant level and Weimann is the only one who plays up front (Wells and Martin 14 Prem appearances between them vs Andi’s 113). Whilst he isn’t Lineker, Fowler or Owen in their pomp, his consistent industry (and generally very intelligent industry), plus less consistent (hint of LJ good/bad runs), but very useful, goal scoring get him on the team sheet every time for me. Whilst he’s liable to poor control and blazing shots high and wide at times, the three finishes today show that he’s a pretty decent natural finisher - think some of those oddly poor touches/finishes distract us from his base level of performance, which is, in line with his Prem credentials, pretty high. Has probably had slightly less of career than he might have, due to not being a perfect fit for most roles in most formations: not quite an out and out striker, not quite just behind a main striker, not quite an out and out winger. But overall think we missed him massively last season and may well turn out to be the critical reason we stay up this season.

Assuming money isn’t mad, which seems unlikely given stage of his career, think this is reason enough to persist, for now at least. Natural goal scorers are like hen’s teeth and we’ve had very few over the years, generally sheer weight of chances has resulted in goals, eg Cotterill promotion. Sure I’m missing someone, but not sure we’ve had many since Super Bob. Maybe Conway turns good and sure many would say Wells, but not convinced (by Wells, high hopes for Conway). Would hate us to turn away a Vardy or Lambert for sake of a bit of development time, but clearly does need to show something, including desire.

And even if we do get relegated, other than the Division 1 years with AD, promotion years from third tier have been the best years I’ve had supporting City, 89/90 in particular other than 2nd May 90 and 2014/15 was pretty good as well. Wouldn’t see it as a disaster. But don’t think we will get relegated.

Mick Harford.

One of 3 things from rugby that think there’s merit in football trialling (if it hasn’t): 1. Physios running on - might not work as football tends to be more spread out than rugby, so risk of getting in the way might be higher, but on the other hand 30 players in rugby vs 22. In rugby, the attacking team knows the ref will stop play if the ball goes too near the injured player/physio, so tend to find ways to avoid. And game will be stopped for properly serious injuries. 2. Using ‘time off’ to stop the clock for t!tting around during the game and then when the clock hits 90 mins, the match is over next time ball out of play (assuming not a penalty/free kick). 3. Scrums… okay, only two things.

Think we’ve had plenty of bad refs, but generally their errors are reasonably balanced between the teams, yesterday’s performance was so poor it was odd and became difficult not to cast aspersions on his character, given the extent to which his errors favoured QPR.

Not sure Max will ever dominate his box at set pieces to the level that gives real comfort, but Dan doesn’t either. Think the key thing NP was unhappy with DB about, Max was at least doing his best to try and improve, ie distribution (feet and hands). Didn’t get it right every time, but felt it contributed significantly to our ability to play more effectively through the 3rds (combined with solid centre mids, guile from Scott, plus pace wide and up top). Looks to have sweeper keeper potential, which DB doesn’t. All sounds like a massive dig at DB, which guess it is up to a point (along with Massengo he’s the player I tend to have a lower opinion of than the OTIB average - based on deep AI analytics/guesswork), but still a decent mid Championship keeper, just not higher without some improvement, in my view.

Wouldn’t surprise if ref was booking for the foul and got the wrong player, would cap his performance perfectly.

Not sure we know the first booking was daft by him or (yet another) daft decision by the worst ref in years. Will hardly be the first player in history to complain about a penalty, did he definitely go too far or one more opportunity for the ref to bolster QPR’s chances. Second one was daft, however frustrating he just had to let the QPR player get away. As others have said, thought he was playing really well, the difference to the whole team of having two experienced, been there, done that, players in central midfield was marked. Great positionally and moves the ball on sensibly, slows it down when needed, keeps things moving when needed. King staying fit (and not getting sent off) maybe crucial if we can’t get Williams consistently fit.

It’s not an email, it’s a Doodle poll. Personally think dropping Bentley was fair - can’t be that the only way a number two gets a chance, is if the incumbent is constantly throwing the ball into his own net. Whilst some of Bentley’s shot stopping is great, too often he pushes it out towards strikers, rather than away. His distribution is far from great, Max’s looked a lot more deliberate last night, even if imperfect. And DB shows no signs of wanting to be any kind of sweeper keeper, often rooted to his 6 yard box when long balls are played through. For me, a combination of his shot stopping, contrasted by points above, make him decent at mid table Championship, definitely not immune to being dropped. Also prefer an outfield captain, but clearly that’s not DB’s fault.