Positives v Negatives

[Loosey Boy]

This time last season after one game (make that two), we had nil points! At least this season, we are off and running after our first game

Not great today but….in years gone by, we lose that game…..

[glastored]

Who was the twelve year old on the Preston subs bench? Number 24. He was shorter than Jay Dasilva! When he was warming up before the match I assumed he was a school kid who had won a competition to be on the pitch with his idols, until I saw that he had a squad number.

[Mr Popodopolous]

3 hours ago, weepywall said:

I thought the atmosphere today was awful, all felt good before the game nice buzz, get in the ground and it was flat as a pancake, disappointing all round today.

Glad someone else mentioned that.

Given the positivity across pre-season, the big crowd (although that can sometimes negatively impact atmosphere), the Flag Day...I thought the atmosphere was very average, perhaps less than that but it was not good.

[Show Me The Money!]

4 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Glad someone else mentioned that.

Given the positivity across pre-season, the big crowd (although that can sometimes negatively impact atmosphere), the Flag Day...I thought the atmosphere was very average, perhaps less than that but it was not good.

The tempo with which we started the game didn't help. For the first home match of the season the first half was dire. Like struggle to stay awake dire.

Bell's one chance when he should really have scored was the only real attempt on goal from either side

Edited August 5, 2023 by Show Me The Money!

[Robbored]

4 hours ago, glynriley said:

Fair play to you mate that you can find something positive. For me that was an awful performance from front to back. Vyner pretty much the only player who’s in credit. 

I’m a big fan of Nige but he got it all wrong for me today. 

If Nige got it wrong it was because he underestimated the opposition and I doubt a manager of his vast experience would make that kind of error.

Fact is that Preston were excellent, bossed midfield and stopped us getting in behind thereby nullifying our forwards pace. The game was drawn thru the two set ups and tactics cancelling each other out.

1-1 was about right.

[PHILINFRANCE]

17 minutes ago, glastored said:

Who was the twelve year old on the Preston subs bench? Number 24. He was shorter than Jay Dasilva! When he was warming up before the match I assumed he was a school kid who had won a competition to be on the pitch with his idols, until I saw that he had a squad number.

Rodriguez-Gentile, a 16 year old Brazilian.

He is apparently a hot prospect, and linked with both Liverpool and Man United.

[Open End Numb Legs]

Forget the football! It seems the pitch is too sticky, the clock doesn't work right, not enough pies in the ground and wrong crowd in the Lansdown!

Sky Sports should be mentioning all of this in their live reports (with just a final note to say that the score was 1-1).

[Gert Mare]

Positives - We didn’t lose. Zak Vyner looked very composed. 2nd half he was excellent. Dickie had a solid debut. Players looked fit. Worked hard off the ball.

Negatives - Looked nervy after taking the lead. Slow and predictable build up play. Struggling to see any quality in Cornick. Equaliser had been coming and we failed to take control of the game. Missed Alex Scott in midfield. Think we would have been more creative had he been fit.

[DaveF]

Watched the game with a couple of non City fans and they both picked out Bell as our best player. 

Vyner MOTM for me, we were lucky to get a point.

[mozo]

6 hours ago, GrahamC said:

On the plus side I thought Zak was outstanding, Dickie very good, Wells too & thought Joe Williams was better than any of the 3 that started In midfield. Good as well that Sam Bell is off the mark.

Negatives were Tanner’s distribution was poor, the midfield looked sluggish & Max made a right mess of it when he came a long way to punch the ball clear.

Fair result & with Weimann presumably unavailable now & the Scott saga rumbling on, a few things for Nige to ponder.

Whilst Viner and Dickie did some decent defending, they were both guilty of long balls which didn't reach their targets, which I found really frustrating, especially as an easier pass was always on. 

[mozo]

For me the first 20 minutes was shocking. We were just so loose and wasteful with the ball. 

The positive was that we eventually started passing it around. And we scored. 

But the second half was mostly us being outplayed.

[Rudolf Hucker]

4 hours ago, WoodsDTES said:

Tanner-45 passes 68.9%

The reality was worse than the stats portray imo. So many of Tanner’s 45 passes were backward to Vyner or O’Leary; too few were played forward with any attacking intent.
 

I like George and have been generally impressed with him. Like so many other City players on Saturday (and our singers and tellers) he seemed nervous, unsettled and on edge in the first half. Let’s hope that it was a one off. 

[Cityboy1954]

6 hours ago, GrahamC said:

On the plus side I thought Zak was outstanding, Dickie very good, Wells too & thought Joe Williams was better than any of the 3 that started In midfield. Good as well that Sam Bell is off the mark.

