Help Needed - What do we do Next?

[054123]

By either mismanagement or foolishness, this is the squad we have. We are unlikely to add to it in any major way due to the financial pickle we have created for ourselves.

Irrespective of who the manager is, what do they have to do with this threadbare squad to create a turnaround?

I’m no expert in the field of modern day tactics, but I can see a team lacking application. Whether there is a plan or not, it clearly isn’t being executed.

Lots of bright people on the forum (plenty of dullards like me), so what could be done to help sort this out?

Its not a Pearson thread as I personally believe the challenges are deeper and any incoming manger will probably struggle.

Positive and constructive posts if possible

[054123]

I’m spoilt for choice on ways to save our season now

In summary nobody knows the answer?

[redsocks]

Get rid of vyner bakinson martin get in smith from rotherham stop getting rid of players like smith and patto then we might stand a chance of staying in this league.

[LondonBristolian]

This season is going to be a struggle and going to be about picking up enough points to stay out of trouble.

I do honestly think that the absence of Williams and Semenyo and the fact that Massengo is perhaps not yet ready to start again is hurting us a great deal and getting those three players back will make a difference. I also wonder if Conway is going to be another option up-front once fit. Those four players plus Baker's return will make us better than we are now.

It's easy to say we should ship out x or y but I think it's a massive misunderstanding of where the market is. I don't think Vyner, Bakinson, O'Dowda, Palmer, Wells or Martin are being sold for cash fees in January and letting them go on a free means we need to replace them for free too, which may not be realistic.

What I would try and do in January - if any budget exists at all- is see if we can get a holding midfielder and maybe a winger with pace, perhaps on loan or a free. It might be we don't get the best players in the world but it might give us a bit of structure and more options in the squad. 

[sludge]

Surely we could get a couple of nasty ba$tards in January without breaking the bank?

[GrahamC]

Let’s start by going back to 4-4-1-1, we were in games then.

We do need a number of those injured players back, especially in midfield.

We need to be prepared to try something different up front, either Wells & Weimann or one of these two with the likes of Semenyo, Bell or Conway.

We need to be far harder to break down & score against.

[Davefevs]

4 hours ago, 054123 said:

I’m no expert in the field of modern day tactics, but I can see a team lacking application. Whether there is a plan or not, it clearly isn’t being executed.

I’ve said for a good while we have players that press without intelligence.  Some make that doubly worse by not actually engaging, whilst someone like Massengo can do it without discipline.  We lack intensity, we need a few more “George Tanner” tackles.  We need to make our opponents feel uncomfortable.  I suspect a lot of sides accept we might have a “few” moments in the match, but currently they know it’ll peter out and they’ll get more opportunity.

Thats the worrying trend, and as @GrahamCsays above we need to stay in games.

[Ska Junkie]

Can anyone honestly say, results withstanding, that they've seen 1, let alone 3, worse sides than us this season? I'm not sure we can TBH.

Through ifollow, I've managed to watch pretty much every game away, and in person at home and I can't think of 1 TBH.

I can take players being poor, what I can't take is the lack of heart / ease in which we give up, it's infuriating! 

[054123]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

I’ve said for a good while we have players that press without intelligence.  Some make that doubly worse by not actually engaging, whilst someone like Massengo can do it without discipline.  We lack intensity, we need a few more “George Tanner” tackles.  We need to make our opponents feel uncomfortable.  I suspect a lot of sides accept we might have a “few” moments in the match, but currently they know it’ll peter out and they’ll get more opportunity.

Thats the worrying trend, and as @GrahamCsays above we need to stay in games.

I think what many find disappointing is that of all the candidates post Holden, I thought Nige would bring this.

I know that rebuilds take time, but the things we are talking about are not born, technical gifts as such. You should be able to coach into pros 

Edited November 3, 2021 by 054123

[chinapig]

1 minute ago, 054123 said:

I think what many find disappointing is that of all the candidates post Holden, I thought Nige would bring this.

I know that rebuilds take time, but the things we are talking about are born, technical gifts as such. You should be able to coach into pros 

Yes, what I expected from Nige was motivation and organisation. I am seeing less and less of each over time.

[KegCity]

Go back to 4-4-1-1. Bring in at least one winger in January. Considering we've used it for 5 years or so the squad look clueless in a 3-5-2, just pump the ball up the pitch to watch it come straight back. Our best passages of play yesterday came from playing the ball around with short passes in triangles. Focus on keeping the ball on the floor would be a good start.

[Davefevs]

19 minutes ago, Ska Junkie said:

Can anyone honestly say, results withstanding, that they've seen 1, let alone 3, worse sides than us this season? I'm not sure we can TBH.

