Saturday

[spudski]

Imo Wigan will be a really tough game. Fighting for their lives. Our most important fixture to win to create some breathing space.

[Mr Popodopolous]

1 minute ago, Leveller said:

It’s entirely possible he’ll make changes that won’t weaken us and have a slightly different setup - eg Eliasson could come in, quite likely if we want to attack more against a weaker team.

That could be one option tbh- Eliasson off the leash at home vs a weaker side.

Yet I don't think it will be so easy- thrashing? Not so convinced- though Wigan lose quite a bit on the road, it isn't by huge margins or being played off the park every week- we should win and maybe 2-0 but if we go in (as fans more so I mean, sure the team and coaching staff will treat Wigan with some respect) thinking a stroll in the sunshine, then we could come unstuck!

[The_Don]

We really should be looking at an attendance of 24/25k full of passion as we are right in the mix with the end of the season in sight but with a low away following it'll realistically be around 21k.

I'm guessing he has changes in mind with West Brom at home a few days later, but we really should be sticking with the side that's served us so well in the last two matches & as others have said, make changes when the game is won.

It's a simply must win game, the WBA game will take care of itself in terms of atmosphere & the players being "Up" for facing one of the bigger sides in the league.

[archie andrews]

19 minutes ago, pillred said:

Are you sure Pack is suspended, heard somewhere after 37 games start again from scratch with bookings.

April fool's joke mate.....

[Robbored]

1 minute ago, The_Don said:

We really should be looking at an attendance of 24/25k full of passion as we are right in the mix with the end of the season in sight but with a low away following it'll realistically be around 21k.

I'm guessing he has changes in mind with West Brom at home a few days later, but we really should be sticking with the side that's served us so well in the last two matches & as others have said, make changes when the game is won.

It's a simply must win game, the WBA game will take care of itself in terms of atmosphere & the players being "Up" for facing one of the bigger sides in the league.

Saturday is not a ‘must win’ game. It’s one round of the Championship matches and nothing is won in early April. 

I’d be happy with four points from the next two home games.

The players won’t  need to be ‘up’ either. Two impressive way wins against top Championship rivals will have the entire squad buzzing. They won’t need any added motivation.

 

 

 

[RedLionLad]

6 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Saturday is not a ‘must win’ game. It’s one round of the Championship matches and nothing is won in early April. 

I’d be happy with four points from the next two home games.

The players won’t  need to be ‘up’ either. Two impressive way wins against top Championship rivals will have the entire squad buzzing. They won’t need any added motivation.

 

 

 

Let's hope the players don't turn to you for any motivation......they'll be asleep by half time !

[Robbored]

8 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

Let's hope the players don't turn to you for any motivation......they'll be asleep by half time !

You think they’ll need to be extra ‘up’ for it?...............

Have you looked at the last two results and the league position?..........

LJ won’t need to do much in terms of motivating players.

[steveybadger]

Think Wigan will be tougher and we need to start quickly. If so then should be comfortable.

Just hope my son (will be his first game) doesn't have his sister's curse. Her first 2:

City v Crewe 0-0

City v Burton 0-0

she's refusing to come to another at the mo!

[Robin101]

I’ve seen enough Bristol City games in my time to know that there’s a very significant chance we’ll play poorly on Saturday and be held to a 0-0 or even lose 1-0. 

I feel more confident of a good performance against WBA in some ways. 

Four points from the next two please. 

[RedLionLad]

5 hours ago, Robbored said:

You think they’ll need to be extra ‘up’ for it?...............

Have you looked at the last two results and the league position?..........

LJ won’t need to do much in terms of motivating players.

So winning the last two games and being in 5th have made the Wigan game easier, has it?

I hope he's screaming and shouting at the players every minute on Saturday.



 

[Robbored]

Just now, RedLionLad said:

So winning the last two games and being in 5th have made the Wigan game easier, has it?
 

Where did I say that?............

The point ( that you obviously missed.......      ) is that after two very impressive away wins against pray off rivals is that the players will buzzing and full of confidence and won’t need LJ to motivate them for the Wigan game.

[RedLionLad]

1 minute ago, Robbored said:

Where did I say that?............

The point ( that you obviously missed.......      ) is that after two very impressive away wins against pray off rivals is that the players will buzzing and full of confidence and won’t need LJ to motivate them for the Wigan game.

Your point (as usual) doesn't make sense.

LJ might as well not bother going in on Saturday, according to you.

[Robbored]

10 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

Your point (as usual) doesn't make sense.
 

Not to you RLL.......

If you played sport of any kind and just beaten two of your rivals on their own patch would you not be fired up and ready for the next game?

