Team Performance.

[BCFC Rich]

Pretty rare where you could make a case for almost anyone to be MOTM! We were fantastic today, hard-working disciplined, and fantastic! I'd probably edge it to Williams myself, but who would you go for? That rare kind of game where it would be hard to be wrong!

[Better Red]

Pring my MoM 

Kept Asprilla quiet. Got forward and got a goal.  
 

Plays 100% every game. 
 

First choice LB and has been solid all season

[frenchred]

Just now, Better Red said:

Pring my MoM 

Kept Asprilla quiet. Got forward and got a goal.  
 

Plays 100% every game. 
 

First choice LB and has been solid all season

Pring was superb today but to say he's been solid all season is just plain wrong!

It's only the last month or so he's come back to how he was last season

Do you watch games?

[Curr Avon]

4 minutes ago, BCFC Rich said:

Pretty rare where you could make a case for almost anyone to be MOTM! We were fantastic today, hard-working disciplined, and fantastic! I'd probably edge it to Williams myself, but who would you go for? That rare kind of game where it would be hard to be wrong!

Williams. Goal saving tackle in our area at 3-1, and a topspin lob to Weimann for our fourth were just two highlights of an outstanding midfield display. 

[Better Red]

1 minute ago, frenchred said:

Pring was superb today but to say he's been solid all season is just plain wrong!

It's only the last month or so he's come back to how he was last season

Do you watch games?

Yes pretty much everyone.

Been pretty decent all season.

Like I said puts the effort in every game I have watched

[cityal]

Knighty superb too. Intercepted so many passes (especially first half) he was probably the most involved player for both sides.

[Better Red]

Tanner was again quietly going about his business and he has started to look and pass forward much more that must have come from Mannings coaching as did not do that under Nige.

In fact the team as a whole has done that under manning and his coaching has had an impact  so far for me. We look forward much more than under Nige

[BCFC Rich]

18 minutes ago, cityal said:

Knighty superb too. Intercepted so many passes (especially first half) he was probably the most involved player for both sides.

I agree he was great, I personally edge towards one of the midfield because the the pressing and discipline there was so strong and the platform for a lot of our success today.

I also liked Annis's performance, yes he is showing his attacking threat which we really needed (we've been weak in that left-forward role a lot of the season), but what impressed me most was his defensive play and stepping across into midfield. He actually covered runs really well today and even broke up play quite a few times. 

[ralphindevon]

It’s great to see Anis growing in confidence, he was a thorn in their side

[2015]

Williams for me. Absolutely class today.

[BCFCGav]

I’d need to rewatch and focus on each individual to pick, but I could genuinely say any of the back 4, Williams, Knight or either winger. 
 

Edit to add all those I didn’t mention did well too! Everyone was a 7 or above.

Edited December 26, 2023 by BCFCGav

[redkev]

1 hour ago, ralphindevon said:

It’s great to see Anis growing in confidence, he was a thorn in their side

Still thought he was very wasteful with his final ball , if played right we honestly could have wo 6 or 7 , but like you said still had a very good game 

[And Its Smith]

2 hours ago, Better Red said:

Pring my MoM 

Kept Asprilla quiet. Got forward and got a goal.  
 

Plays 100% every game. 
 

First choice LB and has been solid all season

Not been solid all season at all. 

[Better Red]

5th best defence in league says different but let’s look at the stats….

[Tim Monaghan]

I was going to post this earlier. I think the difference is that everyone seems to know exactly what their job is and are all playing with huge confidence. Look at the difference in AM and JW for example. Our transitional play as improved 2 fold. Take a look at our movement off the ball and when we are out of possession too, it's class. 

I'm really excited, and I should know better. 

[Porto Red]

Watford comms said Pring was the best player on the pitch. I can't disagree, but so were Mehmeti, Williams, Dickie, Knight...

[Numero Uno]

12 minutes ago, Ghost Rider said:

I was going to post this earlier. I think the difference is that everyone seems to know exactly what their job is and are all playing with huge confidence. Look at the difference in AM and JW for example. Our transitional play as improved 2 fold. Take a look at our movement off the ball and when we are out of possession too, it's class. 

I'm really excited, and I should know better. 

Today was the first time I felt we were in control IN and OUT of possession throughout the 90 minutes. Confidence does play a part and I really hope we follow up today against a Birmingham team who really must be low on confidence.

[Tim Monaghan]

Just now, Numero Uno said:

Today was the first time I felt we were in control IN and OUT of possession throughout the 90 minutes. Confidence does play a part and I really hope we follow up today against a Birmingham team who really must be low on confidence.

