Official retraction of Saturday's match report

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

15 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I'd have brought on the top scorer in Sweden but LJ clearly thinks he is better off helping someone else.

Genius when we have so many other striking options, eh?

And he was criticised for bringing Eliasson on on Saturday...

You can't buy another player every time you get an injury.  

[old_eastender]

I watched the game on live stream and agree almost completely with Ole's report, thought Baker did well considering the continuous onslaught and would have given him a 7, Paterson would have only got a 2 in my book as he was almost completely anonymous.

However, the most worrying aspect is LJ. It was amazing we got to HT still 1 up and blatantly obvious that we had to make changes or we would concede. LJ changed nothing, I thought maybe he wants to give it 5 mins then use the substitutions to waste a bit of time... nop. So with the 2nd half following exactly the same pattern as the first, we concede, still no change from LJ, still we are getting battered. Finally he takes off Paterson and Fammy (who apart from his assist for the opening goal, had virtually not had a sniff) and proceeds to leave Reid on his own up front. So we have even less of a chance of getting on the end of a hurried clearance up field than we did before. 2-1 Brentford and feared it would be more.  

Only when he introduced Hinds for Pack and Brentford sat back a little in the last 10 minutes of the 90, did we actually get into the game for the first time since the opening 10 mins. All credit to the players for fighting until the end and stealing a point, but the total inaction from LJ was just dumbfounding.

 

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

Isn't it just the case that one team sometimes plays better than the other?  From the comments on this forum you would think that there were only 11 players on the field and any manager with their intellectual genius can dictate the outcome of any game.  The fact is that no team can win every match and no team is going to play well in every match, so to get a draw on an off-night seems to me a positive.  Would people rather we played well and lost, as we did on Saturday?  Not me.  If we beat Millwall on Saturday, we will have a pretty good haul from the first five matches, so I'd concentrate on that.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

4 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

I watched the game on live stream and agree almost completely with Ole's report, thought Baker did well considering the continuous onslaught and would have given him a 7, Paterson would have only got a 2 in my book as he was almost completely anonymous.

However, the most worrying aspect is LJ. It was amazing we got to HT still 1 up and blatantly obvious that we had to make changes or we would concede. LJ changed nothing, I thought maybe he wants to give it 5 mins then use the substitutions to waste a bit of time... nop. So with the 2nd half following exactly the same pattern as the first, we concede, still no change from LJ, still we are getting battered. Finally he takes off Paterson and Fammy (who apart from his assist for the opening goal, had virtually not had a sniff) and proceeds to leave Reid on his own up front. So we have even less of a chance of getting on the end of a hurried clearance up field than we did before. 2-1 Brentford and feared it would be more.  

Only when he introduced Hinds for Pack and Brentford sat back a little in the last 10 minutes of the 90, did we actually get into the game for the first time since the opening 10 mins. All credit to the players for fighting until the end and stealing a point, but the total inaction from LJ was just dumbfounding.

 

So what would you have changed at half time?  Serious question...

[aa_bcfc]

Our performance was crying out for Wilbraham. Time and time again the ball came back when cleared upfront with neither forward totally unable to hang on to it. Sorry but with Đurić out Lee should not have let Wilbraham leave.  

[old_eastender]

Just now, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

So what would you have changed at half time?  Serious question...

Paterson should have been taken off for sure, then we would have had a couple of options; Bring on GON to add another body and experienced head to CM to try and retain some possession, or bring on Maggers at LB and push Joe into left midfield. Get Brownhill playing more centrally too. If those changes don't result in Fammy seeing more of the ball, take him off and replace with Hinds or Eliasson - both who at least have the speed to possibly get onto the end of hurried clearances up field - Fammy does not.

 

 

 

 

[tinman85]

3 minutes ago, aa_bcfc said:

Our performance was crying out for Wilbraham. Time and time again the ball came back when cleared upfront with neither forward totally unable to hang on to it. Sorry but with Đurić out Lee should not have let  Wilbraham leave. 

Bonkers decision to move on Wilbs and Engvall with the injury situation and lack of a signing. 

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

7 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

Paterson should have been taken off for sure, then we would have had a couple of options; Bring on GON to add another body and experienced head to CM to try and retain some possession, or bring on Maggers at LB and push Joe into left midfield. Get Brownhill playing more centrally too. If those changes don't result in Fammy seeing more of the ball, take him off and replace with Hinds or Eliasson - both who at least have the speed to possibly get onto the end of hurried clearances up field - Fammy does not.

