Shuffle

I shouldn’t renew as have to say as I’m getting older the defeats and performances really impact my mood worse than ever.  I should be mellowing &  I wish I didn’t take it as badly as I do but it’s been a constant for over 50 years now (thanks dad) & desperate for us to do well.

Personal sanity is not enough to keep me away but where else can I hear @GrahamC berate the ref or see Mert Brown eat a packet of pickled onion space raiders every other week.  I will renew but fully understand those that don’t but the season I don’t go will be the best one yet knowing my luck, so big Fomo on my part.
 

21 hours ago, petehinton said:

Spent most the game just shouting at players for his own errors. 
 

Anyone notice what his spat with Dickie was about at ft?

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Yeah, I was a “soft as shite” Centre-half!

Seriously though, I’ve watched it back….yet.

I can confirm that Fevs is the most honest person I know.

22 minutes ago, Wrongagain said:

The starting 11 showed the cracks in the coaching, if that’s the best manning can do with the players available then we are going nowhere - mediocre players that ran their socks off under NP seem to be disappointed to have been selected - it’s hard to imagine they did any better in training.

Very few of the fans have coaching badges but we can all see the crap attitude on the pitch, strange how the players that used to play well as a team are not selected together

The worrying thing is he’s had two free weeks to get on the grass and managed to make them worse. That’s some coaching!

Both Manning and Pearson have one thing in common in that they have both managed to unite the bulk of the fan base.
 

Pearson with the majority happy to plod along with incremental improvements against a back drop of budgetary challenges but a passionate team who would run through brick walls.

Manning now with a “time to go” majority that are united in a dislike of his boring, turgid  football & fearful of the drop.

Theres not one genuine City fan who wanted Manning to fail as it would mean we as a club were failing but enough is enough 

4 hours ago, Spike said:

We lost 2-0 to Cardiff away and put on a better performance than that under Pearson and he had half a squad out injured and he got sacked for it.

I don't blame the players, they played as they were instructed to and you could see it was not working, what did Manning do.... nothing.

In my eyes Manning had the players to win that game, he had double the squad depth his predecessor had, he had the backing of the board unlike his predecessor and he still refused to adapt and it resulted in a worse performance.

I'm done with Manning, for the first time in a very very long time I can comfortably say I actually want a manager gone early into his time here. I'd rather have O'Driscoll, Millen, even McInnes over Manning. I'm sure many people will say that's a knee-jerk reaction but I will say this, not one of those men played the same tactics, same gameplan and refused to adapt for three straight games as we were completely nullified. Manning isn't ever going to accept he's responsible so we'll continue on with the same shit, getting excited when teams open up against us allowing Mannings football to work and maybe picking up surprise wins and losing the rest to teams who identify our playstyle, nullify it and laugh at Manning on the sideline looking lost.

I agree with everything here & this mirrors how I feel.  The only point I’d question is to whether he has actually been backed. We brought in Mebude who is an untried kid and in essence swapped Weimann for Twine. The squad depth has been a disgrace and we only named 7 subs that included 3 who have never started a championship game.  I also want him gone but we failed dismally in Jan window to help us as a team so no amount of bullshit from Tinnion will convince me otherwise.  This was so avoidable & unfortunately all us fans are suffering for 3 peoples deficiencies. 

15 minutes ago, Spike said:

It's kind of funny how after we lost 2-0 to Cardiff with half a squad we were more optimistic as fans and very few calling for Pearson to be sacked yet he was.

Fast forward and we've just lost to Cardiff with a squad with far less injuries, more backing for the manager from the board, tons of fans saying they want him gone and what do we get... 

"not my fault, players need to play better".... 

I wonder how much of a raise Jon will give him. 

Just said that we put in a better performance over there with what was it 12 players unavailable.  Least we fought but the spirit and personality have been taken out of us & players are like robots.

