formerly known as ivan

Seeing as the football was so good I need to find something else to moan about so here it is…

Those bloody buses after the game are getting on my nerves! Never ready to let people on as the crowd floods out which causes a build up. People queuing all over the pavement making it impossible to walk past.

Surely they can find a better system for this. So annoying week in week out!

There it is, feel a little better for it now. 

It’s hard to say what our best 11 is.

Mehmeti would be in there based on tonight’s performance. He could also easily be the first out the door in the summer within the next couple of games.

That’s the sort of football I can get behind!

I will repeat what I’ve always said… we all want this club to succeed. It’s been hard to watch recently but hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.

Hate 8pm kick offs midweek! It means either leaving early and getting a bus to be home at a reasonable time, or stay to the end and get home way gone 11pm!

Just now, IAmNick said:

Boro goal: https://streamvi.com/watch/1790529753877502

(Banned from steamable already, sorry)

That is awful bad luck. Argument that the ball should never travel that far across the box but such bad luck at the end of it.

18 minutes ago, Peter1450 said:

Not sure which bandwagon we’re on here, Andi got slagged off by a large number of the forum for being past his sell by date of late, just making the point that he’s a good player when utilised correctly.

I was very much in the ‘he is past his best’ camp. But then I’m not professionally trained in football. However, our management team are and should know if a player still has something left to give…

I believe our play off record is worse than put penalties record!

7 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

It’s been mentioned on here about 15 times this week that anyone signed after the first game couldn’t be involved in the replay.

Forest had 3 players missing because of this, I believe.

I didn’t mean for just this game, although I wasn’t aware of that rule.

In general, the lack of a quality striker is clearly an issue that wasn’t addressed. Conway blows hot and cold, Wells has seen his best years come and go.

Sounds like tonight the biggest issue we had was scoring despite numerous good chances.

Goes to show again that we had to bring someone in last month and failed to do us. Will most likely cost us more than once between now and the end of the season.

Edit: was there a reason Mebude wasn’t involved tonight?

4 minutes ago, slartibartfast said:

More important as far as I'm concerned it's  City , and no, I'm not going to apologize, so save your breath !

Apologise for what? You’re entitled to your opinion. My personal one is that it’s the cup and it doesn’t bother me that much. I’m sure many would disagree.

3 minutes ago, RedRoss said:

Seem some are scapegoating either Max or Bell. Get a grip ffs.

Wouldn’t say scapegoating Bell. Reality is he missed his pen which cost us. Not like a World Cup final though so hopefully doesn’t beat himself up over it.

Utd were the carrot, otherwise not so bothered about the cup.

Priority now is showing those cup performances in the league!

But… but… but… you can’t compete with Leeds…

7 hours ago, reddogkev said:

Without listening to the consistently changing guff that comes out of the club hierarchy, what are the expectations of us, the fans?

Personally, I want City to develop and grow as a Championship club, which we are doing, and to get another long overdue crack at the play offs.

With that in mind, we're on the right track.  We'll definitely get there, my main frustration with the SL ownership is that it's taking far too long to achieve this.

Why can other smaller, or similar sized clubs overtake us so quickly?  That's the question I can never quite answer.

Can you say why you think we are on the right track? Interested to hear your view on this.

Edit: Apologies if you have already done so, can’t be bothered to read through everything.

Certainly a player you will say in years to come… I saw him play at the gate

All negativity is the boards doing, plain and simple.

If you look back at the 3-2 home defeat by Stoke, the 2-0 loss at Cardiff, there was never this much negativity even at those moments. It was accepted that those results would happen but we were building.

The sacking of NP and the comments that followed changed the mindset completely. We no longer accept performances like Friday night as the board made it clear we are more than capable of competing with what was an outstanding Leeds side.

52 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

…usually grow tomatoes.  Those in glass houses however…

Touché!

2 hours ago, MelksRed said:

Have Ipswich won a league game in 2024 (asking for a friend) 

Those in greenhouses….

Keeping an eye on Aldershot games to see how Stokes is getting on. According to the BBC website he is starting a CB today. Assume they must have numerous injuries in that area.

1 hour ago, NcnsBcfc said:

Completely @GrahamC

"So in the summer we're looking for a big strong, quick forward to play as a number 9" ie not Tommy

"But we would still love Tommy to sign a new contract"

"We need to improve our forward options". Read everyone is going from our current forwards (Conway, Cornick and dare I say it Wells?)

"There are funds available from Alex, Antoine deals and..." BT was gagging to say the money we'll get for Conway.

Funds available from the Alex and Antoine deals! Remind me who was in charge when those players were sold and was told there was no money to spend???

To be fair to Bell, in the new formation, whenever he gets a run out it’s at wingback… he isn’t a wingback!

Again, this is a clear example of Manning having no plan b. Even when chasing a game, the changes he makes are like for like even if that means putting players out of position.

Not saying Bell is the answer, wouldn’t be disappointed to see him leave. Also wouldn’t surprise me to see him end up like Wes Burns and doing well for another club.

1 minute ago, winsaw said:

Bang on we need to stop trying to play it out from the back and get the ball forward quicker, I don't want long ball but just to see forward passing attacking football instead of passing sideways

Stop trying to play out from the back??? Are you joking??? Are you telling me you don’t enjoy seeing Vyner get the ball from MO’L, only for him to play a pass to the opposition 10 yards ahead of him?

Just now, Shauntaylor85 said:

I didn’t like LJ at all, but if you gave him this squad tonight he would have got a better tune, Manning is so one dimensional, it’s a worry. Where is the new manager bounce? 

It’s been said before, there was never going to be a new manager bounce as we were not in need of one. We weren’t on a downward spiral like what is usually the case when a club fire a manager.

19 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

I don't think possession football is the problem, I think it's possession football with this group of players.

We saw the natural issue of Manning-ball with a Pearson squad, against a team who are extremely effective at denying time and space to their opponent. Our players wanted an extra second on the ball tonight they didn't have - and it's because they aren't players who have the qualities needed to play possession football. It's not their fault, that's not why they were brought here.

So why are we trying to play that way?

I got slated when I compared Manning to Lee Johnson… unfortunately it seems they are more similar than even I imagined!

However, please remember you are not allowed to criticise the club, players or head coach under any circumstances.