Pearson post match ….

[Rob k]

2 hours ago, JonDolman said:

Huddersfield had won 1 in 7 before yesterday, and that was probably only because in that one win WBA had a player sent off in the 6th minute.

So them having a good midfielder is no excuse.

So it shows you exactly where we are - you must be able to see it with your own eyes. You could give us Pep G and we wouldn’t be much better with that squad. 

[Davefevs]

5 hours ago, DaveInSA said:

Very good players. I’d gamble that none of them would make it into a top 6 side in this division.

Very inconsistent players too. For me, they’re not good enough. They don’t have the mental fortitude. They’re not ‘winners’. They expend a lot of energy but deliver little.

My (general) view is that we are left with the players from previous regimes who weren’t good enough to be wanted elsewhere.  It’s obviously not as black and white as that, but our best players (Brownhill, Pack, Reid, Bryan etc) carried the lesser players and were courted by better teams.  When you’re left with lesser players, even those only slightly lesser, you see the weaknesses exposed.  And here is where we are.

We can obviously pick one off examples like O’Dowda is better at LB than Wallace at QPR, but Wallace isn’t first choice, McCallum (injured) is, and so not really comparing apples with apples.

We are good enough to not be embroiled in a relegation battle.  I don’t think we are in one currently either.  We ought to be a little better off than where we are but we are seeing the realities of the squad strength.  Certainly by the end of the window, some questions might be answered if certain players leave.  It’s all speculation, but is Martin playing because Wells is off and we front want an injury to scupper it?

[Loosey Boy]

46 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

My (general) view is that we are left with the players from previous regimes who weren’t good enough to be wanted elsewhere.  It’s obviously not as black and white as that, but our best players (Brownhill, Pack, Reid, Bryan etc) carried the lesser players and were courted by better teams.  When you’re left with lesser players, even those only slightly lesser, you see the weaknesses exposed.  And here is where we are.

We can obviously pick one off examples like O’Dowda is better at LB than Wallace at QPR, but Wallace isn’t first choice, McCallum (injured) is, and so not really comparing apples with apples.

We are good enough to not be embroiled in a relegation battle.  I don’t think we are in one currently either.  We ought to be a little better off than where we are but we are seeing the realities of the squad strength.  Certainly by the end of the window, some questions might be answered if certain players leave.  It’s all speculation, but is Martin playing because Wells is off and we front want an injury to scupper it?

@Davefevs- I think you may be right about Wells……City will be desperate to get rid of the reported £27kpw wages…..could be the same scenario with JD too?

[Andy082005]

5 hours ago, JonDolman said:

They are good players imo. 

I'd even say Semenyo would get in some of those top 6 sides. Maybe not the 3 that expect promotion, but at this rate maybe even one or two of them!

O'Dowda or Lee Wallace at left wing back for QPR? I have always thought fans may be surprised what level of clubs will be in for O'Dowda if he ever becomes available. I guess we might find out soon enough if he doesnt sign a new deal.

And I don't see why Matty James would not get in a couple of those top 6 teams. There isn't a lot in it between him and some of the other midfielders in the top 6 teams imo. He's a very good midfielder at this level.

The likes of Massengo and Scott in better teams would be interesting.

Okay maybe Vyner and Martin would probably not come close.

I'm interested to see where Dasilva goes. I have said Swansea would be the right side for him, and they are only currently a mid table side.

QPR might also be the right team in how Warburton has them playing. It could be we have a top 6 left sided player in Dasilva but we just don't play to his strengths.

Also lets not forget Wells was top championship scorer when we signed him. Lets see what level of clubs come in for him.

This is the problem we have, the standard of football we have Ben subjected to in the last 4 years or so, people genuinely believe some of our players are better then they are 

Semenyo wouldn’t get in any of the top 6 teams in this league. Still far to inconsistent 

O’Dowda - he would move to another Championship side, but he is an average player at best at this level 

James - here’s where I will come across controversial.
 

 I do quite like James but I still don’t believe he is any better then Marlon Pack. We let Pack go a couple of years ago and where as it was the right thing to do as we needed an upgrade if we wanted to push on, I still don’t think we have ever found it 

James is just an average midfielder at this level. 

 

[Davefevs]

23 minutes ago, Andy082005 said:

 

 I do quite like James but I still don’t believe he is any better then Marlon Pack. We let Pack go a couple of years ago and where as it was the right thing to do as we needed an upgrade if we wanted to push on, I still don’t think we have ever found it 

Pack was a very good player…we sold him for the wrong reason…£money.  Johnson saw Nagy as himself, and what you really needed was a position of transition away from Pack to Nagy (succession planning Massengo), but we did a one in, one out…completely bonkers imho.  Pack was being stifled by Johnson’s system, but perversely it was dependent on Pack.

