3 defeats in last 23

[Bar BS3]

What an outstanding, remarkable turnaround we have shown, from a point where many/most people could see little/no light at the end of the tunnel. 

To only lose 3 games (in all competitions) in our last 23 matches is testiment to just how much hard work must have been going on behind the scenes during those tough times last season. 

It wont last forever. We know that!

We've all seen false dawns. Too many. 

However, I'd go so far as to say that this is possibly the best squad & best set up, we have ever had here. Certainly in my 30 years of watching City. 

Long may the positives outweigh the negatives!

P.S. Fix the bloody PA system! 

[RUSSEL85]

And 2 of them were ******* Birmingham 

[cityexile]

And two of those were against bloody Birmingham!

edit: snap!

[BobBobSuperBob]

7 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

What an outstanding, remarkable turnaround we have shown, from a point where many/most people could see little/no light at the end of the tunnel. 

To only lose 3 games (in all competitions) in our last 23 matches is testiment to just how much hard work must have been going on behind the scenes during those tough times last season. 

It wont last forever. We know that!

We've all seen false dawns. Too many. 

However, I'd go so far as to say that this is possibly the best squad & best set up, we have ever had here. Certainly in my 30 years of watching City. 

Long may the positives outweigh the negatives!

P.S. Fix the bloody PA system! 

We can debate all we want

Those stats are very impressive, speak for themselves ,  and can't be reliant on luck or rub of green over such a period

Something exciting developing here 

[Tomo]

Wow that is some statistic - one we all probably forget after that terrible run last year!

Fair play for pointing that out!

COYR

[Tomo]

Its 4!

[cityexile]

7 minutes ago, tomo said:

Its 4!

Pfft, had to go and check.

Quite right, Birmingham twice and a defeat to Brentford and Preston on the bounce. 11 wins, 8 draws, 4 losses. 

Still only lost to three teams however...

[OldlandReddies]

....and lost just 2 of our last 16 home games. Surely the best record outside of the Prem ? AG is a fortress. 

[Ian M]

9 minutes ago, cityexile said:

Pfft, had to go and check.

Quite right, Birmingham twice and a defeat to Brentford and Preston on the bounce. 11 wins, 8 draws, 4 losses. 

Still only lost to three teams however...

Over a full season that would be 82 points. 

I think we'd all be well pleased if we finished on that this season. 

[OldlandReddies]

4 minutes ago, OldlandReddies said:

....and lost just 2 of our last 16 home games. Surely the best record outside of the Prem ? AG is a fortress. 

sorry to quote myself but just looked up Leeds home record over the last 25 odd games which is much better. 2nd best home record outside the Prem.....I'll settle for that.

[Bar BS3]

25 minutes ago, tomo said:

Its 4!

So it is. LJ out! 

[Coppello]

14 minutes ago, Ian M said:

Over a full season that would be 82 points. 

I think we'd all be well pleased if we finished on that this season. 

I don't know mate. Knowing OTIB someone will be on here complaining how we should've got 83. 

[Tomo]

In all fairness - 4 defeats in 23 is monster and I will take that over the next 23 games everyday!

 

[cityexile]

10 minutes ago, OldlandReddies said:

sorry to quote myself but just looked up Leeds home record over the last 25 odd games which is much better. 2nd best home record outside the Prem.....I'll settle for that.

This might be a bit of a cheat, but Lincoln on Sunday lost their first game at home the run extending one day short of a year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41209938

[Ian M]

5 minutes ago, tomo said:

In all fairness - 4 defeats in 23 is monster and I will take that over the next 23 games everyday!

 

As long as none of these are in the cup, this is our route into the Europa League, like LJ promised. 

[OldlandReddies]

3 minutes ago, cityexile said:

This might be a bit of a cheat, but Lincoln on Sunday lost their first game at home the run extending one day short of a year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41209938

Wowser ! 2nd best home record in the Championship over the last 16 it is then.....

[Lanterne Rouge]

11 minutes ago, cityexile said:

This might be a bit of a cheat, but Lincoln on Sunday lost their first game at home the run extending one day short of a year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41209938

Remember that year we did Saints at their place and stopped them going a calendar year unbeaten at home by one day.

Pearson - 1-0

[Mr Popodopolous]

Ashton Gate a fortress- at this level?

Not been seen in a while...not since at the helm was a certain bête noire of @Robbored 

Seriously though, that's a fabulous run. Beating and drawing with good teams as well- some dross we played too but generally not.

 

[Up The City!]

24 minutes ago, Coppello said:

I don't know mate. Knowing OTIB someone will be on here complaining how we should've got 83. 

