Millwall at home match thread

[Mr Popodopolous]

30 minutes ago, maxjak said:

The only thing i would point out is..............NP had 32 months, and quite a few transfer windows, LM has had just under 2 months, and NO transfer   windows.  So a comparison at present is fatuous?  Make like a Jedi....and show a little patience?

For 3 if not 4 of those windows we were in true downsizing mode and trying to improve the side while creating some value in the squad!!

NP inherited a train wreck, not necessarily based on individual players but the collective morale, malaise, injuries etc. FFP rapidly closing in, it was disastrous.

LM has inherited a solid base albeit still too many injuries- an injury situation that has been on the decline and a great collective attitude in the squad.

[1team]

33 minutes ago, maxjak said:

The only thing i would point out is..............NP had 32 months, and quite a few transfer windows, LM has had just under 2 months, and NO transfer   windows.  So a comparison at present is fatuous?  Make like a Jedi....and show a little patience?

How long should I wait? Be careful as I will be back to haunt you.

[Davefevs]

@phantom think JB’s blazer might be a “former players” issue blazer.

[phantom]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

@phantom think JB’s blazer might be a “former players” issue blazer.

That would explain the awkward looking fit 

6 minutes ago, Jerseybean said:

LM post match said ‘We need to be braver with the ball’ Think he meant ‘We need to be better with the ball’

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/video/interviews/we-need-to-be-braver-with-the-ball-manning/

I took it to mean players need to have more belief in what they can do 

Assume they do it in training 

[Davefevs]

Probably Big Dave Rodgers’s blazer!

[Lennieb]

Imo it didn't feel like a team looking to consolidate or get near that top 6 today which really disappointed me . If we wanted something badly and it was obvious in the 2nd it wasnt happening then surely you get the thinking caps on and Start looking at what you can Do to change things up ,go on th attack ,risk more ,but we didn't.  I wouldn't kill them over it ,been a fan since 1979 and those who can ,can prob remember far worse . And for me a note for Conway, don't get down mate your time will come .it was awful to watch the long hit today to him and expectations of him trying to come out with something , there was some height in that back line .

 

Edited January 1 by Lennieb

[Major Isewater]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Whats yours?

Thank you , mine’s a pint. 

Edited January 1 by Major Isewater

[MrRedRobin]

4 hours ago, Jerseybean said:

In terms of our performance and the result, that was poor, frustrating, and very disappointing.

For the second consecutive game, it was low on quality, and we never looked like scoring.

As per my half time reflections our lack of forward movement/ momentum and creativity has to be addressed.

If I’m looking for positives, there aren’t many. I thought Dickie had a very good game and Max did very well with his distribution on occasions.

Perhaps the best performance on the day was the referee, who I thought had an excellent game.

Remarkable how well we played at Watford and how poorly we played today and last time out against Birmingham. As has been said on many, many occasions consistency is key and we are horribly inconsistent.

So there goes our unbeaten run and the first chance of the season to do the double.

Sorry JB but completely disagree with you on this point thought the ref wasn't great today.

[pongo88]

The one bit of excitement 
 

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/13040493/brawl-breaks-out-at-bristol-as-tensions-boil-over

 

[WECANDO]

6 hours ago, westonred said:

Manning obviously doesn't rate Yeboah he's not even on the bench today

Prefer Yeboah to Weiman. Former quicker, more aggressive and is exciting to watch. Should still come on as a sub as a minimum.

[Atyeo's lift]

I aw today Millwall doing what so many others do, but we never do; having a man, usually a midfielder, alone in space as an outlet. Is this due to our poor positioning both in marking and movement, or do other teams just practise this in training? Also other team's defenders when heading under pressure nearly always find a fellow player - our heading seems directionless and random. 

[maxjak]

14 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

The one bit of excitement 
 

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/13040493/brawl-breaks-out-at-bristol-as-tensions-boil-over

 

The only bit of passion shown in the entire match? It's obvious that Williams New year resolution was to try and make new friends?

[Kid in the Riot]

As a spectacle it was absolutely dreadful. Very boring and consequently the atmosphere in the ground (never good on new years day anyway) was shocking. You know it's bad when you jump out of your seat cus two seagulls are squawking above the Dolman, and you can hear the players shouting at each other. 

Far from one of the worst performances I've seen though. Seemed to be heading for a 0-0. But that last half an hour we were shocking, and Millwall really grew in confidence.

Maybe I'm being too generous but I thought prior to the subs we just looked absolutely knackered. Then, too many changes, and it was all a bit of a mess. 

It's like we'd put all our energy into the Watford game and had nothing left in the tank for the Brum game and today. 

[Red-Robbo]

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

We didn't look well coached today

There were some very basic but baffling things I noticed today. 

