Is the glass is half full or half empty for Bristol City fans? The case for each side is argued here By a_stockhausen . Lee Johnson has led Bristol City to tenth in the Sky Bet Championship - but just how to fans see the season so far? I guess the answer to that question will depend, in large part, upon the personality and psychological make-up of each individual supporter. Those with a positive mental outlook will probably feel the season is going quite well. Those of a more negative hue, will no doubt point to a recent downturn in fortunes on the pitch as evidence that further improvements are needed at the Championship club. Here are the facts so far; of their 17 Championship games so far, City have won seven, lost seven and drawn three. They currently occupy tenth place, three points off the play-off places and eight clear of the relegation zone, having scored 23 goals and conceded 20. They enjoyed their best run in the EFL Cup for more than a quarter of a century, reaching the last 16 before bowing out to Premier League Hull City. Here, City reporter Andy Stockhausen assesses whether the glass is half full or half empty. Glass half empty This all depends upon whether your focus is on the here and now or the bigger picture. Those in the former camp will, of course, point to a recent record of one win in six games and suggest a good start is in danger of being squandered. Since beating Nottingham Forest and establishing themselves in the top five in early October, the Robins have taken four points from a possible 18 and suffered defeat at the hands of Cardiff, Queens Park Rangers, Brighton and Hove Albion and Birmingham City, dropping to tenth in the table. Those defeats have been under-pinned by a distinct lack of goals, City failing to find the back of the net against Brighton, Birmingham and QPR and scoring just once at Cardiff. A change in fortunes for Tammy Abraham, who has scored once in seven outings after grabbing 11 in 14 between August 9 and October 2, has served to highlight a shortage of viable striking options within a squad that clearly requires further replenishment when the January transfer window opens. Critics will be quick to point out that things have scarcely been any better at the other end of the pitch. City have managed to keep just three clean sheets in 17 Championship outings and mistakes and lapses in concentration have cost them dear, especially since they stopped scoring goals themselves. Some fans argue that a new goalkeeper, centre half and right-back are needed in the January window if the Robins are to establish themselves as a top-half-of-the-table entity. Not all of head coach Lee Johnson's summer signings have come off so far and those fans of a half-empty persuasion have been asking questions regarding the progress, or lack of it, of Swedish forward Gustav Engvall, loan signing Adam Matthews and free transfer Joel Ekstrand, who have scarcely featured in the first team picture since arriving in the summer. As well as he has done since taking over in February, Johnson is not everyone's preferred choice as head coach. There are those who still feel he is not the right man for the job and they are biding their time for now, waiting for the team to slip further down the Championship pecking order before voicing their dissatisfaction. Glass half full You have to turn the clock back 12 months in order to appreciate how far City have come under new head coach Lee Johnson. This time last year, the Robins were engaged in a bitter and increasingly desperate fight to escape the relegation zone with a squad that was clearly under-strength in a number of key areas. Much has changed since then and the revival commenced by assistant boss John Pemberton in January has carried on apace under Johnson. City eventually finished last season in a respectable mid-table position, raising expectations among fan-base that was able to enjoy watching their team as it became clear City would stay up. That sense of mounting optimism was accelerated by the arrival of 14 new signings to bolster the senior squad in the summer, City spending around £11m in what amounted to an impressive statement of intent in the transfer window. Progress continued to chart an upward trend when the season commenced, the Robins winning six of their opening 11 games to put themselves in play-off contention and making it through to the fourth round of the EFL Cup for the first time since 1987. A side packed full of exciting young players produced an enterprising brand of football that kept paying customers entertained and a series of last-gasp winning goals contributed to a growing belief that the Robins might just be able to sustain a play-off push. Some of Johnson's summer signings hit the ground running, Tammy Abraham, pictured below, and Hordur Magnusson proving particularly effective at opposite ends of the pitch. Recruited on a season-long loan deal from Chelsea, Abraham proved an overnight revelation, scoring 11 goals in his first 14 outings to top the Championship goal charts and earn himself a call-up to the England Under-21 squad. A £2.5m recruit from Juventus, centre-back Magnusson quickly adapted to English conditions, while fellow youngsters Callum O'Dowda and Josh Brownhill also showed up well when afforded an opportunity. Johnson's decision to sign experienced old hands Gary O'Neil and Lee Tomlin also proved a master-stroke. Together with influential club captain Aaron Wilbraham, these Championship stalwarts have helped steady the ship while passing their knowledge on to a raft of young players. Recent results notwithstanding, City remain handily-placed in mid-table, just three points outside of the play-off places and in a position to challenge during the second half of the season. I suspect the vast majority of City supporters would have taken that scenario had it been offered at the start of this season. http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/our-br...-robins-fans/story-29929016-detail/story.html
I've got to admit when LJ was first appointed I had serious doubts and thought, "Oh yes, another cheap option, a yes man and a mk 2 Millen" then, we all know what he achieved and I became converted, now without going into all of the thought processes I am getting the jitters. I have always had the ' Glass half full ' attitude to life but Bristol City are my one big weakness and my mind is wandering, I await your feelings, not questioning any loyalties but the next 2 results will give a serious sense of direction and we all remember the up's and downs of Cott's. I am loyal and enthusiatic towards Lee but I am up on that fence..
