robin_unreliant

No-one wants to pick on one of our own but the elephant in the room is his height, a feature which he can't be blamed for or improve, but which is just too big a disadvantage for a defender.

What was today's attendance, can't find anywhere that shows it. On RB they suggested it looked quite sparse.

Maybe that's why they think they're better than us and want away. Heads swollen by being at Chelski?

1-0 and hanging on. Groundhog Day.

I don't claim to have your depth of knowledge and analysis of our game sir. For what it's worth I like Nige and still want him to succeed. However important the culture of the team/club is, it just seems common sense to me that the coaches must take some responsibility for our current woes. We see week after week how easy it is to get crosses in against us. Full backs too narrow, coming out late and often facing up to two men with no support. I certainly don't see other teams allowing us to do that to them. Is that attitude, lack of ability, or not following instructions? I honestly don't know, but it seems a basic weakness which I would hope could be addressed by the coaches. Maybe they DO set out with a plan to prevent this and the players don't follow it, who knows. My perception is they aren't set up to stop it but maybe I am being naive.

There's an article by Piercy in BL today where CF says our problems are nothing to do with formations and all about attitude. If both NP and CF feel formations and drilling the team on ways to organise themselves aren't important I'm not surprised we are in trouble. All well and good to say the players have to man up. If there is no game plan and no organisation that surely will undermine confidence. I'm all for players having freedom to express themselves but under pressure surely they need the security of knowing what to fall back on. It just leaves me feeling more worried about what NP/CF are doing beyond trying to get some sort 'culture' in place. Surely it needs more direct input on team shape etc so they all know their role and how the team is supposed to function?

2c How not to give the ball away from every flaming throw-in.

Can't understand why we don't give Janneh a chance. Seems to be pretty direct, something we lack currently. COD can add that but disappears too often so can SJ be any worse an option than him?

Does this mean no international breaks up until November? To be fair I'd rather have one long break like this than having multiple blank weekends in the autumn. It's frustrating to repeatedly interrupt the league, then cram in loads of mid-week games to catch up.

I don't recall the exact wording but Gould suggested our recent run of defeats has coincided with Nige being unwell. I think he was making the point that the team have been missing his influence for a while and were doing OK up until he got ill again. Good points for supporting a case that Nige will sort this when he's back well. Pretty damning of CF though as it suggests he has been filling in for weeks now and just look at the results.

I think that's a good shout. They were worried about the crowd reaction on Saturday and felt the need to say something. Normally it would be the standard backing for the manager. It is an extra messy situation due to Nige's illness and nobody really knows where it will go. Not an easy gig for RG.

Seems to me they don't want to push Nige but aren't sure if he will jump. They are at least saying they are still behind him to get away from the twitter rumours. If Nige is genuinely unsure how his health will be then what more can they say. They either make the call or wait for him to decide if he's up to coming back.

Maybe Geoff T started the rumour to boost his ratings eh?

Is it wide enough for @phantom too?

Know something - for sure??

Wow, can see the smoke pouring off those tyres as the u-turn starts... poor attempt at saving face.

Still no specifics on when this press conference is due. I'm still hoping this is just a wind up. Or perhaps the club coming out to publicly support Nige until he recovers and letting us know what's going on. Which contradicts what I just said. Don't take any notice of me, I'm just mentally ****** after last week's trauma.

I'll be gutted if Nige leaves. It hasn't gone well but I still believed he could sort us out long term. No idea who else could sort out this underwhelming squad. Please god not Warnock, that would just finish me off.

I think most people would feel that they plough their own furrow and hate to think they are just a sheep. The reality imho is that humans have deeply engrained instincts that drive our actions and a lot of people are in denial about it.

I think the obvious answer is that deep down I decided that bcfc is my 'tribe'. Humans are programmed to form groups. It's our equivalent of a shoal of fish. It gives us a better chance to survive and is deeply engrained over many thousands of years into our DNA. I'm just unlucky that I was born in Southville and my family were city fans. I never had a chance.

Could be the break we need to get a coach in.

He was implicated in the cheltenham pissgate episode was he not?

Well I felt sick at the end of both games this week.

Who was it wanted 'unpleasant' non family-friendly players like Luke Ayling out of the club? I think it was more likely the man at the very top. This is down to the Lansdowns setting the standards for what they want this club to represent. Nice squeaky clean, well spoken lads like COD - who haven't got a nasty bone in their bodies.

I seem to recall Nige saying he sees himself as a manager, not a coach, when asked about it back when appointed. I feel the lack of coaching and organising the players is what people are generally surprised and unhappy about. Maybe he saw his value here as being able to change the culture and mentality of the squad. Sadly he seems to have totally flopped in that respect. It almost seems from his previous statements that he thinks good, motivated pros should be able to organise themselves and that clearly is beyond our lot. It doesn't seem like Fleming is making much difference. Unless he can either get in a Shakespeare level coach, or upgrade the squad with players who have the ability he seems to think should be part of a good pro, I don't see how he is gonna sort this mess.