Rich

4 minutes ago, Waconda said:

The West Brom performance.

Correct players in solid formation, well drilled, organised and motivated.

Easily a mid table side right there.

Without Kalas, Baker, Scott, Semenyo and Williams also.

Should be in amongst the middle 8 teams not the bottom 8.

Not expecting miracles but mid table should have been achievable. Just my opinion.

Therefore not a disaster but underachieving with the squad available, again just my opinion and fully respect that others will have a different one. 

I agree, that team should relate to a mid table position. Here's a question though, how often have we been able to field that team, or any other equivalent team on a regular basis? I'm sure there's a stato out there than can tell us when we've actually been able to field the same team for more than two matches and, if we have, was it a strong enough team to be mid table.

2 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

1 in 18 months vs the highest conceded this season is fairly remarkable whichever way you slice and dice it but I respect the view- definitely we have never had masses of penalties down the years in my time...certainly seen unhappy fans of other clubs in this respect too- Birmingham, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke in the last few seasons all spring to mind. Some of those lower in the League, with either porous defences, a lack of creativity (chances and as a team not necessarily individually speaking) have some notable differences- otoh it's by no means the sole reason for our woes.

Maybe although we just can't win it seems- see Murray labelling Semenyo's potential penalties at Preston as a dive! How many dives get fallen for vs us.

We do have shouted for some calls often of late- as fans, maybe players and management not so much...I agree with parts of what you say but when a national TV presenter in post match analysis labels good shouts such as Semenyo at Preston as dives, vs a side with one or two divers then we are swimming against the tide somewhat, no? Do you think Murray was right or wrong when he said Semenyo dived at Preston- our penalty vs Swansea in October 2020- yes only our third in 85 League games that- was labelled 'soft' by a Times match report. Can this stuff play on the mind of refs?

Just like officials, we're seen as easy meat to people that want to accuse us of anything, as we don't kick up a fuss. As Talkyfarm (no offence) says, perhaps it runs right through the club, rubs off from the fans to the players. I'm certain they get an easier ride here than if they went oop north.

3 hours ago, Tafkarmlf said:

Good post. 

I don't believe we should change to become like the others. 

Back in the day Corinthians, I think never used to take their penalties as they didnt believe in them. 

I dont think we should be that extreme as that's hard core, but in becoming like others we lose what makes City, City. 

We've in the umpteen years I've been supporting been a fair club, yip had dirty and niggily players, but not gone full on Redcard, Dark Arts crazy. 

I think to me at least it's part of the laid back Bristolian vibe, or least it has been since I've supported. I hope that makes sense? 

Yes it does make sense. Strange how there's a different sort of Bristolian north of the river. Bring back a few Scots to toughen us up a bit I say.

1 hour ago, Tafkarmlf said:

Thanks for responding. 

Your post though exactly demonstrates the victim mentality we're getting into in this

We've had no penalties, referees must be awful as a result to paraphrase. 

We as fans seem keen to obsess over this as an unjust travesty, yet historicly I cant ever remember us having loads and loads of penalties anyway. 

I just don't think it has been our way tbh. 

Makes it much easier to manage then getting out of shape about how hard dome to we are, we define our own destiny 

You probably won't agree with this but, I believe there are teams that win penalties because of the way they play and the constant pressure they put on officials by their players coaches and fans. Fergie time is an example of getting a slight advantage from officials. I would also suggest a club not too far from us having a claim mentality, especially the touchline area close to their dug outs.

As many people have alluded to over the years, we are just too nice a club and have failed against so many teams and their use of the dark arts, some call it naivety others being too honest. You can watch a match and after about three shouts for a penalty or a free kick you can bet your sweet betty that one is awarded by the ref. Especially when the crowd are also shouting for every decision to go their way.  I personally think it's much easier for a ref to award a penalty against us, than one for us because of the pressure/reaction of the players, management and supporters of the opposition. 

So, I agree with you that it's just not been our way, in one respect but, do think we make it too easy for officials to avoid giving them to us.

