Spend most of time reading the forum rather than contributing but soooooooo frustrated felt had to put in my 2 pennies worth..... IMHO, however well Zola has done this season (and despite tonights result I wouldnt want anyone else in charge), he has shown his inexperience by making the same mistakes as he did against Charlton. Underestimating a Championship (albeit the bottom) team and changing a winning formula. However good the potential replacements are (Geijo, Forrestieri et al) you do not make 6 changes without seriously affecting the flow of a team. Dont get me wrong.... give Vydra or Chalobah or both a rest. But both and Deeney was always asking for trouble. Dont get me wrong, Bristol worked v hard and fully deserved the win but they wouldnt be bottom with worst def record in division for no reason. Anyway, lets finish on a few positives.... 1) A point off second. Would have settled for that at this stage of season no doubt. 2) 17 games left to make up for tonight including a tough looking April where we will hopefully still be looking at 2nd! 3) We dont support Villa
Thanks I forgot to mention another positive.... 4) Having been a season ticket holder for 20+ years I am grateful that I have only had to listen to that sort of performance on rare occasions this season!
Once bitten (Charlton). Twice bitten today. I totally agree with Dan above, but this should not have happened. Murray is nowhere near this first team at the moment and to drop the complete and on-fire first line. Hopefully lesson learned after the second spanking Gianfranco. I am sure you have some explaining to do to Mr Pozzo tonight.
Poor showing tonight lads but onwards and upwards to Saturday and a good chance to put things right. Wasn't expecting that result and was pretty confident before KO that we would continue our form with a hard fought victory. Good result for Brizzle but not too downhearted, lets get it right against Bolton on Saturday to keep the other teams around us on their toes.. Wonder if there will be any transfer movements on Thursday to surprise us ??? Oh hard luck to Boothroyd the Cobblers tonight = Still 3rd in the table and in with a chance of promotion...COYH !!
From an 'outsider's' point of view, perhaps this may have been needed as a wake up call. Plus, if you are going to throw a couple of bad performances in, surely it's better to get them out of the way now, while you're in this position, than towards the end of the season and blow it bigtime. Baadiff being a prime example of 'bottling' it in the run ins. From what I can see, this was a minor blip. You'll be fine
Lads, I was frightened to death of facing you tonight, I didn't expect a win but we got it, I really do wish your club and manager success this season, 'ave a good 'un'....
Thanks Maestro. I think it's more the fact that this has disrupted our good energy and flow we had going. I think for a wake up call, possibly going a goal down and then drawing would have been good. But yep, would rather lose this and absolutely hammer Cardiff! Edit: Thanks wizered, best of luck to you too!
Certainly it is better to lose a game against a team that is unlikely to be pushing for a top of the table spot than it is when you are in the 'six pointers' with those around you. It may also be a good wake up call for some of the fans who have been getting a bit carried away. Somehow I didn't think we would win every game to the end of the season.
Wow where do I start, just home from the game I don't like to criticise GFZ but he called this one wrong! too many changes for a tricky game, I know they are down the bottom but it was a very bad day at the office Murray was pants he did not have a clue what he was supposed to do, should have been replaced before HT IMHO also the changes took place far too late in the game to make a difference! Eustace was far too slow and behind the game Hogg and Eustace are far too negative to play together! , there was no spark and when they scored their second we were out of it. The Ref was inconsistent, you cannot take it away from BC they wanted it more than us. GFZ must go back to the same team that played on Saturday for Saturday otherwise we will not get anything from that either. On a positive note on getting my wallet out to pay at the turnstile a Steward noticed my RAF ID card and put me through the concession gate saving me £5 on the night, so thank you kind Steward and of course meeting up with H and BHD at the game, just a shame about the result hoping it's just a blip U'Orns
City reminded me of us in the past. Not pretty but damn it was effective. Yes they sat back but our movement and passing were poor. Murray basically played as a right back crippling our right side. Even when there was space behind their left back he just dropped short to the touch line and passed back to Nos, time and time and time again. Frustrating as when Forestierri got at their left back we opened them up. Looked like a really good avenue to exploit but failed to do so all evening. Eustace was back to his bad passing habits of the past (although most of the team was guilty of this). Needed to spread the play and pass and move but we just resorted to long diagonal balls which pretty much all missed their intended targets. When Pudil and Abdi both balloon free kicks you know you're having a bad night. That said, it's a blip. The team should have been good enough to win the match but never really got going. Hopefully most of the squad will be pretty fresh for Saturday. Personally I think tonight was a cunning ploy by Zola to convince interested parties that we are actually rubbish. Nothing to see here, move onto another team.
I knew we would mess up today, and when I saw the teamsheet I was even more certain. I can only hope this is part of Zola's plan to miss out on the manager of the month award. Instead Cardiff or Leicester can win it and it will be the start of their demise! Mwahahaha ahaha!
Well we deserved that. What on earth possessed GFZ to make 6!!! changes? If it aint broke, dont fix it!! Tonight we chopped the team up and took out all the bonds and links which were created and replaced them with players who have hardly played together and had very little understanding of how each other plays. I can understand making a couple of changes because we become predictable and players do need a rest, but 6 just destroys the core of the squad. Murray seemed lost at times and as a result he was completely ineffective andr rarely crossed the halfway line. Every time he got the ball he would lay it off to Nos or Hall and then just stand on the touchline. I have seen more movement from a rock. Eustace looked half a second slower than those around him and has never been a creative midfielder so we were always going to struggle going forward. Bristol had clearly done their homework and simply sat back with 9/10 men behind the ball and made us work. I dont blame the ref, but he did have a shocker. He booked Hall for pulling their striker back but then failed to do the same when Forestieri was rugby tackled as he tried to break. It was one rule for them and one for us, inconsistent doesnt cover it!
