cinker Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 The goals in 1st half stats are very poor - both home & away - Until we find out the reason why we cant score in first half & correct it then I dont think we will make any roads at all into challenging the top 10 let alone top 6 This where the players don't show up until the 2nd half right.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotswoldRed Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 . . . Fix all this and I still think we're going up. Shouldn't be that hard, to be frank. Be careful with your views. Your positive analysis will get you banned from here as you'll upset the majority Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nogbad the Bad Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 One season City were an unknown and underrated quality who were underestimated by a number of opposing sides, the next they were much better known and it was much clearer how to beat them. Two years ago City were playing a slick passing game with 2 wingers and taking the game to the opposition. So impressive were we that for a time we were tagged by the media as "The Arsenal of the Championship." Sproule and McIndoe were regulars then, Sproule has certainly since been "found out" as inadequate, McIndoe has not been replaced. Now we are turgid with no width whatsoever and very little praise for the quality of our football from media or rival sides alike. I don't think we were underestimated at all, we simply played a brand of positive football, with a never say die attitude, that actually scared some opposition teams and put them on the back foot. Now we often look uninspired, drab, fearful and inhibited at a time in our Championship existence which should be far more settled and enjoyable than this for both fans and players. GJ's priority must be to get the club buzzing again - the matchday experience is repetitvely predictable and poor - and a more attacking formation and outlook could achieve that in a very short time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Two years ago City were playing a slick passing game with 2 wingers and taking the game to the opposition. So impressive were we that for a time we were tagged by the media as "The Arsenal of the Championship." Sproule and McIndoe were regulars then, Sproule has certainly since been "found out" as inadequate, McIndoe has not been replaced. Now we are turgid with no width whatsoever and very little praise for the quality of our football from media or rival sides alike. I don't think we were underestimated at all, we simply played a brand of positive football, with a never say die attitude, that actually scared some opposition teams and put them on the back foot. Now we often look uninspired, drab, fearful and inhibited at a time in our Championship existence which should be far more settled and enjoyable than this for both fans and players. GJ's priority must be to get the club buzzing again - the matchday experience is repetitvely predictable and poor - and a more attacking formation and outlook could achieve that in a very short time. Everything you say is true, GJ must be aware of the problems/failings but in truth nothing much has changed since the first game at Preston; Maybe it is a confidence thing, maybe its a saftey first thing and we are inhibited, but is it the players or are they under the leash; I dont want to opportion blame but until we find out the problem it cant be cured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCFC_Dan Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 I can't disagree with any of that, but I do think that a large part of the initial success was down to being underestimated. As soon as opposition teams worked out that if they matched City's work-rate and harassed the midfield they lacked the quality to play the way they had been. If it were simply a case of sticking with the same players and tactics, why would Johnson change it for the worse? I simply can't believe that he's deliberately trying to play a worse brand of football, though I can well believe he's struggling to recreate what they had going. Some kind of spark is needed to get things going again but I don't think it's too far off. When this team is settled and confident I believe it can produce decent football. The trick will be getting them settled and confident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityboy Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Surprised to hear people still calling for Clarkson to start after Saturday. He's clearly nowhere near fit enough and was dead on his feet about 10 minutes after coming on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud55 Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 I can't disagree with any of that, but I do think that a large part of the initial success was down to being underestimated. As soon as opposition teams worked out that if they matched City's work-rate and harassed the midfield they lacked the quality to play the way they had been. If it were simply a case of sticking with the same players and tactics, why would Johnson change it for the worse? I simply can't believe that he's deliberately trying to play a worse brand of football, though I can well believe he's struggling to recreate what they had going. Some kind of spark is needed to get things going again but I don't think it's too far off. When this team is settled and confident I believe it can produce decent football. The trick will be getting them settled and confident. Agree totally, teams vastly underestimated our players ability with time and space, most teams stood off us for a large part of that season. Which is what allowed us to play that way, and why Johnson was very much an asset for the large part of the first season, given the time and space he can be bloody good player, but since then he has been worked out and opposition sides worked out if you close him down he will largely pass backwards and sideways to no effect and lacks the ability of a Noble, Williams, Hartley, Sno etc, to create the space for himself, he also had wide players opening the midfield as well which gave him a little more space, now we are so narrow that we can't afford to have players that can't manufacture their own space out of nothing in the middle. The Narrower we have got the worse Johnson has become and the more and more stick he has got, but without the space he needs, which is an awful lot which he can't make himself Johnson is not an asset to the team, with this space he is very much an asset, but i haven't seen him givin anything like the space he needs to be effective since our first season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverface Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Wasn't dire. Frustrating yes, but we didn't play too badly. We got ripped ragged down our left, mostly by Stead, for the first 30 mins. Took Hartley to organise the defence again. After that we defended pretty well. Once again we failed in the final third. Our tactics here are poor. Maynard and Haynes get pushed off the ball really easily and rarely win headers. Sno was passing badly again - he beat his man about 5x, only for the final ball to let us down. Maynard and Haynes don't connect very well. Saborio and Clarkson barely got a touch. Sproule looked quite good except for one ball where half the stadium laughed. After about 60 minutes we started giving the ball away loads. Luckily, Ipswitch mostly sucked going forward and our defence defended very well. Around 80 minutes we resorted to long ball which got us nowhere. Thought Hartley should've been MoM - or maybe Fontaine. LJ had a good first half again and went downhill at around 60 mins. Elliott nowhere. Gerken had a corker. He's certainly a great stopper. Final third play is our #1 weakness now, followed closely by giving the ball away - both when we're tired. I'm pretty sure every player played a remarkably crap ball some time during the 2nd half. Do we do training specifically for when we're knackered? Final third has been City's weakness during GJ's entire reign! The stats don't lie, we just don't score many goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Hocking Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Except there were times we couldn't score last season. Sorry I've shown you up. Perhaps you should stick to subjects you know something about. Remind us how many games you saw last season mr 'mindjuicer' - given that you have previously admitted you have only seen City play a dozen times in your life.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindjuicer Posted December 7, 2009 Report Share Posted December 7, 2009 Remind us how many games you saw last season mr 'mindjuicer' - given that you have previously admitted you have only seen City play a dozen times in your life.... It's above that now but yeah and it's not something I admitted. It's something I stated as a fact. You don't actually have to see more than 2 games to know a team has a problem scoring. Plus it was the major topic on here at least twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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