George Rs

They look 5x the team they were when we played in at the start of the season.

That is absolute dreadful football. Genuinely terrible

Yep, I mean they’ve basically kept the majority of their team. The only big names they lost were Barnes, Castagne and Maddison who would’ve never played at this level anyway. Personally I thought Ndidi, KDH, Pereria, Vestegaard would’ve all gone as well. Just seen a tweet, their back 4 tonight cost £55million, probably more then every starting 11 in the championship except 3 .

Wouldn’t bother replying mate. Tbh I think you can come off a tad bias at times but everyone’s got different bias in football so it doesn’t matter at the end of the day. To suggest you’d rather manning lose is ludicrous though.

Still find it so difficult to get my head around that Leicester midfield. Winks Dewsbury- Hall Choudhury Understand that they’ll only spend one year in the league anyway but that is an absolutely ridiculous midfield for our level. With Dennis Praet and Ndidi on the bench as well. No wonder they are pissing the league

Ahh interesting, doesn’t really surprise me anymore. I thought he was injured for a while tbh.

Never (or extremely rarely) been “out of a game” only lost by a margin of more then 1 goal once. Played 4 games against premier league opposition and didn’t lose any of them. Has Joe Williams playing the best football of his city career, by a mile as well. Improved our gpg ratio from 1.07 to 1.22. Improved our defence as per stats shown on latest Bristol sport article. Majorly improved our ability to trigger a press and gain possession off the back of it. Do any of these things make him better than someone else who could’ve came in? Not necessarily. But stats and figures can be pulled from anywhere to suggest he’s out of his depth or suggest he’s doing a brilliant job. They don’t tell a full picture. And I don’t think you get a full picture without giving him a pre-season, I’d be inclined to do so over the alternative which could destabilise the team which is in the best position it’s been in for years.

What’s this about? Haven’t heard anything about that

@W-S-M Seagull and apparently your the obsessed one

Oh I agree Bell started the season well, his raw traits makes him very useful on the counter, which made him very useful under Pearson. When Manning came in and for the most part we switched to this more methodical slower build up he became less effective very quickly and I struggled to see how that would change, since then and especially over the last month I feel he’s improved in a variety of areas that I think our down to Manning. Williams still played 38 games last season and 11 this season under Pearson, plenty of time to show progression imo which didn’t happen until Manning arrived and he’s gone basically from strength to strength since.

Yep there’s been some obvious poor at best examples as well, no doubt about it. I would say my opinions are coupled with a hearty amount impatience which will probably show some flaws but overall I feel; I don’t think we at risk of going down under Manning In his tenure he has shown an ability to go into the game as the “underdogs” and win (West Ham, Southampton, should’ve happened at Forest (A) as well) Has shown he can improve players (Williams, bell etc) No matter the opponent keeps us in games (only lost 1 by a margin of more then 1 goal) There are other plus points as well as some negative ones of course. But imo i think based on them he deserves a pre-season and a couple of his own signings. Not loads as I agree with your point that come November it could all be different and we would’ve repeated that previous poor decision making. But 2 maybe 3 players of proven championship quality? Especially if Tommy were to go. Might read this and think I sound slightly naive, there’s a good chance I will as well , I would just love some success for a change and think we have a good a chance as any with Manning at the helm and with the make up of the league next season.

Yes agreed, didn’t explain my point very well there. I think they’ve already got the ball rolling though with the transfers we’ve completed in January. Bird, Murphy, stokes and Mebude (option) all seem like Manning signings based on their profile. And many of them have links to him that would verify it. Personally think he’s alright with game management as well, did it almost perfectly in our fa cup games. Changed things against borough, to the liking/disliking of many, but ultimately got the points in the bag. And managed the Southampton game very well. Don’t think the QPR match which to me just screamed of mental/physical fatigue should take away from those performances.

Didn’t mean with manager hiring/firing specifically, just broader irrational decision making from senior staff.

Think anyone who wants Manning gone in the summer needs to take a breath and calm down personally, that type of logic and irrationality put us in a hole so big our previous manager spent his whole tenure trying, and succeeding, to pull the club out of it. He’s got an upper mid/midtable squad to exactly that position. Whilst putting on some cracking performances in the cup. I could go on for quite a while about why I feel quite optimistic about Manning personally.

Why do we rise/fall to whatever level our opponents play at so much? Set a standard and fking match it.

Yeah, I said a couple weeks back these next 3 seem like make and break for the remainder of the season. But it’s always the hope that kills you

Very interesting post! Was going to look into the same thing with average league position left for teams around us to play against but you’ve done the work for me! I never expected us to get playoffs this season, and we haven’t spent enough money to force me to change that view so if we don’t get there it won’t bother me. But I was after at least a top 10 finish, which I think is doable with our remaining games and current squad. Hopefully we are in with a shout until the last game week or two to keep things interesting. Would really like us to finish this season strong as that’s a rarity for city, would also give us some confidence going into the next campaign!

His combination work with Mehmeti was brilliant in pre-season if I remember correctly, and he shined in the Oxford game. What a luxury to have two players of his and Pringys calibre in the same position! Think we are slowly starting to see this competition for places culture take affect, I was worried that we’d completely burn out second half v Southampton due to the amount we played recently. Was pleasantly surprised that we just kept improving as the game went on!

Ah didn’t realise it was the other leg my bad!

In a lot of surgery’s to fix key ligaments in the leg (ACL, MPFL etc) the surgery takes part of the hamstring tendon to make a graft to reconstruct the ligament. ( I’ve had one myself ) This process will tend to temporarily weaken the hamstring itself post surgery. About 1/8 patients suffer at least a mild hamstring strain after an ACL repair. That’s just with your regular patient as well id assume that number would be higher with athletes as they evidently have to put more strain on the legs then most. Is it common problem post ACLR? To a degree Is it a coincidence that it happened to both Ayman and Rob? Most likely Is it specific to BCFC? No Is it just Bristol City rotten luck striking again? Oh of course

In simpler terms, Leeds (at least the Leeds I watched) make a lot better use of the players at their disposal, especially the forwards. Southampton have similar players in Brooks, Sulemana and Edozie but didnt utilise them anywhere near as efficiently.

I ******* hate Birmingham

I ******* love how football works sometimes

Jan Bednarek been brilliant for them, can just tell he belongs in the premier league imo

Halves like that are what makes me think we are right on the brink of becoming a very good side. Positioning, passing and decison making letting us down in the final third. But very positive overall, brilliant discipline and structure. Pressed well when needed and got bodies forward when on the break. Thought those two blocks by Vyner when Armstrong was slipped through were stellar as well. COYR