What A Shambles

[Chappers]

Poor conditions. Both sides tried to play football. Never going to be a classic. I thought we should have used Akinde at half time and played a lot more direct. To be honest, it's hard to judge anything on that game as conditions were so poor and players had difficulty turning with the ball. Full marks to the players of both sides for doing their best and full marks to all fans who braved some pretty horrible conditions.

[Alex_BCFC]

Oh dear ... Another one who hasn't read the posts properly.

I read your posts properley and I'm still waiting for you to admit that it was a strong Cardiff side not made up of youth.

[Frenchay Red]

I planned to go but the weather put me off and I had already bought my ticket. I wanted to go to see if Johnson has learnt anything and sent out the team to attack .

No doubt the club will say the weather lowered the gate but we all know that many fans aren't prepared to pay to watch dull and unexciting football.

I'll watch on SC4 just in case City do actually play some football.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it seems that you were expecting to be disappointed before you decided to not go to the game.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Are you deliberately missing the point?

Read the posts again if you don't get it.

in your original post you said: Its boring to watch. Long balls up the middle again and again, no quality service to Maynard, simply no idea.

This was clearly wrong because City did'nt play a long ball game.

and then in another post you said: Snow was forcast well in advance and its not rocket science to work out that the ball won't travel well along the ground so maybe the conditions suggested a long ball game. Why not start with Saborio or Akinde and pump long balls up to them? It would have been different and maybe caught Cardiff off guard.

When the said players did come City did play a more direct route.

and for the record you were wrong Cardiff putting out a boys team.

So enlighten all of us what have we missed in conflicting posts.

[Bris Red]

Poor conditions. Both sides tried to play football. Never going to be a classic. I thought we should have used Akinde at half time and played a lot more direct. To be honest, it's hard to judge anything on that game as conditions were so poor and players had difficulty turning with the ball. Full marks to the players of both sides for doing their best and full marks to all fans who braved some pretty horrible conditions.

Glad somebody else has said this, for me Akinde should have started the match alongside haynes and i would have personally given Maynard a rest or brought him on as a sub some time in the second half.

It was never going to be a classic obviously beacuse of the weather and the football at times wasnt the best. Something needs to be changed, its getting more and more obvious that certain players seem to be reaching there natural end at the club, i would put Mccalister at the top of that list after his recent performances tbh.

[yessir]

Top post! Very amusing.

The difference is that when City improve the entertainment levels by creating chances and playing with purpose then I'll happily come on here and be very positive. Untill then its more of the same -but you don't have to read it.

Everyone knows where your coming from, if you don't like it don't go, simple, why make yourself so unhappy, go shopping or to the pictures on a sat or tuesday. If you only go cos you've bought a season ticket I'll buy it off you, no one should be so miserable lifes to short.Hope I can help.

[Bris Red]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it seems that you were expecting to be disappointed before you decided to not go to the game.

With all due respect he was right thou wasnt he? And has been in his posts over the last few months imo.

Many people see him and others who are simply saying what they are seeing on the pitch as moaners, how anyone can say tonight or the last 6 home games were good performances is beyond me. Tonight was just another rendition of the same dull un-imaginative stuff we have been seeing recently.

I see myself as a very positive fan and person in general, but really how people can disagree with what Robbored is saying is baffling.

[simon uk]

blah blah, same old, regardless of the effectiveness, the one thing Haynes did do was create width down the right, and the goal came from a cross from the left. If Barcelona were playing in that tonight they would have been knocking the ball long on occasion as well. I particularly remember a spell just before half time when we had them penned in and we were pinging the ball around trying to get at them. I do remember seeing McAllister knocking the ball long, but I also saw him making several lung bursting runs and all the players worked their socks off. Cardiff had about 3 shots at goal, they are a pretty strong side, and we easily matched them.

No matter what we do, you still have it in for GJ, and I think if we lose, it makes you happier than if we win.

[Guest DanC]

Same old dour shite served up by Johnson and Co. 20 quid, 3 hours to get there and two hours back in difficult driving conditions and all to see shit like that. Despite not playing for 15 days we had no energy, Never looked like we wanted it and never got stuck in. I still can't believe how we got anything out of that game as we certainly didn't deserve it.

