Negativity

[Mikjizzle]

Long time lurker but I've been compelled to finally post. I'm sure similar posts have been done before so apologies if going over old ground. 

Anyway I've been astonished by the negativity on here by the majority of posters.

Firstly,  I liked Pearson and thought he built some really good foundations and I was annoyed when he got sacked. I also think the communication from the club around it all was poor. But after talking to someone I know who works in first team football (at championship level), I was reassured that a more forward thinking manager made sense to keep up with the direction football is heading. This person had also worked with Pearson and liked him but he told me he thought Pearson had taken as far as he could and thinks City need a technical coach to push us on to the next level and overachieve against teams with a higher wage bill. 

I can't understand what the hatred is for Manning and the way we play. As much as I liked Pearson, the football was generally terrible and we lumped it around most of the time - occasionally we played entertaining counter attacking football but we were unbelievably inconsistent. I think the players did care and they battled, which resonated with everyone (although I think the same is true of players under Manning but he is perhaps asking them to be more conservative/efficient at times with their energy). I'm not convinced Pearson was the man to push us on to the next level as much as what he did at the club was important. 

The football under Manning to me has come on leaps and bounds. I've never seen a Bristol City team dominate teams on the ball in the Championship like we do under Manning this season & we create more clear chances this season then we have for years. I appreciate that some people think it's boring but you can't argue that playing that way doesn't work at Championship level. Nearly all of the teams that have success in football at the moment tend to dominate possession in general and/or play a high press. So, I don't understand why people are against this trend or can't see that we have improved in these areas. 

I've seen a lot of comments about people wanting 90 minutes performances but that's not realistic under any manager for Bristol City in a competitive league. A 90 minute performance to me will likely include periods of the game where you are under pressure - it's about withstanding that pressure and turning the momentum back into your favour. I've also recently seen comments about our squad being too big, which doesn't make sense to me - we have seen how injuries have impacted us in the last few seasons and for the first time we probably have enough depth to deal with it. 

It feels like people cannot see past some of the comments that were made after Pearson got sacked but those aren't Manning's fault. There also seems to be a weird hangover from Lee Johnson with people thinking any other young technical type coach is exactly the same as LJ and can't be successful just because they use coaching language in interviews and haven't got vast amounts of experience in management - but loads of young coaches with similar experience to Manning are hugely successful. It also genuinely feels like people want Manning to fail because of these factors. 

Not sure what the purpose of my post is other than to get it off my chest and to encourage people to consider how much we have developed this season in terms of possession, chances created and patterns of play. I think we are still trying to find a balance between attack and defence.  

Ultimately, it's a results business and we need better results, which I hope will come if we keep doing what we are doing - and I think the signs are encouraging, apart from a couple of matches, where we were punished. But it's still early in the season and I think worth noting that I still wouldn't say we have a top 6 squad (regardless of some flippant comments from Tinnion). So, I don't understand where the negativity comes from or why there is a lack of acknowledgement for how much the team has developed, even if you are annoyed about the results, the club and the way Pearson was treated.

I'm desperate for City to have a good season and compete for promotion and I'm fed up of mid table mediocrity. I think based on current trends in football and the way we are looking to develop Manning gives us a reasonable chance of that. And if not Manning then someone else similar on paper. Carlos Corberan is a similar obsessive, technical coach and he's overachieving with West Brom- same can be said for McKenna last season, so it can be done. 

I'm aware that this post may be met with me being accused of being some sort of Bristol Sport bot/employee but so be it. 

Edited October 3 by Mikjizzle

[mozo]

I do think it's ridiculous that we should be so dramatic about a 0-0 against a team that everyone expected to be competitive this season. Particularly when that three games unbeaten and only 2 goals conceded in those games. Kind of suggests we're getting back on track.

That said, it was an infuriating second half, and we're tracking behind where I think we should be currently. 

So, I won't get too emotional right now, but do have an expectation for us to win a couple of our next four games.

[Jackson Lamb]

Hi Brian

[STFreeloader]

What you call negativity I call realism. 

1 minute ago, Jackson Lamb said:

Hi Brian

Unlikely. It’s not absolutely strewn with spelling and grammatical errors. 

[Ska Junkie]

Liam?

