Liam Manning first 5 games- hopes and expectations?

[GrahamC]

3 minutes ago, johnbytheriver said:

When was he last time we won 2 games in a row??

You can look this stuff up, you know.

August.

[glynriley]

3 minutes ago, johnbytheriver said:

When was he last time we won 2 games in a row??

February. Away to Preston and home to Norwich. 

[GrahamC]

2 minutes ago, glynriley said:

February. Away to Preston and home to Norwich. 

League games, we beat Oxford then Millwall in August.

That spell in February saw us go 12 games unbeaten, wonder when we’ll do that again?

[bcfc01]

9 minutes ago, johnbytheriver said:

When was he last time we won 2 games in a row??

We won four in a row in July scoring 22.

Those were the days my friend..

[Mr Popodopolous]

37 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

We won four in a row in July scoring 22.

Those were the days my friend..

12 unbeaten late December to late February iirc.

Wonder when we will next see that again. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[bcfc01]

Just now, Mr Popodopolous said:

12 unbeaten late December to late February.

Don't see that any time soon.

4 unbeaten under NP in the League in August to September, dunno whether exceeding that is likely any time soon either.

Why do you think that 4 unbeaten can't be bettered ?

It isn't exactly a massive achievement.

Having said that, I'd be ecstatic with a 4 game unbeaten run.

[Mr Popodopolous]

7 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

Why do you think that 4 unbeaten can't be bettered ?

It isn't exactly a massive achievement.

Having said that, I'd be ecstatic with a 4 game unbeaten run.

I dunno just feels like a bit of a malaise around the club, perhaps I'm guilty of slipping into it a bit. 4 unbeaten and beyond is quite possible yeah but stuff like Sykes at full back, wing back, some of the selections and substitutions don't fill me with confidence.

1 unbeaten though, maybe something can grow. Conway scoring from open play small steps can lead to bigger things.

One more observation. Often when there is a new manager there is a certain excitement and anticipation at the ground. No reflection on Manning but not fully seeing it yet, but still early days.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[bcfc01]

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

I dunno just feels like a bit of a malaise around the club, perhaps I'm guilty of slipping into it a bit. 4 unbeaten and beyond is quite possible yeah but stuff like Sykes at full back, wing back, some of the selections and substitutions don't fill me with confidence.

1 unbeaten though, maybe something can grow. Conway scoring from open play small steps can lead to bigger things.

And maybe I'm a bit too optimistic.

I agree, I think Conway has a very big part to play this season.

 

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

And maybe I'm a bit too optimistic.

I agree, I think Conway has a very big part to play this season.

 

He scores goals.  Regardless of a few one-v-ones not taken in recent games, he’s still a good converter of chances.

His goals record is good for one so young, especially in a mid-table side.

A goal every 210 mins in his fledging career is very tidy.

14 goals from 9.87 xG!!!

(it’s a goal every 187 mins if you include cup games)

[bcfc01]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

He scores goals.  Regardless of a few one-v-ones not taken in recent games, he’s still a good converter of chances.

His goals record is good for one so young, especially in a mid-table side.

A goal every 210 mins in his fledging career is very tidy.

14 goals from 9.87 xG!!!

(it’s a goal every 187 mins if you include cup games)

Yep, always been a big fan of Conway since way back.

All strikers miss chances, it just seems as if he's missed more than he normally would lately. That maybe down to my expectation levels of him, but its obvious he's disappointed with those misses himself. Hopefully, he's back in the saddle after that goal yesterday.

[Sheltons Army]

3 hours ago, Leabrook said:

We are now at the stage where, say, 6 points from the next 4 games would get different reactions from certain posters  if Manning achieved it or Pearson achieved it.  There is the Pearson Tribe and the Manning Gang.  All a bit weird if you ask me

Well even as a ‘new’ poster ( ) you nailed your colours firmly from post one

 

The ‘returnees.’  Gang.        ’ All a bit weird 

[Mr Popodopolous]

54 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

And maybe I'm a bit too optimistic.

I agree, I think Conway has a very big part to play this season.

 

Positive support will be important.

Regarding Conway, was hopeful he could target between 10-15 in the League this year. Still could of course but the injury didn't help and I wonder if he is fully 100% given 2 medium term injuries in a year or so.

[CityReds]

10 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Positive support will be important.

Regarding Conway, was hopeful he could target between 10-15 in the League this year. Still could of course but the injury didn't help and I wonder if he is fully 100% given 2 medium term injuries in a year or so.