 

 

 

 

Ok, thanks.  Interesting to know what the perspective was of those actually watching the match (I wasn't).

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

7 minutes ago, tinman85 said:

Bonkers decision to move on Wilbs and Engvall with the injury situation and lack of a signing. 

I don't think anything could have been done about Wilbs.  He had a better offer, closer to his family, so what are you going to do about that?

As to Engvall, frankly I'm more optimistic about Freddie Hinds.  He would have been another body up front, but I haven't seen anything that made me feel he might have been the answer in a crisis. 

[cheshire_red]

5 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

I don't think anything could have been done about Wilbs. 

Depends whether he had or had not signed a contract

[DaveInSA]

We need a midfielder. All this talk of another attacking option is either ridiculous or it's a ruse to fool the press (but are we that clever?!). We need someone to compliment Smith. I don't think Pack is up to it myself.

 

[Olé]

40 minutes ago, Coxy27 said:

Are you praising the defence or saying they were poor!? I was there, and I have to say it was not the fault of the defence. What could they do? The ball came back and back and back. 

Absolutely fair and agree with everything you say - you've 100% right as far as the ball coming back and back, and my ratings were only on the poor side as I thought the whole team was poor and in the second half we got caught flat or exposed from crosses too many times. My comment about marshalling Vibe and Jota and getting to see our defence was in the context of the first half when I thought we were largely solid and tidying up all their diagonal runs and interplay. The hope was we were seeing the makings of a match where it was our defence that won it, but by never adjusting to the midfield problems you've illustrated, we just didn't stem the pressure and the defence eventually buckled.

38 minutes ago, old_eastender said:

the total inaction from LJ was just dumbfounding.

This was an almost universal reaction from everyone in earshot yesterday.

[Red Exile]

7 hours ago, Olé said:

Johnson's inability to compete tactically is the real worry from the past two away games. Some of the failings are all still there.

 

Thanks for the report @Olé. A good read as ever...great, of course, to grab a point, discouraging to read the rest of it.

For me the concern is your assessment that LJ shows no sign of improving his ability to go toe-to-toe with other managers at this level and out think them tactically during a match. That struck me as his failing last season...at times (Sheff Weds away second half...Cardiff and Reading at home...and away...) it appeared men against boys. This is a tough league and he's competing with men of proven experience or the brightest of the new breed. I know that Lee has his supporters on here, and as City fans we'd all like him to turn out to be the outstanding manager of his generation, I've nothing against him personally but if he can't improve I fail to see why we should be stuck with him...he's a rookie, and needs to learn fast. 

The opening matches of this season have given us a good opportunity to judge progress against, respectively, a Barnsley side who might struggle, a Birmingham side who have higher ambitions, a Brentford side who have established themselves at this level and might be a good benchmark for us, Millwall, who just come up and Villa who ought to be right up there. Thus far we've thrashed a poor side at home and largely fallen short against two sides we might hope to better if it's to be a good season. It'll be interesting to see what the next two matches bring. 

[cidered abroad]

We are clearly so one dimensional and thus totally predictable, that other managers with experience are able to counteract.

The end result is that while we have a squad that will scrap right through the 90/98 minutes, we don't have enough quality in midfield to create a first line of defence when the other side is dominating. Neither is there enough quality in midfield to create and score from midfield on a regular basis.

This is a cruel league which punishes those who are not up to standard. The players are almost certainly doing their best but we have a coaching team that appears so naive, it's hardly credible. And before anyone chips in with "look at Villa in the bottom three" I'll say look where the old fox Colin, is. The league hasn't settled yet but I will predict how ours will go.

Another season of desperate struggle looms.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Great report by @Olé as always.

To add to what others have said, and perhaps go a bit further.

My main concern, or shall we say a major concern of mine. Not only did LJ seemingly miss what many of us could see, that is to say pattern of the game at HT, and react much too late- and this has been a recurring theme this season thusfar even though it's early.

As someone immersed in football like him, he should have been able to see what we could- and more. Genuinely confused as to his slowness of reaction, and it's definitely a concern if he seemingly can't or won't see it but we can.

If we are to persist with 4-4-2, which seems to do a job in the first half- should LJ not put a big emphasis on drilling a first half formation and a second half formation/shape in training? Maybe he is, but scant evidence of it so far.