Through ifollow, I've managed to watch pretty much every game away, and in person at home and I can't think of 1 TBH.

I can take players being poor, what I can't take is the lack of heart / ease in which we give up, it's infuriating! 

Yes.  Because 1) we’ve not been this bad all season 2) I’ve watched a fair bit of other games and I’ve seen some tripe from other teams too.

For example.  Some might play pretty football, but they can’t defend, e.g. Peterborough - so that makes them worse imho.

Albeit, if we carry on the standard of our more recent performances then it’s a tougher shout

That’s why I continue to review, react, adjust, etc.  I don’t take a point in time and base everything off of that.  It’s all fluid.

[RedM]

I know it’s easy to say, but I find myself asking ‘what the hell do they do in training?’. Especially when it translates to the pitch and looks like a group of players who have never met before. Very few are making partnerships or understandings which produce much quality. 

As I said elsewhere, I would have thought Pearson with his experience had the management nous to get more out of this group than he is getting at the moment. 

[ray savino]

In very simple terms. We need to treat from now that we’re in a relegation scrap. So we’ve got to scrap for every point. Backs to the wall mentality, full on commitment, make us hard to beat even if we find it hard to beat. Decide on the best system of play to both do this and is the simplest that most of our players can understand or have a chance to execute. Stick to it as much as is possible. Don’t confuse. May not be pretty, but might be better than where we are now.  Then in the transfer window at Xmas, get in some effective loans. May not be the greatest, but loan players with the physicality and mentality to attempt the goal of keeping us up. SL is an accountant, so this is where with Richard Gould he has to be creative with his numbers. Lets not kid ourselves we are firefighting at least until Jan Window at the minute.

If we stay up then hopefully keep as many of our best players we can. NP will have bought the time and resource to build the team. If not... then SL has to seriously consider what he’s going to do with this football club, because real fresh ideas will be needed. Maybe not sell up, bit drastic and not on his radar yet. But at least get some fresh football knowledge on the Board (sorry no more chancers ala Mr Ashton). I heard that Stuart Webber at Norwich (and previously Huddersfield) may leave soon, maybe to bigger club. Heard some interviews with him, tells board members and owners exactly how it is. Okay, may have a good line in bullshit as well, seems to go with the territory in football and often business, but he’s succeeded with clubs at our level and type - and with all respects to SL, it would appear he needs someone to tell it like it is - at board level.

Or he recruits another manager and we all have our fingers crossed that this will be the one this time... again. You never know we might get lucky.

It would not surprise me though if the likes of Palmer, has been instructed to have a chat with his agent to get a move and vice versa. Gould and recruitment must be working now to see if we can shift the deadwood and not wanted players in the next window to be able to massage the numbers enough to get a few loans to freshen things up in January - if indeed this is possible. We’ll see...

[Ska Junkie]

14 minutes ago, ray savino said:

In very simple terms. We need to treat from now that we’re in a relegation scrap. So we’ve got to scrap for every point. Backs to the wall mentality, full on commitment, make us hard to beat even if we find it hard to beat. Decide on the best system of play to both do this and is the simplest that most of our players can understand or have a chance to execute. Stick to it as much as is possible. Don’t confuse. May not be pretty, but might be better than where we are now.  Then in the transfer window at Xmas, get in some effective loans. May not be the greatest, but loan players with the physicality and mentality to attempt the goal of keeping us up. SL is an accountant, so this is where with Richard Gould he has to be creative with his numbers. Lets not kid ourselves we are firefighting at least until Jan Window at the minute.

If we stay up then hopefully keep as many of our best players we can. NP will have bought the time and resource to build the team. If not... then SL has to seriously consider what he’s going to do with this football club, because real fresh ideas will be needed. Maybe not sell up, bit drastic and not on his radar yet. But at least get some fresh football knowledge on the Board (sorry no more chancers ala Mr Ashton). I heard that Stuart Webber at Norwich (and previously Huddersfield) may leave soon, maybe to bigger club. Heard some interviews with him, tells board members and owners exactly how it is. Okay, may have a good line in bullshit as well, seems to go with the territory in football and often business, but he’s succeeded with clubs at our level and type - and with all respects to SL, it would appear he needs someone to tell it like it is - at board level.

Or he recruits another manager and we all have our fingers crossed that this will be the one this time... again. You never know we might get lucky.

It would not surprise me though if the likes of Palmer, has been instructed to have a chat with his agent to get a move and vice versa. Gould and recruitment must be working now to see if we can shift the deadwood and not wanted players in the next window to be able to massage the numbers enough to get a few loans to freshen things up in January - if indeed this is possible. We’ll see...

