A Question For Those Still Backing Sod

[GodEmperor Palpatine]

Good? Benny did change better than So'D as did Wilson despite all of the shenanigans. Is too easy. Sure, we got relegated and didnt get promoted, but we managed to integrate and play a load better with youths, none experience and a mix of older players than we did now. At one point we had one of the best records in all of the leagues for our high but not quite making it finishes.

Ah Benny L, should've been given a lot longer than he was.

What I said is right, the ultimate responsibility lies with the board... and the board has been clueless for as long as I can remember.

[fka dagest]

It's not a question of how long we stick with him, it's who would we replace him with? Or do we (once again) panic and make the wrong choice and make things worse? I'll ask my question again; who would you replace him with?

I think Nigel Clough would be a perfect fit down here. He likes investing in young players and brings youth through. He's already managed at the right levels for us. He did a decent job at Derby. And I think he'd have a point to prove.

I'd give O'Driscoll three more league games to get a win and then see if he can get another win in the next three. If not cheerio.

[chipdawg]

I think Nigel Clough would be a perfect fit down here. He likes investing in young players and brings youth through. He's already managed at the right levels for us. He did a decent job at Derby. And I think he'd have a point to prove.

I'd give O'Driscoll three more league games to get a win and then see if he can get another win in the next three. If not cheerio.

Clough did nothing at Derby. In 5 years he's taken them from lower mid table in the championship to.... lower mid table in the championship. He's be the definition of the kind of 'change for changes sake' that we need to avoid

[GodEmperor Palpatine]

Not really answering the question is it? Please explain how they affect performances on field?

The performances on the field are irrelevant. Who hires the manager? The fact was the board seized the opportunity when SO'D wrongly got the boot at Forest, stabbed Del in the back and hired O'Driscoll on the Monday.

[Alex_BCFC]

I think he has about 6-10 games to turn it around.

I can see what he is trying to do (last night apart) but the results must come with it at some point.

[GodEmperor Palpatine]

And RMLF I have already stated that the performances are a marked improvement on season.

[Turbored]

Clough did nothing at Derby. In 5 years he's taken them from lower mid table in the championship to.... lower mid table in the championship. He's be the definition of the kind of 'change for changes sake' that we need to avoid

It may not appear that Clough has done nothing at Derby but he has kept them comfortably in the Championship , and performed the so called "Transition" that some on here say SO`d is performing. Clough has massively cut the wage bill that he inherited and implemented a new pay structure , he has blooded and developed youth team players and managed to get rid of all the dead wood they had .... as we well know.....

[fka dagest]

Clough did nothing at Derby. In 5 years he's taken them from lower mid table in the championship to.... lower mid table in the championship. He's be the definition of the kind of 'change for changes sake' that we need to avoid

Right now I'd take a bit of mid-table nothingness. It's got to beat the free-fall marking SOD's reign.

[Portland Bill]

I keep seeing the names GJ and Warnock bought up.

These are the sort of managers who give a club a couple of good seasons and that's it.

Warnock doesn't stay anywhere long because he gets found out. GJ much the same.

The current plan is to develop a younger talented squad that will play decent football, a team that will eventually get us back to the Championship and stay there long term.

As a fan I'm not interested anymore in a "Quick fix", it doesn't work, it's been proved time and time again, especially at our club!

Alan Dicks was given time, look what happened.

Whether it be SOD or eventually some one else,we have to build a foundation, play football a certain way ( all through the club) and use the academy,

If we don't, then we as a club will be as bad for the next 100 years as we have in the previous 100.

[OneManMob]

Exiled robin eluded to the fact on twitter that Gary Johnson went 10 games without a win at start of his career before he nearly got us to the prem.

Similar thing now happened to SOD at Donny before they rocketed up the league.

Everyone is being a tad pre-emptive. If you guys were in charge of employment in this country I'm sure 99% of the population would be unemployed.

As standard, people get 6 month probation periods to prove themselves. Let's see where we are after the 6th month of this season and then have your dig

We havent won for 7 months now.

[GodEmperor Palpatine]

So what are you saying then that the board are responsible for the coaches actions and tactics? that's one weird assertion

Yet again you don't grasp it.

Go back, read it again and then come back to me. I wont hold my breath though...

[Aizoon]

One more JPT game like that and it's curtains, for me

So you're backing Sean until august 2014?

[Thornbury Red]

We havent won for 7 months now.

Wrong. We have won three games this season.

[Dorset_Cider]

Ive read it several times, its all smoke and mirrors, Answer the damn question rather than being wishy washy about it. Not. rocket. Science. The Head coach is irrelavant because the board chose him? Have we regressed to pre Chapman levels when the board/chairman actually picked the club and ran the team? I dont think so. So Ill say again, how is the head coach absolved of responsibility from the team he picks and trains over the board and what their role in every day team selection, training and development of a squad?

