Things Are That BAD...

I find it incredible that after 40 odd games he still hasn't addressed our problems in central defence and midfield.
We've got FIVE strikers though - how bloody ridiculous.
We've all been had.

Again.

 

I guess the difference is the team hasnt been the same as those first few games. At the start of the season he played the same players. As soon as the manager started making changes it started falling apart. Maybe spending big money on Baldock had a negative effect as City were scoring goals as a team with Stead and Taylor and with that sort of money as well as on Davies it forced the manager to try and bring those players in and change the team and how they played.

Woolford rightly so voted player on the month having scored 3, set up goals and was the midfielder we had waited for ages that would drive in to the box and now he is lucky to get on the bench thanks to injuries. He has played in all the games that we have won points in (3 wins and 2 draws).

To me Del needs to go back to playing as close to the team he played at the beginning of the season as he still has injury free the midfield 4 of Albert - skuse - pearson - woolford. Not perfect but they have done the job already this season.
Foster at right back and Briggs at left back, McManus in the middle with another defender (maybe Holloway with his presence) and pick two of the 4 strikers.

On paper it seems an easy choice to make but we dont know whats going on behind closed doors and clearly something is happening for del to drop players and do a Rafa and become a tinkerer.

I have always found it odd at City that a manager will always play a player out of position than try and bring a player through the youth system. Probably why teams like Southampton and Palace (main example) have been able to rbing players through and they have gone on for bigger money as they were given opportunities and those players stepped up. Surely Del could have played Reid or Holloway instead of Foster in midfield in the last game? Joe Edwards played twice for us at right back and was voted man of the match in both games as he was outstanding in both and cant get in the squad now.

Letting players like Christian Ribeiro leave on a free looked a bad move as would still rate him as a better right back than Foster and Ribeiro has already played 18 games this season so shows that he isnt injuried which is apparently the reason he was released.

 

But it has been documented time and time again that he has tried to buy players only for them to reject us for some reason. 4 defenders that we know off probably more that we don't.
The forwards he signed are two, at the time we only had 3 and one that Del does not seem to rate Pitman, plus 2 of the five are out of contract end of this season, Stead and Pitman. Davies has proved to be a fantastic bargin that could also play in a number of positions. Was Baldock a marquee signing that the board wanted I don't know but for him to be available could well of been an offer that West Ham put on the table for us not we enquired. Don't know I don't sit on the board.
Also with Stead and Pitman coming to the end of their contracts the club might of been looking to offload these two rather than let them leave for nothing. As we know to survive we need to balance the books buy selling, I don't know just speculating.
I agree with the midfield that I believe has been a problem now for as long as the defence. What we do know is last season Del never had total faith in the midfield as he got Sean Davies on loan, maybe unlike Buzsacky that we know off there might of been others scouted and turned us down.

It is not blind faith I have in Del, I'm more than aware at the moment he is failing along with last season we get out of danger to be play ourselves back into it. Just for once I would like to see what a bit of faith will bring to the club as I can buy into the academy starting to build, but if we don't use them then it is pointless.

I always thought we never gave Dennis Smith a chance and believe he was sacked simply because his refusal to sell Cole. Then look what happened we ended up with Osman! Coppel leaves we end up with Millen! Sometimes it's better to look at what we got understand that we are a small fish in the world of football we don't get players or managers that fancy coming to us.

 

Well put ROD.........small fish in a big pond sums us up nicely. A little west country backwater as far as sport is concerned, with a "quaint" ground and dwindling support. Big names and big earners will not be forming an orderly que at AG.
I have to be honest and say I hav'nt realy enjoyed our time in the championship, other than the first season of course, and genuinely miss being a bigger fish in a smaller pond.
I will still support Del though, and if the "R" word was to happen, I would say stick with him for stabilities sake. Its just so bloody frustrating at the moment as I too beleive we are only 2 decent players away from being a lot lot better.

 

'But it has been documented time and time again that he has tried to buy players only for them to reject us for some reason'

ROD, I'm sorry I don't buy the excuses - It's rank bad management.
As a boss in any business you 'cut your cloth' but he's spent most of his budget on strikers or wasted it on Morris.
As a consequence is it any wonder he then can't offer the salary that is required for a top CH or CM.

It's not for me to sack him, I didn't employ him but someone needs to give him a huge rollicking and remind him of his job description.
He / they have let down Bristol City.

 

But Redprint your forgetting one thing, Davies and Baldock came towards the end of the transfer window after he chased various defenders. I'm not defending him at all, just looking at the bigger picture.

Morris we know you don't like, but unfortunetely he's here so just have to get on with it.

At the moment teams that don't spend big are doing ok why because they keep bringing through youngsters and until we address this we will have to spunk money on players coming towards the end of their career ie David James and Jody Morris. But I do believe Del is working on sorting this out.

CCR we have known each other since we were like Shiny's age, we have seen promotion and relegation and I agree the most exciting times have been in league one, even though I don't want to this to happen but it will do to three teams, but hopefully Del can get it right and see us moving up. If it does I can imagin Os and Clyde and all the other franchise city supporters rubbing their hands ready to call us if this happens.

