The turtle

I cannot believe how many times , we've got the ball in midfield with a counter on, and then passed it back to our defence, resetting everything ,bringing their first line off defence into the game.

Worse still , give it away soon after.

Absolutely infuriating.

The thing is we are playing a team who believe their best beats our best. So will care about us a lot less.

Thus we'll have more chances to press, and HOPEFULLY less time to play slow fake control football. We win these types of games because they can sometimes allow us to show our best version, nicking the ball on the counter at pace, not the version we (management) want.

It is a free hit which can ease the pressure on the weekend. But city winning tonight wouldn't be luck.

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I don’t think I was alone, plenty of others appreciated the work Nige, his staff and the players were doing under difficult circumstances.

Yep, it didn’t take him long to fall-back on his excuses.

His football opinion is stuck in the 1980s.  He needs to go away, read, watch some modern day football, digest it, understand it, then return.  It’s so base.  It’s why he can’t see further than the inside of his source’s ass.

+++++

@headhunter was a great pod though, absolute carnage in some respects, but I set my alarm for this, but need not have worried, I was awake.

@Curr Avon well done for actually trying to give some football answers, rather than Ian just making excuses.

Do you think there is any merit when it comes to one player on a post?

I've always felt that two is too many! But one on the back post surely has some merit.

Reason - 

1 = the man they leave back.

And you're still covered for a short corner.

.....

Simeone was one of the first i believe to look at the stats behind players on posts and decided it had no value. It was some what ironic it came back to haunt him in the biggest game of his managerial life.

It's a great point, and a curious one.

That we are really good at pressing and have been for a more than this season, but now we want the ball, and slow build up football, waiting for the other team to fall a sleep/switch off

The best teams, don't really care, believe their best game beats ours. Which is why our best performances come against them when we usually have less of the ball, and maximising the press. I mean it's not just typical Bristol city, it happens for a reason.

Everyone else, it's play out if you can. But absolutely do not get picked off. Go long if you have to, let them have the ball.

Their final words going out would be something like, remember lads our best way of winning is the let city play the way they want to rather than what they are best at.

I do like the phrase sizable minority!

It's a phrase which seems to have stuck. Were the fanbase really in the majority in wanting Pearson to go?

I'd say there were 3 camps;

The pro camp

The meh camp; (this had a huge range) but general feeling didn't really think he should be fired, but were not forcibly upset when he was either

The anti Pearson camp was significantly smaller

..................

As for mind numbing;  it was numbing beyond numbing. Under Pearson I would say it was a boring game quite often. But we were also set up for moments of individual quality. But now it's worse.  I've seen more horrible halves of football under Manning than my whole life. All in the name of control, all offering absolutely nothing worth watching.

Why? Because we've been worked out. Teams want us to have the ball. Teams are giving us just enough time to pass around, but never comfortable.

They know our mistakes will come. They bait us to go long knowing we won't 

So it ends up being football where nothing happens, the crowd have nothing to respond to, and the opposition grow in confidence with every passing minute.

And what do we do? How do we react? What do we change? Absolutely nothing.

Fans could be more accepting if LM made any kind of changes (beyond like for like) in that made us look better! A. He doesn't. B when he does we look worse.

Why exactly has he shown so far to be backed? Southampton was the best performance, and there was a great reason for that. A team playing the way they were created to do so.

Every game it's, I've given the players all the info. Well newsflash, the other team have all the info, are equally well drilled, and need to work less hard to beat you.

honestly!!!  but hey dominating possession, so at least we have control............well until we do not.

7 minutes ago, George Rs said:

Robotic, slow and mind numbingly dull. Manning ball ladies and gents. 

He's properly pretty pleased with the first half, as feels we controlled it.

I truly believe that, which is the most depressing part.

Effort absolutely, but

Low ideas,

Then 

low quality when the idea is there....too often pass around in own half for 7 hours to give away as soon as go forward 

Cardiff started nervous, but you can see they are growing. They are also slowing everything down, killing any intensity.

This game needs a spark, this game needs some emotion.

It's not exactly a shock but it is disappointing...

I mean A young player, impact sub, someone with the ability to make something happen on instinct or at the very least bring in the sense of chaos (doesn't exactly scream control)

combined with, lines, channels,  trigger movements (on the ball). Highly specific instructions for where to run and when to run there.

For the here and now it's not a good fit, 

When you considering Mannings plan B, is "mostly" like for like but do it better. It's kind of obvious his best short term path is on loan.

19th....51 points 

Hand on heart! I watched today's game, whistle blew... Just moved on with life. Felt absolutely no anger.

My XF (expected fun - thanks talk sport) today was pretty much near 0 anyway and we lived up to that hype.

The season ended last week, what you saw today was a team simply off it, off the pace, not at the races, off the press, off that extra bit when when the season on ON.

Why because the season is over.

Sure we can talk about how time on the grass = that level of performance. Sure we can talk about how a team made for counter just isn't good on the ball to the shock of no one. sure we can talk about how we lost yet another game with more possession. Sure we can talk about this season really didn't need to go like this. Sure we can talk about how a worrying number of players seem to be regressing.And for sure we could even talk about how different Ian is when comparing the previous and current manager. And I'd really love to talk about how no player wakes up and decides they can't pass a ball.

