Match Day Thread City v Derby

Grab two of each animal and head for the border the end is nigh

 

Quite possibly LJs best result. Derby are a good side, who only a week ago dicked a side that were in the Premier League last season 5-0.
Without wanting to get too carried away I think we should recognise what a great job the management team have done this week, after a break came 3 tough games and with that a requirement to change the side up and they have done that to great effect and picked up 7 points when most of us fans thought we would not get any.

 

Interesting quote from a Derby fan Desicafu on their JA606 thread - especially for some who thought LJ has been given too much money

' How incredibly bitterly disappointing that performance was. I was so angry watching that but now just despondent, so many below par performances.

Managed to have a chat with one of the Bristol City coaches before the match and they have high hopes for Bobby Reid and Joe Bryan. Reid did well and any player with pace is going to turn Baird inside out. Bryan started slow but showed improvement. ( I think he scored goal 2) It's definitely the side we should have looked to expose more.

Their no.45, Jonathan Leko, on loan from WBA, is going to be a good player at this level. Lots of pace and capable of running defences ragged. I think he was responsible for the second goal cutting inside our defence in 2nd half.

Their French signing Diedhou came on for Leko and won EVERY SINGLE header vs Davies and Keogh. Strong, powerful and very effective, Bristol city have created a good side ( strange to think Lee Johnson was so close to the sack last season)

Back to the coach I spoke to, he mentioned that Derby's wage for the year is about 32 million and that they are looking to reduce it. Aston Villa's is over 40 million!!! How much is JT on?

Bristol City's is about 16 million.

Interesting and rather sad how a failed GK from Derby, a reject midfielder from Forest, Patterson and a young crop of players have more desire and passion than our overpaid underperforming squad.'

The full thread is here: https://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/376481

By the way Wiz - I replied to your post over there

 

This is like invasion of the bodysnatchers! Where are the real RR, RP & Wiz?!

Seriously though, another great result - I think they had almost given up after the third goal, but it's still a strong indictment of City's performance that they did.

I don't think we should get too giddy yet though - I'm confident that we won't have a collapse as bad as last season, but I think it's premature to say we're the real deal just yet. Potentially exciting times though - it's not inconceivable we could pick up 6 points from the next 2 games & be on the cusp of the automatic spots. If it goes the other way though & we only get 1 or 2, we'd be well served to remember what good results we've picked up & not revert to an excessively dour mood.

 

@invermeremike take note of this comment from above

"Their French signing Diedhou came on for Leko and won EVERY SINGLE header vs Davies and Keogh. Strong, powerful and very effective"

Please don't take this as a knock against you as I know it's difficult to see on streams. You don't always see players when not on the ball, but he's not as bad as you think he is and I believe he will get better.

 

Also I've noticed a few comments regarding Cauley Woodrow on here and OTIB. Have to say I was impressed by his running and power yesterday.
I think we've got a good loanee in him.

 

Agree with you Nick, now I've calmed down and had time to reflect , I'm sure we'd all agree the performances and results this week have been exceptional , personally I'm not going to get carried away , there will be highs and lows , I will still be happy with a mid table finish , I have to admit at the moment LJ is well down the road to changing my opinion on him though .

 

I did see the reply from their supporter regarding Diedhiou but I still don't think we are getting the full deal from him yet and to make me feel a little better about my comment I had posted it before his goal and a couple of headers. Nevertheless it looks as if Lee wasn't totally happy with his outings and that's why he was on the bench which is not a place that I feel is good for our all time record signing. If he and Leko get to pair up then he could go rampant, but getting back to yesterday's game I thought we got it all right and right now the future looks bright enough for me to be positive. P.S. Thanks for the shout ROD.

 

Just one of very few that believed and backed the corner of LJ.......It's been great and a breath of fresh air that SL didn't go into panic mode like so many wanted him to........To be honest, for what management/coach was and is around, I could see it was no more a gamble to sticking with what we had.....Well done LJ, so far so good........couple of bad results and the knives will be out in force though!!!

 

Not much BCFC activity over there, but quite a good place to go to find opposition views.
Not Norwich though.