[Roe]

You don't understand why people are frustrated at sitting in the bottom half, watching dull 0-0 draws and 12 months of mediocrity after such backing?

Really?

[Mr Popodopolous]

To the OP, before I get into it generally I rate Corberan highly but the wage bill was significant at WBA for the prior 2 seasons..certainly 2022-23 and based on bits I've read may have been north of £35m last year. Maja on fire seems to have carried them to an extent, will that persist?

QPR 1 WBA 3- Maja Hattrick

Stoke 1 WBA 2- Maja Goal

WBA 1 Swansea 0- Maja Assist

WBA 1 Plymouth 0- Maja Goal

Also scored the opener at Portsmouh in a 3-0 win and 1 at Sheffield Wednesday in a 3-2 loss..their underlying numbers are variable really.

At Huddersfield although Parachute bolstered he had less to work with and getting them to the Play-off final was truly excellent.

Edited October 3 by Mr Popodopolous

[One Team]

At least a well explained post, albeit I disagree with you, especially on the football being improved. 

The negativity isn’t just about last night in isolation IMO, it’s been ongoing for months and has been magnified following Manning’s backing and this seasons approach. In my experience the views here are reasonably well balanced and I see and hear far more vociferous views elsewhere. 

Nice to have a decent thought through post though. 

Edited October 3 by One Team

[TV Tom]

If you want negativity then have a look on the “Wednesday” forum and see what their fans are saying, most were saying we battered them first half and should of been out of sight also a few impressed with Yu, Twine and Mehmeti’s first half performance 

[Red-Robbo]

I don't think it's negativity about one boring game: they happen, even St Nige served up a few.

It's the disappointment that having actually spent a bit of money and brought in a manager who was supposed to push-on from mid-table, we clearly haven't. And in some respects we look worse than before.

Also, most fans believe there is some ability in this team, but Manning and the coaches are not harnessing it - and are in fact negating it. 

 

[Dullmoan Tone]

The “Pearson was the special one” brigade won’t thank you for your post but I suspect a majority agree!

My concern is the rigidity of LM’s thinking, previous interviews have shown he doesn’t appreciate challenge and I fear he may be so wedded to “this is how my team plays” that he won’t consider anything more than in game tinkering, which I fear makes us more easy to set up against.

We seem to be dependent on a moment of magic to open up a game - can this squad deliver it often enough? Personally I’m not sure and arguably two of our most creative players are also struggling (Anis and Twine). I presume Earthy was recruited before the Twine deal happened so is now (already) surplus. That’s a shame because he looks comfortable on the ball from the little we have seen.

I think Bird is better than Williams, who has flattered to make a scoring impact for too long - again is LM wedded to his favourite 11 - time will tell but I agree it wI’ll likely be more entertaining than a Pearson side!

 

[TV Tom]

1 minute ago, One Team said:

At least a well explained post, albeit I disagree with you, especially on the football being improved. 

The negativity isn’t just about last night in isolation IMO, it’s been ongoing for months and has been magnified following Manning’s backing and this seasons approach. 

Nice to have a decent thought through post though. 

The negativity towards Manning was there after one game mainly due to a small but vocal minority unable to get over the inexplicable love-in with “Nige” !!!

[One Team]

1 minute ago, TV Tom said:

The negativity towards Manning was there after one game mainly due to a small but vocal minority unable to get over the inexplicable love-in with “Nige” !!!

The negativity in the first few games wasn’t at Manning it was at Lansdown, and even now still is at times. 

[bexhill reds]

1 minute ago, TV Tom said:

The negativity towards Manning was there after one game mainly due to a small but vocal minority unable to get over the inexplicable love-in with “Nige” !!!

And the 40+ games following that appear to have done nothing to change their view.... Football fans are fickle, play entertaining football, win games and potentially challenge then everyone will come around and agree that their current manager is the best they've ever witnessed.

Only in our case the 40+ games have done nothing other than to back up their view of the firing of the previous manager.

 

[exAtyeoMax]

2 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

The negativity towards Manning was there after one game mainly due to a small but vocal minority unable to get over the inexplicable love-in with “Nige” !!!

Unfortunately these kinds of comments dismissing valid objections to Nige’s replacing undermine all the nuanced discussion re LM’s tenure and the team’s performances this season. Yes some people like to reduce everything down to a Nige Love in but that serves no purpose in going forward if one is unable to see the wider issue with this club. 

