Today.

[newboy]

IMHO we had 3 missing players today - Jevons, M-Williams and Murray. Combine that with the two injuries, the depleted squad due to existing injuries and I'm just eternally grateful we won!

With that much bad luck re: injuries, I'm not sure how any blame for the lack of quality in the end (we started well for god's sake!) can be placed at the manager's feet.

It's now wonder that we've not hit 3rd gear with so many players out or not performing, but in my mind we still look infinitely better than this time last year or even the year before that.

In two weeks time everything should look different - Jevons can be rested, and M-Williams can replace the frankly shoddy Murray on the wing.

Roll on January when we can get someone to replace Murray as backup for the wingers and the eternally missing Showumni!

[welshred]

jevons needs brooker badley

[Roger Red Hat]

jevons needs brooker badley

badley or?

[GUERNSEY TAFFY RED]

One sentence sums this twadle up...

If you can beat teams when playing bad..then we must be a good side...shut up we won.

when we are bottom of the league the moan..no wonder ashton gate is like a morgue with the likes of you posting shit negative BS

Typical rose tinted specs reply that i've heard all weekend. At the moment we are riding our luck but that luck will run out. Teams that get promoted are the teams that score goals which we are not doing at the moment, our second place is fragile and teams below us can easily leapfrog us in the next couple of weeks. My main concern is that we are second but with a decent strike force up front we could have been 10 -15 points clear by now. If we don't start scoring goals soon we'll be playing second fiddle to scunny and even rotherham who have hit some form in the past few weeks. Don't let our second spot fool you, we are lucky to be there.

[Nogbad the Bad]

Typical rose tinted specs reply that i've heard all weekend. At the moment we are riding our luck but that luck will run out. Teams that get promoted are the teams that score goals which we are not doing at the moment, our second place is fragile and teams below us can easily leapfrog us in the next couple of weeks. My main concern is that we are second but with a decent strike force up front we could have been 10 -15 points clear by now. If we don't start scoring goals soon we'll be playing second fiddle to scunny and even rotherham who have hit some form in the past few weeks. Don't let our second spot fool you, we are lucky to be there.

We top the woodwork hitting league yet again - we are in double figures already with some clubs only hitting it a couple of times.

With a bit more 'luck' some of Jevons early season efforts would have hit the back of the net instead of the post and he'd be on double the goals, full of confidence and firing on all cylinders now.

City are not a lucky team, we were on Saturday but that was notable because it was so unusual.

At this stage the League table doesn't lie, we are where we are on merit, and with a bit of luck with the decisions at Forest we could be more comfortable than we are.

[Roger Red Hat]

Don't let our second spot fool you, we are lucky to be there.

Or alternately feel really positive at being in second spot. We have a great defence, a good goalkeeper(or two), a committed, competitive, professional team, that has amassed the second highest amount of points in this league so far, and think how UNLUCKY we are to have two key strikers out at the same time, and if we and every other team continue in the same way, we'll get out of this $hite division!

[lenred]

City are not a lucky team, we were on Saturday but that was notable because it was so unusual.

Totally agreed - I walked out on saturday feeling that the Donny fans were going to have a horrible trip home as it was an injustice that they didnt get the win - let alone a draw!! Anyone who thinks that we were not lucky on Saturday is living in cuckooland - more than lucky in fact (if you'll pardon me - sure thats from an ad!) As was mentioned though - it was a great feeling to know that we had had luck for a change

Jevons - IMHO - was pretty awful on Saturday. To me it looks like he is incredibly casual in his approach, (although I don't know the guy so don't know if this is the case) whether this be in his effort to get to balls, or when he is attempting to lay balls off. And this attitude seemed to come to a head on Saturday.

But I am not going to judge him yet - that will be done at the end of the season - he has sccored important goals already (right in front of him at the muff' and it really was a great goal) but he just seems a lot of the time that he cannot be bothered.....we will see........

[Dwile Flonker]

We top the woodwork hitting league yet again - we are in double figures already with some clubs only hitting it a couple of times.

With a bit more 'luck' some of Jevons early season efforts would have hit the back of the net instead of the post and he'd be on double the goals, full of confidence and firing on all cylinders now.

City are not a lucky team, we were on Saturday but that was notable because it was so unusual.

At this stage the League table doesn't lie, we are where we are on merit, and with a bit of luck with the decisions at Forest we could be more comfortable than we are.

As my dad never fails to remind me the goal is 8ft. high and 8yds. wide. Considerably larger than a cow's ass! This isn't the crossbar challenge, the idea is to get the ball between the sticks. Hitting the woodwork is a shot off target and no good to anyone.