[Olé]

39 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Would people rather we played well and lost, as we did on Saturday?

Erm, yes - that was almost exactly my point on Saturday. I was encouraged that we had the type of football in us that we played in the first half on Saturday because it was a visible improvement on the prior season and if you're playing good dominant football (in this case high tempo passing and interplay) the results will come.  

Conversely where Saturday had been a fantastically executed Plan A that boded well for the season but simply was flawed by the lack of a Plan B (or the personnel to execute a Plan B), last night we saw a performance that reverted to type where Plan A was completely exposed (or rather, ceased to function) for the entire game.

[spudski]

Welcome to the Championship...a bonkers league.

Surely the performances and results we have put in so far this season, are that of a team that most predict, will end up mid table ish?

Look at the majority of other teams in the league and their results and performances.

We battered Barnsley, yet they beat an unbeaten Forest for example.

Look at Villa...etc,etc,etc

Typical Championship match...so unpredictable in results and performances.

It's early doors...but it's obvious to see, LJ has set up our squad to be offensive, on the front foot, and attack minded. Very open, expansive with lots of energy and speed.

This will create goals...but also concede.

If you are going to be less offensive, then we will need two completely different types of central midfielders...Pack, Smith and Oneil are not the answer to that problem. Fine with the set up LJ is using though. But when under pressure down the middle...not a chance in hell.

Bryan and Pisano are being used as offensive full backs. They will let crosses come in. If that's the case...which even a blind man can see it's not their strengths, then you are going to have to win the ball into the middle.

Would rather have Hegeler partnering either Wright or Baker. He wins first balls...

It's going to be a long season on here...as from what I've seen...we will score, but concede just as many. Play brilliantly and dominate, but also get battered possession wise in others.

Should be an entertaining season

Edit...as Ole said...we don't have the personnel for a plan B.

 

 

[Olé]

Blimey, he's back. 

[Ian M]

Johnson talked in his post match about Brentford being silky on the ball but giving you opportunities off it. 

From a stats perspective, a contributing factor to Saturday's performance was how well we looked after the ball when we had it. 105 mislaid passes out of 463 the stats tell us. The vast majority of the time we kept the ball

Last night, whether it was eagerness to get into a team that "gives you opportunities off the ball" or Brentford not being as bad off the ball as Johnson liked to think, we mislaid 134 passes out of 310. If you keep giving the ball back to the opposition then expect pressure to follow. 

In contrast, Brentford actually made less passing mistakes than us (129) despite attempting 238 more passes than us. 

This suggests to me that we were either lackadaisical with our own passing or Brentford performed a good press and our own pressing game from the first three games didn't work so well last night whether this was tiredness or tactical. (It's my understanding we performed our high press until our opener but then started to hold off). 

[ExiledAjax]

A good match report as always. Just picking up on a couple of points.

8 hours ago, Olé said:

were stretched to the point of breaking

From where I was it looked as though just after we scored Brentford pushed a man out of defence and into the middle.  They were effectively playing a 3-5-2 against our 4-4-1-1.  They had men permanently positioned on the wings and you could see that this width was enveloping our narrow formation. Pisano in particular kept being dragged into the middle, giving the Brentford guys masses of time to run down the wing and pick their crosses.  There was a belated and bodge-job reaction to this towards the end of the first half - when Brownhill seemed to drop back to LB for a bit. However the second half started without any proper adjustment and Brentford simply continued with the same very wide-play tactic.  Their second goal had been coming for ages and it was no surprise at all.

For me it looked as though we started brightly, full of energy, pressing high, closing people down, and forcing Brentford to pass backwards.  We got the goal and the energy carried on a little but after twenty minutes I thought a number of our guys dropped that intensity.  I know it s impossible for everyone to have Kante-esque levels of drive and energy for the entire game but the issue last night was there didn't seem to be a plan B for when those energy levels drop and players need to recover.  It reminded me a little of the Liverpool side of a couple of seasons ago.  All manic energy in the first 25 minutes but if they didn't get 2 or 3 goals to the good during that time then they were there for the taking in the final hour.

8 hours ago, Olé said:

The optimism from Saturday may have to be re-assessed.

