Squad Rotation - on a Tuesday?! (Merged)

[Benni]

3 hours ago, View from the Dolman said:

Maybe the manager is best placed to know the full picture...?

"We made nine changes but it wasn't nine changes without a story for four or five of them. Hordur Magnusson, Gary O'Neill and Korey Smith have all got ankle problems. Adam Matthews has played two games on the bounce and Richard O'Donnell deserved a game and is one of two number ones competing for one place."

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/what-did-bring-bristol-city-and-lee-tomlin-together-it-s-in-the-dna-says-lee-johnson/story-29843711-detail/story.html

Though those that know better will probably suggest he's lying.

Exactly this. A few players have knocks and need to be rested.

[Bobfish]

3 hours ago, phantom said:

Exactly this @NickJ I really struggle to see why so many clearly can't grasp that !

 

40 minutes ago, phantom said:

Don't agree with that personally @Bobfish - like I said earlier, yeah the constant changing of the squad EVERY game is a pain, we're never going to gel as a side doing that

But equally we didn't put the best team out against Hull that we could have done on the other night - we'd played 4 games in the previous 4 weeks, and in two weeks we have an international break.

Clearly you are one of those posters on here that constantly refuse to realise other opinions are different, which is the only reason I can assume you've gone into this nonsense about living in the past, surely progressing through a cup competition brings money / exposure / winning habit which is what Bristol City should be striving towards?

Anyway nothing more to be said on this - now to look to Barnsley 

Wow. So you can't see the irony in this then. Really smart.

[Alessandro]

17 hours ago, Marlborough Red said:

In my business life we had a mantra- "Get it right first time".

Playing devils advocate , may I suggest that at Ashton Gate LJ has never achieved this objective. It is very concerning that we have failed to score in any game in the first half at home, often failing to get any shots on target and certainly not presenting any serious threat. Tammy is isolated and we seem to play the ball to him too much in the air which, as we all know, does not play to his strengths. The obvious conclusion is that he has not selected the right team for Home games and we only come alive after half time, often when we go  a goal behind and he then makes changes and brings on  the substitutes needed and ends up more often then not playing 2 up front.

It would be a pleasant change at the Brighton match to get the team selection right first time , play 2 up front at home  (Engval and Tammy perhaps)  score a goal  in the first half and take the lead , forcing the opposition to change their tactics and push forward more giving us the chance to score on the break !

Getting the team selection right first time would also mean he  can start with this team for the next home match without the need for constant changes particularly in midfield.

Are you genuinely being serious?!

We've won 5 of our 7 home games in the league this year and lost 1.

We have the current 4th best home record of anyone in the division.

I mean....come on. 

[MichaelRobartes]

I like the idea of building something with the young players we have. I love this quote from the late great Anthony Foley, obviously the circumstances are somewhat different but the principle is the same:

Anthony was trying to build a new team when some of the greatest players who ever played the game retired. He could have taken shortcuts. Bought in a few bin-end players from overseas as stop-gaps. But Foley wanted to build something that would last:
"They're young and they will make mistakes. There's no shortcuts. They are learning and you learn from mistakes," he said.
And then I asked him if they had the heart for it. "They have," he replied. "They are a great bunch of honest lads who will come good."

[JamesBCFC]

8 hours ago, cidered abroad said:

Mention has been made earlier in this thread about our goalkeepers and which of them out of ROD and FF is the number one at present.

I would not be the least bit surprised to see Lucic established as our number one by the start of next season. As for Zak Vyner, I have not heard anything about him recently except a brief mention after Accrington lost only 1-0 at West Ham. In his brief appearances last season, one could see a very competent footballer who will by the end of this season, have played some forty games in League Two giving him a big chunk of experience.

One must also not forget Wes Burns, who may not be getting as much game time as Vyner, but is getting it at a higher level.

Add to them, the other emerging talents from our Academy such as Dowling and McCoulsky and the future is looking brighter than for a very long time at City.

I'd be very surprised if Lucic is number one next season. He's only 21 now. 

However I think he'll be knocking on the door of the first team by the end of next season at the very latest.

[Sixtyseconds]

Arsenal Ozil has beady eyes ... It would scare the kids.

Liverpool & Klopp. Been there, done that and got the crap purple shirts to remember it by.

Man Utd, Pogba, Rooney and Ibras silly flicks ...

Didn't want any of that here.

WE ROTATE.

[DirtySanchez]

Well - squad rotation didn't work then - another slow first half...and should we let in a goal in stoppage time if we are FRESH.

Nevermind - always a cup run next year.

[Major Isewater]

The down side of squad rotation is that players need to play together to understand each other's movement and qualities .