 

Who......hand on heart.....thinks we would not be in this mess IF the stadium was underway? Building started last year perhaps and looking at the opening game there next season?

All in retrospect of course.....BUT

Cardiff, Reading, Swansea, Saints......to name but a few, all similar in stature to us BEFORE they had nice new stadiums.

Makes you wonder though...........

 

On a flip side though mate
Darlington
Doncaster
Oxford

It does generate money but does not always guarantee success.

 

I don't think the stadium has anything to do with our current plight. Granted, it will be a bit nicer for the players to play in a decent stadium (AG is honestly shabby at best) but a players motivation to join a club is usually down to 2 things - money and location. I applaud SL for not paying over the odds and frankly Bristol's geographic location is pretty attractive. Win bonuses and premier league dreams aside, I cannot believe that a player would not join us if the contract terms were fair.

Our biggest failing right now is a "glass chin" defence. They simply are are not up to the task and crumble with ease. Individually they are not bad players but as a unit they are awful - the record speaks for itself. A few clean sheets would like breathe more confidence into them but the problem is these have to be earned. They are seemingly incapable of that right now.

IMO we need to protect the back 4 for a few games to rebuild faith and confidence. This requires a defensive midfielder to sit in front of them and stop or disrupt the attacks before they get near the danger zone. Marv could do this if fit or bring back Cisse as some have already mentioned as he seems to be unattached to a club right now. This may curtail our goal scoring ability but if we don't let goals in, we cannot lose.

Until we get this sorted out, we are near certainties for relegation and a period of discontent again.

 

'Redprint your forgetting one thing' - I'm not forgetting anything.
'the end of the transfer window' - McInnes has been here 12 months, more than enough time.
We're paying for an imbalanced squad because of his inexperience and naivety.

I'm content for you or others to believe Mcinnes's reasons/excuses - but I don't.

 

But those teams who have had a stadium and gone up is also down to investment in the club overall or having a manager / scouts that can find players without paying over the odd.

City are neither so new stadium would not change our current result.

Cardiff also changed kit colour. With your argument Would u think we would play better if we played in a different colour. Again probably not. In theory using cardiff, new stadium, new badge, new colour, new owners, new players just means same name but different club.

City are the same as they have been for years. Cant keep a clean sheet and no bite in midfield. Managers make mistakes but we seem to get to see that same mistake with every manager. Even if we got a new manager would they come in and say we need to invest in the defence? Probably not it will be a case of lets buy another striker.

No difference to liverpool who have no defenders or strikers and a whole bench of midfielders so new manager comes in and has bought in 3 midfielders and now wonders why they are short up front. Only thing Liverpool has shown is they have thrown their youth players in and they are out performing the senior players and have kept their places.

 

Since DM took over a year ago, our results have been characterised by either good performances and results, or poor performances and results.

His honeymoon period which started with a 2-0 defeat to birmingham- and then a run which at the end of the year had taken us out of the relegation area, and even to the expectation that we could be in for a play-off place........

Then a bad run which started with the 1-0 defeat to Crawley..and seemed to go on for ever, and with heavy away defeats to Hull, Ipswich and Peterboro, there were many comments like where is the next point going to come from... and suddenly a win against leicester and to follow a 8 match unbeaten run which saw us escape relegation, ..form carried on to the first 3 matches of this season,...and then defeat to barnsley and another bad run, and after defeat by Hull- again the doom-mongers are wondering where the next point will come from.....

That is very simplistic- but why are we producing these either very good or very bad runs.... could it be that some of the key players are producing the goods when we are winning but likewise when we are in a loosing run are not performing.

 

Time to wake up and smell the roses guys, the hard fact is that Bristol City Football Club is not on the radar for most players looking for a change of environment. It was a piece of City's history that I missed shortly after coming to Canada but would I be right in putting our almost disappearance from the footballing world down to a bunch of persons desiring of taking City to the promised land no matter what the cost?

It may be simplistic but does that history harm us in today's real world or is it down to the fact that the footballers of today (unlike the days of yesteryear when we almost went bust -lol) are greedy and non-commited beyond belief? I can understand any footballing savvy person cringing at the no-brainers we have purporting to be the mentors of our youth, but when it comes down to deciding to join BCFC suddenly their usually inactive brain matter seems to come back to life and only exorbitant wage demands will satisfy their money lust.

In today's dog eat dog world can we expect anything else? The realities are probably that we can only barely afford the players that we currently have on staff and the mere mention of a new, possibly more motivated, player sends our accountants running for the cliffs to meet up with the lemmings prior to the death fall.

Until we have a chairman that opens up his wallet at every whisper from his manager when things aren't going well we may have to put up with what we already have. If that is what you really want then good luck to you and my suggestion is to look around at other teams who were led up the proverbial chicken path with promises of all kinds of commitment and success it makes my blood boil. Am I close to the mark that we may be one of the few teams that have actually read the new "fair play rule book" because I don't frankly see a lot of other teams even trying to meet the guidelines.