Yeah, agreed. Everyone knew their roles. We moved forward with purpose and created some lovely triangles. 

[BS3rich]

Unreal performance from all today. Great job from everyone! Watford are praising us a lot as well so fair play to ‘em! 
 

Keep it up City! 

[INCRED]

Getting 3-4 players to consistently perform at 7-8 out of 10 every game is what most coaches/managers look for but to get the whole team at that high level takes a great deal of coaching, organisation, communication and belief - today was one of those days where everyone played at that high level, did what was required. Manning and his staff need to take a lot of credit as well as the players for todays performance as I for one thought it may take him a lot longer to apply his way of how he wants us to play. The squad have obviously adapted and taken onboard a lot of information and we are now starting to see those shoots of a playing style that entertains us and gives us that hope that we can compete towards the top of this division which has been so sadly lacking the past 4-5 seasons 

Is it the start of something new and exciting, I hope so!

[ralphindevon]

1 hour ago, redkev said:

Still thought he was very wasteful with his final ball , if played right we honestly could have wo 6 or 7 , but like you said still had a very good game 

There was one point where he had a great chance to score an identical goal to the other night. I did think if it had gone in I doubt he’d have passed it to anyone again.

He’s not perfect but you could see he was bothering them big time, I reckon if you asked their fans they’d say he stood out. The more minutes the better the quality hopefully 

[BCFC Rich]

39 minutes ago, Ghost Rider said:

Yeah, agreed. Everyone knew their roles. We moved forward with purpose and created some lovely triangles. 

Good post. I think the key is to get to the point where we can change the tenses in your sentence - "Everyone knows their role. We move forward with purpose." then we know we're onto something. 

40 minutes ago, BS3rich said:

Unreal performance from all today. Great job from everyone! Watford are praising us a lot as well so fair play to ‘em! 
 

Keep it up City! 

They actually start of by praising our Match Day thread and praise it for having info they didn't even know about Watford! Once again great stuff @Jerseybean quote - "Damn, we need to up our game!"

Their comments on the game are below:

Looks like Manning has done a number on us, we can't seem to find any space at all, yet they seem to have bags of it, especially down our right. 2-0 is a fair scoreline...

All too easy for Bristol City. A stroll in the park for them.

Bristol have just been sharper than us all game. Frustrating.

Wow, this has been absolutely atrocious, how disappointing after a decent few games. Thought Bristol City looked decent, could be in the play offs come the end of the season.

Smith on comms is saying it hasn't been a 1-4 game, but let's just say it's been far more a 1-4 game than Preston was a 5-1 game!

All too easy for City. They didn't need to break a sweat. They were confident of a victory and it was simple for them, a Christmas gift. Can they get 5 .

We could have lost at Preston and Blackburn by the same score. We concede chances and are a liability at the back sometimes. When you go 2 down you have no choice but to leave spaces chasing the game.

Lovely of the lads to be full of christmas spirit and give Bristol City so many gifts, so proud of them for such a selfless act. Normal service will be resumed next game.

Bristol City played with the confidence of a side with a new manager bounce, and the energy of a side who had an extra day's rest.

Fair play to Bristol City as they approached the game with the correct attitude and hunger and made us look like we were a group of hungover Sunday league players.

 

Fair play to Manning, Bristol could spring a surprise on the league for the remainder of the season.

Bristol left a forward between our CBs when out of possession and then pressed us high and we simply couldn’t build out from the back at all. At one point in the 2nd half they were 3-1 up away from home and holding their defensive line on the half way line - no pace in behind, no plan B from us - completely suffocated  (Don't normally comment directly on the quotes, but this is where Conway is excellent - a lot of his work is ard to notice. Do like the Watford fans some good self reflection and insights).

Before the rant, well done Bristol City and Manning. Setup correctly, attacked us down right where we are weakest, made Hoedt score another own goal then make him play their striker onside for their third goal. Fourth goal I didn't see because I turned it off near the end. As bad as we were, credit has to go to BC today and take nothing away from them, they battered us all game and forced us into errors and took their chances.

They could have scored more goals by then though, we were lucky to get 1 today! Too many errors - gifted them 3 goals. Shame we scored then let one in straight away . We looked leggy and lazy really BC pressed us well and very dangerous on the break and down their left .

 

We've been awesome since my decision to stop going to games. Today I decided to go for the first time since we have been good. This result is on me. I promise I will stay away.

This result has been in the cards for some time. I’ve felt we’ve ridden our luck in a lot of recent performances. Today the luck ran out and the real Watford were revealed.