Do we have an idea about who the celebration was aimed towards? 

[Robbored]

50 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

Well even as a ‘new’ poster ( ) you nailed your colours firmly from post one

 

The ‘returnees.’  Gang.        ’ All a bit weird 

Like it or not Nige has gone and his sacking has left a sour taste with many fans me included but it’s time we moved on and try to get behind the new guy.

That said I certainly won’t forget what Nige did for us having inherited squad of desperately unfit players and a club that had lost its way, plus having to reduce the wage bill left by Ashton along with a seemingly endless list of injuries to influential players.

Like many fans I’ll be giving the new guy time to show us what he’s about - patience will be the key.

[W-S-M Seagull]

4 hours ago, Leabrook said:

We are now at the stage where, say, 6 points from the next 4 games would get different reactions from certain posters  if Manning achieved it or Pearson achieved it.  There is the Pearson Tribe and the Manning Gang.  All a bit weird if you ask me

Our next 4 games is against Blackburn, Hull, Sunderland and Watford. 

I'd be quite happy with 6 points from those games (depending on the manner of the 2 defeats or 3 draws) 

However I am disappointed with 4 points from our last 4 games. Based on what I saw of Norwich and Huddersfield we should have picked up an extra 5 points from those games. Had we of done we'd now be in the play offs. 

[Sir Geoff]

13 hours ago, Leabrook said:

We are now at the stage where, say, 6 points from the next 4 games would get different reactions from certain posters  if Manning achieved it or Pearson achieved it.  There is the Pearson Tribe and the Manning Gang.  All a bit weird if you ask me

Would be a big improvement on the 5 points from 5 games, so far.

[Harry]

Out of interest, and I know this is completely hypothetical, if Nige was still in charge how would we all have felt if we did the following :

QPR away. Rancid game vs a team on a new manager bounce and came away with a battling point. 
Boro home. Good home win. 
Southampton away. Narrow defeat to relegated prem side in top form. 
Norwich home. Heartbreaking last minute loss, something we’ve been too familiar with at AG in recent seasons. 
Hudds away. Dominant performance, horrible conditions, disappointed to have only got a draw, one simple mistake preventing the win. 
 

If Nige had presided over that, would anyone be saying he was under pressure? 
 

I’ll happily answer that. No. He wouldn’t. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Harry

[Davefevs]

18 minutes ago, Harry said:

Out of interest, and I know this is completely hypothetical, if Nige was still in charge how would we all have felt if we did the following :

QPR away. Rancid game vs a team on a new manager bounce and came away with a battling point. 
Boro home. Good home win. 
Southampton away. Narrow defeat to relegated prem side in top form. 
Norwich home. Heartbreaking last minute loss, something we’ve been too familiar with at AG in recent seasons. 
Hudds away. Dominant performance, horrible conditions, disappointed to have only got a draw, one simple mistake preventing the win. 
 

If Nige had presided over that, would anyone be saying he was under pressure? 
 

I’ll happily answer that. No. He wouldn’t. 

Oh, I think you know there’d be a few jumping all over it.

They would be being critical of the patient build-up, the passing it between the 2 CBs, and the dinosaur approach.  Because that’s how we played for a lot of the first half against Brum earlier this season and it was described as shit by the same people lauding the current style.

Most sensible posters wouldn’t though.

[Major Isewater]

14 hours ago, Leabrook said:

In what way? What are the similarities to you between Manning and Holden?

Both blonde. 

[tin]

25 minutes ago, Harry said:

Out of interest, and I know this is completely hypothetical, if Nige was still in charge how would we all have felt if we did the following :

QPR away. Rancid game vs a team on a new manager bounce and came away with a battling point. 
Boro home. Good home win. 
Southampton away. Narrow defeat to relegated prem side in top form. 
Norwich home. Heartbreaking last minute loss, something we’ve been too familiar with at AG in recent seasons. 
Hudds away. Dominant performance, horrible conditions, disappointed to have only got a draw, one simple mistake preventing the win. 
 

If Nige had presided over that, would anyone be saying he was under pressure? 
 

I’ll happily answer that. No. He wouldn’t. 

The board would’ve had him under pressure as he was sacked for getting six points from his last five games.

As for pressure, that comes from those at the top and I have no sympathy with them for that. 

