Cole Not Gas

I was sorry to see the footballing skills of Jay move to Coventry where he and Palmer have become two of the more consistent Sky Blues team. But yesterday's ball skills of Roberts makes me think this lad could be a real star for us next season. How much did he cost and do you see him playing in front or behind Pring?

All the experts predicted Blades, Clarets and Luton to come back down to our league. Clearly it is now those 3 from 4 with court room decisions still to be made until late May but watching Burnley cut Man U apart on MoTD begs this question; If Burnley keep most or all of their current players as their foreign owners promise how well will they do next season in the Championship? Might they be promoted by February and go on to break Championship points and goals records? Frightening!

Really good question but i liked his goal for Derby yesterday and any Ram you speak to thinks highly of him. Under, Liam we have seen Twine shine and Anis pose a real threat with goals and assists. We also have Knight and Skyes who can play attacking roles from midfield forwards with Bell still to come back from injury. A lot of permutations and i dont know but this is one of the most exciting conundrums for the management to resolve over the summer. Great question

At last, the perfect answer. I agree 100%

Do what? What would have impressed you in any manager having to take over a Pearson (basket) case 6 months ago? The summer will go well because the club (ie owners & senior, respected managers will back Liam) so you have no reason to have a bad feeling. And what the hell do you mean by regression? Since when, since Cotts or since Johnson? There has been zero regression since Pearson lef; the players are happier, the cup run, we beat or draw with top teams, we smash poor teams etc etc - sometimes the negativity of you (and others) posts is simply baffling. What regression can you possibly mean?

Yes, but along with Max whose keeping and kicking improved from October, Tanner who has arguably been the most improved outfield player since October, Pringo, Williams, Cornick, and defo Wells. In fact its not easy to find players who havent improved with a coach who all the players like and respect

There is no such rule; the vast (90%+ IMO) majority of City fans love Tinnion and see through this parochial anti-City brigade who frequently occupy OTIB. Pearson was solely responsible for his own demise whatever his little fan club would like to say. Back to the thread, Roberts has shown skill and versatility in the past few months and fully deserves the right to start. After yet another great tactical performance against a team that could easily be in the Premier next season (Saints, Leicester, West Ham, Forest etc) we can look forward to a stream of positive comments on here!!

Could be like Johnson bringing Bobby R from a reserve / loaned out midfielder to a top striker who still earns his money in the Premier League. Sometimes these clever young coaches get things wrong but strike gold too

What is it with managers' soundbites? We had loads under both Johnsons, Pearson must have said he was frustrated in 50 post-match interviews and Liam is forever talking about 'In Terms of' and 'the process' - enough to do one's head in listening to these guys. Today on TalkSport, Mark Robins was also banging on about 'the process' ahead of Cov's game with Man Utd. I'm sure Cov fans love Robins for what he has done at one of the worst-run clubs in our league and I would have liked him to have been appointed when Deano had to go. Good luck to them this weekend but enough of 'the process'. It is football management.

Saw him for Burnley several times and also for Derby where he was rather petulant. Used to get kicked out of games in those days; a sorry day for Welsh football

Well there you go, I agree with everything you mention above and would add a couple of comments which would upset others (i really dont care) but you would respect as my opinion. Many 'fans' on this forum are not sane (on, insane!) and would appear to not want certain managers to succeed, whether it is Lee, Mark A, Deano, Pearson or Liam. I for one wanted all to succeed and am the most disappointed with Pearson - lots of reasons but that's another story and based on the highest expectations, as well as the state he left us in. I agree one has to be a madder optimist than me to see too many golden shoots so far with Liam and i 100% agree he will be off if he does well and a better offer comes along. A friend of mine reckons he will manage West Ham inside 2 years. Most important question is what he does to cull our bloated squad of players simply not good enough to get us to the Top 6, who he brings in to mould into 'his team (remember Pearson had 30 months and was fired without us having proven scorers) and how he continues to outwit coaches of the better teams; - ok, this may be 3 questions, sorry!

I will answer. Liam's experience is clearly nowhere near that of Pearson and it cant be for years to come. It certainly doesnt 'trump it' in any way shape or form. I am only referencing Oxford's excellent showing in the early stages of this Oxford season following a summer transfer and training period, so hoping for the same happens for us starting this July.