Would you need to be motivated by your team manager?     

[RedLionLad]

Just now, Robbored said:

Not to you RLL.......

If you played sport of any kind and just beaten two of your rivals on their own patch would you not be fired up and ready for the next game?

Would you need to be motivated by your team manager?     

I'd be disappointed to think my manager didn't think I needed motivation for any game. That's his job.

Go and speak to Chris Wilder, manager of Sheff Utd and ask him if he had no reason to motivate his players prior to playing us last week?

[Robbored]

12 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

I'd be disappointed to think my manager didn't think I needed motivation for any game. That's his job.

Go and speak to Chris Wilder, manager of Sheff Utd and ask him if he had no reason to motivate his players prior to playing us last week?

Jeez....... you just don’t get it do you?...............

[cityboy]

6 hours ago, Robbored said:

Saturday is not a ‘must win’ game.

 

 

I disagree with this - to a point at least. You're right that nothing is won this early. But with West Brom coming up next I'd want the cushion of 3 points from the game against Wigan.

Let's be fair - we're not catching the top 4 at this point, so if we're going to lose a game then against a team above us would be the one to lose. Essentially making that game as much of a freebie as you can get, and meaning we shouldn't concern ourselves with resting players against Wigan.

Play the strongest team we can on Saturday and ensure we keep momentum going. Doing otherwise with half an eye on the following game is 1) disrespectful to Wigan and the teams battling around them, and 2) a recipe for getting beaten.

[RedLionLad]

7 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Jeez....... you just don’t get it do you?...............

It's only your comments I have problems understanding.....so yeah, it must be my fault.

 

[ExiledAjax]

Wigan's away record is woeful. In fact they are rock bottom of the "away" table.

W1 D3 L15. 6 points from a possible 57. That one win was a 3-0 at Stoke in August.

In 19 games they've scored 16 and conceded in all but one of those games, conceding 38 in total  - or 2 per game on average. They've failed to score in 9 of those games. So, their average away score is 2 - 0.84

They may take confidence from our poor home record, but on paper (and yes football isn't played on paper) we really should be eyeing a good 2-0 or 2-1 win here.

[Mr Popodopolous]

13 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Wigan's away record is woeful. In fact they are rock bottom of the "away" table.

W1 D3 L15. 6 points from a possible 57. That one win was a 3-0 at Stoke in August.

In 19 games they've scored 16 and conceded in all but one of those games, conceding 38 in total  - or 2 per game on average. They've failed to score in 9 of those games. So, their average away score is 2 - 0.84

They may take confidence from our poor home record, but on paper (and yes football isn't played on paper) we really should be eyeing a good 2-0 or 2-1 win here.

Never knew it was quite so bad!

2-0 or 2-1 sounds about right- if we're expecting it to be won in first half hour, blowing Fulham away (I don't mean regulars, but those who saw the 2 results, see our position, Wigan's) then those people will be disappointed I suspect.

[ExiledAjax]

11 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Never knew it was quite so bad!

2-0 or 2-1 sounds about right- if we're expecting it to be won in first half hour, blowing Fulham away (I don't mean regulars, but those who saw the 2 results, see our position, Wigan's) then those people will be disappointed I suspect.

Awful isn't it.

If you look at when Wigan have been conceding their away goals, they are actually weakest after HT. 24 of the 38 have been conceded in the 2nd half, with 11 in the final 15 minutes. They've also scored the majority of their paltry 16 goals before HT. So, if I were LJ I would be looking to keep it tight in the first half, and would view a first half goal as a bonus. Then after HT bring the hammer down on Wigan, possibly by putting someone like Palmer on as a late sub.  Maybe even stick with the 532/352 we've employed since the break. 532 before HT, 352 after and just turn the screw as the game progresses.

All stats are from here https://www.soccerstats.com/h2h.asp?league=england2&t1id=11&t2id=5&ly=2019

[Robbored]

1 minute ago, ExiledAjax said:

If you look at when Wigan have been conceding their away goals, they are actually weakest after HT. 24 of the 38 have been conceded in the 2nd half, with 11 in the final 15 minutes. They've also scored the majority of their paltry 16 goals before HT. So, if I were LJ I would be looking to keep it tight in the first half, and would view a first half goal as a bonus. Then after HT bring the hammer down on Wigan, possibly by putting someone like Palmer on as a late sub.  Maybe even stick with the 532/352 we've employed since the break. 532 before HT, 352 after and just turn the screw as the game progresses.

I’m quite sure LJ knows perfectly well what the Wigan away stats are......he has a team of analysts who carry out very detailed reports to feedback to him and his assistants.

