Inconsistency is key.

[Bs4Red]

For me the reason we won’t make the play offs again. Too often do we take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. 

Its so hard to put a finger on how different the same team can look in the space of two weeks. 

From Brom away and this evenings appalling performances there were two quite magnificent sandwiched between. 

You can spin it any way you like, injuries, tiredness etc but that is the difference between top 2, top 6 and top 10.

The only saving grace it seems is many teams around us are also stuttering. 

Hopefully we can find that formula again and put a consistent winning run together again. 

[AshtonGreat]

This is why I think we are underachieving this season. If we consistently played to the standard that we're capable of, we'd be top two. 

[BCFC Grim]

Unfortunately these performances seem to be never too far away under Johnson. Strange. Let's be honest,  I dont think tonights performance was a complete shock to most of us. 

[Andy082005]

2 minutes ago, Bs4Red said:

For me the reason we won’t make the play offs again. Too often do we take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. 

Its so hard to put a finger on how different the same team can look in the space of two weeks. 

From Brom away and this evenings appalling performances there were two quite magnificent sandwiched between. 

You can spin it any way you like, injuries, tiredness etc but that is the difference between top 2, top 6 and top 10.

The only saving grace it seems is many teams around us are also stuttering. 

Hopefully we can find that formula again and put a consistent winning run together again. 

Cant disagree with that. There is not a lot of difference between our performances now...and our performances last season or the season before 

We will be top 10 this year...but our home form will let us down again . LJ just can't seem to get it right at home sadly .... especially against teams like Millwall and Preston 

 

[Andy082005]

2 minutes ago, BCFC Grim said:

Unfortunately these performances seem to be never too far away under Johnson. Strange. Let's be honest,  I dont think tonights performance was a complete shock to most of us. 

Because he really isn't as good a coach / manager as some like to think he is 

[And Its Smith]

Most teams in this league are inconsistent so I wouldn’t worry. Its why we are in the play offs now 

[BCFC Grim]

Just now, Andy082005 said:

Because he really isn't as good a coach / manager as some like to think he is 

Don't disagree.

[And Its Smith]

Just now, Andy082005 said:

Because he really isn't as good a coach / manager as some like to think he is 

Progressing league positions whilst selling best players and making profit is pretty poor 

[marcofisher]

We need Kalas back, the man was an absolute leviathan last season.

And competition at left back, Rowe looked slightly off the pace tonight. He has been outstanding thus far but could probably do with JD coming back.

[IAmNick]

I find it a bit concerning that after almost 4 years (?) we're still so inconsistent. I'd expect it from maybe a new team with big changes but we're half way through the season now. Otherwise maybe a new manger but Lee has been here a long time and it's without question his setup, tactics, and team through and through now.

Same team for three games and we blow one team away, a solid and impressive away performance, then absolute litter at home when the players look like they've never seen the tactics or each other before.

Very odd - maybe just a bad day at the office but it feels like it's more regular than I like... And makes me wonder if it was in fact two good days at the office instead.

[marcofisher]

2 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

I find it a bit concerning that after almost 4 years (?) we're still so inconsistent. I'd expect it from maybe a new team with big changes but we're half way through the season now. Otherwise maybe a new manger but Lee has been here a long time and it's without question his setup, tactics, and team through and through now.

Same team for three games and we blow one team away, a solid and impressive away performance, then absolute litter at home when the players look like they've never seen the tactics or each other before.

Very odd - maybe just a bad day at the office but it feels like it's more regular than I like... And makes me wonder if it was in fact two good days at the office instead.

The tactics were pretty garbage though. Eliasson was outstanding against Huddersfield and Fulham because he could pick out gaps between the defenders and get into spaces.

How was he ever going to find a gap between those three gigantic centre backs? We needed to get it around their feet. Monk has obviously seen the last two matches and worked out exactly how to keep us quiet if we stayed unchanged.

[JBFC II]

5 minutes ago, Andy082005 said:

Because he really isn't as good a coach / manager as some like to think he is 

Weird how most opposition fans looking in really rate him, yet some on here seem to think he’s awful (despite every stat saying the opposite)

[IAmNick]

7 minutes ago, RedDave said:

Progressing league positions whilst selling best players and making profit is pretty poor 

Fair point, but honest question:

Given the level of expenditure off the field, the time in position (i.e. confidence to build something himself in the knowledge he will likely be allowed to see it through even if he has a poor run), and the level of expenditure on players would you expect anything else?

