JBFC II

He's come under some stick in recent weeks, but that's the best performance I've seen from us since the Lee Johnson days. Brilliant from Manning and co. Played a game plan to perfection, kept our shape and discipline brilliantly, counter attacked with pace and took our chances superbly. Southampton hadn't lost since September and we took them apart, what a performance. Superb from all involved.

Not sure sadly, just got a screenshot on twitter. It's a Facebook comment though, so best bet is a post from Wally or the club on there

Oh I agree, there are more accomplished managers out there who may well have done better with the squad available. But then, Capello, Sven and Hodgson were all more accomplished and achieved way less. He’s not perfect, but I’ve not felt so connected with the national side for many years, he’s done a lot of things right. Genuinely looking forward to the Euros, which hasn’t been the case for many major tournaments over the past 20 years, a lot of that is due to what he’s created

‘Muppet’ is incredibly harsh. Has he achieved all he should have with the squad we have? Of course not, but then neither has any England manager since Ramsey. In reality, a Euros final, World Cup semi final and Quarter final (with a loss to France hardly a major disappointment) and a 3rd place finish in the Nations League is about as good as we’ve had for many years. Is he the best option out there? No. Is the national team in a better place than it has been at any point this century? Yes. Is he a ‘muppet’ who we should get rid of as soon as possible? Of course not

I feel the fact we played 120 minutes midweek invited the pressure. We didn't press anywhere near as well as the 2nd half went on, we looked knackered and off our feet. The changes pushed us deeper, but at that point we were trying to conserve the win, going for anything more would have been ridiculous, they'd have walked through us

That's fair, but I think that was as much to do with Boro really, we were under the cosh for the whole 2nd half, tried to change it to counteract that but failed to. The way I'm seeing it is how we played in the 2nd half isn't how Manning will want us to play in the long run, it was a reaction to being 2 up and tiring rapidly after playing 120 minutes mid week. If we started the match in that vein, I'd be concerned, but we didn't, far from it. Nothing to be disappointed or angry about with it imo

Did we? From where I saw it, Mehmeti was a straight swap for Cornick and McCrorie came on for Bell at around 60 minutes which saw a change in shape. Not always easy to see shape from the angle we were at though!

We attempted to by bringing on McCrorie and moving to 3 at the back and congesting the middle. I don't think we had the options on the bench to properly react to it, we ended up going a bit deeper and losing the midfield battle as players tired. Felt we dealt with their dominance well for the majority of the half really, it wasn't as if they were lining up shot after shot

Perhaps they did, can't fully remember many after unexpected wins like today. My point there was that Manning gets stick when we lose, huge threads complaining about our performances (rightly so in many instances), having another thread complaining about aspects of our performance when we've won just seems unnecessarily harsh, it's the sort of thing I can't remember happening under Pearson. There's stuff to work on from today, of course there is, but it's hardly the sort of performance to be angry about imo

Just on my way back from the Riverside, very surprised to see this thread. Ultimately we were superb in the first half, should have been out of sight come half time. Second half we sat deeper, let them have the ball and we focused on getting bodies in the way, which we did excellently. You have to expect them to come out fighting, Carrick would have put a rocket up their arses at half time. However, we were far from awful. Our shape was good, more than happy for them to have the ball outside the box and try to get crosses in, as long as we deal with things, which we did. Max made a couple of good saves, but they didn't really have any clear cut chances bar the goal. It was an impressive away performance, we always looked a threat on the break, took our goals well and defended compactly against a very good side. I do feel like this thread wouldn't have happened under Pearson, Manning rightly gets stick after performances like Leeds at home, but he should also rightly get praise after performances like today

‘Girls are rising through the leagues’. Just for a bit of context to that, over the past 3 years they’ve had 2 promotions from the 7th tier to the 5th tier. They’re now at the same level as the likes of Larkhall, Pucklechurch and St Austell and in the division below Keynsham and Portishead. Not exactly sure it’s comparable to our women’s team, who are competing against the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man United, but they’re used to competing in the 5th tier I guess!

Genuine question. Has there ever been an instance where a club has upgraded their stadium, built a new stand and the attendances have dropped off the back of it? Didn't they say the reason they weren’t getting 10k at home is because of how poor their ground is, so now they upgrade it and their crowds drop even further. Has that ever happened before?

