KegCity

4 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I don’t remember that.  Benefit of hindsight?

I (and others) have been calling for it for years. Can go back through any of the big threads towards the end of the Holden era if you want an idea of how many people wanted one appointed.

It would make a lot of sense. A long term appointment (feels like something Tinnion might end doing in the future) would hopefully give us better cohesion as a club if they could help bridge any gaps between the manager/playing staff and the board/Lansdown. 

2 hours ago, exAtyeoMax said:

LFC stated on Twitter that Mo Salah was the only opposition player to get a hat trick at Old Trafford against Man U. They do quote @premierleague in their statement though. I don't know if they are specifying that it was in the Premier League or not. I think they've forgotten that football existed before then

Sky said first Premier League hat trick during the broadcast. Doesn't help that pre 1992 football is barely discussed in the media so the Premier League era has just become the default era of football.

36 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

What’s the point in paying a Head of Recruitment when we haven’t got any money to bring anyone in? 
 

To find targets in the lower leagues that are affordable (Tanner etc) and to identify players that we'd look to bring in at a later date when there's more money available. Preparation and planning are never bad things.

54 minutes ago, BTRFTG said:

All would be so much easier if City sold two classes of ticket.

One for the block directly behind the goal, unreserved, stand when you've paid to sit, don't worry if you can't see half the game because you're pi**ed up on your phone, apparently would rather be anywhere but at the match. Let's call it the 'Fu*kWit ticket'.

The outer blocks, for fans who enjoy and understand football, who would like to be there given the time and expense already incurred in doing so, the type of folks who not only might recognise a library when they see one but have historically entered one or more in their time. Let's call that the 'Here For The Football Ticket'.

It's pretty much what happens already.

Surprised you can see the football from all the way up there on your high horse.

14 minutes ago, italian dave said:

I agree with you.

I struggle to see what our plan is. I get the impression that NP has a style that he’s determined to stick too, although I’m not really sure what it is, and I’m not sure the players know either. Or at least, if they do, it’s not one that they are comfortable with. 

You can’t go on forever blaming the legacy NP has inherited. There are some good players in our squad. All managers inherit the previous managers players and have to live with it for several years (in most cases throughout their tenure).

They have to make the best use of the players they’ve got. Set up to their strengths. We don’t seem to be doing that. We’re trying to play to a pattern and a style that doesn’t suit most of our players.

Our lumping it up to Martin is, as you say, depressingly routine and depressingly ineffective. There was a spell against Forest when we had Weimann and Wells up front, Scott behind. We actually played it on the deck, we moved and created spaces, we gave Forest something to think about. I’d like to see us set up like that. And arguably that would have been more effective against the giants in the WBA defence.

I’ve  not been a great Wells fan, but I thought he had a good second half today, found spaces, made good runs, gave defenders a problem on the ground. But he has precious little support, and no-one else playing off that space.

As someone who was there, I was surprised by the Tanner sub. I didn’t think he was any worse than others, and bringing on someone who’s hardly had a game all season seemed odd. 

 

In terms of style I think long-term he wants us to play a 4-2-3-1, which isn’t the best fit for the current squad. He persevered with it at the start of the season before switching to a back 3 (which the squad is set up for). Think that’s just a short-term fix to try and get some results on the board but who knows.

You can’t really discuss this season without mentioning the legacy he inherited as it provides so much context for the state of affairs on the pitch. Yes managers have to make the best of it, yes we should be doing better at home, but ultimately too many of the squad just aren’t good enough. Can’t see many current players still being at the club at the end of next season.
 

In terms of style of play I’m not sure if there’s one style we would suit as we have such a mix of players. Some suit pressing, some suit counterattacking, some suit a long ball. Again, this stems from the legacy NP inherited.

That being said, the style of play and results of recent games have been terrible after some good performances early in the season. Feels like we’ve been here before doesn’t it? Some strange decision making from the dugout, the only explanation for Tanner’s substitution I can think of was to take him out of firing line as he’s been having a good season so far.

I think he’s fine unless we’re touching the relegation zone, regardless of who’s in charge this is not an overnight fix and I can’t see anyone realistically available better to lead it other than Pearson.

8 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

Maybe he thinks you are on the board of the club or in some advisory capacity? 
 

chris wilder is the obvious name that we should have gone for.

If we had any chance of getting him in I’d agree, but that’s not happening.

7 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

We were either in the top 6 or just outside the top 6 loads under LJ after that cup run.

In 17/18 we were still in 7th in early April.

In 18/19 we were 6th end of April with one game to go of the season having been top 6 since the end of January.

In 19/20 season we were in or around the playoffs much of the season. We were in 7th after the Fulham game before lockdown.

