Edgy Red

12 minutes ago, BLRed said:

Potential financial positives - 

sell on income from sale of Webster, Kelly and brownhill.

sale of massengo for 10-20 mill should that be the decision due to contract.

reduction of wage bill via removal of palmer, wells as wage vs contribution is non-sustainable.

possible sale of kalas would significantly reduce wage bill and amortisation whilst keeping cundy who has impressed could replace him long term on significantly less wages with idehen and others as backup.

sale of players that aren’t fancied by Pearson like (imo) vyner would help with budgets.

if all of the above occurred, that could leave us looking pretty healthy as far as competing in the summer window is concerned without risking ffp sanctions

Unfortunately i think your valuation of Massengo is about 70% above his actual worth

I don't think we can keep saying the squad he inherited is rubbish. There should be enough quality for Nige to be able to have improved and organised them on the training pitch for the past 12 months.

When you look at what Rooney has done at Derby, Jones at Luton, Rowett at Millwall and the fella at Huddersfield, it shows that an average group can be coached to produce performances and show a hunger to play for the badge.

I don't believe in sacking managers too quickly and feel that we need to stick with him in to next season but i just can't see things improving unfortunately.

4 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

I have been pretty steady in saying Pearson isn’t for me. I was swaying early in the year but alas just a blip. Stealing a win on the weekend isn’t exactly an advertisement for how good Nigel Pearson is. 

Even the most ardent Nigel Pearson fan must admit that there has been no progress this season.

I have been 50/50 about him for quite a while but i'm now starting to question where we are going. When you see how teams like Preston  Millwall, Luton and Huddersfield compete in this division we should be on a similar level.

The emergence of Scott and Semenyo have been positives but i don't credit Nige solely for that.

11 minutes ago, steveybadger said:

Blimey if that’s the worst you can remember in 40 years you are a lucky sod

In the circumstances it honestly feels up there with some of the most abject performances i can remember.

Alot of my City memories are from League 1 in the 90's and i've seen us lose 4-1 away at Shrewsbury and 3-0 away at Port Vale but we are a Champ side now playing against a truly awful Barnsley side.

I must say i'm slightly surprised by the Nige "love in" on here. I completely understand what he inherited but i haven't seen any progress in the last 12 months

This is as bad as i can remember in my 40 years of following City.

I appreciate Barnsley have something to play for but our lack of quality is alarming!

If Nige gets us anywhere near the top half next season then he's worked miracles.

I've been on the fence regarding Pearson for quite a while now and whilst he inherited a pretty poor squad, you only need to look at the likes of Luton, Millwall, Preston and even Huddersfield to see what can be achieved with an average bunch of players.

Our recruitment this summer needs to be spot on and he needs to start next season in a positive fashion, otherwise i fear this could end badly (again).

Our slight upturn in form this season coincided with Semenyo's return around Christmas and i still don't see a particular style or pattern of play that he is trying to implement?

He's a good technical footballer who uses the ball well but i still worry about him defensively.

I thought he played well tonight but i wouldn't be surprised if Nige prefers Pring in that left back role moving forward.

5 minutes ago, The Journalist said:

Another good performance from a team half made up of young’uns. Don’t mind it at all, don’t really care about the result.

Next few months remains a bit of a free hit in terms of fine tuning and getting experience into players.

While we’re still losing plenty, I think we’ve served up more entertainment in the past two/three months than the past two/three years put together.

Excellent post and sums up how i feel. We didn't deserve to lose tonight but half our team was made up of kids who look to have real talent.

I've been very 50/50 about our progress under Nige but i do see some positive signs and with a few decent signings in the summer i would hope we can improve next season.

Scott and Semenyo look proper players and i just hope we can hang on to them!

He's very good for an 18 year old in an average team. I really hope we can hang on to him for another season and see him improve, but i fear that bids will be incoming during the summer

8 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

No offence,  but all you have done here is reassert what most of us know; that The Lansdowns investment in infrastructure at the club has been excellent.

Now try critiquing their performance on the football side... go on.... there's 21 years of evidence. Go through every managerial appointment and pick the good ones, and let me know which of them have gone onto bigger and better things. 

In anticipation, 

I'm not looking for an argument/ongoing debate. At the end of the day this is a football forum and ultimately we all want Bristol City to be successful and produce performances on the pitch that get us off our seats.

