Come on, stick with it..

[PFree]

Okay, none of us are particularly happy with our form but we have no option other than to weather this horrible financial situation we find ourselves in - also remember we are a good way through now.

It would be easy to say balls to it and boo or turn our backs entirely, but what use is that to OUR club.

We have a small squad, have had to cut our cloth accordingly, and despite being left in tatters by previous poor senior exec’s, we remain competitive at this difficult level. Difficult game on Saturday but remember it is only three points is up for grabs.

We then use the cup break to regroup, and I have no doubt that Nige and those who matter will be drawing up plans for January, it’s no secret we cannot allow ourselves to go down, it would set us back years. Remember this is an incredibly close league this year, two or three wins and we will back up there again.

Exciting plans ahead as a club, an incredible catchment area to one day benefit from when we finally go up and pleasingly we have Nige and Tins at the helm, they both talk a great deal and sense, and I would suggest that Nige, with one arm tied behind his back is doing everything possible with what he has, as limited as it clearly is.

The lads need you on Saturday, it is a big game, but remember the outcome will not determine our whole season, so stick with it and take your frustration out on the opposition and officials, we can make that 12th man difference that makes so much difference to the lads.

Hard, but come on, sing loud and proud all..!

 

 

[Robbored]

Good to see a sensible and positive post after so many knee jerks reactions to last nights disappointing performance.

[frenchred]

5 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Good to see a sensible and positive post after so many knee jerks reactions to last nights disappointing performance.

It'd NOT "Just" Last nights performance though is it! 

[PFree]

Just now, frenchred said:

It'd NOT "Just" Last nights performance though is it! 

People are fighting horrible illnesses and many will have been diagnosed today. This is a game, yes passionate, but getting into a negative blame game will benefit nobody.

Hard but try and find some positives, it will always help. Personally, I am looking forward to Saturday and to when some of better players recover from injury, we have really missed them..

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

Good post, totally agree with the OP.

We HAVE to weather this storm, NP is the man to steer the ship to calmer waters IMO, Gould as well off the pitch and he is a big loss or will be when he goes.

Good point about the officials too, we should.give them hell really, get right on their back- they give us very little, certainly big calls wise.

[Andy082005]

12 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Good to see a sensible and positive post after so many knee jerks reactions to last nights disappointing performance.

Knee jerk 

[Stevesthename]

Completely agree, this is when we need to show patience. This season I feel we haven't got as many points as some of our performances have deserved, where as last year I feel it was the opposite. More progress has been made than the table suggests in my opinion

[Robbored]

5 minutes ago, frenchred said:

It'd NOT "Just" Last nights performance though is it! 

Try to understand that the squad has been hit hard by illness sweeping through, plus on going injuries to key defenders. Consequently Nige has had to use to introduce inexperienced players - unfortunately that led to Lincoln’s second last.night.

Things will pick up when Nige has a fully fit squad to select from.

 

4 minutes ago, Andy082005 said:

Knee jerk 

What would you call it Andy? 

[Kingswood Robin]

Weariness

[phantom]

16 minutes ago, Stevesthename said:

Completely agree, this is when we need to show patience. This season I feel we haven't got as many points as some of our performances have deserved, where as last year I feel it was the opposite. More progress has been made than the table suggests in my opinion

Any football team is only judged by the league table 

That stay doesn't lie and shows we are not progressing in any way on the pitch 

[phantom]

16 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Try to understand that the squad has been hit hard by illness sweeping through, plus on going injuries to key defenders. Consequently Nige has had to use to introduce inexperienced players - unfortunately that led to Lincoln’s second last.night.

Things will pick up when Nige has a fully fit squad to select from.

 

What would you call it Andy? 

Based on what, he's not done anything better during his whole tenure with us 

Reading the above you would think that we are the only team who get illnesses and injuries 

Our problems are much deeper and more serious 

[Dynamite Red]

15 minutes ago, phantom said:

Based on what, he's not done anything better during his whole tenure with us 

Reading the above you would think that we are the only team who get illnesses and injuries 

Our problems are much deeper and more serious 

Surely you have to add the perspective that he has had to massively reduce the wage bill, reduce the size and quality of the squad with little to no money in transfers and wages, plus had to blood youngsters from the academy. To tread water in those circumstances is an achievement. I think under a less experienced manager we would be currently playing Rovers in League one.

Until we can again reinvest seriously into the team it is unfair to expect better.

Edited November 9, 2022 by Dynamite Red

[kiwicolin]

We will be there Saturday. 

