DaveInSA

It doesn't matter if its 2 or 3 up front IMHO. What matters, is you have players with the intellect and awareness to know when to be close together (in a 2) and when to spread the play (as in a 3). You also need to know when to drop off and when/where to run to create space.

The past few years the movement from midfield and attack has been abysmal.

And i'm expecting a radical improvement in ball retention from our own throw ins.

I’ll be there tomorrow. Looking forward to it. 3-1 city.

2 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

I doubt that the idea even crossed the minds of the powers that be. 
 

Which is surprising, because Jon is an expert in elite performance and injury recovery.

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Out of interest, what has “football made more of” since the end of the window, to release some budget?

 

I wonder whether a cheeky attempt to prise Sinclair Armstrong off of them would be met with anything other than “eff off”.

He’s got that missing ingredient for me.  Semenyo like, a little less a bag of tricks than Antoine, but a bully physically.

Probably beyond us, but if they need someone to generate some funds, he’s the one for me.  We aren’t gonna get Chair.

I’d be looking closely at Field too.  If QPR go down or are adrift in January, I’d be seeing if we could bring this forward.  Contract expires this summer, but they hold a year-option.

Tongue in cheek Fevs. 

Maybe we sold an additional curry goat last week. Clubs gets probably 20p. 

Which might buy us a second hand subbuteo forward.

19 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

But we're maxed out on the wage budget. Isn't that what Pearson was told (bar a little room for a short term, out of contract signing to cover for injuries) ?

He wasn't told porkies, was he? 

Were we told porkies, too?

Or has the budget been magically re-adjusted in the last couple of weeks? 

The budget will have changed based on football making more.

I’m suffering from a severe case of cognitive dissonance.

The board and technical director say we have a top 6 squad. 

They sack the previous manager because we were 8th. They also say that there is no money for players, that the wage bill is maxed out and that what football makes football spends.

The new guy comes in and I’m expecting a magical turnaround, because we are told we have a top 6 squad and we want to play high intensity front foot football. The new guy should therefore be able to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

The evidence suggests however : that we are a mid table squad. With mid table results from the old and the new manager. We have a squad of committed players, who aren’t yet good enough to compete at the top end of this division. In addition we actually do have money to spend and might be in the market in January. 

Which is all very Bristol City. And I wouldn’t support anyone else.

13 hours ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Yes interesting first week or three. LM looks good, speaks well and seems he might have something about him that could work well with the club/team. Still very worried how much control will BT and SL want to try and take on the team selection. And will SL give him at least some of that nest egg for new players. Because I just don't see a top six side in the current squad. I would love to be proved wrong 

COYR

Me neither. And I bet the Luton Town fans didn't see this last year too .

 

I just watched the highlights. Stuff to improve for sure.

Something I picked up on was the Tanner error that led to their second goal. If he is positive and goes on the outside, it's not a problem - he's already beaten the man and he's away. Just a poor decision from him; when he's turned inside their lad easily can nick the ball.

Rods have been made for backs by the senior hierarchy at the club.

What I would expect from today is a winning draw at the least. We have nothing to fear, anyone can beat anyone in the Championship.

1.5ppg over the next 13 games yields 20 points. Takes us to the end of January on 42 points. This is a slight improvement of NPs season to date figures. Can he do it - let's wait and see.

6 hours ago, maxjak said:

The clue is in the word  ............BLUE!  Ha!

it isn't blue. its aqua.

1 hour ago, Redderland said:

but we never turned on him, he tried but simply couldn't score

yeah that's true. he got into great goalscoring positions, but you just knew he wasn't going to score.

I'll raise you a Liam Robinson

to be fair. he comes across pretty genuine. he's no charmer. he doesn't overly inspire.

he's still very young - only 38. when i was 38, i would also have been genuine but dull, i'm still dull now.

as you go on the journey of life, experience means you develop certain skills. and some don't ever develop at all.

TBH, i'd rather he was a great coach, who delivers great results and progress. he doesn't need to be a great interviewee.

8 minutes ago, CodeRed said:

Agree, 

"Good to get 2 weeks of training working with the lads and put our ideas across. Boys very willing to listen and work hard. Good group. Early days, Still getting to know the boys and the staff. Will take a few games for our work to come through. Always learning in this job. Too early to decide what we will do in January. Superb facilities at HPC. Great to have the Academy players on same site and see the quality coming through. The Lansdowns have done a great job"

 

Missing the obligatory good to get the lads on the grass and implement the coaching from the classroom.

We’re not where we need to be.

and Henderson.

all you need to know.

