The Millwall Debacle

[Nibor]

Well, that was 90 minutes of my life I'm not getting back.  It was truly shite from beginning to end, the high pressing quick moving passing game has vanished and been replaced by players running into each other, giving away needless fouls, passing behind each other, standing still, turning around and going backwards.  We looked devoid of confidence and scared. 

The only ones to come out of that with any credit really are Fielding and Paterson, Baker was OK and that's about it.  Korey Smith had comfortably the worst game I've ever seen him have, I think he completed about two in ten passes and couldn't seem to do anything right.  Diedhiou and Reid might as well have been playing over in the park given how isolated they were by our inability to string two passes together.  

On the plus side we will never concede from a corner again having seemingly decided to use Millwall as an opportunity to practise defending set pieces by giving them about 800 in a row in the first 20 minutes.  It was a testament to their complete lack of any talent that we managed to keep a clean sheet, they missed a couple of sitters and on that showing will be joining Barnsley and probably us in the bottom three.  For the first 30 minutes they pressed us and then they retreated back as two banks of four and sat there happy to play on the break when they realised we had no threat.

We had about ten minutes of reasonable play in the run up to half time which Millwall stifled by fouling and timewasting and arguing, and then we came out after half time looking about half as lively as we did in the first half.  Whatever was said by LJ in the run up to the game and at half time didn't work one bit in either case.

The subs were confusing.  I could just about see bringing GON on but it absolutely should have been Smith that he replaced not Pack as Pack was not nearly as bad.  To be honest I'd have overloaded the midfield as we were getting nowhere - someone like Hegeler who has a calm head might have helped more - is he injured now or just dropped out the squad for no apparent reason again?  There's never any point in bringing O'Dowda on unless we're winning comfortably and it's just to rest someone else, he seems to have very little impact on any game.  Eliasson might be raw but he might have offered some sort of threat.  Woodrow looked reasonable but then so would Bas Savage with that sort of service, all you can really do is close down and run around when your teammates have lost the ability to pass five yards.

It's probably fair to say I didn't enjoy much about the match.

A word on the ref.  He got pretty much every decision right but was ridiculously fussy about where kicks were taken from.  When we're fouled a free kick is supposed to penalise the opposition, preventing a quick one by insisting it's taken from two yards away helps them.  Whatever he was doing with Fielding's free kick was beyond me, Fielding was in line with the linesman's flag but apparently that's not ok.  Who the **** cares where in the 18 yard box it's taken when we all know it's going out of play anyway?  That's probably harsh on Fielding given he again made a couple of great saves but if you can't hit a red shirt reliably why not take the short option or throw it?

Yes, it's only four games in.  Yes it could change.  But out of 8 halves of league football we've had two good, one ok, and five shockers.  That's starting to look more of a worry than a concern.  It's patently obvious that we need some real quality in midfield and soon, but that doesn't seem to be a priority for the club.  I hope they re-evaluate that or I fear we're going to have the most expensive league one side ever seen.  A casual estimate would be that we started today with an XI that cost over £10m to assemble and another £5-6m on the bench.  Value for money is not how I'd put it.

[cheshire_red]

Every other report has Patterson having a mare?

[Nibor]

Just now, cheshire_red said:

Every other report has Patterson having a mare?

He was the only player who did anything positive with the ball and made himself available.  I don't know how anybody having watched that could describe it as mare unless they had far more disparaging words for the other 9 outfield players.

[BRISTOL86]

3 minutes ago, cheshire_red said:

Every other report has Patterson having a mare?

Seen him singled out for criticism multiple times. I often wonder what game other people watch as he was the only attacking player looking to drive into space and make something happen. 

Completely agree about Smith @Nibor - how he survived the 90 I'll never know. Awful from minute one.

[harry may]

We have had nobody in midfield with the attributes of Marvin Elliot since ........................Marvin Elliot. We've need somebody like that more than ever.

[Robbored]

Two major factors contributed heavily today's shite game. 1) Millwall's style of niggling tackles and causing the game to become stop/start.

2) The referee's inconsistency and buying into Milwalls methods.

The whole 90mins was just one huge frustration.

Time to move on to Villa now........

[ashton_fan]

LJ should have rotated the team for this one, too many players looked jaded after a hard game on Tuesday. Hegeler, O'Neil and Woodrow should have started, Diedhiou could have come on as an impact sub for the last 20 mins. Pack and Korey looked particularly out of sorts which is probably why we lost the midfield.

[LC_]

re Paterson I don't think he was as bad as being made out, certainly not the worst performance today. Korey Smith was abysmal and a complete passenger. I thought Joe had a good game all things considered.

[Globe Trotter]

Totally agree with every point you've made. Thought Bryan was good too but wow we were abysmal 

[RedM]

Paterson at least looked willing, but nothing was coming off for him. Korey was very poor by his standards, giving the ball away by passing to one of the Millwall players then having to get it back, and winging at the Ref at every opportunity. Joe at least stuck to instruction and stayed out wide, patiently, as only Pack seemed to realise he was there. Frankie again kept us in the game. Other than that everyone was well below par and allowed themselves to be bullied.

[Numero Uno]

The ONLY positive for me was that Pisano, Baker and Wright put themselves on the line to block shots and attempt to cope with Millwall's physicality and Frank (ignoring his sodding kicking) did his job so that we at least got a clean sheet. Everything else was dire and the phrase "90 minutes you'll never get back" has never been more apt!!

[JoeAman08]

Yea the back 4 and FF come away in good stead for me. Nobody wasn't trying but many were very stagnant when we had the ball. The lack of movement didn't help anyone and we just failed to get the ball to our forwards so they looked poor because of that. Pato is too talented not to be more of a factor than he was today. Again think it's down to some fatigue.

Need this window to close and bed all the new signings in so we can make a few changes when needed. I know some were calling for Eliasson today and I may have been tempted but imagine he made a mistake tracking back and allowed Millwall to score. It's ok bringing him along slowly. I'd hope next week with 3 weeks under his belt he's ready to make an impact. Same with Woodrow. Get a week in training to get a feel for everyone. 

[pongo88]

8 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

The ONLY positive for me was that Pisano, Baker and Wright put themselves on the line to block shots and attempt to cope with Millwall's physicality and Frank (ignoring his sodding kicking) did his job so that we at least got a clean sheet. Everything else was dire and the phrase "90 minutes you'll never get back" has never been more apt!!

