Positives v Negatives

[Son of Fred]

10 hours ago, firstdivision said:

I’m absolutely baffled why we bought him. A Luton fan told me he is decent alongside a big target man - and we don’t play with one of those. In fact, we don’t have one in our first-team squad. 

This-

We are only bringing in players that improve us/are better than what we have- ?

That, I'm sorry to say is not the case.

[Engvall’s Splinter]

5 hours ago, Cityboy1954 said:

You saw a different game to me the midfield was crap james williams too old sluggish the new lad done okchasing down everything cronick was his usual self think Nige got it wrong when scitt goes if thats what were left with god help us.

Just slightly OTT

[firstdivision]

11 hours ago, IAmNick said:

Lackadaisical, careless in possession, slow to second balls when out of possession, afraid to take risks or chances, and more... not much of it good. Disappointing overall. Really disappointing in fact, as we were almost the opposite to what I thought we were.

However, it's also only one game and Preston are always a tough team to play against and my guess is quite a few teams will come away after playing them feeling like we did today over the course of the season. I'm not getting despondent or even that down yet, there's a long way to go and if we're still looking like this half a dozen games in then I'll start to worry.

That said - we must do better.

Agree with all of that apart from the not getting despondent bit. I found it quite depressing. And slightly worrying. 

I was hoping to watch a team that had a coherent plan of attack. We were so boring and lacking in creativity. I want a bit of excitement. It looked like a team picked to work hard…and, my god, it was hard work. 

[Major Isewater]

11 hours ago, weepywall said:

I thought the atmosphere today was awful, all felt good before the game nice buzz, get in the ground and it was flat as a pancake, disappointing all round today.

The P.A. system is way too loud , it kills any build up of atmosphere. 
The away fans all grouped together create more noise than us with our isolated outbreaks of chants from all over which fizzle out quicker than a birthday cake candle. 
Positives - Ashton Gate shuttle bus, easy entry into the ground, quick service at food outlets . Vyner, Dickie, Tanner, Bell off the mark. ( top finisher but needs to add more to his game I think. ) Wells . Unbeaten in one . 

Negatives- Where was the high press energetic non stop running team? It was Preston . No apparent patterns of play. Sorry but Cornick ! No midfield creativity. 
 

Still one game. 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Major Isewater

[firstdivision]

16 minutes ago, Son of Fred said:

This-

We are only bringing in players that improve us/are better than what we have- ?

That, I'm sorry to say is not the case.

Indeed.

I’d like to see us try Bell on the right and Mehmeti on the left.

I’m not a huge fan of Sykes because his delivery is so often disappointing but he looks more natural on the right than HC who looks like he struggles to control his own body let alone the ball. 

[robinforlife2]

Positives: Didn't lose, defended okay, still unbeaten, 

Negatives: Another player picked up an injury, final ball still frustrating

[phantom]

12 hours ago, glynriley said:

Fair play to you mate that you can find something positive. For me that was an awful performance from front to back. Vyner pretty much the only player who’s in credit. 

I’m a big fan of Nige but he got it all wrong for me today. 

Summed up perfectly in this opening paragraph, and these stats show it perfectly too 

[ralphindevon]

Negatives, we could have done without playing a team like Preston first up, it’s always a scrap against them and Millwall which we may have been better prepared for later on.

Positives, that’s them out of the way, who’s next? 

[Super]

11 hours ago, KegCity said:

Defended well. Dickie looks solid to me.

Negatives are we were very predictable when we chose to build through the midfield and most of the time chose to bypass them entirely. 

Dickie did look pretty solid bar one mistake. His passing wasn't great guessing though we didn't buy him for that.

[TV Tom]

It was crying out for something different which Mehmeti brings, would of had Conway & Sykes in the starting 11, made PNE look far better than they actually are and fully expect them to get battered by Sunderland next week

[mozo]

5 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

It was crying out for something different which Mehmeti brings, would of had Conway & Sykes in the starting 11, made PNE look far better than they actually are and fully expect them to get battered by Sunderland next week

I don't think Wells did anything wrong, but Conway is one of the first names on the teams sheet for me. I'm also a big fan of Sykes and feeling a bit impatient with Cornick.

Having said that, wasn't our goal a combination of all three starting forwards?

That aside, I still think Conway and Sykes would have added a bit of extra quality on the ball.

Wednesday gives Nige a chance to rotate, and Roberts, Conway and Sykes the opportunity to impress, albeit against lesser opposition. 

[Antman]

3 minutes ago, mozo said:

I don't think Wells did anything wrong, but Conway is one of the first names on the teams sheet for me. I'm also a big fan of Sykes and feeling a bit impatient with Cornick.

Having said that, wasn't our goal a combination of all three starting forwards?

That aside, I still think Conway and Sykes would have added a bit of extra quality on the ball.

Wednesday gives Nige a chance to rotate, and Roberts, Conway and Sykes the opportunity to impress, albeit against lesser opposition. 

Conway added nothing when he came on. admit that as a sub it's harder to impact, but it underscored that Wells didn't have that poor a game as primarily the service to the front guys was missing.

 

[Jose]

26 minutes ago, Super said:

Dickie did look pretty solid bar one mistake. His passing wasn't great guessing though we didn't buy him for that.

I thought that was one of the reasons we did? In pre season he looked very good passing into midfield. Had no options yesterday at all. 

[ExiledAjax]

12 hours ago, Bar BS3 said:

I'd disagree. I found the decision to start Cornick ahead of Sykes baffling - hence the descriptive of "baffling"

You may not agree with it  & that's you perogative.

For me, it was baffling & to those who sit around me.