Negatives were Tanner’s distribution was poor, the midfield looked sluggish & Max made a right mess of it when he came a long way to punch the ball clear.

Fair result & with Weimann presumably unavailable now & the Scott saga rumbling on, a few things for Nige to ponder.

You saw a different game to me 

[Cityboy1954]

6 hours ago, GrahamC said:

On the plus side I thought Zak was outstanding, Dickie very good, Wells too & thought Joe Williams was better than any of the 3 that started In midfield. Good as well that Sam Bell is off the mark.

Negatives were Tanner’s distribution was poor, the midfield looked sluggish & Max made a right mess of it when he came a long way to punch the ball clear.

Fair result & with Weimann presumably unavailable now & the Scott saga rumbling on, a few things for Nige to ponder.

You saw a different game to me the midfield was crap james williams too old sluggish the new lad done okchasing down everything cronick was his usual self think Nige got it wrong when scitt goes if thats what were left with god help us.

[WoodsDTES]

29 minutes ago, Rudolf Hucker said:

The reality was worse than the stats portray imo. So many of Tanner’s 45 passes were backward to Vyner or O’Leary; too few were played forward with any attacking intent.
 

I like George and have been generally impressed with him. Like so many other City players on Saturday (and our singers and tellers) he seemed nervous, unsettled and on edge in the first half. Let’s hope that it was a one off. 

Do you think he may have been more involved/progressive with Sykes in front of him instead of Cornick who seems to be an easy option for a long ball/aerial duel?

[W-S-M Seagull]

Sammy Bell scoring (I think it's going to be a big season for him) and I suppose it took us 3 games last season to pick up a point so that has to be some sort of positive. 

I also think in the past we would have lost yesterday's game.

[W-S-M Seagull]

7 hours ago, RedReg said:

The booing at full time after a 1-1 draw in the first game of the season was comical. 

S82 did boo Joe Low on his debut so it's no surprise that they booed at the end of the game today. Not quite sure I've ever experienced that before on the opening day. Very bizarre and I'm actually embarrassed for them. 

Maybe they should have booed themselves cos their own singing performance was below par today also. 

[Garland-sweden]

Not mutch was working. Defence ok, not good with a late goal but Preston was the better team. They got the midfield and we did not played well. 

[Guest]

Positive; another championship season, Negative; still need a ball holding/goalscoring Targetman for the likes of Bell/Conway to feed off, until we sign one we arent leaving this div. (Cornick aint it)

Edited August 6, 2023 by wtf

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Wrongagain said:

Cornick no better now than when he arrived, Sykes offers so much more and Weimann wasted in midfield - if we don’t need or have a decent centre forward where will the promotion winning goals come from ? I won’t mention the ref either - if I write what I feel is the truth I’ll get banned!

Cornick, a bench warmer at best, he will never lead our front line against this divs tough defenders, (sorry mate) another Galley/Cheesley type urgently required

[Son of Fred]

10 hours ago, firstdivision said:

I’m absolutely baffled why we bought him. A Luton fan told me he is decent alongside a big target man - and we don’t play with one of those. In fact, we don’t have one in our first-team squad. 

This-

We are only bringing in players that improve us/are better than what we have- ?

That, I'm sorry to say is not the case.

[Engvall’s Splinter]

5 hours ago, Cityboy1954 said:

You saw a different game to me the midfield was crap james williams too old sluggish the new lad done okchasing down everything cronick was his usual self think Nige got it wrong when scitt goes if thats what were left with god help us.

Just slightly OTT

[firstdivision]

11 hours ago, IAmNick said:

Lackadaisical, careless in possession, slow to second balls when out of possession, afraid to take risks or chances, and more... not much of it good. Disappointing overall. Really disappointing in fact, as we were almost the opposite to what I thought we were.

However, it's also only one game and Preston are always a tough team to play against and my guess is quite a few teams will come away after playing them feeling like we did today over the course of the season. I'm not getting despondent or even that down yet, there's a long way to go and if we're still looking like this half a dozen games in then I'll start to worry.

That said - we must do better.

Agree with all of that apart from the not getting despondent bit. I found it quite depressing. And slightly worrying. 

I was hoping to watch a team that had a coherent plan of attack. We were so boring and lacking in creativity. I want a bit of excitement. It looked like a team picked to work hard…and, my god, it was hard work. 

[Major Isewater]

11 hours ago, weepywall said:

I thought the atmosphere today was awful, all felt good before the game nice buzz, get in the ground and it was flat as a pancake, disappointing all round today.