The only positives for me was a nice sausage roll at half time and a good couple of pints in the pub post match

[CotswoldRed]

20 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Two major factors contributed heavily today's shite game. 1) Millwall's style of niggling tackles and causing the game to become stop/start.

2) The referee's inconsistency and buying into Milwalls methods.

The whole 90mins was just one huge frustration.

Time to move on to Villa now........

What we chose to do with the ball can't be blamed on Millwall today. 

[Robbored]

8 minutes ago, CotswoldRed said:

What we chose to do with the ball can't be blamed on Millwall today. 

My point was that the tactic of niggling fouls and a stop/start game disrupted City ability to play their usual game............its a familiar style often discussed by pundits during/after such a game.

[Red-Robbo]

49 minutes ago, Nibor said:

Well, that was 90 minutes of my life I'm not getting back.  It was truly shite from beginning to end, the high pressing quick moving passing game has vanished and been replaced by players running into each other, giving away needless fouls, passing behind each other, standing still, turning around and going backwards.  We looked devoid of confidence and scared. 

The only ones to come out of that with any credit really are Fielding and Paterson, Baker was OK and that's about it.  Korey Smith had comfortably the worst game I've ever seen him have, I think he completed about two in ten passes and couldn't seem to do anything right.  Diedhiou and Reid might as well have been playing over in the park given how isolated they were by our inability to string two passes together.  

On the plus side we will never concede from a corner again having seemingly decided to use Millwall as an opportunity to practise defending set pieces by giving them about 800 in a row in the first 20 minutes.  It was a testament to their complete lack of any talent that we managed to keep a clean sheet, they missed a couple of sitters and on that showing will be joining Barnsley and probably us in the bottom three.  For the first 30 minutes they pressed us and then they retreated back as two banks of four and sat there happy to play on the break when they realised we had no threat.

We had about ten minutes of reasonable play in the run up to half time which Millwall stifled by fouling and timewasting and arguing, and then we came out after half time looking about half as lively as we did in the first half.  Whatever was said by LJ in the run up to the game and at half time didn't work one bit in either case.

The subs were confusing.  I could just about see bringing GON on but it absolutely should have been Smith that he replaced not Pack as Pack was not nearly as bad.  To be honest I'd have overloaded the midfield as we were getting nowhere - someone like Hegeler who has a calm head might have helped more - is he injured now or just dropped out the squad for no apparent reason again?  There's never any point in bringing O'Dowda on unless we're winning comfortably and it's just to rest someone else, he seems to have very little impact on any game.  Eliasson might be raw but he might have offered some sort of threat.  Woodrow looked reasonable but then so would Bas Savage with that sort of service, all you can really do is close down and run around when your teammates have lost the ability to pass five yards.

It's probably fair to say I didn't enjoy much about the match.

A word on the ref.  He got pretty much every decision right but was ridiculously fussy about where kicks were taken from.  When we're fouled a free kick is supposed to penalise the opposition, preventing a quick one by insisting it's taken from two yards away helps them.  Whatever he was doing with Fielding's free kick was beyond me, Fielding was in line with the linesman's flag but apparently that's not ok.  Who the **** cares where in the 18 yard box it's taken when we all know it's going out of play anyway?  That's probably harsh on Fielding given he again made a couple of great saves but if you can't hit a red shirt reliably why not take the short option or throw it?

Yes, it's only four games in.  Yes it could change.  But out of 8 halves of league football we've had two good, one ok, and five shockers.  That's starting to look more of a worry than a concern.  It's patently obvious that we need some real quality in midfield and soon, but that doesn't seem to be a priority for the club.  I hope they re-evaluate that or I fear we're going to have the most expensive league one side ever seen.  A casual estimate would be that we started today with an XI that cost over £10m to assemble and another £5-6m on the bench.  Value for money is not how I'd put it.

You took the words right out of my mouth, Nibs.  

Maybe a dour no score draw against one of the prachute payment boys wouldn't have seemed so bad - but Millwall!  They still look and play like a L1 side. Yet they came the closest.  16 corners conceded!!! Would a side with a decent goalscorer have let us escape unscathed from that?

[Abraham Romanovich]

43 minutes ago, cheshire_red said:

Every other report has Patterson having a mare?

Too many fancy tricks and spins for my liking sometimes just needs to do the simple things and don't even start me on that attempted lob.

 

[Major Isewater]

47 minutes ago, cheshire_red said:

Every other report has Patterson having a mare?

Was he even playing ?

The problem , amongst others , is that Paterson and Brownhill just don't affect the game enough .

Pack is ok but very slow and rarely moves forward and Smith breaks up play a bit but , once again , doesn't affect the game enough .

I don't see a Championship quality midfield there I'm afraid .

 

[YorkshireSection]

8 minutes ago, tinman85 said:

We took Diedhiou off and had no presence up top. Woodrow is not the type of striker we needed. Looked bang average. Not saying Diedhiou is setting the world on fire either but apart from Baker and Pisano was the only one who looked physically up for it. 

Woodrows record is awful, not really a signing that I'm thrilled about, I thought we were looking for a striker with pace and presence, as for Diedhiou I have a bad feeling.

[RedM]

I really like Pack, and Korey is usually dependable isn't he. They both had their worst game for a while today. One or the other off form is hard to manage, but both in the same game is impossible. We were very lucky we weren't punished as they seemed to affect the whole team, the defence was overrun and the forwards got nothing. Hopefully this will be a one off, we might lose games but we surely can't play as badly as that again.

[YorkshireSection]

8 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Was he even playing ?

The problem , amongst others , is that Paterson and Brownhill just don't affect the game enough .

Pack is ok but very slow and rarely moves forward and Smith breaks up play a bit but , once again , doesn't affect the game enough .

I don't see a Championship quality midfield there I'm afraid .

 

Brownhill needs to play in the middle, but we are to weak to even contemplate trying him there as Pack doesn't have the grit and style of play to accompany him and it saddens me to say but I think Smith flourishes when playing with better players, he however seems to have stagnated and not pushed on which is a real shame as I thought he could have been a quality championship midfielder, our midfield needs a complete revamp, bollocks.

[formerly known as ivan]

My first game of the season today. My decision not to renew my ST came down to a financial one. However I must say...

How glad am I that I made the choice not to renew! Everything today reminded me of last season. I know the Barnsley game was decent, particularly the first 45, but I feel performances like that will be few and far between.

Truely was shocking, void of ideas, no attacking threat, no real movement and one at least 3 occasions our own players tackling each other!

