A Few Suggestions

[exiledinwatford]

I think the whole point of this issue is that it doesn't matter if he plays well or not he will be in the team.As for booing the team at the end it's a surprise that anyone is still awake at the end of the game with the rubbish being served up this season by Gary Johnson.

There was no booing of the team although a few people didn't exactly cheer when GJ entered the tunnel. This is dreadful stuff though. Sorry if I've missed it but there are only THREE teams in the Football League who have scored fewer goals than us so far this year. I think that says it all.

GJ gets an 8/10 from me as there's no doubt he's done a good job overall - great team spirit and work rate but he needs to raise his tactical game now or we'll be lucky to be getting 10,000 by the New Year.

If we must play four central midfielders at least give Williams a free role - he's the one player we have who just might do something different.

[CalgaryRed]

There was no booing of the team although a few people didn't exactly cheer when GJ entered the tunnel. This is dreadful stuff though. Sorry if I've missed it but there are only THREE teams in the Football League who have scored fewer goals than us so far this year. I think that says it all.

GJ gets an 8/10 from me as there's no doubt he's done a good job overall - great team spirit and work rate but he needs to raise his tactical game now or we'll be lucky to be getting 10,000 by the New Year.

If we must play four central midfielders at least give Williams a free role - he's the one player we have who just might do something different.

Exiled in Watford (Paul), you and I have seen a lot come and go at the Gate, players and managers. Got to say that although I haven't got to see City play so far this season I don't think I've missed much. From afar my impressions are these :

1/ Gary Johnson is one of those managers ( Graham Taylor was the most notorious example ) who are very good at taking an underperforming lower league team and taking it up a division, but then get found out through a lack of tactical vision at a higher level. GJ 's managerial apprenticeship was at John Beck's Cambridge, who believed in the long ball game espoused by that discredited FA guy ( Charles something or other ). He's made some intelligent buys in Saborio, Maynard, Hartley, Clarkson etc but it counts for nothing unless those players can be allowed to play in a way that brings the best out of them (or even allowed to play...!).

2/ GJ values loyalty above all else. Some of those who left the club didn't help their own cause ( Stewart, Carle..) but he still seems to have a real issue with managing talented but "difficult" players - e.g. Trundle, (arguably) McIndoe, Basso.. His instinct appears to sacrifice any individuality and flair for the sake of tactics. Playing his son constantly ( when frankly Hartley is the better alternative ) reminds me of Brian Clough bringing O'Hare and McGovern to Leeds during his 44 day tenure in 1974 ("Damned United"). He did that so he had eyes and ears in a dressing room he didn't trust. Is Lee there for the same reasons ?

3/ Steve Lansdown (whom generally I have huge respect for) made a massive mistake giving Gary a 5 year contract that made him near unsackable right or wrong. Result - no incentive to do much more than coast..

4/ The fans are getting very bored of being served up dull football. City have had a problem under many managers (even Dicks) of sitting back on a one goal lead at the Gate rather than killing teams off - and often paying the penalty. It seems that this is still the case under Johnson. But at least under other managers we had wingers that made going to the Gate exciting and made up for other disappointments. So many legends...Whitehead, Gavin, Dave Smith, Murray to name just a few. Now there are none. No entertainers either. No-one like Dziekanowski, Trundle, Murray, Tinnion, Walsh, Hunter, Mabbutt, Super Bob, Lita or even Junior or Greg G...Fans don't just go to watch their team win , they go to be ENTERTAINED.

[Guest DanC]

ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK

[Roger Red Hat]

That's impressive, even for the dolman...

An awfully amusing statement, made I la ff out loud.

[Cider Army]

I Have to be honest it has become a bore to watch and so many times been frustrated that city cant finish teams off..Im a fan of johnson and what he has done for the club but im starting to believe that he cant use the qualitys he has..

The days of danny wilson i seen some great attcking football the wing play especially murray down the right was great to watch..scoring like there was no tomorrow.That sort of football put bums on seats and if i remember rightly are attendences where better than now and city are a league higher..Very worring considering the better high payed players we now have!

