Head coach Sean O'Driscoll has penned the following in the aftermath of the Easter weekend. Two games, two different approaches, two different performances. That word again...performances. I am acutely aware itâs results that will determine our fate this season, and Iâm also acutely aware there are people who still donât grasp what I mean when I say I have to concentrate on performances, not results, because surely at this stage of the season results are the only thing that will make a difference to our league position? Of course results dictate everything, and of course I understand supportersâ concerns are only with the results with games running out. But how do you just suddenly click your fingers and make results happen if the players donât understand what they need to do to try and win every game they play? That understanding is reflected in the performance so when I talk about performances, regardless of the final score, Iâm asking âHave the players done everything required to give themselves the best opportunity to win that game?â If yes, itâs been a good performance. If no, it hasnât been. We could have been superb and lost, or poor and won. The outcome cannot determine how good a performance has been - you wonât play consistently poorly and win lots of football matches. Producing a one-off dazzling display and victory â if you donât understand how you did it â wonât help you progress. In many peopleâs minds, the word âperformanceâ conjures up images of free-flowing, attacking football based on solid organisational foundations that stops opponents scoring. Thatâs where everyone would like to be. But when myself and Richard OâKelly walked through the door, we found a team that was decent in possession but conceded goals and lost football matches. That leads to lack of confidence and belief, which you canât just click your fingers and restore. Restoring confidence and belief only comes from giving players things they can do well â small goals to achieve in a game and a way to contribute positively to the whole team effort. We were never suddenly going to become a gung-ho slick football machine. While keeping clean sheet after clean sheet, we had to try to find another way to win games. That way, for us, has been to play for position, not possession, to win second balls, be bright off broken play but be difficult to break down as a defensive unit. Our best results have come off very limited possession. What weâve done consistently well is force opponents to concede possession in their half, and then squeeze in and be organised from throw-ins and goalkeeper distributions to win the ball back and give us the chance to play. Working hard for each other and supporting each other defensively has enabled us to win games. That is what we are at this minute in time. That is our strength. That is a good performance. At Derby we took a different approach to the game. Wanting to be positive, and to see how far the team has moved on, we brought an additional element of possession and passing to our game. As a collective, overall we were a poorer team for it. The organisational things that had stood us in good stead from our best performances to that point got lost a little. We had more possession in that game than any other since weâve been here, yet lost 3-0. The most disappointing thing about the Derby performance wasnât the way we played, but for the first time in two-and-a-half months the players let the disappointment and scoreline affect them. When you watch the DVD, and analyse it dispassionately, there were actually things we did ok in the game but some of the body language and demeanour was defeatist. Whatever the outcome this season, we cannot have the players perpetuating negativity. You want players to hurt and be disappointed when things donât go their way. But reactions are everything; that is a massive area weâve concentrated on. Players will make mistakes, the right things to do may not always get the desired outcome and they will experience numerous individual and collective disappointments throughout 90 minutes. But the only choice they have is to react positively to those. Sulk or moan and the whole spiral of negativity that breeds amongst the group, and inevitably the supporters, means no one ends up winning from the situation. At Derby, we had that for the first time. For Sheffield Wednesday we revisited what had helped us achieve positive home results and sacrificed flair for functional, which sounds negative in black and white but unquestionably has been our most successful recipe for success in all of our home games so far. No one can surely argue we hadnât been on top before and after the Wednesday opener? And no one can surely argue we didnât deserve at least a point, if not more, from the game? The starting 11 did the job that was asked of them; the fact Wednesday changed their system to cope with our approach was testament to that. Meanwhile, the substitutes came into the game at a point when they could do well and provide a spark, which they all did. The most pleasing thing for me, off the back of the Derby game, was that we handled the disappointment, and reacted positively to going a goal behind. We remained a team that worked hard for each other, supported each other and understood what it was trying to do. Thank you for the part you played in this too. It would have been easy for the supporters to have become disheartened and turn on the players but I hope you could see they were giving it everything, they wanted to do well and you took encouragement from that. When I get asked about not looking at the league table, I donât answer the way I do to try to be clever or difficult. Of course I understand supporters want to know my thoughts on where we are and how weâre doing, but I cannot judge the progress we have made on our league position, just as I cannot judge a performance on the result. If I donât go into every game believing we can win it then why are any of us bothering? If I agonised over our position and points tally compared to the teams around us, would it make any game we play more important than another? Would it change the way we are doing things? If it did then the question you should be asking is why arenât we doing those things in the first place? We try to win every single game we play. You win more than you lose and the points tally takes care of itself, but the league position may not because what the other teams do is completely out of my control. We canât get consumed by where we are and risk being dragged into the negativity of the situation when we have to be positive. We have to be. The club enjoyed a sustained period of success under Gary Johnson and came within a hairâs breadth of