They were very very good

[EnclosureSurge]

19 hours ago, Robbored said:

No we didn't.

First goal was down to their pressing and Sidwells technique and vision.

Second goal. A basic error from Little who allowed Murphy to cut in on his right foot when he should have shown him down the left. 

 

Yes we did (although, I'm going to be more open to persuasion, perhaps...)

Gave the ball away for the first one. There's only one player within tackling range of Smith for the first goal, and that's not until the ball's at his feet. Then he completely mis-controls it. That has to be classed as a mistake, I would've thought. Pressing or not, these players have learnt to shield the ball since the age of, I dunno, 5? (Watch footy pups on cbbc*, if you don't believe me - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07k0dzg/footy-pups-series-2-6-shielding). There's little excuse for giving Sidwell the opportunity to take a pot-shot from the halfway line.

Gave their bloke a chance to shoot in the second goal, although I'd have said that was less bad play than the first goal. Players are always gonna cut in (and, yes, players are always gonna mis-control the ball, too, in which case we could say all goals are down to mistakes) and have half/quarter of a yard to shoot - which brings me on to my next point, why don't we bloody shoot in the self-same position? We would have just gone sideways across the box there, not taking 'a risk'. I'm not the biggest fan of Reid, but at least he shoots at goal (although mostly wide/weakly). 

In my eyes, we definitely gave them the first goal, or at the least the opportunity to take a shot. And the second had an error, too, as you pointed out.

*yes, yes, c'mon everyone, give it yer best shot...(Best Shooting: Footy Pups Series 0 Episode -1)

[EstoniaTallinnRed]

3 minutes ago, EnclosureSurge said:

Yes. Can't tell, Estonia, if you're thinking I was asking (I wasn't, I can still count up to 3!). I was trying to point out that marmite was saying you don't need to play 2 up front to support up front as Brighton did. But that's a contradiction, because B&HA did play 2 up front. You can't make an argument for not having to play 2 up front by saying, look, look at this team who, er, played 2 up front.

I think we're all agreeing here, though. We lost to another team.

Yes, I agree, I wasn't trying to be funny, but still I don't understand why LJ insists on playing Abraham up front on his own in home matches. The fact is that we have no width and therefore not many crosses come to him in the box, where he is dangerous,  so on his own he just has long balls lumped at him, he's not a hold up player and this is why he is not scoring atm.  I agree with other posters who say's he should start Engvall, I hope I spelt it right, up front with Tammy and especially at home games, and bring Wilbs on with 30 minutes to go, if it 's not working.  We have the squad and LJ has not been frightened to change the team, so why not try that option?

[EnclosureSurge]

9 minutes ago, shelts said:

Interesting post. They don't need a Tomlin they have the ginger Iniesta . I enjoyed watching them. Good following for a game on Sky

Thanks, Shelts - a diplomatic way to say you (poss) don't agree, but still find sth of interest.

Now, I am definitely going to be shot down for this, but I am currently having an internal debate as to whether we are better off with Tomlin in the team. As you say, they don't need a Tomlin to be 2nd. Let me get this straight from the off: I love Tomlin, I'd pay regularly to watch him as he does things none of the other 21 players could do yesterday (can't be bothered doing 21+the no. of subs, sorry). But I wonder if things slow up a little with him, if he needs to do quite all of the tricks and chips over players. Don't forget, I love him! I just think I'd rather see him playing balls like the one at Barnsley for Tammy's goal (which, ironically, Tammy copied in the first half last night, but Tomlin shot with his left foot past the post - should have 'worked the keeper' there).

Don't let's start a barrage of wtf, mate, Tomlin is our best player etc etc I know he is, I love him. I've watched 30+ years of humdrummity turn out for the City, so I'm well up for a bit of Tomlinho. I'm just saying, rather than the other thread on here about is GO'N our Wazza, is Tomlin our Wayne Rooney?

Or, can't we just play Tomlin a bit further up the pitch, alongside Tammy, back to goal even as Tomlin will be able to turn players like Brighton's Donk (natch) and either put Tammy in or shoot or get a free-kick.

Don't forget, now, I love our Tomlin!