Re-assessed yes, but not thrown out entirely.  Looking for positives from yesterday I think that as said above the energy was good at the start.  if we can then weather the storms that follow that; by keeping good shape and adapting to the opposition, then we could be ok.  I thought that Reid, Wright and at times Pisano looked bright and capable.  I think your 5 for Pisano is harsh.  Others had an off day.

8 hours ago, Olé said:

Fielding 9 Kicking is still shocking, but without his saves we would have lost 5-1 or more. Kept us in the game - no other way to describe it.

Without question the MOM.  Those on here clamouring for a new goalie: I hope that (despite some poor distribution - although note that Bentley had his share of shockers) you can see that we have a guy who can stop shots and make saves.  That goes a long way in football and I really think that were we to bring in a new goalie it would be a case of finding that the grass on the other side is in fact, if not a dull brown, then very much the same shade of green.  Having said all that I wish he'd do more quick throws out, and that our players would move a bit for him.

[pongo88]

1 hour ago, chipdawg said:

So far this season we've;

-Dominated a team and won

-Dominated a team and lost

-Been dominated by a team and drawn

I'm really not sure any conclusions can be drawn about our prospects- or any other teams prospects for that matter- for the coming season 

We played well for 45 minutes and Ok for 45 minutes in the first match. Played well for 45 minutes and badly for 45 minutes in the second. Played well for 5 minutes (being generous) and were non existent for 85 minutes in the third.  The conclusions I'd draw are City are currently incapable of consistently playing at a standard required to avoid another relegation fight, LJ is incapable of changing the rabbit in the headlights image when things go wrong, and the summer signings haven't really strengthened the team. Only 3 matches into the season, so a bit early perhaps, but after last season a bit worrying

[Numero Uno]

2 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

So what subs would you, with hindsight, have made last night?

I would have bolstered the midfield at half time. I actually said that at the time, not with hindsight, in the match thread. Don't kid yourself, we were totally outplayed for 90 of the 101 minutes last night and a large part of that was because the Management didn't react soon enough to what was so obviously happening.

[samo II]

As alluded to above; Millwall and Villa will prove an excellent pair of 'test' subjects on this season, for me.

At the end of those games, you've got five games (so about 10% of the league season) behind you, and have played a speard of teams - for me; if we can 'learn fast' (as LJ puts it) from the last couple of games, and apply the lessons to a pair of home games, we might do okay this year.

Problem is; we've had these lessons before last season, time and time again - surely the summer was when they should have been applied?

I will keep my council as it stands; I'm pro-attacking football, and am mindful that other than the best sides in the world, no one plays it without exposing vulnerabilities.  I'm also game for the kids to get a go, although as mentioned elsewhere; not by accident, and seems to be the case with Hinds (though hope he takes the opportunity by the throats and makes himself essential).

I agree with the notion that if GO'N isn't going to be an effective 'destroyer of play' for us when required, and we have no breakwater player to put in place in front of the defence when we have to stem the tide, then we need to buy one ASAP,  as they could prove the essential ballast in this swashbuckling style we seem to be going for.

Literally no idea where we'd get one from, as they are a hugely valuable player type, but I do think we need one.

[Cidre Monita]

The Championship is not a bonkers league, it is only defined by 3 points and the proximity of a 6 th place ( play off and seen as a success) and relegation(a disaster) , meaning third from bottom. Last year between 6th and 3rd bottom there were 29 points. The same comparison with L1 was also 29 points. In L2 it was much closer at 24 points (2nd from bottom, 26 points 3rd, bottom 2 relegated) .

Every league is the same, so can we stop this nonsense myth the Championship is something it is not. Every league is close due the fact 9 places are taken up with relegation and promotion positions so for the vast majority of teams in any one season, you are going to be close to one or the other almost constantly until the last group of games with a 3 points for a win scenario. Or put another way, last season, with ten games to go, a team who had 51 points would have been relegated if they lost ten in a row, or got in the play offs if they had won ten in a row. So for 30 games of the season you can have a silly argument that you are going to be relegated or be in the playoffs. what is clear, you want to get 50 points in the bag as soon as possible . 

City have 4 points in 3 games. You cannot draw any conclusions  August tends to start like that anyway, a bit hit and miss before sides get into the season. 

 From the outside he seems on track on a results basis for a mid table finish if you want to take 3 games in isolation. Lets see where we are first week of October. 16 points or so and all under control . Progress has to be shown  this season. There is no need to argue as fans, as the facts will be laid bare and excuses no longer an option. 