Not sure our lot have an ounce of fight in them at all Ray let alone be prepared to scrap for 7 months to survive.

[redapple]

Firstly Chris Martin needs a rest as he’s not contributing and has looked knackered the last 2 games. 
There’s  a few short-term options to replace him  (Wells or Weimann and hopefully Conway and Semenyo soon). 
Secondly we need some width. In the short term play O’Dowda but look to get in a winger in January. Barnsley had a decent left winger on Saturday. 

Need leaders on the pitch. I don’t see or hear anyone encouraging or advising out there. 
Get Williams back in the team when he’s ready. That will help . 
Most importantly need to do whatever is required to buy a forward, a winger and holding midfield player. If that means selling Bentley so be it. Ideally Brownhill will be sold by Burnley for big bucks and allow us to use the ‘sell-on’ money. 
 

[ooRya]

Every single team seems to be able to play straight through our midfield, and they also seem to pick up a lot more second balls than we do. Which suggests to me that we need an extra body in midfield, so just play the one striker.

[underhanded]

Bar Atkinson, Kalas, Baker and Tanner (and occasionaly James) our players are regularly out-muscled and on the losing side of fifty-fifties and loose balls. For a team that can't pass the ball around very well, we don't seem to be able to counter-balance this with an ability to collect and utilise loose balls, and seem to rarely turn the ball over in the middle third.  J.Williams could be a partial solution to this if ever fit (James tries his best but I don't think is industrious enough to truly play a disruptor type role). We are also woefully short of pace, against Birmingham it was actually mind-boggling, it looked like players were running through treacle, against the likes of Harlee Dean and Gary Gardener ffs (not exactly known for their pace). I think Semenyo can help with this, when fit, but I would be prioritising a loan forward with pace in January.

As Fevs said above, we press very inefficiently too. It was mentioned on Sky a couple of times - we so rarely double up on players - I can only presume this is through fear of gaps opening up elsewhere.

We also seem to have problems with shape (with and without the ball worryingly), but especially with the ball when moving into the opposition half - too narrow, and the lack of a ball carrier in the middle of the pitch (this could be HNM, but positional indiscipline tends to see him in all sorts of strange place when we turnover posession).  

How you resolve all the above - no idea!

[Gillies Downs Leeds]

1 hour ago, redapple said:

Firstly Chris Martin needs a rest as he’s not contributing and has looked knackered the last 2 games. 
There’s  a few short-term options to replace him  (Wells or Weimann and hopefully Conway and Semenyo soon). 
Secondly we need some width. In the short term play O’Dowda but look to get in a winger in January. Barnsley had a decent left winger on Saturday. 

Need leaders on the pitch. I don’t see or hear anyone encouraging or advising out there. 
Get Williams back in the team when he’s ready. That will help . 
Most importantly need to do whatever is required to buy a forward, a winger and holding midfield player. If that means selling Bentley so be it. Ideally Brownhill will be sold by Burnley for big bucks and allow us to use the ‘sell-on’ money. 
 

Whilst I agree that Martin does need a rest, the issue then is who does his job at defending set pieces? He has take on the Famara role at defending set pieces. He wins so many headers in our own area.

[Red_Alligator]

We stay up this season and hope that NP, between now and the end of the summer 2022, gets the opportunity to bring in a few new players AND offload a few. The latter may well mean letting some leave for nothing, in which case SL will need to take the financial loss incurred as a result of poor recruitment in recent years.

I believe that this scenario would apply irrespective of any potential managerial changes in the interim.

What we mustn't do, under any circumstances is get ourselves into a Reading/Derby situation. That would be disastrous. The mess we're in is more than enough to have to turn around.

I'm happy to be corrected though, as I'm no financial expert.

 

 

 

[Engvall’s Splinter]

If Williams is out longterm then I agree some additional bite in midfield is required. With money tight, I would like us to certainly purchase a winger (preferably left side). Revert to a flat back four, with Pring or Baker over Dasilva whilst persisting with Wells and bringing in Palmer/Scott in behind. Our set up does not currently suit Wells. He needs balls in behind rather than pumped to his head. 
 

It’s going to be a scrap and therefore I’d prefer height and physicality over anything else defensively. Johnson stumbled upon this playing Wright & Mags as his full backs. 
 

Injuries aside…

                  Bentley

Tanner Kalas Atkinson Pring/Baker

    Weimann James Williams LW

                  Palmer

                    Wells 

Harsh on Massengo as I do think he’s one of our better players but prefer the nous/experience of James and the drive and determination of Williams. 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Engvall’s Splinter

[Red_Alligator]

3 hours ago, sludge said:

Surely we could get a couple of nasty ba$tards in January without breaking the bank?

