ExiledAjax

It's a reason why, if Kalas goes, I think it's sensible to use his wages to get two players in rather than one. Going into a season with just 18-20 first team players (3 of whom are goalkeepers) is bold, and it means you're ****** with a few simultaneous injuries. This isn't a call for a return to the days of "clubs in the bag", but I think we can carry a squad of 20-22 first teamers.

We've known for a while that this summer will be a busy one. It's not surprising that we're all talking about big movements. A number of players are OOC, it's clear from January that we want rid of Dasilva and Massengo. Scott will surely go. From either the academy or elsewhere (including free agents in short contracts - for example to cover CB until Atkinson comes back) I reckon we need: 2CBs, 1LB, 2CM. Minimum. Probably at least one wide player as well - whether left or right depends on how we see Pring, Sykes, Tanner and Mr. NewLB being used.

Start asking the question "do we really need a midfield?".

So did I. Both were crap.

I've revisited the numbers since that post (which was after the Hull game). Discussed in this thread (which could probably be merged with this one tbh as it discusses the same topic) @phantom We have dropped our threat. Again last night we had 9 shots, 5 on target. That's about par for our season, even compared to when we were scoring more heavily. It is in fact a better number of on target shots than our average. But, again, each shot was generally weak - xG per shot of just 0.12. That is way off our seasonal average high which was up near 0.18 xG per shot, basically 50% more likely to become a goal. It is however better than the 0.07 non-penalty xG per shot we saw in the 5 games prior to Huddersfield. If you look solely at the figures - 9 shots, 5 on target, xG of 0.12 per shot - then last night was a pretty on brand attacking performance for Bristol city 2022/23. Had Bell scored his good chance then with the one goal it would have been a textbook display for us this season. Where have the byeline cut-backs gone? Where have the dangerous low crosses from the channels gone? We were scoring from those in early 2023. Is it just that Semenyo has left and Naismith is injured? Were they so key to that dangerous play? The saving grace has been that we've been defensively solid in the last 5 or 6 games. That's meant that even though we seem to have lost some cutting edge in the final third, we've restricted our opponents as well and so have taken 9 points from the last 18 at a rate of 1.5 points per game. That is absolutely fine form and is nothing to worry about at all for a mid-table side with 11 dead-rubbers left to play.

Mid-table's a laugh isn't it.

Yeh but currently we'll get one point, and that'll be a point plus a decent performance - albeit with room for improvement in certain areas. I'll take that when we're away to Warnock's Huddersfield on a cold Tuesday night with a makeshift XI, a clueless ref and nothing left to play for this season.

I'd say we're beating them but we've just not scored yet.

Anis in the hole.

I'd guess it's because other teams are able to defend it.

Memories of that season when Sky moved the clock and scoreboard to the lower left corner of the screen. Lasted for one game iirc. Awful decision.

It's the same new font we've been using on the socials and marketing recently. Seems to have been used since the kit switch. Look back to the team announcement tweets etc. It's that font...no idea why they want to use it for the scoreboard though?

Argh some nice through balls and attacks and just not quite finishing.

Get an email into Stream AMG during the game - BristolCityTVSupport@streamamg.com. Copy dave.barton@bcfc.co.uk. Should at least get a refund. This font is new I think. It's a no from me.

Try logging out, closing your browser, then reopening and logging in again. Often fixes this kind of thing for me.

Ah yeh. Ok so we have James, Naismith, a returning Benarous, Williams. Surely we need one more at least in CM. Another CB crisis and Naismith is needed in defence.

We will need one or two new CMs then. King will be out I think, Scott sold, James a year older, Massengo formally gone, Benarous back from injury hopefully but that's a 20 year-old who's had a season on the doctor's table. If Williams is reduced to a rotation player then you are essentially left with James plus what...3 new signings? I think Williams will be key next season.

Similar to what I said on my recent "attacking quality" thread. There are so many factors that affect how a team performs in attack, defence, and transition. I find the stats useful to debunk/back-up broad statements such as "we've tightened up since switching to 4 at the back" or "we can't score since we sold Semenyo" etc. however they can't tell you why a change might have happened. IMO systems/formations are important - but you have to have the right players for those systems. When players and formations align you get good effective football. Any offset or disconnect and you see weaknesses exposed. This is not a particularly groundbreaking opinion of course.

OOC end of next season. Realistically he's going nowhere this summer IMO.

Yeh, it's a bit crude to use the stats like I did - because that 352 we played in our first game was not exactly the same as the one we played in game 20. Likewise the "433" we've deployed recently is not the same as that which we used in early January. I think the point still stands though, we improved defensively whilst playing 3 at the back. It wasn't magically solved by a switch to 4 at the back.

Cornick I think needs time, and minutes. He's only played 181 minutes for us so far - across 6 games and with a variety of players around him. He needs time to settle. Pearson said these comments shortly after we signed him: "We can improve him too. He's a player who comes in as a twenty-seven-year-old, is in his prime and we can make him stronger." "We signed him as a player we know is versatile but the simple answer to your question is, I think he will offer a very interesting threat for us down the middle. Just because of his aerial prowess, his ability to run and he's got good pace too." Those comments tell you where he thinks Cornick might play, but also that the coaches recognise that he has weaknesses - as you say physical strength/lightweight - and they want to work on that. Fans tend to expect a lot from strikers signed in January, but they very rarely score more than 4 goals between signing and the end of the season, and many get only 1 or 2. That doesn't mean they are write-offs, they just need to gel. On the four at the back...we made the switch in the Birmingham game. Since then we've conceded 8 goals in 8 games (1.0 per game), with 2 clean sheets. Those 8 goals are from 2.875 shots on target and 1.22 xG per game allowed. In the prior ten games, where we played 352, we had again 2 clean sheets, conceded 11 goals (1.1 per game) from 3.4 shots on target and an xG of 1.2 per game. So really any "tightening" up is pretty marginal if you compare the last 8 games of 433 to the prior ten of 352. The main "tightening up" is compared to the first 16 games - in those we also played 3 at the back - and conceded at a rate of 1.5 goals per game, from nearly 4 shots on target, and xG against of 1.45 per game. So yes we've got progressively better at defending through the season, but that was happening with a 3 for a while before the switch to a flat 4. It wasn't the switch to 4 at the back that tightened us up, it was something else.

Stadium, 2x training grounds, 2x playing squads, presumably Bristol Sport Ltd and associated IP is part of it as well if its Rugby + City. All of that together and I don't see £100m as a crazy price. A high price yes, but not mindboggling.

1,000 games is mad. 1,000 consecutive games is crazy. 1,000 consecutive away games is honestly mythical.

If we don't get 3 points in the next 12 games then we deserve to go down. We're going to be fine. We could play Nice and Fleming as our CB pair and we'd stay up from here.

Agree with a lot of this and I really wouldn't mind us experimenting a little. We're prevented by injuries from playing our strongest line up, yet are safely ensconced in mid table. So it's the time to play some wildcards and try things out. Don't mind your line up much, could work, might not work, might work a little bit.