With us being weaker without Tammy there lies a long hard season ahead. Really can't see where the goals will come from...

[Kid in the Riot]

1 hour ago, Nibor said:

Well, that was 90 minutes of my life I'm not getting back.  It was truly shite from beginning to end, the high pressing quick moving passing game has vanished and been replaced by players running into each other, giving away needless fouls, passing behind each other, standing still, turning around and going backwards.  We looked devoid of confidence and scared. 

The only ones to come out of that with any credit really are Fielding and Paterson, Baker was OK and that's about it.  Korey Smith had comfortably the worst game I've ever seen him have, I think he completed about two in ten passes and couldn't seem to do anything right.  Diedhiou and Reid might as well have been playing over in the park given how isolated they were by our inability to string two passes together.  

On the plus side we will never concede from a corner again having seemingly decided to use Millwall as an opportunity to practise defending set pieces by giving them about 800 in a row in the first 20 minutes.  It was a testament to their complete lack of any talent that we managed to keep a clean sheet, they missed a couple of sitters and on that showing will be joining Barnsley and probably us in the bottom three.  For the first 30 minutes they pressed us and then they retreated back as two banks of four and sat there happy to play on the break when they realised we had no threat.

We had about ten minutes of reasonable play in the run up to half time which Millwall stifled by fouling and timewasting and arguing, and then we came out after half time looking about half as lively as we did in the first half.  Whatever was said by LJ in the run up to the game and at half time didn't work one bit in either case.

The subs were confusing.  I could just about see bringing GON on but it absolutely should have been Smith that he replaced not Pack as Pack was not nearly as bad.  To be honest I'd have overloaded the midfield as we were getting nowhere - someone like Hegeler who has a calm head might have helped more - is he injured now or just dropped out the squad for no apparent reason again?  There's never any point in bringing O'Dowda on unless we're winning comfortably and it's just to rest someone else, he seems to have very little impact on any game.  Eliasson might be raw but he might have offered some sort of threat.  Woodrow looked reasonable but then so would Bas Savage with that sort of service, all you can really do is close down and run around when your teammates have lost the ability to pass five yards.

It's probably fair to say I didn't enjoy much about the match.

A word on the ref.  He got pretty much every decision right but was ridiculously fussy about where kicks were taken from.  When we're fouled a free kick is supposed to penalise the opposition, preventing a quick one by insisting it's taken from two yards away helps them.  Whatever he was doing with Fielding's free kick was beyond me, Fielding was in line with the linesman's flag but apparently that's not ok.  Who the **** cares where in the 18 yard box it's taken when we all know it's going out of play anyway?  That's probably harsh on Fielding given he again made a couple of great saves but if you can't hit a red shirt reliably why not take the short option or throw it?

Yes, it's only four games in.  Yes it could change.  But out of 8 halves of league football we've had two good, one ok, and five shockers.  That's starting to look more of a worry than a concern.  It's patently obvious that we need some real quality in midfield and soon, but that doesn't seem to be a priority for the club.  I hope they re-evaluate that or I fear we're going to have the most expensive league one side ever seen.  A casual estimate would be that we started today with an XI that cost over £10m to assemble and another £5-6m on the bench.  Value for money is not how I'd put it.

Brentford was far, far worse.

JOHNSON OUT.

[054123]

I honestly don't know what people expect. 

Nothing has changed in the last 18 months.

[robin_unreliant]

1 minute ago, formerly known as ivan said:

 My decision not to renew my ST..... However I must say...

How glad am I that I made the choice not to renew! 

Me too. I just couldn't face another run like last year's mid-season and with LJ still here was worried nothing would change. 

Went to the Barnsley game and was impressed and thought I had got it wrong. Now feeling relieved that I don't feel obliged to spends hours in the m5 holiday chaos coming up from devon to watch the kind of dross served up today, just because I have a ST.

Got a feeling it might be a long hard season - again.

[PolskRed]

1 hour ago, Nibor said:

Well, that was 90 minutes of my life I'm not getting back.  It was truly shite from beginning to end, the high pressing quick moving passing game has vanished and been replaced by players running into each other, giving away needless fouls, passing behind each other, standing still, turning around and going backwards.  We looked devoid of confidence and scared. 

The only ones to come out of that with any credit really are Fielding and Paterson, Baker was OK and that's about it.  Korey Smith had comfortably the worst game I've ever seen him have, I think he completed about two in ten passes and couldn't seem to do anything right.  Diedhiou and Reid might as well have been playing over in the park given how isolated they were by our inability to string two passes together.  

On the plus side we will never concede from a corner again having seemingly decided to use Millwall as an opportunity to practise defending set pieces by giving them about 800 in a row in the first 20 minutes.  It was a testament to their complete lack of any talent that we managed to keep a clean sheet, they missed a couple of sitters and on that showing will be joining Barnsley and probably us in the bottom three.  For the first 30 minutes they pressed us and then they retreated back as two banks of four and sat there happy to play on the break when they realised we had no threat.

We had about ten minutes of reasonable play in the run up to half time which Millwall stifled by fouling and timewasting and arguing, and then we came out after half time looking about half as lively as we did in the first half.  Whatever was said by LJ in the run up to the game and at half time didn't work one bit in either case.

The subs were confusing.  I could just about see bringing GON on but it absolutely should have been Smith that he replaced not Pack as Pack was not nearly as bad.  To be honest I'd have overloaded the midfield as we were getting nowhere - someone like Hegeler who has a calm head might have helped more - is he injured now or just dropped out the squad for no apparent reason again?  There's never any point in bringing O'Dowda on unless we're winning comfortably and it's just to rest someone else, he seems to have very little impact on any game.  Eliasson might be raw but he might have offered some sort of threat.  Woodrow looked reasonable but then so would Bas Savage with that sort of service, all you can really do is close down and run around when your teammates have lost the ability to pass five yards.

It's probably fair to say I didn't enjoy much about the match.

A word on the ref.  He got pretty much every decision right but was ridiculously fussy about where kicks were taken from.  When we're fouled a free kick is supposed to penalise the opposition, preventing a quick one by insisting it's taken from two yards away helps them.  Whatever he was doing with Fielding's free kick was beyond me, Fielding was in line with the linesman's flag but apparently that's not ok.  Who the **** cares where in the 18 yard box it's taken when we all know it's going out of play anyway?  That's probably harsh on Fielding given he again made a couple of great saves but if you can't hit a red shirt reliably why not take the short option or throw it?

