I hope you're not too wet down at the Gate and if you are watching the same game as me you probably will come to the conclusion that we will need to step up the ante in the second half. We knew that at some point we would face an uphill battle to get some points and being down 0-2 at home to a good looking Leeds side will provide Lee with some deep thinking in the dressing room at half-time. The response we get from all and sundry will show the depth of this squad and the man management skills of our boss and it will be an interesting second half and if we can overcome the hurdles then it might show us what we are capable of achieving, but right now I'm not so sure we are up to the task. We look somewhat off the pace, and although their first goal was a slight deflection past Frankie, our defending has at times looked like rabbits in the headlights. A good stern talk by Lee needs to settle the nerves because our home record needs to improve if we are to consider ourselves to be a possible contender, especially when we are heading in to the meat and potatoes time for league positioning.
A bad day at the office and we were beaten at whatever game we were trying to play, not quite sure what, by a better prepared squad. It turned confrontational at the end and poor discipline was not what we needed.
It was so disappointing to see the largest crowd at Ashton Gate leaving well before the end and the overall mood looked somewhat sombre.
I think we missed Baker, Pato and Smith today, deserved nothing after a shocking opening 15 minutes, it was all over after that
Did we witness the difference between a team that believes it can be a contender and one that wants to be one? I have said that I think we have a squad capable of absorbing line-up changes without missing a beat, but today may have proved otherwise because we clearly did not pass the acid test. Are the alarm bells ringing or do we just need to do our homework better? We are still looking better than last season and with some strong tasty encounters coming up we need to dust ourselves off and go back to the drawing board. Onward.
Suffering from illness. I think a few of them suffered this week but that was what I overheard in the coffee shop. So Chinese whispers and all that. But Patterson was definitely illness. Baker and Smith injured
Trouble is ROD they have used this 'injured or ill' scenario in the past and there was nothing wrong with the player!
True but at the moment it’s the only thing we’ve to go on. Patterson to me is streets above Leko. Might not look fancy but a real team player in my opinion. Flint is good when next to Baker so is it he’s being covered a lot more? Wright in my opinion should of been moved inside and Vyner played but then again Leko does not cover back so perhaps leaving Vyner too exposed. Diedhiou should of been played in hindsight but against Derby Woodrow looked good. It was all wrong yesterday looking back. Me personally would of dragged Pack of after 20 mins as he was looking lost might be a trier but yesterday was lost. Put Magnusson on and moved Hegelar into midfield, he may be slower but at that point is was not working. As to the crowd, can you imagine back in the 80’s or 90’s the noise pre kickoff would of lifted the players. Yesterday it was just too quiet.
Keepers have to be slightly mad but could Fielding have gone with his torso to smother for their 2nd, a chicken goes with his legs. And how much of a deflection was their 1st. Just asking.
From where I was the first was a big deflection. But if you saw the build up it seemed every deflection went to Leeds, they cut through us like a knife through butter.
Thought we were poor all round- That said, Leeds played well and you couldn't argue with the score line- Certainly missed Baker which couldn't be helped, but why not play Maggs? Hegeler was poor. Up front was weak, not sure why Diedhiou wasn't started but that miss at the end for a striker of his value was pretty worrying. We aren't pressing much up front at the moment. All very well having all that possession against Burton but its goals that win games and we hardly threatened then. Midfield was non existent- Taylor unlucky to see Red but the damage was done well before then. Have a run of tough fixtures now, Sunderland may be down there but at home will still be tough-
Well, if City ever needed to step up and be counted then I think the next 4 games is it! Some very tough league fixtures combined with a cup visit by Palace will show us the measure of the team, and by default our manager. Do we have enough supplies to get us through the winter or will we be heading out for fresh supplies come January? In reality we are in a somewhat difficult situation for evaluation, with some senior names missing from the team sheet, and perhaps when we have all the wheels driving us again we can make a more informed assessment. How nice it would be if we could totally bypass the January window nonsense by having all our ducks in a row to make the final push for the finish line. Do we have enough already on board to have that luxury or are we just dreaming our season away? The loss yesterday was a poke in the eye for us, whichever way you look at it, and Lee's response to his charges will be critical if he wants to take us to the better place he has promised. Interesting to see how we all respond.