I wonder how many people who are moaning at peoples opinions actully went and I also think the last minute goal covered over a lot of cracks.

At the end of the day it was another crap home performance which once again ended in the traditional home draw.

[Ian M]

Same old dour shite served up by Johnson and Co. 20 quid, 3 hours to get there and two hours back in difficult driving conditions and all to see shit like that. Despite not playing for 15 days we had no energy, Never looked like we wanted it and never got stuck in. I still can't believe how we got anything out of that game as we certainly didn't deserve it.

I wonder how many people who are moaning at peoples opinions actully went and I also think the last minute goal covered over a lot of cracks.

At the end of the day it was another crap home performance which once again ended in the traditional home draw.

I am not surprised in the least that you saw the poor performance that you wanted to see.

We didn't deserve the draw? How exactly were Cardiff better than us?

[Jordan Tansley]

have the changes to the forum changed everyones outlook or something? the last few weeks when big Al has posted this repeatitive poo most have jumped on his blinkered bandwagon...

it's sad that i'm enjoying this self destruction tonight... you've been like a broken satnav tonight robbo, round and round in circles, taking wrong turn after worng turn and leading to the same boring and predictable conclusion.

[Mr Gow]

What a pityful clueless shambolic mess of a football team we are.

Sick to the back teeth of it, just look at the pathetic crowd tonight, this for a severnside derby.

Still Johnson is king aint he? He's got it all under control aint he? He's gonna sort it all out in the end and have us winning and creating chances again aint he?

Yes good old Gary Johnson,the saviour of Bristol City FC

[jfkerton]

I thought we played reasonably well, and if anyone wasn't playing as well as I'd be expecting it was Maynard. He was through on goal a couple of times and didn't seem to know what he wanted to do with the ball. There was a good variety of long ball/ to feet passing and we looked alot more up for it that people say. Skuse/Maynard/Haynes were chasing alot more balls down that i normally see, McAlister and Orr were linking up with Haynes and Skuse more than normal and were also making some gut busting runs up and down the sidelines. Our CB's both looked really solid, although Mac and Orr both need to be more aware on the pitch, i.e. gerken's shout and then Orr hoofs it away for a thrown-in.

All this against a 90% top 4 team, and we didn't loose. I call it progress, but others will argue otherwise

[Ron]

What a pityful clueless shambolic mess of a football team we are.

Sick to the back teeth of it, just look at the pathetic crowd tonight, this for a severnside derby.

Still Johnson is king aint he? He's got it all under control aint he? He's gonna sort it all out in the end and have us winning and creating chances again aint he?

Yes good old Gary Johnson,the saviour of Bristol City FC

Right, now I've seen it all.

[REDOXO]

Watching from the warmth of an early morning in Singapore thought there was plenty of attempts to play the ball to feet into the front men and only towards the end did we resort to a more up and under approach. Hartley seemed to struggle and Elliot looked weary with Skuse the more dynamic midfielder. Cardiff rarely threatened and it was a complete howler from gerken to gift them a goal. Good that we scored late and a good strike from Williams, though he did little else.

Not a great performance but conditions clearly not ideal and Cardiff no pushover. All to play for next week- thought Akinde may have pushed himself ahead of Saborio, while clarkson had little impact on the game.

Watching from my post in the colonies I saw the thing much like Megan's dad...I thought Hartley played well first half but was out of it a little in the second and I also thought elliot did ok for periods, but still lacks that sharpness...The big thing for me was Akinde who I thought offered enough to suggest he may be coming off the bench a little earlier in the next few weeks.

[REDOXO]

Yeh, I think old Robbored is 'having one' tonight!

Personally, I watched the game on the tellybox tonight and I have to say, although not full of attacking verve and flair, City knocked the ball around pretty well, and certainly played more 'football' than Cardiff did. Anyone on here who has suggested that Cardiff played the better football has not watched the same game and is in my opinion somewhat blinkered. Cardiff played virtually no 'ball to feet' football, looking mostly for the channels and threading balls down the wings or inside the full backs. Their style was more direct(not in the long ball sense, but in getting it forward quickly). City played the majority of the football, looking to feed the strikers to feet (honestly, this happened multiple times), or looking to get Haynes wide (honestly, this also happened numerous times, albeit without a great deal of success, but you can't deny that it happened). Only toward the end of the game did we start looking a bit longer, which was perfectly understandable.