[EnclosureSurge]

8 minutes ago, EstoniaTallinnRed said:

Yes, I agree, I wasn't trying to be funny, but still I don't understand why LJ insists on playing Abraham up front on his own in home matches. The fact is that we have no width and therefore not many crosses come to him in the box, where he is dangerous,  so on his own he just has long balls lumped at him, he's not a hold up player and this is why he is not scoring atm.  I agree with other posters who say's he should start Engvall, I hope I spelt it right, up front with Tammy and especially at home games, and bring Wilbs on with 30 minutes to go, if it 's not working.  We have the squad and LJ has not been frightened to change the team, so why not try that option?

Exactly - all his goals come from being quicker to the ball than the defenders around him. Stop playing him up front on his own where he wastes energy running the channels, chasing the defenders in possession, let him conserve his energy for that dynamic, split-second flash onto the end of a ball into the box...but play some players wide enough to deliver that (see, also, my point about Tomlin playing closer to Tambraham, too).

[shelts]

9 minutes ago, EnclosureSurge said:

Thanks, Shelts - a diplomatic way to say you (poss) don't agree, but still find sth of interest.

Now, I am definitely going to be shot down for this, but I am currently having an internal debate as to whether we are better off with Tomlin in the team. As you say, they don't need a Tomlin to be 2nd. Let me get this straight from the off: I love Tomlin, I'd pay regularly to watch him as he does things none of the other 21 players could do yesterday (can't be bothered doing 21+the no. of subs, sorry). But I wonder if things slow up a little with him, if he needs to do quite all of the tricks and chips over players. Don't forget, I love him! I just think I'd rather see him playing balls like the one at Barnsley for Tammy's goal (which, ironically, Tammy copied in the first half last night, but Tomlin shot with his left foot past the post - should have 'worked the keeper' there).

Don't let's start a barrage of wtf, mate, Tomlin is our best player etc etc I know he is, I love him. I've watched 30+ years of humdrummity turn out for the City, so I'm well up for a bit of Tomlinho. I'm just saying, rather than the other thread on here about is GO'N our Wazza, is Tomlin our Wayne Rooney?

Or, can't we just play Tomlin a bit further up the pitch, alongside Tammy, back to goal even as Tomlin will be able to turn players like Brighton's Donk (natch) and either put Tammy in or shoot or get a free-kick.

Don't forget, now, I love our Tomlin!

[shelts]

1 minute ago, shelts said:

10 minutes ago, EnclosureSurge said:

Thanks, Shelts - a diplomatic way to say you (poss) don't agree, but still find sth of interest.

Now, I am definitely going to be shot down for this, but I am currently having an internal debate as to whether we are better off with Tomlin in the team. As you say, they don't need a Tomlin to be 2nd. Let me get this straight from the off: I love Tomlin, I'd pay regularly to watch him as he does things none of the other 21 players could do yesterday (can't be bothered doing 21+the no. of subs, sorry). But I wonder if things slow up a little with him, if he needs to do quite all of the tricks and chips over players. Don't forget, I love him! I just think I'd rather see him playing balls like the one at Barnsley for Tammy's goal (which, ironically, Tammy copied in the first half last night, but Tomlin shot with his left foot past the post - should have 'worked the keeper' there).

Don't let's start a barrage of wtf, mate, Tomlin is our best player etc etc I know he is, I love him. I've watched 30+ years of humdrummity turn out for the City, so I'm well up for a bit of Tomlinho. I'm just saying, rather than the other thread on here about is GO'N our Wazza, is Tomlin our Wayne Rooney?

Or, can't we just play Tomlin a bit further up the pitch, alongside Tammy, back to goal even as Tomlin will be able to turn players like Brighton's Donk (natch) and either put Tammy in or shoot or get a free-kick.

Don't forget, now, I love our Tomlin!

I think he's tidy. Not sure where his best position is due to how we set up. He hurts teams in the attacking third but often goes searching for the ball too far back. 

We need a ball player and he is our man. He's not been dropped yet . 

[ChippenhamRed]

I love this suggestion that conceding possession on the half way line is equivalent to "gifting" a team a goal. As if we left him with nothing to do. If that's all you have to do to "gift" the opposition a goal, then why don't we concede like that every time we lose the ball somewhere in the middle?

[Turkey]

10 hours ago, JBFC II said:

Against Newcastle we played decent stuff on our own accord, yesterday we lacked any sort of creativity, Brighton were hardly a mega threat going forward and they had nothing to do at the back as we offered nothing

Brighton perspective fwiw. We've kept 11 clean sheets in 16 league games. We've got a side that works very hard for each other. You're not the first side we've played where the opposition fans have been saying they didn't get going offensively. We can be very threatening going forward if we need to be but to be frank, this was a competitive game away from home against decent opposition. You'd be a bit daft to push players forward and leave space in behind to be exploited when you're 2 up away from home. 