[ExiledAjax]

Just now, Robbored said:

I’m quite sure LJ knows perfectly well what the Wigan away stats are......he has a team of analysts who carry out very detailed reports to feedback to him and his assistants.

Really? Are you sure? Could you get him to send them over to me? Just want to check he's got the same as me.

[Major Isewater]

37 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Wigan's away record is woeful. In fact they are rock bottom of the "away" table.

W1 D3 L15. 6 points from a possible 57. That one win was a 3-0 at Stoke in August.

In 19 games they've scored 16 and conceded in all but one of those games, conceding 38 in total  - or 2 per game on average. They've failed to score in 9 of those games. So, their average away score is 2 - 0.84

They may take confidence from our poor home record, but on paper (and yes football isn't played on paper) we really should be eyeing a good 2-0 or 2-1 win here.

The exciting thing about football is it’s unpredictability, yes we all know that nine times in ten we would lose to Man Utd in the cup but then there was the time when we didn’t.

Wigan’s poor away record, like our home record is history.

A clean slate is the very thing for every match and it is the belief in the team’s ability which will win through.

We should win if we believe totally that we will. 

 

[Med/MadHatter]

My money already down for Saturday, Brownhill to score first in 2 -0 win

[ExiledAjax]

8 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

The exciting thing about football is it’s unpredictability, yes we all know that nine times in ten we would lose to Man Utd in the cup but then there was the time when we didn’t.

Wigan’s poor away record, like our home record is history.

A clean slate is the very thing for every match and it is the belief in the team’s ability which will win through.

We should win if we believe totally that we will. 

 

Your belief is as intangible as my stats are historical. 

I know football isn't played on paper and stats guarantee nothing...if they did then all the bookies would be bankrupt. 

It's just another tool to inform the perennial conversations football fans have about the next game. Plus when the stats are as stark and exceptional as Wigan's they can, to some, be genuinely interesting. 

[Bristol Oil Services]

11 hours ago, Jerseybean said:

Just need to remind myself and anyone else who is interested that we are Bristol City so a home game against Wigan, following two brilliant away wins, is not going to be a straightforward affair. I really am not being pessimistic just realistic.  

I have every right, in the event of the score being 0:1 at half-time, or 0:0 on 77 minutes, or in the case of either and Marlon Pack misplacing a simple pass, or Bailey Wright looking less comfortable on the ball than Webster, having paid £xxxx for the seat I shall be sat in looking at my phone, to let Marlon Pack know how lucky he is to be earning £xxxx a week, or Bailey Wright that he is not bloody earning it. The Aussie ****

The fact that we are 5th, in the Championship, in April, witnessing one of the better seasons in our history, clearly are interested in getting to the Prem/play offs at least, and obviously have learned some things from previous mistakes and cock ups, doesn't come into it: I've paid to watch the rubbish we will serve up Saturday should we not be winning at any point beyond about 23 minutes, and I will have my say/boo the useless ***** if I want to.

Ok?

Good.

And "booo! " for Saturday 

[Grey Fox]

This is The Championship, no game is easy, and your most important game, is simply the next one

 

COYRs

[hertsexile]

But we have Kieth Stroud in middle so anything is possible!!! Mad cap refereeing at it best speck safers comes to mind. Not sure if we have win this season when he has been in charge. Main thing play to whistle. Let’s hope the gods are on our side and he decides to wear a Bristol city shirt and not side with Wigan COYR 

[The_Don]

4 hours ago, Robbored said:

Where did I say that?............

The point ( that you obviously missed.......      ) is that after two very impressive away wins against pray off rivals is that the players will buzzing and full of confidence and won’t need LJ to motivate them for the Wigan game.

We shall see, it’s exactly this type of game we’ve struggled in so yes, in my opinion it’s a must win as the home form needs to improve if we are to maintain our “pray off” place... 

[cidered abroad]

3 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Awful isn't it.

If you look at when Wigan have been conceding their away goals, they are actually weakest after HT. 24 of the 38 have been conceded in the 2nd half, with 11 in the final 15 minutes. They've also scored the majority of their paltry 16 goals before HT. So, if I were LJ I would be looking to keep it tight in the first half, and would view a first half goal as a bonus. Then after HT bring the hammer down on Wigan, possibly by putting someone like Palmer on as a late sub.  Maybe even stick with the 532/352 we've employed since the break. 532 before HT, 352 after and just turn the screw as the game progresses.

All stats are from here https://www.soccerstats.com/h2h.asp?league=england2&t1id=11&t2id=5&ly=2019

Standard LJ at home tactics then.

Bore us to death in first half and gung ho in the last half an hour as we batter (flatter) to deceive.