Numero Uno

9 minutes ago, cider hoss rules said:

From a mate of mines FB account, I’ve removed his name to save his shame!
Proper tinpot, a bar in a horse box

The horse got sparked out so they thought they may as well make use of his box……..

3 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

I think its the embarrassment of losing to us that finally finishes managers off

We did have that one season where we saw off about six managers.....can't remember when it was but I think GJ may have been in charge?

28 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Not saying it’s the right call, but when Schumacher went they put Dewsnip and Nancekivell in temporary charge.   Played against Nancekivell back in the day.  One of those players who got a late career shot at being a pro.

Their game on Friday is massive. Win that and I think it will be a skin of the teeth job for them. Lose and I reckon that will be the first nail firmly hammered in. Not sure a draw helps them much either. If there is one game Plymouth need their travelling numbers (real numbers not Gasflation ones) it's this one.

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

Here’s why.

+++++

Just to add, I don’t want him gone, I want him to be a success because he’s Bristol City’s manager (head coach).

But if I were running the club, I would’ve sacked him after Cardiff.

I don’t think he’s a Fraud, I just think he’s underperformed having taken over in a good position.

+++++

The reasons for supporting Nige were because the circumstances were very different.

FWIW I don’t understand why posters revert back to comparing with Nigel Pearson to frame their reasons for supporting Manning.  Frame the argument on why Manning is right.  I’ve seen some things I like.

 

The problem is that the people who accuse posters of being "Nige Fanboys" are "anti-Nige" themselves and so this debate will never be allowed to settle into a simple "what is Liam doing to hit target" discussion. If Liam shows the same tactical nous and ability to affect a game moving forwards that has been on display for the last two matches MANY DOUBTERS will get off his case. Some won't in the same way that some minimise the situation Nige inherited simply because they don't like/rate him or in a number of cases because he brought in Danny Simpson..........that's the crux of it with more detractors than you might realise.

Anyway, moving on, let's see if Liam can replicate on Saturday against another mob who are ripe for the taking after yesterday. Small steps but ones he needs to be taking.

I'm not sure what Plymouth are thinking there. It's not the sacking of Foster so much but the totally unplanned solution they have in place which looks like something they knocked up in a ten minute Board Meeting..........almost like the Owner had another engagement he didn't want to miss so came up with something off the top of his head.

If Steve came up with a cunning plan like that this place would be in the meltdown of all meltdowns......especially if it involved Tinnion in charge!!!!! They have to go to Rotherham on Friday - fail to win there and it's looking like dire straits for them. That said Rotherham are an absolutely terrible side at this level (probably won't stop them coming to us and getting something though!!) and despite winning yesterday should have been obliterated by all accounts.

4 hours ago, Sandhurst Red said:

Irrespective of the fact he was doing a rebuilding phase during some of this period, the lack of consistency was alarming. Also, so many seem to forget the football was woeful to watch at times.

I struggle to understand some of our fans who have allowed Manning less than 20% of the time NP had and yet want him gone. Give the bloke at least a preseason and the first 15 matches of the 24/25 season to judge him. 

The first two thirds of Pearson's time in charge was either rebuilding a bomb scare of a squad or working to a strict FFFP budget. That is fact isn't it? "Some" is certainly a significant minimisation of the situation to make a point and with a lesser manager we would almost certainly have been in League 1 and not challenging to get back out until next season imo. If you can't acknowledge that then I think you have colours nailed firmly to the mast. I do agree that the football was uninspiring but for me nothing he produced was as bad as those Cardiff and Swansea games recently, that dials straight back to "end of Dean Holden levels". However that should be behind us now (it had better be tbh).

The reason some people are less patient is that Liam did not have to "fix" anything and the purse strings are being slowly relaxed for him to "add and improve". He's been dealt a decent hand coming into a new club in effect compared to most managers who are often inheriting a car crash. Ultimately Liam will get his chance next season whatever even his biggest detractor thinks and we'll all judge him on that now with many people considering that he has been brought in by the club to give us "a greater chance of success". That means "matching the last manager" and being on 18 points after 14 games next season will not cut it. He has to exceed the performance of the previous manager and show real signs of improvement next season otherwise he's not hitting target and some fans will have their own opinion on that whether you agree with it or not.

7 hours ago, mozo said:

Yes but not that many in my opinion.

Certainly enough to be seriously concerned. Cardiff and Swansea were enough to make me wonder whether watching pro football was worth the time and cost tbh. I think one or two (well one in particular) would do well to wait and see a bit longer before proclaiming themselves right all along and everyone else wrong.

It’s improved significantly “over a weekend” after two weeks on the grass but nothing has been finally cracked just yet. That 44% defeat record simply has to come down which means he has to keep picking up results - the longer that remains the less that fans who aren’t convinced yet will be prepared to back down on their view of him. 44% is 20 defeats a season for context.

3 minutes ago, mozo said:

The issue I have with your framing of it is that it sort of implies that everything pre Leicester was rubbish, when it clearly wasn't. We all know that he won three in a row early doors, he has the FA Cup games, the big performance that shall be not mentioned, plus games like Coventry and Ipswich that were far better performances that the 1 pt yielded shows.

If we beat Sunderland Manning will be on nearly 40% win ratio for City. 

So I'm not saying he's had an amazing start to his City career, but you'd think from some rhetoric that before Easter came he was a shocker. Also not true.

We had a bad patch. It wasn't enjoyable, and clearly confidence sapped from the players. That's football.

He did ok up to and including Boxing Day then the wheels came off in terms of our league form which is all I care about really. It was poor bar six to seven halves of football (out of 28) for three months in the league. Even after a very impressive Easter he’s still on a 44% Defeat Ratio (you brought stats into it!!) and that is unimpressive in anyones book.

