How long is a month?

[mozo]

3 hours ago, RedRock said:

Yes, it is a long time.

Was having my second ‘wobble’ at the end of last year, while still remaining a Pearson Loyal. Just thought ‘The Project’ was coming off the rails. That Sam Pearson at full back, King at Centre Back, the ‘disappeared’ - Klose, Martin, Atkinson, Tanner et al, the fitness, injuries, tactics that had 7 forwards to chase a game, formations that had round pegs in square holes and stubbornly sticking to failed formations, the lack of impact of new signings.  It was all a bit we’ve been here before.

There was something though with Pearson that made me stick with him.

Still far from out of the woods, but green shoots appearing. 

 

I'm exactly the same; a fan of Pearson for a long time, but I got worried by some stuff that didn't add up. 

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Lansdown doesn't sack managers after 3 defeats. 

A football manager is always under pressure. 

I've never ever ever had any concerns about relegation. Only those with an agenda against Pearson had 'concerns' 

Take a listen to Goulds pre Birmingham interview. He says how highly supportive everyone at the club is of Pearson. 

We haven't been playing badly. Gould also spoke about the encouraging performances throughout the season. 

Only those with an agenda against Pearson believed we were playing badly. 

Off the top of my head

Sheffield Utd

Watford 

Blackpool

Coventry (home and away)

Swansea

Were all good performances where we should have got more, especially from the refs. 

Imo Birmingham and Reading away have been our only bad performances. 

The change in formation didn't change our fortunes as the performances were good before that too. We've just had a bit more luck and got back to scoring again. 

 

The worry at the end of 2022 for me was that when an underperformed  team loses confidence and develops a habit of losing, you often see a downward spiral which is difficult to break out of.

Conway, Semenyo and Weimann had lost their killer instinct, and we were starting to lose our energy and cohesion. Thankfully Nige got us back on course, and now, who knows.

I see Nige as similar to Rodgers at Leicester or Moyes at Everton; a competent and knowledgeable manager. But if a lot of the players are underperforming during the same period, the pressure builds on the manager, and sometimes they lose their job, not because they're not capable, but sometimes a refresh is needed. Clearly not tye case for us or for either of those this season.

I agree with what you said above that we've got a chance to get the 'feel good factor' back at Ashton Gate and hopefully see an upward spiral.

If we beat Preston, I might start getting a bit excited!!

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Lansdown doesn't sack managers after 3 defeats. 

A football manager is always under pressure. 

I've never ever ever had any concerns about relegation. Only those with an agenda against Pearson had 'concerns' 

Take a listen to Goulds pre Birmingham interview. He says how highly supportive everyone at the club is of Pearson. 

We haven't been playing badly. Gould also spoke about the encouraging performances throughout the season. 

Only those with an agenda against Pearson believed we were playing badly. 

Off the top of my head

Sheffield Utd

Watford 

Blackpool

Coventry (home and away)

Swansea

Were all good performances where we should have got more, especially from the refs. 

Imo Birmingham and Reading away have been our only bad performances. 

The change in formation didn't change our fortunes as the performances were good before that too. We've just had a bit more luck and got back to scoring again. 

 

Sometimes it takes time for results to catch up with performances…and that can work both ways.  In a low-scoring sport, that happens. I agree, there have been very few bad performances.  Of course you’ll get under par performance too, sometimes the opposition is just better than you on the day, or have a single player who makes a big difference.

@robinforlife2won’t quote properly:

I’ve seen loads of progress on the pitch, but that is about opinion.  Also the success / failure of Nige as the manager is much wider than just what happens on the pitch.  What happens on the pitch is very much dependent on the many things that are happening off it.  Thankfully SL has bought into that plan and understands the cause and effect.  You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.  if you believe in the plan / strategy, not everyone will ride the whole journey.  Some may disembark because they don’t want to be part of it (Bakinson).  Some may leave because they’ve grown too fast (Semenyo) or can’t keep up (Martin).  Some may come in to provide a short-term fix (Klose), serve their purpose, and leave.

