italian dave

And most of those locked out climbed in through the back of the East End. I’ve never known it so packed in there.

We’re a touchy lot in Portishead……take our headlines very seriously

You’ll know that I was critical of the post on Saturday, Dave. I’ve not joined in much since: I’ve said my piece, I take the points you’ve made since, and I’m not going to get into a debate with you on tactics and data! But I do think @mozo has a point. Whether you’re writing a novel, a political manifesto or a corporate press release, the one thing you’ll get told is to never underestimate the importance of the headline/title and of the opening lines. When we’d just come away from Middlesbrough with a win, your headline had a very big “but” (and no question mark), and your opening line talked about disappointment, frustration and anger. And, quite honestly, if you’d asked me to come up with three words after the game on Saturday then disappointment, frustration and anger would have been pretty much the last ones I’d have thought of! So, whatever else you went on to say, you’d lost me by then!

I don't know about "comfortable", but I honestly didn't have that 'it's only a matter of time' feeling. And I'm someone who hates going into an early 3 goal lead on the basis that it looks embarrassing when we give it away! I do agree about Williams though. And we did largely revert to a back 5 - as opposed to wing backs pressing forward. Which with one fewer in the middle, may have played its part in the limited effectiveness of Mehmeti and McCrorie, and the complete lack of service to TC. And although I'm talking about watching it real time, and not in the knowledge of what's going to happen, I will acknowledge that it probably helped that it was all happening down the other end from us!!

OK: the context - we hardly have a full or large squad at the moment either - and add to that the gruelling schedule we are facing which is placing us at a disadvantage against every team we face. - the relevance of the Coventry game is that it's the one you mentioned as evidence your proposition that posters were equally critical after that game. I was simply responding to your having talked about that game. - Subjective I know, but my view is that the game on Saturday was far more comfortable viewing than the Coventry one. I don't think we were unlucky Saturday: I think we played well going forward first half and defended resolutely second half. As I've said elsewhere, it never felt to me - until the very end - that it was just a matter of time til Boro scored. Coventry we were dead lucky: they did everything but score, hit the woodwork, more than once as I recall. Also, we actually played well for long spells on Saturday - we didn't v Coventry. But as I say, I accept that's just my view and yours is different, that's fair enough. I didn't read all your posts in the first half, no. I never read the forum when I'm at a match and watching the game. So I tend to go by the - in theory more considered - comments people make afterwards. And I have to say that yours weren't terribly positive! Mostly critical in fact. The contrast I was making wasn't between a generic summary of 'the feeling' after both games. There were, and are, lots of different views. It was more between your own reaction to the Coventry game, which was to focus on the positives, the need to grind out results, the mentality of the squad, the quality of the opposition. And yet on Saturday your over-riding post match repose was one that was critical of Manning, of the changes to personnel and formation.

Well if you have a look at the post - which was a reply to you - you'll see that the fact is that we DO have a tougher schedule than everyone else we're playing at the moment. I'll give you an example. When we play QPR on Saturday that will be our 11th game (plus an extra time) since the Xmas/New Year games. It will be their 8th. I'm not going to look out the post or get all the details up together again since you probably won't read this one either. No sarcasm intended!

No, it's not. I replied to your similar statement a couple of weeks ago, and I gave you the facts about how many games we are playing compared to our opponents. We are playing significantly more games - and that was before our replay went to extra time. You didn't reply to that, which is your prerogative. But I wish you'd stop repeating stuff that's demonstrably not true.

Love Walks In……Van Halen.

I remember when the Premier League started, and then we had the ‘Championship’, a third tier called “one” - and all that bollocks. Someone suggested that the Conference, as it then was, should trump them all and call themselves the World Series. Not a bad idea!

Sheepshaggers, 1-0 to the sheepshaggers, as @Steve Watts has said above, even the original "I can't read": I get all of those for the reasons you say. The original 'I can't read' would be quite funny as a throw back - I'm from Somerset and what matters to me is being able to drive a tractor! But "I'm a f ***g w ***" isn't really throwing anything back. It's like singing Bristol's a shithole or F off City at yourself. Just immeasurably stupid!

To be fair, I guess they’ve scheduled so much this week because it’s half term. The works on the A369 are more tree works, ash dieback. So they’ve got to be done. What’s a pain if you live in Portishead is that they’ve chosen the same week to close Naish Hill for two days.

