Ebiowei clearly has a lot of ability and I'm hopeful he can show that for us, especially in games that we control and are more on the front foot which Bristol City away was never going to be. It was great to have a winger hugging the touchline offering width and there where so many opportunities not taken to get it the ball out there, Im sure Seri would have found him. Anyway, heres hoping his confidence isn't shattered by the ridiculously over critical sections of our fanbase.
It's absolutely no coincidence that in areas we have settled selection, understanding that has had time to develop that we're playing as a unit, the same way its absolutely no coincidence that in areas where we've had turnover in availability we have looked and still look disjointed. It's where we are in a much bigger rebuild. We're not yet a playoff side and top half will always have been a good season, given the low bar of a year ago. It's taken Nigel 2 years to get consistent output from that Bristol side. I'm not sure we can expect much more than a similar trajectory.
This isn’t on Rosie. His post match interview was interesting. Obvious anger on the injury front, and vulnerability of certain players. I can see a major overhaul in the summer, we have been poor attacking wise all season needs addressing over the summer.
How has he been unfairly criticised? He's been extremely poor in every appearance for us so far. I haven't seen anything to prove he's a better option than Sinik or even Vale. Now Rosey has admitted the play offs aren't happening, what's the point in persisting with him?
I think first and foremost we are a work in progress. Last summer we brought in an array of players, some have done well some not so. We have also been hit with a number of long-term injuries, which have resulted in players from getting any or limited playing time. We were a shambles defensively when Liam took over, now we are consistently performing defensively much better. He has been in charge for 14 games, and there has been a marked improvement over that time. Rome wasn't built in a day. Onto yesterday's game, I cannot understand the negativity, mainly on Twitter and Facebook calling for Liam's head, I appreciate it was not the best performance, but to restrict a team in form to very few chances, and only concede to a very harsh penalty, which frankly IMO shouldn't have been given, it's testament to how things are improving. I can understand Liam's comments that they did win the majority of second balls, and there is no doubt we were a bit off the pace, but our midfield without Seri and to some degree a Wood's in there is very lightweight. Simon did okay, but he is not yet at the levels to dominate games, Docherty just doesn't have enough quality on the ball. Malcolm did okay, but tired and got sloppy in the 2nd half. Defensively, once we got to grips with their wide men did well. McLoughlin and Jones were excellent. I feel for Oscar who works really hard, but doesn't yet get the service he needs. We really do miss Connolly, he has been a big miss. Great to see Troare get game time, clearly has ability, and get him and Seri into midfield with a real good quality defensive midfielder we could start to see a midfield that we need. The play off's were always a long shot, and we just need to build for the new season and hopefully get the likes of Allahyar/Seri/Connolly/Pelkas back and Traore up to speed, and have a really good end to the campaign.
^this^ Brizzie fans seem happy, get 20k with another club in town and a genuinely elite rugby club sharing the pitch, but big Nigel Pearson's been afforded 2 years to get a consistent level out 9f his squad and he's now finding it. But yeah, let's clear the decks once again and get big overhaul and zero consistency one more. Last few months have shown me that we have an element of *support* which isn't really support. It's reactionary bullshit at best and enabling teenage coke head vandals to cause havoc at worst. There was a time we accepted we were up against it in relation to the bigger clubs but supported our lads nonetheless. That looks to have gone, in favour of self entitlement to 8mmediate success and everyone with a platform looking to undermine individuals for their own for personal ego points on social media. It's sad enough not to have scrotes kicking chairs that Acun has to pay for and the smoke bombs the same. It's not ' atmosphere' it's ****ishness. Plain and simple What is a 'supporter' supposed to be nowadays anyway? It didn't used to be all about self validation. Just saying....
We need to be planning for next season now and if Ebiowei isn't going to be here then, then we shoudn't be playing him.
In the window, LR put most of his eggs firmly in the Malcolm basket and Acun backed his new manager. I didnt see the game yesterday, but if people say he didnt do the other half of his duties, he needs pulling aside. LR substitutions leave a LOT to be desired, not just yesterday but in recent games. Honeymoon is over...
I'm not too bothered about the 'honeymoon'. He came in to keep us up and steady the ship and he's achieved that. If people had unrealistic expectations of what could be achieved with this cobbled together squad that's on them not Liam. Give him a summer at the helm to sort out the squad and actually give us some direction and then let's see how we go next season. He's learning on the job too, as much as the players.
ST.... don't open the 'learning on the job' can.... I'm sure 'I'll pick it up as I go along' wasn't his pitch at his interview.. I'm inclined to think Acun's success has been built on people who provide results.
I mean he's learning the capabilities of his squad. He's also still a very junior manager so while it may not have been part of his pitch, Acun would know he's taking the decision to hire a manager on his potential not his current output. No different to signing a 22 year old player instead of a 30 year old.
Just watched West Ham and Forest , A video of Bowen and Ings ought to be shown to our wingers and forwards . Strength , will effort and get yourself in the 6 yd box and you’ll do well !!
What are you expecting from Ebowei? If he was Phil Foden, Palace wouldn't have let him go. And what exactly did you see in Vale that you haven't seen in Ebowei?
It doesn’t help that Rosey apparently has the touch of Steve Bruce and keeps persisting in roles that either aren’t their main position when we have specialist players available to fill them. In particular Tufan, he isn’t a winger and just does not have the attributes of a winger whatsoever. Can’t see any reason why, if he’s going to play, he’s not getting a chance in his actual position in the middle. We have (had) 2 proper left backs available to us who can offer the width you need from a full back higher up the field, Greaves should be back in central defence establishing himself in the position where he is best that suits him. Slater isn’t an attacking player in any sense. He is like James Harper reincarnated. Of course we’re going to struggle to break down enemy defences when a super ordinary busy body centre mid is your main attacking outlet. Constantly played either out wide or in the supporting role, even up front whilst Tetteh was playing out on the wing the other week It was one thing when he came in and we were shipping goals left right and centre. Something radical needed doing to steady the ship, which he’s done, but now the bow is pointing in the right direction and at some point he’s going to have to pull the anchor in order to move anywhere.
I'm not so sure about that. If Rosie wants his winger to have a certain make up and it is important to the way the team plays, it would make sense to play him knowing that eventually whoever plays that position next season is doing a similar thing. If he isn't the type of winger Rosie wants to persist with next season then your probably right and my comment is redundant.
