Olé

In what is supposed to be his one final hurrah with former team Huddersfield, Neil Warnock has recently repeatedly rolled out his well worn joke about City fans booing at his funeral. The truth behind his cliche is that for many of their encounters City has tried to play football and Warnock hasn’t. The fact he’s been so successful despite this is testament to percentages over purpose - which is exactly what neutralised Nigel Pearson’s side tonight.

City dominated a one-sided game at the John Smith’s Stadium and against an unprecedentedly poor Championship side that struggled to move the ball without giving it back to City or putting it out of play. And yet for all the contrast between the two sets of players, a struggling and limited Terriers side broke up play throughout and should have earned a penalty in first half injury time, before forcing the chances of the match in second half injury time.

In sub-zero temperatures on the road, that may or may not reflect poorly on a largely rejuvenated City side who came so close to surrendering a smash and grab win to largely basic opponents. But the truth is that despite plenty of intent from star man Alex Scott, the visitors lacked a cutting edge and far from being galvanised by the second half introduction of Anis Mehmeti and Harry Cornick, became more one dimensional and more predictable.

Warnock’s men were clearly determined to sit in, and it took until 10 minutes for City to fashion their first chance, Sam Bell creating space in midfield before feeding Scott who tried to release Wells behind the lines but keeper Tomas Vaclik was first to the through ball. On 15 minutes City broke again and Bell tore away down the left only to be pulled down by Ben Jackson. In response the Terriers fell to the floor claiming head injuries, looking to burn time.

At the midway point of the half, full back George Tanner marauded forward from the right and with multiple players making runs for him, he swept a ball into the near post where Bell met it only to lift a first time shot just over the bar. Next Mark Sykes went storming onto a Nahki Wells back from the right hand side with a chance to go clear in on goal, but keeper Vaclik was out quickly to make a desperate claim - another City break of defensive lines denied.

The visitors difficulty producing the final ball was in evidence after the half hour as Sykes won a corner and City twice tried to get in behind the hosts from the right. First from a clearance from the flag kick Scott sent a deep pinpoint ball across to the back post where Sykes had just keeper to beat but Vaclik pushed it wide. Then from the opposite flank another corner saw Cam Pring unmarked dead centre force a brilliant save before Andy King was offside.

Before halftime the influential Scott found himself at the far post from another right wing ball but volleyed well over with midfield teammate Matty James nursing an injury. And then typical of Warnock’s sides, heading into injury time the hosts sprung a rare break with City over committing and the ball was worked to Brahima Diarra central in the penalty area who appeared to be upended by Jay DaSilva’s own tumbling block, blatant despite the one sided half.

The second period was a closer run thing although within ten minutes Scott headed smartly inside his marker on the right wing and Sykes went off on a run that took him central and into the box before turning to hook a reverse shot past defenders but easily into the keepers hands. On the hour and at closer range Scott slipped Pring into the box and to the byline to slash a ball across the box that look destined to be diverted in but no one was there to finish.

With no return from absolute dominance and away fans getting restless for changes, on came Anis Mehmeti (after disappointing at Cardiff) and Harry Cornick for Sam Bell and Nahki Wells. But at the midway point of the second half the otherwise stylish Zak Vyner gave it away with a loose touch on the right, and the hosts broke through the middle to tee up halftime substitute Joshua Koroma unmarked to drag a shot beyond the far post and well wide.

At the other end Sykes lifted the ball inside for Mehmeti whose volley was deflected and turned wide by man of the match goalkeeper Vaclik. And inside 70 minutes fellow substitute Cornick for once did well to hold the ball up out on the left channel before feeding star man Scott who not for the first time resisted the pace and power of an early shot and choose a tame low shot through a crowd which rolled slowly and comfortably into the hands of keeper Vaclik.

The game by now had lost its spark and playing percentages, Huddersfield knew they just needed a set piece or two to steal an improbable winner. Inside 80 minutes James did sensationally to wrestle Diarra off the ball from his own mazy run before playing a direct ball that sent Mehmeti running at the home defence, producing a curling and dipping shot over the backline which Jonathan Hogg was forced to head just over his own bar to keep the scores blank.

City had And Weimann on for Sykes and had lost all shape - with Cornick struggling to impose himself and Mehmeti looking as one dimensional as Saturday. From a quick break Diarra teed up Jack Rudoni who forced Max O’Leary to hold down low. Minutes later from a right wing corner the ball broke to Rudoni again whose rising shot flashed just past the angle of post and bar and left travelling supporters sinking in the away end fearing the smash and grab.