Not saying that meeting expectation is bad of course! I think Lee is doing a decent job - but I would say he's mostly meeting expectations and no more given the above, personally. Many managers wouldn't do that no doubt.

[Galway Red]

2nd worse defence in top 20, that's why we are inconsistent,it's not rocket science 

[Andy082005]

3 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

Weird how most opposition fans looking in really rate him, yet some on here seem to think he’s awful (despite every stat saying the opposite)

Never said he was awful. Just not as good as some make out he is 

You don't exactly see a queue of clubs looking to poach him either do you ....

[IAmNick]

4 minutes ago, marcofisher said:

The tactics were pretty garbage though. Eliasson was outstanding against Huddersfield and Fulham because he could pick out gaps between the defenders and get into spaces.

How was he ever going to find a gap between those three gigantic centre backs? We needed to get it around their feet. Monk has obviously seen the last two matches and worked out exactly how to keep us quiet if we stayed unchanged.

Sure, but that still doesn't to me explain the lack of either motivation or understanding - the movement, the passing, the desire, it was like a different team to me.

If Eliasson not being able to find space turns us from two fantastic performances into tonight that's pretty concerning!

[And Its Smith]

1 minute ago, IAmNick said:

Fair point, but honest question:

Given the level of expenditure off the field, the time in position (i.e. confidence to build something himself in the knowledge he will likely be allowed to see it through even if he has a poor run), and the level of expenditure on players would you expect anything else?

Not saying that meeting expectation is bad of course! I think Lee is doing a decent job - but I would say he's mostly meeting expectations and no more given the above, personally. Many managers wouldn't do that no doubt.

I think bearing in mind he has to sell every summer he’s exceeding expectation. I can see us continuing to make profit and being in and around play offs in the next few years. I’m absolutely fine with that but know a lot won’t be. 

[JBFC II]

1 minute ago, Andy082005 said:

Never said he was awful. Just not as good as some make out he is 

You don't exactly see a queue of clubs looking to poach him either do you ....

I’ve yet to see a queue of clubs trying to get Bielsa, yet many would say he’s the best manager in the league. Weird way of looking at things. 
 

I’d say the progress we’ve made since he took over has been superb

[Andy082005]

1 minute ago, JBFC II said:

I’ve yet to see a queue of clubs trying to get Bielsa, yet many would say he’s the best manager in the league. Weird way of looking at things. 
 

I’d say the progress we’ve made since he took over has been superb

I'd say it had been slow.....

[IAmNick]

1 minute ago, RedDave said:

I think bearing in mind he has to sell every summer he’s exceeding expectation. I can see us continuing to make profit and being in and around play offs in the next few years. I’m absolutely fine with that but know a lot won’t be. 

That's fair, although that's the life of a manager at any club apart from a dozen in the world and is clearly part of our strategy so it's obviously well known and planned for (you would hope). You could argue that also means we've had a steady stream of premier league quality players in our squad which finishes mid table in the championship - it's not that clear cut I know though of course.

[AshtonGreat]

13 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

Weird how most opposition fans looking in really rate him, yet some on here seem to think he’s awful (despite every stat saying the opposite)

The stat about us having one of the worst defensive records in the league doesn't say the opposite. Neither does the one about us being made to look woeful at home by a mid-table team... Again

[JBFC II]

5 minutes ago, Andy082005 said:

I'd say it had been slow.....

When you consider the mess Cotts left us in, deep in a relegation battle to be pushing for promotion nearly 4 years later, on not a very big budget is not bad at all imo

[JBFC II]

Just now, AshtonGreat said:

The stat about us having one of the worst defensive records in the league doesn't say the opposite. Neither does the one about us being made to look woeful at home by a mid-table team... Again

And yet we are still 4th, I reckon you hate that. 
 

And that was only our second defeat at home this season, the only other being v a superb Leeds side. Not too bad that in all honesty 

[marcofisher]

12 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

Sure, but that still doesn't to me explain the lack of either motivation or understanding - the movement, the passing, the desire, it was like a different team to me.

