We are now 8 games played, the doommongers have taken a breather, the club has gone through it's new manager growing pains, CEO has talen the reins, quietly and efficiently, new medical and fitness department operating (excuse the pun)well, minimal injuries and greater player availability, significant improvements, coaching and academy programs excellent at 'High Performance Centre', management plans succeeding quietly with good, solid progress, quietly and well in control. Team positives ~ 1) Team spirit, moral, strength, understanding, fitness and togetherness outstanding 2) 2 top signings Atkinson & Tanner (under £2m cost) playing well and integrated. 3) Top ten candidates - currently standing in 9th place. 4) 8 games played - 12 points 5) 4 games unbeaten. 6) 3 away wins on the trot - 9 points Team negatives ~ 1) 14 home games without a win. 2) Player game management lacking. Not a bad place to be in considering our lowly position at the end of last season, NP has got us to a level we can all feel comfortable with, his communication skills with us fans is excellent, they need some improvement with the media but that is still developing, overall I believe we are in safe hands and a higher mid table position is a safe bet at the seasons end. Please add any negatives or positives you feel are missing.
I reckon our 2 signings have been real value for money, in the small amount of time played they have both cut it as well as any of our previous defensive signings, they have settled straight in alongside Kalas & Baker. Shows there are still diamonds out there without spending millions we can't afford or wasting it on volume signings and high salaries, it just demonstrates NP has a proven history of digging out these gems, James Vardy, Tom Lawrence and Nick Powell for example, may he carry on finding them for us, it's the only way to go.
We are at an interesting point - we just need to get that home win and the monkey off our back. We need to do that before the away form suffers. NP is exactly what I hoped for - an experienced guy who knows what he is doing. I would have snatched your hand off for this start.
Nick Powell (only played a handful of games for Leicester) and Tom Lawrence were both Man Utd academy players? That’s like saying we found Tammy Abraham. edit, just saw Powell was a Crewe product.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/nig...tation_id/45791/plus/0/sort/datum_hidden.desc The way I read it was Tom Lawrence loan, Nick Powell Loan Transfer, James Vardy Fee £1.12m If I've read it wrong I stand corrected..
Powell only played 3 games for Leicester on loan from Man Utd, so they spotted him from Crewe. Lawrence also only played 3 games for Leicester but he was a Man Utd academy player. I’m all for bigging up Nige, but you’re becoming RR territory now, and you don’t want that do you
Good signings though.. I'm back to the 70% and 50% in jgf2 territory, you know that, don't throw me to the lions as well I'm an innocent soul really.
Let’s be quiet straight about this. Bristol City we’re absolutely dire the last two seasons. what this man has done in such a short time with limited funds is amazing. The football club is in great hands and it feels great to be watching my team play again . One Nigel Pearson
not keeping quiet!!! The championship is in more of a turmoil than last couple of seasons … at the moment! … After 7 games :- ……………………………………… AFTER 8... POSN .. Only 2 top 12 won!! with 7 lost and 3 drew 1 Fulham D W W W W L W ……………………. L ……. 2 2 Bourne D W W D D W W …………………… W …… 1 3 West B D W W W W D D …………………… D ……. 3 4 Covent W L W W L W W …………….…... D …… 4 5 Stoke C W D W W L W D …………………… L ……. 5 6 Hudder D L W W W L W …………………… L ……. 7 7 QParkR D W W D W D L ……………………. L …... 8 8 Blackb W D W L D D W ………………………. D …... 6 9 Cardiff D W D W L W L ………………………. L …... 10 10 Brum W D L W D W L ………………………. L ……. 11 11 B City D L W L W D W ………………………… W ….. 9 12 Midds D W L D D L W ………………………… L ……. 16 In settled times it can take a team 4 or 5 or more games to move up the table [ or down ] After 4 games Hudds PNE Brum& Sheff were in top 10 were in top 7 .. DERBY & LUTON IN BOTTOM 6 … 8 games in and only 2 not lost …. City have arguably the hardest fixture next …. at HOME and versus Fulham ! 14 games no win and with only 4 draws = 4pts from 42
Not sure many can complain about where we are after 8 games....I think better than most of us expected...especially after our dreadful last half of last season. But it's still very early days to get carried away and a huge amount of room for improvement.....I still think we are learning what players gel, what formations suit and how we go about getting a result at home..... We must continue to improve game by game to strengthen the confidence within.....Nige IMO is still learning with this set of players we have, but so far, overall it feels like it's coming together with lots to build on.... I'd say, just about getting most things right.. Injuries & suspensions will be the test for me on how much they will or will not alter the momentum..
Before the season started I said somewhere on here that the first 10/12 games would give us a significant clue as to where we are in the great scheme of things. To be honest, after the debacle of last season, I didn't hold out too much hope!! When you consider that the very late lapses of concentration (!!) against Luton and Blackpool have cost us 4 points, we are in a much healthier position than I ever thought we would be. At times, particularly at home, we are not playing that well, but still grinding out results. That has always made me happy, because I've believed for a number of years (other than last season), that on our day we can beat any team in this division. I feel the same this season, with West Brom and Fulham not being the forces I thought they would be. There's a long way to go, but I feel a lot more confident about the season ahead than I did before a ball was kicked in anger!
If Nige can get Wells playing down the middle with Martin and Weimann as a three we could be deadly on the goalscoring front.
We are certainly doing better than I anticipated before the season started - but I said the same this time last season too. Early days - but the signs are positive. It's looking more like mid-table mediocracy for us now, rather than a basement battle.
Well our injury time winner [ QPR ] makes it 2 -1 so 2pts would be a fair assumption. Before season started I laid my table out stating 14 points from 10 games .. cant recollect anyone else doing the same !! . … we have 2 chances to get there …. BOTH very hard games. is there an aspect of NP's game plan … losing or drawing to go all out in in final 15 mins or so to win and lose out getting anything?
There were too many variables to confidently predict how many points we’d get after 10 games, or any number of games for that matter. So far so good, honestly I didn’t expect us to be doing as well as we are, but still early days, We also have a small squad and a long term injury to a key figure could cause major problems.
We are doing O.K. but need to up the ante at home if we want to be an upper table outfit. Overall I'm quite happy with our lot under new management and the financial restrictions and look forward to seeing where the new vision from SL will take us.