How are the team absolved of resonsibility for their performance?

[xerox6060]

SOD on paper to me was the kind of guy I wanted to rebuild this club, it needed a long term plan and he looked the ideal choice to provide it.

He seems to be struggling and I'm disappointed with what I've seen so far and we're quite possibly going to be in a relegation battle, but you can't keep changing managers, he's on a long term project here so I would let him get on with it.

[GoingUp]

I believe as long as we are not relegated SoD will be here for the long haul, but all the sodites who keep saying forget last seasons results under SoD, obviously choose to ignore the point that if we had stayed up then they themselves would be 'counting' his match results from the time he got the job! That point is not open to question I believe, the previous incumbents saved us when it wasn't 'their' team so why any different for SoD.I still back the man but do not see the need to ignore his failure last season.

[OldlandReddies]

For me it's not about the number of games without a win it's all about whether or not we have progressed as a club from last season. As a fan and season ticket holder I can honestly say that I have enjoyed watching City more this season than last and have been more than happy with SOD's transfer activities. Flint, Parish, Waggers, Shorey, Pack and what little we have seen of Wynter so far have all been a success and JET has simply been individually outstanding. The emergence of Bryan and Reid has been very encouraging and the way we have kept the ball at times shows they are being coached the right way to play football. Yes, I am disappointed like the rest of you that we have not been able to get that elusive win yet but it surely is within touching distance if we continue to do the right things.We must believe and trust in SOD to turn things around and expect more downs than ups along the way whilst this team grows together. Patience is the key and, we afford SOD plenty of it, then I'm sure he and his City team will reward us fans in the long run. COYR.

[bearded_red]

Now I never thought I would be backing a manager which has overseen a winless run in the league of 19 games, but I am. Football more so than any other sport can see a poor team beat a good team and it is much easier to register a fortunate victory. Both of these things make failing to win in nineteen unacceptable really and I don't blame anyone that feels that this alone is a sacking offence. However I remain fully behind SO'D and I have actually seen glimmers which make me believe we're not too far away from being a decent team. I totally understand everyone's complaints and at the end of the day going long runs without winning in this division is not something we're used to. He may have exaggerated somewhat, but I agreed with him the other day in that subconsciously I think we're all guilty of turning up at Ashton Gate when we play teams such as Colchester and whether we're good, bad or indifferent feeling that we should wipe the floor with them. I know I am guilty of it.

When he came in last season he did initially make us much tougher to beat and in the Watford and Brighton games in particular we gave two tactically excellent performances which stopped two of the best attacking teams in the division. Gus Poyet has just been given a job in the Premier League and yet that night he was totally outcoached by O'Driscoll as we completely stopped his team from playing. However we were still whipping boys away from home and I actually feel SO'D got off rather lightly after the defeat to Wolves. We can all accuse players of not caring, and no doubt they gave performances at times last season that invited that accusation, but at the final whistle at Molinuex they looked dejected and beaten men. Now surely it is a major talent required to be a manager that you are able to pick your players up after such a confidence crushing defeat. And yet, we were absolutely pathetic. We may as well have called up the League on the way home from Wolves that night and said we wouldn't be fulfilling the rest of our fixtures and given everyone a 3-0 win. I'm not suggesting it is O'Driscoll's fault we were relegated last season, but we were disgraceful in the majority of those last nine matches and I don't feel the head coach should get off blameless as some would argue just because they weren't his players and the previous manager was incompetent.

Now this season. I actually feel that in our fifteen games this season we have actually only been poor for 90 minutes in two of them. Last night and against Peterborough, and even then a few people I know argue that we were fine up until Fielding gifted them a goal, but that isn't an argument I subscribe to. I am adamant that on the balance of play we could and should have many more points than we have. We have suffered massively from individual mistakes (and genuine individual mistakes not the Derek McInnes type where we would get outplayed every week and then blame defeat on one error), some school boy defending, sloppy periods of play and not taking enough of our chances. At the risk of sounding a little bit too much like our head coach, if we looked at the performances rather than the results (which of course are poor) I do feel that we would all be a little bit more optimistic going forwards. I wasn't at the Gillingham League Cup game, but by all accounts we played really well and won at a canter, but I've seen the rest of the games like this;

Bradford- The better team, good going forwards, for me deserved to win... 2 disgracefully soft goals when under no real pressure gifted away 2 points. I do wonder how different our season would be if we had hung on that day and we could have consigned the winless run monkey on our backs to last season's much maligned team.

