Chivs

1 hour ago, Harry said:

It’s within the fans gift to be able to change this. 
Whilst the club have clearly tried everything they can to stifle atmosphere, the best way for the fans to fight back is to simply not play ball. 
If I were the group of ‘singers’ in S82, I’d not renew there next season. I’d move my seat to Dolman A block, either upper or lower. There’s plenty of spare seats there. 
If 200 people organised themselves to make this move, then what can the club do about it - nothing. 
Just get organised and move ‘S82’ to A Block, without any consultation with the club whatsoever. 

May I point out to the club, who no doubt read this, that @Harry is an absolute wind-up artist and he doesn't mean this at all. And it's not going to happen.  You can stand down Jon.

We get an easy 4th Round game against Chesterfield...

Who is going to explain the ghost goal for him?

He looks a good appointment but overseeing a club going twice into administration does suggest he shouldn't be in charge of the balance book spreadsheet.

14 hours ago, PFree said:

Like us all, I am pretty fed up and disappointed, but I will always try and find some positives, life is too short not to.

My point right now would be that a lot of preparation has gone into a very important January transfer window and it is now just days away. Changing NP (who has been integral to that planning) in advance of the period makes little sense, and in reality, if we were to, I expect we would end up someone with little direct management / Championship experience - a temporary appointment would surely heighten the risk of going down? 

My wider concern is that a lot of decent teams build around a strong spine - commanding keeper, strong and big centre half’s, central midfield dynamo / captain, and a tough, big centre forward. Let’s hope we can tick one or two those boxes as I am not sure we fill any right now?

My belief is we have enough quality to stay up, and let’s hope January brings some commanding, leader types who will add to some of the exciting talent we already have.

Tough times, but let’s stay with it..

 

You've got a lot of positive reaction to this so perhaps your life approach is working.  However, it helps to be positive in the real world....

Where are these "commanding, leader types" that you hope Pearson will recruit?  If they are in a successful League 1 team, will they come to a struggling (second-rate) Championship team?  Do we want another Lge 2 player?  We need results NOW.

This is what will happen.

Pearson will recruit yet-another Leicester-era midfielder who will be injured and/or played at centre-back after two games.

Pearson will recruit a Lge 1 player who @Harry or @Davefevs will say "He's good, I've watched him for a few years" and the rest of us will say "Who?".  He will be playing for the U21s after two games as Pearson goes back to the players "he trusts" (namely playing King on crutches).

Pearson will be sacked in February.

If you want positivity, consider your point about the spine of the team.

Quote

commanding keeper, strong and big centre half’s, central midfield dynamo / captain, and a tough, big centre forward.

We already have that spine!!! Although, I disagree about "tough, big centre forward" as I think that is a bit old-fashioned.  Consider:

Bentley. Klose (and Kalas), Scott / Williams, and Weimann.  I'm taking a punt on Williams but I think he could be a good captain.  That is a hell of a spine for a team.

We are not far away from that spine. We just need to sack Pearson. Think positive!

40 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

We had an excellent strike partnership last year, why would he change that?

Nahki worked hard, Pearson gave him a chance (he didn't have to), he took it, is clearly very happy here and just signed a contract extension. He clearly likes Pearson.

To day he's wasted his career is utterly ridiculous.

How do you discern between being frozen out compared to not in form or training poorly? The only player I'd consider frozen out is Bakinson, and now Massengo to some degree. Pretty clear reasons there, even though I'd personally still probably have Massengo around the squad.

We have a few examples of players being dropped and coming back better do we not? Wells, Vyner, O'Leary, Dasilva, for example. Maybe there are legitimate reasons?

Any specific quotes where he's thrown a player under the bus? I hear this a lot but it's not something I'd associate with Pearson.

Remember it's a specific thing, not just saying "X didn't have a great game" or "the defense need to work harder". That's not throwing someone under the bus.

"I played a midfielder at centre back which tells you what I thought" - I really do paraphrase but it was a quote like that when Klose was taken off at half time during Lincoln. A game, btw, where Klose did nothing wrong, and Pearson made about 6 mistakes before the game started...

How people are defending Pearson is beyond me.

Ps Also, Bentley frozen out. O'Leary didn't get dropped and come back better. He was average to poor the last time Pearson blamed Bentley for something.  And eventually was so poor that even Pearson couldn't persist with him.

This season O'Leary has been poor to even poorer but Pearson is a "great man-manager" so has decided to continue with him...

15 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Naismith really isn’t a left back.

Going to be lost in the aftermath of another home defeat but thought he was decent today, one superb long range pass & a brilliant delivery from a corner that nearly resulted in an own goal.

Not sure I understood the logic behind putting him in midfield though.

I think he'd run out of midfielders because he was playing them at centre back...

So, in an idle moment I got to thinking that the next couple of weeks could be the biggest games of their lives for some players.

But how does that compare with playing at Ashton Gate. Incomparable I suspect!

Which players that have played at the current World Cup have appeared at Ashton Gate?

To my shame, my first thought was Grealish and De Bruyne.  I was looking forward to seeing one player and disappointed, and think the other person is the best player I've seen at Ashton Gate.

My shame? I next thought of Fammy and Semenyo (same reasons as above). 

After that, and I'm quite pleased with this one, I thought of Suarez.

Then Rashford, Schmeichel (I think) ... I'm sure there are many more not least from the ManU and Man City games but I can't recall.

So, without looking it up, who have you seen playing at Ashton Gate who has minutes in this World Cup?

1 minute ago, Ivorguy said:

The great thing is a Bristol City player came on in World Cup Finals and in a cameo performance did not look out of place.

Well done Antoine you have been a credit to us.  

And to think people ridiculed Johnson when he said we'd be playing in Europe in 5 years time.

