Olé

Quite... everyone keeps ridiculing the idea Pearson trusts Atkinson at centre back less than playing players out of position, but the story doing the rounds fairly consistently (as in heard it now from several people) suggests the trust issue stems from a non footballing / illness matter for which NP would be hard pressed not to single the player out. Trust isn't solely about performances in the team.

Exactly Dave, Nigel Pearson shouldn't really need any defending at this point (and should start earning that support) but my god the number of people on Twitter and here who have allowed themselves to be taken in by the most shameless misquoting of Pearson by a second rate podcast that has consistently never had a good word to say about him or our club, and to a lesser extend by the Bristol Post clickbait mob. There is a lot wrong with the selection and organisation at the moment but leaving the words "and they did for the most part" off NP's quote in order to whip up some hysteria and outrage is beyond embarrassing. I mean the atmosphere was as flat as a pancake but there is not much that NP can do about O'Leary's early error, and in the full quote as above he is being more generous about the fans than he needs to be.

Apologies. I took notes as usual but as a match it was a bit "meh" (especially for one we were winning at half time, despite looking shapeless whenever they went at us). By the second half my hands were too cold to type so I had a 25 minute gap in my notes until our third, and as commented the game by then had become very flat apart from the odd Max O'Leary save. Then legged it to Sheffield to watch the Portugal game, which by full time had done for my enthusiasm for football as @Davefevs rightly identified (and I even had a 3 hour train journey back to follow, which is normally a vacuum of time filled by writing the report). Stiff upper lip a lot easier for England - at least you turned up and against the favourites. In the absence of a report looking back at my notes the key themes are covered in this thread I think, the fact Rotherham ran at us effectively throughout the game and we seemed to stand off and stand off (and in the first half anybodies guess who was tracking who). Our best football was from the same place it came earlier in the season, Naismith going direct and picking out the run of Conway off the last man. We were much more effective in the second half at killing the game, but we weren't ever particularly quick to the 50/50s and second balls. Everything was a bit flat, even the crowd, I think everyone was distracted by other things...

It was unexpected. Portugal under Fernando Santos can be like City, less than the sum of their parts and able to make heavy weather of seemingly easy games. Certainly not free scoring at the highest level since Rui Costa/Figo days.Switzerland I believe were the highest ranked runner up and we seem to play them regularly, losing 3 in 6. But I was there in 2019 when we beat them 3-1 in the Nations League semi and I was there in June when we beat them 4-0 in Lisbon in the same competition group stage. I've watched Ramos a fair bit (Benfica) so when people asked me pre kick off what I thought about Ronaldo I said I was happy for the change as Ramos has a brilliant poachers attitude. With that said I'm sick of the English obsession to find a narrative that makes Ronaldo a failure or spoiled. He's lost his pace and doesn't fit in well when the other two forwards are best in free roles of their own, but he's never not going to support his country or the players around him even from the sidelines. Every media story or comment is stirring plain and simple. Ramos credited his input. Writing a match report on Saturday might be tricky. Wonder if Rotherham has a Portuguese quarter ?

On reflection it shouldn't be a surprise that Japan go full LJ era City playing at Ashton Gate. A team that depends on attacking transitions and in Japan's case with insanely fast dribblers who exploit the spaces from a turnover to full effect, incapable of breaking down the deepest defensive block at the World Cup and apparently with a confused Plan B. They'll have known going into this that their strengths would be nullified and they adapted badly. Sound familiar?

To be fair as a ground it's very close to the station, nip through alongside the canal opposite the "island" and you can probably do it in 5 minutes at pace, 10 worst case.

There aren't stats for touches in the box in League One and League Two - but on one of the prior pages I shared the stat for Championship + Europe's Big 5 Leagues (108 teams) and since the start of last season our ratio of touches in the box to penalties is the highest - that's us at the very bottom right.....