[Pezo]

I Have to be honest it has become a bore to watch and so many times been frustrated that city cant finish teams off..Im a fan of johnson and what he has done for the club but im starting to believe that he cant use the qualitys he has..

The days of danny wilson i seen some great attcking football the wing play especially murray down the right was great to watch..scoring like there was no tomorrow.That sort of football put bums on seats and if i remember rightly are attendences where better than now and city are a league higher..Very worring considering the better high payed players we now have!

I think you have a selective memory as I can remember lots of fans having a problem with dull football under Wilson and I don't think attendances ever went up that much until the last 5 home games of the season when it looked like something might be happening only to be let down by having to go through the pray off's and lose.

[Us_and_Them]

Did you ever see any of Alan Dicks teams or Joe Jordan's 89/90 promotion team - unlikely I guess if you think GJ is our best Manager ever.....

I was there that season 89/90....everytime we got the ball and played it down the wing i thought we were gonna score....happy days

[Cider Army]

I think you have a selective memory as I can remember lots of fans having a problem with dull football under Wilson and I don't think attendances ever went up that much until the last 5 home games of the season when it looked like something might be happening only to be let down by having to go through the pray off's and lose.

What im trying to say is we had wingers to provide goals...we where getting attendences of 13,000 against the likes of wrexham.yes its hard times but im sure if there was more attacking football the crowds would come..city should be getting at least 16-17 thousand every game if not higher in this league.

[Pezo]

What im trying to say is we had wingers to provide goals...we where getting attendences of 13,000 against the likes of wrexham.yes its hard times but im sure if there was more attacking football the crowds would come..city should be getting at least 16-17 thousand every game if not higher in this league.

Oh OK I see what your saying but we haven't got any wingers capable of doing that and if we put Haynes and Clarkson out there then Johnson will get hung on here for playing players out of position (unless we win when all mistakes are forgiven).

[Tunley Legend]

Oh OK I see what your saying but we haven't got any wingers capable of doing that and if we put Haynes and Clarkson out there then Johnson will get hung on here for playing players out of position (unless we win when all mistakes are forgiven).

It is Gary Johnson's incompetence that leaves us without a genuine left winger this season. Nobody else is to blame for that.

[Mr Gow]

It is Gary Johnson's incompetence that leaves us without a genuine left winger this season. Nobody else is to blame for that.

yeah and macca didnt even wanna leave the club, he was forced out

[Pezo]

It is Gary Johnson's incompetence that leaves us without a genuine left winger this season. Nobody else is to blame for that.

I wouldn't be as harsh to say incompetence but bad short term foresight defiantly. McIndoe had to go and there ain't to many players of his quality in this league on the left so was always going to be hard to replace - I don't know if we tried.

[Pezo]

yeah and macca didnt even wanna leave the club, he was forced out

Forced out? in what way? my understanding was that he saw the competition for places and realised he wasn't going to play every game so short of handing in a transfer request he made it clear that if an offer came he wanted to take it.

[Dolman_Stand]

Forced out? in what way? my understanding was that he saw the competition for places and realised he wasn't going to play every game so short of handing in a transfer request he made it clear that if an offer came he wanted to take it.

No he was told that we would be playing a different formation, assumedly the 5-3-2, therefore he would have to be a wing-back. Now 2 months into the season we are again playing 4-4-2 and have no left winger! If I was McIndoe I would be feeling like I had been forced out

[Nibor]

McIndoe wanted to leave for money, he was not forced out nor was he told he would have competition and there was no plan to play a different formation until we failed to replace him by missing out on three or four attempted signings.

GJ tried hard to get a left winger and missed out and I can understand that being difficult. What I don't understand is why we are not still trying - there must be 19-20 yr olds available on loan from the Prem who have a left foot and some pace. Got to be better than nothing.