Well there's a few on OTIB for sure Sludge!

[brad blit]

1) Drop 352 and persevere with 433/4231 (this is dependant on whether Williams, Massengo and James are all fit - if so then 433)

2) Do not start with a target man (Martin) and encourage team to keep ball on floor where possible. 

3) Continually coach and teach players to be happy receiving ball in tight spaces, and work on player movement so everyone always has an option to pass to, rather than panic passes into the corner flags. 

4) Adopt a high pressing, high intensity game which suits our fit squad (so Pearson tells us)

5) DO NOT ALLOW KALAS LONG THROWS 

[Red_Alligator]

I would add to my earlier post that I also think that now is the time for SL to take a step back from the "Bristol Sport" portfolio model and concentrate on the original plan/pledge to make Bristol City Football Club a top tier team. That's what he came to do, and it needs to be done. First and foremost.

An equally successful rugby, basketball, cribbage, tiddlywinks team can duly follow if desired. 

[sludge]

45 minutes ago, Red_Alligator said:

Well there's a few on OTIB for sure Sludge!

Can't take the keyboard on the pitch though 

[Harry]

Let's start with what we shouldn't have done.

Given the finances, we shouldn't have given Weimann another 3 years, we shouldn't have re-signed Baker and we certainly shouldn't have signed King & Simpson.

But that's the fault of the total lack of a recruitment team with any savvy.

Onto what we possibly ought to do.

We need a system and players which create width, keep the ball and get down the channels.

I'd play a 4-2-3-1

                    Bentley
Tanner - Kalas - Atkinson - Pring
             Williams - James
Semenyo - Massengo  - Scott
                     Wells

Allow James & Williams to keep a solid base, allow the full back to push on, keep Wells central and making darts in behind rather than coming deep for the ball, allow the 3 AM's (Sem, HNM, Scott) to be fluid and switch positions regularly - and have Benarous/Pearson backing them up.  Have Conway backing up Wells in the 'last shoulder' role.

We'll still lose plenty of games (but we're going to already anyway) but at least we might have something interesting to watch up front.

[fluffy]

The thing that concerns me the most is we have a total lack of movement on the field. No one moves to make an angle or different option for the player on the ball, no one moves to receive the ball from a throw in, no one moves for the second ball when a move breaks down and on the odd occasions when we break no one is busting a gut to get up with the player on the ball.

All this should be coachable and something that they practice again and again at the HPC, so that they can repeat it at will on the pitch. 

Instead I shudder to think what they are practicing each day at training, as it's certainly not improving our performances or coaching out the same basic errors that we see over and over again.

We're stuck with an unbalanced squad, low in confidence and seemingly motivation, so I would focus on a few basic shapes to adopt with or without the ball to make us hard to play through and pick players who want to earn their wage by showing some fight from here on.

[Banjo Red]

4 hours ago, sludge said:

Surely we could get a couple of nasty ba$tards in January without breaking the bank?

I was thinking just the same real nasty horrible in your face complete shit houses.

[sludge]

11 minutes ago, Banjo Red said:

I was thinking just the same real nasty horrible in your face complete shit houses.

Have we ever had one of those? I mean seriously, in the last 20 years there hasn't been many. I can't even think of one?!

[Banjo Red]

41 minutes ago, sludge said:

Have we ever had one of those? I mean seriously, in the last 20 years there hasn't been many. I can't even think of one?!

Shaun taylor Glenn humphries the last one's I remember.

[maxjak]

A quality coach who can organise, structure a viable formation and motivate wouldn''t go amiss?

[sludge]

13 minutes ago, Banjo Red said:

Shaun taylor Glenn humphries the last one's I remember.

Mental ain’t it. 

[WOTRED]

1 hour ago, sludge said:

Have we ever had one of those? I mean seriously, in the last 20 years there hasn't been many. I can't even think of one?!

Dave "the destroyer" Martin is the closest I can remember.

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 hours ago, billywedlock said:

On top of that we seem to always be over run, with the 2 central players tending to have 3 players on them.

To be expected at this level these days- the League is like this now as we know, 2 vs 3- opposition think 'thank you indeed' in a few cases. Attempting to fill those gaps risks unbalancing the side in other parts of the pitch.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Might also add.

Do we when the chance arises- in this instance between International breaks, get the balance right between regular training, building up fitness and crucial rest/recuperation?

I'm not convinced that we do, given the regular injuries. That should be a time to really get it right, two International breaks in just over 2 months...about to go into a 3rd.

