Engvall’s Splinter

5 minutes ago, INCRED said:

Strongest bench we have had this season

For probably 3 seasons. 

7 hours ago, Leveller said:

So, at this moment, where do you actually WANT us to finish this season?

 

The recent performances and wins have prompted renewed debates about whether we could, even now, scrape into the playoffs. There’s clearly an assumption this is desirable. But what do you actually want?

 

As far as I remember, before the season I predicted we’d be in the middle third (ie 9^th to 16^th) with the hope that we’d be in the top half of that (ie 9^th to 12^th). As it stands, we’re on course for that.

 

What are the possible outcomes from here? I’d suggest –

 

1 – have a great run in, make the playoffs, and by some miracle, win them and get promoted

 

2 – as 1 but disappoint in the playoffs and carry on in the Championship next year

 

3 – carry on with the current good form, but fall a bit short in 7^th or 8^th

 

4 – continue fairly well and end up 9^th to 12^th (top half finish)

 

5 – return to inconsistency (or worse) and end up back in the bottom half

 

I’ll assume no City fan actually wants option 5. What about the others?

 

For me:-

 

1 – much as I want to reach the top flight, I’m not sure I’d actually want it this season. If we went up now, would we crash and burn more spectacularly than any team has before? It’s possible. But no doubt some will argue that we might do a Brentford, or at least start a beneficial yo-yo era.

 

2 – making the playoffs but failing could be the worst disappointment of all! It’s the hope that kills you. To get to 6^th would require a fantastic run. To lose the playoff matches then would really hurt.

 

3 – might be the best result. 7^th would represent a great improvement on last season and on the early part of this. It wouldn’t be a disappointment unless we reached 6^th then fell back again. It ought to provide great platform for next season.

 

4 – like 3, but not quite as good. I wouldn’t be devastated if we achieved a top half finish and no better.

 

5 – God forbid. A return to inconsistency and finishing, say, 14^th would be a real disappointment now.

 

 

 

So – I hope we win every match I watch, but I’m not sure if I want the EPL yet, or defeat in the playoffs! What about you?

 

PS – please don’t take my views TOO seriously. By the time you read them, I will have changed my mind.

 

Strange post. 
 

Id like our club to have a season again in the top tier. Probably like most, right? A season up there would secure our future for a couple of years, may speed up additional investment, raise the profile, further consolidate the youth of Bristol as reds. 
 

If you are really talking about this season, I’d like to see progression. That’s what we’ve been sold. Therefore, top 8. 

“And we’ll have a pause for these” ….
 

Guess the Ads are a work in progress  
 

Great POD. Certainly feeling positive today. Everything was executed superbly yesterday. Real sense of jubilation walking out from the ground. 
 

I thought we pretty much controlled the game despite what the stats state.

5 minutes ago, mozo said:

I won't comment on the recent negativity, but what you can see right now is a City team enjoying its football, and that makes us dangerous.

… and vulnerable

Pleased for him that he showed his worth and doing it against one of the best in the league too.  Will feel both him and us with confidence that he can do it at this level. 

Plenty of posts on here tonight @italian dave and deservedly so. Superb from minute one till the death. 

Manning - got it spot on. Kudus to him and the coaching team. 

12 minutes ago, Unan said:

For the ex players sub forum to be removed, I just noticed for the first time in weeks that a load of content has been moved there, with next to no engagement since moving..

Commitment bias, also known as the escalation of commitment, describes our tendency to remain committed to our past behaviors, particularly those exhibited publicly, even if they do not have desirable outcomes.

Agree. 
 

Often forget it’s there. 

12 hours ago, italian dave said:

Back from Middlesbrough, and check in here expecting to find some happiness and some positivity after a great day…and what do I find?

I’d try chocolate rather than coming on here for a sense of happiness. 

1 hour ago, italian dave said:

It was just that a quick look at the forum at 7 yesterday seemed so quiet compared to when we lose, and didn’t seem to reflect what was a great performance as well as result. 

Perhaps, just perhaps, people were enjoying the 3 points outside of this forum. 

14 minutes ago, Tim Monaghan said:

Don’t lie, you can’t even shell out £5 to be a supporter of this forum.  

Why is not shelling out a fiver to support the forum relevant? 

He has been one of our most reliable and consistent performers this year. As he’s unfashionable he won’t get mentioned, however, I’d have him in contention for our player of the season. Certainly young player (although Tommy will probably pick that up as he is the poster boy).  

Fantastic 3 points 

Thank you lads!

9 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Change in system has ruined us. Been clinging on all half. Hopefully a lesson learned for Manning

I’m unsure. That’s a couple of times he’s done this and it’s weakened us / took us out of a rhythm. 

6 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Patronising pricks.

I see the BBC had Michael Brown giving his opinions beforehand, someone I thought was going to cry on Sky when we beat his beloved Sheffield United.

Are we not bottom half and Forest not in the prem?

2 minutes ago, Harvey86 said:

302 for football if memory serves. Wonder how much important shit I’ve forgotten to keep room for that over the years

312 for the news in brief. 

40 minutes ago, MelksRed said:

Plymouth have turned up.....what a difference. 