Although only playing 29 games for us, plus a dozen on loan, Cole was my hero before going on to stardom. He also played at Pompey in 06/07 under 'Arry but now his son Devante is scoring at Fratton Park, maybe dampening their party. Will be good to see Pompey back at the Gate next season

Phantom, are you a genius? Let me ask another question. Does the fact there is so much football on TV every night make you more or less excited about watching City's one or two games a week live? Answers like Robbored and 22A are different but offer their opinions, whereas yours.....

I know you were one of the 600 at Bradford that night and i wore my Cole not Gas T-shirt to the game and curry house after but I'm really surprised at your reaction above. The people in charge today have made tough decisions re sacking Cotts, keeping LJ when some fans wanted him out, sacking LJ, dealing with Covid-related issues (like zero income), appointing Pearson, getting rid and finding Liam. We are still higher than anything Cotts could get us to. Surely you appreciate SL asked Cotts what he wanted (5 players), backed him, backed him again to get Wilbs and gave us the best season ever in the 3rd tier? Before clowns start assuming i work for the owner please consider where we have come from since losing at Colchester & Crewe and respond appropriately!

Its from what i've seen in the past 3 years at A.G Clearly a guy in the game for so many years will have more successes than someone new to his trade. But also many more failings. It's like saying Warnock was successful as a manager. Of course he had successes but he had a more than a dozen failings that can be easily forgotten. Someone new like Liam has only had one sign of success (Oxford) and is too you to have failed. My judgement is an opinion just the same as yours. We will have to wait and see

I get that and it is for many other fans too. I just like Sat 3pm and a full mid-week fixture list occasionally; Tues/Wed; TV certainly calling the shots

The top 4 still trying to sort Automatic positions is quite interesting even though i dont like any of them, especially Leeds. Looking at Championship saturation as a pre-match discussion yesterday, a mate pointed out what dates coming up had football in our league on offer; 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 26th 27th 29th 30th. Do you like to follow Championship football (nearly) every day or is it getting too much?

To Pearson's credit, he gave the lad a decent chance and kept him involved in what seems a fair combination of bench and starts. I'd trust Liam's judgement and we have Tinman seeing him develop under both coaches so Bath is probably his level rather than the Championship - but who knows? He could have a good summer and be part of a big squad where we will have a lot of potential wide players; they cant all make it.

Great to see Boom Boom in the Lansdown yesterday with the good seats the man deserves. He'll do a good job if he goes into the 'hospitality' role as do Sir Geoff, Tom, Cheese, Big D and others. It is great to see and talk to these guys so many years on from when they were wearing the shirt. I loved that tackle at Carlisle - wish someone could find it somehow. More recently i liked Flint chasing down Lukaku in one of the best nights this Millenium and what players they had that night; Ibrah, Martial, Rashford (waster who got booked!), Pogba, McTominay. CoYRs

Free world but if you're not delighted with last night, an improving young team, a club stable in the table and never looking like a relegation fight then perhaps it is time to say farewell. Best wishes

Really? Happy to be corrected. I guess my main point is we have lots to look forward with the starting 11 being younger than many other teams; the older players at Ewood Park really looked poor and for those few still complaining about our 'lot' being mid-table and stable it should make them think. Gallagher and Smodics are both better than average Championship players but we made them look like Downs lads

Interesting you pick out those two. Like everyone sitting around me, i think the players have looked far more 'on-it' and 'intelligent' since Liam came in. However, these two are important exceptions; i think Vyner was brilliant under Pearson and Skyes was at his most dangerous then rather than since October. In Zak's defense one of Liam's great tactics last night was to play the long ball against a suspect defence and several paid off- two didnt but that's the nature of a higher risk, longer pass. As you say, no strong criticism last night - especially the manager's subs! 3 goals and an assist in short time

100% right. It is early goals that deflate struggling teams so hopefully Liam will again set up to press high, force mistakes and then take advantage.

Yes, love the irony. So many on here used him as Pearson's scapegoat and called him league 1. I will be delighted for him if we got a big fee as i dont see many other answers for balancing the books without selling one or two. If we dont need to sell, then he will be the pillar of our push for top half/top 6 next season; love it also that he is local. He is well protected by the CB pairing Pearson nurtured and this should always be noted so i believe keeping those two here and fit is a major consideration too