wendyredredrobin

Attendance will be over 20k as it usually is and this is a game that you would hope and expect City to win.  But we win games we expect to lose and lose games we expect to win quite frequently.

My concern is that some of the players might have an eye on the West Ham replay and might want to make sure that they don't over exert themselves against Preston and try to avoid any injuries.

Lets hope that Tommy has got his shooting boots on again and that some of the others have been having some shooting practice - does nobody ever tell them not to lean back when having a shot at goal? - I thought that was one of the basics for all footballers at any level.

2-0 to City - there, that's kiboshed it.

2 minutes ago, johnheadbcfc said:

Bells pace? Seen him so many times but never think wow he's rapid... or is it just me

He has pace and energy.  He is young and needs to learn how to  make the most of those attributes.

Mehmeti no output again and also missed two decent chances with his head (which he needs to learn to use in more ways than one).  I would probably sub him for Bell's pace though Conway could be another option.

2 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

The runs around quote . He takes up positions /makes runs to not just get in himself but to drag defenders out of position for other runners 

Possibly, but Manning has swapped him out for Wells tonight, though my guess is that they might get swapped back on 60 mins or so 

4 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

Conway does a hell of a lot of unseen work off the ball 

He runs around but is not that quick, his holdup play is weak and he wins very little in the air.  He is young though and will improve in these areas over time, but Wells has a bit more experience and guile.  

I would be happy with either starting TBH as both have their pros and cons 

11 minutes ago, miketh2nd said:

I'm gonna guess weimann and bell brought in and probaly James too if he is fit just to freshen the team up, we cannot afford to lose Sykes or mehmeti in current form to a long term injury. 

Not sure Conway has produced a lot lately in open play, so could give Wells a run out.  It was Williams in for James that made the biggest overall impact, I thought.

After thumping Watford, it would be a shame to change the starting lineup though unless there are any fitness issues 

Sunderland have never forgiven us for that night at Coventry when both teams played out an uncontested draw and sent them down to the second division.  One of the most memorable games I've ever been to.

On today though, another poor result is going to put Liam Manning under a lot of pressure, especially from most of the fans who did not want Nigel Pearson sacked.

From what I have seen so far, Liam Manning seems to be unable to produce anything better from this squad than Nigel Pearson, suggesting that it is the quality and self motivation of the squad rather than the manager.

None of us really know why Nigel Pearson was let go.  It was certainly against the wishes of the fans, but clearly there is more to it than meets the eye and none of us really know what went on or was said behind closed doors (Maybe Nige had  enough, wanted to retire and reached a settlement to go now - if he gets another management job elsewhere, then we will know that was not the case).

We need a Championship quality goalkeeper who can catch and distribute a football, a right back (though McCrorrie might solve that when fit) and a real striker and maybe need to move a few sicknotes on and one or two who are over the hill.  I'm not sure what sort of transfer kitty might be available, but I'm guessing not a lot.

Our recent record suggests that we are more likely to be finding ourselves in a scrap at the bottom of the table than the top and a top 6 finish is no more than a pipe dream now.

The club as a whole seems to be going in a downward direction and I doubt that will change unless SL sells the club or brings in new investors (neither of which seems likely).

Brum sacked a manager who was doing well against the fans wishes and look where they are now.

Seems the same is happening to us.

What is Mannings performance since taking over? D W L D L L if I'm not mistaken.  Hardly the new manager bounce the board may have been hoping for.

The worrying thing is that since his appointment, not only are we not winning games but our performances seem considerably worse.

Can't work out the formation from tonights selection at all.  It could be almost anything.  At least with that team it will be adaptable.

Liam Manning needs a decent result tonight otherwise his success record is going to look pretty dodgy.

Fingers crossed and hope we can have a good go at them and come home with a point or three (I guess most of us would be satisfied with a point.

Caterers are readying the players half time cocoa as I write.

30 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I wasn’t disagreeing, just adding to convo.

Set-pieces could be a nice little route for us tonight!

I wish I could agree with you Dave but we never seem to make much out of set pieces, partly due to a lack of height in the box but mainly that our forwards can't be arsed to challenge for the ball.

12 hours ago, Malago said:

Bayern Munich at Old Trafford?

My family has previous with the Germans.

Whose family doesn't?

Still, the main thing is that we beat them in 1945 and 1966.

Having read this thread and from recent experiences, I am expecting a dull boring game with very few shots on target from 2 dull boring teams and a few dodgy refereeing decisions as well.