If and when Liam shows this isn’t a false dawn (and we don’t go on another post Southampton run) many people will revise their views and that is fair enough imo. I can only think of one obvious poster who has not praised anything about the last two games. One.

6 minutes ago, The Swan and Cemetery said:

U turns would imply people now think LM is definitively is the right person for the job, having previously been desperate for him to go. Not sure there are many signs of that change in view, but people can recognise performances for what they are, good and bad. If @W-S-M Seagull comes on demanding a 10 year contract for LM, fair enough. Overall I remain very unconvinced, but last two games have been solid/strong performances, so if that progress continues, all good. Never quite reached wanting him out, equally a long way from expecting great things next season - with a fair wind I’ll be wrong. 

Exactly that. People who have been critical of Manning are calling out two much improved performances. Not just improved, chalk and cheese to what preceded them. Don’t see that as a problem tbf. If that trend continues into the early part of next season then there will be full U turns. For me he needed these performances to even make it to next season and that’s a given now.

Speaking for myself there is one person in a Senior position in our club I wouldn’t U turn my view on and it definitely isn’t Liam.

1 minute ago, luke_bristol said:

Ipswich booed off at half time, WTF 

Very harsh albeit Saints are schooling them. Probably fan frustration.

1 minute ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Anyone know how many could be arsed to stop going through the bins round the back of Lidl and rock up to the swamp?

Not been announced which tells you the crowd was shite……..

You cannot be a clown AND have his goals conceded record at the level we play at. Anyone who thinks you can knows eff all about goalkeeping.

4 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Well well well, Rotherham cling on to the very slimmest of hopes.

Need to win every game and move the dial on GD from -49 to about -15 if they're to stand a chance though. And even then it's not in their hands.

So they need maybe six 6-0 wins plus the perfect set of results in other games.

Yeh I mean it's possible...

Rotherham we’re always going to win a game. I’m glad it was today because we all know………………….

2-1 Saints.

Great weekend. Better performances. Subs that made a difference. 6 points. That’s what we’ve asked for now deliver it a bit more often. Ignore the WUM who fails to realise 21 of our points this season in 15 games was by the previous regime. Do your maths on the rest WUMMER.

2 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Mehmeti is a greedy get

Class. I haven't heard someone called a "get" for years...................

Blackburn 3-0, Stoke equaliser.

Just taking the emotion out of the game. Expect us to strike soon................

4 minutes ago, redkev said:

I agree , but I thought on Friday the subs he made and the timings were spot on ( a rarity I admit but they did work ) 

Absolutely. The first time I have looked at his substitutions and thought they all effected the game in the way you would want them to. He could have played it safer and delayed the changes but he didn't, as you say it was the timings as much as the changes.

3 minutes ago, Malago said:

Win, lose or draw, Manning will be manager at 5pm and he’ll be manager at the start of next season too.

Its what happens between then and the second international break that will really matter.

All you’re trying to do is build up an end of season bog standard championship game into something it isn't.

Each game means something different to each supporter and not necessarily revolving around what you think it means. Some are looking at these next three or four matches and deciding whether they buy a season ticket or not. It's not bog standard to them and if their decision goes the wrong way because Liam is safe in his job and can't be arsed to produce then it won't be bog standard to the club. After the 90% rubbish we have sat through since the win on Boxing Day it is not unreasonable to ask Liam to give something for supporters to grasp onto.

4 minutes ago, mozo said:

The last game was the defining one if it suits one's narrative, but the next game is defining if that suits better...

Sometimes there isn't a particular "narrative". If Liam wants to succeed he has to produce consistency not Southampton, five defeats, Leicester City, five defeats. That's no good. Most people want to see him produce over a number of games and are far more nuanced than judging over one game. Not everyone though.

1 minute ago, redkev said:

Some people will question the tactics / formation no matter what 

The thing I want to see over the remainder of the season is in those games where Liam's set-up DOESN'T work, how proactive will he be to change it up? Will he just stand there and let it fail for 80 minutes or do something about it a lot sooner? For me that has been a massive failing of his so far and part of the reason he has a defeat percentage that exceeds 45%.

4 minutes ago, Malago said:

Where’s all this “acid test”, “big game” etc stuff coming from.  It’s a fairly meaningless end of season game.  Hope we play well, hope we win, but depending on other results, the best we can hope for us to jump up to 11th.  Hardly earth shattering stuff.

It's a manager who has failed to beat (too) many sides at the bottom end of the table showing us that he can go to Plymouth, get a result this afternoon and not fall to a sixth defeat in eight matches. No, not earth shattering stuff but if the club want the manager to have the confidence of the fans and if they want to shift a few more season tickets it is very important that the great performance and result last Friday is followed up with results over the next seven matches however meaningless you might deem them to be.

The Manager and the Technical Director come out with conflicting statements and nearly every one of us would have been able to pick the bloke telling the truth. Amazing isn’t it?

5 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

I think he's done , but , although he could be a "dead man walking" as we are safe -ish then he will have a job for a while.
That gives him a chance to reassess , and maybe , just maybe , he has realised HE has to adapt rather than an entire squad of players. 
Managers should be able to tweak their ideas into a working system , otherwise they will have a very short career. So perhaps he has just altered his ideas a touch . 
I said elsewhere , they win means little in terms of "have we cracked it" . We have done well against sides that give us a little room to play or press us (Leeds apart ) . Plymouth being a "local"  derby , will be a little different , Huddersfield and Rotherham will be games to see if we go about things differently. 

If Liam has designs on remaining in post then putting in performances in these last seven games will not only ensure that BUT it will get a few more fans onside. These are the type of games where he needs to give us a lot more. Beating Leicester and Southampton means nothing if we end up with 21 points in total from the second half of the season. For me, 10 points minimum in these last seven is a fair target.