If Eliasson not being able to find space turns us from two fantastic performances into tonight that's pretty concerning!

Don’t get me wrong, everyone played awful and couldn’t string a 5 yd pass together.

Then they all look to Eliasson to whip it in and Millwall were happy with that, we had no other real attacking threat.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

22 minutes ago, marcofisher said:

We need Kalas back, the man was an absolute leviathan last season.

And competition at left back, Rowe looked slightly off the pace tonight. He has been outstanding thus far but could probably do with JD coming back.

Don’t know if Kalas would have made much difference tonight.  What did for us tonight was our usual inability to outwit a packed defence.  Lack of movement and lack of speed in moving the ball was the problem.  I have no problems passing the back around while looking fir an opening, but you have to do it far quicker than we did tonight.

[Oops]

We lined up 4-4-2.

Straight from kick off the formation was totally different from the previous 2 games for some reason. 

Johnson tried to be clever and got destroyed tactically.

Weimann was DEFINITELY NOT playing as a striker tonight. 

Once again, a tried and tested system has been changed for the sake of it. 

The same team as Saturday, but different and baffling instructions. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

33 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

This is why I think we are underachieving this season. If we consistently played to the standard that we're capable of, we'd be top two. 

I mean,  I'm unsure on top 2. West Brom,  Leeds and at times- but only at times- Fulham,  have looked excellent, dominant sides.

Top 6 though,  playoffs and fairly secure in it? Yeah,  would concur- and playoffs should definitely be something we're aiming at this season IMO.

Not playing like that first half and indeed first hour especially though we won't be!

[Bernard Lerring]

36 minutes ago, JBFC II said:

Weird how most opposition fans looking in really rate him, yet some on here seem to think he’s awful (despite every stat saying the opposite)

A lot of our fans think diedhou is awful as well, so I think that says more about our fans than Johnson/ diedhou to be honest 

[formerly known as ivan]

There are only two teams showing any consistency at the moment and that’s Leeds and WBA who are running away with it.

Fulham have now lost two on the bounce, Notts Forest haven’t won for three games yet remain in 4th.

Its a crazy league. 6 points from the last 9 wouldn’t have seemed so bad if someone said two weeks ago we would beat Huddersfield and Millwall but lose to Fulham.  We just got the Millwall and Fulham results back to front.

[Wrongagain]

Same team 3 games on the trot! The only change tonight is the system - so is it the players fault? Because if it isn’t - who is at fault?

nah can’t be the coach! - is it the 20k fans who paid to be entertained? and then kept fairly quiet until the team showed some fight for 10 minutes!

FFS Come on ye reds - come on LJ! Get it right! all that studying and statistics are no good to anyone if the decisions for the 90 are crap!

 

[Highguy]

I thought Johnson was going make changes tonight but he stuck with the same team that won and played well last 2 games (fair enough no one can argue against it) but I think he got it wrong tonight players looked tired few overhit or underhit passes players taking to long on the ball instead moving it quicker 

few players had a poor game tonight aswell thought bentley,massengo,nagy we’re below the standards they’ve set by showing how well they can play also weimann looked completely off it tonight 

let’s hope we put it right Saturday 

[Andy082005]

7 hours ago, JBFC II said:

When you consider the mess Cotts left us in, deep in a relegation battle to be pushing for promotion nearly 4 years later, on not a very big budget is not bad at all imo

I wouldn't say Cotts left us in a mess. The funding was clearly pulled out from underneath him....

[Port Said Red]

How can you be inconsistent and 4th in the table? Inconsistent sides are note the ones who have lost 4 of 21 games, inconsistent would be 7 7 7. Out first defeat at home since the opening day of the season, and suddenly we are shit. 
The most inconsistent thing about this club are the supporters who only 50 minutes after two excellent performances, were screaming and booing at the very same players. 
A large percentage only want to get behind  the team when they are doing well, if they can’t take defeat, they then might as well **** off home and watch Liverpool.

9 minutes ago, Andy082005 said:

I wouldn't say Cotts left us in a mess. The funding was clearly pulled out from underneath him....