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Team for tomorrow:

O’Leary

McCrorie Vyner Dickie Pring

Williams James

Knight

Sykes Wells Conway

what I think LM will pick 

Id be happy with that but Wells to miss out and Cornick to start for me. Part of me wonders if we play the left wide inverted, could Robert’s and Pring be our left side with one pushed further forward.

1 hour ago, NcnsBcfc said:

Because before the window ended LM was bemoaning the playing schedule and the pressure it would put on the squad.

In the window we technically "bought in 5". 2 were straight away loaned back to their clubs, leaning 3 left. 1 of them has injury problems already (Murphy), 1 has been injured since his first game (Twine) unfortunate, but typical City. The last (Mebude) had a total 3 senior  appearances and was a real gamble based on his PL2 performances from a year earlier. Add in Weimann leaving for TGH permanent and that was that

Even if Mebude and Twine had worked out, neither would have added to a squad depth really. The injuries to Atkinson and Bell has exposed the lack of depth even more.

BT went on RB to extol it as a magnificent window. The Twine injury is unlucky, but otherwise how is the window magnificent for this window?

The lack of  the available number 9 that BT described (so not TC), could have been alleviated by a loan signing of that description. 

If we are saying that even a loan signing of that description wasn't available I raise you a certain loan signing at Sheff Weds, a Mr Ugbo.

Exactly as I see it.  We actually lost a body in Weimann in reality as TGH was already here. Twine was unfortunate but isn’t the quad the injury that made him unavailable for a chunk of last season.  We didn’t fill the bench yesterday & must be one of the few clubs if any that doesn’t have a Jan window signing as a starter.  We’ve run for 4 months with 2 fit CBs & I know some will say others can cover. Tinnion spouted bullshit by saying there are 2 players for every position which has not once been realised this season & on occasions, no where near it. Cardiff will field 3 likely Jan signings in the starting 11 & whilst not advocating that, as a club we needed to help ourselves. 

26 minutes ago, Graham76 said:

Birmingham and Millwall stand out for me. Both teams were on the verge of sacking their managers too

Millwall had just won their previous two games and drew the 2 before that so were actually on a decent run. Granted, 2 bad performances and Brum was about them not losing so they sat in & we can never break teams down who do that. 

2 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Would you sign?

He’s being played in a system that means he gets less chances, looks less effective and drops his choice of club/ability to move up the ladder the more we play it.

If I was him, there’s no chance in hell I’d sign an extension.

He wasn’t signing it from the start of the season in fairness but agree we certainly aren’t playing to his strengths.

Games all about opinions but just because Yeboah got fast tracked this season, I’m not sure what anyone saw to warrant the disappointment that he’s going to play senior football at Bath.  This is a 17 year old who beyond being quick certainly didn’t pull up any trees in his cameos.  He’s dropped down the pecking order recently to the extent that he no longer trains with first team or is even a starter with the 21s. He’s 17 & Scott’s emergence has set expectations too high as we clamour to find the next one and it puts pressure on the young lads unnecessarily.

Good decision to get him use to physicality of senior football & come back stronger for next season.  Everything doesn’t have to be sinister as simply manager who frankly needs results hasn’t seen enough to warrant a place in first team & allows him to develop elsewhere.   
 

I predicted 0 points from Cov, Leeds, Boro & Saints but it’s hard to see where the next win is coming from. 

Tinnion went public on what a brilliant window we had. My main issue is that we have done nothing to help with the here and now. In essence, we swapped Weimann for Twine who unfortunately has played 1 game. We brought in an untried youngster in Mebude who looks a dud and signed 2 players who we have loaned back and a 5th signing who is struggling for fitness.  We couldn’t fill our bench today and have a squad who are stretched physically that needed help & signings that could help us this season.

The jan window may work out great in the future but as I say, it’s unforgivable to basically not sign anyone who could be used or to add to our depth. The board need to take responsibility as after taking the wrong decision to make managerial change needed to open the cheque book to strengthen & push us on & help vindicate their mad decision.

i feel for Manning as set up for failure by those who have no place in a football club.