[big dosser]

the first thing is to get us playing like a team that fights for one another, all im seeing is a poor bunch of misfits that could not give a shit about the badge on that shirt most weeks. Give me 11 tanners all day players with passion fight and commitment to the cause.at the end of the day the players cross that white line on a saturday and should give there all.

there is to many excuses and a blame game culture why we are poor. The players need to stand up and be counted and at the moment they should be embarrassed at robbing a wage from the club.

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, Harry said:

Let's start with what we shouldn't have done.

Given the finances, we shouldn't have given Weimann another 3 years, we shouldn't have re-signed Baker and we certainly shouldn't have signed King & Simpson.

But that's the fault of the total lack of a recruitment team with any savvy.

Onto what we possibly ought to do.

We need a system and players which create width, keep the ball and get down the channels.

I'd play a 4-2-3-1

                    Bentley
Tanner - Kalas - Atkinson - Pring
             Williams - James
Semenyo - Massengo  - Scott
                     Wells

Allow James & Williams to keep a solid base, allow the full back to push on, keep Wells central and making darts in behind rather than coming deep for the ball, allow the 3 AM's (Sem, HNM, Scott) to be fluid and switch positions regularly - and have Benarous/Pearson backing them up.  Have Conway backing up Wells in the 'last shoulder' role.

We'll still lose plenty of games (but we're going to already anyway) but at least we might have something interesting to watch up front.

So, Weimann, Baker, King and Simpson, not signed. I reckon that’s £30k p.w. (ish) available. 

Known quantities. 2 of them only 1 year deals so no huge commitment.

You undoubtedly could’ve gone and got 4 different free transfers for that £30k, but if (and I do say if) you might have reservations about talent id you might think I’ll go tried and tested.

Nige didn’t want to go with loans. You and I would’ve tried to get Ostigard instead of Baker. Ballard a bit more of a risk with Atkinson too.

You and I would’ve gone Twine, in the hope that James, Williams, Massengo with Bakinson would be enough in a 4231.  Could Nige have pushed for Dewsbury-Hall. Maybe not.

That just left one forward to get. Not easy. Could Pigott on a free have give us a bit of Martin cover with Conway and Bell as the Wells understudies?

Definitely could’ve been different, but we don’t know who we were looking at. 

37 minutes ago, billywedlock said:

I do go back and read and try to understand what he did at Leicester. There are a few similar parallels already, he was not afraid to play youth and sought players with character. It was not a million years ago either, just 6. So not so old it is irrelevant.

More importantly is this quote from him regarding that second stint 

"I walked into a Leicester City that was under new ownership and with a playing squad that had changed hugely from when I left (18 months). On paper all of us agreed - good sde. But we quickly found out that the reason it was a good squad of players that weren't getting results was because they were precisely that - a good squad on paper. We recognised pretty quickly that we needed to change things both in terms of the players and the culture. Sometimes you can only change the culture by changing the players. It is something that evolves over a period of time, which can be one of the difficult things as a manager. It's not always just about results - you can get quite low when you cannot see a shift in mentality. We got there in the end, but it took patience. The managers best work is often done when the results are shit. When everyone else is moaning - that's probably when you are doing your best work. "

There is plenty more to add, how he developed Vardy and about creating the mood where players feel good and positive. But to have that , you need the right players. So the issue of recruitment becomes as big as @Harrywrote his post about, it is where we have to get January and next summer right and that means having the best recruitment team we can have. 

 

That’s why we need to look wider than results. It’s hard to remain patient. I’m still more than happy to see how it pans out though. 

[Red_Alligator]

1 hour ago, JonDolman said:

Shouldn't Pearson be good at that?

I'm sure he's probably, at least, quite good at that Jon. But as I think Gordon Strachan once pointed out, whether the players can or do carry out those instructions is a much wider issue. 

Whoever might be in the Manager's office at Ashton Gate, NP or otherwise, is currently quite limited in options, and will be until such time as significant changes (out as much as in) , can be engineered. 

At present, the only real option to make a significant change in the first eleven, would be to regularly involve more youngsters. But would that work??....

 

[bpexile]

9 hours ago, sludge said:

Surely we could get a couple of nasty ba$tards in January without breaking the bank?

I'm not pointing at you sludge but there's always a couple available on this forum................................................. sadly.

After reading the entire post I see others have eluded to the same, my apologies guys.

Edited November 3, 2021 by bpexile

[Merrick's Marvels]

1 hour ago, big dosser said:

the first thing is to get us playing like a team that fights for one another, all im seeing is a poor bunch of misfits that could not give a shit about the badge on that shirt most weeks. 