Here you go - for Championship only. In addition to since start of last season, I've also included the data for over the last 3 seasons where we're still worst by ratio to touches in the box, albeit at least in the same ballpark as one other club. Swansea has had two penalties since the start of last season, but on fewer touches in the box. They are fouled a lot but it is easier to explain that as they're not a direct side and play out from the back.

This season has been beyond ridiculous for trying to follow City away (6 of 10 matches so far seriously affected), but this is a new one to me. Wouldn't it be easier to give supporters the choice to plan the logistics that suit them best to "enjoy" both City and England as opposed to enforcing a blanket requirement on absolutely everyone to be the other side of the country by noon? And what exactly does 12:30 achieve that (for example) 1:30 couldn't also achieve? 12:30 KO has become an automated knee jerk reaction to absolutely everything by clubs in the Championship who themselves pitch up from their local hotel. I notice Millwall have got to get to Sunderland a week earlier (3rd December - not sure why they're playing then) for a 12:30 KO! Presumably their fans are being done a favour so they can also watch Netherlands-USA.

Building on my last bit of penalty geekery on OTIB: Of the 108 teams to have played since the start of LAST season in either the EFL Championship or one of Europe's big 5 leagues, City are the 11th most fouled, have had 30th most touches in opposition boxes, but rank dead last for penalties awarded.

This is true but @Rob kassuming it was your St Andrews ticket I had some years back if you're stuck up here let me know what you want and I'll ask around and find out and let you know. Being winter the large outdoor venues and Boxpark might not be as much fun. It's all overpriced and full of plastics. The main thing you should base your choice on is do you want tourists, or teenagers, or hipsters, all three or none of the above.

Yep, that's exactly what I suspected, it's one of those lists which rolls in loads of urban sprawl thus basically adding in a load of other towns. Laughable really. Sheffield adding in Rotherham. Newcastle adding in Gateshead and Tyneside. Southampton and Portsmouth simply added together. May as well give Bristol all of Bath and WSM. Pretty sure on a single city basis Bristol is bigger than Nottingham, Sheffield and possibly Newcastle and Liverpool too. [EDIT - 9th on here above Newcastle and Nottingham: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_the_United_Kingdom and on this a good explanation of the different categorisations, we're 8th on Primary Urban Areas whatever that means: https://citymonitor.ai/environment/where-are-largest-cities-britain-1404]

11th is a new one on me, I thought we were about 8th or 9th at worst, or I'm sure there is a version where we're sixth if certain other "cities" don't roll in their urban sprawl from other towns. On the main point, I'm starting to feel the same way as you. If we regress yet again this season there's absolutely no basis for all the stadium, HPC soundbites around us being setup for success.

I like and have supported Pearson but I've realised recently (noting this is the third time in a month I've watched lifetime-bad performances) I'm probably more enamoured by having a manager like Pearson - as in a leader, known in football, speaks from experience, bit of charisma, grin on his face but scowl if he needs one - than actually having Pearson himself. Because there is no way in hell anyone can seriously keep on with this "what he inherited" nonsense and I'm saying that as someone who has defended him and is probably still on the fence. What alarms me more than even results (although since the last international break those represent a huge collapse from where we started) is that the basic quality that I would expect to be coached on the training ground is not only not there, but rapidly getting worse. The standard of passing is abysmal for a team that we're led to believe trains together every day. We make more unforced errors than any side I've seen us play and I now include League One Lincoln in that (who misplaced one pass to us all night - which outclasses our standards). How can it be "what he inherited" when it is players making an unacceptable number of basic errors game after game. We had our standard 3-4 occasions of passing the ball straight out of play (two with the chance to get a player clear to the byline), probably a similar number of being caught in possession or just giving it away at close range, and then of course the usual any number of woeful crosses and corners, most notably by Jay DaSilva who this season is like a bad caricature of himself, and specifically under the coaching of the present lot. NONE of it is excused by prior recruitment or leadership at the club - this is a level of errors and absence of technical ability that'd be alarming several levels down the pyramid, let alone a team in the Championship. This unusual trait can only be a product of the drills and quality control of the current management and coaching staff. Probably the most accurate commentary is by Pearson himself, he's said a number of times he might just be here to point us in the right direction - I think he's done that but he is unable to elevate standards any further.

