Room of optimism?

[BCFC Rich]

Look I'm not going to lie - no fan wants to see their team lose back-to-back games. And it hurts. However with 11 players (might actually be 12?) out, 6/7 of whom would probably be starters I find myself bizarrely optimistic. We could easily have got points out of the last two games and with a little more luck might have done. We are 5 points outside the playoffs with an awful lot of the season to go and an awful lot of players to come back in. 

I get the doom and gloom and worries around SL and lack of investment - and I agree that is something we should be concerned about. However when it comes to the football side, the staff and players. One thing is really clear they are united and playing as a team, giving everything and stepping up where and when they need to. I felt at the beginning of the season we were an upper midtable side, I still hold that with the quality of the squad we have that is our true position. However, I also feel, NP has us playing above ourselves a lot of the time. With better injury luck and/or more investment I think we'd be in with an outside shot at the playoffs this season. 

 

[johnheadbcfc]

The season is definitely not over ! Just need to get a few players back before shot confidence kicks in

[Bobbie]

I would feel much more optimistic if Nige signed a new long term deal. If that happens, then I’m more than happy for this season to be another step in our rebuild. I think then the forced use of youngsters could actually be a good thing this year as gives more of them the experience to develop. 

If, however, Nige is not with us next year then this will all feel like the usual Bristol City merry go round of wasted opportunities and predictable failure 

[steviestevieneville]

What is a room of optimism ?

room for optimism perhaps . Pedantic but I found it funny 

[Wellspokenman]

14 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

What is a room of optimism ?

room for optimism perhaps . Pedantic but I found it funny 

It’s a bit like the Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets but a bit less visited. 

[BCFC Rich]

16 minutes ago, steviestevieneville said:

What is a room of optimism ?

room for optimism perhaps . Pedantic but I found it funny 

Haha typo!  happy for the mods to update. 

[1960maaan]

Optimism, ok . I tend to want to kick back against the "that was shit" just because we lost, not taking into account circumstances or those little signs of improvement.  That said I also get the annoyance at the mistakes that continue to litter performances.
Anyway, optimism.
Over the last few games Knight has shown what a great signing he was. A duracel bunny with class.
Today, yes he made some poor passes but Gardner -Haskins has shown glimpses of potential.
Dickie has looked class over this run of injuries.
Sykes also looks a quality signing.

I honestly believe with 3/4 of the 8/9/10 players out available today, we win that . 

We need some good luck with fitness and injuries and then I think we have a more than decent squad.

[nickolas]

Dont worry. We have two ‘easy’ games coming up next. QPR and Wednesday just cant win this season [laugh]. . I think we all know whats coming!!

 

[NewquayRed]

16 minutes ago, BCFC Rich said:

Haha typo!  happy for the mods to update. 

Nooo it’s perfect just what this place needs 

[steviestevieneville]

55 minutes ago, BCFC Rich said:

Haha typo!  happy for the mods to update. 

No , don’t change it. I like it as a concept. 
someone has a shit day at work . You get on the room of optimism app , pay a tenner . Walk through it & come out the other side refreshed. It just might work

[Shuffle]

Well I wasn’t expecting nothing before the game with all the injuries.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that we competed and imo thought we deserved a point.  
The positives were;

TGH & Knight showed there is life after James as both really good.

Sykes just gets better and better

Dickie in the last few games has been very good

Memehti was decent and now needs a run of games

Im out of that bloody escort and home now is the biggest positive

[Davefevs]

25 minutes ago, Shuffle said:

Well I wasn’t expecting nothing before the game with all the injuries.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that we competed and imo thought we deserved a point.  
The positives were;

TGH & Knight showed there is life after James as both really good.

Sykes just gets better and better

Dickie in the last few games has been very good

Memehti was decent and now needs a run of games

Im out of that bloody escort and home now is the biggest positive

Not sure who cut who off on our post-match debrief on the way home.  Might’ve been the tunnels!!

[Shauntaylor85]

2 hours ago, johnheadbcfc said:

The season is definitely not over ! Just need to get a few players back before shot confidence kicks in

Vyner and Atkinson would make a huge difference, as no doubt will McCrorie, though I’d take Tanner back to enable Sykes to get back to his best role. Naismith being out also impacts our play. Not sure any of us expected a result today, indeed Pep or Arteta would probably have to accept that if they had 12-14 players out! 