[Waconda]

16 minutes ago, JonDolman said:

I rate O'Dowda more than quite a lot of regular posters on here. I think he's very good at this level. Nyambe is Blackburn's best one on one defender and he could not live with O'Dowda. Lewis Potter who is a very good player who has rumoured prem interest O'Dowda had in his back pocket. Though he did put in a couple of bad crosses in that game, I think when used correctly he plays well most games. I know many disagree but that's how I see it with him.

I didn't rate Pack that highly to be honest. Personally think James is quite a bit better but again I know some will disagree with that. So agree to disagree on those players.

You say about the last 4 years or so, but we have often been very close to the top 6 or in the top 6 in that time.

Agree on COD but Pack better than James - IMO.

[bpexile]

On 19/12/2021 at 06:52, Roger Red Hat said:

Have the bunch near you also got minimal experience?

Have the bunch near you got minimal experience tolerance?

[supercidered]

On 18/12/2021 at 17:15, !james said:

Simpson? 

Simpson eh.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

21 hours ago, ChubStixx said:

The players are better than they're being made out to be. We can definitely get more out of them.

Squad looks devoid of confidence and the right mentality to me.

And this is exactly the problem.  The players look not only devoid of confidence,  but afraid - and that can only be the fault of the manager.  Pearson, I’m afraid, comes across as a bully and there are few people in management in any industry these days who think that that kind of management can work.  We have moved an awfully long way from that style of management., and in that respect Pearson is a dinosaur.

It comes down to the fact that in any walk of life a manager’s job is to plan strategy; to deploy resources as effectively as possibly; to motivate his team to get the absolute best out of the available resources; and to take responsibility if things go wrong.

It strikes me that Pearson is failing on all counts at the moment.

I want to weep when I see how well Steve Cooper is doing at Forest, in the wake of Chris Hughton’s abject failure.  The world has moved on.  Society (and football) realised that you cannot manage by bullying a long time ago.

[AshtonGreat]

On 19/12/2021 at 08:48, DaveInSA said:

Not pompous. I was asking you to support your opinion, with some facts.

What you’ve stated above re ‘losing concentration’ - how do you coach that? That is an individual weakness- which is far too prevalent in the DNA of our players.

Ashton deliberately recruited ‘mentally weak’ players. As a collective their is no coherence and no leadership on the pitch. You can’t coach that - I think it’s telling that our under 23s are showing these seasoned pros the dark art of shithousery.

We’ll not do much business in Jan (I hope we do) there’s no money. We’re spending all our cash on Players to sit on their backsides. So unless KP, JD, Wells and Moore go, we can’t afford it.

we have defenders who can’t defend, a midfield that is non existent and an attack spearheaded by a geriatric. All in all it’s a total mess. 

Eh?

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

Just to go back to DaveinSA’s comments about ‘mental weakness’ and not being able to coach lack of concentration, sorry mate, but that really is nonsense.  Even my boy’s coach teaches them the importance of concentration and helps them work on it.  As to the concept of ‘mental weakness’ that sounds like something that women were accused of during the Victorian age!  All sports now employ psychologists to help deal with this sort of thing, but the main person when it comes to instilling confidence and concentration in a team is THE MANAGER.  

Edited December 20, 2021 by The Dolman Pragmatist

[Major Isewater]

On 18/12/2021 at 22:06, sludge said:

We’re Bristol City, most fans on here were turning their nose up at the suggestion of Steven Gerrard 18 months ago. Laughable 

In fairness, Gerrard may turn out to be a top manager but we needed a steady hand with experience to sort out this mess of a club.

 

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

1 hour ago, Tafkarmlf said:

I never get the whole mentally weak argument either. 

Training, dedication and a really restricted lifestyle, diet when the seasons on would mean you'd have to be resilient and strong willed to maintain those levels or else you'd be found out PDQ. 

Hardly 'Weak' that's bloody hard for anyone who's ever had to do it for any amount of time to a high level, making sacrifices all over the shop to remain at that level. 

