The Journalist

5 minutes ago, gl2 said:

How dare some suggest sacking a manager that has won 26games out of 92 played and lost 43 hang your heads down

Yeah, no problem with that. So that's what you're asking for? Just for the manager to be sacked? But what's that got to do with fans being customers? Or getting the club back? What else is it you actually want?

Some interesting messaging here. Does that mean if we sacked Nigel Pearson tomorrow we'd all have our club back and feel like fans instead of customers?

Edit: I'm conscious I've probably sounded overly facetious here - my question is what are they actually asking for here?

They’ve controlled the ball but neither team have controlled the game. One shot each tells you how poor it’s been. It has 0-0 written all over it other than one really poor moment from Atkinson (who has responded well to the error, for what it’s worth).

They’ve had 12 different managers since 2009 (not including caretakers). Six of them have been Darren Ferguson and Grant McCann.

Nice to put in back-to-back performances - it's the first time we've gone two games unbeaten since 31 Aug/3 September.

We all know we've got it in us, it's just repeating it. And that's a good start.

4 minutes ago, The Journalist said:

Obvious thing to say but this game is so open and so finely poised, it'd be nice to come out on the right side of it. Feels like ages since we last won that sort of game.

Just to emphasise the point - April 2022 was the last time we won a game that was level at 75 minutes.

Obvious thing to say but this game is so open and so finely poised, it'd be nice to come out on the right side of it. Feels like ages since we last won that sort of game.

Missed the first 15 minutes and sounds like I timed it perfectly. We've had them absolutely rattled since the equaliser - shame we couldn't grab a second goal, because they won't come out and be that poor again after half-time.

2 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

See @Davefevs I’m very happy with the second half. We did everything we did in the first half BUT we passed it better and created some very good chances.  Different expectations I guess but there you go. Opinions and expectations.  

Hopefully @Davefevs won't mind me speaking on his behalf - but I think the point was that the first half was all about getting a foothold in the game, feeling our way in, building confidence. That second half performance doesn't happen without the fight put in during the first half. In the form we've been in, you don't just turn up and play like all is rosy. I think *that* was the point.

Just now, Davefevs said:

So some of you were expecting us to play flowing football in the opening 25 against Millwall at The Den.

I think we’ve done alright. More than alright.

Just now, Marcus Aurelius said:

It obviously isn’t great but.. Is it that bad?

Pretty bad innit? Solid enough start from us, keeping it simple and tight away from home, but neither team has strung more than three passes together.

Dreadful stuff so far. Wish I was on Virgin so I couldn’t watch it.

Is Bristol City’s new CEO. Slightly left-field but lots of experience at Crystal Palace.

12 minutes ago, Tafkarmlf said:

To me it sounds like a narcissistic twonk.

Haha we're not at home, it's the fans fault we're crap 

Is this where we are now.. jesus christ 

“Beyond the usual voices who want him to fail”

Now hearing Pearson say “it might be a good thing for us to play away” in his post-match… just feels like the pressure is building (beyond the usual voices who want him to fail).

8 minutes ago, bexhill reds said:

In fairness I didn’t think King did that badly, not at fault for the 1st goal a combination of a forward playing at RWB and Vyner being asleep.

The lack of any bite or creativity in midfield worries me now. 

It’s the optics of it - he doubled down on it and it’s the sort of decision, if the result goes wrong, that’ll turn a board/fanbase.

Couldn’t really afford to lose this having played King again. In danger of becoming untenable.

Complete lack of desire in both boxes from James and then Semenyo.

1 hour ago, Numero Uno said:

Your point is correct when you refer to THIS England team. We are almost there but not quite. Previous England teams including the so called Golden Generation have not been close despite all the hype. What’s missing is that extra 2% of quality and belief that the very best have. France made their two spells where they were on top count, we only did it once. That’s the game and the difference at the very highest level in a nutshell.

Oh yeah, I didn't really mean that to sound quite as negative as it did reading back - the extra 1% or 2% is the most difficult to find and only the really special teams have it.

I was more using the comparison to illustrate what that extra bit of quality/knowing how to win/ability to perform when it matters amounts to.

On 11/12/2022 at 15:05, petehinton said:

Perfect summation, but probably a hard to accept pill to swallow for many a fair weather. 

The discipline line is nonsense, but the sentiment is a really interesting one.

Quite a good one to relate it to is the England white-ball cricket team IMO - they've elevated themselves to such an elite, world-class level whereby big games have become more run of the mill.

Since 2018, just think of the number of must-win games they've come out on top in - even in the 2019 and 2022 World Cups when they lost a couple of iffy group matches, when they HAD to win they found a way - either by keeping it together under pressure or, as was the case in the two semi-finals, absolutely blowing the other team away.