Okay after lockdown it was atrocious. But for almost the whole of those 3 years we were upper half.

The lowest we had dropped at any time over that period under LJ once a significant amount of games had been played in a season was 13th, and we then went on an unbelievable unbeaten run to get back up to 5th.

Not saying he did a great job, but we were consistently close to being where we wanted to be but couldn't quite make it.

I think we must have had decent players back then for us to be in those positions, and we have decent players now.

We had better depth, we also had Brownhill, Eliasson and others who we didn’t replace once they left. We’re left with signings who weren’t good enough, players who were once there for depth but are now relied upon and a couple genuinely class players. By no means is the squad awful but it’s a mid table team, which is where we are in the league.

26 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Who said he was referring to Palmer and O’Dowda as passengers?  He said very positive things about Palmer after he asked to play in the U23s, and he brought O’Dowda straight back in after injury.

Before slagging off the players or losing patience, Pearson needs to have a long hard look at himself.  The notion that the players are simply not doing what this notion ‘hard man of football’ is training to do is frankly laughable.

If the players are not performing to the best of their ability, then the problem lies with the management and coaching staff.

Pearson certainly has to take responsibility, but this is a group of players who couldn’t perform for Lee Johnson after the collapse after the cup run, couldn’t perform for Holden and can’t perform for Pearson. They’ve certainly had moments of promise, but we’ve been collectively flat for a few years now.

The coaches (both current and prior) should be doing better, but we’ve hardly got a squad of world beaters. With the exception of a handful, we wouldn’t be trying to sign many in the squad if they were at another club.

5 minutes ago, Enter Sandman said:

People think that extending the ‘singing section’ will improve it. Rubbish. There’s 1200 people in there already and only about 50 actually try to sing most of the game. Where are these extra people who want to sing going to come from? 
It’s been getting worse and worse for years. The only thing that will improve the atmosphere would be for more people to actually join in. Not really rocket science. More singers, louder it gets. Right now there’s about 50 to 100 people making an effort. Occasionally it catches on and gets a bit louder but mostly it’s just 50 lads. 

 

doesn’t help that a lot of people piss off to the bar for most of the game. Maybe the club shouldn’t show the game on the screens in the concourse as it just encourages people to stand around with a beer and watch it on tv. 

Agree. The more people join in, across the ground, the better. Doesn’t help that some people love a moan about the chants they don’t like, which then discourages other to sing. Had a guy in front of me (in the signing section mind) about the “I see the east end a-rising” chant, which then killed it off around him which then spread. If fans want an atmosphere they’ve got to do their bit in creating one. Doesn’t help that there’s nothing to sing about on the pitch.

9 hours ago, Wanderingred said:

Hate to say it, but the changing demographics of our fan base is going to make it very difficult to get back any sort of atmosphere. Middle class, first generation Bristolians and their children now populate Ashton Gate and whilst their support and money is very welcome, they mostly aren’t going to join in with songs and chants.

It’s just the way football is going I’m afraid and there are only a handful of grounds left in the UK that can still generate a good atmosphere.

Nail on head. You get S82 trying their best and a murmur at best from the rest of the crowd. Used to do pay on the day and by far and away the best atmosphere I experienced outside S82 was in the Atyeo when we opened it up against Derby and others. Completely get not everyone wants to be shouting for 90 minutes but if we were able to get more of an atmosphere going from the lansdown and dolman it would do wonders.

Sadly in my view the atmosphere died with the East End. Would be nice to see the rail seating go across the whole stand and make it more of a “home end” as it was a decade ago. Not sure there’s enough demand for it though (or even if the club would want to).

Asking "Why did we let Paterson go?" is a very reactionary comment. Blew hot and cold his entire time here, certainly a match winner on his day, his day comes along twice a month tops. Don't really know what more you can ask from James, been available all season which nobody else can say and he's been very consistent keeping things ticking. The jury's still out for me on King, don't think he was brought in with the intention of playing as regularly as he has.

1 hour ago, Peter Coles said:

Maybe the guy needs a little bit of luck to go his way, sure we have a good player lets all wish him well in getting fit.

Of course, certainly wasn't trying to put him down. Just pointing out that we're not really getting a return on our investment currently. Whether that's down to Williams being injury prone, mismanagement from the medical staff, or simply bad luck we don't know (and it doesn't change the outcome anyway.)

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

I think you can evaluate the signing in many ways.

If you want to go black and white, has he been a success on the pitch in a season and a bit….it’s a no.  Nobody can really argue that.

But if you want to look at some mitigating circumstances it becomes much more grey doesn’t it.

I don’t think there’s much doubt that if we can keep him fit (big if) then he looks like he’s a big improvement on what we’ve had.