COYR COYR COYR COYR COYR 

[Robbored]

29 minutes ago, phantom said:

Any football team is only judged by the league table 

That stay doesn't lie and shows we are not progressing in any way on the pitch 

You’re right of course - the table doesn’t lie - however the question is why? Things like Illness and injuries are a factor but those reasons can apply to every club 

What posters don’t seem to grasp is the magnitude of the job Nige has in his hands. Firstly, off loading  the wasters, Bakinson and Palmer gone. Reduce the wage bill left by Ashton plus no war chest to strengthen without filling it first.Two difficult tasks but with help of RG the first one has been seriously worked on.

These are all factors that add up and put some context into where City are in the league.

[Davefevs]

@Dynamite Redand @Robboredcover off my thoughts @phantom.

Taking the following example - is taking year on year movement up the table classed as progress if you burden the club financially for years to come, have the best squad (and depth) available and don’t meet the objective set?

Sometimes progress can be measured in different ways.

[Rocking Red Cyril]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

You’re right of course - the table doesn’t lie - however the question is why? Things like Illness and injuries are a factor but those reasons can apply to every club 

What posters don’t seem to grasp is the magnitude of the job Nige has in his hands. Firstly, off loading  the wasters, Bakinson and Palmer gone. Reduce the wage bill left by Ashton plus no war chest to strengthen without filling it first.Two difficult tasks but with help of RG the first one has been seriously worked on.

These are all factors that add up and put some context into where City are in the league.

Ok wasters gone, Bakinsons & Palmer, but do we still not need to off load those who are just too high earners or just not good enough? But with no money to replace them 

January window will be interesting 

[Garland-sweden]

Worried about our defence play. Hope we can be solid in midfield and defence otherwise it Will be difficault. Interesting to se how NP picks the starting eleven. 

[NewquayRed]

The fact is that the cup debacle to one side, we have performed well against the best in this division and gotten very little for it. The potential even with this small squad in clearly there, lots to play for still.

That being said new CB and CM in January would really help, perhaps even a WB that can cross.

Edited November 10, 2022 by NewquayRed

[ExiledAjax]

7 hours ago, phantom said:

Any football team is only judged by the league table 

That stay doesn't lie and shows we are not progressing in any way on the pitch 

Are people conflating the team and the club? It may be true that a team is, sadly, only judged by the table, but the club is much more than that. The club is judged on its fan engagement, it's role in the community, it's financial prudence, the performance of all of its staff, its ability to give young people a career and life that most can only dream of, even perhaps we should judge a club by the fans themselves. In most of those areas Bristol City is now performing quite well, and although Pearson's main role is to coach the first team, don't think he isn't also involved with some of those other aspects.

As an aside, the table is in fact perfectly capable of lying. Football turns on random single incidents that can very easily have a disproportionate knock on effect on the number of points a team gathers. Right now, in our instance, it probably fairly shows where we are, but every season there are teams, including us in seasons past, who end up in a position that doesn't really reflect their performances or ability.

[robinforlife2]

8 hours ago, phantom said:

Any football team is only judged by the league table 

That stay doesn't lie and shows we are not progressing in any way on the pitch 

Nail on the head.

Pearson has had two years to get his team playing football and performing on the pitch.

Our budget is bigger than all bar West Brom and Boro around us in the league and people keep saying the same thing about money, but the fact is, Pearson can't make use of the tools he's got, and he's added tools to his bag. It's not like we had 35 players, he has sold 15 and brought in no one. The main core of the team is the same that were performing better than before Pearson was here. People say he got rid of waster like Palmer and Bakinson, but they weren't playing anyway and if anything what they've been replaced with is hardly anything better.

The progress is off the pitch, but on the pitch we are a shambles, but we don't have a bad squad. 

People say part the problem is, a number of these players know they are on their way out the door, and this is one of the reasons why a new manager is vital. If a new manager comes in, suddenly with no money to work with, he will assess every player and give every player a chance to prove their worth, you may actually find that some of the players who expect to be released by Pearson, or not given contracts or be sold, might find form, as they have a chance of impressing someone and earning a new deal.

The fact is people say we need rid of DaSilva, Kalas, Wells, Bentley, King, Klose, Martin and then think we will be able to replace them easily. 

What we should be doing is negotiating new deals for DaSilva, Kalas, Wells and Bentley that fall within our wage structure, to keep proven quality players at this level at the club. King, Klose and Martin wont be on huge money, but the reality is, one if not two of those will need replacing and there is no guarantee, that we can replace them with 2 better players for the money.

If people expect us to recruit, we have to sell Massengo in January, if we don't we may as well play him. For all he is not a solution to the problem, he is not the 6th best central midfielder we have, so he should be around the 1st team. The same as Bentley is arguably our best, if not 2nd best keeper, he should not suddenly be 3rd choice. A manager refusing to involve these players is in fact wasting money by not having them involved.

We have three key assets, Scott (long term deal), Conway (just signed new deal) and Semenyo (out of contract at the end of next year). The latter is the most sensible to sell. In fact to do any respectable recruitment, whether short term or long term in January, he has to be sold. 

