Bentley

[Sir Geoff]

Tbf to Bentley yesterday, I thought he mixed it up quite well. The problem we have is when he plays it short to Naismith or Atkinson they have no choice but to clip it long into the channels or play it back to Bentley to boot long. Our midfield two rarely made any angles or show for the ball making it nigh on impossible to play effectively from the back. Williams came short a couple of times but the pass wasn't on and Scott just wasn't in the game.

[Cowshed]

17 minutes ago, KegCity said:

I never said we weren’t, I said we haven’t got the players for it.

I simply made a statement. Bristol City are direct.

Bristol City yesterday played 91 long balls out of 362 passes. A lot of long balls v low possession. The highest proportion in the division?

Its very direct football.

[Cityboy1954]

16 hours ago, RudiRed said:

Pulls off the odd worldy- but crap distribution, crap dominance in the air and always waiting for an absolute howler.

Yes no surprise hes brought in another keeper but to loyal to certain players james martin Bentley etc seems like if you fall out with him no going back im talking pring here.

[Port Said Red]

41 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

I simply made a statement. Bristol City are direct.

Bristol City yesterday played 91 long balls out of 362 passes. A lot of long balls v low possession. The highest proportion in the division?

Its very direct football.

You are some sort of qualified coach do I am out of my depth in this argument, but 25% of our passes being long balls doesn't sound like very direct football it sounds like we have just about the right mix. I am not really interested in how we compare to other teams in this division, because they all seem to think they are Man City clones without the talent.

[Davefevs]

12 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

You are some sort of qualified coach do I am out of my depth in this argument, but 25% of our passes being long balls doesn't sound like very direct football it sounds like we have just about the right mix. I am not really interested in how we compare to other teams in this division, because they all seem to think they are Man City clones without the talent.

Have a look at this PSR:

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2022/08/english-championship-stats-2022-23/

Lots of useful stuff, breakdowns of passing type, sequences of passes etc. interactive too, so you can resort etc.

It is however easy to get carried with stuff.  We are direct (at times) as Cowshed says, but I think we are trying to evolve the possession stuff, we arent there yet.  As an example we knock 20 passes around the back going nowhere and then launch it….that 5% direct passes.  That looks good, but it’s the context of that 1 long pass versus the 20 sideways passes.  Direct passes can be good too….who was it who picked out Dasilva in the first minute yesterday?  That was a direct pass.  I thought Dasilva was fouled on the first contact.  Should’ve gone down.

[Port Said Red]

16 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Have a look at this PSR:

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2022/08/english-championship-stats-2022-23/

Lots of useful stuff, breakdowns of passing type, sequences of passes etc. interactive too, so you can resort etc.

It is however easy to get carried with stuff.  We are direct (at times) as Cowshed says, but I think we are trying to evolve the possession stuff, we arent there yet.  As an example we knock 20 passes around the back going nowhere and then launch it….that 5% direct passes.  That looks good, but it’s the context of that 1 long pass versus the 20 sideways passes.  Direct passes can be good too….who was it who picked out Dasilva in the first minute yesterday?  That was a direct pass.  I thought Dasilva was fouled on the first contact.  Should’ve gone down.

I don't really have enough interest in those sort of things to be honest, I can only really go by what it feels like when I am watching. I don't see a relentless number of long balls like in the Pulis days, but we are not Swansea either so I feel our mix is fairly balanced.

As far as the passing the ball around the back goes, most of the time it looks like we are deliberately inviting the press so that either Atkinson can then step into the space or so a longer ball is played over the top into the runners like AW or Semenyo or maybe Conway now.

[City1970]

It is not just his distribution letting him down. He does star jumps on crosses rather than commanding his area and most cross shots from both left and right tends to go past him.

Overrated IMO.

[Cowshed]

18 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

You are some sort of qualified coach do I am out of my depth in this argument, but 25% of our passes being long balls doesn't sound like very direct football it sounds like we have just about the right mix. I am not really interested in how we compare to other teams in this division, because they all seem to think they are Man City clones without the talent.

If every fourth pass is long whats the intent? Its not to keep it and rest in possession. Bristol City invited pressure by being direct, and it was very direct in this game. A choice is made to concede possession because that has to be the consequence of playing the ball forward to where it will not stick.

There with respect isn't a Man City clone in the division. No team comes close to their intent. There are not leagues of teams attempting what they do. Principle one there is dominate possession with positional play. Man City are unique in England.   

 

[Son of Fred]

19 hours ago, bcfc01 said:

How much longer will NP put up with Bentleys absolutely crap distribution ?

He is one of the major reasons we always end up defending so deep imo.

Hoofing it anywhere upfield to get the ball as far away from his goal as he can, only to see it come right back.

They really need to drum it into him - use the ball, contribute to starting an attack, or at least a bit of possession. 

That was awful from him today.

 

And not just questionable distribution.

In a nutshell imo he's very overrated.

Would be happy for us to cash in if at all possible.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Son of Fred

[Super]

Bentley is the least of the problems. We are mentally weak and crumble under any kind of sustained pressure. No leaders on the pitch either. 

[Numero Uno]

37 minutes ago, Super said:

Bentley is the least of the problems. We are mentally weak and crumble under any kind of sustained pressure. No leaders on the pitch either. 

No, he’s not a massive problem but yesterday he punched fresh air and we conceded. A fresh air punch, shite defensive header and a centre half getting tackled on the edge of our box has cost us 4 points in three games. Amateur coaches on here can blame systems and chat like they know more about pro football than Nige and his staff but the fact is if we cut out straightforward mistakes, primarily from set pieces and poor decision making not open play where the formation is more relevant, we get more points.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Numero Uno

[KegCity]

23 hours ago, Cowshed said:

I simply made a statement. Bristol City are direct.

Bristol City yesterday played 91 long balls out of 362 passes. A lot of long balls v low possession. The highest proportion in the division?

Its very direct football.

I never disagreed with you?

[Clutton Caveman]

On 13/08/2022 at 17:19, bcfc01 said:

How much longer will NP put up with Bentleys absolutely crap distribution ?

He is one of the major reasons we always end up defending so deep imo.

Hoofing it anywhere upfield to get the ball as far away from his goal as he can, only to see it come right back.

They really need to drum it into him - use the ball, contribute to starting an attack, or at least a bit of possession. 

That was awful from him today.

 

We improved massively in this area when Max was included last year

[Davefevs]

45 minutes ago, Clutton Caveman said:

We improved massively in this area when Max was included last year

We did improve…but I also thought we improved further when Bents came back too.

Unfortunately we’d hit a low point prior to Max coming in.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Davefevs

[MrRedRobin]

47 minutes ago, Clutton Caveman said:

We improved massively in this area when Max was included last year

I enjoyed Max when he was in goal. City as a team played better IMO. Bents is the better GK tho. If Max could improve with a couple of things he could become a very good goalkeeper IMO.