The P.A. system is way too loud , it kills any build up of atmosphere. 
The away fans all grouped together create more noise than us with our isolated outbreaks of chants from all over which fizzle out quicker than a birthday cake candle. 
Positives - Ashton Gate shuttle bus, easy entry into the ground, quick service at food outlets . Vyner, Dickie, Tanner, Bell off the mark. ( top finisher but needs to add more to his game I think. ) Wells . Unbeaten in one . 

Negatives- Where was the high press energetic non stop running team? It was Preston . No apparent patterns of play. Sorry but Cornick ! No midfield creativity. 
 

Still one game. 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Major Isewater

[firstdivision]

16 minutes ago, Son of Fred said:

This-

We are only bringing in players that improve us/are better than what we have- ?

That, I'm sorry to say is not the case.

Indeed.

I’d like to see us try Bell on the right and Mehmeti on the left.

I’m not a huge fan of Sykes because his delivery is so often disappointing but he looks more natural on the right than HC who looks like he struggles to control his own body let alone the ball. 

[robinforlife2]

Positives: Didn't lose, defended okay, still unbeaten, 

Negatives: Another player picked up an injury, final ball still frustrating

[phantom]

12 hours ago, glynriley said:

Fair play to you mate that you can find something positive. For me that was an awful performance from front to back. Vyner pretty much the only player who’s in credit. 

I’m a big fan of Nige but he got it all wrong for me today. 

Summed up perfectly in this opening paragraph, and these stats show it perfectly too 

[ralphindevon]

Negatives, we could have done without playing a team like Preston first up, it’s always a scrap against them and Millwall which we may have been better prepared for later on.

Positives, that’s them out of the way, who’s next? 

[Super]

11 hours ago, KegCity said:

Defended well. Dickie looks solid to me.

Negatives are we were very predictable when we chose to build through the midfield and most of the time chose to bypass them entirely. 

Dickie did look pretty solid bar one mistake. His passing wasn't great guessing though we didn't buy him for that.

[TV Tom]

It was crying out for something different which Mehmeti brings, would of had Conway & Sykes in the starting 11, made PNE look far better than they actually are and fully expect them to get battered by Sunderland next week

[mozo]

5 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

It was crying out for something different which Mehmeti brings, would of had Conway & Sykes in the starting 11, made PNE look far better than they actually are and fully expect them to get battered by Sunderland next week

I don't think Wells did anything wrong, but Conway is one of the first names on the teams sheet for me. I'm also a big fan of Sykes and feeling a bit impatient with Cornick.

Having said that, wasn't our goal a combination of all three starting forwards?

That aside, I still think Conway and Sykes would have added a bit of extra quality on the ball.

Wednesday gives Nige a chance to rotate, and Roberts, Conway and Sykes the opportunity to impress, albeit against lesser opposition. 

[Antman]

3 minutes ago, mozo said:

I don't think Wells did anything wrong, but Conway is one of the first names on the teams sheet for me. I'm also a big fan of Sykes and feeling a bit impatient with Cornick.

Having said that, wasn't our goal a combination of all three starting forwards?

That aside, I still think Conway and Sykes would have added a bit of extra quality on the ball.

Wednesday gives Nige a chance to rotate, and Roberts, Conway and Sykes the opportunity to impress, albeit against lesser opposition. 

Conway added nothing when he came on. admit that as a sub it's harder to impact, but it underscored that Wells didn't have that poor a game as primarily the service to the front guys was missing.

 

[Jose]

26 minutes ago, Super said:

Dickie did look pretty solid bar one mistake. His passing wasn't great guessing though we didn't buy him for that.

I thought that was one of the reasons we did? In pre season he looked very good passing into midfield. Had no options yesterday at all. 

[ExiledAjax]

12 hours ago, Bar BS3 said:

I'd disagree. I found the decision to start Cornick ahead of Sykes baffling - hence the descriptive of "baffling"

You may not agree with it  & that's you perogative.

For me, it was baffling & to those who sit around me.

And it's your prerogative to be baffled by the decision to play one player over another. Personally I'd reserve "baffling" for when Pearson sticks Wiles-Richards up front, but you do you.

As to the actual players, Conway is everyone's darling, and for some good reason, but yesterday he didn't impact the game, and I don't think it would have gone much different had he been played from the start.

Sykes likewise. I love Sykes, had him as my player of the year last season, and yes I'd have started him had I had the power to decide that, but again he struggled yesterday. Why?

IMO the midfield struggled against a surprisingly active and dynamic Preston. Hence we resorted to longer balls over the top to bypass a midfield tat we couldn't control. There isn't really any variation of our front three that works for that style, they're better suited to a running and passing game. It became a game of percentages and we didn't luck out much. 

So, for me, the issues that you see in Cornick are rooted in the lack of Scott and Naismith in the midfield.