If you approached DaSilva, Kalas, Wells and Bentley and asked them to extend for one year on 20% less wages, I suspect most would. They will know that they are unlikely get better than that deal, it gives them security of another year, and take at this view. Say Kalas is on 20K, Wells 20K, bentley 15K and DaSilva 15K, it would save 14K, so it would mean keeping 4 quality players at this level, and effectively getting one big fee off the books. It would be like moving one on, but keeping all four.

The players really isn't the problem, finances don't help, but the biggest problem is, for whatever reason a number of the players are not playing to their best, and the person in charge of getting them to play to their best is the manager. If the manager can't get the best from the group of players he has, the solution is not to start getting rid of the players, but to get rid of the person unable to get the best out of them.

Look at any business, 

If the recruitment team head hunt and recruit a team of 15 people they know are up to the task, and employ me to manage them, if the team don't perform, they are not going to think, hang on we made the right choice in appointing this guy to manage the team, so we recruited badly with the 15, they will say, the team is not the problem, the manager is, and it is the manager who will be replaced. We are in no different situation. 

Either every player in the team is not worth their place (and Nigel recruited a number of them) or the one managing the team is not up to the task.

I am firmly with the latter. Good players with the exception of an aging Martin and King don't become average players overnight. Many times we see good players disappoint here and get a new lease of life somewhere new, that is because we have had poor manager after poor manager who has been unable to get the best out of our players. There is no guarantee that the next manager will get the best out of all of them, but the chances are they will get more out of the current manager who is failing to get them to perform consistently and is already starting to isolate players, pick on players, give out labels that they are letting him down. When this starts to happen, it's the beginning of the end.

When he starts using the terms, players I can trust and so on, that's when you know he's a dead man walking.

I expect us to struggle against Watford, and hopefully the board will then see the light, that the manager is not getting the best out of the team, and that is the reason, why he has to go and someone else has to try and galvanise this group of players for a survival bid over the next six months, as  the team have clearly lost faith in Pearson and are no longer trying for him, and performing. Probably down to frustrating tactics and so on, but at the end of the day, most managers get the sack and with a 29% win rate, Pearson has been given plenty of time to get the team performing better. This is not knee jerk, it's been months and months of gradual decline. 

[Bris Red]

10 hours ago, PFree said:

Okay, none of us are particularly happy with our form but we have no option other than to weather this horrible financial situation we find ourselves in - also remember we are a good way through now.

It would be easy to say balls to it and boo or turn our backs entirely, but what use is that to OUR club.

We have a small squad, have had to cut our cloth accordingly, and despite being left in tatters by previous poor senior exec’s, we remain competitive at this difficult level. Difficult game on Saturday but remember it is only three points is up for grabs.

We then use the cup break to regroup, and I have no doubt that Nige and those who matter will be drawing up plans for January, it’s no secret we cannot allow ourselves to go down, it would set us back years. Remember this is an incredibly close league this year, two or three wins and we will back up there again.

Exciting plans ahead as a club, an incredible catchment area to one day benefit from when we finally go up and pleasingly we have Nige and Tins at the helm, they both talk a great deal and sense, and I would suggest that Nige, with one arm tied behind his back is doing everything possible with what he has, as limited as it clearly is.

The lads need you on Saturday, it is a big game, but remember the outcome will not determine our whole season, so stick with it and take your frustration out on the opposition and officials, we can make that 12th man difference that makes so much difference to the lads.

Hard, but come on, sing loud and proud all..!

 

 

I admire your positivity and i have been a big Pearson fan and still hope he can deliver for us.
I’ve woken up this morning with quite a positive feeling about Saturday to be honest. I think we will see a good reaction from the team..!

[Out of his pie crust]

Funnily enough I’m looking forward to Saturday quite a bit. Last game for a while and adversity can sometimes bring out the best in players and fans ….our league position now means that all points are vital so hoping we’ll scrap to at least a point. 

[tin]

32 minutes ago, Bris Red said:

I admire your positivity and i have been a big Pearson fan and still hope he can deliver for us.
I’ve woken up this morning with quite a positive feeling about Saturday to be honest. I think we will see a good reaction from the team..!

Yeah, I feel the same. If there’s one thing this current crop has shown us this season, it’s that they get a result when we least expect it. When the pressure’s on, it’s another story, mind! Let’s hope we’re right. 

[ooRya]

I really want to be positive, as I'm sure we all do, and of course I'll be there on Saturday cheering the team on.

BUT............I really do worry that if we keep hiding behind excuses, we're risking sleepwalking into relegation.

[Redrascal2]

11 hours ago, PFree said:

Okay, none of us are particularly happy with our form but we have no option other than to weather this horrible financial situation we find ourselves in - also remember we are a good way through now.