[David Brent]

10 minutes ago, Dullmoan Tone said:

The “Pearson was the special one” brigade won’t thank you for your post but I suspect a majority agree!

My concern is the rigidity of LM’s thinking, previous interviews have shown he doesn’t appreciate challenge and I fear he may be so wedded to “this is how my team plays” that he won’t consider anything more than in game tinkering, which I fear makes us more easy to set up against.

We seem to be dependent on a moment of magic to open up a game - can this squad deliver it often enough? Personally I’m not sure and arguably two of our most creative players are also struggling (Anis and Twine). I presume Earthy was recruited before the Twine deal happened so is now (already) surplus. That’s a shame because he looks comfortable on the ball from the little we have seen.

I think Bird is better than Williams, who has flattered to make a scoring impact for too long - again is LM wedded to his favourite 11 - time will tell but I agree it wI’ll likely be more entertaining than a Pearson side!

 

Valid, constructive and well thought out posts dismissed once again with this tedious nonsense. 

[Jose]

Leaps and bounds, dominate and developing are not words I’d describe his 40 games in charge. We are in a worse position, after spending a small fortune. Not sure how anyone can argue it. 

[DantheCityman]

Dominating the ball doesn't mean good football. After a dismal first half at Swansea we perked up and had them on the ropes and sat back accepting a point. Now he is happy with a clean sheet against a team who hadn't got a point on the road this season. And to say we had good chances last night, not sure i'm seeing what he is that's for sure.

It was as dull a game as i have ever seen us play last night. With the upcoming fixtures we have we will need to perform considerably better to get any points and not be hovering around the relegation places by mid November. 

[Red Exile]

Respect to the OP. Well reasoned arguments. Not sure I agree but what I would say, on the basis of last night, is that efforts are clearly being made to improve the care with which we manage possession and at times we played down the flanks very well. Yu looks a fine signing, capable of both creative ambition and controlling the ball well enough to execute a cross or run to the by-line.

But his efforts only serve to demonstrate that too few of our players seem too have the basic skill to deliver - witness clumsy first touches which completely destroy the potential for breaks, or the pitiful efforts at taking shots - neither finding the space, nor when having the space, the composure to hit the target.

I'm afraid I was bored by the utter predicability of last night and if it wasn't for the good company before and during the match, and loyalty to a hope that one day things will turn, I'd be doing something else with my time.

[grifty]

There is a vocal minority on here that make this forum almost unreadable due to their views (and if you oppose or provide your own opinion they insult you) or with terrible jokes ("Hi Brian / Liam / Jon, etc") or bickering with each other.

[Sir Geoff]

1 hour ago, Mikjizzle said:

Long time lurker but I've been compelled to finally post. I'm sure similar posts have been done before so apologies if going over old ground. 

Anyway I've been astonished by the negativity on here by the majority of posters.

Firstly,  I liked Pearson and thought he built some really good foundations and I was annoyed when he got sacked. I also think the communication from the club around it all was poor. But after talking to someone I know who works in first team football (at championship level), I was reassured that a more forward thinking manager made sense to keep up with the direction football is heading. This person had also worked with Pearson and liked him but he told me he thought Pearson had taken as far as he could and thinks City need a technical coach to push us on to the next level and overachieve against teams with a higher wage bill. 

I can't understand what the hatred is for Manning and the way we play. As much as I liked Pearson, the football was generally terrible and we lumped it around most of the time - occasionally we played entertaining counter attacking football but we were unbelievably inconsistent. I think the players did care and they battled, which resonated with everyone (although I think the same is true of players under Manning but he is perhaps asking them to be more conservative/efficient at times with their energy). I'm not convinced Pearson was the man to push us on to the next level as much as what he did at the club was important. 

The football under Manning to me has come on leaps and bounds. I've never seen a Bristol City team dominate teams on the ball in the Championship like we do under Manning this season & we create more clear chances this season then we have for years. I appreciate that some people think it's boring but you can't argue that playing that way doesn't work at Championship level. Nearly all of the teams that have success in football at the moment tend to dominate possession in general and/or play a high press. So, I don't understand why people are against this trend or can't see that we have improved in these areas. 