Coventry- A stupid game and more like Basketball than Football, but had Baldock taken his three glorious chances in the first half and Fontaine given away one of the worst goals you will ever see could easily have won that game and should have drawn it. And yes I know how ridiculous that may sound when you let in 5 goals!

Wolves- Outplayed before the substitution, but the better team afterwards. Again concede a soft goal to make sure we don't take the point(s) we deserve.

MK- The better team against what is one of the better sides in this division. Should have been winning anyway, but Baldock misses a late sitter and the referee misses a blatent penalty which should/could have seen us victors.

Palace- An excellent performance from City. One of the best all round performances I have seen from us in years.

Gillingham- Poor opening half hour, but after that we have absolutely murdered them. Had enough chances to win 5 games let alone 1. Still not sure how we failed to win.

Rovers- Obviously have to qualify it with the fact we were playing the worst team the world has ever seen, but a good performance in a big game from City. Excellent in the first half and showed real character to fight our way back on top after looking like rabbits caught in the headlights at the start of the second half after Rovers pressed us much better.

Peterborough- Poor performance and comfortably beaten by what is a better team.

Shrewsbury- The type of game we have all seen far too much of at this level. Small team comes to Ashton Gate to put everyone behind the ball, we then make our life much more difficult by giving away a poor goal. Full credit in that we kept on pressing and eventually got the equaliser. Not the best performance ever and a poor game, but we should have won.

Swindon- Superb in possession, horrendous out of it. Had the better of the game, but couldn't live with Swindon when they had the ball and looked like scoring every time they crossed the half way line. Some would say our play with the ball merited a win, but you won't win a game at any level of football defending like that.

Southampton- Other than conceding the goal from a corner a real positive performance. At times dominated, if we had got the equaliser we deserved I feel we could have gone on and provided a real shock.

Colchester- See Shrewsbury.

Port Vale- I would say it was robbery that we didn't take the three points, but robbery isn't the definition of you giving something away. A real gutting moment as we had been excellent throughout and would have fully deserved the win.

Wycombe- Pick any negative adjective and it would describe us last night. A rancid performance.

Now some will feel I'm guilty of looking at that through rose tinted spectacles and of course it is all insignificant compared to what really matters which is obviously the result of each game. We're a long way away from being the finished article and we lack consistency from one minute to the next, let alone week to week, but I think we are at times playing some really good football.

I just feel we're not far away from being a decent team and should we continue to give the type of performances we have been, but manage to cut down on the sloppy errors, shocking defending and poor passages of play we will inevitably win a game soon and begin to rise up this league. The massive concern is of course that as this run continues any confidence in the team will go missing and the spirit of the players will be crushed. There is a danger that Flint's error on Saturday has done far more damage than simply losing two points. With every game that goes by without a win, that win becomes a little bit harder to achieve. We were already poor at leading games (not that we're overly used to doing it) as could be seen at MK when we were the much better team at 0-0, 1-1 and 2-2, but more shaky when in the lead and failing to win last Saturday will make every player that little bit more nervy. If last night's performance is anything to go by you could also make a case that the Port Vale result has made the players think we will never win a game no matter what we do so why even bother!

It is of course too simplistic, but we have forgotten how to win a game and I just feel, however blindly optimistic this may be, that should we win one it will do us the world of good. Teams that are used to winning are confident that in any situation that they will get the win and it's almost as if nothing that can happen fazes them. A good example is the season we won 11 on the trot under Danny. During that run there were late goals, games where we spent large periods under the cosh and in one game we conceded a late equaliser (Brentford at home I think), but it didn't matter. The players knew how to win and were confident they were going to. We then lose one game at Hillsborough from a last minute goal and instantly turn to rubbish! I do believe that the opposite could happen with us this season, one positive result could really set us away. Then again, that could just be the stuff of fantasy...

For me it is going to go one of two ways. When we resume our season in a week and half (possibly/probably bottom of the league) we will either replicate some of our better performance in which case we surely have to win some time soon and begin to creep up the league or the all the negative aspects of our play will continue and we will keep failing to win a game. If the second option happens then we will obviously hit whatever the magic number is and he will be sacked. I am sure that surely we would all rather that the first option occurs...

[cheese]

"In transition" - used by every underachieving team/chairman/manager to legitimise failure.

Ah I see - I wondered what it meant!

[Dorset_Cider]

Now I never thought I would be backing a manager which has overseen a winless run in the league of 19 games, but I am. Football more so than any other sport can see a poor team beat a good team and it is much easier to register a fortunate victory. Both of these things make failing to win in nineteen unacceptable really and I don't blame anyone that feels that this alone is a sacking offence. However I remain fully behind SO'D and I have actually seen glimmers which make me believe we're not too far away from being a decent team. I totally understand everyone's complaints and at the end of the day going long runs without winning in this division is not something we're used to. He may have exaggerated somewhat, but I agreed with him the other day in that subconsciously I think we're all guilty of turning up at Ashton Gate when we play teams such as Colchester and whether we're good, bad or indifferent feeling that we should wipe the floor with them. I know I am guilty of it.