2 hours ago, Clutton Caveman said:

How can you rate Pearson when you see our total lack of organisation in general play and offensive and defensive set pieces. He keeps saying the players are not carrying out their assigned tasks. Why is that? man management and motivation are key modern manager skills. We may not have the best squad in the league but we don't have the worst but NP has shown a total lack of ability to get a team on the field playing with motivation and organisation.  His arrogance leads us to ignore the loan system when it is an essential factor in Championship life. Many people sang the "more time" song with LJ and Ashton. They got more time and look where it left us. If SL had a senior football man at his side, he would not have employed a coach who was drifting nicely into retirement and was totally out of touch with modern tactics. He certainly would not have retained him after he provided zero improvement after DH was sacked. I think our current CEO is a nice man but he is an administrator not a football man.

I rate him because others don't see the problems, just the results and performance. They don't see or take into account the problems he's had to deal with.

I'm sure he would have made some other decisions based on hindsight and, some decisions seem erratic but, sometimes you need to shake things up a bit and then take stock of the fall out.

His recruitment so far has been hampered by a severe lack of money and at the same time having to cut the wage bill. Numerous players are earning way over an acceptable level for our financial position and are proving difficult to move on, as a result.  He's actually brought in five players, I think and resigned Baker and Weimann. One has since left the club, another three are long term injured and one probably forced to retire. Three of the other remaining have also suffered long periods on the sideline, with only Weimann playing the majority of games. So one player from seven available for selection out of seven signings.

The remaining players are as expected, mostly young, inexperienced, or not up to the quality required at this moment in their careers, some won't ever be. That leaves us with a forward that is getting on and not as mobile as we'd like, a centre back who's evidently been overused and carrying injuries, two keepers that there are question marks about, a supposed top striker that our style of play doesn't suit and a couple more that appear to have not had the required attitude demanded by the manager.

So, in a nutshell, we've had inconsistent performances due to injuries, loss of form, young players inconsistency and the manager having to change formation and selection on a match to match basis due to a constant list of injured players. If you can't see those things, affect the team, it's performances and ultimately results, then you must be looking through a fog brought on by your dislike of Pearson. Don't confuse arrogance with having the confidence in your own ability, to be able to point out the things that are genuinely wrong.

11 hours ago, Clutton Caveman said:

When you surround yourself with yes men its not surprising that you have no idea about football and what it takes to win. Most hobby Chairmen get themselves a trusted football man for guidance. We have no such man in our ranks. NP has turned out to be an ego driven dinosaur always knowing best and always blaming others for the teams failure. I think it is clear that SL has grown tired of the project and would like to cash out. This could go well or not but as we are I think we will drift from one disaster to the next

A strange perception of things. You state that S L surrounds himself with yes men. You state that a hobby chairman then employs a football man to run the show and, that we have no such football man.

Pearson is certainly not a yes man and, I would argue that he is a trusted football man, employed by S L for his guidance. That's what has enabled him to make tough decisions, use his experience to tell where things are not right. Then when he does identify those things, you call him an ego driven dinosaur.

It's obvious that you don't like him, probably based on the fact that we're not wining games you think we should, with the tools available to him. I'm of the belief that those tools are blunt and of lower quality than the tools we invested heavily in, paying Dewalt prices, and getting a yellow copy from Wilko. 

In my opinion, I expect Pearson to stay at the club as an overseer/DOF and SL will again employ a young hungry coach that does what he's told and works within certain parameters. Then when the dust settles, Pearson will be removed and we'll have the old LJ scenario again.

44 minutes ago, Seventeen said:

Haven’t gone to watch Rovers under JB and won’t watch again until he’s gone. With respect to the club they have said if he’s found guilty he’s gone. 
 

That said he should never have been appointed IMO and regardless of what he does I will never step foot at a live Rovers game until he’s gone. 

I've refused to go and watch Rovers since they "acquired" the ground from the rugby club. You have to be able to sleep at night and make the right moral decision.

16 hours ago, kelbcfc said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's the most sensible thing I've ever seen from you.