I had a bit of a funny feeling tonight actually. Managed to locate an unknown channel showing the match, which was the equivalent of Sky Sports 3 in Italian. It got me thinking how the game would have been perceived by those watching in Italy. I found myself thinking that our slow and methodical build up play would have been familiar to the watching Italians, witnessing a team willing to pass the ball in and around midfield and the back, looking to probe into the strikers and ultimately draw men inside to feed the wide players. I honestly thought that the Italians would be impressed by our ability to keep possession.

So, all this nonsense spouted by the usual suspects about no width, long balls, no entertainment, no ideas, no clue etc etc is garbage. Perhaps the season so far has blinkered their judgement, but I truly saw a different game to that on the tele tonight.

Funny thing that exact thought crossed my mind in the first half....I think there are some on here with short-term memory issues or perhaps an over indulgance of Natch/Guinesss/Blackthorne/anti-depression pills!

[REDOXO]

Everyone knows where your coming from, if you don't like it don't go, simple, why make yourself so unhappy, go shopping or to the pictures on a sat or tuesday. If you only go cos you've bought a season ticket I'll buy it off you, no one should be so miserable lifes to short.Hope I can help.

Careful Gary, you may get an invite to the (non) supporters club for the exchange

[mindjuicer]

I didn't see the same game as you. I saw a game played in appalling conditions where sometimes we passed the ball around moderately well. Cardiff are a supposed highly-rated team and they weren't better than us. Some of the movement was missing but some was very good, Carey hit the post with one, should have scored with another, Akinde might have scored and the equaliser was very well worked. I'm gonna get called naive now but I really didn't see the game you just described.

Agree with you and others saying similar things. Some players adapted well to the conditions, some didn't. Carey back to form, Orr and Fonts played well, Haynes looking like a £1.75m player. Akinde could have come on earlier but conditions weren't so bad for him to start. Really missed Sno and still missing proper left sided players. We also had a few decent chances in spite of the conditions, our defence contained Baadiff well so not much to moan about I think.

[sephjnr]

What a pityful clueless shambolic mess of a football team we are.

Sick to the back teeth of it, just look at the pathetic crowd tonight, this for a severnside derby.

Still Johnson is king aint he? He's got it all under control aint he? He's gonna sort it all out in the end and have us winning and creating chances again aint he?

Yes good old Gary Johnson,the saviour of Bristol City FC

Just in case you haven't been keeping up on current events the weather *may* have had a hand in this. Even with the knowledge of the game going ahead people had good reason to believe the game could have been abandoned at any time seeing the snow had been flowing constantly for a good two hours prior. I'm grateful we had 90 minutes+ of football, and I'm very grateful we had something of a result from it, when Baaadiff scored I was more worried about my feet falling off due to the cold, could you really blame a good proportion of people for feeling the same?

Oh, and this proves that your argument is horse as well.

[Tunley Legend]

The first half wasn't that bad to be fair but the second half was very poor - the conditions no doubt played a large part but to deny that the second half was poor quality would be plain lying. Having said that Cardiff passed the ball better than us in that second 45. I was disappointed that Akinde was ignored at the expense of Saborio at half time and he proved me right by doing more in ten minutes than Saborio managed in 45. Clarkson and Saborio were so ineffective (as was Maynard to be fair) that I would start Maynard and Akinde up top on Saturday. We got into more crossing positions last night than we have done recently but as I said in another thread the delivery in general was worse than a Sunday Pub team and needs hours, days and weeks if not months of work at the training ground. And, interestingly, on one of the two or three times we got to the bye-line last night the pull got pulled back and we ended up scoring!!! Who says width is myth eh?