Yes, it's only four games in.  Yes it could change.  But out of 8 halves of league football we've had two good, one ok, and five shockers.  That's starting to look more of a worry than a concern.  It's patently obvious that we need some real quality in midfield and soon, but that doesn't seem to be a priority for the club.  I hope they re-evaluate that or I fear we're going to have the most expensive league one side ever seen.  A casual estimate would be that we started today with an XI that cost over £10m to assemble and another £5-6m on the bench.  Value for money is not how I'd put it.

Normally read your posts but after three lines knew it would be "OTIB'b" so ignored the rest. I genuinely opoligise if I missed anything different but I doubt it so cheers. 

 

 

[BigTone]

1 hour ago, Nibor said:

Well, that was 90 minutes of my life I'm not getting back.  It was truly shite from beginning to end, the high pressing quick moving passing game has vanished and been replaced by players running into each other, giving away needless fouls, passing behind each other, standing still, turning around and going backwards.  We looked devoid of confidence and scared. 

The only ones to come out of that with any credit really are Fielding and Paterson, Baker was OK and that's about it.  Korey Smith had comfortably the worst game I've ever seen him have, I think he completed about two in ten passes and couldn't seem to do anything right.  Diedhiou and Reid might as well have been playing over in the park given how isolated they were by our inability to string two passes together.  

On the plus side we will never concede from a corner again having seemingly decided to use Millwall as an opportunity to practise defending set pieces by giving them about 800 in a row in the first 20 minutes.  It was a testament to their complete lack of any talent that we managed to keep a clean sheet, they missed a couple of sitters and on that showing will be joining Barnsley and probably us in the bottom three.  For the first 30 minutes they pressed us and then they retreated back as two banks of four and sat there happy to play on the break when they realised we had no threat.

We had about ten minutes of reasonable play in the run up to half time which Millwall stifled by fouling and timewasting and arguing, and then we came out after half time looking about half as lively as we did in the first half.  Whatever was said by LJ in the run up to the game and at half time didn't work one bit in either case.

The subs were confusing.  I could just about see bringing GON on but it absolutely should have been Smith that he replaced not Pack as Pack was not nearly as bad.  To be honest I'd have overloaded the midfield as we were getting nowhere - someone like Hegeler who has a calm head might have helped more - is he injured now or just dropped out the squad for no apparent reason again?  There's never any point in bringing O'Dowda on unless we're winning comfortably and it's just to rest someone else, he seems to have very little impact on any game.  Eliasson might be raw but he might have offered some sort of threat.  Woodrow looked reasonable but then so would Bas Savage with that sort of service, all you can really do is close down and run around when your teammates have lost the ability to pass five yards.

It's probably fair to say I didn't enjoy much about the match.

A word on the ref.  He got pretty much every decision right but was ridiculously fussy about where kicks were taken from.  When we're fouled a free kick is supposed to penalise the opposition, preventing a quick one by insisting it's taken from two yards away helps them.  Whatever he was doing with Fielding's free kick was beyond me, Fielding was in line with the linesman's flag but apparently that's not ok.  Who the **** cares where in the 18 yard box it's taken when we all know it's going out of play anyway?  That's probably harsh on Fielding given he again made a couple of great saves but if you can't hit a red shirt reliably why not take the short option or throw it?

Yes, it's only four games in.  Yes it could change.  But out of 8 halves of league football we've had two good, one ok, and five shockers.  That's starting to look more of a worry than a concern.  It's patently obvious that we need some real quality in midfield and soon, but that doesn't seem to be a priority for the club.  I hope they re-evaluate that or I fear we're going to have the most expensive league one side ever seen.  A casual estimate would be that we started today with an XI that cost over £10m to assemble and another £5-6m on the bench.  Value for money is not how I'd put it.

I get the impression you weren't impressed

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

Don't panic, it's Millwall these sorts of teams often leave you feeling grim.  They play a horrible game and will make some of the best teams look horrible.

[tts_city]

1 hour ago, formerly known as ivan said:

My first game of the season today. My decision not to renew my ST came down to a financial one. However I must say...

How glad am I that I made the choice not to renew! Everything today reminded me of last season. I know the Barnsley game was decent, particularly the first 45, but I feel performances like that will be few and far between.

Truely was shocking, void of ideas, no attacking threat, no real movement and one at least 3 occasions our own players tackling each other!

With us being weaker without Tammy there lies a long hard season ahead. Really can't see where the goals will come from...

I did renew although i lost my seat as i did it late, im starting to regret it already, compounded by the new bloke i sit next to has terrible bad breath, even my lad noticed the smell two seats away, no wonder the previous person moved!

[kevinmabbuttshair]

Too many people blaming Milwall for our inadequacies.

Bags of money spent and naff all to show for it

[Alex_BCFC]

Millwall shipped 4 at home on Tuesday yet we barely threatened them all game. We didn't look like we had a plan of what to do apart from 10 mins until half-time, and small spells at the start and end of the 2nd half. Then I hear LJ moaning about the fixture list in August - incredible. 

Fielding probably MOTM despite his shambolic kicking. I guess Wright and Baker were fairly solid and dealt with corners well. Struggling to credit any others. Joe Bryan, who somehow was given official MOTM, had a terrible first half. He seemed to think he all day long of the ball and was closed down so many times. 2nd half he did improve and hit a decent effort (one of only 2 efforts of note at their goal). Pisano not too bad but turns like a tank.

Korey Smith was incredibly bad. Pack marginally better. But essentially that central midfield isn't going to do anything in this league. Brownhill is not a winger either. Paterson tried to be productive but wasn't - I do think he is a reasonable player though and when he was involved at the end of last season it really helped us.

Up top Diedhoiu had a poor touch and was isolated. I think he will be good long term but he had little chance today. Reid the odd good touch but not involved much.

Very concerning so far. Forget Plymouth in the reserves cup. Barnsley are clearing a shocking side - stripped of all their decent players. Birmingham weren't great (although we did play well first half) and Brentford have had a shocking start yet apparently battered us for the majority of the game. Now Millwall, who will be down there with us, outplayed us. In fact no surprise to see all these teams in the bottom half despite how early it is.

I'll be amazed if we aren't in the bottom 6 teams.

[Corsham Alf]

Nibors summary was detailed and spot on. That was a truly dire 90 minutes and my only highlight was the pre match burger!

