MarcusX

Also adds to your point you've been making about worrying about the other team rather than putting our mark on the game. He didn't make an attacking change to give them something to think about, he made a change that worried about the opposition's strengths. Absolutely pointless in a dead rubber that realistically would have made little difference between drawing 0-0 and losing 1-0.

I can’t either but judging by replies I assume it is… apologies if I’m wrong of course!

100% penalty, again, asking for trouble if you go to ground like that in the box and nowhere near the ball. He’s always been a liability

Why is that ridiculous? That’s offside, has been for a long time it’s literally interfering with the keeper

I think you’re confusing what most mean by a good performance. It doesn’t need to be “flashy”. As I said above, 1-0 wins all season would do me fine, but if that’s where you’ve had 40% possession and your keepers got man of the match for making 7 saves then you’ve probably rode your luck rather than a good performance. Can be ok as a one off, but Do that every week and you probably won’t be winning the game very often. Don’t even need to look back far for an example. Beating Leicester 1-0 was a good performance, beating Swansea 1-0 was not.

I’ve had a chance to re watch it a few times now on twitter and I’m not sure either way. My main thought is poor defending and you’re asking for trouble doing that. Silva’s looking for it too. I agree VAR will never be able to confirm beyond doubt if any contact is “enough”. I agree it’s not the worst decision I’ve seen, probably not even the worst this weekend.

I’d usually say results over performances. I want us to win, I don’t care how and if get lots of 1-0s and 0-0s and get promoted that’s enough for me. Lets not forget, as fans we’ll celebrate a win however it comes - the main argument would be if you’re playing sh*t then eventually it’s going to catch up with you and bad performances don’t often lead to lots of good results. There is very little to be gained from scraping a couple of swansea style wins and yesterdays draws. This is Mannings chance to impose a style and many would forgo results to see more of what we’ve seen shades of. Im still of the belief that we’ve won the games we have inspite of him not because of him - Leicester aside though as he did impact that game with subs and changes to style. we still haven’t gone and dominated against a team around or below us either.

That’s with added context that they’ve been relegated after several years in the Prem (and winning it). It would be like us going down and being dead awful to watch even if we had success. Promotion is the bare minimum expectation for them. If we scraped promotion from this league being boring it would be completely different.

But VAR does need to consider that to be fair, because contact doesn’t equal foul - in the same way that the Brighton defender slightly touching the ball doesn’t mean good tackle

Mehmeti looked very good at L1 level though so not really a stick to beat him with

He isn’t going to find any form rotting on a bench though. Im fully willing to accept that maybe he’s just not that good, but he’s in an international under 21 squad, he must at least be able to offer our u21s something? He played 26 games in Man City’s u21s but can’t get in ours?

I’d imagine stats, data and “intelligence” are already doing a fair amount of selections and scouting all ready - over traditional gut feeling and favourites

Rarely starts, he's often a plan B in that team

Yea I get what you're saying, he's more of a "proper" winger. I really like him

Respectfully I think you're wrong. 25 games 1 goal last season, was hardly setting the world alight. Was a regular in the U21s squad though. Obviously has a good head on him, or had some good advice, to step away from City and get more regular football which he's thrived on. Made his debut in the last international break, and then was injured in this one and don't forget he's had the likes of Saka, Foden, Rashford (til he lost form) and Grealish ahead of him. I'd be amazed if he's not in the Euro squad He was injured and didn't train was listed as a sub for the second game but clearly didn't want to risk him

2017/18 was a pin stripe remake of the 86 kit Not sure 21/22 is really a retro, all 3 kits were new styles. All the adidas and puma shirts were fairly original designs, and tbf so were most of the Bristol Sport ones - 17/18 actually the exception in being retro. Since then retro has had a comeback all across the board so can see why the club have done it but I agree I'd like to see something more modern next time.

I was referring to history and establishment as a big club, not one that's just bought their place at the top table like City have. I also think it's a real shame for their fans that they got their first league win in so long during lockdown and couldn't be in the ground to witness it. I don't mind Arsenal either, used to watch them a lot, but work with one of their fans and he'd be unbearable

I think that's incredibly harsh, one player doesn't win trophies alone. He was in a fairly average Spurs side for too long and probably should have moved sooner if winning trophies was his goal. In terms of the title race it's Liverpool for me. Proper team and fan base (even if some are idiots) and play the most exciting football even against the big teams. The City v Liverpool and City v Arsenal games were worlds apart.

You make a good point, although I think it's rather different. They were all our players going off to other teams to get experience and none of them had a decision coming up regarding a transfer fee. We're talking about 6 more games for a player who isn't ours to make an impact. Or, we could give those 6 games to one of our own young lads. I say this as someone who thought in the brief minutes against Southampton he looked like he had a bit about him. and certainly haven't written him off - but I could see why people would rather not bother, especially given that we're going to have to pay for him.

Whilst I agree, you can also counter that by saying the horrendous performances against Swansea, QPR and Wednesday we're all following his plan and he setup in a specific way against those that led to us being ineffective (eg not pressing high and sitting off). There's night and day between yesterday and those games (and the aforementioned games) so it's not down to the players.

I know we’ve had a similar view on Manning, but it’s been unfortunate for him that he’s not had the players to do that sooner. Though pre-Twine we were suggesting he play Conway deeper behind Wells, which I still think could have worked.

As someone who hasn’t been a fan of Manning (although caveat it by saying early on I could see signs of some improvement initially) I’m delighted with the wins this weekend, but more importantly the performances. Credit where it’s due, he’s changed shape (and back again when needed) and made subs that have had a positive impact. Long may it continue. Also, give credit if his plan all along was Twine in the 10 and Knight in the 8 / deeper (and with James) then at least he’s finally got that and he’s been unlucky with the injuries.

Fair point, and we’re also putting twine in the shop window a little bit if he has a storming end of season. Could see Burnley raise his price or someone else come in etc Although I’d be surprised if teams weren’t already aware

If I had to guess I reckon it’d be quite high from the smaller squad / no sub days but would be interested to know!

Not sure what Pring was actually booked for?