[johnheadbcfc]

Positive - 45 games to go

Positive - Millwall next week 

Positive - footballs back

Positive - less of the mrs

Edited August 6, 2023 by johnheadbcfc

[TV Tom]

16 minutes ago, Antman said:

Conway added nothing when he came on. admit that as a sub it's harder to impact, but it underscored that Wells didn't have that poor a game as primarily the service to the front guys was missing.

 

Wells might not of had a poor game but he certainly didn't have a good game, sometimes strikers have got to provide their own chances and luck, for my liking he "disappears" in games too often 

[Show Me The Money!]

9 minutes ago, johnheadbcfc said:

Positive - 45 games to go

Positive - Millwall next week 

Positive - footballs back

Positive - less of the mrs

Positive for the Mrs as well I'm guessing 

[johnheadbcfc]

Just now, Show Me The Money! said:

Positive for the Mrs as well I'm guessing 

Goes without saying

[italian dave]

Positive: playing Preston for the first time in a while without having to endure the scrote that is Greg Cunningham. 

[Dr Balls]

Positives - we didn’t lose.

Negatives - team selection and tactics, plus another injury.

That said, the Preston formation was basically 3-5-2, but with at least one of the 3 central defenders pushing up into midfield and one of the forwards dropping back, so increasing their numbers there further. We were basically outnumbered in the middle of the pitch, exacerbated by our relative immobility and lack of creativity, plus our full backs were pushed back into defensive roles, so instead we resorted to ineffective hoofball.

Millwall set up in a very similar way to Preston, plus are another big, physical team, so Nige really needs to work out how we set up to counter that. Playing away, I would suspect that he will attempt to allow them more possession and soak up the pressure, then try hit them on the counter attack.

[Red-Robbo]

11 minutes ago, Dr Balls said:

 Playing away, I would suspect that he will attempt to allow them more possession and soak up the pressure, then try hit them on the counter attack.

It sort of seemed like that was the plan yesterday, but the counter attacks mainly spluttered out.

I said to the guys next to me "we're playing like we're the away team". 

 

[redsocks]

For me dickie looked ok ,James had a bad game and as for conrick what he brings to the side I have no idea.i think we missed scot in midfield tc running up front and sykes on the right.it was a bad team performance and preston deserved their point.with players to come back it should be OK.

 

[pillred]

13 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

I’m just going to go with a positive.

I got to meet the great Mick Hartford 

Harford even, ps don't call him Hartford ffs :laugh:.

[GrahamC]

2 hours ago, phantom said:

Summed up perfectly in this opening paragraph, and these stats show it perfectly too 

Worth pointing out too that Preston’s first five league games last season were 0-0, 0-0, 1-0 win, 0-0 & 0-0.

We weren’t great but they are very tough to play against, last season’s double over them was certainly a rare one but we have lost once against them now in the last 10.

[Bristol Oil Services]

1 minute ago, GrahamC said:

Worth pointing out too that Preston’s first five league games last season were 0-0, 0-0, 1-0 win, 0-0 & 0-0.

We weren’t great but they are very tough to play against, last season’s double over them was certainly a rare one but we have lost once against them now in the last 10.

City fan on the radio phone in last night said they are our "bogey team" so the idea/myth persists

[GrahamC]

Just now, Bristol Oil Services said:

City fan on the radio phone in last night said they are our "bogey team" so the idea/myth persists

Understandable, there was a period they kept winning in BS3, (normally with a Callum Robinson goal) but he’s moved on & that’s long gone.

They are a very effective side though, small club by Championship standards but in absolutely no danger on the basis of yesterday.

[ralphindevon]

17 minutes ago, pillred said:

Harford even, ps don't call him Hartford ffs :laugh:.

Noooo, I definitely corrected it to Harford after it auto corrected and put a t in it. I even googled to double check I was right. Now it turns out it didn’t correct. 

[Bristol Oil Services]

Just now, ralphindevon said:

Noooo, I definitely corrected it to Harford after it auto corrected and put a t in it. I even googled to double check I was right. Now it turns out it didn’t correct. 

Did you ask Mick what to do with Cornick?

[ralphindevon]

Just now, Bristol Oil Services said:

Did you ask Mick what to do with Cornick?

No it was a very brief interaction, where I quickly told him I could remember his headed goal from the edge of the box of the Eastend/ South stand against Exeter.

I got the feeling it wasn’t a goal that would be top in his memories of the 582 goals, many in the top flight and 2 for England.

Even I was questioning if it was v Exeter and was it as far out as I remember. But I do remember he was a shining beacon in what was the darkest days in our history.