[Robbored]

5 minutes ago, Turkey said:

Brighton perspective fwiw. We've kept 11 clean sheets in 16 league games. We've got a side that works very hard for each other. You're not the first side we've played where the opposition fans have been saying they didn't get going offensively. We can be very threatening going forward if we need to be but to be frank, this was a competitive game away from home against decent opposition.

Im sure our manager would like to have our City team play in the same style as your boys did yesterday. He'll have learnt a great deal from the experience of playing against  a Chris Houghton team. His team template is excellent and a good one to try and emulate.

By now LJ will know what type of players he needs to achieve that aim and we may see some action in the January window despite it not being the best time to sign a new player.

LJ has said from the beginning that it'll take 2 or 3 windows to do that.

[GrahamC]

13 minutes ago, Turkey said:

Brighton perspective fwiw. We've kept 11 clean sheets in 16 league games. We've got a side that works very hard for each other. You're not the first side we've played where the opposition fans have been saying they didn't get going offensively. We can be very threatening going forward if we need to be but to be frank, this was a competitive game away from home against decent opposition. You'd be a bit daft to push players forward and leave space in behind to be exploited when you're 2 up away from home. 

Exactly, you also were two up by this point, FFS.

Who risks conceding to try and score a third?

Not a side that is nailed on for top six, that's for sure..

[Esmond Million's Bung]

On 11/5/2016 at 21:01, Robbored said:

Best team to visit AG this season by a mile.

Defensively strong with two massive CBs and a very well organised back four with the midfield protecting them. A very solid outfit throughout. Credit to them.

Sidwells goal was fantastic with nobody to blame but the second was down to Little allowing the winger inside to his preferrred right foot but mistakes are part of the game.

LJ post match Sky interview was spot in his assessment of the game. Very honest and candid as usual.

I really like the way he conducts himself.

No disgrace to lose to such a decent team. The sad thing is tho....I lost a tenner...

 

Well LJ blamed ROD in his post match interview, pulled no punches.

 

[Robbored]

23 minutes ago, Esmond Million's Bung said:

Well LJ blamed ROD in his post match interview, pulled no punches.

 

Not exactly blamed........said that he hoped that RoD had sorted his feet out more quickly. 

Fact is as RoD back pedals he loses his footing and couldn't recover in time.

[cityred exile]

On ‎11‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 20:01, Robbored said:

Best team to visit AG this season by a mile.

Defensively strong with two massive CBs and a very well organised back four with the midfield protecting them. A very solid outfit throughout. Credit to them.

Sidwells goal was fantastic with nobody to blame but the second was down to Little allowing the winger inside to his preferrred right foot but mistakes are part of the game.

LJ post match Sky interview was spot in his assessment of the game. Very honest and candid as usual.

I really like the way he conducts himself.

No disgrace to lose to such a decent team. The sad thing is tho....I lost a tenner...

 

My exact thoughts    Except  mine was a fiver

[milo1111]

14 hours ago, BRISTOL86 said:

I often wonder what people watch when they're at football

Look here if you need it spelled out why he's in their team. 

 

Oh yes. i stand corrected. baldock is quality and will take the prem by storm. i dont know what im talking about.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

3 hours ago, Robbored said:

Not exactly blamed........said that he hoped that RoD had sorted his feet out more quickly. 

Fact is as RoD back pedals he loses his footing and couldn't recover in time.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/bristol-city-boss-lee-johnson-holds-goalkeeper-richard-o-donnell-responsible-for-sidwell-s-goal/story-29871021-detail/story.html

[Robbored]

6 hours ago, Esmond Million's Bung said:

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/bristol-city-boss-lee-johnson-holds-goalkeeper-richard-o-donnell-responsible-for-sidwell-s-goal/story-29871021-detail/story.html

I missed the "too high" comment in his post match interview..

Oh well, all players make mistakes. It's a part of the game.

[BRISTOL86]

9 hours ago, milo1111 said:

Oh yes. i stand corrected. baldock is quality and will take the prem by storm. i dont know what im talking about.

