ChippenhamRed

Although he plays deep, I don't see Pack as an out-and-out holding midfielder. More of a quarterback. Playing two deep-lying midfielders gives more licence to the other attacking midfielders - hopefully to get up in support of Tammy. I've got no problem with it. People talk about two up front as if it's the golden ticket. At the end of the day there are 11 men on the pitch and if you play two up front you are less likely to control the midfield. I would say it's the execution of the formation, rather than the formation itself, that is the key. Some of the most successful teams in world football have played one up front in recent years. 2-0 City. COYR.

Why do we have to limit ourselves to looking at the last two months? I'm not pretending there aren't problems, clearly our form is poor. But we have already shown we are capable of winning matches at this level, unlike last season we are never getting battered 4-0, and we have the financial capacity to make improvements in January. People are too quick to write the season off and too quick to judge our entire season based only on our recent form. If we were as dreadful as some are making out, we wouldn't have won the matches we already have. It's as if some revel in our failure more than they do our success. With 25 games to go it is ridiculous to rule out a top 10 finish. I didn't expect us to finish 18th after I went to Reading away back in January.

Yes I believe with 25 games of the season remaining we can still finish in the top 10.

Utterly ridiculous to label it "madness". Top 10 is an entirely reasonable aspiration for this squad and still more than achievable. All the usual reactionary nonsense on here tonight.

Yeah Cotterill was a disastrous appointment wasn't he. Really wish you'd give it a rest with your relentless negativity.

It was just a little bit of sarcasm. Hardly warrants that.

If only there was a way to look this up.

Cheery as ever then Bullbag!

Yes. And we're also 4 points off the top six. So what's your point?

Agree that ultimately we can only judge the season, and the progress, at the end of the season. But if we are making judgements then I think it's fairer to do it based on our season overall so far, rather than a recent run of games. If we are saying it's not good enough because we're not shooting up through the divisions like sides have occasionally done in the past, then I think that sets the bar unreasonably high. I think it's more reasonable to expect year-on-year incremental improvement, and we are currently on course to achieve that. I wouldn't describe myself as particularly optimistic and I do understand the concern about our form - of course it's a worry. I guess I'm just less inclined to throw the toys out of the pram as some are currently doing, because overall it still looks to me like we're heading in the right direction. People seem to forget where we were this time last year.

I'll come back on this again - you say being a work in progress is "an excuse for a team that lacks quality" - I agree with that, and it's valid excuse. We do lack quality, and that's because you can't transform a League One side into a Championship promotion-chasing side overnight. Compare the side we have now to the one that went up a couple of years ago, and man-for-man its superior. But it still doesn't have the quality to compete at the top end of the division. So we're somewhere between the two, hence why I use the term "work in progress". If that makes me a happy clapper then so be it.

No, other clubs aren't given time to build a dynasty, and therein lies the problem, because it requires both time and patience. What exactly is it that you are expecting from a club who has only recently escaped the league below and doesn't have the benefit of parachute payments unlike many others in the division? If we lack quality at this level then that must go for the 11 teams below us as well.

You highlighted four! If they are not good enough then they are the "average" players I referred to. I can't comment on the specifics of today's game as I wasn't there.

I find it hard to believe the good people of Sweden are currently chuckling about Bristol City lying 13th in the Championship.

Bottom half League One. League One winners 18th in Championship 13th in Championship. If that isn't progress I don't know what is. I'm not exactly sure what it is you are expecting to happen overnight.

If you're more interested in the long term than the short, then look at the league table not the form table.

Four consecutive seasons of improvement and a new stadium. Yeah what a joke.

We are a work in progress. Even our own manager says that. Works in progress don't have a complete team of top-quality players ready for the Premier League. They have a combination of excellent, good and average players. We are improving - look at our league position compared to last year - and very few people expect us to be genuine promotion contenders this season. Stop overreacting to every defeat and find some perspective on what we currently are. We will win games and we will lose games, because we are a mid table side.

Why is it you revel in our failure more than you do our success?

Of course it doesn't guarantee anything. But it doesn't sound like an unreasonable suggestion that if you have games coming up against weaker opposition then it represents an opportunity to climb the table. Assessing our upcoming fixtures is something we do on this very forum all the time, and we all speculate about points returns based on the sides we are due to play. Hardly worthy of being called a "gas idiot".

Sounds like a reasonable analysis to me.

If we're "shit" what does that make the 14 teams below us? We're a mid table side in mid table. Peaks and troughs inevitable over a 46 game season, and we're currently in a fairly minor trough. Think I'll be giving OTIB a miss for the rest of the evening, the inevitable overreactions and complete absence of perspective are going to drive me nuts.

A top, top side who aren't even in the playoffs and have just one point more than us from the same number of games. That's the spirit.

Because we got relegated and he isn't a League One keeper.

PS - what "career"?