Red-Robbo

Was pissed off I couldn't go and gave my ticket away. Now, well, I was better off working. ?

Darn, I should be there. I hope the person who has my ticket, you know who you are, enjoys the game.

Linnington should go. Perhaps the Pitcairn Islands can appoint him there refereeing supremo.

He's younger than me. I got moved southwards well before secondary.

His brother?

Of course Stephen Merchant is cool. Everyone who went to Samuel Whites in 'Annum is cool...

There are a hell of a lot who travel. I used to travel regularly for work and stay at a hotel in Salford Quays. I got to know the Man U home game schedule because on those days I'd never be able to book a room and I'd crash on the floor of my mate's flat off Victoria Square instead.

Precisely. The alternative to "chopping and changing" is persisting with players who are out-of-form or tired, carrying a minor injury etc. Bentley had several below par performances, then a shocker at Birmingham. O'Leary deserves a chance, and despite an error of judgement against Millwall, has pretty much seized the opportunity. Pearson gives fringe players hope that they can force their way into the team by good performances. Look at Vyner: his career here looked finished last season. This season, he got a chance and has arguably been our most consistent performer.

Exactly. He fulfils the defensive midfielder role with more solidity than Williams, and also feeds it out of the middle of our half. An understated but crucial role. As for Andi, I've always maintained he's more a striker than a midfielder.

Oh yeah of little faith! (I said exactly the same )

Sounds like the bloke has serious anger issues - and if he reads this thread he'll have serious fear issues too, as there are a bunch of supporters who'd happily burst his mouth for bullying children in that way. @RedEd73all I can say is your City supporter friends (ie: all of us, bar the idiot involved) stand with you. We hope your kids continue to enjoy games, and you have my admiration giving your youngest their best possible life. All the best, mate.

The criticism of Bentley was that he didn't step off his line to intercept crosses flashing just in front of the goalmouth. The situation where Max advanced was quite different. The ball was being played on a forward diagonal, but was loose. There were an enormous amount of red shirts surrounding the recipient of that pass, however the danger would be that the ball might find someone wide and unmarked. Which it did. Had Max stayed on his line, he could have dealt with that threat. As it was, Flemming only needed to sidefoot it into the empty net. The tea lady could've scored it! We can argue that someone should've tracked Flemming, but without seeing his entire run, and knowing where Weimann and Semenyo had to run back from, that's moot.

I don't think there's any evidence of "regular fall outs"? Pearson makes clear that if he thinks a player isn't performing consistently, that player will lose his place and someone else will get his chance to cement a place. Players may disagree with his assessments sometimes, but I think Pearson is pretty fair. He doesn't strike me as the sort to have favourites.

I really don't think a keeper needs to come when there are multiple defenders there to dampen any potential threat. You ask for trouble by doing so. Pearson's post match comments make clear he didn't necessarily agree with O'Leary's judgement and thought if you are going to make that call you punch it, not try to catch it.

He simply didn't need to be that far away from his goal. Anything ***** up then - it needn't be the keeper's fault - and your opponents can pass into an empty net. Come to the edge of your area only if you've got no defenders to collect the ball.

Because he didn't have to. You really only should be that far off your line as the last resort if there is no other way to prevent a certain goal. That wasn't the case today.

In most cases I can never make out the words. I blame the Dolman PA...

Always remember that a number of opposition fans might be exiles living in the West Country and a game at City is their easiest option to watch their hometown team.

Fouling and throwing himself to the ground whenever he lost the ball. Something Stroud fell for repeatedly.

It's fun to guess. Having seen Harry's photo, I'll put my guestimate down to 13,500 tops. It was fairly crowded where I sit, just a few empty seats in sight, but then it's overwhelmingly ST holders. Night games always seem to have lots of people who arrive late though, and last night was no different. Three lads in my row contrived to miss the first 10 minutes.

Jokin' aintcha. We're always the last to leave. Poor egress, a multitude of immobile pensioners, plus people who want to stand in the aisle and clap the last man off the pitch, means I've often travelled about 15ft from my seat but can look across to a completely empty Lansdown and South Stand. If you want to get away fast for some reason you HAVE to leave the Dolman before the final whistle, which is why you see folk leaving earlier than elsewhere. If you stay to the end, as I always do, you've just about made it to the concourse in the time others have taken to reach the M32!

You got to ask yourself how Keith Stroud is still reffing. The bloke's been abysmal for at least 15 years. He started fairly decent last night and then seemed to realise he was being accidentally rational and spent the last 30 in a series of bizarre decisions (and non-decisions).

14K (just) would be my guestimate. I wouldn't say the atmosphere was bad either. No noise from the away terrace, but who can blame them? More noise from where I was sitting than on my last few visits to the Gate.

I can't NOT make Atko my MOTM. Two goals and a very decent defensive display. Without the goals, it could only be Klose. The guy to steady the ship that we desperately needed.

The very fact there is any sort of dress code makes it strict. Think they'll allow female fans to wear shorts around town? I can only go by the word of my mate, who has worked in UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. He found the Bahrainis the friendliest and Qataris the least. He had friends among the expat and South Asian community there, but not the Arabs. At any rate, it isn't a football culture, nor one used to josting large numbers of fans from across the world. It is a farce it was ever considered, let alone granted the gig.