[1960maaan]

38 minutes ago, Bristol Oil Services said:

City fan on the radio phone in last night said they are our "bogey team" so the idea/myth persists

TBF I'd say bogey team, in as much as the game is always crap, usually tight for goals  and often Reffed by weak officials that let them do what they do. Though I accept my bias may colour my thoughts. 
 

[italian dave]

2 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

It sort of seemed like that was the plan yesterday, but the counter attacks mainly spluttered out.

I said to the guys next to me "we're playing like we're the away team". 

 

Thought the same. And to make it worse, Preston were trying to stop us playing like the away team, so it degenerated into a stalemate.

They had to change it after we scored, so that livened things up a bit. Not a lot in terms of quality though! 

[Red Skin]

17 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

I think Bells rating is coloured by the (well taken) goal. He missed a very good chance first half without making the keeper work, and when he broke second half again the effort was tame. Pring didn’t have a good day but I don’t think Sam helped him much, and he wasn’t a great outlet. Take the goal out and there wasn’t much there from Sam today.

He was obviously disappointed he didn't score but I don't think he did much wrong with his first chance.  He shot on target and placed the ball back toward the far corner, meaning a parry would (potentially) bring the ball back out into play.   Perhaps you could criticise the height of the shot.  Good height for the keeper.  

What worried me more was the lack of chances we created, and our failure to move the ball quickly.  It was almost as if that for some players the challenge was to make the starting eleven, rather than performing in the game.  

It's great we are a very fit team, but given the relatively poor quality of the team we played preseason, I wonder to what extent fitness won these games.  We have always struggled against team that sit back and that we need to open up.  I think preseason needs to test our guile as well as our fitness. 

As others have said, Vyner, Dickie, Bell, and Williams were good.  Also thought things improved when Sykes and Conway came on.   

Oxford is a great chance for others in the squad to press for a start.  

[steviestevieneville]

17 hours ago, GrahamC said:

On the plus side I thought Zak was outstanding, Dickie very good, Wells too & thought Joe Williams was better than any of the 3 that started In midfield. Good as well that Sam Bell is off the mark.

Negatives were Tanner’s distribution was poor, the midfield looked sluggish & Max made a right mess of it when he came a long way to punch the ball clear.

Fair result & with Weimann presumably unavailable now & the Scott saga rumbling on, a few things for Nige to ponder.

Preston always a tough game & came with a plan to stop us playing which they did. We need to be able to counter it. They stopped us getting down the sides of them which is our strength . I was always going to wait on Harry Cornick until after a pre season & i’m not going to completely slag him off after one game . He was really poor yesterday though . He looks like he’s running in treacle  

[Red-Robbo]

35 minutes ago, italian dave said:

Thought the same. And to make it worse, Preston were trying to stop us playing like the away team, so it degenerated into a stalemate.

They had to change it after we scored, so that livened things up a bit. Not a lot in terms of quality though! 

 

Really that was the negative. A team that a play-off bound side would've beaten, yet we were fortunate to have earned a point at home.

Can't dwell too much. The first game back may not reflect the rest of the season - but what a duff way to start off with. It would hardly have persuaded the thousands of part-timers who turned up on Saturday, to part with their money and visit AG again. 

[bcfc01]

Positives - Big crowd, got a point playing badly, centre backs played well

Negatives - A game thats probably drained a bit of optimism and tempered some expectations, but the biggest negative of all is that it looked like the worst of last season in parts.

 

[old_eastender]

4 minutes ago, bcfc01 said:

Positives - Big crowd, got a point playing badly, centre backs played well

Negatives - A game thats probably drained a bit of optimism and tempered some expectations, but the biggest negative of all is that it looked like the worst of last season in parts.

 

Both me and my step-son were highly optimistic before the game, but the manner of play had drained much of that, and would have even if we had held on for an undeserved 1-0 win. 

Agree at times looked like the worst of last season. My deflated step-son summed it up really "New Season Same Shit".

[Spike]

I've been going over the match, looking over the stats, the game management etc and I think the following:

