Well that was 9 hours in the car for THAT. Going to watch Motd in 10 ( looks an absolute belter ) and when I'm less shattered ( up at 7 tomorrow for the rugby in Brum ) I'll write my thoughts on the game today.
Well, there was I thinking, time again to drive up to dear old Suffolk to savour the long missed joys of Portman Road and another strong team performance, cracking atmosphere, and 3 pts, up to 3rd!...my arse! 7hrs driving later, my thoughts: So sorry not to have met up with Westy at Rileys.....terrible A3, M25, A12 traffic....next time mate! Totally wrong starting 11 Defense shambolic - needs serious re-organising,like shipping out Chambo, Smith and maybe Gerks, but he did pull off a terrific save at 20 mins to keep us in the game - and I saw him throw the ball out at least 6 times! Midfield? No midfield to speak of. Back to old hoofball ways til spells of excitement in 2nd half. Skuse and Douglas not a midfield pairing...too similar. Knudson improving clearly with game time. AMN got better as game went on. Murph, well sad really, but if his thunderous drive at about 60 mins had gone in, maybe he would have grown in confidence. Huffing and puffing to no avail. Then our only real class came on...late. Didsy's silky touches and linking up with others, was a joy to see. I left 5 mins early to avoid traffic jams and get back for 8pm rugby.....by 5 mins, and of coursed missed the equaliser! We should be winning these home games. Radical re-think Mick, or we could continue the inexorable slide. I like Spanish & SD's alternative teams. The hilarious thing about Chambo & Smith is as soon as we howl for a change, they both pop up and score!
Thanks for the heads up Scoggy, looking forward to hearing what Westy thinks also. Obviously you get a rough idea from commentary but its good to hear from those who saw it first hand. Your description is how it sounded on the radio, garbage!! Mick will not change the back 5 or CM pairing because he is a stubborn tosser!! Whats even more annoying is he was happy with a fecking point, we were at home to a team down the bottom ffs. I am trying to be calm about it all but it is making my blood boil inside, sooo bloody frustrating!!
I thought that Berra looked the weaker of the CBs yesterday certainly not as dominant and assured as last season, I can Understand why we have Skuse and Dougy in the middle to allow the wide men to be the attacking outlet although I'm not sure it's clicked yet. I think if Murphy had have been playing the hold up play could of been a way to bring Sears AMN and Fraser into the attacking third to hurt them but Murphys touch and desire seemed absent. I have no problem with Chambers I think he brings a lot to the team yeah he makes mistakes but I am confident that if we played a so called 'natural' RB he would also make mistakes, I would like to see Bart back I have more confidence in him. However things go there will be a few players that get the fans frustration and focus last season it was mostly Tabb ( can't remember anyone specific on here to dislike him though) Chambers seems like a popular target because of the playing out of position although he's played there for three years, Smith always seems to get stick early in a season then by the end he has fans backing him again. All just my opinion you'll understand. It's still early days plenty of time to go....Coyb.
Fair points Weighty, just so disappointed after all that driving Westy and I had. There were a few hopeful signs and periods of more fluent and attacking style in 2nd half, but on the break Bristol's very average forwards carved our defense up. Lets all hope for a swift turn around, and a few fresh faces next game given a go.
I certainly don't envy the long journey Gaffer.........the thing about football is you pay a lot of money to watch with no Idea if it's gonna be Value for money(prices now means it very rarely is) and you can watch 90 minutes of good football only for it to be undone by a late goal against or tother what around. As for giving new players a chance I do like the look of Yorwerth from the few times I've seen him play for the first team and U21s but not sure he is ready to play week in week out just yet.....Emanual I've not seen enough to know if he is a better option.
Quite right Weighty, I actually enjoy the journey up to Suffolk usually, but the world and his wife were on the road that day! Agree with Yorwerth and Emmanuel, both impressed recently at Man U so should be given a chance at least. I am tired of seeing our back 4 turned inside out. Experience and age in all sports is a great asset, but if those players often prove a liability, lose confidence then its time to give Youth 1st team game time. The likes of Bru & Bish were given those games last season...and made a big difference. Is Bish still injured?
MM said after the match that he thought our Midfield gave the defence adequate cover but from where I sat that certainly wasn't the case, their first goal came because nobody would put in a challenge so a weak harmless shot took a deflection and just about crossed the line, but the situation should have dealt with before then by restricting the time and space. Our defence hasn't been as tight as last season which is a worry but our Midfield is dreadful which is why we are playing sideways before the predictable hoof upfield to Sears of all people who is marked by a giant, our front players need the ball at their feet but this cant happen with no creativity coming from Midfield, hopefully Brus return will improve the situation.