Hate to say it but that's horseshit. Did you see the state of them at the final whistle on Saturday?

There's many things still need fixing but committment to the cause ain't one of them.

[KegCity]

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

 

You and I would’ve gone Twine, in the hope that James, Williams, Massengo with Bakinson would be enough in a 4231.  Could Nige have pushed for Dewsbury-Hall. Maybe not.

 

Not moving for Twine seems like madness to me. Wages must be minimal and there’s no real downside to bringing him in, just to probably be an Alex Scott level of player and if he can earn a spot in the side the better.

In fairness the culture at the club surely needs changing, so bringing in the older Leicester guys would make more sense in the short term. 

[westex red]

Haven't a clue what we do next, and the worrying thing is nor does NP!

[Bristol Oil Services]

1 hour ago, big dosser said:

 The players need to stand up and be counted and at the moment they should be

I think it's 23 mate, although you'd best check that with @Davefevs (he's always counting these things)

[Harry]

Oh. I forgot one thing to add to my earlier post. 
One thing that absolutely MUST happen and is the easiest thing to fix. 
 

Pearson needs to get in the bloody dugout and earn his money as the motivator and organiser he’s supposed to be. 
 

I can’t ever remember Pep, Klopp, Jose etc sitting in the stands with their mate on a laptop. The best managers are prowling the technical area, shouting instructions, giving empathy, attempting to persuade the ref etc. 
Get in the ******* dugout and give your players the support/cajoling/organisation/coaching they need. 

[Harry]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

So, Weimann, Baker, King and Simpson, not signed. I reckon that’s £30k p.w. (ish) available. 

Known quantities. 2 of them only 1 year deals so no huge commitment.

You undoubtedly could’ve gone and got 4 different free transfers for that £30k, but if (and I do say if) you might have reservations about talent id you might think I’ll go tried and tested.

Nige didn’t want to go with loans. You and I would’ve tried to get Ostigard instead of Baker. Ballard a bit more of a risk with Atkinson too.

You and I would’ve gone Twine, in the hope that James, Williams, Massengo with Bakinson would be enough in a 4231.  Could Nige have pushed for Dewsbury-Hall. Maybe not.

That just left one forward to get. Not easy. Could Pigott on a free have give us a bit of Martin cover with Conway and Bell as the Wells understudies?

Definitely could’ve been different, but we don’t know who we were looking at. 

That’s why we need to look wider than results. It’s hard to remain patient. I’m still more than happy to see how it pans out though. 

Exactly Dave. That’s why I don’t blame Pearson for the recruitment. As I alluded to in my post last week, he’s obviously gonna go with what he knows if he’s got an anaemic recruitment department. 

[westex red]

Just now, Harry said:

Oh. I forgot one thing to add to my earlier post. 
One thing that absolutely MUST happen and is the easiest thing to fix. 
 

Pearson needs to get in the bloody dugout and earn his money as the motivator and organiser he’s supposed to be. 
 

I can’t ever remember Pep, Klopp, Jose etc sitting in the stands with their mate on a laptop. The best managers are prowling the technical area, shouting instructions, giving empathy, attempting to persuade the ref etc. 
Get in the ******* dugout and give your players the support/cajoling/organisation/coaching they need. 

Sorry I am in the minority, I believe you get a better perspective of the game sat higher up.

[Harry]

Just now, westex red said:

Sorry I am in the minority, I believe you get a better perspective of the game sat higher up.

Tell me a manager who has had success doing this? 
He came to this club with a reputation of being an organiser, a motivator etc. He needs to show us this down on the pitch. 

[big dosser]

2 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Hate to say it but that's horseshit. Did you see the state of them at the final whistle on Saturday?

There's many things still need fixing but committment to the cause ain't one of them.

made i laugh if you think 15mins in all the games we played is good enough,commitment is week in week out for every minute your on the pitch.and just rembember barnsley missed 2 bloody sitters

[pillred]

8 hours ago, fluffy said:

The thing that concerns me the most is we have a total lack of movement on the field. No one moves to make an angle or different option for the player on the ball, no one moves to receive the ball from a throw in, no one moves for the second ball when a move breaks down and on the odd occasions when we break no one is busting a gut to get up with the player on the ball.

All this should be coachable and something that they practice again and again at the HPC, so that they can repeat it at will on the pitch. 

Instead I shudder to think what they are practicing each day at training, as it's certainly not improving our performances or coaching out the same basic errors that we see over and over again.