I would really like to see more progressive and positive football from City but I'm not impressed by Liam Manning's influence so far (accepting that it is too early to judge).

Too much sideways and backwards interspersed with aimless long balls which our front men never seem to win along with a goalkeeper with butter fingers and a bunch of mis-firing strikers doesn't fill me with too much excitement.

It doesn't seem long ago that we were regularly beating top flight teams to get to the FL cup semi final and challenging for a top six finish. Compare that to what we have today.

I do really hope we can turn things around and that today we can come away from Uddersfield with 3 points.

13 hours ago, wendyredredrobin said:

I fancy Creepy Crawley for a win tonight in the EFL Cup.  Crawley are smack bang in the middle of League 2 but I still think they will do well tonight unless there is a new manager bounce at the Sags - Of course it will take a lot more than a new manager to turn them into a proper football team.

Haha. Don't say I didn't tell you 

You won't know if I got my next prediction for them right until May though - RELEGATION.

I fancy Creepy Crawley for a win tonight in the EFL Cup.  Crawley are smack bang in the middle of League 2 but I still think they will do well tonight unless there is a new manager bounce at the Sags - Of course it will take a lot more than a new manager to turn them into a proper football team.

1 hour ago, Sarumred said:

Matt Taylor sometime in the next 24 hours according to Bristol Live.

As they regarded his namesake as a snake, what type of serpent will this one be?

I can't imagine what he is expecting to do with that shower, though I suspect he will lead them back into League 2 unless Wally is willing to put his hand in his pocket and pull out some fake dinars.

Sounds like they are copying Sunderland, but in their case it's the Stadium of Dark.

Dump of a football ground (you can't call it a stadium), no manager, because nobody wants the job and a 1920's retro stand with pillars sounds like a non league set up.......... and have you seen their training ground? Hardly the High Performance Centre, is it.

Not to mention Santa' grotty grotto, stale crisps, out of date Fanta, boob cricket and Babestation on the box.

I'm anticipating a different City tonight, positive football, passing forward, attacking from the off, maintaining good possession and scoring a few goals.............Only joking

22 hours ago, bcfc01 said:

Have you seen the state of their ground ?

A cross between a fly tip and Steptoes Yard.

Must be loads of rats there (other than the human kind).

Clearly an exaggeration, it's much worse than that.

As someone who is not easily impressed, I thought Rico Lewis had a great debut and at 19 he can only get better.  I've not seen him before but if that performance is indicative of what he can do, then he looks like a future England no. 1 LB to me.

What further impressed me was that he didn't seem phased by the ridiculous penalty decision given against him either and just carried on impressing. He didn't put a foot wrong all night and his decision making was excellent.

I can only imagine what he will look like in a couple of years with a little more experience, confidence and physical strength.

It's a pity the same could not be said for the rest of the team who looked tactically inept.

I too want Liam Manning to succeed and agree that only a top six position is going to satisfy my feeling that the club made a bad decision to let Nigel go.

That said, none of us know what goes on behind the scenes, what Nigel was demanding, what he said or what his general state of health is.

Let's all support the new guy, but he does have big shoes to fill.

I've recently been wondering why the Sags still haven't appointed a new manager.  I'm guessing that either nobody wants the job or they have not been released yet by the parole board.

Someone mentioned the other day that Wael had actually offered the job to over a dozen potential candidates but all had turned the job down due to a lack of money, non league ground & infrastructure, a lack of fans and a distinct lack of ambition.

Not surprised to see that the Fruit Market project they have all been harping about for years has gone pear shaped either.

Got a sick note for another couple of weeks I think. 

Bermuda have a couple of games during the international break, so will probably be fit to play in those if selected (and they don't have a lot to select from).

46 minutes ago, Son of Fred said:

Maybe would should have given his son a try- he couldn't have been any worse than numerous previous incumbents!

 

Yeah, I often thought that might have been a good call.  That said, Nigel is a complely different kettle of fish to his Dad though.

Wondering whether we will see anything different today under Liam Manning bearing in mind that he has only spent two or three days with the players.  He may have had time to introduce a few new ideas like kick the ball towards their goal rather than your own and pass the ball to one of your own players rather than theirs, though that may be a bit much to ask in just a few days.

Brian Clough used to say that "Football is a simple game" and he didn't do too badly with Derby and Forest, did he (Leeds fans views may differ, of course). Just imagine Cloughie managing us to the top of the Prem and a Champions League victory bearing in mind that we are no different to what he took on at his two success stories.