[Nogbad the Bad]

As my dad never fails to remind me the goal is 8ft. high and 8yds. wide. Considerably larger than a cow's ass! This isn't the crossbar challenge, the idea is to get the ball between the sticks. Hitting the woodwork is a shot off target and no good to anyone.

Much too simplistic, your Dad sounds like a bit of an old cynic.

City have hit the woodwork over ten times, more than anybody else last time i looked, and 5x more than some - that's ill fortune whichever way you look at it. Taking each goal effort individually your Dad may have a point, but collectively there's more to it than that.

When Alan Walsh hit the post in the dying seconds of that League Cup semi-final 2nd leg against Nottm. Forest i thought we were incredibly unlucky.

Sounds like your Dad just thought of it was another shot off target, presumably no more noteworthy or unlucky than if the ball had hit the corner flag.

On Saturday, the luck was with City for once, Carey hit the bar and the ball ended up in the net.

Dad's aren't always right, there comes a time when you have to question their opinion.

[WTFiGO!?!]

what was that then Gary?

Gary: ''That was a 1-0 WIN Antman''

As my dad never fails to remind me the goal is 8ft. high and 8yds. wide. Considerably larger than a cow's ass! This isn't the crossbar challenge, the idea is to get the ball between the sticks. Hitting the woodwork is a shot off target and no good to anyone.

Well as much as your Dad, Dwile Flonker Snr sound's like a bit of a character, his theory ''Hitting the woodwork is a shot off target and no good to anyone'' was slightly flawed on Saturday wasn't it?

Dad's aren't always right, there comes a time when you have to question their opinion.

Are you sure you wanted to be saying that in full view of Turnip and Sophs the Bad?

Totally agree though, some of the swollox my Old Man comes out with....

I like to assume I was adopted!

[Super Scotty Murray]

Totally agree with Nogbad - for once we got a bit of luck and I am loving it!

Over the course of a season luck will even out and we are where we deserve to be.

Case in point is this....

Away to Bradford, 1-0 up and playing well - have one cleared off the line and they go up and score two in a minute, we are all over them for the last twenty minutes and come away with nothing - we could easily have got something out of that.

Away to Huddersfield, 1-0 up and in control, we go and hit the bar with 25 mins to go - they score twice in the last twenty minutes with a last minute winner in a game we could easily have got something out of.

So we rode a bit of luck with a depleted squad and won a game we didnt deserve too - that is not a problem to me whatsoever.

If we go and lose our next two games with our injury problems then it becomes an issue, but lets just have faith in Gary to sort out our current problems and continue to do the great job he is doing.

I know expectation levels are high, but people easily forget that this club was in total disarray last season and the fact we are even figthing for promotion at the moment should not be underestimated.

With the wrong managerial appointment last season, we could have been in league two now, no team has any right to be in any division, lets just get behind the lads and hope the form of players like jevo and murray improves soon.

[Dwile Flonker]

Much too simplistic, your Dad sounds like a bit of an old cynic.

Actually he's had his tongue permanently stitched into his cheek.

Gary: ''That was a 1-0 WIN Antman''

Well as much as your Dad, Dwile Flonker Snr sound's like a bit of a character, his theory ''Hitting the woodwork is a shot off target and no good to anyone'' was slightly flawed on Saturday wasn't it?

His theories are always flawed. That's what dads are for.

[Antman]

Then why are you?

Am I?

It seems to me that if you disagree with some types on here you get labelled straight off as a 'moaner'

what rubbish.

I've watched City through thick and thin - more thin than thick mind you, and if I feel that we are being fed sub standard football I'll say so.

I'm as pleased as the next person that we got 3 points - huzzah!

but do I want to shell out year on year for seemingly lower and lower quality football, not so sure - and all I'm doing is voicing that consideration on here, a harmless forum for discussion.

So for me this forum, well it's a bit like the telly - you don't have to watch it.

(or are you one of those people who watch a programme right through and then are outraged that they were shown something they didn't like! as my old grandad used to joke at dinner 'I'll be glad when I've had enough')

Feel free to disagree and discuss as 90% above have done, hey! sometimes even I reconsider my grumpy POV when someone puts up a good argument and has a healthy discussion, but when folk just dismiss a contrary views to their own as 'moaning' it makes me wonder if they are capable of having a decent discussion/argument/whatever you will - I'm excluding the obnoxious personal attacks that occur on this forum, there is no excuse for that other than sheer lack of intellect.

My reasons for questioning the way we played are based on the fact we are constantly fed the line, 'we'll get it right soon' by GJ and SL. - OK, how soon? I noticed that GJ was already talking about the January transfer window again after we failed to act over our keeper and striker situation. (my opinion there mind) a bit of deja vu there or what?