Our midfield is so desperately lacking in quality : pace/power and goals. In the Champs to be effective you must be strong there to dominate or at least compete in games. Korey had a shocking game and needs to go now. Pack isn't a lot better. Callum OD runs around like a headless chicken and has shown me nothing in over a year at the club. It would be harsh to assess Woodrow on a 20 minute cameo but I so wish we'd taken Vassell. We need more pace up top.

On this showing it could be another long season.

LJ just isn't the manager to take us forward. 

 

 

[Guest theshaksta]

3 minutes ago, Alex_BCFC said:

Millwall shipped 4 at home on Tuesday yet we barely threatened them all game. We didn't look like we had a plan of what to do apart from 10 mins until half-time, and small spells at the start and end of the 2nd half. Then I hear LJ moaning about the fixture list in August - incredible. 

Fielding probably MOTM despite his shambolic kicking. I guess Wright and Baker were fairly solid and dealt with corners well. Struggling to credit any others. Joe Bryan, who somehow was given official MOTM, had a terrible first half. He seemed to think he all day long of the ball and was closed down so many times. 2nd half he did improve and hit a decent effort (one of only 2 efforts of note at their goal). Pisano not too bad but turns like a tank.

Korey Smith was incredibly bad. Pack marginally better. But essentially that central midfield isn't going to do anything in this league. Brownhill is not a winger either. Paterson tried to be productive but wasn't - I do think he is a reasonable player though and when he was involved at the end of last season it really helped us.

Up top Diedhoiu had a poor touch and was isolated. I think he will be good long term but he had little chance today. Reid the odd good touch but not involved much.

Very concerning so far. Forget Plymouth in the reserves cup. Barnsley are clearing a shocking side - stripped of all their decent players. Birmingham weren't great (although we did play well first half) and Brentford have had a shocking start yet apparently battered us for the majority of the game. Now Millwall, who will be down there with us, outplayed us. In fact no surprise to see all these teams in the bottom half despite how early it is.

I'll be amazed if we aren't in the bottom 6 teams.

Spot on. Ipswich who were tipped by all the experts to struggle and possibly get relegated, have won all 4 games against the same 4 teams we managed 1 win against.

[h hills left shoe]

That was absolute shit,!how anyone take anything positive from that I don't Know! Worse display I've seen  in ages 

[tts_city]

1 hour ago, Corsham Alf said:

Nibors summary was detailed and spot on. That was a truly dire 90 minutes and my only highlight was the pre match burger!

Our midfield is so desperately lacking in quality : pace/power and goals. In the Champs to be effective you must be strong there to dominate or at least compete in games. Korey had a shocking game and needs to go now. Pack isn't a lot better. Callum OD runs around like a headless chicken and has shown me nothing in over a year at the club. It would be harsh to assess Woodrow on a 20 minute cameo but I so wish we'd taken Vassell. We need more pace up top.

On this showing it could be another long season.

LJ just isn't the manager to take us forward. 

 

 

Haha yes my only highlight was the pork roll with stuffing outside the club shop, very nice (so it should be for a deep sea diver!), all downhill from there.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Nibor said:

He was the only player who did anything positive with the ball and made himself available.  I don't know how anybody having watched that could describe it as mare unless they had far more disparaging words for the other 9 outfield players.

I thought he had a mare. There's no point making ground if he can't find a pass, he overplays it or as usual keeps his head down. 

I agree he had the intent. He is just inconsistent and with Brownhill on the other side if he doesn't effect play we are gonna be crap. 

And yeah I do, but not quite 9 as the defence were all good 

[Spud55]

59 minutes ago, Abraham Romanovich said:

Too many fancy tricks and spins for my liking sometimes just needs to do the simple things and don't even start me on that attempted lob.

 

Thought he looked lively in parts, but mainly poor, the main times he looked any good was when he was linking up with Bobby, who looked like pretty much the only player on the pitch with an ounce of ability. 

Patterson was almost permanently in the wrong position. He gives Bryan an often impossible job going forward as he has buggered off somewhere else leaving Bryan to have to try to take on the full back and winger of the opposition. 

I would be tempted to move him inside and have him just behind Bobby and fam, as his most effective work was in the middle, and some of his interplay with Bobby was sublime. 

[1960maaan]

2 hours ago, Nibor said:

A word on the ref.  He got pretty much every decision right but was ridiculously fussy about where kicks were taken from. 

I thought for maybe 30 minutes , he gave us everything , including some laughable ones and let us off with a few. Not sure what happened but we played right into their hands, also how he let them get away with kicking the ball away and delaying EVERY free kick we had was ridiculous .

1 hour ago, tinman85 said:

We took Diedhiou off and had no presence up top. Woodrow is not the type of striker we needed. Looked bang average. Not saying Diedhiou is setting the world on fire either but apart from Baker and Pisano was the only one who looked physically up for it. 

We could have had Messi and Ronaldo up front it would have made o difference , device was non existent .

29 minutes ago, BigTone said:

I get the impression you weren't impressed

No one , but no one could have been. Absolutely shocking.

[handsofclay]

My first game of the season and I thought we looked more solid than last season. I also thought Bobby Reid looked like a genuine and skillful striker. Kicking excepted, Fielding was great between the sticks. It will come right. We have lost just once in five games and have scored six more goals than the opposition.

[AshtonGreat]

1 hour ago, YorkshireSection said:

Woodrows record is awful, not really a signing that I'm thrilled about, I thought we were looking for a striker with pace and presence, as for Diedhiou I have a bad feeling.

I did wonder about Woodrow when his showreel only had 3 goals on it.

As for Diedhiou...good to see the Tomlin money was spent wisely

[exAtyeoMax]

21 minutes ago, Corsham Alf said:

Nibors summary was detailed and spot on. That was a truly dire 90 minutes and my only highlight was the pre match burger!

Our midfield is so desperately lacking in quality : pace/power and goals. In the Champs to be effective you must be strong there to dominate or at least compete in games. Korey had a shocking game and needs to go now. Pack isn't a lot better. Callum OD runs around like a headless chicken and has shown me nothing in over a year at the club. It would be harsh to assess Woodrow on a 20 minute cameo but I so wish we'd taken Vassell. We need more pace up top.

On this showing it could be another long season.

LJ just isn't the manager to take us forward. 

