12 Matches in – Some Common Themes

[Fat Cigar]

First thing, it’s nice not to be sitting in the relegation zone. Psychologically, anyway. And there’s about 3 points separating us and about 9 teams. Usual Championship fare. All it takes is two wins on the bounce…

Judging from the radio commentary, and some comments from those who went last night, same things keep cropping up. Some good, some bad.

Yesterday sounded similar to our home games against Brentford and Burnley. Not so much in terms of possession, but in terms of chances created. And missed.

1.       It’s good that we’re back to creating chances. Anyone who saw the Reading and MK Dons games would have left feeling despondent and pretty depressed. Although Reading looked a class act, without having to exert themselves.

2.       Kodjia. A few weeks ago, some fool on here said he looked like a League One player at best. Oh yeah, that was me. This guy likes to run at people. A lot. He’s quick, skilful, stronger than he looks, and has a pretty decent shot on him. He’s has plenty of goodwill directed towards him, and rightly so. He now needs to be clinical. He seems to get about 3 good chances every game (bar the odd couple). We need a better conversion rate. I’d argue he also needs to learn when to release the ball. Because he fancies himself when taking defenders on, he often fails to look up and lay the ball off. He rarely looks up when in possession. Overall, he’s made a good start to his City career, and with decent support up front, I’m confident he’ll score between 15-20 goals. At least. But, he does need support.

3.       Giving the ball away -  this has been driving me mad all season. Freeman and Ayling most culpable. Against Reading and Burnley we got punished. And against Leeds if I recall. We’ve got to cut out the stupid, sloppy errors. More often than not you get punished for it at this level.

4.       Which brings me on to Freeman himself. There’s no doubt he’s got talent. I thought he was our standout performer at Birmingham. But, he’s got to realise he can’t do what he did so well last season: running at and beating players for fun. Players are a lot cannier and a lot better in this division. And every time he attempts this and gets dispossessed, we find ourselves in trouble.  Like Kodjia, he needs to learn when to pass. Play the simple ball. Personally, I would have started Reid in place of him on Friday. And again last night. Reid has really impressed me. And is a similar type player. I think he deserves a good run in the side.

5.       I really dislike our formation, but like all good managers, Cotterill is a stubborn so and so, and is unlikely to dispense with what served us so well last season. Not yet, anyway.

6.       Joe Bryan – I applaud Cotterill for dropping him. I’d noticed that for the first 3 home games, he’s had very good first halves, only to fade in the second. He’ll be back though. I really rate this lad, and am sure he’ll be a star at some point.

7.       We’ve actually played all (bar Hull) the top six now. Yes, I know, the table changes, although not hugely so far. Not had the easiest of opening few fixtures.

8.       Finally, our defence isn’t brilliant, but two things we really need to work on more than any other:  stop giving the ball away, and start being clinical in front of goal. The former is easier to address. And it’ll be interesting to see how much we see of Simon Cox over the next few matches.

9.       Finally, finally, am I confident we’ll stay up? I honestly don’t know. Most of our matches have followed similar patterns. We have more than enough time to address our faults, and you only really need to worry once a gap emerges (let’s say 6 pts) between the bottom 3 and the rest. If I was forced to make a prediction, I’d say we’ll survive. But, from what I’ve seen so far, we’re in for a nervy, nail-biting season, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we spent much of it in the bottom six. I hope to god that isn’t the case. I’m a bag of nerves watching City at the moment. But, all it takes is a 2 or 3 match winning run…