We're stuck with an unbalanced squad, low in confidence and seemingly motivation, so I would focus on a few basic shapes to adopt with or without the ball to make us hard to play through and pick players who want to earn their wage by showing some fight from here on.

It's basically a simple game but my god lately our lot make it look hard, your right when one of our players is in possession the other players should be looking to give him options by backing him up preferably in a position of advantage, we seem to spend far too long chasing the ball only to lose it within a few passes as most of the time they have nobody to pass to, running off the ball is one of the most important things and our lot just aren't doing it enough.

[fgrsimon]

7 hours ago, JonDolman said:

Shouldn't Pearson be good at that?

Yes, surely any coach worth his salt should be able to send out a team to grind out a 0-0 away from home? Not at Fulham, WBA or Bournemouth but at say Birmingham or Coventry for instance. 

[Garland-sweden]

Its no quickfix. We got the players that we got. We have to fight and hope we can win some games. Since Eliasson gone We have no winger and Dasilva is no lb. Bring a winger and a left back i january.

[Garland-sweden]

Since Eliasson left we have tried with COD, he is not half the player Eliasson is and it have not worked out.

[Oh Louie louie]

I dont mind us losing, having a go.

Last two away games waved the white flag.

Our last three wins, chucking in three at pboro, the last minute goal at qpr, barnsleys crap finishing.

I dont wish to moan on here all the time but those 3 wins everytime i thought we were lucky to win that.

A convincing win would be nice for once.

Not many easy games at this level i know.

[LondonBristolian]

20 hours ago, JamesBCFC said:

Feel like for us to bring in a centre mid in January we will need to move 2 on.

Considering we have quite a small squad, we're actually bloated in that position.

Massengo, James, King, Bakinson, Palmer, Scott and Williams can all play there (admittedly Scott and Palmer suited in different roles more).

But convincing a CM to join when there's already 7 players who can go in that place won't be easy.

That's before considering a central O'Dowda too.

The fundamental problem - and I think it is one criticism that can be validly levelled at Pearson (although I don't know what was available)- is we have seven or eight central midfielders but none of them suit a holding midfield role. Massengo, Williams and Scott in particular could do with someone sitting so they can roam freely without the midfield losing its structure. At the moment that is James but I'm not sure that is his game.

I agree we might need to find a way to move - say - Palmer and Bakinson out on loan to get someone in. Of course that might not be easy.

[GrahamC]

24 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

The fundamental problem - and I think it is one criticism that can be validly levelled at Pearson (although I don't know what was available)- is we have seven or eight central midfielders but none of them suit a holding midfield role. Massengo, Williams and Scott in particular could do with someone sitting so they can roam freely without the midfield losing its structure. At the moment that is James but I'm not sure that is his game.

I agree we might need to find a way to move - say - Palmer and Bakinson out on loan to get someone in. Of course that might not be easy.

Hard to base it on much seeing as to how little he’s played, but I think Williams can play this role & maybe in light of his injury issues, it might be best for him to do so when fit?

If he can then stay fit & King returns as a squad option, then I think we’ll look a better side, not perfect but with enough to avoid the bottom five or six.

[LondonBristolian]

4 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Hard to base it on much seeing as to how little he’s played, but I think Williams can play this role & maybe in light of his injury issues, it might be best for him to do so when fit?

If he can then stay fit & King returns as a squad option, then I think we’ll look a better side, not perfect but with enough to avoid the bottom five or six.

That's a good point. Whenever I've seen Williams, it's been without Massengo and he's been the most mobile of the midfielders but it might well be that he could sit if Massengo was in the midfield too. I certainly agree that a fit Williams plus King as an option will give us a much better chance of getting the results to stay out of trouble. 

[Davefevs]

6 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

That's a good point. Whenever I've seen Williams, it's been without Massengo and he's been the most mobile of the midfielders but it might well be that he could sit if Massengo was in the midfield too. I certainly agree that a fit Williams plus King as an option will give us a much better chance of getting the results to stay out of trouble. 

The only time all 4 made the 18, was QPR, coincidentally a game where we had a bench where we felt able to bring Martin off before he was knackered.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Davefevs

[LondonBristolian]

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The only time all 4 made the 18, was QPR, coincidentally a game where we had a bench where we felt able to bring Martin off before he was knackered.

That was a game where we really saw what we've missed with Semenyo and Massengo. Neither had fantastic games and both were a little wasteful on occasions but they were the reasons we could burst forward and relieve the defence when under pressure (and ultimately that ability to break was obviously what got us a winner). 

[Davefevs]

6 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

That was a game where we really saw what we've missed with Semenyo and Massengo. Neither had fantastic games and both were a little wasteful on occasions but they were the reasons we could burst forward and relieve the defence when under pressure (and ultimately that ability to break was obviously what got us a winner). 