 

 

My highlight was also my pre-match burger. Very nice, with gherkins (is he still at Ipswich?) and a large slice of beef tomato. No relish though…

That burger probably made me want to go to sleep during the match. It was a tad boring - at least at Brentford you can watch the planes coming in/out

[oldstandrobin]

1 hour ago, pongo88 said:

The only positives for me was a nice sausage roll at half time and a good couple of pints in the pub post match

and for me a couple of ciders tonight, fish and chips and a good red wine. Bristol City FC  should now be called the Houdinis, not the Robins, now you see them, now you dont.

[REDOXO]

1 hour ago, harry may said:

We have had nobody in midfield with the attributes of Marvin Elliot since ........................Marvin Elliot. We've need somebody like that more than ever.

Marvin Elliot didn't have the attributes of Marvin Elliot after the first season  

1 hour ago, RedM said:

Paterson at least looked willing, but nothing was coming off for him. Korey was very poor by his standards, giving the ball away by passing to one of the Millwall players then having to get it back, and winging at the Ref at every opportunity. Joe at least stuck to instruction and stayed out wide, patiently, as only Pack seemed to realise he was there. Frankie again kept us in the game. Other than that everyone was well below par and allowed themselves to be bullied.

Very efficiently summed up

1 hour ago, pongo88 said:

The only positives for me was a nice sausage roll at half time and a good couple of pints in the pub post match

You lucky bastard  

47 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Brentford was far, far worse.

JOHNSON OUT.

Brentford was v v v bad, but worse no, not on your life. That was tragically sh1t

Reids last minute saver partially papered over how toss we were. LJs summation of I'm really pumped and that goal is a season changer looks to be a bit knobby now. 

Get Flint sorted and get him playing or sell the ****** and buy someone to replace the desperately poor Korey Smith.  The bloke is beyond criticism for some totally inexplicable reason, but he has gone from a decent player to a lightweight AGAIN. 

Cant pass shoot or last 90 minutes and LJ REPLACES PACK. Instrumental in Brentfords second goal by just stopping and watching and determined to give the ball away all afternoon today . Korey you need to find form fast or find yourself in the stands as even LJ won't keep missing your performances  

 

[CotswoldRed]

Did LJ say "we didn't have the energy to be bright"? 

Que? 

[Northern Red]

1 hour ago, tinman85 said:

Korey Smith has gone backwards for me. He gave the ball away countless times. One of which nearly led to a goal. I always preferred him to Pack but now feel we need a partner for Pack in the middle. To be honest if we replaced Pack and Smith with Irvine and Bridcutt we would look much better. 

Yeah, cos what we really need is to spend a shitload more money.... 

[tts_city]

1 hour ago, CotswoldRed said:

Did LJ say "we didn't have the energy to be bright"? 

Que? 

Im sure i also heard him say on the radio on my way home we only needed a "tickle" to have won that match 

[REDOXO]

2 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

Yeah, cos what we really need is to spend a shitload more money.... 

If flint goes that is exactly what will happen. 

[Milan djurichimovic]

I think Pato was useless apart from two occasions bobby Reid was our only player who looked like he could make that magical moment to break down there 8 at the back 

[Phileas Fogg]

Very ugly game today.

Thought Millwall had a good side for the system they play. Not pretty but lots of big lumps. 

Tom Elliot caused us some problems when he came on, decent targetman I thought. I reckon they'll stay up as they'll grind out away draws and a few wins playing like that. Very hard to play against and we had no answer.

[mozo]

I felt it was like watching a talented but fragile team (us) against a mediocre but solid team (them).

By fragile I mean mentally, tactically and physically.

I actually thought it was a reasonable game though. Too many unforced errors  but both teams gave it a go, both sets of fans had their say, amd the weather was good. I've experienced waaaaay worse than that!

The knee jerk reaction to our games is a bit daft.

[tts_city]

1 hour ago, Phileas Fogg said:

Very ugly game today.

Thought Millwall had a good side for the system they play. Not pretty but lots of big lumps. 

Tom Elliot caused us some problems when he came on, decent targetman I thought. I reckon they'll stay up as they'll grind out away draws and a few wins playing like that. Very hard to play against and we had no answer.

was that their number 19 ? if so yes i thought he did very well, sort of player we could do with while Đurić is out.

[PolskRed]

Do we get a massive over reaction thread every time we don't win? Maybe we can merge it with all the "We hate LJ threads?"

[Phileas Fogg]

3 minutes ago, tts_city said:

was that their number 19 ? if so yes i thought he did very well, sort of player we could do with while Đurić is out.

That's him. Big powerful unit. Not particularly technical but strong and a handful in the air. Gave us a headache when he came on.

 

[tts_city]

1 hour ago, PolskRed said:

Do we get a massive over reaction thread every time we don't win? Maybe we can merge it with all the "We hate LJ threads?"

you didnt actually watch the match today then ?

[Tin Soldier]

Another hat full of excuses from Johnson, not good enough. We have not improved since last season. Infact we are worse. We appear to be in deep sh#te already!!

[ashton_fan]

1 hour ago, formerly known as ivan said:

My first game of the season today. My decision not to renew my ST came down to a financial one. However I must say...

How glad am I that I made the choice not to renew! Everything today reminded me of last season. I know the Barnsley game was decent, particularly the first 45, but I feel performances like that will be few and far between.

Truely was shocking, void of ideas, no attacking threat, no real movement and one at least 3 occasions our own players tackling each other!

With us being weaker without Tammy there lies a long hard season ahead. Really can't see where the goals will come from...

Yet Bobby Reid is still the League's equal top scorer with 4, more than Tammy had at this stage. Also I can't believe people are writing off Woodrow after only a few minutes on the pitch.

[Guest Bigus Dickus]

Johnson out?

Its no better than picking your best 11 on paper saying go out and do what you like and ******* off down the pub to watch it!

i can do that for 50 quid a week and probably get better results!

[sh1t_ref_again]

Looked like we had our confidence destroyed Tuesday, so we reverted to lump it up front and hope

[formerly known as ivan]

14 minutes ago, ashton_fan said:

Yet Bobby Reid is still the League's equal top scorer with 4, more than Tammy had at this stage. Also I can't believe people are writing off Woodrow after only a few minutes on the pitch.

Who is writing of Woodrow? It's the service into him that is gonna be the issue

As for Bobby, great start to the season for him but hardly likely to score 10+ over the season

[Curr Avon]

2 hours ago, RedM said:

Paterson at least looked willing, but nothing was coming off for him. Korey was very poor by his standards, giving the ball away by passing to one of the Millwall players then having to get it back, and winging at the Ref at every opportunity. Joe at least stuck to instruction and stayed out wide, patiently, as only Pack seemed to realise he was there. Frankie again kept us in the game. Other than that everyone was well below par and allowed themselves to be bullied.