Well that was kind. Pity he didn't help him out by actually taking some responsibility and providing support during the time Low was on the pitch. That performance from King was an absolute effing disgrace. He's meant to be the experienced player in midfield, he hit his first two forward passes to absolutely no one, then decided he just wasn't going to bother and so kept telegraphing it back to Low and others in defence hoping for them to bail him out without even trying to be forward minded, while relying on Kadji to show any enterprise and running in midfield. At times it looked like he was either not moving or deliberately hiding behind opponents and leaving the rest to it. Even if that's just a product of his pace and age, it was shocking, the bloke is completely finished. It's all very nice that he's a fan and I hope he goes on to be a decent coach for the club, but I'm struggling to think of a decent performance since he's been here and that effort yesterday was embarassing.

Dumb question but I ordered with some of the away games two months ago. Where would my ticket be? No ticket sent, no e-ticket sent in the confirmation email. Is it just added to my season card??

After two abysmal away performances at Birmingham and Reading sandwiching an oddly comprehensive win at West Brom, the chance to face another ex Premier League side in the relegation zone delivered a mix of both types of performance - City ruthless on the counter attack and solid at the back in a dominant first half and yet equally passive and anonymous in a one sided second half where Middlesbrough did everything to win. Literally the only constant at the Riverside through both halfs was keeper Max O'Leary who made at least four stunning saves with Boro in position to finish. The returning Andi Weimann started and finished a breathless early counter attack - but City were on the back foot and miscuing by the second half and the hosts early equaliser after half time could easily have been followed by more as the visitors soaked up one sided pressure. Boro showed first after seven as Jonny Howson put Riley McGree through in the left channel but O'Leary got out quickly to block his shot and City quickly got behind the follow up to hook it clear. Within two minutes we went in front. Alex Scott pushed out of midfield and delayed his pass before springing Weimann away from the left wing to drill crossfield to Tommy Conway who slammed the ball back across the box for the Austrian to blast in. Nahki Wells near post run had been central to Weimann's opener and within minutes he should have claimed City's second, Conway and Weimann exchanging the ball on the left for the former to lift it into the near post where Wells diverted it past the keeper but agonisingly just beyond the far post. Up the other end Zak Vyner gave it away under no pressure with a miscued sideways pass and Marcus Forss went clear but O'Leary blocked. City were not pressing their opponents and instead inviting them forward and hoping to break - abandoning midfield. So no surprise that Howson strode through the space and threaded McGree into the box where man of the match O'Leary brilliantly pushed a shot over. Down at the other end Conway nearly wriggled clear and the overlapping Antoine Semenyo got in to cross high to the far post where Wells couldn't keep his header down. The match settled down as confident City tidied up whatever was thrown at them - as best demonstrated after the half hour with Cameron Pring's amazing tackle near the corner flag with Isiah Jones racing clear of him and ready to cross from the right. The hosts were otherwise lifting the occasional opportunity to shoot or cross wildly into the back of the stand much to the frustration of the struggling teams home fans. With five minutes to half time Timm Klose's half clearance gave the ball straight to an opponent from which Jones on the right fed McGree who dropped a shoulder in the box to get a clear sight of goal and blasted it at the top corner only for O'Leary to instantly tip over. At the other end Wells went racing clear down the right but his cross found no one whilst before the break in Boro's best move Forss' shot deflected onto the post. It didn't take long from the restart for the hosts to get level. Playing easily through the City right and squaring to where the largely hopeless Chuba Akpom stole yards ahead of Vyner to fire in. The only response came within ten minutes, Scott laid it back to the onrushing Wells who at the second attempt exchanged passes with Weimann and Joe Williams found his run into the box where he was nudged off the ball - but no penalty. Before the hour Vyner's pinpoint pass put Conway away in the right channel but his low cross was put way over by Semenyo. Next Wells broke down the left and sent Conway into the box who laid it back for Semenyo who rolled his marker and drew a corner with a fierce shot. From the set piece the ball broke outside the box to Williams whose long range curling shot was held on the line by former City target Zak Steffen. It was all Boro from then on and sixty six minutes in O'Leary produced his fourth last gasp save at the near post as somehow Akpong found himself played in just yards out - City bundling it away following the keepers parry with the goal unguarded. We threw on Jay DaSilva for Semenyo and then Sam Bell for Conway which at least gave us the opportunity for DaSilva to produce his weekly cross to no one when in space with three teammates picking positions in the box. City had a couple of chances with ten left - Scott's deep ball to Wells was half cleared to Bell who raced into the box but miskicked his through ball back to the Bermudan. But next the substitute brought down a high left wing clearance brilliantly to race on only to be pulled down crudely. The ref hadn't given much but after Joe Low made his debut for Weimann he suddenly decided to award a succession of Boro left touchline free kicks. City held on grimly and that man O'Leary had to parry a vicious long range strike from McGree in injury time as they clung onto a draw. Manager Nigel Pearson made a rare approach to the traveling fans - train strikes and long distance limiting their numbers - but in truth whilst it was a fortuitous point, Boro were enterprising yet poor in front of goal and the visitors continued their recent record of self inflicted errors when passing. O'Leary 9 Klose 6 Vyner 6 Pring 7 Weimann 7 Semenyo 5 Williams 6 James 6 Scott 7 Wells 6 Conway 6 DaSilva 5 Bell 5 Low 5