1 hour ago, TomSutton said:

Didn’t get him coming on at Rb if anything Roberts was the one absolutely blowing after 60 mins didn’t put another sprint in past 75.

McCrorie can do a full game so leave him on the pitch.

Agree R.E Cornick game was not suited to him yesterday I actually thought bringing him on was the correct thing but by 70 he had been on the pitch for nearly 50 minutes and had not grown into the game at all.

Twine being on the bench yet quite clearly not being fit enough to come on says a lot around how Manning views the current state of the 21s which are a bit of a dead crop now and it seems we are just waiting for the 18s to be ready. 
 

All the subs who came on yesterday did not make an impact in fact I feel worsened us as a collective I would’ve left Mehmeti 1v1 against Jimmy Dunne who was awful for them a real clumsy footballer. 
 

Just highlighted our offence weaknesses yesterday, lack of an incisive passer who can play on the floor through back lines (twine, KP to an extent esc) and pace while being in control on the wing as Mehmeti and cornick both lack pace. Mebude has pace but not the control and it was clear we singled out dunne as their weak link and to try get in behind him with bells pace.

That unfortunately went to pot after the injury and we just didn’t have a plan b players didn’t look confident in playing through the pitch as QPR defended narrow.

what we were left with was a slow casual sideways passing approach waiting for a magic moment which never came

Totally agree about Memehti who was getting at Dunne.  In essence, with Mebude & Cornick as our wide men we were playing with 9 as both had afternoons to forget. Dunne was terrible but rather annoyingly, he won 3 x 50/50 tackles in a row due to us not fancying it which is unforgivable.

4 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

He came on around the 58 minute mark.

He looked like he had never played before, a complete passenger.

That’s totally on Manning, he had 7 outfield subs left to bring on & it is a world apart from coming on with 3 minutes to go when you’re 3 up.

This game was still live & doing so effectively meant we played the remainder a man short.

I’ll be amazed if he features again until the season is mathematically over.

I’ve seen Semenyo & Wes Burns have terrible sub appearances and bounce back but he didn’t even do the basics correct.  I’m pretty sure that there were options to pass to him not taken & with Cornick on the other side, we were light on quality . If he’s got an agreed fee of £1.5- 2m then he’s going to have to come out all guns blazing but how can we give him game time after that.

15 minutes ago, Gillies Downs Leeds said:

Yeah he did. Not sure what has gone wrong as I had high hopes for him. Always looked a standout in the under 23 games I saw last season and the season before.

Not getting in the Gloucester team who are in a relegation battle & struggling so makes sense to get games here. 

14 minutes ago, petehinton said:

I’m not being OTT in saying that Wells miss might be the worst I’ve ever seen in a city game. 
 

Almost a bit relieved it happened to him and not Cornick. 

It literally went through his legs when he was goal side from a yard out.  Unbelievable miss and agree, I’ve not seen many worse that’s for sure.

Bell is a striker who can certainly finish as we’ve seen.  Now I’m not saying play him above Conway or  Wells but we should judge him in his position.  He’s not the best to play in a possession based side as a WB (which he isn’t) or either wide left but if you play him there you don’t want him tucking in. He’s certainly struggling  at present but worth keeping around.

As for Memehti, I’ve run out of patience and the bloke has had enough chances now. Makes the wrong choices, rarely beats the first man with crosses & as others have said more eloquently has no positional sense or team awareness. Clearly he has talent but it’s just not happening for him here. 

46 minutes ago, Jimbo76 said:

Really surprised by some of the comments on various threads tonight.

We lost 1-0 to a team that are basically a premier League team and will be again next season.

If we play well against West Ham or Forest and then have an inferior performance, it's not because we have a bad team, it's because we don't have a strong squad.

Leeds can bring players off the bench that we couldn't buy for the first team.

Key injuries plus 7 games in 3 weeks, or whatever it is, means our lack of squad depth is exposed. The likes of Williams, James, even Pring, can't play at the required intensity in so many games.

