mozo

That makes a lot of sense and I agree with some but but not all of that There have been other games where we were more aggressive with our press under Manning, so I personally don't see it as a shit or bust, but more that he likes to choose when to use it. I also agree with him that prior to his reign we were a bit headless in our rampaging breakaway football, so I do think more control is preferable, but I appreciate that Manning hasn't implemented a consistent style that has brought the consistent results we've wanted. Yet

I'd like to see both Bird and James in the squad. Neither will play every game anyway, so let them share the role and let Bird learn from Jamo.

Manning said pre-Leicester that a higher press and attacking intent IS his preference. So maybe it was Manning-ball? Did he not say something along the lines that he introduced the more passive block as a way to preserve the players legs during the busy winter schedule... or am I misremembering?

Yep, we've essentially replaced Scott with Knight, and Semenyo with Mehmeti. We've also got rid of Weimann and won't replace him til the summer. Had we not had persistent injury problems all season, we probably couldn't have sacked Nige, and/or Manning would be doing better. But it's a imbalanced, inconsistent squad. If Manning had managed just 3 points at this stage (let say we held on to beat Cov and held on to draw v Ipswich), then we'd be pushing top 10 and you can't grumble with that. Fine margins. Now he needs to find that extra 3 points somewhere else. They appointed a manager with a 40% + win record at all his previous clubs, so the scenario you've described is a bit bizarre.

A 33% win ratio isn't too bad, but we've been edged out of games too often.

What I do find interesting is that we've had a couple of tricky patches with a back 3 laready this season and everyone (most of OTIB) was screaming for a return to a back 4. Now what do we want?!

If Conway could have put away one of the fairly tricky chances he had today we'd be saying he looks like a Premier League striker. He caused the defenders all sorts of trouble, and just lacked the ability to do what Mehmeti managed which is to put his shot wide enough of the keeper.

O'Leary was great today. He's a really good stopper. His general goalkeeping is good and he's young in Keeper terms. He has the occasional error in him, but that's no different to other Championship goalies. My issue is his kicking, but he's got time to improve that.

I'd like to see it

Consistency in performances and results would really help our sanity! I think the debatable part is whether Manning should be held accountable for that lack of consistency. Nige was striving for consistency and struggling, not helped by our squad peppered with injuries on a consistent basis. An then the players. Is it in Manning's gift to make Mehmeti a consistent performer in the space of a few months? Nige barely played the lad. So many of this squad are still establishing themselves at this level and seem to struggle with their performances; Bell, TGH, Mehmeti, Tanner, McCrorie all spring to mind. And then the inconsistency of available players, in what has yet again been a season with almost every players having time on the sidelines at some stage. Some will say that's making excuses for Manning, others will say its context. Maybe Manning is the one that is inconsistent and still finding his groove at this level? Entirely possible.

We won 15 games last season and 9 of our 23 home games. I had a quick breeze through the results and it's hard to spot a pattern to be honest. LJ was notoriously streaky of course so not quite about levels.

Did Nige play tactics like today or are you just basing it on possession?

Here's a question then, how did Nige's teams do against sides that sit in? Or indeed LJ's?

I don't know, are we? I wish I knew what was going on behind the scenes. The stock answer from Matty James is he wants to stay and he's waiting for the club. The stock answer from Manning is that we're not looking at contracts yet. Anything else is guesswork.

He really is Graham. An incredible signing.

I think you're right. Been saying on here before that the passing round the back isn't what Manning had asked the players to do. He's confirmed it himself numerous times and you can see that it's a problem with the individuals not backing themselves to pass forwards. Tanner still had a major issue with it. Vyner's confidence on the ball is erratic. But the a-game instruction is clearly to believe in yourself and pass forwards and has been for a while.

I think we can file the claims that there was a trigger and also the claims that Jamo wouldn't stay under the category of 'jumping to wild conclusions'. He seems to want to stay and hopefullythe powers that be will acquiesce. Manning has given Matty extra responsibility and insight behind the scenes to help with future coaching. And as soon as he was fit he was in the side and doing a great job

Well at least if we add the FA Cup games and the Southampton and Watford wins we can say 5/6 swallows.

I really like him as a player and hope we keep him long term. Good decision not to let him go out on loan

There's nothing wrong with the jury still being out If we win on Monday it'll be 3 wins in 4 games. If we lose, our away form is a major concern. Every game changes the context slightly. I've always been a believer that managers need time, and I'm not changing that viewpoint now.

Totally agree. In my humble opinion any final judgements at this stage are premature.

I think it's important to point out that he hasn't had the availability of some key players that he used for this performance, most importantly Twine. The other thing is that to my eyes the players made fewer errors in this game. Vyner made a couple of clangers and James and Max on one occasion, but the sharpness and accuracy in our play was of a higher standard. Irrespective of where the block is, we've been progressing through the lines/thirds quite nicely recently but really lacking in the final third. Today we had more quality, albeit Conway doesn't have his cutting edge right now. Not saying you're wrong, just chucking some extra context in. I think 10th is beyond us now but I'd love to see push for 11th, and finishing above Cardiff is essential.

Roberts is looking the real deal, not too flashy but consistent and reliable. He doesn't rampage like Pring but makes fewer errors imo. An interesting development! He's a player we need to gametime to.

I thought that was a decent performance. We had the better of the play in both halves, hit the bar twice, and just can't catch a break. If only the lads weren't so wasteful in the final third. We can't shoot and can't pick the right pass and it's been like this for so bloody long.

That's just common sense though away from home. Take the rhythm away from the home side and quiet down the crowd. And actually we went forward a lot.