I place no emphasis on qualifiers anyway. The main thing is making it. Business end of tournaments is where you win or lose.

I thought this was interesting.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/nov/16/chaos-controlled-southgates-chance-to-transform-englands-midfield?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
 

Maybe the ball playing midfielders are actually here already?

Or, more likely. The ball playing midfielders that Manning likes, may be easier to find than we thought?

Nais-myth

I met JP at a mate's house in South Africa during the world cup in 2010 - he was based in Cape Town at the time and wasn't scheduled to commentate, so had the afternoon off and came down to see my mate. I seem to recall we watched the England vs Germany game. Possibly the biggest disappointment of all time. and strangely he didn't commentate at all during the match

A genuinely top bloke who knows loads about the game. He had a couple of beers was totally down to earth and was pleased to meet a fellow fan; albeit an exiled one. 

This is well interesting

I've always believed that formations are irrelevant in football - after all, the game isn't played rigidly with banks of players (3-5-2) like table football  . I'm fascinated by tactics shifting to accommodate the players' strengths - if Manning can do this with BCFC, we will be in for a treat. I've often thought that we're too static, too predictable, too dull in possession (at least at AG) - part of the reason for not going that much anymore. It's so frustrating to watch and very easily countered by the opposition.

If our players have the intellect, discipline and drive for a much more nuanced approach, then I am all for it. Especially if it clicks and the games become "fun" again.

@petehinton and @Davefevs

I just wanted to say to you and the rest of the team behind the podcast - that it is really rather good.

I like the balance. And listening to last nights the contributors seemed to suggest to me that although the way NP was fired and the fact that Manning is an "unknown" were balanced with the possible upside of "whatifs"

FWIW, Manning has a big job on his hands. HIs appointment is a big risk. But like some pointed out - he has credentials way better than LJ and DH. I thought his press conference was well presented, there was no bull-sh!t bingo and he has bags of experience - albeit not at this level. 

I'll judge him on performances - if we keep up or improve the win ratio for season to date IMHO he will have done a good job.

I'm underwhelmed.

Best of luck to Liam. Poisoned chalice though isn't it.

I'm expecting a top 6 finish.

I'm also expecting him to do this with no new players, as our squad is good enough.

I'm also expecting him to be fired before his 3.5 year contract is over.

And all of that is football under the Lansdowns.

8 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

For the first time in about as long as I can remember, I don't think we have any obvious dead wood.

Well the Lansdowns for a start.
And according to some Tinnion too.

7 minutes ago, Harry said:

I agree that I don’t think he comes in and wants to revert straight into a 3, but I do feel that he’s recruited Leigh and Stevens to be able to move to a 3. And he definitely played 3 all season at MK. 
 

I think he’s an intelligent enough bloke to come in and play to the teams strengths initially, but I do also think that in the long run we will likely see him want to recruit for a 3. 
This might mean us having to bring in a creative 10 and a right wing back who is more attack minded than Tanner and maybe when fit he uses McRorie as the RCB. 
My guess is that his initial requests from the recruitment team will be a RWB, an AM and a DM to replace James (who won’t have his contract renewed). 

Which then goes totally against this EP article https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/lansdowns-put-faith-concept-bristol-8888252, which sketches out that the ENTIRE CLUB is structured around 4-3-3 (of course this article might also be wrong)
I'm no technical or tactical wizard, but if Manning wants to change it to a 3 at the back then we're ripping it all up and starting again. 

Which would be actual peak Bristol City under Steve.
 

22 minutes ago, Spud21 said:

Maybe he's coming for you for posting your thread about Manning

That's the point I am trying to get across he has a philosophy but is not so rigid to just blindly go with it, he's not going to sit there and say I see she have 2 and a half fit centre backs, back 3 it is lads. 

He does not look married to any particular formation (although one of the stats sites had him for one game at MK employing a 6-8-2 formation, not sure how he managed that, but could be a key to his success) and in lots of the interviews I saw he is actually reluctant to speak about formations etc and kind of pushes back saying position on its own is not important. 

Same with style they seem to play a possession based game but not a Martin type of just bore everyone to death. 

I don't expect we will see a massive shift in style between Manning and Pearson, I think we will look to move the ball a bit more quickly and when we do have possession look to have it 30/40 yards from goal not in our own half. 

I'll be well amazed if Manning can achieve the bold bit where Pearson couldn't with the same players.
I'm pretty certain Pearson wasn't asking the players to play in their own half and slow the game down.

3 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Mid afternoon announcement apparently 

So about 6 more hours of

• ridiculous conjecture;
• crazy arguments about 3 vs 4 at the back;
• and very little in the way of excitement.