We seemed to lose possession after more throw ins than we kept it.

A number of times we took free kicks 10 yards back from where we could have. In our own half.

Passes often went to the marked man rather than the free man.

Basic stuff. We just weren't at the races. 

[GrahamC]

43 minutes ago, MrRedRobin said:

Sorry JB but completely disagree with you on this point thought the ref wasn't great today.

Far better than the linesman who repeatedly allowed Murray Wallace to handoff his opponent, must have thought it was rugby.

How on earth did their 7 not get booked straight after their goal, had hold of Rob Dickie’s shirt for about 30 seconds.

Not why we lost but they absolutely knew they could get away with loads from today’s officials.

[Red-Robbo]

4 hours ago, Jimbo76 said:

We have a mid table squad. Why does everyone keep thinking we're likely to get top 6?

 

I don't think we are Top 6 contenders, but a mid-table side at home should have done better against a not particularly spectacular Millwall. 

It wasn't as if we were playing some team of Galacticos. 

To lose is one thing. Can be lots of reasons for it. But to lose after playing so poorly suggests we may not even be a mid-table side. 

[Davefevs]

9 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

But to lose after playing so poorly suggests we may not even be a mid-table side. 

Because not all our performances are of that level RR.  If they were we’d be in trouble.  But on a given day we show we can play too.  The “average” performance is mid-table…and that’s what we are.  Sometimes those good performances come one after the other, sometimes they don’t, sometimes they come at home, sometimes they come away.

The easiest way to improve is to get better players.  Sure, we can make some marginal gains through coaching.  You can also make marginal gains through management / motivation too.

I suspect LM will achieve similar to what Nige did, just in slightly different way.

[redkev]

2 hours ago, Numero Uno said:

You’re humour was to subtle for me. Done like a kipper

There’s a few on here ( possibly you aswell ) that don’t appreciate some of my humour especially regarding trains , immigrants , left wing & right wing politics , woke matters and our policing , but I know we all have different views and I do respect that ( even if a few don’t respect mine )   I do like a good bit of banter mind , 

but also love ( most of the time my club ) today was just another day in the life of a Bristol city fan .

[Numero Uno]

1 minute ago, redkev said:

There’s a few on here ( possibly you aswell ) that don’t appreciate some of my humour especially regarding trains , immigrants , left wing & right wing politics , woke matters and our policing , but I know we all have different views and I do respect that ( even if a few don’t respect mine )   I do like a good bit of banter mind , 

but also love ( most of the time my club ) today was just another day in the life of a Bristol city fan .

No, I just thought you were being serious for some reason and gave a serious response!!

[nickolas]

2 hours ago, phantom said:

I have a horrible feeling we'll never see him in a City shirt again 

I couldn't make the game today but watched on Robins TV. Joe Burnell was the guest summariser he even mentioned JL stating we're a top six side, you could tell by the way he said it he didn’t believe it either. 

On a side issue, does Joe Burnell work for the club as he was wearing a City jacket and tie. 

But also mentioned he's getting the train to WHU with friends to support the team 

Interesting, others have said the opposite that he helped by letting the game flow 

Sadly didn't happen, at least it could have been a good reason to be so lacklustre 

Bloody hell. The absolute pass-backwards master Mr Burnell?! No wonder thats why we always go backwards if he was watching on.

[BrizzleRed]

37 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

There were some very basic but baffling things I noticed today. 

We seemed to lose possession after more throw ins than we kept it.

A number of times we took free kicks 10 yards back from where we could have. In our own half.

Passes often went to the marked man rather than the free man.

Basic stuff. We just weren't at the races.  

That free kick we had near the Lansdown touchline in the second half particularly stuck in my mind.  

After placing the ball a few yards back towards our own half and trying to take it quickly, the ref made us retake it.  With that, we then chucked the ball a few yards further back into our own half and then finally took the kick.  

It was almost like someone trying to steal a few yards with a throw in, except we were actually trying to go backwards!  Amazing how many of our free kicks were being knocked backwards or sideways too.  

[Jerseybean]

Player ratings: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-player-ratings-millwall-9007156

[TV Tom]

12 hours ago, Davefevs said:

In your opinion!  Not just yours, admittedly.  Others have said the same.

We had 7 forwards for our 3 positions / roles:

Left to right:

Mehmeti / Bell - Conway / Wells - Sykes / Weimann / Cornick

Based on our recruitment, who should we have not bothered with? Don't say McCrorie.  And out of Roberts, Dickie, Knight and TGH (loan), what budget were you allocating?

And what about the retrofit story re budget taken up?

Its not Manning who’ll be pulling rabbits out of the hat btw.