We are often looking for too simple a measure of success, usually the league table.  Unfortunately it’s more complex than that.

 

[Boston Red]

Don't forget how much credit Nige deserves for bringing on and developing Antoine Semenyo.

Before Nige arrived at the club Semenyo had never scored a league goal for us.

Nige is the one who has got him up to being a 9 million pound player, and so in that sense he fully deserves that money to spend in the transfer market, having played a major part in earning it for the club himself.

[shelts]

2 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Love the patronising tone in some of these posts.  References to people who wanted Pearson out as being ‘like children’ or ‘not understanding anything about football’.  I can’t remember a single manager since the first manifestation of Joe Jordan with the exception of Cotterill who didn’t divide opinion at some stage.  I admit I got to a point where I felt that we probably needed a change of management, and I took no pleasure in that, but that didn’t happen and I’m delighted that things are looking more positive.  
 

To argue your case it’s always better to respect, or at least listen to, contrary views to your own.  We all want City to do well.

I don’t post as often as I used to as some posters are bullies and can’t accept others see things differently. OTIB used to be a safe place to post but since the pandemic people have changed , myself included, and not in a good way 

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Lansdown doesn't sack managers after 3 defeats. 

A football manager is always under pressure. 

I've never ever ever had any concerns about relegation. Only those with an agenda against Pearson had 'concerns' 

Take a listen to Goulds pre Birmingham interview. He says how highly supportive everyone at the club is of Pearson. 

We haven't been playing badly. Gould also spoke about the encouraging performances throughout the season. 

Only those with an agenda against Pearson believed we were playing badly. 

Off the top of my head

Sheffield Utd

Watford 

Blackpool

Coventry (home and away)

Swansea

Were all good performances where we should have got more, especially from the refs. 

Imo Birmingham and Reading away have been our only bad performances. 

The change in formation didn't change our fortunes as the performances were good before that too. We've just had a bit more luck and got back to scoring again. 

 

I mostly agree with your post but by the same token were we lucky to get a point at Wigan and indeed at Middlesbrough. Then again deserved at least a draw at Norwich.

Cuts both ways- while in a strict sense an error cost us, they also had their chances, otoh Stoke at home...hit woodwork at 1 up, we really earned our goal as well but 2 errors cost us.

Swansea in the League not sure we deserved more particularly. West Brom away we had to absorb a lot of pressure 2nd half although being 2 up enabled us to protect a lot more.

Did we deserve more at X9ventru? Had to absorb some pressure, at home perhaps but then again at Rotherham we won with less xhsbces and possession- perhaps we were more effective on the break 2nd half.

XG fwiw has us about 5 pts worse off than what we're on now massive improvement in the last 2 seasons and maybe best since 2018-19 but it cuts both ways.

The big intangible of course is officiating- for the deserved more/less based on performances how many points has this cost us?

[Davefevs]

29 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

were we lucky to get a point at Wigan

Nah!

1-0 up, Bennett kicks our player.  

[Mr Popodopolous]

16 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Nah!

1-0 up, Bennett kicks our player.  

Well yes very true. Bennett goes off and we won but we had to absorb some pressure but then again like I say how many points has dodgy officiating cost us this year- that possibly more than offsets some of the individual away games.

[W-S-M Seagull]

8 hours ago, Negan said:

No you can’t mate. You can only guess and think like me. The place was starting to get toxic and thats usually when managers are soon to get the boot. From the 4th of October up until Boxing Day we’d only won 3 games and been embarrassed by Lincoln in the cup. The football/defending was awful and the pressure was most definitely heating up. If we’d of lost against Millwall and Coventry I genuinely think that would of been the end. Thankfully he turned it around and hopefully that’s finally it now and it’s clicked. 

I actually 100 million percent can. 

Nigels future as manager has never been discussed. 

No it wasn't. There were a few fans that booed. The same fans that booed Joe Low. Their opinion means nothing. 

Defending was awful? Please show me where we conceded 4,5,6 to back up your comment. 

