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It's all very well coming out with a flippant comment like that, and I do understand the sentiment, but I'm still waiting for someone to tell me exactly what Pearson has done to show that he is the right man for the job.....because I still can't see it.

Why? Genuine question, as I have seen absolutely nothing that tells me he is the right man for the job.

Yes, I'm very happy to give him credit for playing the youngsters, what I was getting at, is he is very lucky to have the quality of young players available to him. It's very unusual to have a talented group coming through at the same time.

Still to be convinced TBH. On the one hand, I recognise all the difficulty's that he has had to face...and is still facing. But I do think that he has been incredibly lucky with the crop of youngsters that were ready to come through.

I was stood directly in line with it, in the east end. I could be wrong, but I'm sure there was almost an exact replay of that goal the following year,?

Total clickbait. They are as bad as the Daily Express!

We're going to have to live with Covid for, I suspect, a very long time. So we're going to need to learn to live as normal a life as possible. The vaccines should allow us to do that, and I've had 3, so I'll be there.

Nice reply. OK, "hoofball" is probably not the right term, as they do at least try to direct their long punts upfield, but it is still a style, that by it's very nature is set up to fail more often than not. In answer to your last question (and please let's not turn this into an LJ thread! ?) I accept that he kind of lost his way towards the end, and it was probably the right time for him to move on, but I would have more confidence in LJ keeping us up this season than I do in NP

Someone previously mentioned that, how they train to play is totally different to how they actually play on a matchday. Surely this is something that should be addressed by the manager? I can only assume that he is actually happy to see them play hoofball, which for me is very worrying as it doesn't work! Like him or not ( I do ) when LJ was here, I could at least see what he was trying to do, and how he was trying to get the players to play, but I am at a total loss as to NP's plan/style/direction. And this is after 9 months. NP's pre Bristol City record shows that he can be/is a good manager, but is he the right manager for us at this point in time? Before you ask, no I don't know who else we could get to come in and do a better job, but I really worry that we are going to sleepwalk to relegation.

Fair points....but surely the role of a Manager is to, well......manage

Your example is from a static goal kick, where opposing players have had time to sort out their positioning etc, so of course I can see the issue here - although I think good coaching can teach you to move and find spaces. Generally we are quite good at closing down to try and stop the opposition from playing it out, yet they still manage to do it....even the so-called "poor" teams But it's not just goalkicks. Even if Bently has the ball in hand, it's rare that he will look for the quick throw/pass to one of our players. Generally it's just "wave them all upfield to one side of the pitch, and kick long".

(1) Statistics are fine, as long as you don't fall into the trap of dressing them up as "fact". (2) The thing is, the players aren't 11 year old kids having a kickabout, they're professional footballers. If their manager tells them to play a certain way then that is how they should play. If they ignore instructions and carry on doing the wrong thing, then I think it's only right to start looking at the manager.

I appreciate the more in depth reply. However, please don't try to sway me with statistics. I know what I see on a match day, and yes of course there will be occasions where the ball is played out, but there is no denying that the general trend is to kick it long. I totally get the confidence and weak mentality argument, but in my opinion a good coach/manager will get around that.

I'm clearly missing something, because I just can't see it.

I can't argue against what you're saying, because I haven't seen them train, so I'll take your word for it. But, Pearson stands on the sidelines on a matchday, if he didn't want it to happen he could put a stop to it......couldn't he?

I'm sorry, but that's far too simplistic an answer. Most of the time there isn't any intention of even trying to play it out.

Are you seriously telling me that the players deliberately ignore what their manager is telling them to do, every single game?

No. For me, every other team looks better than us because they all try to play football. We have ONE tactic, kick it long to Martin and try to feed off the scraps. I can't believe that people are still supporting Pearson when this is clearly how he wants them to play (if it wasn't, he would tell them to stop doing it surely?) and his City record to date shows that it doesn't work. People can blame the players/previous managers etc all they like, but if this is the extent of Pearson's coaching ability then the blame stops totally with him. Show me ANY evidence, ANYTHING, to show me that I'm wrong

No need to change anything (please!), first half against Blackburn was the most enjoyable we've played at home for a looooooooooooooong time.

I wish I could see what you're seeing, but I can't. If I could at least see Pearson trying to impose a style of "football" instead of trying to rely on percentages, then I might think differently.

Every single team seems to be able to play straight through our midfield, and they also seem to pick up a lot more second balls than we do. Which suggests to me that we need an extra body in midfield, so just play the one striker.

I can understand the whole thing about "3 year project" "sorting out the mess" £clearing the dead wood" etc, but the thing that concerns me is that, every single team that comes to Ashton Gate plays better football than us. They run the midfield playing passing football and playing out from the back. We play kick it long and hope for the best. If nothing else, surely the blame for that can be laid at Pearson's feet.

Nigel Pearson says there are places up for grabs for Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship match against Barnsley at Ashton Gate (Saturday, October 30th, 3pm). The Robins head into the game against the Tykes looking to bounce back from the defeat against West Bromwich Albion. Manager Pearson will be without Nathan Baker, still recovering after leaving the Hawthorns pitch when he felt unwell, while Tommy Conway, Andy King, Antoine Semenyo and Joe Williams are still unavailable. Conway, Semenyo and Williams will be back on the grass running next week but King will be out until December at the earliest following hamstring surgery. “Talk is cheap and we just have to get on with it. The players understand the importance of winning against Barnsley. When people miss out there are opportunities somewhere else. There may be some surprises in terms of selection but we’ll have to wait and see,” said Pearson. “These can be very important moments in time. If you come out the other end of a difficult spell then there are a lot more positives to come out of it.” I'm guessing more step ups from the Academy?

I've been watching City for about 45 years, and have had many good or bad weekends depending on results. But, for a short period of time, I didn't care whether City won or lost.........I went to watch Jacki and Andy Cole.

No he hasn't.