I was just trying to offer some balance to the conversation and as another poster said recently, our club has not achieved anything of note in well over 100 years, apart from a few seasons in the top flight in the late 70's and a couple of cup runs, so The Lansdown family are not alone in their failings.

Just now, exAtyeoMax said:

How can I respect them when they brought in Ashton and LJ, and wasted all that what was built by Cotts and SoD? It still makes me so angry and extremely sad as to what could have been if the right infrastructure was put in place when we were promoted back to the Championship. 

We all make mistakes in business and football is no different. Nobody can deny that they have made errors in judgement and i'm sure Steve Lansdown would be the first to admit it but sometimes i think we have to be careful what we wish for

Ok, my tin hat is on and i'm ready for the responses to this, but i do think Nige is a little bit out of order with what he said.

We can all pick holes in the mistakes made by The Lansdown family but we also need to respect what they have done for Bristol City and that they are in charge. The infrastructure that they have developed over the past decade is incredible and nobody can ever deny the money invested (i appreciate this is by Dad and not Son).

For me Nige hasn't built up enough credit in his time at the club to be saying publically what he did and undermining those above him. If you did that in many walks of life you wouldn't be around for long.

We have repeated time and time again what a poor squad he inherited but i do wonder if his recent outbursts are a deflection away from increasingly inconsistant performances and results?

The slight upturn in performances over the past dozen or so games has coincided with the return of Semenyo and the pace he brings, but most of us recognised this was lacking in the summer. I'm not sure we can put it down to a Pearson masterstroke?

Don't get me wrong, i still want him to succeed and hope he can improve us next season, but i do think we need to respect what The Lansdowns have done for the club (long before Nige arrived). 

Rant over

I still think we need to stick with Nige and view this as a long term project but i must admit to being very underwhelmed with our progress this season.

Defensively we are a shambles and had it not been for the emergence of Scott and Semenyo, i really can't think of many other positives.

The wins we have managed to pick up have been rather fortunate and apart from a handful of decent 45 minute performances, we have been 2nd best in the majority of games this season.

I appreciate that finances are tight but unless we can add 4 or 5 first team starters over the summer, i can't see it getting better any time soon. He clearly hasn't been able to coach the current crop any better than his 2 predecessors.

13 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

Cope with - are you thinking ego, demands etc...

Or are you thinking cope without, biggest loss to the team etc?

Biggest loss to the team... who do you think would be easiest to replace?

If we are to lose one of our young stars this summer... Massengo, Scott or Semenyo, which one do you think would be easiest to cope with?

It's a tough decision but i think i'd cash in on Massengo if we're offered a decent fee (contract length is also a factor)

Alex Scott is getting better week by week and i am excited to see if Antoine can continue his progress. IF Williams can stay fit, we've got another very good option in midfield alongside Scott and James.

Hopefully we can keep all 3 but if we're being realistic it's unlikely, so what do you all think?

11 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I just think he’s “okay”.  I don’t think he’s crap, but he is massively frustrating for a player who I don’t think is playing any better than when he joined in summer 2016. His best form was a run in Autumn of 2017, and a period in 18/19 with the odd one-off here and there since.  Been many below the level too.

When I see a player almost 27, I expect him to occasionally take a game by the scruff of its neck.  I sometimes see 45 minutes that give me a bit of hope, but rarely a full 90.  This should be peak O’Dowda years.  It’s not though.

Above is his BC stats.  Of course he’s missed games through injury.

108 starts (completed 60 / subbed off 48 times) / 67 sub appearances.  

An average of 57.76 mins per appearance.

A dwindling return of goals and assists over the past 3 seasons.

A very fair summary Dave. For the last 4 years he's been part of a team that has gradually declined and continually sold its best players. Managers have come and gone, formations have changed regularly and he's also suffered his share of injuries.

His performances have been underwhelming but the same could be said for a large number of the squad.

He didn't cost us a massive fee and i do still believe (maybe stupidly) there is a player in there. He isn't a wing back and that position would suit Pring much better, but he's doing a job and Pearson clearly trusts him (to an extent) unlike Palmer, Wells and even Atkinson etc.

I think its maybe time for him to move on in the summer but i wouldn't be surprised if he got himself a decent club and did well.

3 hours ago, steveybadger said:

Semenyo is the big reason for Martin playing better. Not just that he creates space for others but he also takes a lot of the physical side away from Martin. This isn’t a dig at Martin, by the way; just pleased we’ve found this formation.