[glynriley]

49 minutes ago, Harry said:

Out of interest, and I know this is completely hypothetical, if Nige was still in charge how would we all have felt if we did the following :

QPR away. Rancid game vs a team on a new manager bounce and came away with a battling point. 
Boro home. Good home win. 
Southampton away. Narrow defeat to relegated prem side in top form. 
Norwich home. Heartbreaking last minute loss, something we’ve been too familiar with at AG in recent seasons. 
Hudds away. Dominant performance, horrible conditions, disappointed to have only got a draw, one simple mistake preventing the win. 
 

If Nige had presided over that, would anyone be saying he was under pressure? 
 

I’ll happily answer that. No. He wouldn’t. 

Manning has been sold by the board as an improvement on Nige though, so he needs to improve on Nige's record.

It's that simple.

I'll reserve judgement on whether we are improving for a few weeks though, 5 games is too early.

[bexhill reds]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

Out of interest, and I know this is completely hypothetical, if Nige was still in charge how would we all have felt if we did the following :

QPR away. Rancid game vs a team on a new manager bounce and came away with a battling point. 
Boro home. Good home win. 
Southampton away. Narrow defeat to relegated prem side in top form. 
Norwich home. Heartbreaking last minute loss, something we’ve been too familiar with at AG in recent seasons. 
Hudds away. Dominant performance, horrible conditions, disappointed to have only got a draw, one simple mistake preventing the win. 
 

If Nige had presided over that, would anyone be saying he was under pressure? 
 

I’ll happily answer that. No. He wouldn’t. 

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that Manning is under pressure right now, but the next 6 games in a relatively short period are arguably the most important games of his City career. None of them are eminently winnable and all it will take is 2 or 3 negative results on the spin to get more people questioning his ability, and although not his fault, will create more anger towards those behind the scenes and responsible for pulling the trigger on NP and their collective judgment when it  comes to managerial recruitment, which normally manifests itself by the crowd reaction at full time thus increasing the pressure on Manning and the players.

For me the jury is out, I can see the changes that have been made, and I’m not a fan of a hundred or so little passes between the CBs and midfield before we invariably lose it and get caught out with people out of position or playing in positions that are not natural. From a personal perspective I like managers to be man managers and leaders and not have the air of PowerPoint Facilitators.

Whether this group of players are capable of successfully implementing what is being proposed is  a different topic. We’ve just under gone a 3 year rebuild, are we going to do the same again if the coaching team determine that they are not capable?

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by bexhill reds

[bcfc01]

19 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Oh, I think you know there’d be a few jumping all over it.

They would be being critical of the patient build-up, the passing it between the 2 CBs, and the dinosaur approach.  Because that’s how we played for a lot of the first half against Brum earlier this season and it was described as shit by the same people lauding the current style.

Most sensible posters wouldn’t though.

I get where you're coming from, but on a general note re retention/possession, if passing between the CBs results in a punt upfield or a pass back for the keeper to punt upfield then yes, it is shit imo.

But if passing it between CBs draws an opposition player in and creates a bit of space for a forward pass or a run forward, such as Dickies frequent moves into space or a pass through the lines, its ultimately progressive. 

Its not for everyone but can be very productive and progressive if played properly. Time will tell if it is for us and/or if we have the players for it.

I've said it before, but a bloke behind me in the Dolman shouts "FORWARD" at the top of his voice when the CBs are passing it around (or even a throw in), its not for people like him and he's going to go nuts for the rest of this season - and also do my head in cause he's bloody loud.

[Chivs]

24 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

I get where you're coming from, but on a general note re retention/possession, if passing between the CBs results in a punt upfield or a pass back for the keeper to punt upfield then yes, it is shit imo.

But if passing it between CBs draws an opposition player in and creates a bit of space for a forward pass or a run forward, such as Dickies frequent moves into space or a pass through the lines, its ultimately progressive. 

Its not for everyone but can be very productive and progressive if played properly. Time will tell if it is for us and/or if we have the players for it.

I've said it before, but a bloke behind me in the Dolman shouts "FORWARD" at the top of his voice when the CBs are passing it around (or even a throw in), its not for people like him and he's going to go nuts for the rest of this season - and also do my head in cause he's bloody loud.

Why don't you turn around and shout "BACKWARD"?  See if he gets the double meaning. 

[bcfc01]

Just now, Chivs said:

Why don't you turn around and shout "BACKWARD"?  See if he gets the double meaning. 

Brilliant !

I'll try it.

