Poor interview from Nige today. I hope he’s just being diplomatic & not wanting to criticise his players. I hope behind closed doors he has impressed on the players those types of performances aren’t acceptable.
Shocking all game 0 shots on target Pumping balls into their penalty area with small guys up front—play it on the deck. As said we need a big oa ey NO 9! Who can scores-hokd the ball up and win headers. A new goalkeeper and attacking midfielder. Preston-Millwall-Birmingham struggling to get ****s on goal. Needs addressing vefore the window shuts.
yep poor interview i get the jist money ain't available. Hope I’m wrong but i think Nige is going to walk listening to that interview.
I watched on a stream that kept sticking so difficult to get a proper feeling for the game, seemed to me we just didn’t play as a team, or to our strengths, we didn’t seem to play to the way we set up. No point putting Bell up front if you don’t play to his strength, which is speed against two big CD’s, he needs balls played behind so he can run onto them, Mehmeti needed to run past their fullback but seemed too frightened, All in all we just seemed void of ideas. Have to admit I didn’t think about NP being frustrated at having no opportunity to bring anyone in and therefore considering his options. You maybe have a point. I remember him saying early in his tenure the way the club was run in terms of keep selling our best players was madness. Then consider his reaction to the Scott sale, how he wanted him to stay, and knew nothing about the sale. Maybe putting two and two together and making 5, but …. Maybe not.
Well that would be poor all around.. his team, his signings, his tactics and setup.. if he can’t sort it and walks he ain’t the manager you thought he was.. I didn’t even think that Birmingham were all that.. definitely there for the taking.
Going back over many years I think there were a lot of potential managers who walked away from the mandate of progression without true support from the top. We seem to be content with below average players and performances and regrettably that mindset will win you nothing, other than continual struggles to stay where you are at any given season. Is it possible that Nigel will walk away from an impossible situation that, based on the 2 home efforts that created just a single point, looks hopeless when you consider that the last years crop of new players have not looked capable of the task at hand. Why does Bristol City have a lousy record of boosting their squad year after damned year without ever reaching success, and today's starting line-up and subs looked like a replay of seasons past? We don't have strikers capable of several shots on goal per game and in fact the entire team failed to come close to the target again today and that disgusting statistic comes from being lousy at passing the ball directly to our up-front guys and when we do hook up we blow any chance of scoring by terrible individual decisions. Unless we find a diamond in the rough in what is left of the transfer window we could very well be in for a whole mountain of trouble for the remainder of the season. The vast majority of teams in the Championship will have no trouble beating us based on yet another shocking performance that should throw some messy stuff at the fan, but whether it will stick is up to the footballing gods. Today's starting line-up couldn't compete with a speedy opponent and the subs did no better and it was interesting to see the 42nd minute change by Birmingham that led to their 1st goal right on the half-time whistle. Their manger clearly saw something weak in our set-up and took advantage of our frailties in quick order and we watched a true leader make the right decisions to win the match while we just sat and watched from the sidelines. Bad management.
It’s all guesswork, who knows. I hope he was as frustrated as the rest of us and told the players as much after the game. Then he has to try to put on a show of unity for the press. I know he doesn’t like silly questions, and he has to be careful what he says, but the interviewer only asked questions the punters wanted answering today, to be as obtuse as he was was disrespecting the fans. He might not like it but talking to the press is part of his role. As a fan base we’ve been very patient with the results during his reign, but 1 point from 6 at home this season isn’t good enough. It was a bad day at the office today, both by the players and NP imo
Saw the set up and thought PNE all over again with the way we select our front 3. Cornick, Bell and Mehmeti.......I ask anyone to justify those 3 playing together. We need a focal point up top that would provide balance.........we haven't got a player that can play that role. NP is wrong not to address this problem as he is with not signing a Championship keeper. Supcon and I disagree occasionally but we're both on the same page maintaining we won't go anywhere replacing our 'jewels' with players from L1. Said it preseason, a mid table finish...........at best.