I'm still Pissed off we only got 99 points.

[Up The City!]

22 minutes ago, Ian M said:

As long as none of these are in the cup, this is our route into the Europa League, like LJ promised. 

Last night I was watching the debate, they spoke about Huddersfield closing their academy down and how this may affect them if they ever got into Europe.

I then had a light bulb moment. When we get into Europe like LJ has promised, we will be able to fill the home grown criteria. LJ is a genius. This is his master plan.

[lgbbcf]

Well what a turn around. 

LJs plan coming together nicely. 

Europa league here we come. 

Well where ever we go from here the positivity is great and much needed after last year's run. 

 

[Phileas Fogg]

If you include pre season (I know) aside from one largely u23 game that record is even longer. Regardless of opposition, it shows we have a winning mentality here now. Let's hope it stays.

[Monkeh]

still early doors, come back after 20 games and if we are in a similar postion then I may start thinking play-offs, far to early at the moment

[Phileas Fogg]

3 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

still early doors, come back after 20 games and if we are in a similar postion then I may start thinking play-offs, far to early at the moment

Are you on the right thread Monkeh? The OP is saying how we're on a great run of form stretching back to last season and how strong the squad is - not much more than that!

[Jack Dawe]

When was Lee Tomlin finally dropped and discarded - about 23 games ago? 

There's no arguing with stats like that (3 or 4 defeats in 23), very encouraging; and the last two performances have been thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. 

[Monkeh]

35 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said:

Are you on the right thread Monkeh? The OP is saying how we're on a great run of form stretching back to last season and how strong the squad is - not much more than that!

yea, but I'm not getting too carried away with it thats all, I seem to remember similar threads last season and we know how that went,

Just keeping my feet on the ground  

[BRISTOL86]

I wonder if people will still be praising Johnson for this excellent run a year from now in the same way they still lambast for the (shorter) bad run that preceded it!

[Bar BS3]

22 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

I wonder if people will still be praising Johnson for this excellent run a year from now in the same way they still lambast for the (shorter) bad run that preceded it!

In fairness, at last, people are starting to change their minds and accept that LJ might have something about him. 

With the odd few, obvious exceptions, who wouldn't class Ghandi as a decent sort of guy, if his name was Lee Johnson..! 

[Bar BS3]

1 hour ago, Monkeh said:

still early doors, come back after 20 games and if we are in a similar postion then I may start thinking play-offs, far to early at the moment

I've just posted this based on the last 23 games, you belter!

[BRISTOL86]

3 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

In fairness, at last, people are starting to change their minds and accept that LJ might have something about him. 

With the odd few, obvious exceptions, who wouldn't class Ghandi as a decent sort of guy, if his name was Lee Johnson..! 

I don't mean to derail this into yet another of those types of threads but I do think it'll be very interesting to see how long the 'credit' from this excellent run lasts - if the wheels come off - compared to the opposite feeling that seems to have lasted a completely disproportionate amount of time. 

[BRISTOL86]

32 minutes ago, Jack Dawe said:

When was Lee Tomlin finally dropped and discarded - about 23 games ago? 

There's no arguing with stats like that (3 or 4 defeats in 23), very encouraging; and the last two performances have been thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. 

Nail. Head. 

Amazing how much things improve when you have eleven players on the pitch. 

[Bar BS3]

30 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

yea, but I'm not getting too carried away with it thats all, I seem to remember similar threads last season and we know how that went,

Just keeping my feet on the ground  

It's nothing to do with getting carried away. I'm not making any wild predictions or making ridiculous claims (other than it being 4, not 3 defeats!) 

I'm simply pointing out the form that we are in over a prolonged period, since a much tougher time. A time that some people didn't think we'd be able to recover from, let alone grow from strength to strength. 

[Monkeh]

3 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

It's nothing to do with getting carried away. I'm not making any wild predictions or making ridiculous claims (other than it being 4, not 3 defeats!) 

I'm simply pointing out the form that we are in over a prolonged period, since a much tougher time. A time that some people didn't think we'd be able to recover from, let alone grow from strength to strength. 

and good for you, Like I said I'm not getting carried away with it yet, I never said anything about you getting carried away,

I pointed out that we had similar threads to this last season, 

[Bar BS3]

34 minutes ago, Jack Dawe said:

When was Lee Tomlin finally dropped and discarded - about 23 games ago? 

There's no arguing with stats like that (3 or 4 defeats in 23), very encouraging; and the last two performances have been thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. 

I think, only now, can we really see what poisonous character Lee Tomlin was. And I was one of his biggest fans, early doors. 