Very good point.

We ended the 90 with more pace than we started it.

Swap Simpson on the bench for Vyner or O’Dowda and it’s probably full-strength(ish).

[Hampshire reds]

Hope i am wrong if he goes with Bakinson, Han and Vyner in midfield on sat we are in for a long afternoon. 

 

[Ostrich]

15 hours ago, Harry said:

I can’t ever remember Pep, Klopp, Jose etc sitting in the stands with their mate on a laptop. The best managers are prowling the technical area, shouting instructions, giving empathy, attempting to persuade the ref etc. 
Get in the ******* dugout and give your players the support/cajoling/organisation/coaching they need

He got a team promoted on 102 points sat in the stand next to his mate on a laptop. If he has an assistant he trusts, can get messages down and feels he gets a better idea of the game from up in the stand, what’s really the issue?

 

[Red Skin]

I don't think playing Weiman, Martin and Wells in a supposed 3-5-2 can work, especially with Bakinson in there. (Though I like him).  Leaves the defence too vulnerable. 

[Harry]

1 hour ago, Ostrich said:

He got a team promoted on 102 points sat in the stand next to his mate on a laptop. If he has an assistant he trusts, can get messages down and feels he gets a better idea of the game from up in the stand, what’s really the issue?

 

Well, currently he hasn’t got the luxury of one of the best squads in the division put together with a lot of money. With 12+ players brought in for more than £1m, given big wages and ended up breaking FFP and having to pay a £3.1m fine. 
 

Right now he’s in a situation where he’s got a shitshow of a squad in a slump of form with relegation a very real possibility, and he needs to earn his wage by being in the dugout and motivating and organising his team of misfits. 
 

 

[RobintheRed Red]

On 03/11/2021 at 11:36, sludge said:

Surely we could get a couple of nasty ba$tards in January without breaking the bank?

We got rid of one to Sunderland

[sludge]

23 minutes ago, RobintheRed Red said:

We got rid of one to Sunderland

Yeh. I liked him to be fair 

[Major Isewater]

14 hours ago, JonDolman said:

Or at least make it difficult for teams to beat us, even if we do lose.

This is one of my bug bears, we should be grinding out results .

We are not Liverpool or Man City we are Bristol City with Bristol City level players who need to be at it a hundred per cent to win games but our supporters would not accept the pragmatic approach to success that other ‘ smaller ‘ clubs employ. 
We are football snobs who expect to win in style like we sometimes did in the division below.

Uncle Steve is also guilty of not facing the reality of our place in football. We need to build our club up on solid foundations. Substance over style is needed and badly lacking. 
 

[MelksRed]

Sack a player.....anyone will do.....the rest of them may start giving a sh1t then and play.

Sacking managers makes no difference....the players have lived that before.

Edited November 4, 2021 by MelksRed

[Ostrich]

6 hours ago, Harry said:

Well, currently he hasn’t got the luxury of one of the best squads in the division put together with a lot of money. With 12+ players brought in for more than £1m, given big wages and ended up breaking FFP and having to pay a £3.1m fine. 
 

Right now he’s in a situation where he’s got a shitshow of a squad in a slump of form with relegation a very real possibility, and he needs to earn his wage by being in the dugout and motivating and organising his team of misfits. 
 

 

Oh that'll sort it will it?

 

[BS4 on Tour...]

On 03/11/2021 at 12:30, Davefevs said:

I’ve said for a good while we have players that press without intelligence.  Some make that doubly worse by not actually engaging, whilst someone like Massengo can do it without discipline.  We lack intensity, we need a few more “George Tanner” tackles.  We need to make our opponents feel uncomfortable.  I suspect a lot of sides accept we might have a “few” moments in the match, but currently they know it’ll peter out and they’ll get more opportunity.

Thats the worrying trend, and as @GrahamCsays above we need to stay in games.

 A while ago I posted on here after hearing a post match Nigel Pearson interview, he said during his career, when he came to Ashton Gate as an opposing player or manager, they knew they wouldn’t be in for much of a physical battle or a tough day - he said he’d be addressing that - has anything changed in that regard? 

[Davefevs]

8 minutes ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

 A while ago I posted on here after hearing a post match Nigel Pearson interview, he said during his career, when he came to Ashton Gate as an opposing player or manager, they knew they wouldn’t be in for much of a physical battle or a tough day - he said he’d be addressing that - has anything changed in that regard? 

Yes, up until the last break I thought we were far from a soft touch this season.  The last few weeks have not been anywhere near that though.