Ashtongreight

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Not for me. Depends how you want to judge though.  Results aren’t what I’m judging him on, or should I say not the only thing.  It’s more “complicated” than that.   I’ve written chapter and verse on it for you to know I don’t look at it as simply as points per game comparisons. In fact we’ve long gone past Nige v Liam comparisons, it’s now possible to compare Liam v Liam, ie just see what he himself has done and the direction of travel.

And I do think this job is a bit too big for him unfortunately.

He ain’t going nowhere.  I know that, certainly after the last 3 games.

He may well change my mind.  I might have to eat “humble pie”, albeit not the 3 game / 7 points flavour on offer from @Fontaineofallknowledge earlier.  But it might be that he succeeds for other reasons, e.g. they throw money at him.  Looks like we are just gonna have to wait to find out.

Unlike you I haven’t fully made up my mind yet, the jury is still out, much like the team he isn’t consistent enough.
 

I hope he does convince me, and prove my doubts were unfounded, because more than anything I want us to be successful 

5 minutes ago, mozo said:

Exactly. It's probably to so with a frosty relationship and Nigel's health.

The board and Tinnion will be praying that Manning can pull it out the bag to save their blushes.

And I think that's why some fans ate automatically hostile to Manning. [Note, I only said some, that not all Manning critics].

What would be amazing is for 2024-25 to finally be the season where we aren't absolutely flooded with injuries, so that we can see Manning have a go with his preferred players most weeks. That way we'll really see what he's got.

Whilst his health towards the end probably didn’t help, if he’d had a good relationship with the board I’m sure they’d have found a way to accommodate him.
 

I believe they used his bad health as an excuse to accelerate his dismissal, rather than being a genuine issue. 

31 minutes ago, Fredford89 said:

I remember when Nigel Pearson finally unburdened us from David Bentley there was a lot of doubt over this lad’s capabilities, I think over the season it would be fair to say Goalkeeper is the last position we need to be looking at when it comes to transfer priorities! Another great performance 

Totally agree, better keeper, cost nothing, much lower wages, what’s not to like. Well done Max. 
 

Like most I had my doubts at first, and there has been a few dodgy spells along the way,  but now he’s more than proved himself and is improving all the time.
 

Max and Dickie are the two candidates for POTS for me.

The elephant in the room I believe is that NP wasn’t sacked for an underperforming squad, but for other reasons. Reasons that we’ll never find out about, the underperforming nonsense was just that, nonsense. 

LM was an ideal candidate as stepping up a league he’s going accept things that a more experienced manager wouldn’t stand for. 

21 minutes ago, maxjak said:

 We had scored i believe 14 goals in 14 games prior to Manning's appointment, so it     was an on going issue before he   arrived?  It will not be resolved until the summer, when we can hopefully recruit a  goalscorer or two.  Manning cannot conjure up a decent striker out of thin air.....it is unrealistic, and just a illogical   criticism?

Equally it’s not a criticism of Nige either, and as we’ve already established our defensive record was better under NP than it is under LM what was the point of the change? 
 

I get we are where we are,  but as of yet LM hasn’t demonstrated he’s the man to take us forward, not to me at least. 

19 minutes ago, maxjak said:

4 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

I was responding directly to the comment that Liam is out of his depth. If his results are more or less the same as Pearson's, does that mean Pearson was out of his depth? 

That’s academic, he was supposed to be a better coach that would achieve more this season with our present squad. By your own admission, so far he’s failed, we’ve actually performed worse. Based on those facts why would anyone believe he’s the man to take us forward,  I genuinely don’t understand. 

9 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

Thing is, even if you include all of Manning's 26 league results, they're really not much worse than Pearson's last 26 games in charge. Maybe by a couple of percent, but that's it

So the coach that was brought in to improve performances THIS season, has in fact made things worse. Well that was a successful appointment then… not. 

1 hour ago, AshtonGreat said:

Recent results suggest otherwise

But many of the previous ones don’t. I wouldn’t judge on a couple of poor results, but equally I won’t judge on a couple of decent ones. So far on balance the poor have outweighed the good. My gut feeling is it was a bad appointment, but I’m willing to be persuaded. My biggest concern is who is going to pick his successor. 

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Lots of excuses being made tonight, had to stop listening.

