Nagy

[Davefevs]

27 minutes ago, onlyotib said:

Totally agree. We all knew that Wednesday r very strong in the midfield position so we should hav packed it out and eliasson would have given us that attacking edge

A midfield 2 of Bannan (good player admittedly) and Luongo, versus our 3.  We had a man advantage.  I’m not sure they are a very strong midfield.  They bypass it in the early phase in the main, going direct to Fletcher / Nuhiu.  Had our 3 of Smith, Brownhill and O’Dowda played as a flat 3, I don’t see his their 2 could’ve dominated.  But they didn’t.  They left Smith on his own.  In fairness I think O’Dowda tried to play the LCM role as instructed, Brownhill went awol as RCM, leaving it a 2 on 2, where unfortunately one of them had a poor game.

[Red-Robbo]

11 hours ago, cidered abroad said:

More signings? We have a bloated squad with too many in some departments and only one fit player in two others (goalscoring and left back).

Overall, too many players, too many options. I know the modern game is very demanding but in the two seasons that we won the Third Division title, we used only the starting eleven and about half a dozen others. A lesson to be learned by our Brain of Bristol City?

Or if Lansdown can't see the problem, he never will. I see we're now ninth in the table. The winter slide time has begun!

It might be bloated, but once you get beyond about 15 players it's all filler, no killer.

What striker options do we have if Fam isn't there? Semenyo, Rodri or even worse, Watkins. 

Not names to strike fear into anyone, except the home crowd.

We have depth - but not strength in depth. At this level, there are a few players being found out.

[mozo]

14 hours ago, OldlandReddies said:

You are basing this on the last 3 games though yeah? Prior to that we have had a  very solid start with sporadic brilliance. We all have very short memories and are all guilty of over reacting. Yes we need signings to give us momentum for the second half of the season but we are still in an excellent position.

Edit

Think I got wrong end of stick. Ignore me....

Now wheres that bubbly...hic...

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

It might be bloated, but once you get beyond about 15 players it's all filler, no killer.

What striker options do we have if Fam isn't there? Semenyo, Rodri or even worse, Watkins. 

Not names to strike fear into anyone, except the home crowd.

We have depth - but not strength in depth. At this level, there are a few players being found out.

The squad is bloated but it is more than good enough.  We’ve played crap for the previous 2 games, and in a lot of people’s opinions not very well most of the season, but this squad got us to 4th in the table 3 games back.

i’m not saying it’s all knee-jerk on here, because some of it (the criticism) is very true.

The players need to bust a gut for each other, Lee needs to make sure they do, but also make tough decisions re who plays, and who he might need to move-on.

Some decisions won’t be easy.  But if he could move on 5 players for example, to free up wages to loan say a Che Adams (unlikely imho), I’m sure most of us would say that’s what he should be doing.

Hes previously gone on record as saying “I only want players better than the current ones, or players capable of improving others”.  This window will prove to me whether it’s lip-service (another club in the bag) or not.

[Mr Popodopolous]

11 hours ago, Davefevs said:

A midfield 2 of Bannan (good player admittedly) and Luongo, versus our 3.  We had a man advantage.  I’m not sure they are a very strong midfield.  They bypass it in the early phase in the main, going direct to Fletcher / Nuhiu.  Had our 3 of Smith, Brownhill and O’Dowda played as a flat 3, I don’t see his their 2 could’ve dominated.  But they didn’t.  They left Smith on his own.  In fairness I think O’Dowda tried to play the LCM role as instructed, Brownhill went awol as RCM, leaving it a 2 on 2, where unfortunately one of them had a poor game.

In that shape. 

Nagy or Massengo for O'Dowda. Push Brownhill higher in the O'Dowda role. The  '1'...where he can do some damage and give Sheffield Wednesday (Bannan and Luongo) something to worry about. 

One of them may need to sit on Brownhill, which means we can take a bit more control centrally.

[Red-Robbo]

59 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The squad is bloated but it is more than good enough.  We’ve played crap for the previous 2 games, and in a lot of people’s opinions not very well most of the season, but this squad got us to 4th in the table 3 games back.

i’m not saying it’s all knee-jerk on here, because some of it (the criticism) is very true.

The players need to bust a gut for each other, Lee needs to make sure they do, but also make tough decisions re who plays, and who he might need to move-on.

Some decisions won’t be easy.  But if he could move on 5 players for example, to free up wages to loan say a Che Adams (unlikely imho), I’m sure most of us would say that’s what he should be doing.

Hes previously gone on record as saying “I only want players better than the current ones, or players capable of improving others”.  This window will prove to me whether it’s lip-service (another club in the bag) or not.

Totally agree with your final par and I agree that our "best 12/13" are among the most talented players we've seen at the Gate for many a year.

I just think when you get below some automatic first choices you start barrel-scraping fast. Perrera provides good coverage for Hunt and adds an occasional goal threat; Baker is more than decent cover for Moore and Williams; Maenpaa is a good goalie if Bentley gets injured or looses form. It'll be great when Dasilva gets back to offer options on the left.

Apart from that, most of our "also rans" do not inspire me much. Rather have Matty back than play either Semenyo or Rodri as a substitute striker. Szmodics has done nothing to inspire confidence. COD rarely has a good game. Watkins ditto. Bailey Wright just isn't quite the top 6 standard we should demand. 

I'd like an "oven-ready" subs bench, with at least 5 or 6 class players. Maybe 1 or 2 coming through, who can be played if we're coasting.

Is that too much to ask, Santa Lansdown?