Definitely happy to take a point-Swansea the better football side. Strikers were left isolated with no service at all. Amazed city are still second.
Watched again today and don't see my team ending in the play offs. Brunt was solid, Kalas did well, you can throw a blanket over the rest of them. I don't see any pattern to our play and Holden was a GJ mark 2 flooding their box in the last 15 minutes. My hope is Williams and Walsh will get fit ASAP and supply a balance and structure to City.
I watched 2nd half, thought we had loads more urgency to our game compared to Tuesday....But just lacked quality in the final third..I see the injuries are mounting up, hope we have the cover..
Bentley and the defence is solid but that won't last unless he plays specialist midfielders. My hope is that the fans are actually at some stage fully updated as to what exactly is the problem with Williams and Walsh and why Morrell was not kept until January, did we really need 200k?, I can see the reasoning in selling him but not with both expected midfield starters long term injured. Not impressed with that. Brunt was on his own in midfield, the other 2 were shocking and it has been the same for the last 3 games, we have been sussed and have become easy to play against.
Jiffie, I don't think our defence is 'solid'. Ok our current midfield isn't helping but I think we're weak defending set pieces and corners. From what I saw yesterday I thought we were lucky at a few of their corners. Kalas is on his own, Moore and Vyner aren't yet up to it. Mad, but our best defender against set pieces is Fammy.
Just read on OTIB that Walsh and Williams are likely to be out till Derby just after international break.
Well at least that's news of sorts. Over a quarter of the season gone by then and then they have to achieve match fitness,
So why does Walsh play all season for Coventry yet is out for quarter of season for city. Why sign a injured Williams in the first place crazy,
Our defence is as good as can possibly be considering the fact that Baker is out injured, Kalas has been out injured, Mawson is now out injured and we have had regularly use Vyner and Moore together (both of whom are great prospects). The midfield problem is largely man made, Holden seems to be going down the Johnson route of playing weak inconsistent midfielders like Weimann and Paterson, yes we won the first 4 games but the danger signs have been evident in the past 3 games. it's time now to play Brunt and Bakinson together, Weimann needs to be on the bench ready as an impact sub, something that we lack. I would maybe give Paterson 45 minutes on Wednesday to see if Brunt and Bakinson can cover for his midfield inadequacies. The sale of Morrell now looking increasing like a poor decision, where is Nagy? he seems to have disappeared from view.
I understand the sale, if all our midfielders are fit, but as they are not all fit and nowhere close to being fit, I do not understand the timing, we could have held off until January.
Morrell wants to play games in order to get into the Wales squad for the Euros next season, we couldn't guarantee that so I think we've done the sensible thing for his career and let him leave.
The irony is given the length of injuries to Williams and Walsh he would have played games and who knows what would have happened. And given those circumstances and given that most people could see that Weimann was never going to consistent enough in midfield for us, it might have been sensible for him but not sensible for us.
I agree and we missed out on him once before. But given our midfield circumstances the sale Morrell was not IMHO a very clever footballing decision.
Jiffie. You wrote 'Bentley and the defence was solid' citing the midfield as the main problem. I agree the midfield is a big problem but I don't believe it's just the midfield. Until Baker and Mawson are back, maybe Christmas for Baker, I think our defence is weak especially with set pieces. We're making do just getting by, as we are in midfield.
Dean Holden says that Bristol City's Liam Walsh and Joe Williams are out for another month Head coach explained in a radio interview at the weekend that neither midfielder is due back before the next international break. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dean-holden-says-bristol-citys-4641421
The difference, we are not getting by in midfield, we are being out played in midfield. We have conceded 6 goals. Coventry - No midfield press, Hunt out of position, poor clearance from Vyner. Forest - Vyner goes to sleep at a throw in and we are caught out by a wonder strike. Barnsley - The only goal conceded from a set piece and a debatable penalty. Middlesborough - Bad mistake by Moore. Swansea - Patersons bad mistake under no pressure in midfield. So only one goal conceded from a set piece.