Lez saying he didn’t think Max’s saves were all that, and harping back to the one he let-in at Leeds, summed up tonight’s pod for me.

Bizarre comment referring back to what he considered a mistake Max made at Leeds, how long ago was that, how many excellent performances has he put in since?. I noticed your comment as well reminding him that shot actually  went through a player.
 

He obviously doesn’t rate Max, which is his prerogative, but if that’s the only reason he can give it just makes him look stupid. 

I’m glad it wasn’t just me that thought Lez was a dick. What a load of nonsense he spouted, could have done with Neil and his son, Tom isn’t it?, to bring some sense to proceedings. 

2 minutes ago, transfer reader said:

Except I haven't, every match thread is rife with these types of comments.

Like I said, I give Max credit when it is due, I've even defended him from over the top criticism on his distribution before.

I don't disagree, and haven't argued against any of this.

I'm just pushing back against his fan club who far overrate even his most basic saves.

I am not convinced he's a goalkeeper for a side that gets promoted from this division, at least not in autos. But I don't think an upgrade is the most urgent priority either.

If we had eleven outfield players capable of automatic promotion Max would be fine in goal. He wouldn’t let us down, as today and many other examples this season has shown. 

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

You must be really smart, Spike.  I’ve no idea what the game plan is!

I think the game plan is to give Max as much practice as possible .

Anyone know of a stream that doesn’t require VPN airways?

On the peripheral again imo. We look more balanced when he plays though, as it allows knight to play in his natural position.

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

No, you are right, he said exactly that.  But he also said (paraphrased) in the next sentence that he isn’t prepared to see his press beaten (referencing QPR - home), lose duels and the game turn into a basketball match and his team get caught on the counter, ie not brave enough to go for the rewards over the risks.

So, it’s fine saying it, but being brave enough to implement it is another matter.  20-plus games we’ve seen mid-low block, with both back-3 /back-4 set-ups.  The games where the team have gotten braver (the previous two games Swansea and West Brom) in the last 20-25 mins ought to have tingled on his spidy-senses where the opportunity was!

The bit that frustrates me is that a high press (or maybe a high block might be a better term) doesn’t have to be reckless.  We aren’t talking a gegen-press frenzied swarm, just that the whole team plays higher.  Compress (Com-press) your opponent as a team.

I’ve written about the 424 block countless times and also when behind our front 4 block with too much distance between them and their 2 DMs.  The DM’s playing safe by sitting in front of the 2 CBs (generalised).

On Friday, the two DMs com-pressed the space, the CBs played higher too, suffocating space.

The switch from away from the back-4 was going to be interesting (see my pre-match comments) without the ball.

We created a “pentagon” in the press / block.

TC at the point, ST and AM either side, and MJ and JK behind, but very high in relation to ball position.

Look how “passive” the press was against a poor Swansea side.  They were a team to press high!  I’d forgive LJ for not risking it against Leicester.

I have seen his DMs play high before - his first game, QPR (a) where our full-backs got exposed 1v1 by Sykes and Mehmeti being poor positionally (imho).

Coincidentally a game he started James and Knight together in midfield (Ian Gay - “an experiment he should never repeat”).  If that was his intention he abandoned it very quickly.

So it’s fine to come out with statements like he did, but acting on them is a different matter.  In half a season he’s failed to go with his preference, and that’s taking on someone else’s team who weren’t bad at the press!

You might argue with his reign being under pressure he went a bit “shit or bust” (well, LM’s milder version of it!)…well, if we are gonna lose to Leicester, then let’s do it with some swagger.  When Iheanacho lobbed Max I was already saying this was performance over result and I’d be giving credit.  The Lino’s flag meant performance and result.

But if Friday proves to be a bit of an epiphany for LM, and we see this kind of bravery over the passive shit he’s set-up in a lot of games, then maybe he will probably win me over.

Hope that makes sense?

 

In a much more articulate way, sums up exactly how I feel. 

As a reasonably recent poster, although I’ve viewed for donkeys years, I found having my first posts vetted rather unnecessary and a bit tinpot, and frankly annoying. 
 

I do find regular posters attitudes to us newbies rather aggressive or dismissive at times, it’s also a bit clicky. 
 