But there is no point. Season is over. Can't blame players for being even 3% off, I would be...... Just see it as an extended pre season, and half of them won't be here next year.

August/September though is genuinely going to be huge.... With all the changes they are going to make to suit possession patient football, really better hope it goes well

But hey, lets finish in style; for sure we can absolutely talk about how for a season over game, my post is rather long.

Hey 2024 golf season, nice to meet you 

3 games ago , the season was done!!

1 came ago I had gone all - michael corleone - and this time they will not tempt me back in. This season is over, time to just enjoy football

........................................................................

I mean even if we do make progress for the rest of this season, who will be here next season?
wells.... could be gone
Twine? 
conway.... if I were him I would leave, as manning and him do not suite.
pring - not hard to see him leaving!
williams?
james?
King?
is bell right for it
can mehmeti mix maverick with some kind of semi consistency
and there are others.

I think it will probably be the summer of revolution, and it kind of has to be. otherwise what was the point in bringing in a manager with ideals and beliefs not suited to the current squad?

if this squad is not suited to manning`s way, essentially the best and worst of them could easily be out the door!
My only fear, even if it does go mostly well....bar the best days, the football is going to bore me to tears anyway simply because the teams we are trying to emulate already do or HAVE endless money.  But, I accept I could easily be totally wrong there and only time will tell.

 

2 hours ago, Tim Monaghan said:

This discussion seems rather nonsensical. Isn’t it ironic that we’re criticising someone for expressing their opinion on a forum specifically designed for discussing opinions? Unlike Ian, who is open about his views, @W-S-M Seagull was invited on the pod to discuss his, but he has declined an invitation. That speaks volumes. Maybe the username W-S-M Chicken would be more appropriate? 

@headhunter mentioned that anyone could participate in the conversation, so why not step up if you’re fed-up of Ians view? Unfortunately, it seems unlikely anyone will.

While Ian is undeniably opinionated, aren’t we all? The real issue lies in hiding behind anonymous usernames while sharing our perspectives. At least Ian doesn’t do that. 

Are you implying that i am not infact ...... A turtle??? 

Worse, i am not THE turtle.

Outrageous 

Um, where is the podcast? I only get it when it appears on here! Perhaps i should save it on other sources. (I've only really started listening in 2024.

4 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

We always bring everyone back for corners ! I might be old fashioned but leave a man up which then forces the opposition to leave a couple of players back.

As it is now the opposition are able to push everyone up, have a couple of players edge of the box to pick up loose balls and the keeper can push up to the half way line.

 

When blue cards get introduced. I think you'll see a lot of teams leaving 3 up.

They'll want to give even more meaning to those cynical stop the counter fouls

The new guy is personally growing on me.

First show, was a bit off.

But he actually sounds like he cares about what he's doing. Got big shoes to fill, guy just needs time to make the role his own.

Shirt was nice

Robins tv was honest

..........

Ends there doesn't it?

We fell back into the ideology of doesn't work with this squad football. And got progressively worse by doing it badly.

We were out coached: (it's ok to admit that sometimes) why.

A. If we we were leggy, well that's no excuse. Been hearing all week about the new strength in depth. Leggy was a choice with all the modern data available.

B. QPR begged Manning to play to his patience and chess ideology....and he did. Energy gone, in their faces gone, chess board on the floor gone.

Take the lessons and be better 

.........

And as for the players, they just weren't at it. It was almost as if they believed their own hype a little bit. That because we were better , the better quality would shine eventually.

Well it didn't, we allowed a team there for the taking to grow in confidence, and earn a comfortable win 

Take the lesson and be better

.........

Tuesday was why you watch football, today was wondering why you bother sometimes. if you have your eyes on the playoffs you just can't be that extreme that often.

6 minutes ago, Bizyer said:

Well,  it was a fair assessment.

I'm not complaining, it was refreshing as part of depressing day therapy 

Just i had to check outside for flying pigs also

Robins tv is sooo negative they both might actually get fired. Like they've got more and more negative.

Unheard of....

And the most unlikely form of entertainment so far

"Should be 3 or 4 down"

Did i really hear that on robins tv????

As Eminem once said

It's so insane 'cause when it's going good, it's going great
I'm Superman, with the wind at his back, she's Lois Lane
But when it's bad, it's awful

35 mins in...  let just say it has been slightly low on quality.

but, QPR are there for the taking. just takes 1 moment.

A few times we have almost been the stage before threatening without actually  being near threatening so far.
 

Always as high as possible!

But once playoffs are gone. Just be safe, once achieved, i stop caring and don't even look at the table tbh. 

I get 11th v 16 often forms part of the debate on progression, attack/defending a manager. But it's just not a big deal to me. 

Last night was much more back to the future, a city easy to identify, rather than revolution.  It was almost as though it was a team playing to its strengths and doing it extremely well.

We were the eternal opposite of Southampton, when for a while this season that was the way we were going 

My father insists last night was how "manning-ball" was always meant to be, i totally disagree. I see a manager who has ditched much of his ideology -because he recognized this team isn't made for that, even control. He saw what works with this squad- and found a pot of gold last night.

It doesn't bother me how we got here.  Stay with the hustle, energy, intensity and overall approach both ON and off the ball, ill take it every time , even when the end product will someties be missing.