They’ll study the McBurnie tackle and then give Bailey Wright a three match ban. On a more serious note (and I deliberately left it 24 hours to come on OTIB as I was fuming - instead I put my energy into getting hold of the Sky footage as @Curr Avon highlighted) - in the run up to the game Nigel Pearson spoke at length to Sky chapter and verse about this club being too nice and about making us more streetwise. It was a great interview. But clearly he's so far failed because the only difference in severity between the Tanner and McBurnie tackle is their team reacted with apoplexy, and we didn't. They knew what they were doing, even if it was half as bad they'd have milked it to give the ref something else to distract him. But the point is once they scored it was dark arts from then on to the end. They were either gaming the ref or in his ear. As @1960maaan points out they even made the feeble ref jog around after them just to give them their bookings. They completely owned the ref by the end. So who from our side was getting on at the ref to jolt some sense into him? Who from our side was reacting with fury in the same way at the McBurnie tackle? No one. I really like Nigel Pearson and I liked that interview but I'll take what he said with a pinch of salt until I see his side actually play with that collective siege mentality and demanding, single minded attitude to all around them including the ref.

Mate agree with 90% of this but the main steward who seemed to coordinate the emergency was literally shouting at the linesman to get the game stopped and from a distance arguing with him too. I'm not sure he could do much more. Other stewards just went into routine with the pitch invasion. A lad at the Spanish today knew the one you don't know and said he was let back in when they understood the context which makes it all the more ridiculous. The entire reaction was a disgrace.

A mate of his told me that he was allowed back in once the context was understood. Police behaviour with the handicams was utterly embarrassing and worthy of the sack. WTF is the point of taking a job to serve the public and deciding that at that point you should get some film of people trying to get help in an emergency.

I had the same conversation in the pub at Reading station after. But I stand by my view. Vyner has the odd misplaced touch but by the end today before the ridiculous decision to sub him off he was doing everything that his teammates weren't. The entire team decided he was the only one with the confidence to play forward balls. We slowed it down to 1mph and did nothing but go backwards. Our best two chances were late on with Zak striding up and playing a ball through the middle. So we took him off (like Williams before him).

