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The Barnsley v Bristol City Match Day Thread 39


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15 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

A horse doing 90 is worthy of a victory . 

The big question is , 

Should we be  concerned that our form has plummeted since the beginning of the year ? 

 

Invariably, form will go up and down over the season.  We struggled after the cup run and adrenaline saw us through some tough games. I believe the late wolves winner and we controlled the game was like a massive punch in the stomach 

ill use a boxing analogy,  if a fighter is in control but then gets hurt and put down they usually struggle to regain momentum and they end up just trying to survive each round   It’s not too dissimilar to us after the wolves result 

to be in and around the top 6 all season and a long successful cup run is s massive achievement and we have punched above our weight whilst struggling with injuries so no it’s not a worry for me   We just need to regain momentum 

personally id go back to a back 3 with Pisano and Bryan as WBs   We looked more solid than we do now   In all fairness Barnsley could have scored 5 or 6 today 

 

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12 minutes ago, joe jordans teeth said:

Clearest sign yet that LJ is losing the plot,just said he couldn’t take bobby off dispite not doing hardly anything today because he is our top scorer and would rather change the system to fit around him,what the f is going on 

1 point off the play offs in possibly the most competitive league in Europe and young LJ Is losing the plot.................I would guess you are a glass half empty kinda bloke.

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I'm happy with a point in the context of today's game, with us being behind late on after what sounds like a disjointed display...but our away form is a concern. We are still in the race for the play-offs, but we don't seem to have much momentum. Next week's game at Millwall will be interesting!

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3 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Where did I say it doesn’t concern me?

Disappointed about our decline since Christmas, but will continue to argue against those who deny our overall progress.

On the face of it we clearly have (And at times played some great stuff)

This however against the freehand to recruit approx 30 players 

And despite that the spine and main stalwarts in the side and those lauded as our best are not in amongst those numbers but were here before LJ arrived

That concerns me

The fact that our recruitment is IMHO very questionable means that if / when Reid / Flint / Bryan etc move on the same recruitment personnel will replace them and I’ll nail my colours to the mast and say I have little confidence that the result will be positive

Add to the fact that our best run came when there were few selection options and we were forced to play in a particular way , a way we have gone away from - looking a confused set up right now

Thus the future concerns me with the present set up

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4 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Our poor form has been hugely overstated. “Horrible” runs are losing every week - like 8 defeats in a row last season.

Our current horrible run has seen us lose 3 in 12, and unbeaten in 5 at home.

A decline compared to pre-Christmas without a doubt, but not “horrible”. Away form is certainly a concern.

This is a good post. At present we are above average.

Your view on this season depends on the starting point. If I'm to be fair to Lee Johnson then I wanted improvement  from last season and that' what we've got.

I understand the disappointment in the club yet again failing at Christmas and the lack of any reason as to why we no longer play the football we did, but if we finish 10th or higher than that is a marked improvement.

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3 minutes ago, cummins17 said:

Some people need to give their heads a wobble! How people can be calling for LJs head after the season we’ve had. If anyone would of been anything short of delighted with a top half finish after last season, they are lying! 

Who’s ‘called for his head’ ?

Please assist by pointing out

Thanks in advance

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6 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Our poor form has been hugely overstated. “Horrible” runs are losing every week - like 8 defeats in a row last season.

Our current horrible run has seen us lose 3 in 12, and unbeaten in 5 at home.

A decline compared to pre-Christmas without a doubt, but not “horrible”. Away form is certainly a concern.

It’s not just the points total that shows we are in decline.  Performances this year have simply not been good enough with very little creativity, shots on target, energy, control and tempo.  We are terrible away from home and not great on the eye at home.  A couple of performances have seen us back to our old selves  but on the whole it feels like a team that doesn’t know how to get out of this downward spiral 

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6 minutes ago, Whale Eye Beef Hooked said:

Invariably, form will go up and down over the season.  We struggled after the cup run and adrenaline saw us through some tough games. I believe the late wolves winner and we controlled the game was like a massive punch in the stomach 

ill use a boxing analogy,  if a fighter is in control but then gets hurt and put down they usually struggle to regain momentum and they end up just trying to survive each round   It’s not too dissimilar to us after the wolves result 

to be in and around the top 6 all season and a long successful cup run is s massive achievement and we have punched above our weight whilst struggling with injuries so no it’s not a worry for me   We just need to regain momentum 

personally id go back to a back 3 with Pisano and Bryan as WBs   We looked more solid than we do now   In all fairness Barnsley could have scored 5 or 6 today 

 

Agreed that we were lucky to get even a point. Barnsley struggled to hit the target .