When he came in last season he did initially make us much tougher to beat and in the Watford and Brighton games in particular we gave two tactically excellent performances which stopped two of the best attacking teams in the division. Gus Poyet has just been given a job in the Premier League and yet that night he was totally outcoached by O'Driscoll as we completely stopped his team from playing. However we were still whipping boys away from home and I actually feel SO'D got off rather lightly after the defeat to Wolves. We can all accuse players of not caring, and no doubt they gave performances at times last season that invited that accusation, but at the final whistle at Molinuex they looked dejected and beaten men. Now surely it is a major talent required to be a manager that you are able to pick your players up after such a confidence crushing defeat. And yet, we were absolutely pathetic. We may as well have called up the League on the way home from Wolves that night and said we wouldn't be fulfilling the rest of our fixtures and given everyone a 3-0 win. I'm not suggesting it is O'Driscoll's fault we were relegated last season, but we were disgraceful in the majority of those last nine matches and I don't feel the head coach should get off blameless as some would argue just because they weren't his players and the previous manager was incompetent.

Now this season. I actually feel that in our fifteen games this season we have actually only been poor for 90 minutes in two of them. Last night and against Peterborough, and even then a few people I know argue that we were fine up until Fielding gifted them a goal, but that isn't an argument I subscribe to. I am adamant that on the balance of play we could and should have many more points than we have. We have suffered massively from individual mistakes (and genuine individual mistakes not the Derek McInnes type where we would get outplayed every week and then blame defeat on one error), some school boy defending, sloppy periods of play and not taking enough of our chances. At the risk of sounding a little bit too much like our head coach, if we looked at the performances rather than the results (which of course are poor) I do feel that we would all be a little bit more optimistic going forwards. I wasn't at the Gillingham League Cup game, but by all accounts we played really well and won at a canter, but I've seen the rest of the games like this;

Bradford- The better team, good going forwards, for me deserved to win... 2 disgracefully soft goals when under no real pressure gifted away 2 points. I do wonder how different our season would be if we had hung on that day and we could have consigned the winless run monkey on our backs to last season's much maligned team.

Coventry- A stupid game and more like Basketball than Football, but had Baldock taken his three glorious chances in the first half and Fontaine given away one of the worst goals you will ever see could easily have won that game and should have drawn it. And yes I know how ridiculous that may sound when you let in 5 goals!

Wolves- Outplayed before the substitution, but the better team afterwards. Again concede a soft goal to make sure we don't take the point(s) we deserve.

MK- The better team against what is one of the better sides in this division. Should have been winning anyway, but Baldock misses a late sitter and the referee misses a blatent penalty which should/could have seen us victors.

Palace- An excellent performance from City. One of the best all round performances I have seen from us in years.

Gillingham- Poor opening half hour, but after that we have absolutely murdered them. Had enough chances to win 5 games let alone 1. Still not sure how we failed to win.

Rovers- Obviously have to qualify it with the fact we were playing the worst team the world has ever seen, but a good performance in a big game from City. Excellent in the first half and showed real character to fight our way back on top after looking like rabbits caught in the headlights at the start of the second half after Rovers pressed us much better.

Peterborough- Poor performance and comfortably beaten by what is a better team.

Shrewsbury- The type of game we have all seen far too much of at this level. Small team comes to Ashton Gate to put everyone behind the ball, we then make our life much more difficult by giving away a poor goal. Full credit in that we kept on pressing and eventually got the equaliser. Not the best performance ever and a poor game, but we should have won.

Swindon- Superb in possession, horrendous out of it. Had the better of the game, but couldn't live with Swindon when they had the ball and looked like scoring every time they crossed the half way line. Some would say our play with the ball merited a win, but you won't win a game at any level of football defending like that.

Southampton- Other than conceding the goal from a corner a real positive performance. At times dominated, if we had got the equaliser we deserved I feel we could have gone on and provided a real shock.

Colchester- See Shrewsbury.

Port Vale- I would say it was robbery that we didn't take the three points, but robbery isn't the definition of you giving something away. A real gutting moment as we had been excellent throughout and would have fully deserved the win.

Wycombe- Pick any negative adjective and it would describe us last night. A rancid performance.