It would be easy to say balls to it and boo or turn our backs entirely, but what use is that to OUR club.

We have a small squad, have had to cut our cloth accordingly, and despite being left in tatters by previous poor senior exec’s, we remain competitive at this difficult level. Difficult game on Saturday but remember it is only three points is up for grabs.

We then use the cup break to regroup, and I have no doubt that Nige and those who matter will be drawing up plans for January, it’s no secret we cannot allow ourselves to go down, it would set us back years. Remember this is an incredibly close league this year, two or three wins and we will back up there again.

Exciting plans ahead as a club, an incredible catchment area to one day benefit from when we finally go up and pleasingly we have Nige and Tins at the helm, they both talk a great deal and sense, and I would suggest that Nige, with one arm tied behind his back is doing everything possible with what he has, as limited as it clearly is.

The lads need you on Saturday, it is a big game, but remember the outcome will not determine our whole season, so stick with it and take your frustration out on the opposition and officials, we can make that 12th man difference that makes so much difference to the lads.

Hard, but come on, sing loud and proud all..!

 

 

Good for you for your unbridled optimism. Keep supporting the team on the pitch totally agree whoever is picked. But as for being competitive at this level I think we are rapidly showing we are not as our slide to the bottom three continues. Sadly we still leak goals after all this time under Pearson, a good defender in his day. If we continue on this trajectory we will be going down. Something has to change. Whether it is the ability to keep a clean sheet or maybe a bit of bloody luck which has deserted us for so long. I hope Pearson can do it but if there is no change then how long do we give him.

[Major Isewater]

It doesn’t matter what we think ,it’s how the players are behaving on the pitch. If they are giving their, albeit limited, all and evidently playing for the manager and coaches then they stay. 
If they don’t have confidence in the coaching staff and ‘ down tools’ then there is only one solution for the club and  I don’t mean sack all the players.

 I have confidence in the experience of Largish Nige to steer us through this rather tough time and deliver us a team we can be proud of. I think back to the time before Alan Dick’s promotion team, we were pretty ordinary and flirting regularly with relegation to the third tier. We kept the faith and the club took off. 
I blame NP for the Lincoln fiasco because 8 changes is way too much against a team in the division below and he has put himself and the players under pressure.

 I believe we will get something from the weekend and hope we go into the ridiculous World Cup break with a bit more positivity.

 

[BCFCGav]

16 minutes ago, Tafkarmlf said:

I've just posted in another thread

2wins in 10, 0 wins in the last 6 games, 6 scored, 18 conceded or thereabouts in all competitions 

That's not good and I can't see how NP survives another loss when we're looking to be incomplete free fall currently 

2 wins in 13 I believe. A loss to Watford and I think a change is needed. I kind of already do. The great work done under tough constraints is appreciated, but we have players better than how we're playing. A new man can hopefully get that out of them.

[ExiledAjax]

40 minutes ago, BCFCGav said:

2 wins in 13 I believe. A loss to Watford and I think a change is needed. I kind of already do. The great work done under tough constraints is appreciated, but we have players better than how we're playing. A new man can hopefully get that out of them.

It's 2 wins in 13 across the league and EFL Cup.

The 11 games that were not won include 3 draws and 8 losses. 

The 8 games, across all competitions remember, prior to these 13 were of course a run of 8 games unbeaten, in which we won 6 and drew 2. However, as everyone's mentioned that all the time in every post I've seen, you don't need me to remind you of that.

Another way to say it is that it's 8 losses in the last 21...but no one's saying that are they.

Edited November 10, 2022 by ExiledAjax

[ZumerZetSmithy]

the biggest positive for me is i will meet with friends for a very good English breakfast, then off for a pint (driving so only 1) .

If the 12-year-old Ukraine who is staying with us comes we might have a new fan for life 

 

COYRs   football is a game played after i have enjoyed my morning 

 

Always Believe 

[BCFCGav]

40 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

It's 2 wins in 13 across the league and EFL Cup.

The 11 games that were not won include 3 draws and 8 losses. 

The 8 games, across all competitions remember, prior to these 13 were of course a run of 8 games unbeaten, in which we won 6 and drew 2. However, as everyone's mentioned that all the time in every post I've seen, you don't need me to remind you of that.

Another way to say it is that it's 8 losses in the last 21...but no one's saying that are they.

8 losses in the last 21, but 20th in the league, meaning 19 teams are bettering our record. Huddersfield got a win in midweek, Wigan have just made a change to try and protect their Championship status, West Brom will be absolutely fine with that squad and Corberan. Blackpool are a recently promoted team but have shown how competitive they are at this level. That's the only 4 below us. My remit has always been the same with Nige, keep him unless relegation is looking a serious possibility. We're there.