I know we haven't met the expectations that we all thought would happen and despite all the excuses we are all still looking for a scapegoat where we can hang all our frustrations. All disasters are never pinned on a single cause but rather on a sequence of events, any of which if dealt with in a more expedient way, potentially could have eliminated the original problem. Until someone stands up and faces the truth at Ashton Gate we may never solve the problems that will face us every year unless we act on our deficiencies which includes the much mentioned midfield general. Ever thought that anyone who could fill the bill might be saying to themselves that the earning potential at AG must be fabulous because they haven't been able to fill the position for many years so therefore I can ask my own price. Remember guys that the only commitment from such a player will last about as long as it takes for City to lose the game in the last 10 minutes.

We have been through this same scenario for how long now? Until the full dynamics of what is going so wrong for us is determined we have absolutely no chance of competing for the types of players you think we need. And I will tell you right from my red heart that the problem is not in the manager's office but just down the hall in the dressing room, and has been for years. Good luck Derek.

 

Just saying I love this thread, as rather than trading a few insults, there are really well thought out and argued points. Even a Wurzel can be educated it seems.

I like the look of our side on paper, excepting strength at the back. Each defeat this season, I believe you can pin the blame on certain players, not the manager. On Saturday gone, watch back the low-lights and see how Nayatanga puts us in trouble each time with poor positioning and lack of desire to make any effort to get back when he is caught out. Other games it is the same.

I hope we keep Derek, even if we were to end up in our most comfortable place in the top half of Div 1.

Just remember we do not ever want to be a Plymouth, a Glasgow Rangers, Bradford or worst still, a Luton. Been there, done that, never again. Please

 

Educated wurzels could be a dangerous thing glengregory especially when they spread their wings and fly off to Canada. We do of course get the odd ranter or two but I think we have some very well written threads on this site that debate the facts rather than try and demean the sorce.

These are well sailed waters for BCFC as many older timers will well know, and although the so called promised land is currently way over the horizon let's try and calm the waters in our own way. We can't let Bristol City's boat get taken over by a bunch of ne'er do wells (I hesitated to use the word "pirate" for obvious reasons - lol) but the mutiny in whatever form it has been growing has to be stamped upon right now. No excuses anymore, just get the job done.

 

Glenn Gregory has hit the nail right on the head when referring to stupid spending by some clubs. I never want to go through the agonies of early 1982 when it seemed as if all of us would never get to watch our beloved City again. I spent my last £90 on shares much to the disgust of my wife but even she later came to understand our passion for this club.
So while nobody likes to see defeat after defeat, it happens to every club at times, even if to us, it seems to happen to Bristol clubs more than elsewhere. Imagine how the Red Scousers and their manager feel today.
We know where we are weak, so does the management team and so do the board and SL. We cannot go on losing by the odd goal forever so let's all keep supporting them until this run ends.
Even if the worst happens in April 2013, WE ARE STILL BRISTOL CITY AND PROUD TO BE SO.

 

Again I find myself seeing things very simply (I am rather simple anyway).
We are the third highest scoring side in the NPC so our strikers are not a problem. This also would suggest that our midfield isn't as bad as some are saying - unless of course all the assists for our goals have been from other strikers (I'm not being sarcastic or trying to WUM - I genuinely haven't checked the stats).
Assuming I am correct on the stats, this means that the main problem does lie at the back - which is also where all the on-pitch leadership should come from.
Our defenders as individual players are not brilliant but they aren't as poor as results would suggest either. What is missing is leadership and organisation on the pitch.
We need a captain who leads by example and marshals the back 4. We used to have that in Carey, but sadly his legs went about 2 seasons ago and apart from Caulker there hasn't been anyone of the right mold to take the job on.
Where this player will come from I don't know, but without him the dire results will continue.
Our results against Palace and Cardiff were not strange IMO - they happened early in the season when teams didn't realise just how crap our defence was and were more cautious than they needed to be about pushing forward.
The trouble is we have been found out. Teams know that we are a threat to them with our goal scoring record but as soon as they get the ball to our box they are likely to score. Set pieces are another weakness of ours defence wise.
I can't see the situation improving until we get a leader on the pitch and I honestly don't know where he will come from.
If I was managing the side I would involve the players themselves in the selection process - a bit like a craftsman choosing and teaching an apprentice. Carey should have chosen his successor and trained him up to take over from him.
Finally I don't think sacking Del would do any good at this stage. It would probably deter managers from coming to us tbh when we aren't exactly attractive at the best of times.
One thing Del could do though is come clean about the situation - why are players turning us down? Why drop Woolford? Etc etc

 

Once you get sussed out by your opposition you are in trouble because what you may have thought was an asset has now become your biggest liability. That's why one dimensional teams rarely succeed and you need a back up plan to confuse the other team when needed.

I get the impression over the last few years that when teams play BCFC they know exactly how to line up their troops to overwhelm our defence, and until such time as we have better manpower and tactical variances we will continue to fail against all but the very weak. May not sound difficult but just ask the powers that be if it is achievable given our well known constraints.

 

I liked someone's team on OTIB

--------------Heaton------------
Davies---Davies---Davies---Davies

Davies---Davies---Davies---Davies
----------Davies---Davies-----------

Plenty of ball control, eye for a goal, good at set pieces and a good tackle