And it's your prerogative to be baffled by the decision to play one player over another. Personally I'd reserve "baffling" for when Pearson sticks Wiles-Richards up front, but you do you.

As to the actual players, Conway is everyone's darling, and for some good reason, but yesterday he didn't impact the game, and I don't think it would have gone much different had he been played from the start.

Sykes likewise. I love Sykes, had him as my player of the year last season, and yes I'd have started him had I had the power to decide that, but again he struggled yesterday. Why?

IMO the midfield struggled against a surprisingly active and dynamic Preston. Hence we resorted to longer balls over the top to bypass a midfield tat we couldn't control. There isn't really any variation of our front three that works for that style, they're better suited to a running and passing game. It became a game of percentages and we didn't luck out much. 

So, for me, the issues that you see in Cornick are rooted in the lack of Scott and Naismith in the midfield.

[johnheadbcfc]

Positive - 45 games to go

Positive - Millwall next week 

Positive - footballs back

Positive - less of the mrs

Edited August 6, 2023 by johnheadbcfc

[TV Tom]

16 minutes ago, Antman said:

Conway added nothing when he came on. admit that as a sub it's harder to impact, but it underscored that Wells didn't have that poor a game as primarily the service to the front guys was missing.

 

Wells might not of had a poor game but he certainly didn't have a good game, sometimes strikers have got to provide their own chances and luck, for my liking he "disappears" in games too often 

[Show Me The Money!]

9 minutes ago, johnheadbcfc said:

Positive - 45 games to go

Positive - Millwall next week 

Positive - footballs back

Positive - less of the mrs

Positive for the Mrs as well I'm guessing 

[johnheadbcfc]

Just now, Show Me The Money! said:

Positive for the Mrs as well I'm guessing 

Goes without saying

[italian dave]

Positive: playing Preston for the first time in a while without having to endure the scrote that is Greg Cunningham. 

[Dr Balls]

Positives - we didn’t lose.

Negatives - team selection and tactics, plus another injury.

That said, the Preston formation was basically 3-5-2, but with at least one of the 3 central defenders pushing up into midfield and one of the forwards dropping back, so increasing their numbers there further. We were basically outnumbered in the middle of the pitch, exacerbated by our relative immobility and lack of creativity, plus our full backs were pushed back into defensive roles, so instead we resorted to ineffective hoofball.

Millwall set up in a very similar way to Preston, plus are another big, physical team, so Nige really needs to work out how we set up to counter that. Playing away, I would suspect that he will attempt to allow them more possession and soak up the pressure, then try hit them on the counter attack.

[Red-Robbo]

11 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

 Playing away, I would suspect that he will attempt to allow them more possession and soak up the pressure, then try hit them on the counter attack.

It sort of seemed like that was the plan yesterday, but the counter attacks mainly spluttered out.

I said to the guys next to me "we're playing like we're the away team". 

 

[redsocks]

For me dickie looked ok ,James had a bad game and as for conrick what he brings to the side I have no idea.i think we missed scot in midfield tc running up front and sykes on the right.it was a bad team performance and preston deserved their point.with players to come back it should be OK.

 

[pillred]

13 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

I’m just going to go with a positive.

I got to meet the great Mick Hartford 

Harford even, ps don't call him Hartford ffs :laugh:.

[GrahamC]

2 hours ago, phantom said:

Summed up perfectly in this opening paragraph, and these stats show it perfectly too 

Worth pointing out too that Preston’s first five league games last season were 0-0, 0-0, 1-0 win, 0-0 & 0-0.

We weren’t great but they are very tough to play against, last season’s double over them was certainly a rare one but we have lost once against them now in the last 10.

[Bristol Oil Services]

1 minute ago, GrahamC said:

Worth pointing out too that Preston’s first five league games last season were 0-0, 0-0, 1-0 win, 0-0 & 0-0.

We weren’t great but they are very tough to play against, last season’s double over them was certainly a rare one but we have lost once against them now in the last 10.

City fan on the radio phone in last night said they are our "bogey team" so the idea/myth persists

[GrahamC]

Just now, Bristol Oil Services said:

City fan on the radio phone in last night said they are our "bogey team" so the idea/myth persists

Understandable, there was a period they kept winning in BS3, (normally with a Callum Robinson goal) but he’s moved on & that’s long gone.

They are a very effective side though, small club by Championship standards but in absolutely no danger on the basis of yesterday.

[ralphindevon]

17 minutes ago, pillred said:

Harford even, ps don't call him Hartford ffs :laugh:.

Noooo, I definitely corrected it to Harford after it auto corrected and put a t in it. I even googled to double check I was right. Now it turns out it didn’t correct. 

[Bristol Oil Services]

Just now, ralphindevon said:

Noooo, I definitely corrected it to Harford after it auto corrected and put a t in it. I even googled to double check I was right. Now it turns out it didn’t correct. 

Did you ask Mick what to do with Cornick?

[ralphindevon]

Just now, Bristol Oil Services said:

Did you ask Mick what to do with Cornick?

No it was a very brief interaction, where I quickly told him I could remember his headed goal from the edge of the box of the Eastend/ South stand against Exeter.

I got the feeling it wasn’t a goal that would be top in his memories of the 582 goals, many in the top flight and 2 for England.

Even I was questioning if it was v Exeter and was it as far out as I remember. But I do remember he was a shining beacon in what was the darkest days in our history.

[1960maaan]

38 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

City fan on the radio phone in last night said they are our "bogey team" so the idea/myth persists

TBF I'd say bogey team, in as much as the game is always crap, usually tight for goals  and often Reffed by weak officials that let them do what they do. Though I accept my bias may colour my thoughts.