Our tactics of long balls up to one striker marked by three huge defenders was mystifying.

Make no mistake we did very well to gain a point today but our performances are not those of a promotion team.

 We looked disjointed, lacking ideas and fight .

The midfield were , once again, over run . 

The defence all over the shop and the forwards so far away from each other that they could have been playing in different matches .

There is a lot of work to do and IMHO we are nowhere near promotion contenders.

I believe we can do it so it's so frustrating that we aren't.

What has changed ? 

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30 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Our poor form has been hugely overstated. “Horrible” runs are losing every week - like 8 defeats in a row last season.

Our current horrible run has seen us lose 3 in 12, and unbeaten in 5 at home.

A decline compared to pre-Christmas without a doubt, but not “horrible”. Away form is certainly a concern.

You can pick certain facts from the post Xmas run of games

But , keepingbthis run simple , and if I’ve got my maths right

Sonce Wolves and over 3 months we’ve attained 15 points from 14 games

 

Thay is relegation / close to relegation form over a third of the season

in the two months of January and February we got 7 points from 9 games

Thay is certainly relegation form

 

Therefore calling it a horrible run is I would suggest reasonable and hasn’t occurred over a blip of 3/4/5 games but 15 

Edited by BobBobSuperBob
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1 hour ago, CotswoldRed said:

10th is about right. 

I would have been happy with 10th at the beginning of the season as that’s an improvement on recent years.  Without wishing to sound like Wael of the Rovers, it’s going to take time to build a good team that can looks like certain promotion contenders. That said, the worrying thing is City’s form this season follows the pattern that LJ has had every season since he started as a manager - i. e. periods of good form followed by a long period of poor form. I’d be happy with some dull consistency for a while. The periods of highs and lows just builds expectations and hopes in the good times. 

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3 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Our poor form has been hugely overstated. “Horrible” runs are losing every week - like 8 defeats in a row last season.

Our current horrible run has seen us lose 3 in 12, and unbeaten in 5 at home.

A decline compared to pre-Christmas without a doubt, but not “horrible”. Away form is certainly a concern.

Don't know if you're referring to me as I did use the word 'horrible' in reference to our form.
Maybe overstated but , I'll defend myself by saying .... From December 4th (first table that popped up) we have gained 25 points in 19 games, slightly over 1 per game. That , over the season would see us about 17th at the moment. Not great , but if you then add that we were 3rd with 37 from 20 it's been a big drop off in form. How long is a dip? 3, 5, 8 games ? Our has been 3 months.  
I've said this before, if we hadn't had such a good run earlier and such a poor run now perspective would be different . Reverse the season and we'd be shouting from the rafters, even the win/loss out and we'd be happy , but it is what it is, a depressing drop off in form with no sign of change. I fully understand the disappointment when people moan, 3 wins in 18 is it? ........ Horrible ? :whistle:

 

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2 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Don't know if you're referring to me as I did use the word 'horrible' in reference to our form.
Maybe overstated but , I'll defend myself by saying .... From December 4th (first table that popped up) we have gained 25 points in 19 games, slightly over 1 per game. That , over the season would see us about 17th at the moment. Not great , but if you then add that we were 3rd with 37 from 20 it's been a big drop off in form. How long is a dip? 3, 5, 8 games ? Our has been 3 months.  
I've said this before, if we hadn't had such a good run earlier and such a poor run now perspective would be different . Reverse the season and we'd be shouting from the rafters, even the win/loss out and we'd be happy , but it is what it is, a depressing drop off in form with no sign of change. I fully understand the disappointment when people moan, 3 wins in 18 is it? ........ Horrible ? :whistle:

 

Last 16:

W4 D6 L6.

I haven’t included the cup games in there - it would be harsh to include two against Man City!

It’s a mixed bag, but not quite horrible in my book. But certainly disappointing compared to pre-Christmas.

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1 hour ago, Esmond Million's Bung said:

We didn't turn up today, we got very lucky indeed.

I think what people are missing is that LJ as a manager has great runs of results followed by poor runs of results and they tend to occur for months at a time.