We're playing in Qatar!

13 hours ago, BTRFTG said:

They're Laws, not rules. The difference is important.

When considering careless or reckless behaviour (in this case one might debate which it is but it's certainly one or the other given the unnatural position of the foot and the lack of control in the challenge,) Law 12 requires no contact to be made, only intention to be there.

Only should the official have considered Wells to have been impeded in the challenge, altering his position to avoid injury, would this not have been a penalty, though in such case Law 12 requires the award of an indirect free kick.

I appreciate these clarifications. Must be hard on the refs, who presumably know the rules, hearing the crowd baying who likely don't. Having said that, could this be an opportunity to influence refs? When Wells is kicked, the club puts the relevant laws on the screen whilst the announcer says "<cough>on the screen ref. </cough>"

3 hours ago, Redtucks said:

Why???

By a country mile, Bentley is a better goalkeeper than O'Leary.

8 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Why should he be picking Bentley? O’Leary not do enough to keep his place last week?

Embarrasing.

I'm of the old-fashioned opinion that the manager should pick his best team.  Do you not recall the last time Pearson kept picking O'Leary until he went back to Bentley?

Embarrassing.

8 hours ago, Northern Red said:

The poster has evidently decided that Pearson should go, therefore whatever team he picks will be wrong, regardless of what actually happens in the match.

I've certainly decided that Pearson should go, like many Bristol City fans who don't wear rose-tinted glasses.  The rest of your post is unfair and unfounded.

If he picks

Bentley

Vyner Klose Atkinson

Semenyo Massengo Scott Pring

Weimann

Conway Wells

then I will not criticise him even if we lose 0-4.

I'm expecting Pearson to pick King "I'm slower than Chris Martin me" at centre back.

O'Leary will be back. I hope and expect AW behind Conway and Wells, which is good.

Pearson should be picking Bentley and Massengo but won't of course.  We will get one of Jilliking (I literally can't distinguish between the three midfielders "Big Nige" brought in).

To be honest, I don't mind which team we play as long as Pearson hasn't picked them.

28 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

There were errors but data would be interesting to see.

Clearly stats aren't all, but the intangible of the extra attacking threat (in mindset not numbers as such) for us, which in turn gives the opposition something to think about can't be understated IMO.

Where has this myth that Naismith gave us an "extra attacking threat" come from?

He doesn't come forward like Atkinson and his long passing is just average. He can pass short (though tends to prefer a Cruyff turn on the edge of the penalty box giving away goals) just like Klose....

1 hour ago, Sheltons Army said:

Not me 

I couldn’t afford one

I had a fake fiver

I had a real tenner pretending to be a fake one as I couldn't get the pretend ones.  So realistic, I even conned the bloke next to me when we swapped fake tenners!

10 minutes ago, Marina&#x27;s Rolls Royce said:

Agreed- despite Naismith giving people the colly wobbles with some of his wayward passes/gifts of possession- he also can completely change games and we are better with him playing than not.

Semenyo is a gem of a player but it's just not working with/for him at the moment. I'd definitely keep him as the impact sub but I guess it's not that simple.

Umm, right , really?  When?

Klose is the far better centre back despite today's mistake.

Can someone who was there tell me if we were really that good at WBA?  Or was it the Pearson fanboys who were overselling it?

The only thing is, I watched Millwall (live) and now Reading (online) and we were beyond awful in both.

The problem is not the players who, early season, were playing some great football.  Now, we seem to think bringing on Martin (and hence per-force having to entirely change the way we play) is the answer...which rather shows how poor Pearson is.

17 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

I don't think there's any evidence of "regular fall outs"? Pearson makes clear that if he thinks a player isn't performing consistently, that player will lose his place and someone else will get his chance to cement a place. 

Players may disagree with his assessments sometimes, but I think Pearson is pretty fair. He doesn't strike me as the sort to have favourites. 

Bless.

On 05/10/2022 at 15:54, RedRock said:

My advice. Take care and/or a condom.

A few decades back was driving in from Tamworth to collect my wife from her Central Brum bank. Had our young puppy in the back of the car, who en-route into town on the A38 decided to vomit the entire contents of her tea on the back seat. 

Pulled off into an area that made St Paul’s look like Knightsbridge. 

Got out of the car and within seconds this woman had got into the passenger seat. Had a ‘conversation’ which centred on me explaining I had stopped in the area as my dog had puked. Anyhow, she wouldn’t get out of the car, so eventually we agreed that I drive her into the City Centre. Bizarre in the extreme.

My (ex) wife didn’t believe the story either!

I'm really trying to process this. Especially the second sentence. Or is "drive her into the City Centre" an euphemism that I don't know? 

2 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

He was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when I met him. 

That much is true.

Job for Naismith? 

Am I the only one who will be disappointed when we next get a penalty?

53 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

A very odd thing to write on a forum I reckon. If we all went on threads that we weren’t bothered about to tell people then it would be a weird forum!

Not bothered*

*Come on, someone had to do it. It was an open goal that even Savage couldn't miss....

Was the Preston manager sent off today?

Does that mean he has to be in the stand for our game?  Might not matter as some managers prefer to be in stands anyway...but is he allowed to communicate with his associates?

Not sure what it means when managers are sent off.

29 minutes ago, View from the Dolman said:

Now officially confirmed.

"Assistant manager Dean Holden will take interim charge of the first-team."

https://www.stokecityfc.com/news/2022/august/25/club-statement/

Announce Holden. In. Six. Weeks. Time.

1 hour ago, grifty said:

I live in Tring and I didn't go either.

But that's because I had no-one to go with! 

@grifty meet @SecretSam.

@SecretSam meet @grifty.

Real fans together.