Too much change leads to disjointed performances.

 

[JamesBCFC]

1 hour ago, DirtySanchez said:

Well - squad rotation didn't work then - another slow first half...and should we let in a goal in stoppage time if we are FRESH.

Nevermind - always a cup run next year.

The squad on Tuesday was 1 or 2 players off of what would have been played if it was a league game.

Never mind, always another imaginary issue to think up to have a moan.

[Nogbad the Bad]

On 10/26/2016 at 17:58, Red Exile said:

You're much respected poster Noggers, and although I don't share your annoyance at the starting line-up I understand where you're coming from...but in fairness to LJ, and having been at the Sheff. Weds. match that was a game where we outplayed them in the first half and where the changes really worked. The 3 players he'd brought in - Pack, O'Dowda and notably Josh Brownhill - were very effective. I'd assume that they were specifically introduced to counter Wednesday's strengths. They did it very well. For me that was a case of LJ picking a side that could beat the opposition, not the "best" 11 players...and from my perspective that's largely what the rotation has been about and I'd expect to see more of it. It won't work all the time, Cardiff and QPR being cases in point, in part because the opposition will play to their own strengths.

That the second half in Sheffield was different was partly down to Wednesday massively upping their game, presumably as their boss was able to counter what we were doing, but mainly another soft goal from a corner that gave them hope, a missed penalty and a dodgy sending off. Not a lot that could be done, despite Korey coming on to beef up midfield.

 

 

I take on board your argument re.  Sheff.Weds., Red Exile. It was not the best example for me to choose to back up the point I was trying to make.

 

On 10/26/2016 at 18:03, Kid in the Riot said:

I think you should man up, Nogbad. Just because we're winning doesn't mean we can't have some constructive criticism. You may have noticed me and others criticising SC for certain aspects of his 'management style' whilst here. Yes, you'll take some flack but say what you think. You may even be proved right as I was that eventually SC would be the architect of his own downfall by been stubborn and shouting his mouth off.

The narrative you've come up with in this post is an interesting one though it's unclear whether it's what you actually believe it to be the case.

Our first half performances of late have been cause for a bit of concern but obviously this could be down to a numbers of reasons, not necessarily team selection. To counter your thoughts above one could say that LJ is using the squad well and not repeating the glaring error of SC in playing the same team and tactics every week to no avail. The demands of the Championship in regard to fitness/recovery time due to the numerous back-to-back Sat/Tues fixtures is obvious, and I think that is what LJ is trying to manage.

It is also clear that he has faith in pretty much his entire squad of players to come in and do a job which must give each individual huge encouragement and confidence - and of course keep them competitive and on their toes.

'Man up'??? What an odd thing to say, I really doubt I'm thought of as a poster who is slow in coming forward with criticism when I think it necessary! My point was there obviously won't be the same criticism while we're winning even if fans are concerned about what they see as excessive rotation. We'll take the wins, thank you very much, and not seek arguments on the forum from those who don't see past the 3 points.

That doesn't mean there isn't still an underlying concern about the policy in general and where it leaves us when the wins and good performances dry up. That's obvious isn't it? It is the scale and frequency of rotation, and occasionally what seems to be it's arbitrary nature, which is the problem for many.

No one, I'm sure, has a problem with giving other squad players the occasional game when deemed necessary for whatever reason. That's what they're there for, but to indicate that all the players are equal and somehow interchangeable by making mass changes in the starting line up frequently is another matter altogether. 

Some players in our squad are considerably better, and more influential than others imo. so will be always be missed when left out.

Or do you not agree with that?

 

[NickJ]

On ‎27‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 11:59, Bobfish said:

It's because some of us aren't living in the past thinking that playing a prem team in the semi's is the highlight of the year, of the decade. Some of us think we should be playing premiership teams every week. Some of us can see that the club has to progress to achieve that. Some of us realise that requires an understanding of the modern game, of adapting to your opponents tactics, of utilising a squad of players, of building an academy to enable sustained growth, of buying players with potential rather than spunking millions on a wage-heavy striker. Some of us don't look back at the cotts era and just think "Wow, look we walked that league," but instead think "what the hell were we doing in league one in the first place?"

Some of us fans think the club deserves better.

Live in the past if you must, but if the club thought that way we would still have cotts and now be back in league one. Would you all be happy then, lording it over smaller teams like a big fish in a small pond? Bouncing back and forth every few years? I am just glad there are so many people on these forums and fans who can see what this club is working towards and who actually believe in what it can achieve.

Keep up the good work LJ.

An opinion that we should play our strongest possible team, in order to give us the best possible chance of progressing in a competition which we have entered, is living in the past?

Odd.