Now some will feel I'm guilty of looking at that through rose tinted spectacles and of course it is all insignificant compared to what really matters which is obviously the result of each game. We're a long way away from being the finished article and we lack consistency from one minute to the next, let alone week to week, but I think we are at times playing some really good football.

I just feel we're not far away from being a decent team and should we continue to give the type of performances we have been, but manage to cut down on the sloppy errors, shocking defending and poor passages of play we will inevitably win a game soon and begin to rise up this league. The massive concern is of course that as this run continues any confidence in the team will go missing and the spirit of the players will be crushed. There is a danger that Flint's error on Saturday has done far more damage than simply losing two points. With every game that goes by without a win, that win becomes a little bit harder to achieve. We were already poor at leading games (not that we're overly used to doing it) as could be seen at MK when we were the much better team at 0-0, 1-1 and 2-2, but more shaky when in the lead and failing to win last Saturday will make every player that little bit more nervy. If last night's performance is anything to go by you could also make a case that the Port Vale result has made the players think we will never win a game no matter what we do so why even bother!

It is of course too simplistic, but we have forgotten how to win a game and I just feel, however blindly optimistic this may be, that should we win one it will do us the world of good. Teams that are used to winning are confident that in any situation that they will get the win and it's almost as if nothing that can happen fazes them. A good example is the season we won 11 on the trot under Danny. During that run there were late goals, games where we spent large periods under the cosh and in one game we conceded a late equaliser (Brentford at home I think), but it didn't matter. The players knew how to win and were confident they were going to. We then lose one game at Hillsborough from a last minute goal and instantly turn to rubbish! I do believe that the opposite could happen with us this season, one positive result could really set us away. Then again, that could just be the stuff of fantasy...

For me it is going to go one of two ways. When we resume our season in a week and half (possibly/probably bottom of the league) we will either replicate some of our better performance in which case we surely have to win some time soon and begin to creep up the league or the all the negative aspects of our play will continue and we will keep failing to win a game. If the second option happens then we will obviously hit whatever the magic number is and he will be sacked. I am sure that surely we would all rather that the first option occurs...

Well I liked your post........ we do have to be better in both halves of the game not just the second..... but the positives are there and you obviously get SOD and so do I

We will get on top of this...... it will take time...... the sooner the better...... but I feel despite all the draws or defeats we are on the mend...... might not seem like it but drawing from your appraisal

It really only looks like freefall due to the lack of wins, which I also believe will come and will help greatly..... keep the faith and it's all up hill

[timothy bird]

I don't think that we do all want the first option, theirs some who wont be happy until they get s.I.d.out and replaced by Warnock or pulis or Cottrell!

[Dorset_Cider]

I don't think that we do all want the first option, theirs some who wont be happy until they get s.I.d.out and replaced by Warnock or pulis or Cottrell!

And they talk 'poppycock' in my opinion

[timothy bird]

Your not allowed to criticise them though Dorset cider! some of them never miss a game on radio Bristol!

[cheese]

Now I never thought I would be backing a manager which has overseen a winless run in the league of 19 games, but I am. Football more so than any other sport can see a poor team beat a good team and it is much easier to register a fortunate victory. Both of these things make failing to win in nineteen unacceptable really and I don't blame anyone that feels that this alone is a sacking offence. However I remain fully behind SO'D and I have actually seen glimmers which make me believe we're not too far away from being a decent team. I totally understand everyone's complaints and at the end of the day going long runs without winning in this division is not something we're used to. He may have exaggerated somewhat, but I agreed with him the other day in that subconsciously I think we're all guilty of turning up at Ashton Gate when we play teams such as Colchester and whether we're good, bad or indifferent feeling that we should wipe the floor with them. I know I am guilty of it.

When he came in last season he did initially make us much tougher to beat and in the Watford and Brighton games in particular we gave two tactically excellent performances which stopped two of the best attacking teams in the division. Gus Poyet has just been given a job in the Premier League and yet that night he was totally outcoached by O'Driscoll as we completely stopped his team from playing. However we were still whipping boys away from home and I actually feel SO'D got off rather lightly after the defeat to Wolves. We can all accuse players of not caring, and no doubt they gave performances at times last season that invited that accusation, but at the final whistle at Molinuex they looked dejected and beaten men. Now surely it is a major talent required to be a manager that you are able to pick your players up after such a confidence crushing defeat. And yet, we were absolutely pathetic. We may as well have called up the League on the way home from Wolves that night and said we wouldn't be fulfilling the rest of our fixtures and given everyone a 3-0 win. I'm not suggesting it is O'Driscoll's fault we were relegated last season, but we were disgraceful in the majority of those last nine matches and I don't feel the head coach should get off blameless as some would argue just because they weren't his players and the previous manager was incompetent.

