Match Day Thread City v Rotherham

THE REALITY is we knew this was never going to happen! 5 pillars followed by the revised 5 pillars [ when Lee started his reign] we were told we will need to sell our best players should the right price deal come along, then we would sell. The task in hand is to buy younger, polish them up and then take it from there … mve on / sell or keep in team …

Losing to the likes of Rotherham or any team in the bottom 8 is not a good omen when it happens regularly as opposed to infrequently. At the moment our points have come from there mostly so hopefully in the next 3 or 4 games we will harvest 7 or 8 points! before a crunch against Brentford

 

I didn't get to watch the game but followed the reports.....didn't sound good and hasn't really come as a shock. We've been grinding up the points and with the games I have seen they've been mainly dire. I do appreciate we have injuries etc but I think most clubs are in the same boat.
I think a few on here have mentioned styles etc. I'm not sure of ours yet,,,,,,maybe that's a good thing!!!!

 

We now have too many over 30's in the squad, a throwback to Gary Johnson, it didn't work then and isn't working now, what a complete waste of an undoubtedly big wage paid to Brunt just for starters.

I still believe that the fans are not being told the truth about Williams and Walsh, Holden stated after being finally pushed by Mcgregor that Williams got himself injured on his first day with us, although it had been reported during his transfer speculation surrounding a host of clubs that he was not fully fit (which may well have put other bigger clubs than us off of signing him) I still have no idea whatsoever exactly what his injury is. As for Walsh all I have read is that it might be his hip and nothing else, I have long believed something does not feel right regarding what is being reported about these two.

And that for me are our problems, too many old players not up to it and a pathetically weak, tactically naive, unproductive midfield who totally run out of ideas in and around the opponents box and that has led recently to a very frustrated strike force who are getting few if any chances per game and exacerbated by wild shooting on the few occasions we do get into a promising position and a severely overworked defence susceptible to dead ball situations and I could see signs of nervousness coming into Bentley's game yesterday and that would be a disaster, in the 2nd half his frustrations were at boiling point you could visually see him with ball at feet telling his defence to F*** off quite often, when they were asking for the ball to be played to them, instead launching long balls because he realised the severity of our position, unlike some others in the team.

If the mystical Williams and Walsh are still a long way from fitness or whatever the problem might be, then midfield has to become a January priority.

The good news is at this moment in time we are keeping ourselves in the mix, but of course January is looming it looks like we have been totally sussed out and groundhog day #4 looks as though it's well into pre production phase.

 

Injuries are not an excuse, Williams has never kicked a ball for us, so hard to make a case our midfield is weaker because he’s missing. Same with Walsh, he never held down a place in our team.

 

Very true but sadly our midfield has been dysfunctional since we got promoted in 2015, LJ largely ignored it and Holden initially talked the talk but suddenly we are back to square one, how difficult can it be?

Smith was never the same after his injury, Pack lacked pace and Brownhill was great but was on his own in midfield, Nagy looks the part but needs a reliable partner in midfield, playing Paterson and ODowda to me is like starting with 10 men, they weaken an already weak midfield, we seem incapable of getting the right balance, I cannot remember a game where we dominated in midfield.

 

Smith is playing really well for Swansea at the moment - and if things continue is likely to see the Prem much sooner than we are.

 

I fully agree but Smith and Brownhill were still a dysfunctional midfield pairing for us more often than not last season, neither was an organiser, Smith did all of his directing when the ball was dead, Brownhill was far too quiet. We need an organiser somebody who can see when to go forward and when to hold back, somebody who can direct others when cover is needed, somebody who can make sure midfield runners are picked up, somebody who will make sure that he and is midfield partner are not both ahead of the ball when an attacking moves breaks down and a pairing who can do Paterson's share of the donkey work.

That is something that has only sporadically happened in nearly 4 seasons, it's holding back us IMHO.

 

Brownhill is a regular in Burnley team .. Smith doing well at Swansea and we complain a lack of mid field control …. Fu Ching Hoe ….
was mentioned elsewhere 5 pillars future forward … doing deals with younger players! SMOZZY as part exchange with Ivan was mentioned as was a fee of more than Brentford paid … next season or 2 Brentford will be cashing in on another £20-30m player!

 

I'm sure some of our longer term posters can drag up some comments from 5-6-7 years ago that said we needed to boost our midfield to become a real contender and I can remember using the term midfield general on several occasions. Here we are many years later still saying the same thing over and over again which is starting to make me believe that our owner doesn't care or even listen to the pulse coming from the supporters. Ignoring the people is the mandate of owners like Mike Ashley, and presidents like Donald Trump, and you do it at your own peril and suffer the consequences you deserve. The same old bullshit and rhetoric is starting to wear me down and although I will support Bristol City till I die my patience with Lansdown and his management team has finally run out.

P.S. Bobby Reid has just scored against Liverpool and I rest my case about the good players that have abandoned Ashton Gate for a better life that includes better football.

 

he now plays back behind the attack! has been in defence and mid field …. poor ole Joe not getting game time nowadays!

 

Both are incredibly talented players, that always gave 100% for the club. Both represent great business, 4 years from Josh and 6 from Korey and both should be regarded as great players by any BCFC fan.

However in the 4 seasons that they played together, they never formed a consistent partnership, a partnership that would give us enough control of games to take us to the next level and that happens sometimes even with the best of the best, England saw that with Lampard and Gerrard.

Brownhill did exactly the right thing and is looking every inch the premiership player he was always destined to become and Smith after 6 years almost certainly needed a new challenge, so he did the right thing as well.

 

Joe came on as a last minute sub and seems to have gone down the pecking order - bring him home???

Was Josh Brownhill on the score sheet today or was it an own goal??

 

cant bring him home sold him! last 5 games played a full 90 mins and 20 mins

 

I was there that day

 

looks less crowded than I remember, mind you I was behind the far goal post about 1/3rd of the way back … I didn't get to go many games after, had a new job and had to work some / most Saturdays saw 2 or 3 games over boxing day new years and birthday treat was hammered 4-0 by Swindon next 9-10 years managed about 5 or 6 games a season …

 

I think your comment that although they were good players for us during their time with us but the fact was they never really gelled as a combination is right on the mark. Perhaps the coaching was the reason behind the failure to come up with the goods. There were so many comments on this site during those days about the poor team selections, substitutions along with some players totally out of position which led to inevitable mediocrity.

 

That’s the away end the photo is taken from.

 

absolutely you are correct, from about 1964 … 66 became "my spot" ..... is that before your time? with the Braby tower in the background my friend lost his life there in the middle 70's [ 74/75? ]