Right, mentally draining weekend over, and I've had a bit of time to properly digest the game so as ever I'll try to be as constructive as possible. No worries traffic is a right old pain will see you at a later date South! First half I thought was quite a poor half of football all around. Bristol City had the first two decent chances, we came into it more. We did however certainly first half have a couple of decent spells with the ball on the deck zipping it around. I haven't seen us have sustained pressure for a while, sadly this only happened twice from memory but both of the moves were very decent! The central midfield pair are an issue. People say Skuse/ Douglas are too similar - No idea what the hell Douglas offers at present. He's not great out of the ball / tracking his man / strength firm base and on the ball wasn't good either. Skuse I also thought was pretty damn poor. Good job I'll be going to mainly away games this season, as we'll hit teams on the break a lot. This teams very good on paper - but the reality is we cannot dictate a game. The defence to midfield needs a hell of a lot of work. Niles also seemed designated a free role so he was often leaving Chambers in a right mess. I actually thought Lukey C did VERY well at RB for once, not a fan but he was our best defender by a mile. Knudsen again was bang average and the CB pairing weren't great at all. Niles was the main issue for team balance, just stay wide for heavens sake it was very annoying seeing him everywhere apart from IMO where I thought he should have been. Murphy, despite being poor AGAIN ( albeit better than I've seen his this season ) offered a lot more than McGoldrick + Pitman when they came on. Sears second half was going right repeatedly ( clearly instructed to ) which was giving me a nervous breakdown. I thought Fraser was excellent again, some player the lad + Sears + Chambers completed our best 3 players. Second half at 2-1 City ( their first goal sadly was one of them things that happens, second was terrible from us ) we resorted to pinball akin to last season. I felt very sorry for McGoldrick having to deal with this. In summary, main points from me - * Niles hug the touchline more..... * CM - Certainly need a Bish / Bru for home games for 90 alongside one of the two. Skuse + Douglas I don't mind playing IF they are protecting the defence or winning challenges. They aren't. Hell, I'd even have Tabb + Bru at CM for some god damn energy + hunger. I was far from impressed with their desire. * Tempo. So damn sodding slow. Speed it up, get it zipping. We're going to be bang average at home unless we learn how to do this. * Yowerth on loan - you have a good month son and give Mick a headache as you were superb at Man Utd - hell I'd gamble and play you now Berra + Smith at CB at the minute is NOT a good partnership at all. Mick needs to work on a few things - he's now assembled a very good squad and needs to be a bit more positive/ brave with it. Certainly at home. We're clearly looking for a balance and hopefully we'll get there. But after all is said and done, nine games gone and we're joint 3rd on goal difference. 20% of the season gone, we're in the hunt. Sure, I always want us to do better and am disappointed when we don't win but as long as I can see some good signs then I'm always proud to be a blue. Good character to come from 2-1 down aswell, sure, a game perhaps on paper it's a comfortable home win but football doesn't work like that. Bristol City won @ Boro 1-0, anyone can beat anyone so it's onwards and upwards. Bring on the Blackburn, a very poor side where their fans are likely to berate them and get on their back for 90. I fancy this side to beat that crack of poo. COYB.
Bloody hell lads! Since when did this board start getting all serious! I come on here to forget about the football not bloody analyse the crap out of it!
Good post Westy, think you summed it up pretty well. Fraser and Sears have been our best players by a country mile so far this season, their passing movement, link up play has been superb. I hope somehow we manage to sign Fraser permanently next summer, he's a cracking little player. Central midfield has probably been the standout issue since Mick has been at the club, we just don't have the players (or a player) to dictate the game.Which puts a hell of a lot of pressure on us as a team because we seem to either play 100 miles an hour or it all goes to pot and we are chasing games, we don't have the ability or perhaps it is down to instruction/priorities to play keep ball. Skuse for me really should be this player who does this, he has the ability just noone in there is brave enough on the ball. Bru and Bishop are both good players but they're still not the type of players to dominate a game. As I've said before you can really tell our defence has been worked on since Mick has been here and also our strikers but it feels like the midfield has just been left and I've always considered the midfield to be the most important area of the pitch. Saying this however, defensively we've looked pretty poor this season, what has Berra been up to? He looks a shadow of his former self With regard to McGoldrick, he's clearly a class player however I always feel he almost brings unbalance to the team when he's in it. For me out of the strikers it's still got to be Murphy and Sears. Sears movement stretches the game. I've seen Mick move Sears wide a few times this season when we've been chasing the game and it's caused us to lose momentum. And we still need a RB unless Parr is going to play there. Although I haven't been overly impressed with Knudson, so surely it's only a matter of time before Parr is in the team at fullback. We are however in a very good position, we've got a few players to come back into the squad or game some sort of match fitness. I'd certainly have taken this at the start of the season
