So we fans are expecting too much ! This from the man who said 'I' do well in cup competitions and 'I' don't lose games by more than 2 goals. Notice 'I'; not 'my teams'. We're 16th after 9 games with a GD of -2 and 12 pts. Last season, in L1, we were 15th after 9 games with a GD of -3 and 12 pts ! Our pre-season etc looked good, but look at the context. ICT are bottom of the Scottish Premier League, Reading and Burnley after dodgy starts are still in the bottom half of the Championship, Watford are too; and Wycombe and Orient are 22nd and 24th in L1. Allegedly we've signed attacking players, but have scored 10 in 9 games. The board has given him carte blanche and the team is HIS. He made his signings early so had time to work on them. Buckle said he wanted us to be a footballing side but then plays Zebroski and Harrold together. No wonder we hoof the ball up the field ! Virgo has the turning capability of a cruise liner. Modern man management is a subtle art. Being Mr Tough seldom works. There will be those in the camp sympathetic to Kuffour and Stanley. He risks alienating those. And that comment about the pitch a few matches ago ! It's in great condition. He should have had a quiet word with the groundsman in private. I'm surprised he didn't tell him to get stuffed........perhaps he did ! The fans have been great. Although attendances look low they have been the best in L2 and better than most in L1. We took 161 out of 771 to Wycombe. Those who expect automatic promotion are being unrealistic; but if we can't be in the top 7 out of 24 after all the recruitment and sword rattling then Buckle is not doing the job I thought he would. We deserve, and EXPECT, better !
I believe we have every right to expect automatic promotion Pirate. We have been relegated from league one fair enough, but our budget is big for this league, our club is big for this league, our city is big for this league. Only two sides IMO are bigger than us, and one of those are close to going out of the league altogether. I do expect a bare minimum of play offs from this season and certainly dont expect to be laying mid table or lower with a poor goal difference. Buckle blames the pitch which is fabulous IMO! He picked the players, and he must get them sorted SOON! Injury is a problem, but he signed a few players knowing full well they are prone, like Anyinsah who spent most of the last 2 or 3 seasons sat with the physio. Get the ball on the deck, and play some fecking football Buckle! We looked decent when we involve our wingers!
i will be happy with watching football. if we lose while playing football then so be it. however with the side we have, we shouldnt lose too many if we play football. however i wont be happy watching hoofball which is what is currently being served by the guy who said "attractive attacking football" and "we will use out and out wingers". well mr buckle, richards, brown and mcgleish are not wingers. the guy you leave on the bench - carayol, is a winger. playing both zebs and harrrold up front will not work. it should be 1 or the other like zebs being cover for harrrrold. the team he should be fielding is bevan smith woodards bolger brown anyinsah stanley campbell carayol mcgleish harrrrrrold would be tough to drop richards as he has been great so far but i prefer to use proper wingers. i do like gill but he seems to be unfit with a hamstring injury and stanley done ok so far and cant drop campbell either. virgo needs to be dropped due to him abusing the fans by the tunnel after the aldershot game (according to fans on the OS forum). mcgleish to start up front and i prefer harrrrold to zebs. bench would be cronin, anthony, brown, richards, zebs. if chasing games with 20 mins to go then stick zebs on for route 1 football and have brown and mcgleish just behind for the knock ons and 2nd ball. but not start route 1 from 1st minute of the blooming game! obviously just my opinion. obviously i am frustrated at the moment with the tactics used and very confused while they are being used. i wish i had the chance to be manager for a game. anyone know when we are suppose to be bringing in loan player(s)??
Totally agree about Harrold and McGleish up front. For Gawd's sake...McGleish is a proven goal scorer!! Still not sure about Smith. Woodards looks an accomplished FB so I'd probably just bring Anthony in CB. W Brown has disappointed..perhaps Trollope was right. On the bench as CM cover. With Gill injured is Buckle big enough to make Campbell captain? He still gees everyone up. Would anyone have guessed that Virgo was vice-captain ? More subtlety needed at free-kicks. Virgo smashing the ball has its place, but not every bluddy time!