[SStandUp]

This post sums up Bristol City fans. It's genuinely funny. 

Saturday on a massive high after a good performance. And we are a much better team.

3 days later, we are awful and absolutely no better.

Its so fickle. You can't judge a team or change an opionion game to game, or based on one performance. We're not gunna outplay every team, we're an average championship team at best. The quicker the people realise this, the better. 

But to continuously change your opionion game to game is ridiculous. We completely outplayed Barnsley, played very well at Birmingham. Ok Brentford outplayed us, can happen. Their s better team than us. Granted it was a poor performance, but as I said, it's going to happen. 

[JoeAman08]

Or now we've finally played a decent team and can show the players footage of where to be and what to do in certain situations. I appreciate the write up but it's so early in the season there are going to be situations players aren't used to. Our team is still quite young(most under 25) and they've got to learn on the go. It's not excuses it's reality. I've said if after 10-12 games(mid to late October) we are still seeing the same problems then go crazy. We've had 3 great performances and 1 poor one. After all that we have 4 points, sitting 10th in the table with more goals than goals conceded and in the second round of the cup. Relax a bit. Maybe changes could've been made earlier but we aren't exactly blessed with options outside of defense. Maybe LJ looked at GON and thought he can't make it 40-45 minutes at this pace at his age? In the end what he did got a point out of it. We keep going and look for 3 at home Saturday. 

[Portland Bill]

8 hours ago, john from high littleton said:

Just a thought, but how about waiting till we've played a dozen games before we try and predict the unpredictable. Instead of thinking we're world beaters one minute, and panel beaters the next. You might get taken a bit more seriously, if you actually try and analyse the way the seasons heading  after a few more results! 

I for one am taking Ole's posts very seriously. Last seasons away form was abysmal and I was seriously hoping the manager would have worked out a different tactical plan for this seasons away game approach.

Alas it seems he hasn't learned ( or incapable of changing) anything.

Ole clearly knows the game, he called last season very early for what it turned out to be, he and a lot of us weren't fooled by a decent early points tally last season. 

Perhaps you should take note of what knowledgeable football fans are saying, two away games, two managers totally outwitting ours.....again.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

9 hours ago, Olé said:

To whom it may concern.

On Saturday I became enthralled by the rapid and skilful passing and movement of Bristol City for 45 minutes against the second consecutive poor Championship team we had faced. During that time I became convinced that my football team had turned a corner and were exhibiting attributes that would serve us well for the season ahead.

Today I realise that while we have a more balanced and close knit team, we are no further forward in terms of ability or quality, and in fact the only consistent tactical development exhibited so far compared to the prior season,  is the attacking intent for the first ten minutes of every game. Other than that, it appears the manager is no more capable

It sounds amazing to say it, but today managed to not just invert the injustice at St. Andrews, but by far exceed it in the inappropriate results stakes. We were a non-factor for the vast majority of a one-sided game at Griffin Park, were stretched to the point of breaking, yet emerged with a point which was even less warranted than Birmingham's three. 

I should add that Frankie Fielding, derided so regularly by City fans as not up to our target standard (and on the evidence of another poor day of kicking, with some reason) was actually the difference between us and an absolute thrashing. Ignore Reid's equaliser as pivotal, I lost count of the number of saves Fielding made to keep us in it.

 

If the first few games of the season had showed progress in our passing and movement, today unfortunately pitted us with a team that is well drilled in those attributes and on a like for like basis, demonstrated that we are nowhere close. Besides our opening goal, we were continually on the back foot, and battered for the best part of 80 minutes.

What is least satisfactory is that the manager, who the club hoped was riding a mini-revival arising from an easy pre-season and weak early opponents, compounded his mishandling of the second half on Saturday, by standing idly by today while we were comprehensively and obviously beaten in central midfield for more than the best part of an hour.

The hallmark of the depths of last season was comically obvious weaknesses and I'm afraid we regressed close to that territory today. Where so far this season Smith and Pack have been the ignition switch for fast pass and move breaks out of midfield, today they were hounded backwards into a seemingly permanent second layer of our defence.

Despite convincingly losing that central midfield battle for most of the game, it took well over an hour for Johnson to do anything about it - even persisting with a formation that put Brownhill and Paterson out wide, regardless that no one was left to feed them. Surely at that point you ask Brownhill to help trying to win central midfield back? Nope.

