Reality Check

[downendcity]

Living away from Bristol and with work comittments , I've had few opportunities to see City play over the last season. You know how it is with friends or family, when you see them infrequently, you notice them changing ( getting older, hair greying etc) much more than the people who see them every day, as they see the changes taking place inperceptibly.

Saturday was my first match this season, and the first for some time - last time was October time last season. There are a number of observations I would make.

Firstly, 2 seasons ago, we had a team pretty well feared by all the opposition in our division and had the best defence in the whole Football League. Looking at our defence on Saturday, the only people who fear them now are Steve Philips ( can't see him suffering from constipation this season!) and the City fans in the crowd. That was the most dire defending display I can remember since the last time in the old 1st Division.

The whole atmosphere was nervous - crowd and players. What I couldn't get over was the way we started the match. After the Barnet defeat, I would have thought the players would have received a rollicking and been motivated to prove the Manager wrong. We were like a team of pussies in the first half, and it was only when they came out for the start of the second half that we saw any fight and pace in the game. If that was the sum of what was acheived by Tinnion and Millen working on defending since the Barnet defeat then it says everything about what is wrong at the club.

MKD's pretty well controlled the game but in now way could you call them a good side, and I can't see them challenging for promotion. If so, then were does it place us? On Saturday's perfromance I cannot see us getting into the play-off's, let alone automatic promotion.

Bright spots- Bridges looked a class above anyone else on the pitch. His speed of thought is quicker than the rest of the team and as a result he probably tries to do too much on occassions, and Brooker cannot be faulted for the amount of effort he gives. The other bright spot is that the rest of this division is much of a muchness with just about everyother team as inept as we are at the moment. On the basis that we cannot continue to play that badly (hopefully we can't) and can get a few results together,then if no one else is running away at the top then we might have half a chance.

What I saw was a club that has gone backwards since Tinnion took over. Players who apear to be demotivated and lacking confidence and a team with a lack of ideas.

I'm not a whinger nor in the happy-clappy camp, but am a realist. My son, who is not a football afficianado or a City fan, said that the team didn't seem to have a clue and that I could probably score against City's defence ( and i'm 51 but could still probably do Heywood for pace!) There's a danger that lots of fans are still seeing the Emporers new clothes and can't see how bad things have become. Sorry it's painful to say this, but I was really depressed after Saturday - I loved being at the game, supporting my team, but hated seeing how much things have changed for the worst in the last year.

[GTW]

...and it won't get better until BT and Millen are out of the picture, they just have not got the man management, motivitional and most of all tactical nous needed.

We have the players, the fans, the board backing (even though some fans disagree) to walk this division with just a little organisation on the field and some decent management and tactical awareness.