Paterson and Bryan had a difficult time on the left flank due to the performance of Conor McLaughlin. The right-back, who joined the Lions from Fleetwood this Summer, literally tackled himself to a standstill. City's pair looked more threatening coming inside, which was ably demonstrated by Bryan's thunderbolt. 

 

[Portland Bill]

1 hour ago, robin_unreliant said:

Me too. I just couldn't face another run like last year's mid-season and with LJ still here was worried nothing would change. 

Went to the Barnsley game and was impressed and thought I had got it wrong. Now feeling relieved that I don't feel obliged to spends hours in the m5 holiday chaos coming up from devon to watch the kind of dross served up today, just because I have a ST.

Got a feeling it might be a long hard season - again.

I was offered 2 free tickets for today, I turned the offer down, I'm more content watching local non league football ( which I did again today) than LJ's dull negative rubbish.

 

 

[Redsi2]

I can't imagine Steve Lansdown will tolerate the sort of season we had last year. Surely Johnson has to get us mid table with better performances than that. If I was SL I wouldn't be giving another transfer window to fill the bench with some more expensive players who fail to perform. 

[brady bunch]

Best summing up of a game I have ever read on OTIB..... WELL DONE OP.

the passing BEHIND the player aaaaaaagggghhhhhh, drives me mad when I see it at under 14 level, i watched well paid professions doing it today, under NO pressure!

[CotswoldRed]

9 hours ago, Curr Avon said:

Paterson and Bryan had a difficult time on the left flank due to the performance of Conor McLaughlin. The right-back, who joined the Lions from Fleetwood this Summer, literally tackled himself to a standstill. City's pair looked more threatening coming inside, which was ably demonstrated by Bryan's thunderbolt. 

 

Pass and move quickly and you haven't got the ball when he gets to you. This was the problem for me - static play and slow decision making. Makes tackling easy. 

[Olé]

Great report @Nibor, agree with it all.

Millwall are a smart well organised team that can get a game by the throat, it was why they kept 3 clean sheets against Premiership teams last season. They obviously watched the Brentford game as yesterday was a continuation of that - push up and pen back our 2 central midfielders who made us tick for 45 minutes vs Birmingham, thus creating such a large space between defence and attack that our new pass and move approach cannot string anything together, and Paterson and Brownhill have to aimlessly tuck in or cut in (nothing inside of them) whilst Diedhiou and Reid become completely isolated up front.

That is now two and a half games of football in a row we have been utterly exposed for a lack of a plan B, and our "well rehearsed" press and attacking football produced versus various non-league teams in pre-season and one half versus Barnsley and Birmingham, has already fallen apart. And yet to think some people consider any alarm bells to be knee jerk before October, despite what we suffered last season. The head coach still appears to have little idea and is tactically beaten all ends up by most managers in this division. A few people told me I was knee jerk for retracting my comments about Birmingham, but as soon as you recognise that the good stuff is the EXCEPTION rather than the rule, you need to call it out. And it seems it was - that 45m at St. Andrews is like a novelty now.

Before anyone gets on the defensive and talks again about knee jerk and one-offs, at about 6pm last night I found myself arguing with @Kid in the Riot and trying to be that self same voice of reason downplaying the evidence of the past 220 odd minutes of football. So I've tried to keep drinking the kool-aid, but am struggling. The only remaining positive is that Bobby Reid, even yesterday, is lightyears ahead of his teammates on stamina, skill and intelligence, while Joe Bryan is complimenting the team nicely where last season he largely struggled. But that's two long term members of the squad the pre-date the coach, who is mainly overseeing a transition to 'scouted' replacements, of the likes of Pisano, who look bang average at best, and conveniently Mark Ashton is permanently MIA now.

I raised the question of KPIs in the week - since a lot of people kept referring to points and position in October. My KPI is visible progress tactically and individually. Apart from Bobby I am just not seeing it. 

[chinapig]

7 minutes ago, Olé said:

Great report @Nibor, agree with it all.

Millwall are a smart well organised team that can get a game by the throat, it was why they kept 3 clean sheets against Premiership teams last season. They obviously watched the Brentford game as yesterday was a continuation of that - push up and pen back our 2 central midfielders who made us tick for 45 minutes vs Birmingham, thus creating such a large space between defence and attack that our new pass and move approach cannot string anything together, and Paterson and Brownhill have to aimlessly tuck in or cut in (nothing inside of them) whilst Diedhiou and Reid become completely isolated up front.

That is now two and a half games of football in a row we have been utterly exposed for a lack of a plan B, and our "well rehearsed" press and attacking football produced versus various non-league teams in pre-season and one half versus Barnsley and Birmingham, has already fallen apart. And yet to think some people consider any alarm bells to be knee jerk before October, despite what we suffered last season. The head coach still appears to have little idea and is tactically beaten all ends up by most managers in this division. A few people told me I was knee jerk for retracting my comments about Birmingham, but as soon as you recognise that the good stuff is the EXCEPTION rather than the rule, you need to call it out. And it seems it was - that 45m at St. Andrews is like a novelty now.

Before anyone gets on the defensive and talks again about knee jerk and one-offs, at about 6pm last night I found myself arguing with @Kid in the Riot and trying to be that self same voice of reason downplaying the evidence of the past 220 odd minutes of football. So I've tried to keep drinking the kool-aid, but am struggling. The only remaining positive is that Bobby Reid, even yesterday, is lightyears ahead of his teammates on stamina, skill and intelligence, while Joe Bryan is complimenting the team nicely where last season he largely struggled. But that's two long term members of the squad the pre-date the coach, who is mainly overseeing a transition to 'scouted' replacements, of the likes of Pisano, who look bang average at best, and conveniently Mark Ashton is permanently MIA now.

I raised the question of KPIs in the week - since a lot of people kept referring to points and position in October. My KPI is visible progress tactically and individually. Apart from Bobby I am just not seeing it. 

There is a conundrum here. I am one of those who is critical of LJ's failure to adapt tactically to the opposition, as evidenced by the last two and a half games. But if he changes personnel and tactics from game to game he is accused of a 'tombola' approach. We fans can't have it both ways.

I note also that he implied that the players got caught up in the emotion of the game (which I took to mean their reaction to 'Wall's physical approach) and didn't stick to the plan.