People talked of GJ being the best since Joe Jordan (1st time) well in my book we played a darn sight more consistantly then and under other managers, and thats what I want to see - a degree more consistancy, At what point is GJ happy about the squad he's got? - I thought that about pre season, surely he had cut the deadwood and got his boys in, great. But we still stutter and stumble, albeit picking up points, but should we accept that?

Vs Crewe we flew at them - that proves we CAN do it, we've glimpsed that on other occasions too, so why can we not get that on a regular basis?

This is a discussion.

With the wrong managerial appointment last season, we could have been in league two now, no team has any right to be in any division, lets just get behind the lads and hope the form of players like jevo and murray improves soon.

'Judge me on Brian Tinnion'

[Roger Red Hat]

Then why are you?

Am I?

Forgive me, I completely got the wrong end of the stick when you said at the end of your post 'mustn't grumble' which would suggest you thought you were grumbling.

[Antman]

Forgive me, I completely got the wrong end of the stick when you said at the end of your post 'mustn't grumble' which would suggest you thought you were grumbling.

you might call it being ironic, I was having a little joke at my own expense.

it seems that was lost on you.

[Roger Red Hat]

you might call it being ironic, I was having a little joke at my own expense.

it seems that was lost on you.

Yeh, I've always struggled with humour, and I'm not too clear what irony is.

[Antman]

Yeh, I've always struggled with humour, and I'm not too clear what irony is.

http://www.sarcasmsociety.com/howtorecognizeirony/

my gift to you.

[Roger Red Hat]

http://www.sarcasmsociety.com/howtorecognizeirony/

my gift to you.

Antman, where've you been all my life?

[SimplyRed]

...but do I want to shell out year on year for seemingly lower and lower quality football, not so sure - and all I'm doing is voicing that consideration on here, a harmless forum for discussion.

Exactly. In my own opinion, we might be 2nd, but on paper we have a poorer quality squad now than we've had in recent years.

Perhaps that's a positive point for Johnson - that he's getting the best out of a pretty mundane bunch, but I can't help feeling that the football being served up is not as good as it has been...

It may also be an indicator of the lower quality of this division in general... who knows?

The simple fact is, I just can't get excited about the way we're playing at the moment, even if we are 2nd. We play some great stuff in patches, but far and away the majority is just not what you'd expect to see from a team chasing promotion.

[maidenheadred]

Exactly. In my own opinion, we might be 2nd, but on paper we have a poorer quality squad now than we've had in recent years.

Perhaps that's a positive point for Johnson - that he's getting the best out of a pretty mundane bunch, but I can't help feeling that the football being served up is not as good as it has been...

It may also be an indicator of the lower quality of this division in general... who knows?

The simple fact is, I just can't get excited about the way we're playing at the moment, even if we are 2nd. We play some great stuff in patches, but far and away the majority is just not what you'd expect to see from a team chasing promotion.

ignoring performances at Brentford and Doncaster as 'blips', and focusing more on performances like Crewe, Chesterfield and even Forest - then we are generally playing some of the nicest stuff we've seen in years in midfield and from the back, although less so down the channels and up front.

we've never had two central midfielders who are 'proper footballers' at any time in the past 15 years, i reckon. there's always been either a donkey (burnell, martin), a lightweight (hewlett, the young skuse), a journeyman (owers, locke, tisdale) or an unfit crock (doherty, mortimer, holland) as one of the pair . That's not the case anymore, and we have 4 - maybe 5 - central midfielders of real quality.

but, over the past 15 years we've always looked great down the flanks, and that's not really the case anymore. Murray is a shadow - although still does a job now and again - Brown is eulogised, but he's really only an above average winger compared to the quality we've seen there in the past (murray, goodridge, bell, tinnion, gavin, brown, etc), plus we never seem to get the fullback/winger partnerships going anymore (Tinnion and Bell, Carey and Murray, Locke and Goodridge, etc)

We've also typically been shaky at the back (always look capable of mistakes, and up front we've usually one decent striker to get everyone in the ground excited when he gets the ball. Brooker is more a 'thinking fans' footballer than an exiting player in the Lita/Cole/Goater/Akinbiy mode, but he's out for ages now anyway, which only compounds the problem.

So, replace great wide play with more creativity in the centre, replace defenses who always look like they can screw up with a back 5 that don't look like they'll ever concede from open play again, and at least one decent striker with none until Brooker is back - and you have team that's 'different' to the past, not less entertaining.

Remember our 11 wins (or something like that ) in a row under wilson? people said then the football wasnt any good, and they werent entertained. Or of course, all this could just be nonsense, and the average bristol city fan could just be a miserable moaning bastard...!

[WTFiGO!?!]

Yeh, I've always struggled with humour, and I'm not too clear what irony is.

Me think's humour is in the eye of the belaugher and you just made me piss myself!