1-0 FT. Sunderland ultimately a level above, looked dangerous throughout. Had a couple of chances in the 2nd half, Olly Thomas will feel like he should have had one. Knight-Lebel was our stand out, but Rose came into the game 2nd half, and Backwell got better as the match went on. Means we've been knocked out, but some good stuff on show against a strong Sunderland side. A couple of the more experienced players were a bit anonymous, and Acey shouldn't be taking corners, but some positives for sure!

1-0 Sunderland, City fail to clear their lines and Sunderland win the ball high on their right hand side, ball cut back and thumped home. A bit sloppy after what's been a much improved second half

Half time. Pretty one sided really, Sunderland could easily be 2-3 up. City with a couple of half chances on the break but been second best. Knight-Lebel has been our stand out alongside Acey, very little threat has come down their left, despite Mundle and Semedo being threats. We've been weak defensively down our left, Idehen has been caught out a couple of times, fortunately neither have led to a goal. Kadji been pretty anonymous, Taylor-Clarke busy but not seen enough of the ball going forwards. Really like the look of Backwell as well, seems a threat whenever he gets on it

A one man away end I think tonight, a couple of first teamers returning in the Sunderland line up so will be a good test for our boys. Currently 2nd in the group on goal difference, so a win would put us in a great position to qualify

We weren’t exactly on course for a top 10 finish, we were 15th when Pearson departed and on course for 60 points, which hasn’t been enough for top 10 for the last decade. Would things be different if Pearson were here now? Who knows? There’s no evidence from his time here to say they would have been, but then perhaps he may have had different January targets who would have seen us surge up the table. Not comparing them in different seasons, we’re at a point now where they’ve both had similar amounts of games this season, and there’s very little difference between what Pearson did and what Manning has done.

He obviously isn’t popular on here, and was provided with a shed load of money. But, at times, he took us to places we haven’t been for a long time. That counts for something in my book

18 points in 14 games come to 1.29 doesn’t it, unless my maths is vastly out

Well, Dicks and Gary Johnson are a clear 1 and 2. 3rd could be a whole host of people, LJ saw us to one of our highest ever league positions, as well as that run in the cup. Cotterill saw that season in league one, ultimately didn’t have the squad to compete in the championship. Terry Cooper was before my time, but he took on a markedly worse position than Pearson and nearly gave us two promotions. For me any one of those three is more deserving of that title. Of course Pearson cleared up a mess that was left before and provided some seriously needed stability, but to claim he’s one of our greatest ever managers when in 3 years he took us from 13th in the championship to 15th in the championship, compared to other mentioned (as well as Joe Jordan, John Ward etc) doesn’t sit well with me tbh

I suppose my point was that things aren't markedly worse now than they have been over the past few years under Pearson. We're on track to end this season in exactly the same place we ended last. Manning is no better, nor any worse than Pearson results wise and until the squad is improved that won't change. Considering the high esteem many held Pearson in (saw some on here claiming he was our 3rd best manager in the last 50 years...), nothing (apart from hope) points to us being any further forward under him than we are currently. That doesn't take away from the ridiculous nature of his sacking, and it doesn't make the laughable statements the board came out with after it correct, but it does highlight that much like how Manning isn't underachieving, Pearson wasn't overachieving this season either

That was just off this season, his PPG off the 14 games this season was actually higher than in any other he had at the season at the club. The sacking of Pearson and appointment of Manning was ludicrous at best, but there's no evidence to back up any thought that we'd be better off if he'd stayed than we are now under Manning. Ultimately, no matter what the board might say, we're a mid table side, we were under Pearson and we still are now, and that's where we'll finish up this season. Perhaps with some FFP pressure off our backs we may be able to improve that in the summer, who knows

Under Pearson we were averaging 1.29 PPG this season, under Manning we are averaging 1.21. That's basically one more win over the course of a season under Pearson. So we've not regressed nor have we improved, we've stayed where we were. We're on to finish with 59/60 points at the end of the season, so absolutely 0 progress from last season as things stand!

They'll be heading back up this season anyway, so at least a season of not having to face them...