Yeah that's what I said, he'll take the premier league by storm 

You said you couldn't understand why he was in Brighton's team. I've just given you a very good example, using pictures and everything in case the words trip you up.

Hopefully now you understand

[Mr Popodopolous]

Gotta say I am not too surprised about Saturday unfortunately. 

Brighton- a compact side with potency up front and I never believed our typical slow start if we made one would be retrieveable this time. They scored 2 early goals and seemed quite comfortable- had we got the pen maybe another great comeback would have been on but refs don't seem to give us much this season. We desperately above all need to rectify the 0 first half goals at home stat this season as it sets us at a huge disadvantage.

Overall, still very happy with the season- depth, quality, youth but we're not quite there yet. Brighton will either make playoffs or get 2nd,

[spudski]

I believe both FF and RoD, are consistently not good enough at this level, to be considered Goalkeepers that we should consider our No.1's if we are to improve...both goals came from mistakes by players I consider not consistently good enough at this level, and it is often from their mistakes that we concede goals. It's these individual errors and not team errors that are our weakness.

Little and GoN both allowed the player to come inside too easily, even though they had been warned prior about the danger...the management had done their homework...Little giving way too much respect. And Sidwell quoted that during the game RoD was playing too high up the pitch, of which he noted he could take advantage... Which he did.

We are a team in the making, and LJ will know where our weakness are, and where we need to strengthen...as will many of our fans.

Until those areas are strengthened, then we should expect us to make mistakes, as other teams like Brighton have players of greater quality and depth. It is what it is.

It must be frustrating as a manager as well as a fan, watching it, week in and week out, knowing you can't really do a lot about those individual errors until a time arises when you can bring in more quality.

It's not the way we play that's a problem...just individual errors and playing against better quality opposition on many occasions.

To strengthen...we need in January if possible...a better RB, another quality Goal Scorer, and another effective midfielder...as Tomlin won't be able to play every game...imo.

 

[milo1111]

5 hours ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Yeah that's what I said, he'll take the premier league by storm 

You said you couldn't understand why he was in Brighton's team. I've just given you a very good example, using pictures and everything in case the words trip you up.

Hopefully now you understand

Whatever you posted doesnt show up on my budget smartphone.

[BCFC_Dan]

I didn't see the game, though I have since seen the highlights.

Judging from comments on Twitter, from LJ after the match, and the reaction on here, I got the impression we'd been utterly outclassed.

Then I saw the match timeline from Experimental 361:

Obviously the key bit is the two goals on the blue line that aren't on the red line, but aside from that we seem to have matched them in terms of number and quality of chances created. That's not saying a great deal as neither side created a lot, but in terms of general play we can't be a million miles off one of the best sides in the division.

Overall the game looks to have been a 0-0 draw in which we gave away two avoidable goals.

Brighton are a top 2 side. We're clearly not, but that was to be expected. Judging by some of the reaction on here the fact that we were beaten by a top 2 side means we need wholesale changes to personnel and tactics. I find this somewhat baffling. We've improved no end on last season. Given that we lost the corresponding fixture 4-0 last season we've improved by more than Brighton have over the same period. This is a great achievement.

Hopefully the players and the management will use this as a valuable learning exercise.

 

[spudski]

6 minutes ago, BCFC_Dan said:

I didn't see the game, though I have since seen the highlights.

Judging from comments on Twitter, from LJ after the match, and the reaction on here, I got the impression we'd been utterly outclassed.

Then I saw the match timeline from Experimental 361:

Obviously the key bit is the two goals on the blue line that aren't on the red line, but aside from that we seem to have matched them in terms of number and quality of chances created. That's not saying a great deal as neither side created a lot, but in terms of general play we can't be a million miles off one of the best sides in the division.

Overall the game looks to have been a 0-0 draw in which we gave away two avoidable goals.

Brighton are a top 2 side. We're clearly not, but that was to be expected. Judging by some of the reaction on here the fact that we were beaten by a top 2 side means we need wholesale changes to personnel and tactics. I find this somewhat baffling. We've improved no end on last season. Given that we lost the corresponding fixture 4-0 last season we've improved by more than Brighton have over the same period. This is a great achievement.

Hopefully the players and the management will use this as a valuable learning exercise.

 

Excellent post...I personally think the game would have been completely different if Tomlin had put away a very good chance, instead of stumbling and thumping it wide of goal, when it seemed easier to hit the target. Small errors at this level win or lose games.