So, yeah, agree, dont buy it as an argument at all 

 

 

Aye.  It’s hard to imagine how someone who is ‘mentally weak’, if there is such a thing, could even get there in the first place.  I’m heavily involved in grassroots and semi-pro football, and the tenacity and determination that kids need to even have a chance of making it in the game is astonishing.  Even young kids are doing multiple training sessions every week, and pre-pandemic it was quite common for, say, under-11s at league academies to be flying to European cities for matches!  If you haven’t got the determination, you’ll get found out very quickly.

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

And this is exactly the problem.  The players look not only devoid of confidence,  but afraid - and that can only be the fault of the manager.  Pearson, I’m afraid, comes across as a bully and there are few people in management in any industry these days who think that that kind of management can work.  We have moved an awfully long way from that style of management., and in that respect Pearson is a dinosaur.

It comes down to the fact that in any walk of life a manager’s job is to plan strategy; to deploy resources as effectively as possibly; to motivate his team to get the absolute best out of the available resources; and to take responsibility if things go wrong.

It strikes me that Pearson is failing on all counts at the moment.

I want to weep when I see how well Steve Cooper is doing at Forest, in the wake of Chris Hughton’s abject failure.  The world has moved on.  Society (and football) realised that you cannot manage by bullying a long time ago.

What’s the evidence for bullying?

A few players have come out and specifically said Nige is nothing like the media-interview-Nige we see and hear, that’s he’s quite fun. 

[GrahamC]

On 19/12/2021 at 11:11, The Bard said:

The game I saw yesterday saw us start very aggressively pressing high which resulted in our goal.  Huddersfield clearly well coached looked to play through our press.  As soon as they did it put our defence in the position where they have to decide whether to follow the press up or drop off to deal with the counter attack and that is where we lost the game.

 

On at least 2 occasions (build up to the penalty and the 3rd goal), Atkinson got that decision badly wrong, following a player into midfield who just ran him out of position. Their equaliser also came from such a circumstance with Scott pressing high and Vyner getting sucked into midfield meaning they got an overlap down our right.  Even then Atkinson was completely indecisive edge of our box when a bit of cynicism would've got him a yellow but stopped a goal.

2nd goal was also down to indecision between the RCB and RWB.

Once we brought on Pring for Atkinson I thought we improved markedly, creating enough chances to have got back into the game.  

I'm intrigued as to how Pearson reacts to this.  He's called Atkinson out for his performance but I wonder if we'll go back to a back 4.  If we do, I'd expect to see Tanner and Pring starting but am interested whether Vyner or Atkinson get hooked.  If we stay with a 3, Pring will play left of the 3.

 

 

 

 

If Luton escape COVID & the Boxing Day game goes ahead then we will probably have O’Dowda & King back for selection, giving us a couple more experienced options.

Certainly it will be an interesting selection, he clearly wasn’t impressed by Atkinson so whether he starts the next game or not will be enlightening.

Personally I think we should be playing a back four anyway, Tanner’s absence made that somewhat harder to do but I don’t think we have looked solid enough defensively for much of the season, & see this as the best formation for us to do so. 

King alongside James would also make us harder to play through.
 

[Maltshoveller]

26 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

What’s the evidence for bullying?

A few players have come out and specifically said Nige is nothing like the media-interview-Nige we see and hear, that’s he’s quite fun. 

If it comes out that Nige is a bit of a bully

It will only come from players who dont make it ofr are frozen out 

A bit like with Roy Keane being a bully When he was captain at Man Utd you never heard any of the 1st team say he was a bully

Why? beacuse they are winners who can handle a bollocking when they play bad They see it as a kick up the ass NOT bullying

[Davefevs]

23 minutes ago, Maltshoveller said:

If it comes out that Nige is a bit of a bully

It will only come from players who dont make it ofr are frozen out 

A bit like with Roy Keane being a bully When he was captain at Man Utd you never heard any of the 1st team say he was a bully

Why? beacuse they are winners who can handle a bollocking when they play bad They see it as a kick up the ass NOT bullying

Yep, and pretty much every dressing room I’ve been in has had fall-outs…mainly those out of the side, and especially when results aren’t going well, and even more so when players think they are better than what they are.

[The Dolman Pragmatist]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

What’s the evidence for bullying?

A few players have come out and specifically said Nige is nothing like the media-interview-Nige we see and hear, that’s he’s quite fun. 

It’s what I’ve heard from one of the players.  Only one, admittedly, but the impression I was given was that he wasn’t alone in feeling like that.

Edited December 20, 2021 by The Dolman Pragmatist

[cidered abroad]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

What’s the evidence for bullying?

A few players have come out and specifically said Nige is nothing like the media-interview-Nige we see and hear, that’s he’s quite fun. 