Of course in that period you mention we had a month off due to the world cup. Not sure how you are somehow managing to blame Nige for that.

Edited February 2, 2023 by W-S-M Seagull

[mozo]

4 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

I mostly agree with your post but by the same token were we lucky to get a point at Wigan and indeed at Middlesbrough. Then again deserved at least a draw at Norwich.

Cuts both ways- while in a strict sense an error cost us, they also had their chances, otoh Stoke at home...hit woodwork at 1 up, we really earned our goal as well but 2 errors cost us.

Swansea in the League not sure we deserved more particularly. West Brom away we had to absorb a lot of pressure 2nd half although being 2 up enabled us to protect a lot more.

Did we deserve more at X9ventru? Had to absorb some pressure, at home perhaps but then again at Rotherham we won with less xhsbces and possession- perhaps we were more effective on the break 2nd half.

XG fwiw has us about 5 pts worse off than what we're on now massive improvement in the last 2 seasons and maybe best since 2018-19 but it cuts both ways.

The big intangible of course is officiating- for the deserved more/less based on performances how many points has this cost us?

I thought we were crap v Stoke! Defending badly and not creating enough.

[Mr Popodopolous]

6 minutes ago, mozo said:

I thought we were crap v Stoke! Defending badly and not creating enough.

I mean, the two goals we conceded were very poor. Wr dominated certain aspects, did Stoke really outcreate us?

Hit woodwork at 1 up, score that and we quite likely win- no it wasn't vintage.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[The Exiled Robin]

18 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

Pearson was never ever hanging by a thread here. Pre Birmingham Gould said "We are all massively supportive of Nigel" he also mentioned the positive performances that we have had. 

The only pressure was coming from a small inpatient vocal group that quite frankly don't understand anything about football. 

Internally he was never ever ever anywhere close to being hanging by a thread. But that's because those internally know what he is working with and they also see the work he puts in daily. They see the improvements with their own eyes. 

Performances and the consistency of the performances have largely been decent for quite a while. Birmingham away is really the only game where I'd describe our performance as terrible. 

When Nige arrived here we couldn't even get a shot on target. Then we could.

Then we couldn't get a home win. Then we could.

Then we couldn't not concede a last min goal. Then we could. 

Then we couldn't stop picking up injuries. Then we could.

Then we couldn't perform for an entire game. Then we could.

Then we couldn't win back to back. Then we could.

And finally we couldn't stop giving away stupid goals due to mistakes. And then we could. 

Each single one of these coulds have taken time to sort out. Only someone like Ian Gay would think they could all be sorted out over night. Football doesn't work like that. 

If you want long term success like we do, then you have to work on all of those things over a period of time. 

What Pearson meant by being at his weakest was in response to being booed by the fans. His comment about the club being at its strongest alluded to the work he had undertaken. 

Of course there was pressure both externally and internally, there always has been and always will. 

But any rubbish about him losing the dressing room or players not playing for him was complete rubbish made up by those with an agenda. 

I personally have never ever had any concerns about relegation. There are at least 5 worse teams in this league than us. 

If we were anything like Cardiff id be extremely worried but all i've been over the season is continued improvements. A football fan just knows when their team is danger of relegation. We've never played like that bar the Birmingham away game. 

I don't think people realise that the CEO is based at the training ground and sees everything that goes on with his own eyes. 

We might have little blips along the way but I am fully confident that now all the biggest problems have been dealt with and we are nos on an upwards trajectory. 

The new faces at the training ground and the excitement around the Man Citu game will give all of us a renewed freshness on the back of a very good month. 

I think a top half finish is certain an achievable target. 

Disagree. Plenty of managers get backed like that by Board members and CEO just before they get sacked. Lansdown regularly reacts to heavily negative feelings around and there definitely was West Brom, far from a minority imo

[Negan]

1 hour ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

I actually 100 million percent can. 

Nigels future as manager has never been discussed. 

No it wasn't. There were a few fans that booed. The same fans that booed Joe Low. Their opinion means nothing. 