[Pezo]

McIndoe wanted to leave for money, he was not forced out nor was he told he would have competition and there was no plan to play a different formation until we failed to replace him by missing out on three or four attempted signings.

GJ tried hard to get a left winger and missed out and I can understand that being difficult. What I don't understand is why we are not still trying - there must be 19-20 yr olds available on loan from the Prem who have a left foot and some pace. Got to be better than nothing.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. So it was all down to money. We did try hard to get a replacement but plan B was 3-5-2 which seems to have disappeared now.

I think everyone will agree that if were going to play 4 in midfield then we need 2 wingers. Where they come from I'm not sure where. I would expect GJ to have asked around the prem teams already, if one doesn't come from the prem then where do you look (you cant bring a lad that young from a foreign country, they would never settle in and the other leagues on this island are not good enough to have non first teamer's)?

[SE23Red]

GJ tried hard to get a left winger and missed out and I can understand that being difficult. What I don't understand is why we are not still trying - there must be 19-20 yr olds available on loan from the Prem who have a left foot and some pace. Got to be better than nothing.

Or we can use the emergency loan arrangements to our advantage and sign any Football League player on loan for 90 days and then complete the perm transfer in January. I don't know if our interest in Chris Taylor at Oldham was genuine but he's the type of player we could tempt away now at the right price.

[yessir]

I think the whole point of this issue is that it doesn't matter if he plays well or not he will be in the team.As for booing the team at the end it's a surprise that anyone is still awake at the end of the game with the rubbish being served up this season by Gary Johnson.

Just remind me what number was Gj on sat?????????????

[Nibor]

Just remind me what number was Gj on sat?????????????

What do you mean what number? His god awful selection cost us two points, it doesn't matter if he was on the pitch or not.

[Big Nose]

And why is it ''ridiculous'' to complain about his management? Any manager that plays a 4-4-2 without a single wide man deserves all the abuse he gets imo.

What? You mean like Alf Ramsey's "wingless wonders" what won the world cup?

By the way BR abusing people is not the solution to a problem....

[Southport Red]

That's impressive, even for the dolman...

I got it Windmill

[Portland Bill]

Just remind me what number was Gj on sat?????????????

Isnt he the most inportant number we have ?????? hes the number that decides what tactics we play and which team employs these tactics.Then if these tactics arent working he has 3 chances to change these tactics at any time.

For instance, if he can clearly see that the Peterbourgh left back isnt very quick he can put on a very fast winger to take him on out wide!!!!!!!!!!!

[Economou]

What do you mean what number? His god awful selection cost us two points, it doesn't matter if he was on the pitch or not.

Hang on, his 'godawful selection' got us into the lead in the first place, what part of the selection cost us two points ?

Unless you're saying he played for a draw.

[Nibor]

Hang on, his 'godawful selection' got us into the lead in the first place, what part of the selection cost us two points ?

Unless you're saying he played for a draw.

The godawful selection that involved playing four central midfielders with the best one out of position and no real width.

[Economou]

The godawful selection that involved playing four central midfielders with the best one out of position and no real width.

OK but getting back to the game, the 'godawful selection' got us into a 1-0 lead going into injury time when they equalised with a flukey backheader. I can't see how the selection was responsible for their goal.

If we'd been a tad more clinical with our finishing, as per the Blackpool game, no one would have been questioning the formation/tactics.

Sno didn't have his best game Sat but he was excellent against B'pool on the right and I think it was justified to give him another go out there. Think he still got in a couple of decent crosses and linked up well with Orr on occasions.

Left hand side obviously needs room for improvement, McAllister needed to bomb forward a bit more to exploit the space but it still doesn't seem to come naturally to him.

[Nibor]

OK but getting back to the game, the 'godawful selection' got us into a 1-0 lead going into injury time when they equalised with a flukey backheader. I can't see how the selection was responsible for their goal.

If we'd been a tad more clinical with our finishing, as per the Blackpool game, no one would have been questioning the formation/tactics.

