Okay so Hull......... I really still don't know what to say about that. The fact Mick's kept them on the pitch is alarming to me - usually keeps the lot internal. Any idea as to what was said etc !? Sounds the crowd were hard work - clearly not going to help anyone play but I get it people have had enough. 2 goals in 9 home games is an embarrassment, 0 in 5 worse. Never known anything like this from us or any side at any level at home ever!? Clear as day we're a lot happier as a team on the road! The system is clearly better suited to contain rather than dictate play... we could perhaps stifle and do a number on Bristol CIty. However it really doesn't matter should we win. We're not going to get top 6 and we're not going down. Sure, 9th / 10th would feel a much better season than 14th / 15th but they all mean the same. Maybe a couple of K more in ££££ but in real terms - MEH. I'll be going to this for game 2 of my season - rejected a job in China so seems I'll be around for the forseeable. My partner is trying to get sponsored in Aus still - papers have gone in but it's going to talk a lot of time to figure stuff out. Being based 10 miles from Bristol - I cannot really have any excuses not to go. We've got a really cool South West meet in a pub at 12 / with members of the Ipswich Monday podcast coming. We're expecting 80 in the pub before so it'll be a great day! Unlikely to post on here Saturday as could be a heavy one but I'll disect the game Sunday. What I've seen. For what it's worth, I still fully get why Mick plays the game he plays. I get it. I don't particularly enjoy watching it / however it can be effective. It's just when you lose / and he plays it that way it's somewhat tough to take. Fine if we're having a 14/15 or even 15/16 campaign. Garner the latest to join the pile - I maintain we'd have had a decent shot of being 6-10 without the laughable pile of injuries this season. As for the game, PRE Hull had a feeling we could nick it. Post Hull, Garner out, on the pitch, season over..... think the red boys may want it more than us. Bristol City 2.......... us..............0.
Mick said the public display was to show everyone the solidarity between him and the players.... The sooner we erase the memory of that game the better! Although Hull have picked up recently, started to click, so on paper it was a shock but in reality perhaps not? I think we’ll have a bit of fight about us at Bristol especially without the added pressure of Portman Rd. 0-1 or 1-2 wouldn’t surprise me and would be a typical Mick response.
Trouble is Westy, Mick doesn't get that at the moment his way of playing football is driving fans away and all he really cares about is points on the board and what the owner thinks of him. Well Marcus must love Mick because he is thick skinned enough to take all the flak without complaining or calling the owner out. He's said himself that fans are bored, bored of him, bored of the football etc but still won't do anything to change it. I can't stand the bloke anymore after reading his comments this week, including today's reports that have him saying things like I'll stay on just to annoy the fans. Very sad to say but I'm getting close to being done with my club for a while unless something changes because as supporters we're being treated like absolute mugs.
I don't think we'll win this match or many others coming up now for the remainder of the season, despite our decent away form lately. I'll opt for a routine 2-0 win for Bristol City. We'll probably field eight defensive players and try and eke out a goalless draw, but Bristol City can play decent football and usually those types of teams find a way through us. Regarding Mick's media comments, he comes across as a man desperately trying to keep his job. I raised the theory earlier this week that he was trying to foster an 'us vs them' mentality between club staff and players against everyone else, including the media and the supporters. When managers like Sir Alex and Jose Mourinho implement that sort of tactic, it always included supporters as part of the club and it was always done in pursuit of some sort of honours or a title challenge. We are not going to get promoted this season. We are not in the running for any trophies. This is purely for Mick to keep hold of his job and it's a sad state of affairs that it's been allowed to get this bad. It's also sad to see so many supporters becoming apathetic to the club. I wouldn't say this is McCarthy's fault though. He is more or less doing the job expected of him by getting a club in mid-table with the small budget he's forced to work with. He has always got teams playing the same style of football and unashamedly focuses on getting the result over anything else. Evans knew that when he hired him almost six years ago, when we needed it, and knows it now. Evans can sack Mick whenever he wants, the buck stops with our owner. He doesn't care about managers honouring their contracts, look at the way he shamelessly sacked Jim Magilton. The worrying thing is that our owner is nowhere to be seen, has only given one interview in a decade, and seems content on managing this club under a blanket of austerity. He has proven to be out of touch with everyday matters, particularly the season ticket pricing which is pricing out fans and upsetting the core fanbase. His five point plan last season could've been written on the back of a *** packet and we don't even follow most of the points.
Suspect we'll go and win this match somehow. Neither side are particularly good at the minute, though Brizzle fans have at least seen something to get excited about this season and harbor some hope of rekindling that early form. We may be dreadful, but Teflon Mick has a habit of pulling something out of the hat when he really needs to. Can see another 1-0 away win and Mick smugly mocking the fans in post match interviews, with a handful of players also making statements like "Win was for the Gaffer" and "Win shows we want him to stay" etc.
Thats the problem - he doesn't need to. Our season is over, our treatment room is like a scene out of Holby city, he's leaving at the end of the season. What is there to play for other than pride? I can see us losing pretty much most games left (except maybe Barnsley and Birmingham, they're proper ****e) Customary 2 nil defeat - two goals from two corners as per usual against this lot
Agreed, but I very much doubt He will see it as such. He'll think that he needs to: Try and justify that he is worth a new contract Justify why he is still here at all "Doing a pretty good job, all things considered" as he has put it previously Stick two fingers up to the fans (which may well be his main motivation now)
I admit I don’t know much about your team chaps. With us, it depends which team turns up. We have 2 teams. 1 can beat Man U and stuff Sheffield Wednesday off the park, playing some really good football. The other can’t beat Sunderland after being 3-0 up at half time, Leeds after being 2-0 up - and gets beaten by Bolton and can only huff and puff against Burton. The trouble is - those 2 teams consist of the same players!!!! If we play our passing game we’ll be very difficult opponents for you. However, if we try ‘Warnock style’ hoof it to the big man (Diedhiou) then we deserve to lose (although that style doesn’t seem to be doing Cardiff any harm). On paper we should win but football is played on grass!!!
Good to see 4 changes, attack-minded, and the successful away system. Let's hope for a much better performance all round.
Well, a surprising half, I expected the Robins to be at least 1 up. Be bold, go forward, nowt to lose.
0-0 at the half then. Not a great half of football, we have tried to keep the ball down a bit more but there's no invention or adventure in our play which amounts to a lot of sideways and reverse passes. Nobody from midfield is willing to drive forward or make telling plays, it's all very cautious.
Meh, not much to comment on at all. Some passing on the deck but no penetration, no urgency after going a goal down and 5 out of 10 performances from mostly everyone. Would rather see Iorfa and Kenlock if we're playing with wing backs because they both have more attacking intent and ability than Spence and Jonas. Midfield needs someone to take charge of the forward movement. Mick was saying yesterday that he hasn't changed his style since coming in, steering us clear of relegation, the play off year etc so can't understand why the fans have changed. Problem is Mick, your team has changed since then, you no longer have a target man up front to supply knock downs/hold it up and allow others to catch up to the play after a long ball forward. You found an answer to it with Garner's ability to win free kicks but without that we can't make the ball stick up front and as soon as we get to the final third we run out of ideas and the ball ends up back at our 'keeper, which I saw happen frequently today. So you may not have changed your ethos but you don't have the players to play it anymore Just do one already!