Captain, this is the team i would pick and would be happy with Smith at right back as we would be attacking leaving him little to do. He is a bit green though and tends to get caught out of position!!
Millen - it may take a few seasons for your lot to get there - you are being optomistic, but give it a couple of seasons and you can make it!
I don`t think at the start of the season it would have been overly optimistic aiming for automatic promotion and I still think we should be in the playoffs as a minimum this season. We have a completely new team and they`ve had enough time to gell and that`s my biggest concern because our performances are getting worse rather than better. It`s not like we can blame the board anymore, it`s all down to PB I`m afraid.
****e,how does it feel to be fellow Bristolians in arms,it would be so easy to take the Miicheal out of you lot but apart from league positions.we are in worse ****e than you.... Just for once I hope we both get instant progress,I know both sides have wums,but on this occasion I mean it,good luck to the "G...........s" and Bristol City,the only way is UP....
Back on 606 at the end of last season i said that we should not expect to bounce straight back, and that if anything we may be in for a battle to maintain our league 2 status as relegation takes it's toll on most teams. Then Buckle came in, the new additions seemed to make sense and even though we lost hoskins i felt that with Anthony, Campbell, Brown, Kuffour and Lines we had proven L2/L1 experience that we might be able to build on Then we had a fabulous pre-season and it was a given that ourselves, crawley and Swindon were going up. Truth is we are a new team, and Buckle probably needs time to get the players pulling in the right direction. at least he pulled rank with Jo and Stanley, nice to see a manager with balls at this level. Realistically if we can do what we always used to do, that is have a good run from Christmas then i think we may be lucky enough to sneak a playoff place. L2 is very tight and it only takes a mini run for the whole league to change. I think Buckle needs to take advantage of the loan window as it's very apparent we need a better centre back and a poacher to replace Jo. couln't hurt to get another defensive coah in as i get the feeling the new back row can just as easily forget everything they are told as they can remeber it . . . need some sort of threat to keep them on their toes. too many times have i seen the football league show and watched our defense just look blankly at one another, or try to shrug it off . . they are paid to keep the ball out of the net, and at the moment they are not doing it, so Buckle needs to either bring in new mentors, add a signing that can "clear them out", or ensure there's a defensive midfielder at all times for me, i think all 3 wouldn't be a bad idea . . guess that depends on the wage bill though
Thanks wize....fair summary. I think we will come good if Buckle keeps his gob shut and restores the attributes we showed early on. Your side really is in trouble, and the most astounding thing to me is Lansdown's silence, coupled with Sexstone's (apparent) lack of leadership.
Triggs - with all due respect, against Bradford they held solid - just one 50/50 penalty decision against Harrold and a very dodgy decision at the end of the game for the second pen - no goals against in open play. Against Shrewsbury they again held firm - although the Shrews played most of the football they couldnt score - don't forget they had won 4 games on the bounce b4 that defeat. On Saturday the only goal of the game came from a glaring error from our CB otherwise they didnt really trouble SB very much - and they were going into it unbeaten in 7 games. So I think the defense is doing quite well - the trouble is it is at the expense of our midfield and forward play. I can understand to some degree about the whoose football as we were getting punished at the back for every little mistake, so to keep things tight you have to do the simple things like clear your lines - however when we have the ball at the back and are under NO pressure there doesn't seem to be any link play between the 3 lines (defence/mid/attack) - so even when we have a chance to play some football we don't take it. Oh well we now have a couple of weeks without midweek games so it will be interesting to see what PB comes up with on Saturday afternoons. I have stated all along that all I want for my money is passion and a good game of football - even if we lose, then so be it - but at least we will have been entertained! Last saturday I don't think I got excited more than once or twice - to me it was just plain dull - and Aldershot wern't better - oh well just have to wait and see what gets served up against Cheltenham - don't you just love being a Gashead!
