Match Day Thread Bristol City v Hull City

yep
even against oxford it was massive, but they were fortunately a bit ****

 

I thought we looked decent going forward and pleased for Joseph, the lad could have had a hat trick in the second half. But where was our midfield? We were wide open as the game was and we never had control over it. At the back the decision to let both Jones and MacLoughlin go so cheaply looks like another own goal and as for Hughes, seems the talk of £10m transfer fees for him has made him think he is Bobby Moore. He had a poor game compared to his usual high standards and all the transfer talk may have been a factor, or was he just having an off day?
Bristol City were good today and we were in patches, but no way good enough defensively.
So entertaining today certainly, and we showed promise, the new lad was decent and it was good to see Belloumi back. But it's a long ride home on the back of a 4-2 defeat and a long two weeks before we can put it right.
Not too disappointed though.
.

 

See if you can get that kid released by Grampus 8. Sacked for stealing a car apparently. Think he’s called Tukamota.

 

Havent seen the game but it seems he had another stinker.. hard to believe Stoke was it wanted him early in the window...

 

People pretending Jones would have been unreal in the air and stopped all of these crosses make me laugh.

Macca fair enough, he was a solid defender. But he wouldn't have been starting over Hughes or Egan would he.

 

Acun should be pleased , goals galore

Who is our defensive coach btw ?

 

I missed the Cov game , but everybody said how solid we looked at the back . That injured bloke must be as good as Maldini as every game since been crap defensively

 

Agree with most of that but don't get why you're not too disappointed. We've shipped 12 goals in 4 games and that Coventry game feels like like a looong time ago.

 

Hopefully, we stick with Jakirović. Portsmouth were like this all of last season. They’d lose 4-0 one week then win 4-0 the next but they stuck with Mousinho because he’s a decent young coach and I feel the same applies to Jakirović.

He does need to fix things though. The amount of goals we’re conceding from crosses is a joke. Is it tactical or personnel? Drameh’s always been crap in the air and marking his man but he’s good defending on the ground and going forward. Giles is the same, except he can’t defend at all. Maybe we need to sacrifice one of them. Keep the 3-2-5 shape but have one of the fullbacks play as an extra centre-back in possession and a proper holding midfielder in front of them.

That’s easier said than done though because look at what the coach has to work with. No number 6 and no other central midfielders on the bench. The two centre-backs we brought in to replace Jones and Macca are both frigged and we knew that when we signed them.

This is why I don’t think you can put a positive spin on the fee restriction. Yeah, we made some decent signings given the circumstances and played well enough in pre-season and the first two league games but this was bound to happen sooner or later due to the lack of depth. The financial mismanagement by the club has made the coach’s job a million times more difficult than it had to be.

 

Semi, Haloumi and tree will make a huge difference if we can keep fit.

With miller and matazo to come back.

Might be worth getting williams, just a better defender then either full back.

Then hopefully alphabet comes good.

 

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Missed the game as sadly been in TWS land all day.

Seems we peaked a bit too early this season?

 

You do that with windows paint?

 

He already signed. Am I being whooshed?

 

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The midfield aside, I don't think it was that bad of a performance, I've certainly seen worse. Bristol have a very settled side that they've built over a number of seasons - they are where I'd like us to be in a couple of season's time.

Positives:

• Belloumi looked very good, bit rusty but overall given the amount of time he's been out, it can be forgiven. Good play to help set up the Joseph goal.
• Joseph got his first goal - was unlucky to find Vitek in good form, but he's going to be in the Man U first team before long so it was always gonna be difficult.
• Akintola surprised me today, he looked a bit lost in the last few games but he shone today, seemed to work well with Ndala on the other flank.
• We played some decent stuff against an in form side and it was particularly pleasing to see us punish a mistake from the opposition. In previous seasons that would have been worked back to the defence.

Bad ****:

• Mistakes cost us today, no question. Hughes dossing about for one of them, nobody picking up Riis in the middle for the first and similarly the fourth was an easy finish because we didn't go man for man.
• We need a six, that's for sure, so hopefully this Bosnian lad is going to allow Lundstram and Palmer/Slater/Matazo/Crooks to take up the box to box roles. Crooks being out seems to have derailed the midfield a bit and we've lost some height at set pieces.
• We've now conceded 12 goals in 4 games against Bristol, Oxford, Wrexham and Blackburn. Those aren't top Championship sides, we need to improve sharpish. Hughes had an off day, as did Drameh and Pandur, but when your better players aren't at it, it leaves us vulnerable and Egan was often left scrambling to recover.
• Our midfield over commits big time. With Crooks in the side, you can have that extra man forward because he forces the others to stay back. Without him, it looked like both Slater and Lundstram were pushing on and leaving a huge gap around the centre circle area. Their midfielders were strolling through.
• Zonal marking doesn't work in the Championship. There, I said it. You need to go man to man when you haven't got pace in your defence and we definitely don't.

D+ from me for this game today. Get the Bosnian guy in, show Hughes footage of Michael Turner against Arsenal, don't sell Pandur.

 

Lundstrom & Hughes were ****ing ****e today.

End of report.

 

**** off with your **** bullet points.

 

Dirty Barry

 

I think you're contractually obliged to say Slater was **** as well