Because he wanted to spend the whole budget on single players who never going to come here.

[steveybadger]

8 hours ago, RedDave said:

Most teams in this league are inconsistent so I wouldn’t worry. Its why we are in the play offs now 

I don’t even think we are inconsistent. We’ve ground out a lot of points this season, never lost more than 1 game in a row and only lost 4 overall (2 against the top 2). Even Sky pundits have said LJ is losing his ‘streaky’ reputation.

Last night was disappointing, no getting away from it, but Millwall are on a good (new manager bounce?) run and looked a more than decent outfit to me. Throw in the effort needed on Saturday and you can see why the result might have been predictable. But even then we almost stole a point! 

[Bris Red]

8 hours ago, BCFC Grim said:

Unfortunately these performances seem to be never too far away under Johnson. Strange. Let's be honest,  I dont think tonights performance was a complete shock to most of us. 

This. Its all so predictable especially at home.. top 10 is the best we can hope for with Johnson at the helm IMO. With the resources that have now been given you do have to wonder if he is the right individual for the job IF the job is genuinely promotion.

[Sir Geoff]

9 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Don’t know if Kalas would have made much difference tonight.  What did for us tonight was our usual inability to outwit a packed defence.  Lack of movement and lack of speed in moving the ball was the problem.  I have no problems passing the back around while looking fir an opening, but you have to do it far quicker than we did tonight.

Bang on. Everything was too slow allowing millwall to get back into shape. A lack of options for the player on the ball didn’t help either. First half vs Huddersfield everything was done at pace which they couldn’t live with.

[JBFC II]

2 hours ago, Andy082005 said:

I wouldn't say Cotts left us in a mess. The funding was clearly pulled out from underneath him....

He had funding but decided to spend it all on players outside of our range instead of improving the squad. 

And by the time he had left our league position was not looking promising and the results and performances were dire

[HiddenGem7]

We are where we are in the league because we are marginally better than a majority of the teams in this division.  Two wins on the spin with an unchanged side made it easier for Millwall to guess how we would set-up and to set themselves to nullify that, and it worked.  Even then, luck has played its part, Weimann had an easyish early chance and Wallace has scored a low percentage shot (their only shot on target of the half). If either of those go the other way we might be sat here this morning celebrating a win, although probably not a performance.  My point is that its a game of fine margins, and although individual results are subject to chance, we are a little bit better than a lot of the division, and  we need to trust  that that will show in the final league positions.

[Northern Red]

3 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

How can you be inconsistent and 4th in the table? Inconsistent sides are note the ones who have lost 4 of 21 games, inconsistent would be 7 7 7. Out first defeat at home since the opening day of the season, and suddenly we are shit. 
The most inconsistent thing about this club are the supporters who only 50 minutes after two excellent performances, were screaming and booing at the very same players. 
A large percentage only want to get behind  the team when they are doing well, if they can’t take defeat, they then might as well **** off home and watch Liverpool.

Because he wanted to spend the whole budget on single players who never going to come here.

It's interesting that, as we've started losing fewer games over the last couple of years, the reaction to bad results when they do happen is far more toxic than it ever used to be. You only have to look at this place after a defeat as an example.

Maybe it's due to raised expectations, who knows?

[Wrongagain]

48 minutes ago, HiddenGem7 said:

We are where we are in the league because we are marginally better than a majority of the teams in this division.  Two wins on the spin with an unchanged side made it easier for Millwall to guess how we would set-up and to set themselves to nullify that, and it worked.  Even then, luck has played its part, Weimann had an easyish early chance and Wallace has scored a low percentage shot (their only shot on target of the half). If either of those go the other way we might be sat here this morning celebrating a win, although probably not a performance.  My point is that its a game of fine margins, and although individual results are subject to chance, we are a little bit better than a lot of the division, and  we need to trust  that that will show in the final league positions.

Agree but by the time we had played 15 minutes a good coach would have changed the setup - ours just stood there ringing his hands and complaining to the officials!

[Port Said Red]

1 hour ago, Northern Red said:

It's interesting that, as we've started losing fewer games over the last couple of years, the reaction to bad results when they do happen is far more toxic than it ever used to be. You only have to look at this place after a defeat as an example.

