mozo

Just now, Curr Avon said:

Changes? How about Williams for James and McCrorie for Roberts?

It does feel like Williams could add some focus

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

 

that was a bitterly disappointing half.  All over the place.  Lucky to be 0-0, thanks to O’Leary.

Well you should have switched off for the middle 35 minutes and you'd be delighted with the performance 

Yeah that really one-sided and Manning needs to find a way to wake the players up. I think introducing Dickie makes sense now.

Edit, maybe Dickie not an option

City dominated! 

[The first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes]

I'm getting smash n grab vibes 

Just now, Davefevs said:

Jeeeez, getting broken through so easy

This time Sykes with a stupid mistake. Switch on boys!

Pring with with a bad touch now. Haven't really seen a good performance from Pring for a while.

We're still well in the game. Annoyingly, Sunderland look pretty up for it, but they haven't punished us.

Just now, Super said:

So much rubbish in the pitch.

Don't talk about Mehmeti like that!

1 minute ago, Super said:

Wake up Vyner

You just can't trust him to pass the ball out under pressure. 

In terms of fouls, we're racking up some impressive numbers 

Just now, old_eastender said:

James with a silly foul, given them a FK just outside the box and central

When even James is making silly mistakes you know you're not having a good day

Just now, David Brent said:

Not really sure what our game plan is. Yet to get into the game and quite wasteful when we get possession. 

Yeah I don't know if we've got the tactics wrong, but we're definitely getting the execution wrong with loose passes, half-hearted defending and a flimsy shape.

1 minute ago, petehinton said:

Are we allowed to have the ball please 

Yeah we had a bright start, then Sunderland started finding it too easy to get into our box. We need to get our basics right.

1 minute ago, And Its Smith said:

Surprised at the selection criticism. A back 5 as it is today is the best 5 with the players available 

Well we've got to criticise something! 

1 hour ago, petehinton said:

7 subs, Roberts CB over Jamie KL. FFS!!

55 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Roberts is a LCB, why disrupt Zak to play JKL, unless you desperately want to go back-3.

Slightly annoyed by only 7 subs.  But only slightly.

16 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Anyone flying to a different country for RTV today…no joy in Frankfurt.

Yeah I don't think Roberts would be particularly happy to sit on the bench when he's playing well.

Good intent so far

2 minutes ago, spudski said:

Tbh...the fans aren't stupid. They know we aren't promotion contenders. So why do they keep trying to fool everyone? Marketing strategy of course. 

 

Have you learned nothing from OTIB?!! 

Obviously a win would be bloody lovely and scoring first would really mess with their northern heads, but I think a draw is a good result. 

At this stage of the season a 4-4 draw would be fine!

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Everyone likes to ridicule the likes of JL for them saying top 6 was the target. I think they do that because they know their man has not delivered. 

Before the season started I did believe that with a fair wind and maybe one or two more signings then we could have had a crack at the top 6. 

You don't need to be a top 6 squad to get top 6. Coventry last season were not one of the best 6 sides in the league. They played terribly at times. However they had the ability to grind out results and get points from games that they shouldn't have. 

Ironically I believed that camaraderie was our best chance of getting into the top 6. This season it felt like our squad had taken a huge step forward in that regards. 

I think we went from wanting to emulate Coventry to then wanting to emulate Ipswich. 

People can ridicule the clubs statements all they like but the reality is we do have enough to have got more from games against QPR x2, Huddersfield, Sheff Wed, Cardiff, Preston, Millwall, Birmingham etc. 

 

 

There are the tangible factors that contribute to success; facilities, good coaching, man management, team selection, a talisman player, experienced players etc etc...

Then there are the intangibles, commonly referred to as luck; playing teams at the right time, referee decisions, injuries, momentum, certain players having a career best season, a confident striker, etc etc.

You can get your tangibles right, but if the intangibles don't go your way, you're guaranteed nowt.

Anyway, Hoggy seemed like a nice chap

Palmer could win the golden boot! What a lad! Has to be starting for England.

2 minutes ago, BCFC31 said:

You must be one of those jizzin them selves over the 2 wins and ignoring everything that went before it I guess....

Those were wins 9 and 10 for Manning, so it's not all been bad

2 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Not sure if you’re being straight or not.

We have no right to demand, but we absolutely had a right to set an expectation and that it not unreasonable to get 10th.  We were 11th when he took over, injured players returning, Jan window ahead.  The fallacy of “needs his own players” seems forgotten when we win, especially winning well against dare I say it Southampton and Leicester.

So, no, not fantasy fairyland at all.

Now, had our new head-coach approached it differently, why not execute better.  Too much change, too soon.  Didn’t understand what capability he had here.  He certainly hasn’t implemented his philosophy of - high press, attacking football, controlling games through possession, has he?

I can’t believe the excuses made for him.

You referred to the 'reason for sacking him' being top 6, as a reason to expect it, did you not? If so, that's falling into the fairyland trap. If not, I got the wrong end of the stuck, and humbly apologise!

1 minute ago, Dastardly and Muttley said:

Whichever is closest to our stated goal of promotion. Which we’ve failed to achieve, or come close to, again because of a mid-season self-inflicted derailment of a season. 
Fair to say, I don’t see NP as a hero either. The Danny Simpson signing really stung me. But, I’ve argued for years and years that the one thing this team lacked was players, managers and executives with top flight experience. We had it in NP, Alexander, King, Weimann and James, and we now look to be getting rid of all of that within a season.

Hard to get there if you don’t know what “there” is all about.

I just checked and it was 5 points, and we had 8 teams with an advantage over us in reaching the playoffs. It was still a ridiculous sacking!

Fair comments though!

2 minutes ago, Dastardly and Muttley said:

I meant improvement on where we were when NP left us - 4 points off the playoffs.

We won’t end up 4 points away.

League position or points off playoffs, which is a better standard? Subjective I guess.

52 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Bird is your favourite player, don’t go doubting him now!

Seriously though, he’s played 101 times at this level.  His first full season (19-20) he was playing week-in, week-out in a team that was knocking on the door of the playoffs.  He can play at this level, that’s for sure.  Will he fit is the only doubt anyone should really have.

Stokes isn’t joining to step up from day one.  That’s why we are signing a main no10 (Twine or whoever).

So a guaranteed mystery injury to keep Bird out of the first half of the season...