The Dolman Pragmatist

I make no apologies for saying that Arcade Fire’s ‘We’ is a very fine album.

Blind Eye … Wishbone Ash

I’ve watched the whole documentary which I thought was decent, but I thought the one thing they missed, which was not to do with the football itself, was just how stylish the presentation was, and how the culture of football was changed. The use of Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma gave football an image which encouraged new people to watch the game, and the whole package was very Italian and very stylish. It helped make football acceptable in a new way.

It was offside. Because the keeper came out, there was only one defender back when an Ecuador player made contact.

Almost all religions are repressive and discriminatory in some way, even Christianity. There’s an awful lot of hypocrisy about attitudes to this World Cup. Did anyone question Russia’s human rights record in 2018? Did anyone object to playing against countries which had fascist juntas (Chile, Argentina, Spain) in previous World Cups? Qatar is far from alone in having legal measures hostile to LGBT+, so do we ostracise all Muslim nations? Erm, aren’t England playing Iran in the group stage? I have a lot of issues with Catholicism, but would be severely restricted if I couldn’t visit catholic countries. The whole thing is a can of worms and to see a clear way through it is well nigh impossible.

Boredom … Procol Harum

Ken Aston had previously refereed the infamous ‘Battle of Santiago’ between Chile and Italy in the 1962 World Cup.

If we play like we did today, we won’t score. We need to play like we did today but get better in the final third.

Some of you have very short memories. Does anyone remember the disasters that were Robert Hobbs, that mob of jokers who took over in the early 80s, Scott Davison and John Laycock? And if you’re talking awful managerial appointments, then there’s always Bobby Houghton, Jimmy Lumsden, Denis Smith, the second coming of Joe Jordan, Benny Lennartsson and Tony Pulis. Be careful what you wish for.

Coady’s a leader…

Disappointed maybe, but hardly shocked, surely?

Was it hard though? If you ask me, on current form that team pretty much picks itself.

Good post. It’s also about the psychology of the team as a unit, and that’s what worries me most at the moment. Pearson seems unable to change the ‘mood’ of the team, and that’s why I have grave doubts about him. You cannot simply bully a team into improving. When the chips are down, I struggle to see Pearson being able to lift the team. Too many times after poor displays Pearson has seemed to imply that he can’t quite understand the performance. Why not? If a manager - in any walk of life - can’t understand why their team are under performing, then they’re not a good manager.

I agree, but the most worrying thing for me - and I apologise to those who think this is just another attempt to denigrate Pearson - is that for some reason a) they don’t appear to be playing for the manager, and b) the manager seems unable to do anything about it. These are all professional footballers, some internationals; it’s clearly not a lack of ability that is seeing them underperform, so what is it? Klose looked utterly reliable last season, now he looks a shadow of that player, so what has changed? It comes to something when Zak Vyner, the butt of so much criticism on this forum, now appears to be the one player we can trust. But the real question is why the players are not performing to their full ability, and that is a question that should be directed to the manager.

Arguably, given Bristol’s demographic, we may be the most underachieving club in Europe. It’s not even that we’ve had several near misses - only once in 40 years have we even got into the top six in the second tier.

How pleasant. Once again you are way off the mark.

We beat Liverpool during the Osman era. Sean O’Driscoll began the process of rebuilding which enabled Steve Cotterill to deliver promotion a season later. I think we’re more in Benny Lennartsson/ Bobby Houghton territory now.

My loyalty is to Bristol City, not to Nigel Pearson. It’s all about opinions. I totally respect those who want Pearson to stay; I just don’t agree with them any more. Happy to be persuaded though.

I’m not sure, but given the length of time he has been, they are his squad. He has moved players on and brought new players in; promoted young players and had time to work with them. How on earth can they be ‘uncompetitive’? If only he could provide a rational explanation of what is going on it would help, but there are good players out there who seem to have forgotten how to play as a team.

Pearson isn’t making the best use of the resources available to him and increasingly the players are looking demoralised and are not performing. There is no real sign of the situation turning around and for progress to be made. We can stick with Pearson, sure, but we risk relegation if we do, and relegation would be disastrous for us. As to who we get in, I’m sure there would be no shortage of applicants and there may well be talented candidates in lower divisions worth looking at. Preston don’t seem to be doing so badly with Ryan Lowe, who wasn’t considered good enough for us a not long ago. Sadly, I find it hard to make a case for Pearson to stay now.

Well it’s hard to believe that carrying on the way we are is the answer. Pearson is simply not delivering and don’t give me all this ‘no money to spend’ stuff. He knew he had to generate money to be able to spend, and he didn’t do so. A lot of managers are in that position. Just what has he achieved since being here? I would have loved to see him succeed, but enough is enough. We are on a downward trajectory that has to be reversed, or we are in League One playing the Gas.

I was told by a City scout the weekend before last that he was training with the first team squad.

Given that they lost to Chippenham at the weekend, we’re on a hiding to nothing here.

Percy the Penguin … Stackridge

Really, really disappointed in Pearson’s post match comments singling out the defence for criticism for conceding a goal. Surely the issue last night was not delivering at the other end of the pitch?? I think Tanner, Pring and (particularly) Vyner have been magnificent in the past two matches,