To think how some people were siding with Tomlin over LJ. I hope they feel rather daft now. 

[Monkeh]

3 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

I think, only now, can we really see what poisonous character Lee Tomlin was. And I was one of his biggest fans, early doors. 

To think how some people were siding with Tomlin over LJ. I hope they feel rather daft now. 

some people would side with hitler or Howard Shipman over LJ

[Bar BS3]

3 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

and good for you, Like I said I'm not getting carried away with it yet, I never said anything about you getting carried away,

I pointed out that we had similar threads to this last season, 

True, we did. We didn't have the squad that we've got now though! When (not "if") we lose a couple of games in a row, we can confidently make changes, without fear of weakening the starting 11. 

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

To which you might add the fact that we won every one of our pre-season matches. 

To be able to make nine changes and not just beat a premiership club but make them look second rate is astonishing.  I'm beginning to think that this may be the strongest City squad in my 50 years of supporting the club (let's face it, even when we go to the top tier, it was on the strength of a squad of 17 or 18 players - that was the way the game was in those days).  I can't remember a time when we could have turned out two different starting XIs with no loss of quality.

[Alessandro]

12 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

and good for you, Like I said I'm not getting carried away with it yet, I never said anything about you getting carried away,

I pointed out that we had similar threads to this last season, 

Well you mentioned the play offs! 

Far too early for that. 

[Jack Dawe]

4 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

I think, only now, can we really see what poisonous character Lee Tomlin was. And I was one of his biggest fans, early doors. 

To think how some people were siding with Tomlin over LJ. I hope they feel rather daft now. 

Hopefully, Tomlin is working his "magic" on Cardiff as we speak, as he did here last season. Poisonous, and odious. 

 

[Monkeh]

3 minutes ago, Jack Dawe said:

Hopefully, Tomlin is working his "magic" on Cardiff as we speak, as he did here last season. Poisonous, and odious. 

 

myabed he already is,  they've not won in 3

[Kid in the Riot]

12 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

To which you might add the fact that we won every one of our pre-season matches. 

To be able to make nine changes and not just beat a premiership club but make them look second rate is astonishing.  I'm beginning to think that this may be the strongest City squad in my 50 years of supporting the club (let's face it, even when we go to the top tier, it was on the strength of a squad of 17 or 18 players - that was the way the game was in those days).  I can't remember a time when we could have turned out two different starting XIs with no loss of quality.

I haven't been around for 50 years but I can well believe that is true. I thought we had plenty of depth in most areas of the squad last season as well though and I think it is no coincidence that we are suddenly doing well in the cup competitions: 4th round of the EFL Cup twice in succession and 5th round of the FA Cup last season.

But LJ has spent coming on for £25m and signed approx. 26 players for the first team squad so in a way it doesn't come as a tremendous surprise that we have strength in depth. Difference so far this season seems to be that the squad is being utilised better. I think LJ said we had 6 internationals in the squad last night - not exactly a weakened team as we know it!

[Bar BS3]

6 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

I haven't been around for 50 years but I can well believe that is true. I thought we had plenty of depth in most areas of the squad last season as well though and I think it is no coincidence that we are suddenly doing well in the cup competitions: 4th round of the EFL Cup twice in succession and 5th round of the FA Cup last season.

But LJ has spent coming on for £25m and signed approx. 26 players for the first team squad so in a way it doesn't come as a tremendous surprise that we have strength in depth. Difference so far this season seems to be that the squad is being utilised better. I think LJ said we had 6 internationals in the squad last night - not exactly a weakened team as we know it!

Spent £25million but recouped how much...?

Kodjia, Tomlin, plus others such as Freeman, Ayling & Agard to top up the total, plus the sell on money from Bolasie & Albert. 

I doubt our net spend is actually very much at all. Happy days! 

[The Fat Controller]

7 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

But LJ has spent coming on for £25m and signed approx. 26 players for the first team squad

You keep banging this drum about how much money LJ has spent without acknowledging the net spend is much lower than that. There is no way £25m would have been shelled out if we hadn't received a good wedge for Kodjia, money back for Tomlin and some sell on fees.

Sure, he's still spent a decent amount but prices are massively massively inflated as we all know too. 

[Monkeh]

2 minutes ago, Chris_Brown said:

You keep banging this drum about how much money LJ has spent without acknowledging the net spend is much lower than that. There is no way £25m would have been shelled out if we hadn't received a good wedge for Kodjia, money back for Tomlin and some sell on fees.