That's what the absolute top teams do. The England football team don't... and that's the difference.

Think we’ve played alright - just need to move it a bit quicker and take the ref out of the equation.

Think a couple of times they’ve played through our press far too easily though.

Feels a bit weird that both of these things have been organised for the same half-time!

On 09/11/2022 at 07:16, ChippenhamRed said:

I increasingly hate the fact that I was born into supporting this club.

Possibly the most depressing - but relatable - single sentence I've read in two decades of browsing this forum.

1 hour ago, Olé said:

I like and have supported Pearson but I've realised recently (noting this is the third time in a month I've watched lifetime-bad performances) I'm probably more enamoured by having a manager like Pearson - as in a leader, known in football, speaks from experience, bit of charisma, grin on his face but scowl if he needs one - than actually having Pearson himself. Because there is no way in hell anyone can seriously keep on with this "what he inherited" nonsense and I'm saying that as someone who has defended him and is probably still on the fence.

What alarms me more than even results (although since the last international break those represent a huge collapse from where we started) is that the basic quality that I would expect to be coached on the training ground is not only not there, but rapidly getting worse. The standard of passing is abysmal for a team that we're led to believe trains together every day. We make more unforced errors than any side I've seen us play and I now include League One Lincoln in that (who misplaced one pass to us all night - which outclasses our standards).

How can it be "what he inherited" when it is players making an unacceptable number of basic errors game after game. We had our standard 3-4 occasions of passing the ball straight out of play (two with the chance to get a player clear to the byline), probably a similar number of being caught in possession or just giving it away at close range, and then of course the usual any number of woeful crosses and corners, most notably by Jay DaSilva who this season is like a bad caricature of himself, and specifically under the coaching of the present lot.

NONE of it is excused by prior recruitment or leadership at the club - this is a level of errors and absence of technical ability that'd be alarming several levels down the pyramid, let alone a team in the Championship. This unusual trait can only be a product of the drills and quality control of the current management and coaching staff. Probably the most accurate commentary is by Pearson himself, he's said a number of times he might just be here to point us in the right direction - I think he's done that but he is unable to elevate standards any further. 

How dare you come swanning in here trying to outdo my word count.

As someone who’s very much pro-Pearson, I do think there’s an interesting and worthwhile conversation to be had around his future. I’m probably a bit closer to the middle of the two polarising views you generally hear on this (his record his dreadful v it’s not his fault).

There’s no doubt he inherited an absolute mess and, in my opinion, we needed an experienced leader more than we needed a top football coach to guide us through that and begin building something more sustainable.

The whole culture needed to change and it went far beyond signing talented players. To use an example, there were numerous occasions during his first 6-12 months when he picked an XI that was clearly about improving culture rather than improving results - Nathan Baker had a spell at left-back, not because he was our best left-back but because he did a good job when thrown in as an emergency and his application and performance merited keeping the shirt. It was a selection purely to send a message.

This is why many argue - and I agree - his results during that period are bordering on completely irrelevant and shouldn’t be used as a stick to beat him with now.

When I look at the bigger picture, I see a far healthier club and squad than we had two years ago. I see a Mark Ashton-less hierarchy making better decisions, a group of players giving their absolute everything, an academy being properly utilised and some of the best young talent we’ve had in years.

I think people forget the absolute apathy that engulfed the fanbase during the Holden ‘era’ - that, in my view, has gone. Whatever you think of him as a football coach, Pearson has created something we can get behind. And THAT is what we 100% needed above all else.

I guess the key question, though, is when the free pass on results expires - and this is very much subjective and quite hard to quantify.

For me, and to take this full circle, I do think it’s at least a conversation to now be had.

I’ve always felt - and said this on this forum from quite early on - that while Pearson was the right person to set us on the path we needed to be on we wouldn’t complete that journey with him. He’s a leader and a manager, by his own admission, but there’s a point when, without the riches of other clubs, you need more than that at this level to be successful.

So, ultimately, is it fair to think he should now be getting more out of what he’s got/created and could someone else pick up the baton and do a better job on the pitch? Well, quite possibly…

The one massive ‘but’ hanging over that is next summer. And with the last of the legacy high earners out of contract and a strong likelihood we’ll at least lose our best player Scott, possibly Semenyo too, I’m genuinely unsure where that’ll leave us. For the record, I think Pearson will keep us up this year.

I’ll stop rambling now but in summary… I do think it’s fair to start holding the manager to account much more for performances and results and entertaining the idea of moving on from Pearson is worthwhile, but the situation remains more complicated than many make out and it’s probably (but an uncomfortable probably) still safer to stick than twist.