Banning posters really should be a last resort we are all entitled to our view, and we all have the ignore facility. Limiting people to a maximum number of posts is nonsense and unnecessary. 
 

it’s healthy to have differing viewpoints and adds to the debate, if we all agreed what would be the point of forum. 
 

The imposters seem to be rooted out pretty well as we are so why change and make it less pleasurable for new posters who join, remember all you older posters you were newbies at some point. 

13 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Yeah he is the leader, buck should stop at the top although we were onto a good thing with Gould and NP and his team (Fleming etc) IMO.

For some inexplicable reason we changed course post the sale of Scott. Smart thing to do would have been to allocate 40-50% or 1/3 of the Scott money anyway and let Alexander and Pearson get on without it.

Imo the one at the very top has lost interest, his son is clueless, but didn’t take kindly to being told so by the only one who knew what he was talking about.
 

The head of the academy saw the opportunity by brown nosing the clueless one, to curry favour, push out the knowledgable one, and then be promoted beyond his capabilities . 

On 29/03/2024 at 16:19, Graham76 said:

A wins a win, but Jamie Vardy could have and should have buried us today.  Let’s not get too excited just yet 

Equally we should have had two penalties but didn’t, all ifs buts and maybes. All that counts is what DID happen, we scored and they didn’t . 

On 29/03/2024 at 20:52, Cole Not Gas said:

I think we all deserve to have a little fun; perhaps at the negative **** who seem to think the only point of this forum is criticize my/our club we support. We could start a new threat naming & shaming those who find think it's hilarious to be smug & highly critical of our management and all good things BCFC

Lets start naming Silvio, BCFC 31, Cloudy, Uno, Ivan - all these people who will NOT read this post because it will make them chew so much humble pie they will hate waking up tomorrow to realize what total chumps they've made themselves look, that we did beat a Prem club with a bench today worth £95m, that Liam has yet again shown the football world he is smart and can get an average team to beat the best. I loved today even more knowing those we can name will have a horrible day; lets hope they also have a horrible day on Monday when they'll be unable to roll out their pre-written and predictable complaints about all those guys who do so much to help BCFC. I think a few of them will be man enough to own up and say we were again a good team today, all playing for the shirt, in front of a sell-out crowd at our great stadium and where Bristol Sport did absolutely nothing wrong.

Oh, and by the way anyone who enjoyed today and posts positively may be told by the neggies that they work for B.Sport - hilarious

We all enjoyed the win and credit where it’s due, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer. I’m looking forward to you posting if we lose to Plymouth or Blackburn or Rotherham for instance. I’m sure you’ll show balance and say how poorly we’ve played. We all want City to succeed it’s just some of us, based on his record since joining us to date, don’t think LM is the answer. Loyalty to our club, doesn’t mean blind loyalty to a head coach who as of yet hasn’t earned it.

3 hours ago, tin said:

All fair points. Football is all about opinions and I respect yours as much as most others.

You’re dead right to say he could only make saves based on what’s in front of him, but I disagree on your reasons why Vardy didn’t score. I thought Vardy looked like age is catching up with him yesterday; he’s usually razor sharp and I think Iheanacho probably buries those chances. 

For clarity, not once have I said Max didn’t play well. I said he did what I expect of him, which is to save shots that are pretty close him. He was a solid 7, but not an 8 like Roberts, James or Pring IMO.

Anyway,  City won so I don’t care if people agree or disagree. 

A keeper can only ever save what’s there to be saved, or not, unlike an outfield playing that can have a positive affect, Create or score goals. Max saved every shot yesterday, there were no worldies because they weren’t required, however he did make several vital saves which kept us in the game. I’m not sure what else he could have done. 

1 minute ago, sglosbcfc said:

With those two deck chairs, are you sure that is not the Memorial Stadium?

Yes, we beat Southampton!

Really?,  I’m glad you reminded me, I’d forgotten for a moment. 

Are we seriously suggesting our gates have increased purely because our Loo’s have improved? Surely there’s more to it than that.

43 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

I see they’ve wheeled Conway out now “Buy your season tickets everyone, I’m ******* off obviously but get those hands in yer pockets……”.

Bit ironic isn’t it, asking us to renew season tickets, when he won’t sign a new contract 

2 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Another email today. 

Won't be long til they have Liam Manning knocking on my door begging me to renew.

It’ll be automated, no thought involved unfortunately