Did he orchestrate the win at Brentford or did he (and us) just get lucky? The last time we had a back to back wins were Slade's first two games - Forest and Ipswich at home in October. Since then with him we've had more false Dawns than a transvestite's convention and I don't want to put my hand up only to find another one....... The only true evidence is continuity in performance and he hasn't brought that to the side yet - tonight could be different. Agree we don't really know what made the difference and that Slade has had his fair share of blame for the crap performances as a team. There again, he's the guy in the driving seat and it doesn't alter the fact that once the game had started in the past, Slade had become a passenger to the events that surrounded him. The technical area stuff along with Young in tow before Trollope arrived was abysmal in that Slade appeared to have no idea how to change things. He often seemed locked onto a set path like a railway engine on rails unable to deviate from the set track. His "vast" experience that's often been cited as his main attribute has never been obvious to me. Tonight's game against arguably the best pure footballing side in the division could change that - but will it?
Sparkler if we win or draw tonight can you please give slade a little bit of credit and loads of credit to the players,if we lose but have given 100% effort then lets get behind the team and see how far up this league we can finish
Wooooaaahhhh there matey we'll be having none of that positivity around here I take the point and if the current coaching setup can start getting some results (there has been a slight improvement in style) then maybe I and a few others who've made our minds up about Slade need to start to wind it in a bit.
Credit where and when it's due as far as I'm concerned Will, and to my mind the Slade and players haven't earned it yet. I don't really care whether we do win or draw tonight to be honest because we're going to get nothing out of this season, but if they play well and Slade manages the side during the game not just before and after it, I'll say so.
Getting better, and grinding out results is better than grinding out losses, but we're still grinding. Slade and his players are looking far more of a unit these last few games and I will readily admit the improvement. We can only hope the classy stuff will come later as it's getting a bit cheesing watching opposition teams who are better playing football than us. Another battling performance against a fluid and classy Bournemouth outfit that looked good for their table position, much the same as Brentford on Saturday. Two good results against quality sides can't be ignored. The next step is to get some quality into our game. Jones was so poor last night it's a sorry state to have to say it's probably his goal tally that's kept us mid table - without those strikes we'd be really struggling. If we are going to go forward from here, we need an overhaul both at the sharp end and most definitely in midfield - the defence is starting to look good, Manga/Morrison are a becoming a very good pairing, and great to see Fabio taking his chance. Whitts must be past his sell by date for me in this sort of Slade setup. To say he's living on his reputation could be a bit unkind because he had players who moved in front of him in previous seasons - he just seems uncomfortable and oddly out of place. Good to see evidence that Adeyemi is still at the club as well last night.
Entertaining game. B'mouth streets aheads of City when it came to passing, movement, finding space but in my opinion overdid it at times, plus their defending was poor. City had enough chances to win it but on another night B'mouth would have had 5. B'mouth, did you notice, were able to pass quickly and direct to their players whilst moving forward at pace? City do not have the players or ability capable of that. Plus B'mouth were shooting for fun until they possibly decided 1 nil would be enough then when City drew level, they upped their game, City dropped deep and were lucky to hang on for a point. So the problem for me again was the lack of legs, drive and tackling in City's central midfield plus Gunnarrsson's lack of technical quality. How many times did B'mouth (like many teams before them) drive forward through the middle whereas City looked to cross from deep? Until City get some better technical and quicker central midfielders then they will just be mid table mediocrity.
I couldn't make it last night due to work commitments. The radio made it sound like Wilson was outstanding for them. His movement was creating all the space for them to play. I've been very impressed when I have seen him this season and he looks like a player destined for the PL with or without Bournemouth.
Good and fair summaries guys. B'mouths levels of skill, movement, technique and fitness were way above ours - as were Brentford's. What we have it seems is an ability to dig in, grind it out and frustrate the opposition. This comes from a solid back 4, even with the changes at full back forced on us. It was very obvious early on that our Plans A, B and C were to lump the ball up to KWJ, hope he would win it and flick it on to Revell who, as ever, was a willing runner. I thought he had his best game so far for us and I had visions of us nicking it when Doyle came on. As for Gunnar, the game simply passed him by. They went over or around him and apart from his throws he contributed little until it became blood and thunder stuff towards the end. Steve's comment on Wilson - yes, a very good player at this level, very similar in style to King at Blackburn. However, my brother in law, a Cherries fan, came to the game and stayed with us last night. They feel he over elaborates at times when it would be simpler to get a shot off. Also Pitman had a poor game - good for us. Our "style" if you can call it that will keep us out of trouble this season but there will have to be some radical changes for 2015/16 if we are to progress.