[Davefevs]

5 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

I get where you're coming from, but on a general note re retention/possession, if passing between the CBs results in a punt upfield or a pass back for the keeper to punt upfield then yes, it is shit imo.

Totally re underlined bit.

The reason I mentioned Brum (h) specifically, was because there was a lot of criticism of us after that game, but for a large period of that half we played quite similarly to what we’ve witnessed in spells of recent games, and we did fashion chances in that spell also.

But if passing it between CBs draws an opposition player in and creates a bit of space for a forward pass or a run forward, such as Dickies frequent moves into space or a pass through the lines, its ultimately progressive.

Yep.  And we saw two good examples from Dickie last week v Norwich (one led to our goal).  Saturday’s through all was a bit different, it wasn’t from a passing pattern per se,

Its not for everyone but can be very productive and progressive if played properly. Time will tell if it is for us and/or if we have the players for it.

I've said it before, but a bloke behind me in the Dolman shouts "FORWARD" at the top of his voice when the CBs are passing it around (or even a throw in), its not for people like him and he's going to go nuts for the rest of this season - and also do my head in cause he's bloody loud.

I’m glad I have no numpties sat by me.  Would do my head-in.

[W-S-M Seagull]

9 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The people who sit behind me, they think they are the managers. They constantly bark out instructions the whole game and whinge when players don't do as they say. 

Highly annoying! 

[W-S-M Seagull]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

Out of interest, and I know this is completely hypothetical, if Nige was still in charge how would we all have felt if we did the following :

QPR away. Rancid game vs a team on a new manager bounce and came away with a battling point. 
Boro home. Good home win. 
Southampton away. Narrow defeat to relegated prem side in top form. 
Norwich home. Heartbreaking last minute loss, something we’ve been too familiar with at AG in recent seasons. 
Hudds away. Dominant performance, horrible conditions, disappointed to have only got a draw, one simple mistake preventing the win. 
 

If Nige had presided over that, would anyone be saying he was under pressure? 
 

I’ll happily answer that. No. He wouldn’t. 

Do you work in PR? 

[Sir Geoff]

3 hours ago, Harry said:

Out of interest, and I know this is completely hypothetical, if Nige was still in charge how would we all have felt if we did the following :

QPR away. Rancid game vs a team on a new manager bounce and came away with a battling point. 
Boro home. Good home win. 
Southampton away. Narrow defeat to relegated prem side in top form. 
Norwich home. Heartbreaking last minute loss, something we’ve been too familiar with at AG in recent seasons. 
Hudds away. Dominant performance, horrible conditions, disappointed to have only got a draw, one simple mistake preventing the win. 
 

If Nige had presided over that, would anyone be saying he was under pressure? 
 

I’ll happily answer that. No. He wouldn’t. 

You're so pro Manning I'm beginning to think you personally pestered Tinnion to hire him, after your scouting trips to Oxford and MKD.

QPR were missing their best player and the new manager bounce hadn't kicked in. We should have won that game (TGH left out, Knight playing DM etc)

Boro home, decent home win after a dreadful opening half hour.

Southampton, I'll give you that one

Norwich, lost to a poor side

Hudds, anything but a dominant performance and one mistake doesn't prevent a win. There are lots of other factors involved as you well know, including playing Bell at LWB and dragging Sykes off after an hour. They were there for the taking and like Norwich we should have been closer to taking 3 points from than the 1 we ended up with.

[ray savino]

As much as I disagreed with the manner of the whole dismissal and recruitment handling of the management, I actually think that we can only truly judge any progress to measure at the end of the season. This isn’t a rebuild (yet), but it is a significant departure from where we were under NP. 

At the end of the season we can measure his appointment on firstly results, position in the league, then style of play, then potential recruitment, and perhaps then lastly outlook/potential for the next season. You could argue that we should be further down the road by now, but I’m trying to be somewhat realistic because his style will take time to become natural to the squad and we will need recruits as did NP.

For me, realistic progress, to get excited about a real challenge next season, would be at least a top ten position, and a squad playing convincingly and more comfortably in the new style with perhaps space for some strengthening in say 3 or 4 key positions during the summer window.

The caveat to all of this of course is if we start to nose dive down the table however unlucky results may be deemed to be. The pressure on Manning is to get some results soon to give him a bit of breathing space. And the remainder of this season should be ample enough to set up a platform for next season with most of thias squad. But he’s gotta have some decent investment to supplement his work without doubt and is obvious to all on here.