That was never more apparent than heading into a short three minutes of injury time, the perfect scenario for a struggling Warnock side that broke up play and wasted time knowing where they could win the game. First sub Martyn Waghorn’s made Weimann head clear off the line and Ben Jackson forced O’Leary to save at his near post from the rebound. Before the end Rudoni unleashed a stinging low shot from range which O’Leary again had to hold.

In the end and on the balance of possession City should be apoplectic that they got no more from a game they dominated for long periods, but the truth is that Warnock’s limited side also applied his style of percentage football and so nearly at the end of both halves got the unlikely rewards, first with a penalty shout on the stroke of half time, then with a rare bombardment on full time after dominant City - subs and all - had clearly run out of attacking ideas.

O’Leary 7

Tanner 7

DaSilva 6

Vyner 7

Pring 8

James 7

Scott 7

King 6

Sykes 7

Wells 6

Bell 5

Mehmeti 6

Cornick 5

Weimann 5

After 12 unbeaten and a huge cup tie City hit both a proverbial and a literal brick wall as struggling Cardiff loaded their team with size and muscle and Nigel Pearson's tired side ran straight into it. His men looked by far the better side for long periods but they lost their two most combative players in Joe Williams (first half) & Tomas Kalas (second half) and were wrestled out of slick moves going forward while conceding sloppy goals.

City - probing all day through Alex Scott and Mark Sykes - fell behind as Sory Kaba rose from a crowd and headed in at the far post, and minutes after losing Kalas surrendered a cheap second to man of the match Jaden Philogene. Fans have hyped Anis Mehmeti but his own brick wall was inevitable and he should have stopped Cardiff's second while never getting inside (blazing over the only time he did) albeit closest with a free kick.

A match for nearly an hour we looked set to  dominate had a predictable start inside 20 seconds as Scott sent Sykes racing away on the right and his low driven cross into the six yard box required Ryan Allsop to hold as City forwards converged. Inside 4 minutes Mehmeti tried to get control but the ball was half cleared to Williams whose deep cross was met by Sykes leaning back beyond the far post to get a head on it, sending it over.

Past ten minutes Sheyi Ojo broke away from his marker and fired a low shot that O'Leary couldn't hold and quick thinking Kalas had to stick behind with a striker closing to meet the rebound. The best move of the half saw Williams pull up injured but Scott's neat ball sent Sykes racing away on the right to loop in for Sam Bell back post whose header was cleared off the line, Mehmeti's follow up was well blocked before Weimann replaced Williams.

After the break City would have expected to capitalise on their dominant football but the opposite happened. First Scott fired a half cleared George Tanner cross high and wide on the volley after another spell of pressure but past 50 minutes and against the run of play Ryan Wintle's deep cross from the right channel saw Kaba rise highest among three defenders and steer a close range header in off the post right in front of the home end.

City's best chance of the afternoon looked a certain equaliser minutes later as Scott was hacked down in a jinking run along the edge of the box and Mehmeti drove a brilliant free kick toward the top corner that Allsop was able to push away. It was still all City inside the hour but they rarely broke the lines of an organised Cardiff, going closest when Sykes drifted in off the line and saw a low curling shot through another crowded box blocked. 

City threw on Nahki Wells and Harry Cornick for Sam Bell and George Tanner but within minutes a dominant looking Kalas went down awkwardly in yet another aerial battle and eventually went off, leaving Cam Pring to switch to the middle with Jay DaSilva on. The wing back was partly at fault as livewire Philogene cut inside to run at him, Mehmeti closing but hesitating right before he fired low from range and beat Max O'Leary at the near post.

That second was too easy and left City with a mountain to climb, the first time that they have been two down in the league since the Boxing Day horror show. On 78 a relentless Scott recovered in his own half to thread a perfect ball which finally broke the packed lines - but despite Mehmeti being City's first player to go clear onto the ball from the left channel, the exciting winger smashed his rising shot well over with just Allsop to beat.

Disjointed in both midfield and defence by this point following changes, if anything City now finally looked second best - and before the end of normal time late sub Kion Etete pulled off his marker and on the turn drilled a low dragged shot back past the near post which beat keeper O'Leary but went wide. The huge away following was already drifting out of the ground when in injury time Allsop handled outside his area and was sent off. 

Cardiff had already used four substitutes in a maximum three changes so the keeperless hosts put defender Perry Ng in goal and sub Wells saw his free kick deflected wide. With an outfield player in goal City inexplicably played the corner short and for five minutes of injury time bar Wells glancing a Mehmeti cross into Ng's hands they never tested the goal, continuing to hit a brick wall of bigger and stronger players desperate for a result.