playing in the top flight. But in an understandable and genuine attempt to cross over that line, did the very essence of what made that team so effective get lost? The things that made that squad so effective were talented individual players playing as a team. Those are the traits we need to get back to and reinvent, whatever our status next season. This club has to find a solid foundation from which to move forward long term regardless of which division weâre in next season. There have to be traits of a Bristol City team that underpin everything we do. They are the âbasicsâ, the touchstone that, when things arenât going our way, we can fall back on and keep trying to do well to maintain belief. Can we always display the right attitude, show enthusiasm and be energetic even in the face of adversity? People may think those things should be a given, but trust me, when things are going against you they can be unbelievably difficult to do. Those things have started to be put in place and the improvements in playersâ understanding have been massive. That may not have always manifested itself in three points, but we have to be consistent with what weâre saying to the players, to gain and maintain their trust and give them something to believe in and build on to make them better individual players and stronger team components. To give this club a whole identity, and developing a way of doing things people can identify as being the âBristol City wayâ, is an ongoing process. Itâs going to require everyone â staff, players, supporters, the Board and the local media - to recognise and understand the big picture when the natural instinct is to get bogged down game by game in the result and league position. We have to make sure this club, regardless of the playing staff or management personnel, has a way of doing things from top to bottom that is outwardly recognised as being the âBristol City wayâ, and that supporters and the city can feel part of and be proud of. The short term is, of course, important, and we are doing everything we can to try to look after that. But the behaviours and attitudes that will give us the best chance of short-term success will be the building blocks on which everything else around this club can grow. Please keep supporting your local team; you canât begin to appreciate what a difference it makes. Sean OâDriscoll
I think SOD's been advised from on high to clarify his post match comments. For what it's worth I think he makes perfect sense. I'd find it equally difficult to put up with such banal questions from that idiot Radio Bristol interviewer. However, I still think SOD got it wrong 2nd half yesterday.
I understand and accept that this club needs the structure, discipline and harmony in the squad that has been sadly lacking since Gary Johnson's early days and what's more, I totally agree. But the problem is that at the moment, we are in the realms of catch 22. Do we instill the discipline and structure now at the expense of our NPC status...? It is an all too costly statistic that under SoD's reign to date, we have not managed to score a single away goal (by ourselves) in 7 games. I am not having a pop, this is a fact, pure and simple and if you don't score, you can't win. The sacrificing of what little attacking threat we offer to instill the "performance" at the moment at least, is too high a price to pay. We are in a position of needing pretty much 6 wins out of 6 to stand a decent chance of staying up so frankly, we really do have nothing at all to lose by saying to the players, go on, you got us here so have a go at getting us out of the mire. Ok, so the reins were loosened at Derby and we got beat but that doesn't mean that we should believe that it won't work the next time and abandon any chance of winning the game. Yesterday, we had more than enough chances to put Wednesday away but sadly, we didn't take them (although it was a blatant penalty) but away, we create little to nothing so that gives us virtually no chance of winning. We have 9 hours plus injury time of football left this season and I for one would not be happy about going down to 3 structured 1-0 away defeats where we have 1 or 2 shoots on target per game. SoD, you can do structure next season, it is likely that the team will look quite different next year anyway so, if we are to go down, it should be fighting with everything we have and leaving nothing on the pitch. 1-0 is the same as 6-0 - it's still a loss so please let the players have a real go...
I'll comment on SO'D's carefully written message later, but Prem has a point about going for it. I've just realised that Wednesday grabbed a point with thier only shot on target. We seem to be well organised but without "passion" and also not too many yellow cards for mistimed tackles; Wednesday had 6 booked while City had two, one of which (Cunningham) is considered debateable. So considering how poor Wednesday were in attacking us, what if Fontaine had done the professional thing and hauled the striker down 15 yards from our box. Would it have been yellow or red? How many other teams in our position would have committed the foul on the basis that no goal and one player less is better than one goal down? Are we just too naive or stupid?
IMO, if we lose our next game, I believe our season has finished and we should prepare for league 1...... Time to bring in the youngsters for them to get some good experience at Championship level, most people (fans) want a clear out.....this would be a good time to start. I just hope SOD reverts to the attractive style of football rather than the last 3 years of kick and hope rubbish we've been used to.
flipping heck had to go and make a cuppa before reading this.....lol I just look at the title IT is simple, perform well and just win them all....as I said weeks ago....its the teams that LOSE the most that will go down.....currently Bburn Hudds and City
I read it carefully and it made me feel better inside. Its certainly better than listening to Dave Jones moan for 2 and a half minutes about the 'foul' on Kirkland (who if you watch the replay, comes running out with his arms outstretched and tries to punch Elliott and the ball), or watching the SW players continually moan at each other and the referee. I thought they would end up fighting each other - what an unhappy camp that is. A penalty that was not given and a linesman in front of me that couldnt keep up with the game and so let them have a handful of chances that should have been pulled back a long time before. It was all very depressing, until we scored. I am still harbouring hopes of a great escape, especially with 6 full games to go. But we need a result soon. I hope we can stay up with 58 points.