But but Leeds have 30m worth of talent on the bench … or that was the reason stated by many as to why we were taught a lesson. Can’t compete blah blah blah. 

As much as Ian comes across as a right nause, I actually love how cringey some of his suggestions/responses are despite finding them infuriating. Makes for a good pod however has done nothing for my frown lines. 

7 hours ago, pillred said:

My God, I bet you could not wait to post, so if we were the same number of points from making the playoffs would it mean we should all prepare to be possibly booking tickets to Wembley? thought not.

Perhaps if our form over the last 6 games was 15+ points out of 18 rather than 3, we would be talking about putting a few bob on. However, our next couple of games are Boro and Southampton. We’ll do well to pick up a couple of points here. 

Thought it was a good POD to be fair, with some great points raised. For me that was Tom’s best appearance of the season. Totally agree that Manning is very rigid in his methods. I applaud LM’s confidence but I do think he’s underestimating this level of football. We are very one dimensional at the minute, and the same in-game changes are very naive. 
 

Again, tin hat on, but I agree with Tom re McCrorie - everyone is getting a little overexcited in my opinion. Yes he’s been physical, he’s demanding of his teammates and an aerial threat but technically he isn’t there (yet). Hopefully that’s more to do with him returning from a long lay off but the jury is out at the minute. 
 

Talk of throwing in youngsters, Joe Low style, are ridiculous as was the suggestion of Sykes, Atkinson and Naismith being throw straight back in without any U’21 action. I’m all for cameo roles for experience or to bring players up to speed fitness wise, but Ian is way off for me there. The previous medical regime had taken stick (unwarranted I might add) for chucking players in too soon. 
 

No doubt Ian was frantically googling Raekwon Nelson’s position at one point when picked up by Tom. 
 

Im not happy with Mark’s view that we may have to get worse to get better, why? Our recruitment team have procured players to fit a style as part of the overall playing strategy. It has been intimated recently that should a manager depart, nothing significantly changes - if in the summer it does then Brian Tinnion has appointed the wrong coach. 
 

Finally, we are hearing the season is over and we are starting AGAIN in the summer. Therefore, play a decent side against Forest and let’s get ourselves a game against United. That’ll give us something to look forward to over the bland garbage currently being served up. 
 

Did chuckle when Ian said “if you are going to take the piss, I won’t tell you anymore”. Grown bloke. If he could’ve blocked you all from the POD at that point he probably would have

58 minutes ago, headhunter said:

What is top dollar in your view come summer when he has just 12 months left on his contract?

BTW, @frenchred & @REDOXO , "critical" for you enough this episode??

I’m with Neil. I think we’ll do well to get much more than 5m for him, unless he really hits the goal trail between now and the end of the season. 8m tops, with a few add ons perhaps. 

4 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Not sure TC will be developed if he stays here? 

Whilst I haven’t listened to the POD I can actually understand this. 
 

I don’t believe Conway will fulfill his potential here. We currently are not playing to his strengths; both style and set up. As and when he departs, hopefully he selects the right club that will suit him, and it’ll see him go up a number of levels. Fingers crossed we get top dollar though. 

55 minutes ago, Bedminster said:

We aren’t Luton. 

I know. They compete despite the odds against them. 

6 minutes ago, Bedminster said:

Leeds had 2 £30m players in their team. We have Sam Bell and Mehmeti. Not really a fair comparison. 

Luton beat 30m Joao Pedro’s Brighton in the week and have Cauley Woodrow on the bench. 

5 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

1.43 this season.

With half a fit squad. 

7 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

It certainly seems, both on here and at games, that there still isn’t a sense of a club all pulling in the same direction. It’s a basic fact that when the decision was made to get rid of NP (whatever its merits) it was done so in an intensely shoddy and hamfisted way. Prior to the sacking, there was a sense that the club was united - so undermining that was always going to cause problems.

However, we all know football is fickle, and had we embarked on a 15 game odyssey of committed, attacking (not even results) football after NP went I’m willing to bet people wouldn’t be feeling as they are. The problem is that’s not LMs game - he’s systematic, process, and his football is pretty much anethema to a fanbase who defines itself by fast, attacking, football. The one base he covers is passing which has always been in our DNA, but not passing for the sake of it.

But even with that, the club could be more together considering Liams style if things were handled better. But they’re not. You have the CEO leaving and rejoining Twitter, you have the manager giving dispassionate interviews that are never going to galvanise the fans (Nb - that’s not a slight on him, it’s who he is, but it’s not helping make a connection and it’s frankly weird that they haven’t put Hogg out there at least once), but worst of all you have a tone from the clubs media that indicates they just don’t get it. It’s the equivalent of being told “you’ve never had it so good” on every subject. Any criticism cannot be handled or countenanced - hence the Tinnion buggering off Twitter and soft soap interviews with Joe Sims.

The root cause for me here is that the club remain shocked by the reaction when NP went, and that their logic was torn apart. They’ve now gone into “everything is awesome” mode as a defence which is disengaging people more (particularly when you see what’s on the pitch) and they need to lance some boils to get the unity moving together again.

 

Good post