Maybe it's due to raised expectations, who knows?

I wish some people understood the difference between ambitions and expectations. We all have an ambition to be a successful Premier League side that’s fair and realistic, expecting it to happen is not.

[Port Said Red]

5 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

How can you be inconsistent and 4th in the table? Inconsistent sides are note the ones who have lost 4 of 21 games, inconsistent would be 7 7 7. Out first defeat at home since the opening day of the season, and suddenly we are shit. 
The most inconsistent thing about this club are the supporters who only 50 minutes after two excellent performances, were screaming and booing at the very same players. 
A large percentage only want to get behind  the team when they are doing well, if they can’t take defeat, they then might as well **** off home and watch Liverpool.

Because he wanted to spend the whole budget on single players who never going to come here.

Note to self: Don’t type on the phone first thing in the morning, before you have really woken up.  

[Clutton Caveman]

My concern is the ability of our coaching staff to impact the team on the field from the technical area

Every home game we see coaches as the 12th team member barking instructions and making small changes as they are needed.

It seems LJ works mainly on the 4th official. 

When he does try to send out an instruction the reaction from the player concerned often does not show the level of respect and urgency we see form other teams

With Brownhill being a really nice guy but certainly no leader we also lack a commander on the field.

For me it would be better to make Williams the captain. He seems to have the respect of the others and can dish it out when needed as he leads by example.

Another concern is our lack of movement off the ball. We all moan when Baker makes yet another sideways pass but often when he looks up nobody is making a run for him. To hit a pass over 30 yards to a static player invites his marker to step in an nick the ball. When Millwall won possession last night they had players making runs toward the ball and others running into space giving them plenty of options. It seems we have to be 2.0 up before we have enough confidence and enthusiasm to make runs and look for the ball.

Their press all over the field was great where our was non existent

One last thing. At half time I watched our subs going through their routine. It was really clear that Palmer was just going through the motions in stark contrast to the others. When he came on he could not have looked less interested. His pre and post big contract attitude brings back worrying memories of Tomlin. 

 

[22A]

13 hours ago, RedDave said:

Most teams in this league are inconsistent so I wouldn’t worry. Its why we are in the play offs now 

If we had narrowly lost at Fulham, but put it right with a home win v Millwall there would be a lot more optimism on here.

[Red-Robbo]

4 minutes ago, 22A said:

If we had narrowly lost at Fulham, but put it right with a home win v Millwall there would be a lot more optimism on here.

True. But it was the manner of defeat that depressed fans.

Second best for the majority of the match to a team with no real stars and little money. 

You have to give Rowett credit for the way 'Wall were set up to negate, but a poor performance from our "best XI" doesn't bode well. 

Let's hope we react like we did to the West Brom loss.

[CHIPLEY RED]

13 hours ago, AshtonGreat said:

The stat about us having one of the worst defensive records in the league doesn't say the opposite. Neither does the one about us being made to look woeful at home by a mid-table team... Again

The stat that haves us in 4th place in the league does though

[AshtonGreat]

51 minutes ago, CHIPLEY RED said:

The stat that haves us in 4th place in the league does though

Yeah he's clearly not awful

[Redrascal2]

15 hours ago, Bs4Red said:

For me the reason we won’t make the play offs again. Too often do we take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. 

Its so hard to put a finger on how different the same team can look in the space of two weeks. 

From Brom away and this evenings appalling performances there were two quite magnificent sandwiched between. 

You can spin it any way you like, injuries, tiredness etc but that is the difference between top 2, top 6 and top 10.

The only saving grace it seems is many teams around us are also stuttering. 

Hopefully we can find that formula again and put a consistent winning run together again. 

When  or if  LJ  sorts this problem out he will  be a hell of a Manager. Let's hope he sorts it out soon.

 

[Simon bristol]

Was chatting to a bloke in work about this. Weve both been supporting city for 30/40 years. 

Weve just smashed huddersfield, and beaten fulham away. We are playing unfancied millwall at home, and we are 4th. We are bristol city, of course we are going to balls it up.

we have had a couple of promotion seasons in the last 30 years, apart from that, if theres a way to be found of ballsing something up then we will find a way, its what we do!!!