Sean O'Driscoll is a very complex character and for me it is a fascinating insight into the mind of a real thinker about the game I've loved since I was a toddler. Some City fans will see what he is driving at and where he wants to go. But for many, it will fly way over their heads because to them, winning football matches is just about getting stuck in, running around looking busy, clattering the opposition, wingers trying to run past six defenders every time they get the ball and hoofing the ball into the opposition penalty area at 90 mph and hoping that something comes of it. I have a great deal of sympathy and understanding for his philosophies about the great game. But he appears to lack one thing and that is, in my opinion, what separates people like SO'D and the really successful football managers like Shankly, Paisley, Ferguson, Mourinho and it is in Welsh "hoel" which for me the nearest English translation is "inner passion". If I could see some visible sign of Sean O'Driscoll's "Hoel" I would believe more in him to succeed at Bristol City than I do at present.
You are mentioning superstars of the manager world which is a mite unfair. A quiet methodolgy progressed Swansea to a level that would have appeared unrealistic. I don't find O'driscoll complex at all. Its plain to see the vision he is painting and the principles it should be based upon. Around the UK coaches at kids level are starting to lay down a similar mantra, the principle of football should be about technique. Shankly and Paisley created a "club" with clear narrative based upon clear principles. Bristol City under Jordan, Cooper and Dicks had teams with clear identities. O'driscoll is attempting to verse players, and fans that there will be a way, but at this point the current players skill sets are NOT up to it. A visible sign sighted very quickly at BCFC has been home form, clean sheets and a team that looks more organised v McInnes park XI rabble. There has also been the sight of BCFC retaining a football v Brighton, possession football v getting stuck in, running around looking busy, clattering, retaining the ball has to be the future. Steve Lansdown has financed heavily a structure that O'driscoll will be the peak of this and the theory should be to produce players of technique v long distance runners. I find the idea of an identity re-freshing. Bristol Rovers did brain dead caveman football with its Devon Whites and Christian McClean's and Gerry Francis's positions of maximum opportunity ethos Bristol City should not.
SoD inherited a squad with some ability, but lacking confidence and organisation - He sorted out the organisation, and to some extent the confidence was less fragile. However, our squad lacks a bit of mental toughness and leadership (someone like say Shaun Derry) In addition to this, off the pitch the club has realised it cannot go on losing £14m a year, and the board are starting to make changes (acadamy, scouting etc etc) - on this front I'm quietly confident that our club will look much better in 2-3 years time (no magic wand - it will take time) If (or rather when) we go down, I'm confident that SoD is the right man for us next season.
Good points and opinions Cliftonville and SMH. I certainly don't want nor am I campaining for yet another managerial change That would be stupid at this time, but I do have reservations at present probably because of SO'D's visibly understated public persona. Maybe the pessimist in me is having too much say in how I'm thinking at the moment with relegation looming and I certainly hope that come the new season I will be feeling as confident as you both are.
Looking at his cv at Bournemouth and Doncastor he clearly took those clubs foward. Forest was no train crash either. Leaping around and speeches like Churchill doesn't seem necessary for Mr O'driscoll.
Yet he will stand in the technical area for 90 minutes without showing any emotion, while expecting the players and fans to be overtly passionate and vocal for this hour and a half. A bit of an enigma to say the least that for me at the moment is not allowing me to feel more than 90% confident that he'll do it for us in the future. Perhaps the longer he is here, the nearer to 100% I will be as I get more and more used to him.
Mcinnes could have waved his arms around like a helicopter and thrown his clothes on the floor at the end and ??? I would rather have somebody in charge who obvioulsy knows what he is doing. Rant and rave people stop listening.
I don't do giddy, more pragmatic. I hope to see a improvement. Improvement can be subjective short term, long term i.e McInnes it isn't. My perception of McInnes was that the team was not improving, the team was becoming ever less cohesive as Mcinnes flip flopped from one formation, one starting line up to another and looking seriously out of his depth while doing it. I left Ashton Gate on occasions thinking displays were comic. BCFC were so bad it was funny to watch. My perception of O'driscoll is already different. I hope my perception long term does not change. I am involved in kids coaching. I see a clear synergy between what we are attempting to do and Sean O'driscoll. Concentrate on the short term you might win a few, concentrate on the basics and the long term you win more eventually and produce better players/teams.
WHEN IT ACTUALLY WAS FEASIBLE TO ATTEMPT TO PREDICT THE OUTCOME OF GAMES TO COME .... ...the worst scenario I came up with was 54 points to avoid relegation, that was about 10 games ago..it currently seems like the majority of the teams are all playing average Championship football averaging over a point a game and that is Bad because there is no space other than our -6 points adrift, that means we need at least 8-10 results to go our way............and then we are in the mix with goal difference and the odd point... those 2 lost points against SW was the first 2 6" nails in our coffin.
