marmite

My mistake if wrong. People around us were saying silly booking. Hope I'm wrong then but the question is still there. No-one gets booked for delaying tactics early in the game.

Just wondered if there is a set time during a game when the ref decides he needs to take action against time wasting. HNM got booked yesterday for delaying the game by 5 seconds when he lobbed the ball over the hoarding. Twice earlier their players had picked the ball up and carried it to the ref to dispute a decision , wasting perhaps 20 seconds plus each time with no cards issued. Surely time wasting is time wasting whenever it happens during a game. I know the ref can and does add on time but why are some a booking and some not? Having said that , if all time wasting was a booking, Bentley wouldn't last 45 minutes! Hope HNMs booking doesn't come back to bite us on the bum.

"Can't get no satisfaction." (But that's another story ?)

Re the thread title, the ones we want to be confident are the players. I've rarely seen such a less confident side in all my years watching City. It's why the ball keeps going backwards and why no one is prepared to try something different and positive. That spreads to the fans and you could feel the tension building in that Forest game. I said to a mate that if we were 3-0 up with 15 mins to go, I would still not be confident. Surprised yes, but not confident. Sitting back on a one goal lead is fatal for us. There is a reason we never go on to score 4 or 5. Its all about players confidence and belief, and at the present, they don't have any.

We have all spotted a youngster even in our own club who we thought was gonna be a good prospect and would have recommended them. How many of them have made it to the top? That doesn't make us unreliable though. There are hundreds of reasons why a player doesn't kick on. That doesn't make the scout wrong to put them forward.

Fascinating thread this. Thanks Harry.

Just a couple of points to throw in here with no agenda either way. Richard Gould, our CEO, is heavily involved with recruitment as he stated at the Senior Reds lunch last Thursday. He also stated that the Brentford model was not one he wanted our club to follow as it is not all it appears on the surface!! He didn't elaborate on that so judge for yourself.

I expect us to concede at least 1 but I'm not sure we have 2 or more goals in us. Could get messy for Nige if it goes tits up

If we do drop Martin, which I think we should, someone must tell Bentley not to just lump it up the middle. We need to start bringing it out from the back and not play back passes which result in another long hopeful punt. We are so predictable and easy to read, no wonder teams know how to beat us.

The thing about any transfer window with us is that we never actually build upon the best we have. We usually end up selling our prize assets to strengthen elsewhere in the team, thereby leaving another weakened position. To get a top striker in Jan we will probably have to lose HNM which will weaken the engine room. Time to change the approach and speculate to accumulate. Easy to say though as its not my money.

Up date on this. The away fans will remain where they are for the foreseeable. The stadium layout and walkaround concourse, plus health and safety make any alternatives a non starter.

Agree Centre forward. The clue is in the name Nige.

I know this is an O'Dowda thread but I have to link it with Bentley. Has anyone else noticed that when he kicks from hand, its always a high hanging kick rather than a flat trajectory. That would have suited O'Dowda better as he would have had something to chase into the channels rather than stood on the halfway line, surrounded by 6ft plus defenders, waiting for the ball to drop. Bad substitution imo but not helped by our familiar game plan.

Agree. Last night he got the subs wrong. Taking off Wells instead of Weimman was madness. Weimman had run his socks off again buy he was totally exhausted. Wells was well up for it last night. We ended up with no striker on the pitch and no outlet up top. NP to blame for that.

Thing is Dave, players are pinging 60 and 70 yard passes from uncontested possession. I can remember 2 on Saturday from Kelly that came from the edge of their penalty area. Our players don't seem aware of a threat from that position.

Weimann was absolutely forked at the end on Saturday but still put in more effort then than Martin and Bakinson. Rest all three if we can and let's try some fresh legs and ideas. Wells up front down the middle and keep the ball on the frigging ground for him!

Any scouts watching us would say " if we keep our wingers wide, we will have plenty of time to receive the ball, control it, and pick out a cross, because Bristol City play very narrow at the back". That's the reason we are always under pressure dealing with crosses into the box or wide men cutting in against us.

I've banged on about this before and got knocked back by people saying it's the same at all grounds, that the away fans make more noise than the home fans. I don't think it's true everywhere, but it certainly is at AG at the present. The atmosphere never builds like it used to before the redevelopment. I almost feel like a neutral fan now watching us at home. On Saturday I was enjoying watching Bournemouths slick play more than I was disappointed with our performance, if that makes sense. The away chants of "is this a library" really felt truthful. There is a Senior Reds on Thursday with Richard Gould as guest. I will ask him if there are any plans to improve the atmosphere from the home fans such as relocating the away fans from behind the goal. I'm not holding out much hope though if it's a health and safety issue.

The 2500 will make more noise than our 20000 home fans. The atmosphere at AG is dire and has been for a few years now. Its an old argument I know but the away fans must be moved from the Atyeo and our fans placed back there. I'm sure that's a lot to do with our home form.

3-0

Anyone scouting us will see this weakness. We are sooooo narrow at the back. Wide men have so much time to get crosses in.

Best wishes Nige

The one we would all like to sing next home game " HOW SHIT MUST YOU BE, WERE WINNING AT HOME"

It's coming lads, it's bl#@dy coming!

I'm confidently going for a 3 or 4 nil home win tonight. About time.