cidered abroad

I have come to the conclusion that we are our own worst enemies in home games. We play a sensible game plan in the first half and sometimes, as last evening, get a half time lead. We then from second half kick off, defend deeper and deeper. Rare occasions give us a break to attack but as the whole team becomes two teams with only a couple or three attacking and the rest on half way line at best. We concede possession to the opponents and get squashed into our own penalty area by 70/75 minutes. Non possession of the ball is very tiring and by the last five minutes as a team we are completely shot. Unable ro do anything other than lump it forward to nobody in red. There was one example yesterday when we had a shot at Forest goal and about ten seconds later a Forest player is through one on one with Bentley. We are too tired to chase back! This has to change immediately otherwise every home game result will be the same - lesding 1-0 or level yet conceding goal/goals in the last ten minutes. I have great respect for Nigel Pearson and what he is doing to repair us but maybe a bit braver in second halves to consolidate rather than to hang on in our own penalty area.

It's the fault of AFC Bournemouth! It was their fault in 1955 when on Easter Monday at about 2pm, the old little bridge by the Pump House and Nova Scotia pubs, was swung to welcome several large cargo ships to pass into the dock. The larger swing bridge did not exist then Many of the Bristol and South Glos special buses were held up in the queue that went all the way to Whiteladies Road. Crowd that day was over 33,000 as a 0-0 draw took City a bit closer to the Third (South) title.

You beat me to it @Davefevs. I know that he is not every supporters favourite but, unless he is injured or fallen out big time with NP, I consider he should have been on the bench recently as a versatile defender. Since the arrival of Tanner, could it be that he is being groomed for another position? I can't believe that Pearson has given up on him (yet keeps picking the ineffective ROI international!)

@Red Exile and @ScottishRed What does the flame mean please? Is my post a load of tosh or bang on?

It is very difficult to see the wood from the trees at the moment. Due to the abject behaviour of the new Ipswich CEO and two appointments of novice managers, we would be in severe trouble with FFP if we had splashed out in the last close season. So no blame attached to Pearson for not bringing in a new team in pre-season. He has begun the job of rebuilding the team, it's spirit and a unity that has been sadly missing for several seasons. Not an easy thing to do. I realised, like many others that we would lose to B'mouth whatever we did on and off the field. We have a squad of players with fewer injuries than those last season but we are still, for various reasons, short of at least four to six who could be in the match squad. Atkinson was out, Williams pulled up very early in the match and King later. Add to them Conway, Semenyo. I am assuming that Pearson also realised we would lose whatever we did. So bearing in mind that we have three days later another game that we can reasonably hope to get the long awaited win, did he instruct the team not to play a very high pressing game that would use a lot of energy. Not to go crunching into tackles, try to keep the score down and so on to save ourselves for Forest. B'mouth helped us to earn a minimal defeat with some appalling misses in the second half, but we still look forward to Forest with another two injured, Williams and King. Most of us expected we would be in bottom six all season so it's a minor relief at present to be in top half with only four defeats from twelve games and a goal difference of only minus one. We are not where we want to be but yesterdays performance was a lot better than the rubbish we had to watch last season. We did a reasonable job of keeping our shape, nobody let their heads drop, we worked as a team as best we could and even created a couple of second half openings that could have been more profitable with some good fortune. Keep the faith everyone because if we start moaning at them during a match, it could diminish the wholehearted effort that all squad members appear to be giving at present.

So do I. Appears to be a good honest guy who isn't afraid to call a spade a shovel!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58822497 An article about one of the most exciting players I have ever seen. A brilliant footballer who was probably decades ahead of his time in football terms and who suffered the racially abusive society that still exists even if not quite as openly obvious as it was then.

England are boring, unadventurous, backwards and sideways among the defensive players. What do Rice and Mount bring to the party? Sterling is a shadow of the Man City version because he rarely sees the ball. Much more excitement in The Great British Bakeoff!

What a night that was at the Hawthorns. They threw everything at us but we got lucky and three points.

Wins at Old Trafford, twice, Arsenal, Leeds and Liverpool in FA Cup, and tons more over many years. All of these were as the underdog and so good to watch and savoir. But the most important, IMO, was at Chester City in 1984. What an atmosphere we brought to the game and how those players responded and worked so hard. PS, I remember in the same vein, a Forest fan telling me the most important game for him, was the one that got them promoted before they won the First Division, two European Cups and a string of success to follow. Wins at Old Trafford, twice, Arsenal, Leeds and Liverpool in FA Cup, and tons more over many years. All of these were as the underdog and so good to watch and savoir. But the most important, IMO, was at Chester City in 1984. What an atmosphere we brought to the game and how those players responded and worked so hard. PS, I remember in the same vein, a Forest fan telling me the most important game for him, was the one that got them promoted before they won the First Division, two European Cups and a string of success to follow.

Cynical sod! Nail directly on the head. Nice one Bard. @The Bard

I saw Wayne Elliott playing in U 23 pre season friendly at Taunton the season after promotion. He was a tremendous help to Vyner, Kelly and O'Leary and also the rest of the side, none of whom made it to league status as far as I know. Very good idea.

As an elder City fan who is quick to remember and praise the nostalgia of my young days in the late 1940's and 1950's, this is an astonishing example of how special training on Weston Beach and players who smoked 20 a day has developed into the present day. It's easy to say that Pearson may take us to the Premier League but we should never forget those people in the background and their modern methods that are making it a real possibility. My great respects to Rennie, all the other backroom specialists an NP. Hoping that Nigel makes a full recovery from his latest bout of Covid. What a manager of people he is. Always WE and never ME.

Well said @downendcity

Callum O'Dowda, career record according to Wikipedia. 262 games. League/Cup/Internationals 22 goals.

I did not know him personally but like most of us, it feels like we've lost a brother or cousin. We all have to face it one day but until then just for John and his family, let's do it one more time. Come on you Reds!

Are we not? We have to beat the teams in the bottom six to ensure that your assumption becomes reality.

Told you so. Should have put a bet on it!

BBC have lined us up as 3-5-2.

Smzodics is absolutely certain to score at least one today!

My question would be " Do you consider that the Board , including you, made a horribly wrong decision to employ Pulis instead of Moyes?" With a follow up of "If you had recruited David Moyes at that time, do you now believe that City would have been a fixture in the Premier League if you had financially supported him as you did for another more recent City Head Coach?"

He has put on a little weight and started shaving since that day back in 1982 when a tall skinny lad made his debut against Fulham. Yet another who could justifiably be called as Bristol City's finest. 100 plus per cent effort in every match I saw him play.

@Littlesh*t "Will cut up more". That sounds like it does now. Have you ever looked at it carefully after two matches on consecutive days in rainy weather? I have and it resembles a billiard table. The Dessa pitch is very resistant to having lumps kicked out of it. There are pieces of polypropylene cord (or string) 20 centimetres long implanted vertically into the soil at 2cm in both directions. They protrude above soil by about 5mm. The purpose of them is for the grass roots to entwine with them. This minimises grass roots being kicked out of the ground. The green grass may go but as the roots remain, grass will grow again. As for the old days when football was played in all weathers and became sodden due to poor drainage, the level of the pitch was raised by approx 35 cm with a totally new drainage system installed. So rainwater disappears from the surface very quickly. Sorry if I sound overbearing but I made a point of reading the Desso data when the pitch was installed at a cost of £1.5 million. So City's pitch is up there with the best. One day we might match them in a game on it for season after season.

Either that or totally deaf, dumb and brainless?

No carrier pigeons?