I've seen a lot of comments about people wanting 90 minutes performances but that's not realistic under any manager for Bristol City in a competitive league. A 90 minute performance to me will likely include periods of the game where you are under pressure - it's about withstanding that pressure and turning the momentum back into your favour. I've also recently seen comments about our squad being too big, which doesn't make sense to me - we have seen how injuries have impacted us in the last few seasons and for the first time we probably have enough depth to deal with it. 

It feels like people cannot see past some of the comments that were made after Pearson got sacked but those aren't Manning's fault. There also seems to be a weird hangover from Lee Johnson with people thinking any other young technical type coach is exactly the same as LJ and can't be successful just because they use coaching language in interviews and haven't got vast amounts of experience in management - but loads of young coaches with similar experience to Manning are hugely successful. It also genuinely feels like people want Manning to fail because of these factors. 

Not sure what the purpose of my post is other than to get it off my chest and to encourage people to consider how much we have developed this season in terms of possession, chances created and patterns of play. I think we are still trying to find a balance between attack and defence.  

Ultimately, it's a results business and we need better results, which I hope will come if we keep doing what we are doing - and I think the signs are encouraging, apart from a couple of matches, where we were punished. But it's still early in the season and I think worth noting that I still wouldn't say we have a top 6 squad (regardless of some flippant comments from Tinnion). So, I don't understand where the negativity comes from or why there is a lack of acknowledgement for how much the team has developed, even if you are annoyed about the results, the club and the way Pearson was treated.

I'm desperate for City to have a good season and compete for promotion and I'm fed up of mid table mediocrity. I think based on current trends in football and the way we are looking to develop Manning gives us a reasonable chance of that. And if not Manning then someone else similar on paper. Carlos Corberan is a similar obsessive, technical coach and he's overachieving with West Brom- same can be said for McKenna last season, so it can be done. 

I'm aware that this post may be met with me being accused of being some sort of Bristol Sport bot/employee but so be it. 

Did you watch the second half yesterday ? Our only forward balls were lumped 50 yards upfield by Vyner and Max to Wells, who had no chance of winning any of them.

[Super]

35 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

If you want negativity then have a look on the “Wednesday” forum and see what their fans are saying, most were saying we battered them first half and should of been out of sight also a few impressed with Yu, Twine and Mehmeti’s first half performance 

And people wanted that manager here. No thanks.

[Sir Geoff]

32 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

The negativity towards Manning was there after one game mainly due to a small but vocal minority unable to get over the inexplicable love-in with “Nige” !!!

......or it might just have been due to the inexplicable way Manning set up away to QPR and the 90 minutes of tedium that followed.

[ralphindevon]

It’s odd how every now and again someone comes along and posts their first post and it’s an epic essay on why we should get behind the team.

I’m not saying the poster is right or wrong but I just find it odd, why not make a few short comments over the time you’ve been lurking? If it was a one off I wouldn’t smell a rat but this happens quite often and then we never hear from them again.

 

[TV Tom]

Looking at the broader picture we’ve played 8 games where we’ve one 2 (deservedly) lost 2 (very deservedly) and drawn the other 4 where I thought we were the better team in all 4 games and could and probably should of won all 4, if we had won just 2 of those drawn games we would now be sitting just 1 point outside of the play-offs, fine lines, I think I heard someone say we have now gone 9 home games without defeat, I see the positive at the moment while others see the negative which is fair enough, we’re all entitled to our own opinion although if he keeps on making weird substitutions like he did last night i don’t know how long even my positivity will last !!!!!

[Baldyman]

1 hour ago, Mikjizzle said:

Long time lurker but I've been compelled to finally post. I'm sure similar posts have been done before so apologies if going over old ground. 

Anyway I've been astonished by the negativity on here by the majority of posters.

Firstly,  I liked Pearson and thought he built some really good foundations and I was annoyed when he got sacked. I also think the communication from the club around it all was poor. But after talking to someone I know who works in first team football (at championship level), I was reassured that a more forward thinking manager made sense to keep up with the direction football is heading. This person had also worked with Pearson and liked him but he told me he thought Pearson had taken as far as he could and thinks City need a technical coach to push us on to the next level and overachieve against teams with a higher wage bill. 