Maybe I'm a bit early but I was confident we were vastly better organised ,had the quality and right mix to really punch our weight in the Championship this season but it just doesn't seem to be happening, I listen to Fleming and Nige and believe all is well but results count, at the moment I'm not seeing any progress on the field, I'm not going to be critical but it's obvious, we have sold the diamonds, now we have to invest to resolve our obvious weaknesses, in other words 2 or 3 more experienced , quality performers to stiffen us up and move us up a level. We have still got 10 days to strengthen, the truth is has lansdown got the confidence in Nige to release the funding or does he want to risk a season of struggle and discontent from the fanbase by forcing him out by continued cost cuting, Nige is a man of principle and he will walk if he has to break his word or continue to make phoney promises, the writing is on the wall, it's time for some careful, controlled expansion. I'm going back to the 10 game target and wait to see where we are, after a very lacklustre start I wonder if it will be a case of deja vous.
It’s been the same for years and little changes The Championship is ruthless yet we still can’t win many home games For those who predicted a home win today and a top 6 finish, we are still a million miles away from competing with the very best and even further from putting a run together Staying up is the priority once again and the fans that turned up 2 weeks ago in expectation won’t be there come November Brutal but true Despite years of ‘the talk’ there is no real ambition at the club And that will always annoy me
Although it's early days and the season is barely under way here we are again questioning what the hell our team are doing. The set-up looked doomed from the start with an almost non-existent attacking force and it just got even worse from there until the final whistle saved us from further embarrassment. The truth of the matter for me is that, yet again, the promises hold no water and the leaks were clearly showing today and I really can't see anybody on our squad who can save our bacon on their own. The idea of a refreshed squad full of vim and vigour trotting out of the tunnel for every game has actually been flushed down the toilet, because what I witnessed today was a bunch of players who hardly knew each other, and even worse I almost got the impression that they didn't particularly care. Something or somebody has to come to the front of the line and say I was at fault and I will take the fall but I have a strange feeling that it will never happen. I, like many others, are tired of the same old promises, and the follow-up excuses, because in reality we are being taken for mugs by the people running Bristol City. When was the last time they told us anything, especially the real reasons why we continue to fail in our stated mandates? Who knows where the enemy is located?
I agree with most of your post, where I differ is I don’t think it’s a question of having confidence in Nige, I think SL would not want to release the funding, full stop. I’m coming to the conclusion NP is getting tired of making excuses for SL’s reluctance and is nearing the end of his tether. You can’t keep selling your best players and replacing them with potential, to then repeat the process when that potential is realised. I believe SL is happy with championship football, obviously he’ll take promotion if it comes, but ultimately his main goal is to stay in the championship. I don’t believe NP falls in line with that strategy, he wants promotion, he’s understood because of our financial position up till now consolidation in the short term was needed. But if things don’t change now we’ve sorted ourselves out, and he perceives SL’s ambitions don’t align with his I think he’ll walk. The mood music for some time to me suggests all is not well between SL & NP.
The biggest gripe for me was how bad our passing was, from playing out of defence to moving it in the final third.. also our touch when receiving, it was a hot potato.. the basics let us down, which after 3 years in charge under NP is disappointing to say the least.. On the other hand we are only 3 games in, no reason yet to panic and it’s better to get these bad performances out of the way so long as we are able to learn from our mistakes.. NP needs to turn this around soon, it’s early in the season, but it won’t take long for the fans to get restless.. let’s see what this manager is made of..
I don’t think we need a focal point as such, many teams play without a big man up front these days, plus when we play with one we end up just lumping the ball up to him. What we do need to fo us play to the strengths of the players we have up front. We didn’t do that today. We looked disjointed and disorganised. We missed Scott’s quality in midfield, breaking up play, breaking forward and bringing the forwards into play. The defence has improved this season, I believe our forwards will score given the service, where we are lacking most is midfield, breaking up play and creating chances. We improved somewhat in that regard when Naismith came on.
Bristol City verdict: An obvious void, a lack of home rule and Rob Dickie's unfortunate reminder The talking points from an uncomfortable defeat and performance by Bristol City as they lost 2-0 to Birmingham City https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-verdict-obvious-void-8691316
I didn't see yesterday's game but against PNE they closed down from our goal kicks not allowing Max to play out. All we did or could do was 'lump it'. You say play through - all well and good, admirable in fact but we don't have that quality. Especially now Scott has been sold. Apparently someone on high at City has come out with 'we can't compete'. It will dawn on all of us, and NP, eventually that our sole ambition is to bump along between the Championship and L1.