What is a bully? Many definitions in a dictionary. I cannot believe that Nigel Pearson, a football manager who has the whole spectrum of personnel under his management will be a bully, physically or verbally.

There will certainly be very straight to the point conversations with players. And also plenty of arm round the shoulder. A vindictive manager will not last anywhere very long because even those who are not involved will not appreciate that type of mismanagement.

[GrahamC]

13 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

It’s what I’ve heard from one of the players.  Only one, admittedly, but the impression I was given was that he wasn’t alone in feeling like that.

Bless him.

All employees don’t like their manager shocker..

Bet he’d have loved GJ & Cotts..

[Bristol Oil Services]

4 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Just to go back to DaveinSA’s comments about ‘mental weakness’ and not being able to coach lack of concentration, sorry mate, but that really is nonsense.  Even my boy’s coach teaches them the importance of concentration and helps them work on it.  As to the concept of ‘mental weakness’ that sounds like something that women were accused of during the Victorian age!  All sports now employ psychologists to help deal with this sort of thing, but the main person when it comes to instilling confidence and concentration in a team is THE MANAGER.  

Can you put some flesh on the bone of: "...my boy's coach .... helps them work on it (concentration)", how does the coach do this exactly?

[Roger Red Hat]

I believe I’ve read glowing reports about NP’s man management skills from several Leicester players in the past. There’s a difference between bullying and straight talking.

[Davefevs]

36 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

It’s what I’ve heard from one of the players.  Only one, admittedly, but the impression I was given was that he wasn’t alone in feeling like that.

Ta.  This sums it up for me.

 

[cheese]

On 18/12/2021 at 18:53, paul_fox said:

I think the same. I think people like him because he chucks himself in front of shots but to me he's gets caught out of position so has to do it. Another 1 that I think is part of the problem that people don't agree with is Bentley. 

I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking this.

[tin]

On 18/12/2021 at 21:06, sludge said:

We’re Bristol City, most fans on here were turning their nose up at the suggestion of Steven Gerrard 18 months ago. Laughable 

Almost as laughable as the suggestion of Steven Gerrard, who a) didn't want to come here, and b) had a £4.5m release clause in his Rangers contract. 

[maxjak]

5 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Just to go back to DaveinSA’s comments about ‘mental weakness’ and not being able to coach lack of concentration, sorry mate, but that really is nonsense.  Even my boy’s coach teaches them the importance of concentration and helps them work on it.  As to the concept of ‘mental weakness’ that sounds like something that women were accused of during the Victorian age!  All sports now employ psychologists to help deal with this sort of thing, but the main person when it comes to instilling confidence and concentration in a team is THE MANAGER.  

100% correct....there are many and varied exercises one can do to improve concentration and mental discipline.  Sports Psychologists specialise in promoting focus and disciplined thinking, training sports people to immerse themselves in their performance, and making sure they are able to concentrate on the job in hand, and not be distracted by any exterior influences.   When I played amateur football, I was going through some financial and emotional problems, and the psychologist took me through some exercises, which made me block out any distractions and concentrate fully on the here and now.....it definitely works.   IMHO

[Bazooka Joe]

3 hours ago, Maltshoveller said:

If it comes out that Nige is a bit of a bully

It will only come from players who dont make it ofr are frozen out 

A bit like with Roy Keane being a bully When he was captain at Man Utd you never heard any of the 1st team say he was a bully

Why? beacuse they are winners who can handle a bollocking when they play bad They see it as a kick up the ass NOT bullying

Pearson: "I've told you before, training starts at 10.30. This is the third time you've been late for training. Listen carefully to what I say. Don't be late again or there will be consequences"

Player (who has a grudge) " You're upsetting me. I was only an hour late this time. Why I am never in the starting XI ?  I'm going to contact my agent and the PFA about your bullying"

[Waconda]

5 minutes ago, Bazooka Joe said:

Pearson: "I've told you before, training starts at 10.30. This is the third time you've been late for training. Listen carefully to what I say. Don't be late again or there will be consequences"

Player (who has a grudge) " You're upsetting me. I was only an hour late this time. Why I am never in the starting XI ?  I'm going to contact my agent and the PFA about your bullying"

Or ...............

[Bazooka Joe]

50 minutes ago, VT05763 said:

Or ...............

Bradley, a former City right back.

Two R's as in oo-arr.

[Waconda]

34 minutes ago, Bazooka Joe said:

Bradley, a former City right back.

Two R's as in oo-arr.

A different scenario to the one you suggest.