I can't understand what the hatred is for Manning and the way we play. As much as I liked Pearson, the football was generally terrible and we lumped it around most of the time - occasionally we played entertaining counter attacking football but we were unbelievably inconsistent. I think the players did care and they battled, which resonated with everyone (although I think the same is true of players under Manning but he is perhaps asking them to be more conservative/efficient at times with their energy). I'm not convinced Pearson was the man to push us on to the next level as much as what he did at the club was important. 

The football under Manning to me has come on leaps and bounds. I've never seen a Bristol City team dominate teams on the ball in the Championship like we do under Manning this season & we create more clear chances this season then we have for years. I appreciate that some people think it's boring but you can't argue that playing that way doesn't work at Championship level. Nearly all of the teams that have success in football at the moment tend to dominate possession in general and/or play a high press. So, I don't understand why people are against this trend or can't see that we have improved in these areas. 

I've seen a lot of comments about people wanting 90 minutes performances but that's not realistic under any manager for Bristol City in a competitive league. A 90 minute performance to me will likely include periods of the game where you are under pressure - it's about withstanding that pressure and turning the momentum back into your favour. I've also recently seen comments about our squad being too big, which doesn't make sense to me - we have seen how injuries have impacted us in the last few seasons and for the first time we probably have enough depth to deal with it. 

It feels like people cannot see past some of the comments that were made after Pearson got sacked but those aren't Manning's fault. There also seems to be a weird hangover from Lee Johnson with people thinking any other young technical type coach is exactly the same as LJ and can't be successful just because they use coaching language in interviews and haven't got vast amounts of experience in management - but loads of young coaches with similar experience to Manning are hugely successful. It also genuinely feels like people want Manning to fail because of these factors. 

Not sure what the purpose of my post is other than to get it off my chest and to encourage people to consider how much we have developed this season in terms of possession, chances created and patterns of play. I think we are still trying to find a balance between attack and defence.  

Ultimately, it's a results business and we need better results, which I hope will come if we keep doing what we are doing - and I think the signs are encouraging, apart from a couple of matches, where we were punished. But it's still early in the season and I think worth noting that I still wouldn't say we have a top 6 squad (regardless of some flippant comments from Tinnion). So, I don't understand where the negativity comes from or why there is a lack of acknowledgement for how much the team has developed, even if you are annoyed about the results, the club and the way Pearson was treated.

I'm desperate for City to have a good season and compete for promotion and I'm fed up of mid table mediocrity. I think based on current trends in football and the way we are looking to develop Manning gives us a reasonable chance of that. And if not Manning then someone else similar on paper. Carlos Corberan is a similar obsessive, technical coach and he's overachieving with West Brom- same can be said for McKenna last season, so it can be done. 

I'm aware that this post may be met with me being accused of being some sort of Bristol Sport bot/employee but so be it. 

Really ? The negativity stems from winning just 2 games by a single goal against mighty Millwall and Oxford , both of which we could easily have lost . We’ve dominated nobody and our football has looked like a pretty training session involving triangles but no goal nets . Our coach has never played the game professionally and has won nothing as a Manager . He speaks in passionless monotones using buzzwords like a corporate career climber . Our two strikers are total rookies assisted by Nahki who is now at best , League 1 level . All of this achieved after the brutal sacking of a Manager who whilst not universally liked , had the respect of the fans and the players and got us playing as a unit no less attractive than the dull tripe that Manning is serving up . Just to clarify , I did understand or at least see why NP was sacked but we’ve replaced a reliable old Jag with a brand new Daewoo that has all the tech but will last you about 12 months if you’re lucky ! ( Cos it’s a pile of s@@t) 

[Bazooka Joe]

1 hour ago, Mikjizzle said:

Long time lurker but I've been compelled to finally post. I'm sure similar posts have been done before so apologies if going over old ground. 

Anyway I've been astonished by the negativity on here by the majority of posters.

Firstly,  I liked Pearson and thought he built some really good foundations and I was annoyed when he got sacked. I also think the communication from the club around it all was poor. But after talking to someone I know who works in first team football (at championship level), I was reassured that a more forward thinking manager made sense to keep up with the direction football is heading. This person had also worked with Pearson and liked him but he told me he thought Pearson had taken as far as he could and thinks City need a technical coach to push us on to the next level and overachieve against teams with a higher wage bill. 