It must be so frustrating to have got through 90 v Peterborough, get an international break and then get injured early v Bournemouth.  He probably thought it was really his time to kick on and put it all behind him.

Agree with all of that Dave, like you say though keeping him fit is a big if, and based on the way it's gone so far it's looking less likely as problems keep reemerging. Again, I'm not trying to write him off but it's difficult to put him in contention to run our midfield when his legs seem to be made of prawn crackers. Undoubtedly he's a top player when fit, but if he's unreliable again this season then I'm not sure where he goes from here.

46 minutes ago, AnumRed said:

No, injured in the first couple training sessions with us. Not a terrible signing at all.

He's played a handful of games in a year and a half. Doesn't seem successful to me. That's not to write him off, but we've had very little returns from him so far.

42 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

Weimann has scored in 2 games out of 12, having played 90% of the time in a central position. I'd wager than Wells would have at least doubled Weimann's scoring record IF played as a central striker.

Wells out wide, like Weimann out wide, is a poor option.

I agree. Martin could do with a rest, I’d like to see Wells and Weimann up top together for a game or two. 
 

What’s the worst that can happen? We still don’t win at home?

18 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I’d love to agree with you, but we’ve had Wells for nearly two seasons now and whatever formation or line-up we’ve played, he’s failed to convince.  He took the winning goal at QPR superbly, but on Saturday he missed three gilt-edged chances.  I’d love to know his chances to goals ratio: my impression is that he needs a lot of chances to score a goal.  He’s played in every possible position across the front line but nothing changes and presumably if Pearson thought he was a gem, he’d be starting him.

Really? When he first arrived and was played through the middle he was picking up goals with absolutely no service. By no means tearing the league apart but was scoring regularly from half chances in the penalty area. I've not got an answer on how to get the best from him, but playing him regularly and in position seems to be a good start to me.

23 minutes ago, VT05763 said:

I agree with you, not his biggest fan and he wouldn't be a signing of mine BUT put him in the right side with the correct type of manager he could be a very decent player. He does not and will not ever fit into a NP type of team or system and therefore (IMO) should not be in the squad let alone the team.

It’s all ifs and buts though. He’s had 3 different managers to find a system that suits him and none of them have been able to do it. The common denominator is COD.

I don’t really know what his strengths are, aside from occasional flashes there’s not been a whole lot to shout about from his performances throughout his time here.

Was he not injured when he arrived? Been a terrible signing so far unfortunately.

He’s a waste of time. Has had more than enough opportunities to show quality and he more often than not fails to deliver.

Wish he’d gone to Leeds.

We're in a much stronger position as a club now than we were when Pearson took over. Performances have improved massively, we no longer roll over and take a defeat and show some fight - all hypothetical but I doubt 12 months ago we'd have fought for 3 points like we did yesterday. Certainly a lot of work (and recruitment) to do to be a threat to the top 6 but we're on the up.

Don’t mean this to put him down, but he’s what we need: a competent championship forward. Knows exactly his role in the side, does it very well and performs consistently. Really can’t ask of any more from him.

I see both sides of it, for me it'd be nice to not get caught in the half time fight for a pint and then have to either down it or watch the first few minutes of the second half in the concourse. There will definitely be idiots throwing pints around when a goal goes in though. 

Ultimately, if you can drink in the stands at Rugby, Cricket and other sports then you should be able to at football. Yet another example of the harsh treatment football fans get from authorities in general.

1 minute ago, OneTeamInBristol said:

Not sure it would have much effect during the game itself as he prefers to sit up in the stand anyway rather than on the touchline barking out orders.

Think he was on the touchline in the second half against Fulham to be fair.

2 hours ago, Super said:

In fairness to COD he has played such little football i'm not really sure what people expected last night.

He's just as useless when he's playing regularly. Still dining out on that goal v Norwich, going to have to step up his game massively if he's going to offer us anything past this season.

Martin needs a rest. For one it's hindering our performances but also could see him getting injured if he's run into the ground as he was last season.

Bakinson also looks miles off the pace, was disappointed with him against Fulham. Think last night has been a good reminder of just how threadbare our squad is.

Massive improvement on Bakinson, who looked out of his depth. He’s got a some work to do to dislodge King from the lineup once both fully fit though.

1 hour ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Dasilva is a much better wingback than he is a full back, and Zak has shown that he can very useful going forward.  Not such a ridiculous suggestion…

Has Zak shown it? Not seen it myself but happy to be proven wrong by any stats. We've also started working on a new system that is going to take time to work out, unless the switch to 3-5-2 would be permanent we need to work through the difficulties of getting used to a new system.

I prefer Dasilva at left back too but think he's more comfortable at wingback then Vyner.