This may come across as an excuse but may also be true. To be tactically adaptable you need intelligent players capable of adapting and of keeping a cool head under pressure. I don't see a lot of those in the squad but arguably Hegeler is one, yet he was first to be dropped, with a noticeable effect on our style and performance.

[BobBobSuperBob]

30 minutes ago, Olé said:

Great report @Nibor, agree with it all.

Millwall are a smart well organised team that can get a game by the throat, it was why they kept 3 clean sheets against Premiership teams last season. They obviously watched the Brentford game as yesterday was a continuation of that - push up and pen back our 2 central midfielders who made us tick for 45 minutes vs Birmingham, thus creating such a large space between defence and attack that our new pass and move approach cannot string anything together, and Paterson and Brownhill have to aimlessly tuck in or cut in (nothing inside of them) whilst Diedhiou and Reid become completely isolated up front.

That is now two and a half games of football in a row we have been utterly exposed for a lack of a plan B, and our "well rehearsed" press and attacking football produced versus various non-league teams in pre-season and one half versus Barnsley and Birmingham, has already fallen apart. And yet to think some people consider any alarm bells to be knee jerk before October, despite what we suffered last season. The head coach still appears to have little idea and is tactically beaten all ends up by most managers in this division. A few people told me I was knee jerk for retracting my comments about Birmingham, but as soon as you recognise that the good stuff is the EXCEPTION rather than the rule, you need to call it out. And it seems it was - that 45m at St. Andrews is like a novelty now.

Before anyone gets on the defensive and talks again about knee jerk and one-offs, at about 6pm last night I found myself arguing with @Kid in the Riot and trying to be that self same voice of reason downplaying the evidence of the past 220 odd minutes of football. So I've tried to keep drinking the kool-aid, but am struggling. The only remaining positive is that Bobby Reid, even yesterday, is lightyears ahead of his teammates on stamina, skill and intelligence, while Joe Bryan is complimenting the team nicely where last season he largely struggled. But that's two long term members of the squad the pre-date the coach, who is mainly overseeing a transition to 'scouted' replacements, of the likes of Pisano, who look bang average at best, and conveniently Mark Ashton is permanently MIA now.

I raised the question of KPIs in the week - since a lot of people kept referring to points and position in October. My KPI is visible progress tactically and individually. Apart from Bobby I am just not seeing it. 

Very good , explained post as always Ole

For me personally it's becoming more and more apparent that when playing a under prepared or poorish side , or if we get out the blocks early we can get teams on the back foot and impose our press / 'busy bee' ideology / short passing game ,looking good

Against a side who sets up to disrupt this ,or are good enough to press us likewise , we nigh on hit a brick wall , unable to cope with being pressed and / or unable to change our method against a side that set up like Millwall

I said early in LJs reign , the ideology of something like Arsenal is / can be lovely to watch , but to do so you have to e well drilled and recruit technically great players at your level at least , to make it successful -

The reality is that we regularly cannot cope with being pressed ourselves unless we are at the very top of our game and end up giving the ball away , with the seemingly inability to adapt or change our method

As a side who don't fancy out footballing us , Millwall yesterday employed exactly the right tactic , smothered our space in the attacking half and constantly hitting the channels or going over the top to negate our press- 

The better sides in this division may come and 'play' more and that may give us an opportunity to play how we wish , Likewise away from home , we then have to be good enough to execute our game plan and outplay them or beat them tactically

Other sides will do exactly what Millwall did or alternatively outnumber us in the middle of the pitch, as a fair few did last year,  and it is then again we need to be slick and sharp enough to  impose our game successfully or for a successful outcome -

Am I confident we can do this regularly ?

To be honest no , not really

Whats also concerning is that in both halves of the first two games we tailed off badly (Barnsley slightly excusable considering the score line) when opposition managers have spoken and adjusted at half time

And in the last two games , for different reasons we just havnt even looked like coming up with an answer

So we've had two good (first) halves in 4 games of 8 halves

Worrying and a few familiar alarm bells ringing for me personally 

I thought with another transfer window and another full pre season of preparation , we would see some obvious progressions

Still early but I'm seeing more worrying signs than any progressions

I still hope that with LT gone we will see a collective team spirit that gets us through but I'm far from convinced that is the case and think we lack characters and leaders that will lift us when it's all going pear shaped

[spudski]

Yesterday was the first time I've come away from a match in a long time, with an actual physical headache.

The frustration just grew and grew.

I don't think enough emphasis has been discussed on how much the ref influenced the game yesterday. He didn't take control.

Yes Millwall pressed and were physical...but the amount of fouls conceded, balls kicked away and held on to, players standing in front of free kicks, refusing to give ball back, calling back free kicks etc,etc etc.

They completely stopped any flow. City just couldn't get going. It was like watching a rugby league game...stop, start, grapple, grapple. When we did compete, we got penalised unfairly many times.

The ref imo, got sucked into their way. It was like playing against 11 octopus and a pedantic cock womble.

[Rocking Red Cyril]

13 hours ago, cheshire_red said:

Every other report has Patterson having a mare?

No comfortably the best city on the pitch by a mile. Looked our only real threat to a goal. 

[Red Exile]

20 minutes ago, chinapig said:

There is a conundrum here. I am one of those who is critical of LJ's failure to adapt tactically to the opposition, as evidenced by the last two and a half games. But if he changes personnel and tactics from game to game he is accused of a 'tombola' approach. We fans can't have it both ways.

I note also that he implied that the players got caught up in the emotion of the game (which I took to mean their reaction to 'Wall's physical approach) and didn't stick to the plan.

This may come across as an excuse but may also be true. To be tactically adaptable you need intelligent players capable of adapting and of keeping a cool head under pressure. I don't see a lot of those in the squad but arguably Hegeler is one, yet he was first to be dropped, with a noticeable effect on our style and performance.

I would love us to have a manager capable of changing personnel and tactics from game to game, and within a match, to react to what's happening. It's exactly what is needed at this level.

I sat behind the dug out for the Cardiff home match. It was fascinating to watch Warnock and his grizzled backroom team disecting the game and then making the substitutions which transformed the match...while LJ took sips from his water-bottle and played the role of spectator, watching the game slip away from us.

I don't want to have it both ways. I've concluded that LJ isn't up to it, and so his changes to personnel and tactics appear aimless. He should be managing at a much lower level and trying things out. Over promoted for me I'm afraid.