O'Leary 6

Tanner 7

Pring 8

Vyner 8

Kalas 7

Williams 7

James 7

Scott 8

Sykes 8

Mehmeti 6

Bell 5

Weimann 5

Wells 5

Cornick 5

DaSilva 5

2 hours ago, redrum said:

My wife worked for JDRF (Junior Diabetes charity) back in the 2000s, where Colin was on the Board and couldn't say enough good things about him, and what a good bloke he was.

RIP  

Matt? That testimony speaks a huge amount for what a great person he was.

Spoke to him once outside Ashton Gate when he was in charge on the subject of racism at football. Ended up talking for over half an hour. Was a really thoughtful and considerate bloke and would have thought represented the club well. RIP.

2 hours ago, Midred said:

I wonder how many other clubs supplied by Hummel are in the same position?

On the basis that no others are reported as terminating early and assuming City's first team does not get through shirts at a much faster rate than other clubs, there is something not being said here.

So following logic, the only unique thing to  us versus other clubs as far as I'm aware, is that our shirt sponsor has changed their logo and knowing how stage managed brand transformation is, they would quite likely have offered to pay to replace all the players shirts even if each have a supply of 6 per player for the season.

City call in the request, supplier no longer solvent and can't accommodate a whole new line of printed player shirts, City cite breach of contract and take Huboo's new brand cash to O'Neils to get it done.

Unless other Hummel clubs change shirts mid-season then I can't see a more logical explanation especially as training gear for non matchdays (ie stuff without huboo Huboo on it) doesn't seem to be affected.

3 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Nice shirt, reminds me of our last pinstripe effort from 2017/18...we all know what happened that season.

And we had O'Neil written on the shirt that season as well

3 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Huboo font has changed hasn’t it?!

This is all so weird.

And capitalised the h

Maybe this is a spot the difference competition?

Swear I saw a Bristol Sport logo on the sock at the start. Don't start that shit again.

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Some nice kits on their website.

And they appear to do Bristol Rovers kit too

https://www.oneills.com/uk_en/shop-by-team/soccer/soccer-clubs/boca-juniors.html

8 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

It begs the question now that, now we have had one, which club is now the proud holder of the record?

Wolves is currently on the longest streak I believe. Across Europe's big 5 leagues plus the Championship, on a 2 season timeframe we've actually moved one off the bottom and above them on penalties awarded as well as matches per penalty etc. - but fans of feeling hard done by will be pleased to know that we're still worst in the Championship on any measure from 2 seasons up to 5 seasons, and worst even in Europe over 3 seasons.

Just landed at Newcastle - there was no wind at all and the captain even remarked several times that the weather was settled and calm. EasyJet is telling porkies.

On 19/01/2023 at 11:50, Timo said:

Otherwise we are not able to visit the match due to stupid train times.

As mentioned if you leave just before full time and get a taxi (or a scooter) the 10pm train is doable - I understand others have done that successfully this season. To be honest if you need to work in London on the day after the match, the best solution is to just stay in Bristol for the night and get up earlier, there are plenty of trains which arrive in London from Bristol before 9am.

Slightly hijacking your thread - there used to be a 22:36 train to London which me and at least a handful of other London based City fans would take after midweek games and which often had the London based fans of opposition clubs as well. This (plus a 1 hour night bus from Paddington into deepest South London) was part of our routine for 6 or 7 seasons and is sadly missed.

During COVID when the train services were scaled back they removed this service but unlike the others, they never brought it back. I wrote to GWR who eventually said it was a Network Rail (who run the infrastructure) decision due to working on the line at night, I wrote to Network Rail to find out why and if this was only temporary, and never got a response. It's very frustrating.

Perhaps @Never to the dark side has some insights.....?

9 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Having double checked it does appear to be 19 and not 18 for Birmingham in the League.

214 games- 19 penalties for them.

213 games- 8 penalties for us.

I know you know this @Mr Popodopolousbut here you go, live and up to date every day, with exactly the comparison you are  making: http://nopen.co.uk
 

It is the teams that haven't played all 5 seasons that are ridiculous. Rotherham has been relegated twice in the 5 years and had 17 penalties. There are 4 teams that have played 2 seasons in League One that have earned (many) more Champ penalties than us last 5 seasons.

Summary: http://nopen.co.uk/5YR/

Squad photos are never accurate - since the 80s there's always been someone on the back row far corner already told that he has no future and is staring at the sky or off camera into the distance. At this point it would be cheaper and quicker to make it yourself or ask an AI bot to do it.

On 06/02/2023 at 06:48, richwwtk said:

The all time record run with no penalty, so far as these things are recorded, appears to be Port Vale's 72 matches, but I can't tell if this is league matches only or not.

Either way we are closing in.....