Bristol City were excellent. That number 11 was an absolute nuisance.

 

 

 

[The Masked Man]

Thanks @BCFC Rich good to get some perspective from the other side.

[pj76]

A couple of things stood out for me, and seem to have been building since the start of the manning era. 

The passing - so much better. There was ambition before but the accuracy was lacking and we saw some proper hide behind your hands moments. They are building from the back with much more purpose, i.e they all know what the attack is going to be, where they are going to target and work to create that opportunity. Some of the passing yesterday, helped by the interplay with the midfield, was great.

Mehmeti - may not be the finished article but he's putting the willies up the opposition and dragging defenders with him, making space. Teams now have one more thing to think about, i.e watch the 11, don't let him cut inside, etc, as well as watch TGH, don't give him space to shoot. Previously it would have been "City don't do shots from outside the box, don't worry". I guess aligned to this is the greater goal threat from a wider group of players, knight, Mehmeti, TGH, Conway, Sykes.

The gentle shift in rotation - Manning now seems to lead with energy, impact, high press and pace on the team sheet first up. Game management, experience and skill are on the bench to see it out. This seems like a bit of a reversal from the previous regime, where weiman might be hooked for yeboah in a chaotic roll of the dice.

I'm optimistic, but then I was optimistic under Pearson and optimistic from the first game with Manning, the way he was setting foundations (or "principles" or "behaviours".)

Fingers crossed for Friday, Monday, and Sunday's big day out. 

Edited December 27, 2023 by pj76

[The Swan and Cemetery]

Words of caution:

- 2nd (and then 3rd straight after theirs) goals were crucial, forced them onto the front foot and gave us more attacking opportunities. 
- we’ve comfortably beaten xG in our last two games, so arguably statistical anomaly rather than dramatic progress (and 3 wins on the trot maybe unusual for us, but isn’t definitively a trend we can be confident in)

- still early in LM era so maybe an element of surprise for opponents that will wane over time, can we adapt when opponents are more ready for us?

 

Less Grinch:

- since pretty much LM’s first game think we’ve shown improvement in retaining the ball, but not pointlessly, seeking to create space and then move forward purposefully. 

- LM took over in difficult circumstances and has managed to get the players to adapt (a bit, think sensibly not wholesale change) and retain the spirit/effort which might have been at risk. Feels more like building on foundations than starting again (eg late DH/early NP days of rarely getting out of our half > later NP days of being much more capable going forward > early LM days of lots of goal attempts), which hopefully means the first few games were the ‘one step back’, rather than needing half a season or 3 windows. 

- Players back from injury helping in a small squad and Anis starting to add a lot more (well done to him and LM/CH).

- 9 points from 9 means a decent result at St Andrews and maybe SL will see the opportunity to do some reasonably serious recruitment in January - whatever anyone thinks of the squad’s quality, even with McCrorie/Atkinson/Roberts back, it feels a couple light (optimistic to think we’ll never suffer another injury). 
 

 

[stortfordred]

Agree it was a very very strong performance all round. Left side superb. If Pring had another 4-5mph to latch on to those thro balls and Anis had a final pass or shot, we could have had a real hatful. 
Not complaining- just shows how good we were. 

[Major Isewater]

17 hours ago, Ghost Rider said:

created some lovely triangles. 

Nothing beats a lovely triangle.

[formerly known as ivan]

Good team performance, but…

Is it a coincidence that our best performance in maybe a couple of seasons came with Matty James not in the starting 11???

[Davefevs]

3 minutes ago, formerly known as ivan said:

Good team performance, but…

Is it a coincidence that our best performance in maybe a couple of seasons came with Matty James not in the starting 11???

Yes, a complete coincidence imho.

Completeky speculative from me, but it feels like some if the nicest attacking play without Kal Naismith.  I’ve always felt he helped us break lines.

Edited December 27, 2023 by Davefevs

[ExiledAjax]

4 hours ago, The Swan and Cemetery said:

we’ve comfortably beaten xG in our last two games, so arguably statistical anomaly rather than dramatic progress (and 3 wins on the trot maybe unusual for us, but isn’t definitively a trend we can be confident in)

This is something that I would ordinarily be saying as well.

But.

Manning has a track record of "beating" xG. He did it at MK, he was doing it at Oxford when we poached him. If he can do it twice before then I think it's reasonable to assume he might be able to do it again?

That makes me cautious of making the usual "don't get excited we'll regress back to the mean" statements.

I'm holding fire right now. Wait and see how the next few matches go.