Now this season. I actually feel that in our fifteen games this season we have actually only been poor for 90 minutes in two of them. Last night and against Peterborough, and even then a few people I know argue that we were fine up until Fielding gifted them a goal, but that isn't an argument I subscribe to. I am adamant that on the balance of play we could and should have many more points than we have. We have suffered massively from individual mistakes (and genuine individual mistakes not the Derek McInnes type where we would get outplayed every week and then blame defeat on one error), some school boy defending, sloppy periods of play and not taking enough of our chances. At the risk of sounding a little bit too much like our head coach, if we looked at the performances rather than the results (which of course are poor) I do feel that we would all be a little bit more optimistic going forwards. I wasn't at the Gillingham League Cup game, but by all accounts we played really well and won at a canter, but I've seen the rest of the games like this;

Bradford- The better team, good going forwards, for me deserved to win... 2 disgracefully soft goals when under no real pressure gifted away 2 points. I do wonder how different our season would be if we had hung on that day and we could have consigned the winless run monkey on our backs to last season's much maligned team.

Coventry- A stupid game and more like Basketball than Football, but had Baldock taken his three glorious chances in the first half and Fontaine given away one of the worst goals you will ever see could easily have won that game and should have drawn it. And yes I know how ridiculous that may sound when you let in 5 goals!

Wolves- Outplayed before the substitution, but the better team afterwards. Again concede a soft goal to make sure we don't take the point(s) we deserve.

MK- The better team against what is one of the better sides in this division. Should have been winning anyway, but Baldock misses a late sitter and the referee misses a blatent penalty which should/could have seen us victors.

Palace- An excellent performance from City. One of the best all round performances I have seen from us in years.

Gillingham- Poor opening half hour, but after that we have absolutely murdered them. Had enough chances to win 5 games let alone 1. Still not sure how we failed to win.

Rovers- Obviously have to qualify it with the fact we were playing the worst team the world has ever seen, but a good performance in a big game from City. Excellent in the first half and showed real character to fight our way back on top after looking like rabbits caught in the headlights at the start of the second half after Rovers pressed us much better.

Peterborough- Poor performance and comfortably beaten by what is a better team.

Shrewsbury- The type of game we have all seen far too much of at this level. Small team comes to Ashton Gate to put everyone behind the ball, we then make our life much more difficult by giving away a poor goal. Full credit in that we kept on pressing and eventually got the equaliser. Not the best performance ever and a poor game, but we should have won.

Swindon- Superb in possession, horrendous out of it. Had the better of the game, but couldn't live with Swindon when they had the ball and looked like scoring every time they crossed the half way line. Some would say our play with the ball merited a win, but you won't win a game at any level of football defending like that.

Southampton- Other than conceding the goal from a corner a real positive performance. At times dominated, if we had got the equaliser we deserved I feel we could have gone on and provided a real shock.

Colchester- See Shrewsbury.

Port Vale- I would say it was robbery that we didn't take the three points, but robbery isn't the definition of you giving something away. A real gutting moment as we had been excellent throughout and would have fully deserved the win.

Wycombe- Pick any negative adjective and it would describe us last night. A rancid performance.

Now some will feel I'm guilty of looking at that through rose tinted spectacles and of course it is all insignificant compared to what really matters which is obviously the result of each game. We're a long way away from being the finished article and we lack consistency from one minute to the next, let alone week to week, but I think we are at times playing some really good football.

I just feel we're not far away from being a decent team and should we continue to give the type of performances we have been, but manage to cut down on the sloppy errors, shocking defending and poor passages of play we will inevitably win a game soon and begin to rise up this league. The massive concern is of course that as this run continues any confidence in the team will go missing and the spirit of the players will be crushed. There is a danger that Flint's error on Saturday has done far more damage than simply losing two points. With every game that goes by without a win, that win becomes a little bit harder to achieve. We were already poor at leading games (not that we're overly used to doing it) as could be seen at MK when we were the much better team at 0-0, 1-1 and 2-2, but more shaky when in the lead and failing to win last Saturday will make every player that little bit more nervy. If last night's performance is anything to go by you could also make a case that the Port Vale result has made the players think we will never win a game no matter what we do so why even bother!

It is of course too simplistic, but we have forgotten how to win a game and I just feel, however blindly optimistic this may be, that should we win one it will do us the world of good. Teams that are used to winning are confident that in any situation that they will get the win and it's almost as if nothing that can happen fazes them. A good example is the season we won 11 on the trot under Danny. During that run there were late goals, games where we spent large periods under the cosh and in one game we conceded a late equaliser (Brentford at home I think), but it didn't matter. The players knew how to win and were confident they were going to. We then lose one game at Hillsborough from a last minute goal and instantly turn to rubbish! I do believe that the opposite could happen with us this season, one positive result could really set us away. Then again, that could just be the stuff of fantasy...