Cardiff are a better side than us, I agree, and they are a better side with two Academy teenagers playing. When is GJ going to start giving some of our more promising players a go - no-one can tell me that our Academy boy, Ribiero, would have put in a worse shift than either McAllister or Orr last night. McAllister is playing so badly that I would stick Orr in at Left Back on Saturday and bring Ribiero in on the right - to give a him a kick up the ar$e if nothing else. You cannot have players in your squad GUARANTEED a place and McAllister is firmly in that category - and playing like it too.

By the way the person (was it leobcfc?) who was suggesting that Gerken, amongst others, is not a good signing is a nutter in my opinion. Yes, he needs to be more dominant but he is a 24 year old keeper who is getting better all the time, will continue to get better under Stuart Naylor, and has won us many points this season.

[Murraysrightplum]

The long ball actually worked first half! The widemen/strikers were clear of their back 4 several times but the final ball/shot was always poor.

Second half both teams were poor so I think you have to take into consideration the conditions.

[!james]

The conditions the game was played in makes in impossible to heavily criticise how the team played (yet robbored still manages to do so, suprise!)

It was almost like watching a Danny Baker gaffes video the amount of mistakes and misplaced passes that stopped in the snow, both teams were very guilty of this but again if it was a sunny crisp saturday afternoon i dont think that this would have happened. Yes the football was bad at times from us but also from them, apart from the free-kick if the first half how much did they really test Gerken? Fonts and Carey were both superb last night, Skuse was good, Haynes tried hard with no end product, Maynard lost his first touch and was terrible - but again the conditions have a lot to do with that.

[chipdawg]

Obvioulsy there was gonna be a lot of poor football played last night, it was played in a blizzard. However, i thought that when actual football (as a pose to giant slalom) was played, we looked the better team. And this thing about Cardiff being a team full of academy players is rubbish; Adam Matthews is the most highly rated teenager in the division right now and they were only really missing Burke and Bothroyd

That's not to say ours was a performance beyond criticism. Elliot looked great when we were without the ball, then once he'd crunched someone and won possession he invariably looked like a pub player. Both full backs were poor and kept being pulled into midfield, while both centre backs continually bailed them out. I thought Hartley was good in the first half and Skuse was great in the second. The most troubling thing though was that we never seemed to attack the ball, especially Maynard and Haynes (although they weren't the only ones). The ball was not exactly zipping about and for 90 minutes we never seemed to twig that perhaps we might have to attack the ball once in a while to retain possesion

[Robbored]

Obvioulsy there was gonna be a lot of poor football played last night, it was played in a blizzard.

Tbh I thought both teams coped pretty well with the conditions. The only bad error led to the Cardiff goal.

My point earlier in this thread was that regardless of the conditions Johnson set up his team in the same way that he has done for the past 18 months. Narrow, predictable and pedestrian relying on two fullbacks to get forward when neither of them are up to the job.Decent enough full backs but wing backs they ain't.Pumping long balls up to strikers who are not suited to that style.Cardiff knew what to expect and they got exactly that.It will be the same at their place next week.

In view of the weather forcast it was obvious that playing on the ground would get increasingly difficult and Johnson had the opportunity to change the way the team played but he persisted with the same tired formation. He could have opted to play more directely and put either Akinde/Saborio or both up front with Maynard from the start in the hope of flick on or knock down.High balls in snowy conditions are more likely to cause defensive errors but he didn't do it. Johnson missed a trick last night as I'm sure Cardiff wouldn't have expected a direct style.

If we had seen a deliberate stratagy to play more directly then I'm sure we would have understood why and applauded an attempt to take advatgae of the conditions.

[CiderHider]

Well for me it was the most exciting match I've seen in ages, some nice passes considering the almost unplayable conditions. We were much better the Cardiff apart from in goal.

Not sure you can blame anyone for the 'shambles' both GJ (who is my new superhero) and the players did extremely well for me.

[cheese]

Tbh I thought both teams coped pretty well with the conditions. The only bad error led to the Cardiff goal.

My point earlier in this thread was that regardless of the conditions Johnson set up his team in the same way that he has done for the past 18 months. Narrow, predictable and pedestrian relying on two fullbacks to get forward when neither of them are up to the job.Decent enough full backs but wing backs they ain't.Pumping long balls up to strikers who are not suited to that style.Cardiff knew what to expect and they got exactly that.It will be the same at their place next week.