Port Vale's record was in all competitions - and keep in mind that before their run of 72 matches (which started very late in the 2020-21 season) they had received 5 penalties that season, 5 penalties the season before, 6 penalties the season before that (16 in 3 seasons).

So while WE are "only" on 65 matches without a penalty (7 short of the record), there is no comparison because we're also 111 league games with just 1 penalty, and 5 seasons with just 8 penalties. So if Port Vale was an anomaly, we are something much, much worse.

http://nopen.co.uk

6 hours ago, BCFC_Dan said:

We weren't in control in the sense of dominating possession, but City players won most of their battles and Preston didn't have enough to find a way through.

Thanks Dan  - for everyone reacting to my control remark this is what I meant but it can be hard to get a point across six cans deep into the last train to Euston.

We always looked like we were organised and had bodies ready to close the angles, apart from Cannon and Evans headers at the start we limited them to shots around the box. Yes last 20 was uncomfortable in a grim inevitability sense but compared to prior games at Deepdale (I was there for the 0-5) we seemed to have their number and you could see how frustrated they were getting unable to create clear cut chances.

In my book that's control. Frankly you can be in total control of a match even if you only have 10% possession and a minority of shots IF you limit the opposition in the time they have the ball to playing in front of six or seven players and relying on pot shots or 50/50 headers from crosses. We did exactly that and all the quality and incisive attacking play was from us.

I made a site that pulls data automatically every day from across Europe so you can see the very latest view of how bad our penalty record actually is. Sorry.

http://nopen.co.uk

7 hours ago, Harry said:

No surprises. Whilst he had a hard act to follow and a depleted squad, he’s not given anyone any confidence in what he’s doing. 

My bosses cousin so I get sporadic updates. Seemed quite highly rated when he came from Sweden to Notts County. Said he hasn't had a say over transfers and Robbie Savage's kid is incoming via Vince contact to Savage not his.

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I do think the early season form was over-achieving and unsustainable

Don't forget it coincided with Tyreeq Bakinson sitting in midfield spraying forward passes around like peak Xavi, something that came as a surprise to us fans, let alone the opposition who wouldn't have scouted him much nor prepared for that. The minute teams got wise (from memory Boro / Warnock were the first to target him) and his form invariably deteriorated (i.e. he stopped being able to pass to a teammate and lost all confidence), the Holden-ball era was as good as over. He switched in Chris Brunt (remember him!) a clapped out pensioner with all the running of a stone who couldn't manage more than one game a month and from them on he was fiddling around for any plan that might work.  

39 minutes ago, 2015 said:

Absolutely dire wasn't it?

Yes. Clearly a nice bloke but I've never understood the retrospective love in and general rose-tinted affection people now have for him.

Spectacularly over promoted and by the end presided over monumentally bad football which as others have said, created zero chances.

Just after he left I created this view which I called the Ineptness Index (Shots on Target - Goals Conceded). If that's negative you're ****.

Not only did we set an all time championship record for fewest shots in a season, this was his "football" in the context of prior 5 seasons:

6 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

About 70-80% of the way there towards our financial reset

The CEO of a business that had posted unprecedented levels of sales over 5 years of £75m (from just 7 players) now describing progress on a "financial reset" is a simply mind boggling reflection of the level of waste, excess and mismanagement presided over by his predecessor given that income. I know there's an element of Covid in the "reset" but there is no excuse for being in such a perilous state had we invested effectively and not like some kind of supermarket sweep lunatic. It would be easy to say Ipswich's problem now not ours, but clearly we're still paying the price.

1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Remember the Championship average is lower than other divisions for penalties awarded plus if we are taking some kind of average our attacking output will surely be below that average so I'd say more likely between 6 and 8. Unsure which sides get 12 penalties in 50 games tbh.

Based on some data I collated and published overnight (I suffer from insomnia) In the most recent 5 championship seasons (inclusive of this one), for teams with a minimum of 50 games played (i.e. participated in more than one season at this level) the average number of Championship games per penalty awarded is 8.9 and the average number of penalties awarded per team per season is 5.2. 

City are currently at 100 games per penalty awarded (1023.6% over average)

City have had 1 penalty awarded in well over 2 seasons (90.4% below average)

City have had 8 penalties awarded in 4.57 seasons (66.1% below average)

City have the lowest penalties awarded of all 30 teams to have played more than one of the last 5 Championship seasons. As in teams who've played just 1 or 1.5 or 2 seasons in the Championship have still managed to be awarded more penalties than City, who have played in all 5 seasons at this level.

And Aston ******* Villa have the same number of penalties as us in the last 5 Championship seasons and they've only played in one of them.