Defending was awful? Please show me where we conceded 4,5,6 to back up your comment. 

Of course in that period you mention we had a month off due to the world cup. Not sure how you are somehow managing to blame Nige for that.

No you can’t. You’re just some bloke sat at home who doesn’t know anyone at the club but you get a hard on making out you’re in the know
 

It would of most definitely been discussed. Maybe not to the extent of it being serious but the club would have known things weren’t going well and would of been preparing solutions if they had to make a change. Just like any sensible business would

 

If you couldn’t see we were all over the place defensively during that period you need help. You don’t have to be concerning 4 a game for it to be bad. The mistakes we were making were comical.

 

It was 3 weeks off and in that period we still played 15 games. Won only 3. Nige wasn’t completely at fault obviously, but you’re deluded if you don’t think he takes some responsibility. He’s been here 2 years, he’s now responsible for the good and bad. 

 

 

[W-S-M Seagull]

10 hours ago, Negan said:

No you can’t. You’re just some bloke sat at home who doesn’t know anyone at the club but you get a hard on making out you’re in the know
 

It would of most definitely been discussed. Maybe not to the extent of it being serious but the club would have known things weren’t going well and would of been preparing solutions if they had to make a change. Just like any sensible business would

 

If you couldn’t see we were all over the place defensively during that period you need help. You don’t have to be concerning 4 a game for it to be bad. The mistakes we were making were comical.

 

It was 3 weeks off and in that period we still played 15 games. Won only 3. Nige wasn’t completely at fault obviously, but you’re deluded if you don’t think he takes some responsibility. He’s been here 2 years, he’s now responsible for the good and bad. 

 

 

Ok mate

Your agenda against Nigel is very clear. 

It's sad that people like you would rather see this club fail than succeed just so you can be proven right. 

Right now you must really be hurting. Ouch.

[downendcity]

On 02/02/2023 at 01:46, W-S-M Seagull said:

Pearson was never ever hanging by a thread here. Pre Birmingham Gould said "We are all massively supportive of Nigel" he also mentioned the positive performances that we have had. 

The only pressure was coming from a small inpatient vocal group that quite frankly don't understand anything about football. 

Internally he was never ever ever anywhere close to being hanging by a thread. But that's because those internally know what he is working with and they also see the work he puts in daily. They see the improvements with their own eyes. 

Performances and the consistency of the performances have largely been decent for quite a while. Birmingham away is really the only game where I'd describe our performance as terrible. 

When Nige arrived here we couldn't even get a shot on target. Then we could.

Then we couldn't get a home win. Then we could.

Then we couldn't not concede a last min goal. Then we could. 

Then we couldn't stop picking up injuries. Then we could.

Then we couldn't perform for an entire game. Then we could.

Then we couldn't win back to back. Then we could.

Then we couldn't stop giving away stupid goals due to mistakes. And then we could. 

Then we couldn't win a penalty. Then we..........

Pearson out!

[Marina's Rolls Royce]

On 01/02/2023 at 22:18, steviestevieneville said:

Pearson deserves credit for helping to bring the wage bill down as well by reshaping the squad . It’ll be a cold day hell before you give him any credit though . 

On the contrary- what is due to Caesar will be paid to Caesar. I'll think you'll find that the duty of the CEO is the financials/contracts and the duty of the coach is predominantly about getting results/progress on the pitch. As and when that is clear, consistent and beyond doubt then the large number of fans/supporters/people/press who have, like me, questioned where it's been going will no doubt give Nige the credit he deserves.

[Davefevs]

4 minutes ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

On the contrary- what is due to Caesar will be paid to Caesar. I'll think you'll find that the duty of the CEO is the financials/contracts and the duty of the coach is predominantly about getting results/progress on the pitch. As and when that is clear, consistent and beyond doubt then the large number of fans/supporters/people/press who have, like me, questioned where it's been going will no doubt give Nige the credit he deserves.

It's already clear...the decisions re financials / contracts etc has a huge bearing on the tools the manager has to get results / progress on the pitch.