 

So basically you are just waiting for him to lose a couple of games to tell us you told us so. Since he has joined hes had several decent run of results and one dreadful run. His win ratio is only bettered by Steve Cotterell and Danny Wilson in the last 20 years both of which achieved mostly if not all in Wilsons case in the third tier

 

Is he not entitled to his opinion then? I have known Wiz on here as a poster and on previous forums for many years and a no more loyal Bristol City fan will you find! .. I am of the same opinion as Wiz, LJ has a long way to go yet before I am fully convinced.
His "dreadful run" was more than that, it was club record breaking dreadful and tactically inept.

We have been here before with this 'isn't he wonderful' scenario.

At the moment all is good and all the praise is fully deserved but its early days yet, I for one, honestly hope the good form continues and
those of us who doubted him can eat our words.

Thats a little way off yet!

 

We are 2 points better off, but 1 point worse off than the team in 8th last season so doing reasonably well!

Last season we were very dependant on Tammy, thought Tommo was our saviour and really had no back up to fall back on. So far this season we have a team no outstanding single individual...yet ....
I agree the 8 losses were a disaster / disgrace but unlike the many who took to the war path my outlook was more of the wider picture. Did I want LJ as manager, well he would not have been on my short list, did I support SL yes 100% he made a statement early on, we ride out the storm.. and he did just that we will never know had been demoted would LJ be in charge as that did not happen.. my guess is it would be likely he would be and we would be top of Div 1 !
I plumbed for 14 points in 11 games, as my end of season tally came out at 60 points and I stick to that for the moment.. after 23 games I shall reassess

 

I would never doubt that anyone on here wants anything but the best for Bristol City, but if I have any kind of rift with fellow supporters, it's those that show significant disregard or doubt, but aren't able to quantify what would constitute success, & that's where (unfortunately) myself & Wiz have disagreed quite a bit recently.

The closest I've come is him saying that anything below 10th would be disappointing, which I believe to be unreasonably high. I would suggest that Leeds, Wolves, Cardiff, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, QPR, Norwich, Aston Villa, Fulham, Derby, Hull, Reading, Sunderland & Birmingham ALL should've expected to finish above us at the start of the season, based on factors such as stature, resources & wage bill, with a handful others fairly level pegging. This is backed up by the bookies, who are completely impartial, so why should we consider ourselves so special that a more competent manager than LJ would be more capable of achieving significantly more? If people think that's the case, then I only ask that they back it up with logical reasoning, rather than dodge it by saying 'I remain to be convinced' & then come up with 'suitable' criteria in retrospect to judge if the team/manager has achieved what they ought to, given the circumstances.

All fans are hoping their side achieves more than what is reasonably expected of them, but I don't believe it's fair to chastise the team/owner/manager if they only achieve what is expected (though there may be a case if the same setup treads water year after year after year etc).

I myself have had doubts about LJ - I thought his appointment made some sense, due to his affiliation to the club during his playing days, but that it came too soon, & that how much he divided opinion as a player would result in many being (at least slightly) predjudiced against him from the outset, which I still believe to this day.

Having said that, I was also one who came to the end of my tether last season when we set our record losing run & said he ought to go, so can't hold much of a 'moral high ground', if you can call it that. Any success that City, & by extension LJ has is, to an extent, against my better judgement, but I would love every minute of it.

So far I think we're overachieving (if only slightly) against expectations, but it's enough to say 'good job so far', & enough to say 'LJ has proven me wrong by turning it around & then some'.

 

He doesn't need to justify his opinion with predictions.. he is judging the man in charge on his experience of him!

 

I keep seeing that, people saying its early days. Its not early days, he's been in charge for 20 months and over that time he's had one disaster of the run sandwiched between good runs. Yes he was lucky to have an owner to stand by him there is no doubting that but he's currently on a run of two defeats in the last 16 games (both against Birmingham), in that dreadful run we did have 2 wins in 16 games, ok one was against Fleetwood in the cup but people weren't saying then lets wait and see its early days like they are now. It smacks of people sharpening the knives and waiting for him to fail and to lose a couple on the bounce