[Major Isewater]

1 hour ago, Shuffle said:

Im out of that bloody escort

[downendcity]

Is the room of optimism next to the room of nest egg?

[exAtyeoMax]

1 hour ago, steviestevieneville said:

No , don’t change it. I like it as a concept. 
someone has a shit day at work . You get on the room of optimism app , pay a tenner . Walk through it & come out the other side refreshed. It just might work

a bit like going to the mem…

[Zuni]

Injuries.

Far too many and too often that have the potential to spiral out of control, as less players have to play more minutes.

This is reminiscent of the Holden season when we started really well then the injuries started and never stopped until he was sacked.

Does not bode well and not the managers fault (either of them)

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

The underlying baseline performance level is better or has been better and more consistent now than under Holden although the first 10 were enjoyable and the odd decent one after.

[ExiledAjax]

1 minute ago, Zuni said:

This is reminiscent of the Holden season when we started really well then the injuries started and never stopped until he was sacked.

The past 5 games have seen an attack that is about as potent as the Holden days. 8 or so shots per game, xG of comfortably less than 1.0 (in each of the past 5 games (, slightly higher shots on target per game yes, but overall it's very poor. 

Fortunately the defence is tighter and better than it was under Holden, and so the games remain close. There's some optimism there.

The season's gone but we need to get through this sticky patch and get the attack going again. If the defence strengthens as well the. We should be able to get back to winning more than we lose.

1 minute ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

The underlying baseline performance level is better or has been better and more consistent now than under Holden although the first 10 were enjoyable and the odd decent one after.

Overall and across the season so far, yes, but the past five games have been near Holden level - at least in terms of attacking output.

The injuries are there for all to see but the bare facts are that right now we're not looking dangerous. We're hard to beat still, but we're also pretty hard to lose to.

[Mr Popodopolous]

13 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

The past 5 games have seen an attack that is about as potent as the Holden days. 8 or so shots per game, xG of comfortably less than 1.0 (in each of the past 5 games (, slightly higher shots on target per game yes, but overall it's very poor. 

Fortunately the defence is tighter and better than it was under Holden, and so the games remain close. There's some optimism there.

The season's gone but we need to get through this sticky patch and get the attack going again. If the defence strengthens as well the. We should be able to get back to winning more than we lose.

Overall and across the season so far, yes, but the past five games have been near Holden level - at least in terms of attacking output.

The injuries are there for all to see but the bare facts are that right now we're not looking dangerous. We're hard to beat still, but we're also pretty hard to lose to.

Just looked at games 10-14 that season, we surely had much better depth at that stage. The real crisis with pushing and eventually reaching double figures came months later...and we routinely subsided.

We are harder to beat for sure, we are less dangerous yes..as you say we need to escape the sticky patch. As players return hopefully this will help.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Superjack]

43 minutes ago, downendcity said:

Is the room of optimism next to the room of nest egg?

The nest egg needs both rooms now.

[The turtle]

Have a small squad by intention and preference, so when injuries come calling, no matter how extreme... Small squad is not a reason.

Didn't invest the scott money.

Right now those chickens are coming home to roost 

Everybody loves an academy player or two, but it's not supposed to be most of your side, as the way we play. It's a bit headless chicken football 100 mile an hour football with no real precision.

There's enough effort, and talent in that team, we won't be near the bottom, but Leicester, Leeds, Ipswich we are miles away.

We run around with high energy, we have some quality moments (Conway v Rotherham) but we certainly don't play front foot attractive football.

The thing is, it's almost a good team, it's almost there,  a striker, an attack minded midfielder playing between lines, a keeper (harsh) and somebody genuinely exciting on the ball. There is in hope for the future (as always) but too often it's a slog to watch..... The last 3 Coventry, Ipswich, Cardiff........ Next to 0 high quality. To often I've thought to myself i wish city had that type of player or played that type of pass.

We are what we are, a team of quality moments, but not enough high quality, and certainly not enough precision attacking football 

 

Are we really better than a year ago? Have we moved forward? As a club I'm sure the progress is there. The wage bill etc etc. But on the pitch, the thing i actually care about...... The one player you could build around is no longer there, sure we added in other areas, but are we any different/better?

Playoffs feel as far away as ever.

I love that we have an academy to be proud of, i love the players coming through...... It's great that it saves money. But it's supposed to compliment to how you invest - and that's exactly what we are missing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by The turtle

[stephenkibby.]