Sure, he's still spent a decent amount but prices are massively massively inflated as we all know too. 

don't worry that sensible argument won't be used by some, the money we've spent is nothing compared to some of our rivals in this league, the vast majority of them have spent more then us

[Robbored]

7 minutes ago, Chris_Brown said:

You keep banging this drum about how much money LJ has spent without acknowledging the net spend is much lower than that. There is no way £25m would have been shelled out if we hadn't received a good wedge for Kodjia, money back for Tomlin and some sell on fees.

A very sensible reply Chris but sensible replies are lost on certain posters on otib..........

LJ has strengthened the squad without spending huge sums on a marquee signing. Sure Diedhiou was the clubs record signing at £5.3m but in today's market that's peanuts. 

[Kid in the Riot]

9 minutes ago, Bar BS3 said:

Spent £25million but recouped how much...?

Kodjia, Tomlin, plus others such as Freeman, Ayling & Agard to top up the total, plus the sell on money from Bolasie & Albert. 

I doubt our net spend is actually very much at all. Happy days! 

 

6 minutes ago, Chris_Brown said:

You keep banging this drum about how much money LJ has spent without acknowledging the net spend is much lower than that. There is no way £25m would have been shelled out if we hadn't received a good wedge for Kodjia, money back for Tomlin and some sell on fees.

Sure, he's still spent a decent amount but prices are massively massively inflated as we all know too. 

Like a pack of hounds!

Look, my point is quite simple. LJ has spent coming on for £25m in 18 months or so on 26 senior/first team squad players therefore I am not surprised we have a strong squad. There is nothing more to be read into this comment. Net spend/Kodjia etc not sure what that has to do with my point? Or are you saying he has only be able to assemble this squad due to the sale of Kodjia? In which case, he owes Cotterill and Burt a drink or ten!

[Major Isewater]

10 hours ago, Bar BS3 said:

What an outstanding, remarkable turnaround we have shown, from a point where many/most people could see little/no light at the end of the tunnel. 

To only lose 3 games (in all competitions) in our last 23 matches is testiment to just how much hard work must have been going on behind the scenes during those tough times last season. 

It wont last forever. We know that!

We've all seen false dawns. Too many. 

However, I'd go so far as to say that this is possibly the best squad & best set up, we have ever had here. Certainly in my 30 years of watching City. 

Long may the positives outweigh the negatives!

P.S. Fix the bloody PA system! 

3 defeats .

 

Johnson Out 

[Major Isewater]

1 hour ago, Monkeh said:

some people would side with hitler or Howard Shipman over LJ

Who did the other guys coach ? 

[Monkeh]

32 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

The former was in charge of a German side, was a real force to be reckoned with, but things fell apart quite quickly after a tactical error in one winter.

He ended up biting the bullet as a result.

the other ran out of patients, he was hung out to dry

[Always Believesham]

1 hour ago, JamesBCFC said:

there was no figure for Agard or Williams, I thought we got a fee of circa 700k ish for Agard, but may well be wrong.

I thought it was £1.5m - we paid c£750k

I thought is was ironic that Robinson paid twice what we paid for the same player when he said we'd pretty much bought the league just 2 seasons before

[glynriley]

2 hours ago, Monkeh said:

some people would side with hitler or Howard Shipman over LJ

Harold's brother...? What's he ever done?

[One Team In Keynsham]

2 hours ago, Monkeh said:

some people would side with hitler or Howard Shipman over LJ

LJ needs to get the trains to run on time, like that nice Mussolini did.

[chipdawg]

In defence of Kid In The Riot, the point he was making is that we've had a lot of players come in for a decent wedge under LJ, so us having a good squad is no surprise really. And the net spend isn't nearly as relevant on the pitch as it is off it. Other than losing Kodjia, I don't think we've lost a player that we would have been particularly bothered about keeping under LJ. I think the counter point to a good that is that LJ hasn't been given unfair advantage over previous managers, he was just lucky that he was around when there was more cash in the kitty from player sales

[Monkeh]

7 minutes ago, chipdawg said:

In defence of Kid In The Riot, the point he was making is that we've had a lot of players come in for a decent wedge under LJ, so us having a good squad is no surprise really. And the net spend isn't nearly as relative on the pitch as it is off it. Other than losing Kodjia, I don't think we've lost a player that we would have been particularly bothered about keeping under LJ. I think the counter point to a good that is that LJ hasn't been given unfair advantage over previous managers, he was just lucky that he was around when there was more cash in the kitty from player sales

and raised off field revenue as well as corporate revenue no other manager in our entire history has had the luxury of the revenue streams we now have at the club

[chipdawg]

6 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

and raised off field revenue as well as corporate revenue no other manager in our entire history has had the luxury of the revenue streams we now have at the club

Agreed. LJ isn't being backed more than any other manager in history without the cash being there to pay for it

[spudski]

It's not about how much money has been spent...it's much more than that.