Somebody wisely said in an earlier post that if the poor results were more evenly spread people would not be so concerned and that is possibly true but they are not and it is a worrying trait from the whole of his managerial career.

We know LJ has poor runs every season, to the extent they are now utterly predictable. We knew it before he came after collapses at Oldham and Barnsley and we have now seen it repeated at AG.

It is harder for fans to enjoy LJ's good runs when we know a desperately poor drop in performance and results is almost destined to follow. 

We also know that promotion at any stage is very unlikely for any club which has such dramatic and extended dips in form.

These awful runs simply have to stop - LJ will never be the coach his most vehement backers tell us he can be, or gain the genuine confidence of the fanbase, until he produces a team capable of some real consistency over a season, and where a prolonged period of frustration and anti climax just around the corner is not a near certainty.

Edited by Nogbad the Bad
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6 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Don't know if you're referring to me as I did use the word 'horrible' in reference to our form.
Maybe overstated but , I'll defend myself by saying .... From December 4th (first table that popped up) we have gained 25 points in 19 games, slightly over 1 per game. That , over the season would see us about 17th at the moment. Not great , but if you then add that we were 3rd with 37 from 20 it's been a big drop off in form. How long is a dip? 3, 5, 8 games ? Our has been 3 months.  
I've said this before, if we hadn't had such a good run earlier and such a poor run now perspective would be different . Reverse the season and we'd be shouting from the rafters, even the win/loss out and we'd be happy , but it is what it is, a depressing drop off in form with no sign of change. I fully understand the disappointment when people moan, 3 wins in 18 is it? ........ Horrible ? :whistle:

 

I know what you're saying. It's like if you snatch a draw after being 3 down it feels soooo much better than if you blow a 3 goal lead - even though the result is just the same and the table reads identically.

However, I'm quite sanguine about the last three months and take an overview of the whole season, where I can say A) We did better than I thought*  B) We enjoyed our first cup run worth talking about for eons C) There is visible progress at the club.

Our form in 2018 has been patchy, but not awful. This seems bad only when compared to the start of the season (see my opening analogy). 

However, then, I'd argue that we were massively overachieving. The cracks were there to see, but few pointed them out as they didn't want to be shouted down as pessimists.

Famara is an OK striker, but arguably not a £5m+ one, and no-one forgets Tammy

We play a fast, open, pressing game that looks wonderful when it works but does land us with loads of injuries

Even in our "golden patch" we can't break down sides who "park the bus"

We have no midfield distributor and not really a dead ball specialist either

When those injuries came in, it became obvious that although we have a larger squad than for years, there is no real strength in depth there. Some positions have no decent cover at all.

We had more than our share of luck in many early season games and less than our share recently

Above all, Johnson c*cked January up.

 

There's much to admire this season  in terms of players ability brought on and new boys making their mark it's good, but we're still work in progress.

We shouldn't judge it a failure if we don't finish Top 6.

 

 

 

* I'm assuming we don't go into a tailspin and lose all the remaining games  ;-)

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, joe jordans teeth said:

Clearest sign yet that LJ is losing the plot,just said he couldn’t take bobby off dispite not doing hardly anything today because he is our top scorer and would rather change the system to fit around him,what the f is going on 

Flip side, LJ takes Bobby off while we're chasing the game, you can imagine the reaction of 'ffs why is he taking off our best striker!?!? He doesn't have a ******* clue!'

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19 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

I know what you're saying. It's like if you snatch a draw after being 3 down it feels soooo much better than if you blow a 3 goal lead - even though the result is just the same and the table reads identically.

However, I'm quite sanguine about the last three months and take an overview of the whole season, where I can say A) We did better than I thought*  B) We enjoyed our first cup run worth talking about for eons C) There is visible progress at the club.

Our form in 2018 has been patchy, but not awful. This seems bad only when compared to the start of the season (see my opening analogy). 

However, then, I'd argue that we were massively overachieving. The cracks were there to see, but few pointed them out as they didn't want to be shouted down as pessimists.

Famara is an OK striker, but arguably not a £5m+ one, and no-one forgets Tammy

We play a fast, open, pressing game that looks wonderful when it works but does land us with loads of injuries

Even in our "golden patch" we can't break down sides who "park the bus"

We have no midfield distributor and not really a dead ball specialist either

When those injuries came in, it became obvious that although we have a larger squad than for years, there is no real strength in depth there. Some positions have no decent cover at all.

