ProfitInMyPocket

Maybe I should say harmless instead of likeable

Remember when we used to have one of the best defensive records in the league? Look so brittle now. Been bailed out by a wonder header by Knight. We were told when LM came in he wanted to instil patterns and behaviours to the team. Do the same things over and over until it works. And looks like we've been found out again. Going to be a tough second half, gotta go for it. Thrown away the high press and endeavour for something we just aren't and won't be. Going to have to change half the squad to play the fluffy possession football. They are fighting for their lives and putting in what's required. Our season has been over for a while now. No way near the finished article. When we play the basketball end-to-end high press football and put our opponents under pressure I enjoy watching it. But it seems that the head coach doesn't want us to play that way. He reverts to type with the patterns and behaviours and these are the performances we get. So flat. Manning is a likeable guy but for me personally his football isn't.

Patterns and behaviours

He's had a lot of them this season, about time one went in

Patterns and behaviours

Love me some front foot football

bit of a rogue one but seem to remember Liam Walsh scoring one at QPR, was probably a cup game

Don't play one dimensional football which is super predictable and easy to play against.

Wouldn't have made a difference with the way we were playing second half.

Knight wasn't getting anything in the middle so he goes to a 4231/442 with a lopsided right side Sykes getting forward and Conway trying to drop in. Trying to get the ball wide and get the ball across whilst Mebude had no overlap, and Cornick was too far inside to give Sykes a pass. Should have kept Mehmeti in the middle for at least an option to pass forward through the centre but the way we set up with no overlapping or creative player in the middle just gave the game to QPR, they could have defended us till next week with those changes. They got it right today and we got it oh so wrong. Didn't look like creating much after Bell came off, had the beating of his man quite well first half.

They deserved that. Dreadful performance from us. Second half was so one dimensional and they ate it up. God that's annoying. Really poor changes from Manning, how's Mebude meant to beat his man when he's isolated with no overlap.

Don't like the wingers high and wide, just isolates them, tuck them in and let the fullbacks overlap, barely seen Sykes or Roberts get forward

Just belting the ball at each other, no calm, no creativity, it's mindnumbing to watch

Should be 2

Our players work better off instinct and having less time on the ball - when we have time on the ball a lot of the players just haven't got the nous or creativity to break teams down. Always been a problem for us when we come up against sides who sit in. QPR haven't done much and didn't need to do much to get their goal - same old story. Amount of times the ball has gone to Cornick, Knight and Williams and the pace of our attack slows right down. This isn't the right type of game for them, they don't make the right decisions when they have time on the ball, this was similar with Weimann too. We're going to have to take some risks with runners from midfield and full back now if we're going to break these down. No more passive play, make the right changes, get out there and put these under some serious pressure.

Knight, Cornick and Williams not the type of players you want on when you have sustained possession and trying to carve teams open. They are sitting in, not leaving many gaps and waiting to break on us, they've done quite well so far. McCrorie very dependable.

They look quicker to the ball than us at the moment, bit labored from us

No back 3/5… didn't invite pressure. Kept at it the whole 100+ minutes. All the subs did their bit. Great performance from the whole team. Have that Russell Martin you whinging tosspot. COYR.

Less of the ball, less time to think, working on instinct. Harass teams and get after them, that work rate and energy has been set from the start. No more back 3/5 please, brilliant performance.

Really enjoyed the first half. Got everything right up until the final ball. Keep this up in the second half, if we get caught to a slick counter so be it. We look dangerous every time we pinch it. Would kill for Sykes in this type of game.

Yeah we were tired and ground out the result thankfully. It was around 55 minutes in when the two changes happened and it was absolute one way traffic from there. Our first half performance was really good but we got away with it second half. A team with a more prolific front line or midfield come back and win that and the meltdown on here would have been massive. They were picking up good positions in front of the defence and behind it where they couldn't in the first half because we harassed them so well and the tentative approach after the changes enabled them to get a proper foothold in the game. We rushed to clear our lines every time we won the ball back and kept giving it back with no outlet up top or wide to give us some breathing room. First half was really good and more of what I wanna see of a Bristol City side, second half was the opposite, not good for the nerves.

Tanner winning that ball back after Dickie misplaced a pass, he's been stand out in the back 4 and in the back 3.

Gone to this stupid back 3 again, inviting tons of pressure. Need a proper outlet otherwise it's going to keep coming back at us. Going to be tough to hold on for 35 minutes - we look good with the back 4, why does he keep reverting to this? seen with these players it just doesn't work.

No back 3 and we look aggressive and creating chances in different areas. No monotonous predictable patterns of play and I'm enjoying it. Yes we look more open at the back but we look much more likely to score when we get it.

Caught them cold here, cracking finish from James. Knight almost fluffed his. Rob Dickie, what a man.