The Jury is still very much out for me. LJ was certainly not the appointment I wanted or had hoped for/expected, but Lansdown will certainly be in no hurry to replace him unless we plummet into the bottom 3, which given our current form isn't out of the question. As I put on another post, I think some of our results flattered us earlier in the season and the teams we played were still finding their feet/form. I still think that the likes of Derby, Villa, Wolves, Forest and even Preston and Brentford may finish above us, and I really don't see us troubling the top 6 again this season. LJ has publicly asked for 3 Transfer Windows, and we are fast approaching the second one. It will soon be time for him to start delivering consistent performances and results if he's to fully convince me he is really the man for the job, and the one who can eventually get into the Premiership. As things stand, I'm in the glass half empty section, but I keep reminding myself that I said on many occasions that we wouldn't get far this season, and success doesn't often happen overnight and that consolidation in the Championship was really the only objective. So being realistic, maybe I should be in the glass half full section.
If he keeps on the same path,with the same play pattern,we will lose more than we win,teams have snuffed Tammy out upfront on his own.The goals are not coming from anywhere else. Personally think Engval can do no worse that what has played in front of him,give the guy ago i say.I do not buy into this he ain't ready malarky. Lose the next two,that will be a bad bad run,the wheels will finally have come off completely.
My gut answer to this would be 'Half Empty'. However, after careful sober consideration - particularly based upon our struggles last year and the perception of our 'small' club amongst the footballing elite, I would revise my assessment to 'Half Full'. I am frustrated that we have in Tammy and Tomlin (Tammy in particular) the hottest property striker outside the Prem and we are STILL only f-ing 10th. The games that I have seen (from my Swindon bedroom) this season, I have been disappointed in particular about our lack of movement off the ball. As soon as one of our players gets the ball everyone just stops - that needs to be sorted - and its a 'quick fix'. The Brighton game was an excellent example of this - where they allowed us to faff around with our poxy slow build-up - then breaking quickly as soon as we lost the ball - why didn't we do that? All of this can be fixed and I have to give myself a reality check - we appeared to be rather unlucky to lose Saturday - but to a point you make your own luck. I really got excited earlier in the season and believed we would make the playoffs for a while. Whilst that is still possible (there is a lot of the season left) I think that mid-table is more likely - and I would have bitten hands off for that last season. The real worry is that Tammy will leave at the end of the season - and Tomlin won't want to stay at a mid-table club. If we don't make the playoffs this season then we will have to rebuild again - the slate will be wiped clean again - and that will be difficult (understatement). Kodjia's departure has reminded us - no matter how much we hate it - that good players don't see us as anything more than a stepping stone to greater things.
Following on from Pemberton, who arrested the slump, then spending umpteen millions with Ashton's contacts my Dad couldn't have done worse. Empty.
Despite all the positives and negatives voiced over the years I am afraid I just see the same old stuff being pumped out of the front office. In reality, despite our slightly higher league position, can you really say we have progressed since our Wembley play-off against Hull - and the answer is no! A nice newly upgraded stadium has come our way with lot's of promises made as to where we are going but we just end up stumbling and bumbling our way along the promised path to success. My opinion is our owner has never had the balls to hire the right manager to get us where he states he wants us to be and so we continue in the same old dreary way on the ladder of limited success.
How far do you want to go back? Hull was 2008 we could all pluck a year out of the air and make an argument 2013 Relegation Zone in League 1, we've progressed 2012 Relegated from Championship, we've progressed 2008 Play Off Losers, we've regressed 1982 Fourth Division and almost out of business we progressed 1977-80 First Division we've regressed 1909 FA Cup runners up- We've gone backwards 1907 Runners up in the First Division. What the hell are we playing out we've gone miles backwards since then!! Sack the board!! My glass isn't half full it's almost 3 quarters fall we are consolidating into a Championship side, which is far from where I expecting to be in Christmas 2013.
Will you change yours if we win the next 5 and we are in the top 2. It's all ifs and maybes. At the moment we are 10th. We've had a difficult run of games. 4 of our last 6 league games have been away, with yet another away game on Saturday. We won 1 of the two home games with the other game being against one of the best teams in the division. It's hardly a crisis. If you look at the teams that have come out of League 1 since we were there, ie. the last 3 seasons, we are top of the pile (albeit on goal difference from Preston) the others are all in the bottom half, with two in the relegation zone and one gone altogether. That's decent progression.
I never said it was a crisis. In fact, I've said all along that I don't expect anything more than finishing mid table this season, and frankly we'll do well to finish there at present. I might change my mind, but I simply cant see us winning the next 5 and being in the top 2.
Exactly no crisis. A boring safe mid table position this season is further progression on last season
Although we've been on a bad run recently with only 1 win in 6, I'm not concerned at all, i'm actually surprised we're 10th currently, if come May we are 10th then it's a good season in my opinion.
Glass half empty, when I was reading that I could sense RR and RP were there telling Stockhausen what to write. RR can't do a October November without wanting a change in manager. Mike just goes with who comments here loud enough and at the moment it's the two above. I'm in the half full, as it's been pointed out during this bad run we've only been home twice.
Why? It's unfortunate that Mike lives the dream in Canada or Canaries that he will no doubt be going to soon he has to rely on what he reads. He's not able to see for himself so all he's probably read for the past two weeks is RR singing wheels on the bus, and you running LJ down.
Why ? There are umpteen more clappers on here than me and RR yet you choose to believe, and pontificate, that Mike only believes what RR and I have written. You're out of order, who are you to judge ?
**** sake stop being so precious about it, and trying to argue about everything. I ridicule RR most days but he knows that it's ****ing around.
unless we play more games than anyone else we will not be in the top 2 this season.. even if we won the next 5 it would be unlikely!
