Lack of Action Man

We also try to play out from the back far too often, when we clearly do not have the players equipped for that type of play. Naismith doesn't do it for me. I'm probably in the minority with that opinion though.

More chance of Gerard Butler getting the job. He makes enough terrible films, I'm sure has time to manage a terrible team.

FWIW I think he will stay our number 1 until Bajic starts showing something promising. Sadly, I think Bentley's days are numbered. Max isn't a bad goalkeeper at all, he's fairly standard for this level. Some very peculiar decision making today however.

This is exactly the comment I made (off the forum) earlier r.e. Pearson's comments. Scenario: He implies to the media that he cannot trust Atkinson in central defense, hence why he is playing Andy King there. Andy King gets injured. He now is forced into playing Atkinson whose confidence is hardly likely to be at peak levels after that kind of comment is made to the press. It's bloody baffling from NP.

True. Also the festive pie from the concourse was quite nice today, so all is not totally lost I suppose. ?

Probably because the first goal was playing on his mind. Looking at the berating that Vyner gave him after the opening goal, I would say his train of thought was probably something along the lines of "shit, I really should have come off my line for that one and closed the angle down". That probably made him a bit too eager to charge out for their second goal, and getting caught in no man's land. The more I watch it back, the more it looks like the kind of rusty decision making that a number 2 goalkeeper would make coming into the team unexpectedly. Which is weird, as MOL has had enough game-time now to settle into the team.

I know this is a thread about HNM, but I have to say Joe Williams has been a huge let down for me. I appreciate HNM blows hot and cold, but I think I'd rather have him in the midfield than not.

:shrug: Big statement to make, but I lack hope/faith at the moment that we won't just repeat mistakes of old...

I got a bit bored of us being utterly pants in the second half so started counting our average number of touches before a pass is made, vs WBA. WBA on average was 1-3 touches followed by a pass. We were about 4-5 touches. WBA played quick and sharp football, we play slow and ponderous football.

Summed up my thoughts quite nicely KITR. I think as fans we all acknowledge the financial shitstorm, and accept that it hampers our maneuverability in the transfer market. What I can't accept is the piss poor performances on the pitch, which surely any other manager with a bit of tactical know-how at this level would be able to improve upon. Yes we have some crap players, but we also have some good players who are being dragged down to the standard of the crap ones by Pearson's god-awful negative tactics.

We all know that Tinnion will be appointed as manager again once Pearson gets the boot. Lansdown doesn't change, and hasn't changed in the last 20-25 years.

It's funny how where you watch the game from affects your impression of the goals. I sit in the south stand, and at the time it was difficult to say whether O'Leary should have done better for the goals. Having watched the highlights back (i.e. perspective from the Lansdown), you can see his hesitation caught him in no man's land for both goals. So yes, he is culpable to an extent - however there were other individual errors leading to the goals which also contributed. For example, Naismith sloppily conceding possession inside the center circle for their second.

There's been no discernible improvement in defense/defensive midfield in two years. Based on this, I have to say that our defensive coaches (or more broadly - our coaches) are just not good enough at all.

Sack. 1. Negative brand of football. 2. Dead atmosphere at matches (likely due to point 1). 3. Cannot organise a solid defence despite being a former defender (of quality). 4. I still haven’t received my food vouchers.

Gareth Ainsworth for me. ASAP.

Is it bad that I far more enjoy the social aspect of Matchday (I.e. meet up in pub beforehand, half time pasty, post game pub pit stop) than the actual football on offer?

There has to be more to it than we’ve been made aware of. It’s truly baffling isn’t it?

Tbh I had more fun in the concourse enjoying a nice beer than I did watching the tripe on the pitch.

So what do we make of Pearson’s comments to RB post match? The implication is that he doesn’t trust anyone other than Andy King to play in that position. Has something happened behind the scenes? Why is Atkinson so out of favour?

For me, if we get anywhere near £5million then it’s sell, sell, sell!

As you have quite rightly said though, he wasn’t the reason we lost today. Which makes the result even more frustrating to take.

My feeling is that we just do not get into the box anywhere near enough via a direct (or slight diagonal) run to be in with a penalty shout. Most of our box entries (Christ, I’m starting to sound like LJ) come as a result from crosses or opportunistic balls, but often not from incisively working our way beyond the last man (or into the danger area).

From Twitter this morning: ”It is with deep regret that AFC Brislington have been forced to fold and withdraw from the Somerset County league with immediate effect. The club would like to thank the supporters, management and most importantly the players that have been committed to the club over the years.” Not good! Another local club folding!

I suppose the point is we want to see obvious progress on the pitch. Yes, we have all the infrastructure, the coaching team, recruitment network etc etc but a modicum of consistency in our results wouldn’t go amiss? It’s not that we lost to Lincoln in isolation. It’s that we can’t string together a run of form to inspire any great confidence in the team. Ashton Gate, whilst historically always on the quieter side, really is like a library these days and for me that comes down to the total apathy with which fans regard this squad. Since we are financially hamstrung and unable to recruit big in January, it then becomes a discussion around whether another manager/head coach could extract more from these players on the pitch - and for me, I now sadly believe that someone else could get better performances out of the team than NP and his team are.

I agree. It’s unacceptable now. The coaches should be able to instil better defensive organisation and match awareness in our players than we are seeing. We are so, so poor defensively and we could be far better than this.