And here’s your summary from that particular game. Which, to me, doesn’t seem to include too much by way of fallout, buts or indeed any sign of critique of our poor game management. Just the positives spin on a game we won. And in which, incidentally, we didn’t romp to a two goal lead, and didn’t play well at any stage. “Coventry got all the way to the play off final last season whilst putting in many performances which were similar to our performance yesterday. They just had the ability to grind out results whilst not playing particularly well. Something which up until now we've struggled with. Yes we'd all love to watch free flowing attacking football every week. But sometimes you do just need to grind out results when you're not playing well etc or have a depleted team. In the early days of Nige being here, wed have took a hiding yesterday. The fact we won shows the mentality we now have in the squad.”

It’s only closed 9.30 to 3.30, isn’t it? Shouldn’t be a problem for anyone tomorrow night.

What’s that coming over the hill? It’s a Showunmi……

And as for the ‘I can’t read….’ one…..….calling ourselves bankers. Beyond embarrassing. Im with @Barrs Court Red in thinking always believe has been one of our better songs.

First point, agree with, and I think that was an important part of it. It felt like we switched in the knowledge that it was more about having 5 at the back than it was about wing backs pressing forward. And for the most part that worked. The point at which it started to look a little more risky was the Roberts for Pring switch - but I'm not sure that was a deliberate plan, more a knock for Pring? And, picking up the point both you and @And Its Smith make...it worked! We won! Baffling or not, understandable or not...it did the job. I know what you mean about their goal, but I honestly didn't feel like that until, say, the five minutes before it came. Yes, I was worried about the first 15 of the second half, but that was just about precedent! But until quite late on I really didn't feel that we were hanging or, or that it was just a matter of time. And when you get to 90 minutes and are still two goals ahead then the worry tends to diminish a little!!

Thats an interesting point about the MDT Dave. I always find it hard getting into that from a standing start! But 30 pages would maybe suggest what you say. With no scientific evidence at all, I’ve always thought that they tend to be longer after a poor result than a good one. So 30 pages yesterday would be unusual!

Why do you say that you know I'm "one eyed" with Max? My comment above wasn't about Max at all; it was about the English language! And, aside from the very rare comment about his performance in a particular game, I don't have a very strong view on him either way and I'm not aware that I've said very much about him at all.

Didn’t we also put up a woeful “play it safe” 0-0 performance against them at Ashton Gate a couple of games before the end of that season? If we’d won that we’d have gone up without needing a play off.

How can you get “very nearly” a howler? Surely it’s either a howler or it isn’t?

You were lucky. We were sat for hours in a car park next to the ground. Thought we’d done well getting there early to get one so close. What we didn’t realise is that the road it exited onto was closed after the game. And that most of the other cars in it seemed to belong to Brighton fans. It was like the awful experience of those 90 minutes being extended for another 90!

Morning Dave! You did! To be honest, I had a quick look when we stopped for a break on the way home and just seemed like there was none of the elation I was feeling. I did see the Tanner one when I got home, missed the Wells/Knight one: I put it down to fatigue - Middlesbrough and back in a day is a long drive! And, although your ‘but’ did play its part, it wasn’t just that! I just couldn’t help thinking of all those defeats and the threads that usually follow. A thread on almost every individual player and their faults. At least two on Manning and his deficiencies. And probably a poll on whether the Lansdowns should be publicly humiliated or merely exiled. (I’m exaggerating, but you get my drift!) But yesterday, nothing on how sound Max was, nothing on the amazing Dickie and Vyner - ever present but still timing tackles and throwing bodies in when necessary. Nothing on how Pring and Cornick dominated that left side. And so on. And, nothing on Manning. You can critique individual decisions to rest, start, sub individual players, you can critique how we set up and manage games, but overall I think he and his back room team deserve huge credit for the way they’ve managed what’s been an incredibly taxing period with a small squad. We’ve had a far more difficult schedule to manage than either of our last two opponents and yet we finished much the stronger side on Wednesday and yesterday we stormed into a two goal lead which, until the 92nd minute, we never looked like losing. So, not aimed at you (I acknowledge you did start the only two threads about individuals) and I know others have made comments on some of the other performances I’ve mentioned above. It was just that a quick look at the forum at 7 yesterday seemed so quiet compared to when we lose, and didn’t seem to reflect what was a great performance as well as result.

Grease…….Frankie Valli

Back from Middlesbrough, and check in here expecting to find some happiness and some positivity after a great day…and what do I find? Just two new post match threads: one seemingly designed to provoke an argument, and the other headed “…..But” Come on. We’ve got a result no-one really expected for the second time in 4 days. We’ve romped to a two goal lead playing some great football, and then defended that lead successfully, only conceding one lucky-ish goal in injury time. We’ve done that after playing 120 minutes at a PL side only 4 days earlier, whilst Middlesbrough had a free week. And, R####s lost at home. Let’s just celebrate. Well done lads! (And thanks @Olé for bringing a bit of positivity!)