For me, it was most evident in the back 3 tonight. All 3 making so many errors despite high praise recently. Bottom line, they have to play every game because we have no choice. But the result is inevitable. 

I have no criticism of Manning or the players. Our current squad lacks the quality in depth to have sufficient rotation and to play quick succession matches at the required tempo.

Great post. Been banging this drum about squad depth & lack of quality since start of season.  Vyner, Dickie,Pring, Tanner have played continuously and with exception of Pring it sure looked like they were running on empty tonight.  Dickie was very lucky to not get a second yellow but looked out on his feet.  Naismith as defensive option has been a disaster & no idea when Atkinson will be available but thank god the back four have in the main remained injury free as we would be in the shit as no squad cover until possibly another 2 weeks.  

6 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

We would have been better taking the player off & not bringing him on.

I bet Pring is delighted to have a bloke in front of him for half an hour who thinks it’s fine to jog back when we lose the ball, put an absolutely token effort in to challenge their defender seeing the ball out for a goal kick & generally switch off whenever we are defending.

Bell has taken some stick on here but at least he puts in a shift, Mehmeti is often a complete passenger.

Yep reached my tipping point with Anis tonight & has had more than enough chances. Unfortunately, just not good enough is he.

8 hours ago, Harry said:

Exactly Dave. 
I think some people think we should never sign anyone again. 
They seem to think we can reach the Premier League by just continually churning out players from the academy. 
Ain’t gonna happen. 
As for pathway blocking. Just because this kid is 19, why is he considered to be blocking a pathway whereas is we’d signed someone who was 28 would not be considered to be doing so? 

Maybe it’s a simple fact that there aren’t any players coming through this current age group who we think can step up in the next 2-3 years. 
As for Sam Bell - maybe the new manager doesn’t think he’s capable of taking us any higher. Maybe he sees him as a mid to lower champ player and we want to bring in upper level champ players. 
 

Having a successful academy doesn’t mean we can’t sign young players.  

Brilliant post. I think some people just look for negatives in literally everything the club does.  I’ve never heard of the Man City lad but hope beyond doubt that he’s a success but if he isn’t, the same old will be saying should have tried Yeboah or Nelson and saved the money.  I’m no happy clapper but the constant point scoring is becoming tedious. 

3 hours ago, Gillies Downs Leeds said:

Thought the idea was to mirror the 1st team formation ?

@DavefevsNo I get that but that’s a game every 4-6 weeks  yet 21s play every week.  James is a classic example of starting for Cardiff ages ago and then sub for 21s,  same for Nelson & Meerholz & Yeboah recently. They are still playing for 18s on a regular basis but seems we are holding back their development if what you say is accurate.  

2 hours ago, Gillies Downs Leeds said:

Thought the idea was to mirror the 1st team formation ?

What I struggle to understand is why certain players who have been in and around the first team as U18s don’t start for u21s as surely the natural progression.  

16 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

He played deeper against QPR and we were largely crap as he is not good at passing through the lines. Maybe alongside TGH would be OK but that seems ever so lightweight for a midfield pairing.

I can see he's good at pressing and winning the ball back but as we transition to a more possession heavy team and particularly in trying to break down poor teams then I really don't know where he fits in

Said all along he wasn't what we needed in the summer and even more so now

He also played deeper at Cardiff and was excellent with TGH as his partner.

2 minutes ago, FNQ said:

This will no doubt go against the grain, but in my opinion he ain’t up to it.

In such a critical position we need better. JK has a great engine, never stops running or trying, but he’s lacking the quality that we desperately need in such a critical midfield position. If we are to move on then so does JK.  He’s the weak link when compared to Matty James, TGH, Sykesy, or Joe Williams, and even Scott Twine..

There I’ve said it..

A number 10 he ain’t but play him in his best position which is deeper & you’ll get even more out of him.  That said he’s done ok but imo we’ve wasted him through sheer lack of options.