You can have the best coaches in the world but, if players are being blocked, players aren't reacting and there doesn't appear to be the same desire to win the battle over the opposition, then the opposition will prevail. I didn't see the sheer desire and will to beat the opposite number when we were defending set pieces last night.

People are saying, are Barnley's players better than ours and answering no, well I disagree, individually possibly but, they do have some gifted mobile players and an attacker who knows how to dominate. I think their defenders were better than our attackers and their attackers were better than our defenders and that's why they came out on top.  Simple really.

S L likes to be proven right. He appoints fans favourites when in dire situations and appoints his favourites when the going is good. Ultimately it all ends in abject failure.

1 hour ago, Mad Cyril said:

I an pretty confident he is between 6'3" and 6'7", but the latter is in high heels.

Have you seen those photos? I thought the court judgement stopped them being reproduced.

I completed it. It actually felt as if it was quite well planned and not the usual survey which gives the results the survey wants.

There's plenty of options for criticism, equally for praise, on a varied amount of subjects.

It takes a while but, worth doing in my opinion.

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Good thought provoking post…it nags me too!

“Is the squad that much weaker?”

Always gonna be a subjective, opinion based response in fairness, so probably a case that I’d be arguing the toss one way and others may see it differently.  I would add that Alfie Mawson was key in those early weeks and should be factored into the debate.  In many respects, comparable in ability, but even with injuries, we had a deeper squad last season imho.

I honestly think the biggest factor was the contract situation created by SL/MA. It’s unforgivable and it “did for” Holden imho.  I certainly want one who wanted us to pull the trigger, but he became the scapegoat.  Pearson took over a squad unwilling to fight as a team.

”Would others have got more out of this team?”

Im sure some would, and some wouldn’t.  Would others have taken the job with the constraints imposed?  I saw the appointment of Pearson as much more than “first team manager”, but almost “General Manager” too.  I now have seen evidence that is in fact the case….he is building the foundations beyond the pure playing side of things….and I think that is massively important to what happens with City next.

Has he made mistakes in the transparent arena on the pitch?  Yep.  Are some of those mistakes disappointing based on what we expect from an experienced manager?  Yep too.  Are some of them forced on him by other factors?  Yes.  We can debate to what extent each of them is “Pearson’s fault”.  I lean to the side of being in Pearson’s favour.  Others won’t.

”What should we do about it?”

in my view, be patient.  Watch the rest of this season, watch the summer, evaluate at the end of the window.  I’m not gonna set any aspirations at this point.  There are too many unknowns at this point.  If we want to keep Scott, Semenyo, Massengo, expect compromises in other areas.  I think Pearson’s year in charge has been all about compromises.

Not sure if that is the answer you expected?

Yep, and their punishment came in a season when they might’ve avoided relegation without a points deduction.  Tough shit!  Do we benefit? Yes we do.

Did we lose out in the years they cheated?  Arguably yes.  Might we have beaten Derby in the 18/19 game where Semenyo got a red card, and pipped them to the playoffs?  Steve Gibson argues Boro were cheated, why not us.

I don’t really care about the table without a points deduction.

I never expect a win in this league…I might hope for one.  We lost against Cov, but I wouldn’t say we were dicked. Was a strong team performance imho.

I use the term "dicked" as beaten.

2 minutes ago, gl2 said:

Hull at home? would love us to beat Derby away though in the game before Hull

All possible but, how likely? I think we're scratching to find a definite three points, maybe scrape a couple of draws and hope for an unexpected win.

In reality, we expected a couple of home wins against Coventry and Brum, but got dicked.

Fingers crossed. 

3 hours ago, firstdivision said:

Here's something that nags at me, Dave.