And when we did change, it was to leave Reid up front on his own. Now if that was a surrender, it was far more appropriate than the inane attacking over-exuberance that followed the Harry Redknapp adjustments on Saturday, but regardless, with all the money we spend, to have got into a position with zero backup target man is more than concerning.

 

It all started so well. But then that's the only consistent so far this season, and perhaps it's provided more reassurance than was justified. We piled forward and following a mistake like Saturday, Diedhiou rolled his marker and broke in on goal before the ball found its way to Brownhill, who swept it into the far corner. City ahead early again and buzzing.

Sadly, it would be another 90 minutes before City would really stretch the opposition defence again. Far from being a platform to push on, we surrendered the initiative as Brentford poured forward with sharper passing and movement. The only consolation first half was we finally got to see our defence, which marshalled Vibe and Jota incredibly well.

In my mind the story would be the turn of the City defence to shine, but even with Smith and Pack dropping back to contribute, it would require a succession of saves from Fielding - and the woodwork - to keep City ahead at half time. The number of crosses arising from their left, where Pisano seemed largely off the pace, was a particular concern.

Given half time to do something about 30 minutes of one sided football, we changed nothing. Within 10 minutes of the restart, Brentford were level. By now Smith - who was literally everywhere - and Pack, were effectively an extra line of defence. No matter, because their first decent cross from their right, instead asked Pisano to win in the air. He failed.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been to Griffin Park and seen them get the ball out wide and cross in and beat our defenders, but yet again we stood off the opponent and allowed the cross, and then Pisano, a welcome mat for crosses in the first half, was instead asked to win in the air one on one at the far post, yet unfortunately came up short.

Fielding would go on to make another sensational save (from Jota), before Johnson belatedly reacted to the onslaught by withdrawing Diedhiou (who topped Saturday's anonymous after 60 minutes performance with today's anonymous after 15 minutes) and Brownhill, to leave Reid an unusual solo striker, and bring O'Neil into midfield and O'Dowda out wide.

I can't argue with adding O'Neil to the fray and we got a little more stability in the middle, but truthfully a) we were already completely overrun through the middle and b) leaving just Reid up front gave us even less outlet than we had had previously. So the effect was not significant and we certainly didn't turn the flow of what was already a one sided game.

Within five minutes Brentford deservedly went in front too. They knocked the ball around the edge of the box, no one got close enough to cut it out, and their man curled it into the corner. It had been coming and it has to be said that it was hard to argue with it. There was still time for them to force more saves from Fielding - we were slipping away grimly.

With no other options we added Hinds up front (for Pack) and tried largely unsuccessfully to bundle the ball upfield. Following a prolonged injury to a Brentford player,  the closest we'd come is a miscued clearance with the keeper off his line, whipped back in on goal from long distance by O'Dowda, but ultimately headed clear just in front of the line.

Then, at the death, a twist. As City piled forward, two clear shouts for a penalty for handling in the box by defenders clearing - the second resulting from a desperate Baker shot with the last kick of the game. It was a good shout but the referee (excellent throughout) kept the game going and in the extra seconds, the keeper raced out to claim and Reid tapped in.

Delirium in the away end. It was - after the long injury - literally the death: 8 minutes after the 90th, and in the context of the game, completely unwarranted and a total mugging. I did not speak to a single fan who felt we had done anything other than got out of jail: a scarcely deserved equaliser, in a match we only competed in the first and final 5 of 100 minutes.

For that to be the case only 3 league games in, albeit against a decent and specifically counter-acting footballing team (Brentford are masters of pass and move at speed) should be a concern, but even more than that, the manner of Johnson's inability to compete tactically is the real worry from the past two away games. Some of the failings are all still there.

On Saturday we quite obviously didn't have a Plan B, a criticism thrown at the manager a number of times last season. Today not only did we not have a Plan B, but our Plan A fell to pieces quickly too. In both cases we surrendered not just the lead, but the match and all visible momentum. The only shard of light was our five minute hustle for an equaliser.

The optimism from Saturday may have to be re-assessed. The glowing references in my prior report certainly warrant retraction!

 

Fielding 9 Kicking is still shocking, but without his saves we would have lost 5-1 or more. Kept us in the game - no other way to describe it.

Pisano 5 Has the engine to get up and down but positioning and ability to win the ball all suspect. Far too many crosses from his side first half, and beaten in the air for the equaliser.