We had more than our share of luck in many early season games and less than our share recently

Above all, Johnson c*cked January up.

 

There's much to admire this season  in terms of players ability brought on and new boys making their mark it's good, but we're still work in progress.

We shouldn't judge it a failure if we don't finish Top 6.

 

 

 

* I'm assuming we don't go into a tailspin and lose all the remaining games  ;-)

 

 

 

I view LJ as producing the foundations of a good team. What he is yet to prove (to everyone on here) is whether he can build the “walls and roof” to produce a solid all round team. Currently, based on the last 15 games, he is seriously struggling - that is a fact!

A good manager has tactically to be able to set a team up to win - dependent on how the other team plays. Managers like Warnock are past masters of this, regardless of whether you like them or not. Based on the last 2 years, LJ has struggled AND IMO he has been found out by several this season. 

Time will tell over the next 12 months as to whether he can take the club to the next stage - in many ways I feel for LJ, as the Jan transfer dealings I assume was MA decisions primarily, and the less said about that, the better.

Edited by GasDestroyer
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10 minutes ago, hodge said:

Flip side, LJ takes Bobby off while we're chasing the game, you can imagine the reaction of 'ffs why is he taking off our best striker!?!? He doesn't have a ******* clue!'

What was losing the plot was having Duric and Diedhiou AND Diony all on the pitch recently as a strike force  (Burton ?)

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8 minutes ago, GasDestroyer said:

I view LJ as producing the foundations of a good team. What he is yet to prove (to everyone on here) is whether he can build the “walls and roof” to produce a solid all round team. Currently, based on the last 15 games, he is seriously struggling - that is a fact!

A good manager has tactically to be able to set a team up to win - dependent on how the other team plays. Managers like Warnock are past masters of this, regardless of whether you like them or not. Based on the last 2 years, LJ has struggled AND IMO he has been found out by several this season. 

Time will tell over the next 12 months as to whether he can take the club to the next stage - in many ways I feel for LJ, as the Jan transfer dealings I assume was MA decisions primarily, and the less said about that, the better.

Time will indeed tell. Johnson is still a young manager and learning his trade as much as many of his players are.  Warnock is 597 and achieves success at the cost of watchability.

I'd not say we're struggling so much as are very inconsistent.  January was horrible. We had loads of injuries, fatigue of the cup run setting in and it was a tough schedule even without all that. Since then, we've been up and down. Occasionally good, occasionally disappointing, but neither excellent nor dire.

Next season I'd like to see us mount a consistent challenge - even if we don't make it up. 

As you say, we need to see this work in progress carry forward, otherwise we might start thinking about who is out there that can build those "walls and roof". 

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1 minute ago, BlueDredd said:

This superior style of football you have, and seem to brag about looks to be serving you well.

C336A0DF-E30C-46A2-B186-25B55FCBD2BE.jpeg

 

Have you seen anyone boasting about a "superior style of football"?

If you actually read this thread, it's a load of fans soul searching about how the season came off its rails.

That said, we're just off the play-offs and you're just off relegation, so jog on.

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54 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Last 16:

W4 D6 L6.

I haven’t included the cup games in there - it would be harsh to include two against Man City!

It’s a mixed bag, but not quite horrible in my book. But certainly disappointing compared to pre-Christmas.

And to think we are outside the play offs on goal difference; our form drop has coincided with that of Sheffield and Leeds United who were vying with us at the turn of the year, more recently that of Derby and mediocre form of Preston. Of course we should not forget we were at the top end of the play offs and now at the bottom.

19 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

What was losing the plot was having Duric and Diedhiou AND Diony all on the pitch recently as a strike force  (Burton ?)

More bold than losing the plot; if as a manager you have faith in your players you will try such a strategy to unlock a defence. It has been done before and will be done again and not only by City. Just because it did not work does not mean its losing the plot; that is being disingenuous at best.

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1 minute ago, havanatopia said:

More bold than losing the plot; if as a manager you have faith in your players you will try such a strategy to unlock a defence. It has been done before and will be done again and not only by City. Just because it did not work does not mean its losing the plot; that is being disingenuous at best.

The use of Three of such centre forwards at same time has historically been used when coaches run out of ideas and notoriously hardly ever produces  , at any level of football

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