As if to highlight the ridiculous inconsistency that makes the Championship special, City followed up their convincing but rare win at West Brom on Tuesday night with an utterly abject display in front of the capacity away following at Reading - ponderous, mistake prone and slow, creating nothing and in the end well beaten by a limited Reading side. This was as bad as it gets: a defence that miscued clearances to opponents, utterly ineffective wing backs with and without the ball, and a succession of odd substitutions that hauled off City's better players. By the time Zak Vyner - our only real playmaker via long balls - was removed, the game was up, even if the visitors were denied penalty shouts. City looked well off the pace from the word go. In two minutes Rob Atkinson underhit a clearance straight to Tom Ince who ran to the byline and lifted into the six yard box where Yakou Meite saw his glanced header go wide. City had little in response besides miskicks and bad crosses and Max O'Leary had only one save to make from Jeff Hendrick. It was an awful half of non descript football, although in the final five minutes of the half Antoine Semenyo won a right wing free kick that Alex Scott floated into the box where in a crowd Semenyo swiveled at the near post and fired well over. Right after the break the ball broke to Abdul Baba whose fizzing 20 yard shot kept low but flashed just wide. Hapless City continued to give it away with loose touches and clearances around their own box setting up a succession of Reading corners. So it was absolutely no surprise when they went in front on 52 minutes from a right wing corner that was whipped into the six yard box and met at the near post by Mamadou Loum who buried his header. City's triple sub - for energetic Joe Williams and both strikers - was an odd reaction for a team that gave their front men no service, but Chris Martin, Andi Weimann and Tommy Conway entered and just inside the hour mark should have had a penalty as Martin nodded down a long ball, Reading handled and Mark Sykes drilled into the side netting. Minutes later another deep pass from City's oddly best playmaker Vyner saw Weimann bring it down and race into a 2 on 2, holding off his marker before spinning crossfield for the onrushing Jay Dasilva who had time and space to test the keeper but - characteristic of recent form - lobbed a feeble looped ball over the box which Martin wasn't expecting. By now it was open season on the City goal as the visitors struggled to clear their lines - Ince blasting well over after a lengthy spell of pressure. Cam Pring entered for Dasilva and heading into the final quarter of an hour the away side won corners where Conway amongst others seemed to be assaulted in Reading's scrum while the ball arched in. City have probably gone longer than anyone in the football league without a penalty and after the handball and now this it looked as though the ref was happy to allow anytying in the Reading box. Before the last 10 Sykes was tripped on the right and Matty James free kick into the danger area was only half cleared and Atkinson hooked well over. City were getting some much needed joy as Vyner of all players strode foward and found the open man with through balls - a Martin lay off putting Weimann clean through that Reading desperately hooked behind. And so Pearson hauled Vyner off. And that was it - and in the final exchanges O'Leary raced off his line rashly twice and was nearly caught. Before the end the keeper made a brilliant save with his legs as an average Reading side yet again carved through City's lines and found the spare man as Ince roared in far post poised to blast home. Up the other end late sub King flicked Sykes cross over a crowded box - but keeper Joe Lumley beat Conway to the ball far post then feigned injury. Along with referee John Busby's disinterest in the repeated marshaling of City players at set pieces, he seemed happy as Timm Klose got bundled clumsily off the ball on a break out on the right touchline deep in injury time, Shane Long going clear to center for injury time sub Andy Carroll to finish unerringly as the massed away ranks headed for the exit. This has been a distinctly mixed season for City but after a strong display at West Brom there was little clue that they'd offer so little for 90 minutes at a very basic Reading team. Pearson's side was full of unforced errors as it played out of defence, it's wing backs are a disaster, far too deep and unable to cross, and the manager has no faith in his strikers. O'Leary 5 Klose 5 Atkinson 5 Vyner 7 Dasilva 4 Sykes 5 James 6 Williams 6 Scott 6 Semenyo 6 Wells 5 Martin 6 Weimann 6 Conway 4 Pring 6 King 5

Millwall have sung this for years - the last line is so cockney it hurts, as they all go faaaakin waaaaaanka I remember being in the home end at the Den back in 2016 when they beat Rovers 4-0 and I joined in. ?

Mine are more moody

I may have missed a game but that is our first win in my lifetime since I've been going - which is longer than that!