Bryan 6 Regressing to the Bryan at Griffin Park last season. Moments in the first half where he totally abandoned the player he was marking allowing them a free shot on goal.

Wright 7 The best of a poor defence. Got stuck in wherever he could and won a number of balls when it felt like Sawyers, Jota and Vibe were slicing our defence open.

Baker 6 I thought Hegeler won a number of first balls on Saturday and was unlucky to be dropped. Don't think Baker did nearly enough to attack crosses into the box for us to celebrate his inclusion just yet.

Smith 8 Fielding was a clear MoM for us, but Smith was our best outfield player by some distance. Ran himself into the ground chasing everything. Sadly mostly defensively but right to the end he was trying to get himself forward, we don't have many players who give everything in spite of the challenge.

Pack 6 Forced into an almost entirely defensive role and didn't have the speed or engine to offer anything other than that. To compound that could have done better for their second goal.

Brownhill 6 Good finish for the goal, and not really his fault, but little point him being out on the wing when we're overrun in central midfield and not even close to being able to get the ball played forward and into him. More Johnson's fault than his, but hard to see his value when he's so outside of the action.

Paterson 5 The rub on this guy is that he is inconsistent and I'm afraid here we are again. After a couple of bright games, nowhere near the quality or strength needed and I would wager will lose his place to O'Dowda for Saturday who at least affects the game.

Reid 7 Still working his proverbials off, had little or no service and a virtually non-existent target man alongside him, but he chased causes to both flanks all game for 98 minutes, and was ready to claim that equaliser. Hard to argue that he is our best player this season by some distance. The guy is on fire.

Diedhiou 5 Worrying that he is not getting into games. Was always a project and going to be raw but for over £5m I would expect us to have got closer to a 90 minute player by now. Sharp from the start but too quickly played out of games and unable to effectively link up with anyone. Undoubtedly a workhorse but fizzles out very quickly.

 

Subs:

O'Dowda 7 More physical and animated than a below par Paterson, draws fouls and is exclusively forward thinking - his reaction with the keeper off his line, deserved better.

O'Neil 5 Added some shape to the huge gaps we were absent from in central midfield, and managed one shot at goal, although truthfully did not look up to speed yet.

Hinds 6 Not much sight of the ball but could see from his movement that he would have been welcome on Saturday, he gets into some positions.

Spot on again and playing 2 players out of position does not help at all, it weakens the team.

For me on Saturday at home O'Dowda and Eliasson in for Patterson and Brownhill and Hegeler for Pack who may or may not be suspended.

[Flagon]

I wasn't there but listened to the commentary alongside the live stream. It was pretty much a replica of last season away there, which I went to.

Realistically this was always going to be a very tough game. Brentford finished strong last season, playing some very good football, so it's a surprise they've got off to a slow start. We've done extremely well in coming away with a point, it wasn't a great performance, so to actually get that point is all the more impressive. People talk about it being undeserved but as we have said about ourselves time after time, you have to take your chances. We could have had 3 points at Birmingham but spurned good chances. That's just the way it is. 

This season at the moment is starting almost the reverse of how it started last season. We toiled and struggled in the opening games and when LJ made changes in those early games we ground out results. Until that terrible run. I remember commenting on one match day thread that it was great to see LJ make those changes and get these results but he needs to find a way from the off as it can't be relied on. This seasons opening games we are pressing and overwhelming teams from the off but then have a problem maintaining that. Importantly though we seem to be lacking a way, as it stands, of altering our play when we cannot sustain our way of playing. It is however very early on and here's hoping that we have a reverse of that terrible run into a winning streak!

These opening games we have played some excellent football, created numerous chances and scored every game. But we've also conceded every game and not found a way still to avoid this when coming under pressure. 

With Millwall and Villa up next at home who have started slow and conceding too it would be good to come away with 6 points against these before two tough away games straight after in Reading and Wolves. It will definitely help ease some pressure on those away games. 

[Esmond Million's Bung]

8 hours ago, john from high littleton said:

Just a thought, but how about waiting till we've played a dozen games before we try and predict the unpredictable. Instead of thinking we're world beaters one minute, and panel beaters the next. You might get taken a bit more seriously, if you actually try and analyse the way the seasons heading  after a few more results! 

I think the point is the worrying similarities already creeping in from our performances of last season.