For me it is going to go one of two ways. When we resume our season in a week and half (possibly/probably bottom of the league) we will either replicate some of our better performance in which case we surely have to win some time soon and begin to creep up the league or the all the negative aspects of our play will continue and we will keep failing to win a game. If the second option happens then we will obviously hit whatever the magic number is and he will be sacked. I am sure that surely we would all rather that the first option occurs...

Yes and there are 45 other teams in this division who could point to similar situations

[bearded_red]

Yes and there are 45 other teams in this division who could point to similar situations

Big league!

[Dorset_Cider]

Your not allowed to criticise them though Dorset cider! some of them never miss a game on radio Bristol!

Pragmatic about it....... they are allowed their moment of fame and opinion, as are we 'the even more obviously wrong' ?

[Maesknoll Red]

It really only looks like freefall due to the lack of wins

It doesn't just look like freefall, it is actually happening!! Lack of wins would see the end of any Managers career, it's just the number that would would vary, not the concept. I am in the 'stability' camp, but my permit to stay there will need renewing in December and if we are still suffering a similar lack of wins, I will probably have to swap camps - as by then the prospect of a consecutive relegation, if the lack of wins continues, will be looming large. How much easier if we a have a nice flurry of wins and I can get my stability camp permit renewed right at the beginning of December, the ball is firmly in SO'D's court.

[rockinredrobin]

Wonderful,knowledgeable and passionate post from Bearded red thanks for that

I really hope it goes the right way and we go on a long unbeaten run

i just watchedSoDs post match interview after Wycombe and i have to say he used what i would call "losing the dressing room" language which bothered me somewhat

I have read a lot of the posts here and think i now see the fundamental difference between my point of view and many others -i want the team to win games and be successful - i thimk some people are happy to see the team play some 'good football' almost regardless of results i guess we are all different!!

[glynriley]

Now I never thought I would be backing a manager which has overseen a winless run in the league of 19 games, but I am. Football more so than any other sport can see a poor team beat a good team and it is much easier to register a fortunate victory. Both of these things make failing to win in nineteen unacceptable really and I don't blame anyone that feels that this alone is a sacking offence. However I remain fully behind SO'D and I have actually seen glimmers which make me believe we're not too far away from being a decent team. I totally understand everyone's complaints and at the end of the day going long runs without winning in this division is not something we're used to. He may have exaggerated somewhat, but I agreed with him the other day in that subconsciously I think we're all guilty of turning up at Ashton Gate when we play teams such as Colchester and whether we're good, bad or indifferent feeling that we should wipe the floor with them. I know I am guilty of it.

When he came in last season he did initially make us much tougher to beat and in the Watford and Brighton games in particular we gave two tactically excellent performances which stopped two of the best attacking teams in the division. Gus Poyet has just been given a job in the Premier League and yet that night he was totally outcoached by O'Driscoll as we completely stopped his team from playing. However we were still whipping boys away from home and I actually feel SO'D got off rather lightly after the defeat to Wolves. We can all accuse players of not caring, and no doubt they gave performances at times last season that invited that accusation, but at the final whistle at Molinuex they looked dejected and beaten men. Now surely it is a major talent required to be a manager that you are able to pick your players up after such a confidence crushing defeat. And yet, we were absolutely pathetic. We may as well have called up the League on the way home from Wolves that night and said we wouldn't be fulfilling the rest of our fixtures and given everyone a 3-0 win. I'm not suggesting it is O'Driscoll's fault we were relegated last season, but we were disgraceful in the majority of those last nine matches and I don't feel the head coach should get off blameless as some would argue just because they weren't his players and the previous manager was incompetent.

Now this season. I actually feel that in our fifteen games this season we have actually only been poor for 90 minutes in two of them. Last night and against Peterborough, and even then a few people I know argue that we were fine up until Fielding gifted them a goal, but that isn't an argument I subscribe to. I am adamant that on the balance of play we could and should have many more points than we have. We have suffered massively from individual mistakes (and genuine individual mistakes not the Derek McInnes type where we would get outplayed every week and then blame defeat on one error), some school boy defending, sloppy periods of play and not taking enough of our chances. At the risk of sounding a little bit too much like our head coach, if we looked at the performances rather than the results (which of course are poor) I do feel that we would all be a little bit more optimistic going forwards. I wasn't at the Gillingham League Cup game, but by all accounts we played really well and won at a canter, but I've seen the rest of the games like this;

Bradford- The better team, good going forwards, for me deserved to win... 2 disgracefully soft goals when under no real pressure gifted away 2 points. I do wonder how different our season would be if we had hung on that day and we could have consigned the winless run monkey on our backs to last season's much maligned team.