4 hours ago, BCFC Rich said:

Look I'm not going to lie - no fan wants to see their team lose back-to-back games. And it hurts. However with 11 players (might actually be 12?) out, 6/7 of whom would probably be starters I find myself bizarrely optimistic. We could easily have got points out of the last two games and with a little more luck might have done. We are 5 points outside the playoffs with an awful lot of the season to go and an awful lot of players to come back in. 

I get the doom and gloom and worries around SL and lack of investment - and I agree that is something we should be concerned about. However when it comes to the football side, the staff and players. One thing is really clear they are united and playing as a team, giving everything and stepping up where and when they need to. I felt at the beginning of the season we were an upper midtable side, I still hold that with the quality of the squad we have that is our true position. However, I also feel, NP has us playing above ourselves a lot of the time. With better injury luck and/or more investment I think we'd be in with an outside shot at the playoffs this season. 

 

i don't know about room of optimism,more like 7 rooms of gloom {song by the Four Tops} being a City fan.

 

[stephenkibby.]

7 minutes ago, stephenkibby. said:

i don't know about room of optimism,more like 7 rooms of gloom {song by the Four Tops} being a City fan.

 

Then listen to Still water runs deep and everything seems better. bring on the Wednesday.

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

4 hours ago, BCFC Rich said:

Look I'm not going to lie - no fan wants to see their team lose back-to-back games. And it hurts. However with 11 players (might actually be 12?) out, 6/7 of whom would probably be starters I find myself bizarrely optimistic. We could easily have got points out of the last two games and with a little more luck might have done. We are 5 points outside the playoffs with an awful lot of the season to go and an awful lot of players to come back in. 

I get the doom and gloom and worries around SL and lack of investment - and I agree that is something we should be concerned about. However when it comes to the football side, the staff and players. One thing is really clear they are united and playing as a team, giving everything and stepping up where and when they need to. I felt at the beginning of the season we were an upper midtable side, I still hold that with the quality of the squad we have that is our true position. However, I also feel, NP has us playing above ourselves a lot of the time. With better injury luck and/or more investment I think we'd be in with an outside shot at the playoffs this season. 

 

I think after Christmas we're in a different place, but the trick between now.and then is not to let any rot set in.  If we can string some results together while people get fit we will be a different side in January.  No need to panic right now.

Be disappointed that's ok but this has to be as bad as it gets Sykes at left back?

King was supposed to be transitioning to a coaching role but has played a few games.

[Major Isewater]

8 hours ago, Lorenzos Only Goal said:

King was supposed to be transitioning to a coaching role but has played a few games.

And then got injured. 

[Son of Fred]

12 hours ago, nickolas said:

Dont worry. We have two ‘easy’ games coming up next. QPR and Wednesday just cant win this season [laugh]. . I think we all know whats coming!!

 

If you are correct then 'things' are about to become very spicy indeed - the old bedsheet routine will look rather tame in comparison 

[Bar BS3]

With anything like a full strength squad back, I think we'd be well placed to compete for top 6.

It's just super frustrating seeing these games slipping by 1 by 1, whilst we are down to such bare bones.

Praying that we can still have too much for the bottom 2 over the next couple of games & take at least 4, if not 6 points & then get a few back over the international break.

A tough run of games straight after that & we desperately need players back otherwise the season is going to descend into an absolute farce!

Going into the season, I thought we looked fairly strong, with 2 players for pretty much every position - but it shows how vulnerable it leaves you with a smaller squad - it's such a hard juggling act.!

If everyone was fit, we have good options all over the pitch & would probably be worried about players becoming unhappy..!

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

2 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

And then got injured. 

Shhh it's depressing.

[1960maaan]

For the up coming games , we might have one or two back. 
Nakhi is hoped to be available , and Vyner was training though might not be risked . 
Tanner was supposed to be a week or two I believe, it's a month on since he got injured but not seen an update.
I haven't seen anything on King and James so not sure how soon they may be back, but as Pearson said most injuries were knocks, I wonder if one or both might be back with a week and more rest.

Chatting to my QPR mate, they have injuries and he said our U18s would probably turn them over when we play them. Might be tougher now they could have a new man in. Even so, we should be targeting 4-6 points , which with a few players back would be gettable. If we have the same team as yesterday I wouldn't be confident .