Vyner - Our stand-out player, rarely put a foot out of place, his positioning has far improved since last season if this game is to go by and Dickie offered a lot more dedication in the air which are big positives but I've started with the defence for a reason. 
Yesterday in the first half Preston were a lot more productive in the middle of the park than us. They struggled in the final third but they pressed fast and hard and when they got the ball they were not wasteful with it in the middle of the pitch. Neither team looked likely to score in the first thirty minutes and they looked far more composed on the ball. When we did win the ball we would hold onto it at the back to try and get something going which is exactly why we couldn't produce anything, we would win the ball but couldn't turn the ball winning possession into an attack fast enough which allowed them to shape up and pressure us. The obvious issue here in my eyes was of all of our midfielders only one of them can receive the ball with his back to a player and manage to turn it around which is Alex Scott. We really missed that yesterday as we struggled to turn defence into attack quickly and effectively which is essentially how we're set up to play.
So with no Scott to turn defence into attack we played 30 minutes where we actually had more possession but when you look at the attacking momentum chart we literally did nothing with it until around the last 15 minutes of the first half when we managed to catch Preston making the odd bad pass, that threat then kind of snowballed in our favour and gave us a good 8 minutes of consistent attacking football and after Prestons short burst forward we countered again and looked stronger coming in for the second half. During our 8 minutes of good pressure the difference was that we'd managed to get the ball from Preston making a few poor passes which allowed us to take the ball on in a midfield area and already facing towards the goal. 
What I thought coming in at half time was that Preston had been better in the middle, they'd prevented us from turning on the ball and essentially kept us from getting anything going until the errors were forced. For me we're missing a midfielder who can do what Scott does, receive the ball, turn and make a pass, Williams was the only player who seemed willing to try and force that forward pass whilst James and Knight seemed to try and play more simple passes. Whilst on the subject of the midfield and what was lacking, between all three midfielders we only had one key pass which was from James, all in all the midfield was largely the issue yesterday. Browne and McCann were far better than any of our 3 yesterday, 4 key passes between them and a high completion of passes from them both.

Another stat that highlighted an issue for me was Pring had the joint highest tackles in the game at 5, the same as Ledson, and had 20 duels in the game, winning 11 of them, showing his defensive contribution was massive, the issue he had was when he was getting the ball his options were quickly cut out and this led to him struggling to complete a fair few passes. This leads me on to the attack and the issue we had against Preston yesterday.
Atkinson mentioned on commentary about how we felt "very spaced out" and he was spot on, Cornick, Wells and Bell were so spaced out and the same thing happened as they were replaced by their counter parts, the issue this caused was that Preston had obviously studied us, their interceptions were highest in the middle and this was because if we tried to play it to Wells/Conway they were completely alone with no options to flick on or even play it backwards if they could win it, Preston then allowed us to build up on the wings by cutting out the pass on feet to the CF and making us play down the wings where they used their wing backs and midfielders to pin us in forcing us to come back. We had no back up play for this and ended up in playing it around at the back until were pressured to play it long. Our midfielders were not showing inside passing options for the wide players early enough which meant in turn they were forced back and that we couldn't break Preston down. The 4-3-3 works great when we've got a player who can turn dispossessing the opposition into a counter attack quickly but without Scott and with Preston pinning us on the wings they nullified us completely and we had no second plan.
I feel like Pearson needs to teach them a second plan of action when this situation arrives because the players didn't adapt at all and that was our undoing coming forward, without the counter-attack our wide men looked disconnected from the game and our striker looked like he had no support at all. You only have to look at the touches of our front three to see how secluded they were, Conway had 5 touches in 30 minutes, Cornick had 25 in 70, Bell had 25 in 87 and Sykes had 12 in 30. I mean to put that in perspective Max had 56 which was also more than all 3 of our midfielders, that's how much we had to keep going back due to their gameplan and our lack of ability to adapt to it.

Looking at the match attack momentum I think it tells the story of the match:

 

During the full 90 minutes we had a single high peak (our goal) and only 3 decent peaks, Preston in comparison had 15 decent peaks and 2/3 high peaks, Preston also had 49 minutes of attacking momentum compared to our 39 which was largely boosted by the first half period where we had the ball but were not creating threat as seen by the bars. We actually came in the first half having created 2 decent chances and having had the only shot on goal but the second half, despite our stronger start and goal, was all Preston. After we scored we had a small period of control and from there one we only had one 4 minute long period where we regained control which came after substitutions which allowed us to regain composure for a 4 minutes spell only to fall back into being bogged down by Preston.

I think when we get to a situation like we did yesterday we should reshape a little, the wide men come narrower and we push up a midfielder so he's closer to our striker, this would mean if we're being forced to lump the ball forward we're giving ourselves more chance to win the second balls, something we lost all game long yesterday giving the impression that Preston wanted it more when I think it was more down to they were closer together to support each other. If we told one of the midfield "stay within range of our central striker and challenge for the second ball" and we had our wide men coming narrow it would give us a lot more chance to win those second balls and if we got the possession we'd have players all within the passing range of each other rather than being stood on either wing and not midfielders to support the striker. 