Coventry- A stupid game and more like Basketball than Football, but had Baldock taken his three glorious chances in the first half and Fontaine given away one of the worst goals you will ever see could easily have won that game and should have drawn it. And yes I know how ridiculous that may sound when you let in 5 goals!

Wolves- Outplayed before the substitution, but the better team afterwards. Again concede a soft goal to make sure we don't take the point(s) we deserve.

MK- The better team against what is one of the better sides in this division. Should have been winning anyway, but Baldock misses a late sitter and the referee misses a blatent penalty which should/could have seen us victors.

Palace- An excellent performance from City. One of the best all round performances I have seen from us in years.

Gillingham- Poor opening half hour, but after that we have absolutely murdered them. Had enough chances to win 5 games let alone 1. Still not sure how we failed to win.

Rovers- Obviously have to qualify it with the fact we were playing the worst team the world has ever seen, but a good performance in a big game from City. Excellent in the first half and showed real character to fight our way back on top after looking like rabbits caught in the headlights at the start of the second half after Rovers pressed us much better.

Peterborough- Poor performance and comfortably beaten by what is a better team.

Shrewsbury- The type of game we have all seen far too much of at this level. Small team comes to Ashton Gate to put everyone behind the ball, we then make our life much more difficult by giving away a poor goal. Full credit in that we kept on pressing and eventually got the equaliser. Not the best performance ever and a poor game, but we should have won.

Swindon- Superb in possession, horrendous out of it. Had the better of the game, but couldn't live with Swindon when they had the ball and looked like scoring every time they crossed the half way line. Some would say our play with the ball merited a win, but you won't win a game at any level of football defending like that.

Southampton- Other than conceding the goal from a corner a real positive performance. At times dominated, if we had got the equaliser we deserved I feel we could have gone on and provided a real shock.

Colchester- See Shrewsbury.

Port Vale- I would say it was robbery that we didn't take the three points, but robbery isn't the definition of you giving something away. A real gutting moment as we had been excellent throughout and would have fully deserved the win.

Wycombe- Pick any negative adjective and it would describe us last night. A rancid performance.

Now some will feel I'm guilty of looking at that through rose tinted spectacles and of course it is all insignificant compared to what really matters which is obviously the result of each game. We're a long way away from being the finished article and we lack consistency from one minute to the next, let alone week to week, but I think we are at times playing some really good football.

I just feel we're not far away from being a decent team and should we continue to give the type of performances we have been, but manage to cut down on the sloppy errors, shocking defending and poor passages of play we will inevitably win a game soon and begin to rise up this league. The massive concern is of course that as this run continues any confidence in the team will go missing and the spirit of the players will be crushed. There is a danger that Flint's error on Saturday has done far more damage than simply losing two points. With every game that goes by without a win, that win becomes a little bit harder to achieve. We were already poor at leading games (not that we're overly used to doing it) as could be seen at MK when we were the much better team at 0-0, 1-1 and 2-2, but more shaky when in the lead and failing to win last Saturday will make every player that little bit more nervy. If last night's performance is anything to go by you could also make a case that the Port Vale result has made the players think we will never win a game no matter what we do so why even bother!

It is of course too simplistic, but we have forgotten how to win a game and I just feel, however blindly optimistic this may be, that should we win one it will do us the world of good. Teams that are used to winning are confident that in any situation that they will get the win and it's almost as if nothing that can happen fazes them. A good example is the season we won 11 on the trot under Danny. During that run there were late goals, games where we spent large periods under the cosh and in one game we conceded a late equaliser (Brentford at home I think), but it didn't matter. The players knew how to win and were confident they were going to. We then lose one game at Hillsborough from a last minute goal and instantly turn to rubbish! I do believe that the opposite could happen with us this season, one positive result could really set us away. Then again, that could just be the stuff of fantasy...

For me it is going to go one of two ways. When we resume our season in a week and half (possibly/probably bottom of the league) we will either replicate some of our better performance in which case we surely have to win some time soon and begin to creep up the league or the all the negative aspects of our play will continue and we will keep failing to win a game. If the second option happens then we will obviously hit whatever the magic number is and he will be sacked. I am sure that surely we would all rather that the first option occurs...

Sorry mate, didn't read it all, but the bits highlighted jumped out at me.

As you say, you get the odd result which surprises people, at this moment in time the win v Watford looks like just that. We only drew v Brighton despite totally dominating, that's a bit of a recurring theme.

[chipdawg]

Right now I'd take a bit of mid-table nothingness. It's got to beat the free-fall marking SOD's reign.

Double post