In view of the weather forcast it was obvious that playing on the ground would get increasingly difficult and Johnson had the opportunity to change the way the team played but he persisted with the same tired formation. He could have opted to play more directely and put either Akinde/Saborio or both up front with Maynard from the start in the hope of flick on or knock down.High balls in snowy conditions are more likely to cause defensive errors but he didn't do it. Johnson missed a trick last night as I'm sure Cardiff wouldn't have expected a direct style.

If we had seen a deliberate stratagy to play more directly then I'm sure we would have understood why and applauded an attempt to take advatgae of the conditions.

I'm having trouble with the game you saw and the game which I witnessed where we played the ball on the deck for the most part. Something that the Radio FiveLive summariser at ha;f-time also seemed to have seen - how come you saw it differently?

[Robbored]

I'm having trouble with the game you saw and the game which I witnessed where we played the ball on the deck for the most part. Something that the Radio FiveLive summariser at ha;f-time also seemed to have seen - how come you saw it differently?

So what did you see? Did I miss goal line scrambles, attacking play and numerous chances? Did I miss loads of crosses from the by-line? (saw two I think, one led to the City goal.) Did I miss City taking advantage of the difficult conditions?.

What I saw and you obviously didn't was exactly the same predictable formation that everyone knows City play. One win in 11 matches just about says it all - its time for a re-think and change of style. Last night City had a good opportunity to try something different but it didn't happen.

[kingswood red]

I'm having trouble with the game you saw and the game which I witnessed where we played the ball on the deck for the most part. Something that the Radio FiveLive summariser at ha;f-time also seemed to have seen - how come you saw it differently?

Makes a change for you to comment on a game that you actually witnessed, what's that, the third this season?

[chipdawg]

Tbh I thought both teams coped pretty well with the conditions. The only bad error led to the Cardiff goal.

My point earlier in this thread was that regardless of the conditions Johnson set up his team in the same way that he has done for the past 18 months. Narrow, predictable and pedestrian relying on two fullbacks to get forward when neither of them are up to the job.Decent enough full backs but wing backs they ain't.Pumping long balls up to strikers who are not suited to that style.Cardiff knew what to expect and they got exactly that.It will be the same at their place next week.

In view of the weather forcast it was obvious that playing on the ground would get increasingly difficult and Johnson had the opportunity to change the way the team played but he persisted with the same tired formation. He could have opted to play more directely and put either Akinde/Saborio or both up front with Maynard from the start in the hope of flick on or knock down.High balls in snowy conditions are more likely to cause defensive errors but he didn't do it. Johnson missed a trick last night as I'm sure Cardiff wouldn't have expected a direct style.

If we had seen a deliberate stratagy to play more directly then I'm sure we would have understood why and applauded an attempt to take advatgae of the conditions.

I take your point Robbo, but if he'd gone with Akinde and Saborio up front to provide an 'outlet' he would be being criticised on here for setting the team up for the long ball, of which i actually thought there was a pleasing lack of for most of the match. GJ is damned if he does and damned if he don't right now

[Whale Eye Beef Hooked]

I'd imagine there would have been a very strong chorus of boos around the ground had we not snatched that late and completely undeserved equaliser!

I don't think I've watched a more depressing and negative game of football in my life. It's now become blindingly obvious now that the primary concern is the final ball into the box which was atrocious throughout the match. I haven't seen a keeper to be so poor at commanding the area for his size as Gerken because he got beaten to the majority of the crosses tonight. I believe that Lansdown is now at the point where he does not want to back Johnson financially because he is simply not capable of spending the money wisely. The only positive that I could think of was that Gary subbed David Clarkson early on who was absolutely anonymous and looked totally disinterested.

Clarkson had a very good first half. He ran himself into the ground. I feel that he played way too deep ( which obviously he was asked too ) which limited Maynard and haynes getting wide in the first half but he looked our brightest player, so how can you say he looked un-interested ???

He was taken off at half time as GJ went 4-4-2 and Sobario is better as an out and out striker