Looking again at the stats the biggest tell was that in the first half Preston had a 0.00 expected goals, they'd pinned us back well and stopped us attacking but hadn't yet really thrown themselves at us, the tactic you'd respect from an away team, but the second half they conceded and then had to push forward which changed the game entirely as once they pushed us we couldn't play our way through them at all. The defence in my opinion played incredibly well yesterday, I mean they conceded one goal in around 20 minutes of very high pressure attacks which when you boil that down to the entirety of the game is roughly 22% of the entire match, add the sustained pressure and we spent 38% of the 90 minutes under sustained pressure, for the record we managed 11% sustained pressure, 9 % being very high.  I said that the result was fair at 1-1 yesterday but looking back on the match, seeing how many times we had scares, looking at these statistics, re-evaluating and then seeing the second half stats of them having 58% possession, 11 shots, 1.32 expected goals and the fact that they dominated us in almost every team statistic just makes me think we were lucky to come away with the point.

For me the main positives were that the defence was very strong considering how much pressure it was put under, it had some shakes but it also did incredibly well to keep them down to a single goal, the attack in my opinion were not bad but were instead far too isolated and for me that comes down to the issue being the midfield. I think if Scott goes we really a need a midfielder who is good on the ball, meaning they can turn a player, beat a player, anything that allows them to face up field under pressure and make a pass to one of our attackers and do it quickly and effectively because without that we cannot use the pace and ability we have upfront as the opposition can get back and then we struggle to break them down.
The other positive for me was that despite having a really poor second half the lads heads didn't go down, after the equaliser we still managed to play a small amount of attack and the defence was still giving it their all.

I think we'll do a lot better against teams that attack with a high line but Pearson really needs to have a think about how he's going to set us up to counter high pressing, deep defensive line teams as we may be able to beat the high press with the workrate the lads have but if they can't figure a way to create against a deep defensive line we're really going to struggle with the counter attack, especially when we're slower to go from defence to attack without Scott or Weimann to make that transition.

[CliftonCliff]

Interesting and very detailed analysis. Lot of time and thought obviously gone into that, thank you.

On a much more simplistic level, I would focus on one single issue from the match and that would be physicality. I don't think it would be a huge exaggeration to say we allowed ourselves to be bullied for much of the game. Players were harassed into hurrying their passes, which were frequently misplaced as a result. Even James's customary composure was disrupted, causing him to rush things and not find his intended target, and you don't see him get flustered very often.

Someone said on another thread something to the effect that we lack a tough, ball winning midfielder. It's valid point. Many of us thought that Joe Williams would be that player when he signed: he certainly was for Wigan. That it hasn't turned out that way is not his fault and is largely down to his rotten luck with injury. I know it's not an aspect of the game that purists value highly, but the Championship can be a brutal league, as we all know. You have to be able to cope with this stuff and I don't think we did.

Preston were a big, strong side and they won't be the only ones to fit that description this season. I entirely agree about the impact that Scott's absence had. Not only would he have been able to turn players in midfield; he would also have drawn a lot of fouls and won free kicks in dangerous areas, which might well have forced Preston to tone it down a bit, for fear of incurring more bookings. That said, it would not have solved the problem altogether. We were muscled off the ball too often.

An intentionally one-dimensional take on it, as I said at the top, but I think it is worth emphasising.   

[Numero Uno]

20 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Dickie was my MOTM and the only player who seemed robust enough to deal with Preston's constant rough-housing - and was able to pay them back in kind!

What disappointed me again was the basic lack of midfield able to deal with a big, physical side.  I get that Scott wasn't there and the ref gave us next to no protection, but there was no one able to stop them bringing the ball into our final third. Preston aren't exactly a graceful side, but when you let them have that much possession in your half you just know a goal is coming eventually.

Lots of City players had below-par games and it was a bit of a blah turgid mess of a game, as it always seems to be when we have a big crowd for a league game. Was disappointed with Knight after the rave reviews he was getting in the friendlies. It didn't look like he could hold off the challenge of a primary school kid. I'm not writing the bloke off based on one game however. Much better will come, hopefully. 

Any Scott cash that we can spend would be well invested in a strong, fearless attacking midfielder. 

Agree, it is vital we have someone in our midfield who carries the ball. That player is normally Scott but if he goes we do need as close to a like for like replacement as we can get for the money we can afford.

[Roger Red Hat]

I was somewhat surprised not to see a change of shape at half time, as we constantly seemed to be outnumbered in midfield.

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 minutes ago, Roger Red Hat said:

I was somewhat surprised not to see a change of shape at half time, as we constantly seemed to be outnumbered in midfield.

Had a quick look at the sides again.

Preston were playing a slightly unusual 3-5-1-1. Their new midfielder was the first of the 1 which meant in some phases they could get a 3 v 4 going centrally. Potts can come inside too, by no means a pure wingback but let's assume he does stay wider.

Meanwhile our front 3 can be matched up to some extent by their back 3, not least by hitting it high as we did at times as they were big centre backs.