Sno didn't have his best game Sat but he was excellent against B'pool on the right and I think it was justified to give him another go out there. Think he still got in a couple of decent crosses and linked up well with Orr on occasions.

Left hand side obviously needs room for improvement, McAllister needed to bomb forward a bit more to exploit the space but it still doesn't seem to come naturally to him.

We were at home to a team in a relegation spot and they looked poor but because of our tactics and selection we were two world class saves away from losing three one.

With a little width we could have won that game comfortably in my opinion. We've looked poor every time we've lined up like that even if we did beat Blackpool. Our tactics in that game were very questionable despite the result and I would have questioned them even if we'd clung on to the 1-0.

Sno is wasted on the right, there is nothing on the left at all. McAllister can't bomb forward even if he was able to, he is massively exposed with nobody in front of him.

Also, did you notice how every time their keeper had the ball they were at our 18yd box 5 seconds later if he threw it down a flank? We need width to defend as well as attack.

In my book there is no excuse for picking four central midfielers, our problems are quite obvious - we rarely score two goals because we have no width and we have no width because the manager picks the wrong players in the wrong positions.

Our squad is unbalanced and needs two wide players but it has enough quality in to do better than draw with Peterboro.

[Economou]

We were at home to a team in a relegation spot and they looked poor but because of our tactics and selection we were two world class saves away from losing three one.

With a little width we could have won that game comfortably in my opinion. We've looked poor every time we've lined up like that even if we did beat Blackpool. Our tactics in that game were very questionable despite the result and I would have questioned them even if we'd clung on to the 1-0.

Sno is wasted on the right, there is nothing on the left at all. McAllister can't bomb forward even if he was able to, he is massively exposed with nobody in front of him.

Also, did you notice how every time their keeper had the ball they were at our 18yd box 5 seconds later if he threw it down a flank? We need width to defend as well as attack.

In my book there is no excuse for picking four central midfielers, our problems are quite obvious - we rarely score two goals because we have no width and we have no width because the manager picks the wrong players in the wrong positions.

Our squad is unbalanced and needs two wide players but it has enough quality in to do better than draw with Peterboro.

The team definately needs someone with a left peg apart from McAllister. Plummer anyone ?

[Pezo]

The godawful selection that involved playing four central midfielders with the best one out of position and no real width.

What makes him the "best one"? im yet to see anything from Sno that shows that he is any better than what we have. Don't get me wrong he has an excellent touch but comes across as lazy and uninterested losing the ball far more than - dare I say it LJ.

[exiledinwatford]

OK but getting back to the game, the 'godawful selection' got us into a 1-0 lead going into injury time when they equalised with a flukey backheader. I can't see how the selection was responsible for their goal.

If we'd been a tad more clinical with our finishing, as per the Blackpool game, no one would have been questioning the formation/tactics.

Sno didn't have his best game Sat but he was excellent against B'pool on the right and I think it was justified to give him another go out there. Think he still got in a couple of decent crosses and linked up well with Orr on occasions.

Left hand side obviously needs room for improvement, McAllister needed to bomb forward a bit more to exploit the space but it still doesn't seem to come naturally to him.

We can't expect Nicky to convert EVERY chance he gets although his goals to chance ratio must be really good. We need to be more attacking and give him some taps ins to add to his great strikes. In the words of Stephen Hendry "I'd rather lose trying to win than lose trying not to lose". Against Peterboro who haven't won in five I think a more attacking policy should have been adopted. Stating the bl**ding obvious!

[Nibor]

What makes him the "best one"? im yet to see anything from Sno that shows that he is any better than what we have. Don't get me wrong he has an excellent touch but comes across as lazy and uninterested losing the ball far more than - dare I say it LJ.

He lost the ball a lot on Saturday, the previous games I've seen from him he hardly lost it at all even with pressure from two or three opponents and he created a number of opportunities for team mates and won more ball than anyone else in midfield bar Elliott - all that despite being wide. Whether he's the best or not is subjective of course, I think he is.