100% spot on.... Semenyo has allowed us to play further up the pitch which has resulted in Martin being able to show his ability in and around the box, as opposed to having to run the channels or fight for aimless long balls.

CM has always been a clever technical player and he's looking much better now with the balance we have.

I think Zak is a decent player but unfortunately he's not quite Champ standard. If we were using him as a squad player then i would have no complaints but as a first team starter he isn't quite good enough.

I look at players like Joe Edwards and Wes Burns and would put Zak in a similar bracket. 

If he was a regular member of the squad of 18 then i've got no issues but if we are trying to push for the top 10 of the Champ then we need better starters than him.

I think the return of Semenyo has been pivotal to our improvement in the last half a dozen games. He is the only forward we have with genuine pace and power and he has made a huge difference to the way we play.

IF we can keep Williams fit, get Atkinson consistant and generally have a bit of luck with injuries, then the future looks bright.

I would imagine we may lose one of our young talents in the summer if we receive a decent offer, but for the first time in over 3 years i have some optimism.

8 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I know what you’re saying, but I disagree with the words.  Who is the best at helping us get points, would be my words.

To use a crude example, all things being equal,  if we win 4-3 with Max but lose 0-1 with Dan….then you pick Max every game don’t you?

But obviously it isn’t as simple as that.  I do think @Fordy62is right in that I think Antoine’s return is more responsible for our better forward play, with a small part down to Max’s distribution.

The question becomes, if Dan gets picked, does it stifle Antoine / our attacking?

I don’t know.

What I would say is that if Dan could get back to a comparable level with his feet as Max (because his kicking has fallen off a Cliff) then I’d pick Bents every time.

A keeper in todays game is not just about what he does with shots and crosses, it’s important, don’t get me wrong.  But they touch the ball more with their feet than their hands.

It would be good to see Dan back, with a kicking game much improved.

You make some really good points Dave and the keeper situation sums up where we are at as a team at the present time.

The top teams who play out from the back, and more importantly have the ability to do so, require a keeper who is confident and aware with the ball at their feet.

It appears that we are trying to follow this pattern and therefore Max is the better option, however we are a new emerging team with a physically weak defence and therefore we also need a keeper who can dominate their box and take pressure off that suspect defence, which Bents is better at.

In conclusion, we are at a crossroads, not just with our keeper choice but with our style overall. I am sure Nige will continue on with the new style and that will result in some bumps along the way, but there are definitely some green shoots coming through!

Unfortunately i don't think Max is ever going to be a box dominating keeper. He's from the Shay Given mould who are confident shot stoppers who stay on their line. If we had a couple of dominant centre backs then that isn't necessarily a problem, but it was exposed badly tonight.

Moving forward, Bentley either becomes our number one again, or he gets moved on for as much as we can get for him.

I would be happy to stick with Max if we sort the centre of our defence out.

I'm fed up of talking about our lack of physicality and its cost us again tonight although unfortunately i feel Max could and should have helped on both goals.

I thought we played some decent stuff at times and in Scott, Semenyo, Massengo and Pring we've got some real talent. If you add in Kalas, Williams, James and Weimann, we've got the basics of a decent side.

I can certainly see some promising signs although there is plenty of work for Nige to do.

Yeah, he was excellent today and really stood up to Cardiff's physicality.

I noticed he was limping a bit towards the end so hopefully that was nothing serious.

39 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

1-30

Awful outnplayed city at its worst

31 Cardiff scored

Pearson out not fit to wear ther shirt

32 kick off booooooooo

33 goal omfhjakhfsseg

33- 45+3 good combative mire like city

Second half

45-55 all Cardiff City are shit again

55-63 city on top Pearson is a genius

63 goal city amazing

63-77 best team in the championship  

77 goal

77-90 city on top.playing with confidence a joy to watch

90 Cardiff score I left as I couldn't hack the pressure

 

City win

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

And that sums the game up

Thats actually pretty accurate!

His strength and running power have given us a new dimension and we can actually play further up the pitch now as opposition defences are wary of his pace.

I think his finishing can improve over time but even without goals he offers so much.

The second half today was as exciting as i can remember at AG for a long time. We could, and probably should, have scored 2 or 3 more.

A special mention for Vyner, Kalas and Pring who handled Cardiff's physicality really well.