The stupid thing is - there should’ve been budget to strengthen the squad after Alex was sold, regardless of what you, me or the gatepost think was the necessary position.  But maybe it is dawning on you that the club chose the “self-harm” route, because of the way they felt about Nige.  They have in effect wasted 26 games of the season as a result.

Thats my version of the reality of the situation.

Whats yours?

 

Out of those seven i would only class 20 year old Conway and 33 year old Wells as out and out centre forwards, both have been injured and/or out of form for much of the season, it's patently obvious then and now we need a CF and i would of put that need in front of all our other recruitments, just my opinion mind.

  

[RollsRoyce]

10 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

Out of those seven i would only class 20 year old Conway and 33 year old Wells as out and out centre forwards, both have been injured and/or out of form for much of the season, it's patently obvious then and now we need a CF and i would of put that need in front of all our other recruitments, just my opinion mind.

  

What is your budget? Are you saying you would have only signed one player last summer? Coventry spent £8m on 2 forwards. I do not disagree with the need, but there are significant financial constraints. I think Nige would have agreed with you, it was obvious we needed to replace Antoine. But it is pretty much impossible with free transfers or a budget of , less say £2m (fee for Knight or McCrorie) . I am not saying there is no one out there for that money, but every Championship club is looking for a £2M forward. You are stating the obvious. 

It needed a chunk of the nest egg spent on a forward, but that money is not there. 

Edited January 2 by RollsRoyce

[Sir Geoff]

8 hours ago, BrizzleRed said:

That free kick we had near the Lansdown touchline in the second half particularly stuck in my mind.  

After placing the ball a few yards back towards our own half and trying to take it quickly, the ref made us retake it.  With that, we then chucked the ball a few yards further back into our own half and then finally took the kick.  

It was almost like someone trying to steal a few yards with a throw in, except we were actually trying to go backwards!  Amazing how many of our free kicks were being knocked backwards or sideways too.  

We kept doing that with throw ins as well. 91 other clubs try and steal 10 yards up the touchline, we were taking throw in from 10 yards back from where the ball went out. Strange.

[TDarwall]

9 hours ago, Davefevs said:

 

I suspect LM will achieve similar to what Nige did, just in slightly different way.

This is very much where I am. If you just looked at our results & not the playing formation, style etc, you'd be forgiven for not knowing we'd ever changed manager.

We're still capable of giving all but the very best teams a good game, but equally capable of an insipid performance.  We're still much more effective v teams that come on to us.

Any team that deploys the (cliche alert) low block against us & is disciplined & resolute, will have a good chance of stealing the points.  

We have a very honest squad but we very much lack someone with a bit of pizazz (maybe Mehmeti can be that one).  However if you think of the talent we've lost in Semenyo & Scott, with little in terms of replacement its really not a shock.

 

 

[Sir Geoff]

I've still got a stiff neck this morning from looking right,left,right,left,right etc as we passed the ball continually across the back line. What a turgid,woeful performance.

[redkev]

8 minutes ago, TDarwall said:

This is very much where I am. If you just looked at our results & not the playing formation, style etc, you'd be forgiven for not knowing we'd ever changed manager.

We're still capable of giving all but the very best teams a good game, but equally capable of an insipid performance.  We're still much more effective v teams that come on to us.

Any team that deploys the (cliche alert) low block against us & is disciplined & resolute, will have a good chance of stealing the points.  

We have a very honest squad but we very much lack someone with a bit of pizazz (maybe Mehmeti can be that one).  However if you think of the talent we've lost in Semenyo & Scott, with little in terms of replacement its really not a shock.

 

 

Exactly my thoughts , if I was a manager of a side coming to Ashton gate all I would say would be sit deep stay focused let Bristol city huff and puff for 60 mins if they havent scored by then become a little more expansive grow into the game and last 10 mins go for it as Bristol city I’ll become nervous and likely to concede , 

all the above is no reference to manning as the above has happened for about the last 3 managers 

[exAtyeoMax]

10 hours ago, Numero Uno said:

No, I just thought you were being serious for some reason and gave a serious response!!

I thought he was being serious too. It’s very difficult to interpret humour when it’s written down sometimes. I could understand the Sammy reference but not Chris Martin. There wasn’t anything funny about Chris Martin…

Edited January 2 by exAtyeoMax

[BrizzleRed]

1 hour ago, Sir Geoff said:

We kept doing that with throw ins as well. 91 other clubs try and steal 10 yards up the touchline, we were taking throw in from 10 yards back from where the ball went out. Strange.

Crazy isn’t it.  They say winning a football match can be about the small percentages, yet we seem to be willingly giving away some of the advantages we’re given.

It baffles me why we keep doing this, though I suppose it’s no surprise, as our set pieces in general have been very poor for years.