There isn't that much to exploit tactically IMO, at home even less so as you'll get more chances to counter away from home often. Scott and Naismith , plus Atkinson and his ability to carry being a natural midfielder.

Weimann or Sykes instead of Cornick may have given Tanner that bit more space or time to exploit.

[Numero Uno]

The important thing for me next week is we put in a performance regardless of the result. Bad games happen and yesterday was certainly that but to judge a season after one game as a very small minority already have is completely mental.

Given we have nutters booing the team off after an underwhelming draw on the opening day it is important we start performing sooner rather than later.

[Red-Robbo]

7 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Had a quick look at the sides again.

Preston were playing a slightly unusual 3-5-1-1. Their new midfielder was the first of the 1 which meant in some phases they could get a 3 v 4 going centrally. Potts can come inside too, by no means a pure wingback but let's assume he does stay wider.

 

We were fortunate that Potts didn't seem to be able to hit a cow's arse with a banjo. He had three free hits at goal. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

We were fortunate that Potts didn't seem to be able to hit a cow's arse with a banjo. He had three free hits at goal. 

Agreed. Potts and his finishing aside though, their shape- not the back 3 but the fact it was a 3-5-1-1 probably posed us some unexpected problems not quite sure they usually it many English clubs especially play that way.

Watch varied Serie A, Atalanta have certainly used it to good effect in the past. Here? Not so much.

[Better Red]

We lack a player(without Scott) in the middle who can pick the ball up deep and run with the ball.

Maybe Mehmeti could do that role. Has the pace ability on the ball - but can he find that pass at the right time and do the hard track back? Will need coaching.

We def need someone to feel that gap with it without Scott - if he is injured needs a rest we will struggle unless we find someone to fill that role.
 

 

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

How to combat a 3-5-1-1 is quite tricky. Been thinking about it, Scott and for different reasons Naismith may move the dial but as Saturday...as might Atkinson but anyway.

4-3-3 vs 3-5-1-1..especially with varied long or high balls vs big centre backs.

Some basic matching up

*Their back 3 if 3 big CBs can pick up high balls vs a front 3.

*2 v 1 superiority in wide areas but vs a packed middle this can have its limitations too.

*Can even pose downside risks as losing the ball in congested central areas be it through running into traffic or hitting high crosses can enable a fast turnover and especially when the opposition are an away side.

*The free player, the 2nd '1' can depending on the type of player provide two functions. To help outnumber your more typical 3 in a 4 v 3 in some phases while in other phases get up to support the striker which can pin back the centre backs a little.

On point 3, watched back the highlights a couple of times, even when ahead we conceded some turnovers on the break.

This can certainly be counteracted but with yesterday's personnel it gets harder.

Few thoughts

*Scott and Naismith would help a lot for one. Atkinson too. Scott doing what Scott goes, Naismith spreading play, Knight harrying as he can and Atkinson periodically stepping up.

*Could Weimann in a wide right forward role instead of Cornick have been better? Feels more likely to get s goal and can come inside.

*Pace. Would we say not stamina but pace, that Bell-Conway-Mehmeti maybe our quickest front 3? Pace isn't everything of course but big centre backs don't much like it.

Granted I don't know whether this is so applicable as not many sides will setup that way IMO..

[B1ackbird]

+ We didn't lose..

- We didn't win. 

[Chivs]

+I waved my phone at the turnstile and got in immediately. I thought there would be an 0.5hr queue in the driving rain

+ Good debut by Dickie

 

- It was the coldest since the Millwall game in the great winter of 1946.  OK, I might exaggerate a bit but for August!?

- Pearson is still with us

- All those dinky balls over their fullbacks that achieve nothing with our players

- Pearson

- Yet another slow, unexceptional midfielder onboard

- Pearson is still with us

[real_bristol]

Despite being seemingly outplayed in terms of possession in the first half, I thought we had more clear cut chances and should have been at least 1 nil up at half time. After going 1-up in the 2nd we were inevitably on the back foot a little. On the balance of things though I think a draw was a fair result.

Vyner, James, Knight, Bell would be first names on the team sheet next week for me.

Edited August 6, 2023 by real_bristol

[petehinton]

Negatives - 

Atmosphere. Weather. Excitement. How everyone bar Vyner and Dickie played!

Positives -

Vyner and Dickie. Would he surprised if we have a home performance that slow and lacklustre again. All the negatives people are mentioning were referenced by Pearson post match, so he himself knows and wasn’t happy with what he saw. Everyone, bar the two CBs, had a bad game, and we didn’t lose it. First game of not, that’s a good thing. I’d rather start poorly and grow into ourselves than start well and fade.