For anyone who missed Seans program notes

Read the head coach's full programme column.
Welcome to the players, staff and supporters of Crystal Palace for this Capital One Cup second round tie at Ashton Gate.

Nothing is more frustrating as a professional sportsperson than almost getting a result but coming away with nothing.

As I write these notes prior to our trip to MK Dons, we have been ‘almost’ men so far this season.

We almost got a win against Bradford City, we almost pulled off a fantastic comeback in an otherwise poor display at Coventry City and we almost got a positive outcome from a game against Wolves, which for half an hour had looked like men against boys.

In those circumstance you’ve got two choices; do you let the disappointment bring everything that has been good crashing down and lose belief in the way you’re trying to do things, or do you take the positives and try to build on the things that have almost got you the result?

Of course ‘almost’ means nothing when the points are added up at the end of a season, but for a team in transition we have no choice but to look at the positive aspects of the performances and encourage the boys to stick at it.

I’ve made no bones about my disappointment of our first half performance against Wolves. We looked like a team that had conceded five soft goals the previous week and lacked the courage of our convictions to do anything purposefully.

We didn’t press as a team, gain or retain possession or recognise and adapt well to what was actually happening in the game.

The space Kevin Doyle was allowed to play in between our defence and midfield defined the pattern of the game, and the introduction of Joe Bryan was aimed at giving us more balance and a way to get back on the front foot.

If you can win and retain possession, width can come from anywhere. But with a team that is still very much learning the intricacies of how to play a more fluid, passing game – and all the attacking and defensive responsibilities a fluid system entails – it is extremely easy to quickly lose belief in trying to pass it when under pressure. The bravest thing in football is wanting the ball when the easiest option is just to get it up the field as quickly as possible to try to relieve some of that pressure.

Sometimes that can just make your problems worse if the opposition recycle the ball and it comes straight back at you, but sometimes you pick up the second ball and you can play off that much further up the pitch, which can give you encouragement.

Against Wolves we didn’t win a second ball until the 40th minute, and you can’t pass the ball if you haven’t got it.

We can work day in and day out on passing in training but if that doesn’t translate into a match it’s pointless.

We can’t spend a season being ‘almost men’ and so, for now, we have to find a way to play that the players are comfortable with, that enables us to be organised defensively without impeding our attacking verve, but from which we can evolve a style and identity.

Everyone will have an opinion on what the starting XI should be and what system we should play. But if I sat with ten supporters, explained my considerations and dilemmas in relation to each individual player, and then asked each supporter to pick an XI I expect that a) they would be different to the XI they would have picked previously and b) I wouldn’t end up with two XIs the same.

For the majority of the game against Wolves, Frank Fielding was our oldest player at 25. Sam’s 24, Jay’s 22, Jordan’s 19, Marlon’s 22, Joe’s 19, Scott’s 23, Greg’s 22, Derrick’s 20, Aden’s 24 and Brendan’s 24.

Age in itself doesn’t mean much, but age and inexperience does. Jordan and Derrick had never played first team football before this season, while Marlon has played all his football in League Two and Joe’s also played most of his football at that level.

Aden has just turned 24 and is less experienced than Greg, Jay and Scott for example, but yet the three of them, like much of the team, are still young players with a lot of potential, albeit with masses to learn.

We all understand this is an ambitious club, and a club perceived as being one of the biggest in League One this season. The crowds we have had so far this season are testament to that and we are working hard to develop a team that mirrors the size of the club.

We have to win football matches, we all know that. But if we are going to develop players, and give inexperienced youngsters opportunities, we have also got to accept that none of those players will currently be the finished article. Some are very raw and all will make mistakes. Supplementing the squad with experience and competition for places is common sense but long term you don’t want to block these youngsters’ pathways to playing regular first team football for Bristol City.

Last week we saw Simon Kerrigan suffer a baptism of fire making his Ashes debut. As a talented young player tipped for success, and with the series won, you could see the case for playing him. At the end of his torrid first day, England’s senior players quickly joined ranks to support his inclusion and talk about their own ups and downs breaking through. As a high profile team that’s enjoyed a lot of success in recent years, it will be interesting to watch how they handle Kerrigan’s development.

As supporters who want to see your team do well, I accept it’s not so easy to bite your tongue and keep encouraging when disappointing things happen. But your support has been excellent so far this season, and these boys need you to stick with them, because belief is the first thing to go when you haven’t got the experience to handle disappointment.

 

Cant argue with the logic TBH

 

There had been plenty to be positive about, but can't help think of the vibes on not 606. Performance v palace made that negativity look silly.

 

To be perfectly honest, aside from the 2 wins in the LC and some patches of decent play, there hasn't been that much to be positive about - certainly not league results

 

However you can see that the players are starting to get together as a team so the future looks brighter plus if you listen to Seans interviews JET is nothing like fully match fit yet and lots of our players are really only playing regular football this year so for a first month for a squad who mostly hadn't even met each other pre July and had hardly played or had only played in short spells they are starting to look better than we really had a right to expect. I think we all got a bit excited over the JET signing remembering what he did to us when he played for S O'D before but he was fitter then than he was when he arrived at AG he is getting fitter and more match fit with every game he plays, and if he is this good at something like 75% match sharp what can we expect when he is fully up to speed, It is pretty certain that Sean knows how to get the best from JET and Jay seems to respond to the way Sean wants him to play which has to be good for our future if we can keep him for 4 years or so and build the team round him with fluid passing not only will it be pleasing to watch we could well see teams fearing to play us rather like the halcion days under AD the year we went up.

 

For the first month the results are disappointing, but the team isn't, I did expect us to be about 6 points better off but on reflection if we finish up

plyd 6 won 2 drew 2 lost 2 that would be ok....8pts

I reckoned on us getting 1.75 pts per game, 1.34 is a bit shy but if after 8 games we are on 14pts that's on track...OK its a straight 4 wins but all teams have a run!!!! Orient and Peterbro just did 4 wins!

 

Angelic there have been individual performances this season to roll out the superlatives.to. The team is full of youth. There is a tangible change,in style. Huge change.

Sports physcholgists would suggest the attitude you employ if allowed around the team can only make a team, and players weaker.

 

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