Under DH, we started last season reasonably well. The results were generally ok over the first part of the season. Not stunning, but ok. Steady. The collapse came as a result of a growing and almost unbelievable injury list. We released lots of players at the end of last season. How many of those would have strengthened us this season: perhaps Fam. Perhaps Pato. Almost certainly Hunt as it's turned out (although the fans had had enough of all three). The rest: no. All the players that were injured last season have been fit for some or all of this season. We've brought in James, Atkinson, Tanner and they've contributed at times. (King and Simpson - big mistakes. Obvious waste of spaces. Hard to fathom why we signed them.) We've also seen Scott and Massengo really emerge this season. 

The point is...is the squad that much weaker, despite the financial constraints, than the one in the first half of last season that was doing ok? I'm really not sure it is. But the results have been worse by comparison.  

And so the next question is...can we really say that other managers would not have got more out of this team? That NP has done as well as he possibly could. I don't believe he has. And I feel reasonably confident in my answer to that question. 

The next question is...what should we do about it? Not so easy to answer. For example, on balance can we afford to sack NP? Is it better to stick with the devil you know for now. I like his idea of a team that others hate to play against, but also has a bit of style. But can he make that happen? Or is he an emperor's new clothes manager and we'll look back and say 'why did we put up with it for so long?'

Lots of questions...

In response to one part of your question, regarding whether other managers could have got more out of this group. I honestly think NP could have got more out of them results wise but, he seems to have been sorting the fringe players and making decisions on their long term future. Ultimately, they've now been left out and replaced by others, to see if he thinks they might have a future.

We all seemed to agree that Vyner would/could be a decent squad player filling multiple roles, that appears to have been decided that he won't. Because of inconsistencies, that right defensive area has proven to be a nightmare sorting out, affecting other areas in the process. The same can be said of the left side to a lesser degree. Add in constant changes to the centre of midfield and defence due to injuries and it's no wonder we're in a bit of a pickle. The only consistency in selection has been the strikers, which improved slightly when Semenyo returned from injury. 

So what I think I'm saying is, that NP has been focused on two things, gaining sufficient points for safety and still sorting the wheat from the chaff. He's obviously confident enough to know that his job would be safe, while he does that. That might not be what the owner thinks though.

2 hours ago, Curr Avon said:

What's John Nettles got to do with it?

Beat me to it Mark.

12 hours ago, The dastardly red said:

Or you could bake it in the oven at 250 degrees c, season liberally and polish it off with a nice bergerac.

Don't like Bergerac. A nice Merlot or Malbec would be my choice.

42 minutes ago, swanker said:

That might work with one of your turds but not mine. My guts are playing up at the moment and you definitely couldn’t polish what I turn out on a morning. 

Might just take longer for the liquid level to dry up.

If it's the opposite, then forego the baking section and go straight to the varnish part of the instructions.

1 hour ago, Mike Hunt-Hertz said:

Sounds like you've had practice.

A vivid practical imagination.

1 hour ago, Simon bristol said:

This sounds quite artistic 

I can drop one off for you, if you'd like.

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Sounds far too much like hard work. I'd simply leave the turd for millions of years until it turns into a fossil coprolite and hey presto! It can be polished to your heart's content. 

I don't have that long.

4 minutes ago, Rich said:

It needs to be quite precise to obtain the level of glossy appearance.

I did it twice. 

1 minute ago, IAmNick said:

Thanks for editing to include a correction. Could have been a real mistake to try this otherwise! Phew.

It needs to be quite precise to obtain the level of glossy appearance.

I disagree. Bake it in the oven at 250 degrees C for one hour twenty minutes. Leave to cool for twenty four hours. Apply one coat of yacht varnish, diluted with turps at 50%, followed by another three undiluted coats with a minimum of four hours between coats. Leave for twenty four hours. At this point bring out the pledge and polish to your hearts content.

18 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

No idea of the veracity, but that would be a disgrace if so.

Think that's a whoosh. Reference to individual Russian sportsmen.

A bit pessimistic perhaps but, I can see us winning only one of our remaining fixtures, especially how we've been capitulating lately. That fixture is against Peterborough and, I wouldn't feel too confident about beating them either, especially after another four virtually guaranteed defeats, based on our current form.

Hoping to scab another win from somewhere, just don't see where from.