Every time money is mentioned, someone will bring up another team that's doing better, that have spent less money....yet fail to mention the teams with far more finance and expenditure that are doing worse.

We are presently reaping the rewards of money being spent wisely and astutely. Not for short term success...but long term.

We have given our Coach time...believed in the 'project', even when it looked easier to bail out and jump ship.

Have a plan, spend wisely for the long term project, get the right players in, that perfectly fit into that project and believe in it, get rid of ones that don't. Bring in a coaching team that all sing from the same hymn sheet. Better the infrastructure...training facilities, technology, analysts, scouts, fitness, psychology etc.

Have a long term plan....believe in it, give it time....don't see the rest of the football managerial sacking merry go round as a sensible idea....and it will eventually come good.

Perhaps other Clubs will start to sit up and take notice, and see that sacking all the time and thinking short term doesn't work.

[Mr Popodopolous]

You can look at it a number of ways tbh.

How many of the players sold were resale value from Cotts' signings? I think the squad is great and still some good room for growth.  The money of course has been substantial- and huge historically for us, but then it's substantial for plenty at this level.

Same time, as Monkeh said, off field revenue higher than ever before- lot of factors here.

Most of the players we sold- I'm not including those released on frees or loaned out- but sold, gained revenue for- were Cotts signings.

Agard, Ayling, Freeman, Kodjia. All signed by Cotts, dare say we made a profit on all too. Possible exception Freeman, though it's hard to tell as fees these days are generally undisclosed. Also he was last year of contract so...Certainly as a collective though the revenue has been valuable.

[Monkeh]

40 minutes ago, spudski said:

It's not about how much money has been spent...it's much more than that.

Every time money is mentioned, someone will bring up another team that's doing better, that have spent less money....yet fail to mention the teams with far more finance and expenditure that are doing worse.

We are presently reaping the rewards of money being spent wisely and astutely. Not for short term success...but long term.

We have given our Coach time...believed in the 'project', even when it looked easier to bail out and jump ship.

Have a plan, spend wisely for the long term project, get the right players in, that perfectly fit into that project and believe in it, get rid of ones that don't. Bring in a coaching team that all sing from the same hymn sheet. Better the infrastructure...training facilities, technology, analysts, scouts, fitness, psychology etc.

Have a long term plan....believe in it, give it time....don't see the rest of the football managerial sacking merry go round as a sensible idea....and it will eventually come good.

Perhaps other Clubs will start to sit up and take notice, and see that sacking all the time and thinking short term doesn't work.

Everton, look how much they have spunked and how they are doing

[Monkeh]

19 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

You can look at it a number of ways tbh.

How many of the players sold were resale value from Cotts' signings? I think the squad is great and still some good room for growth.  The money of course has been substantial- and huge historically for us, but then it's substantial for plenty at this level.

Same time, as Monkeh said, off field revenue higher than ever before- lot of factors here.

Most of the players we sold- I'm not including those released on frees or loaned out- but sold, gained revenue for- were Cotts signings.

Agard, Ayling, Freeman, Kodjia. All signed by Cotts, dare say we made a profit on all too. Possible exception Freeman, though it's hard to tell as fees these days are generally undisclosed. Also he was last year of contract so...Certainly as a collective though the revenue has been valuable.

and that stems back to the much criticized 5 pillars that lansdown wanted to put in place, now all these years down the line we are starting to see the benefit of his vision, give it another few years and we could see the acadmney really starting to produce on a regular basis, 

Future is looking bright  

[Ian M]

Given Lee was hounded a lot (including by me) for that run of 3 wins in 25 games I thought I'd look at his record around that run seeing as both are now significant periods. Before that run started we had 34 games with a 53% win ratio and coincidentally since that run we have had 21 games, also at a 53% win ration (2 draws overlap the 3 wins in 25 & 4 defeats in 23 comments).

Reality is we had that really sustained period at 12% win ratio but if we can avoid that in future he seems to be fairly consistent in good times at 53%. 

Statto out..

[BCFC Rich]

1 hour ago, Monkeh said:

Everton, look how much they have spunked and how they are doing

To be fair to Everton they have played Stoke, man city, Chelsea, Tottenham and man u. Not a run of fixtures any team would want. They have 4 points from those games which is not actually that bad.