I can't understand what the hatred is for Manning and the way we play. As much as I liked Pearson, the football was generally terrible and we lumped it around most of the time - occasionally we played entertaining counter attacking football but we were unbelievably inconsistent. I think the players did care and they battled, which resonated with everyone (although I think the same is true of players under Manning but he is perhaps asking them to be more conservative/efficient at times with their energy). I'm not convinced Pearson was the man to push us on to the next level as much as what he did at the club was important. 

The football under Manning to me has come on leaps and bounds. I've never seen a Bristol City team dominate teams on the ball in the Championship like we do under Manning this season & we create more clear chances this season then we have for years. I appreciate that some people think it's boring but you can't argue that playing that way doesn't work at Championship level. Nearly all of the teams that have success in football at the moment tend to dominate possession in general and/or play a high press. So, I don't understand why people are against this trend or can't see that we have improved in these areas. 

I've seen a lot of comments about people wanting 90 minutes performances but that's not realistic under any manager for Bristol City in a competitive league. A 90 minute performance to me will likely include periods of the game where you are under pressure - it's about withstanding that pressure and turning the momentum back into your favour. I've also recently seen comments about our squad being too big, which doesn't make sense to me - we have seen how injuries have impacted us in the last few seasons and for the first time we probably have enough depth to deal with it. 

It feels like people cannot see past some of the comments that were made after Pearson got sacked but those aren't Manning's fault. There also seems to be a weird hangover from Lee Johnson with people thinking any other young technical type coach is exactly the same as LJ and can't be successful just because they use coaching language in interviews and haven't got vast amounts of experience in management - but loads of young coaches with similar experience to Manning are hugely successful. It also genuinely feels like people want Manning to fail because of these factors. 

Not sure what the purpose of my post is other than to get it off my chest and to encourage people to consider how much we have developed this season in terms of possession, chances created and patterns of play. I think we are still trying to find a balance between attack and defence.  

Ultimately, it's a results business and we need better results, which I hope will come if we keep doing what we are doing - and I think the signs are encouraging, apart from a couple of matches, where we were punished. But it's still early in the season and I think worth noting that I still wouldn't say we have a top 6 squad (regardless of some flippant comments from Tinnion). So, I don't understand where the negativity comes from or why there is a lack of acknowledgement for how much the team has developed, even if you are annoyed about the results, the club and the way Pearson was treated.

I'm desperate for City to have a good season and compete for promotion and I'm fed up of mid table mediocrity. I think based on current trends in football and the way we are looking to develop Manning gives us a reasonable chance of that. And if not Manning then someone else similar on paper. Carlos Corberan is a similar obsessive, technical coach and he's overachieving with West Brom- same can be said for McKenna last season, so it can be done. 

I'm aware that this post may be met with me being accused of being some sort of Bristol Sport bot/employee but so be it. 

Accuse you of being a Bristol Sport employee?

No way! Perish the thought.

Pleased that you feel able to give your input and opinion after “lurking” for so long.

But so many words, particularly in support of Manning.

I sincerely hope you won’t have to eat them.

Because if you do, we will all be feeling the pain and consequences of another disappointing season.

 

 

[TV Tom]

3 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

......or it might just have been due to the inexplicable way Manning set up away to QPR and the 90 minutes of tedium that followed.

Oh if you want to name individual games I’ve got dozens up my sleeve during the NP tenure, I’m still trying to get over our awful away performance at Reading the season they got relegated!!!

[Silvio Dante]

2 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

......or it might just have been due to the inexplicable way Manning set up away to QPR and the 90 minutes of tedium that followed.

Indeed - he “back footed” himself straight away. I remember post that game he said that we’d been working on defence which was our strong suit. It seemed bizarre and my only explanation was that he hadn’t done his due diligence (may have mentioned that before) and he assumed that as the prior manager had been sacked, we had defensive issues, as that’s often the case in those circumstances.

 

[Graham76]

I’m negative because every time I decide to give Manning the benefit of the doubt, he serves up a dog turd performance. Made worse by his patronising post match interviews. 

[Sir Geoff]

2 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

Oh if you want to name individual games I’ve got dozens up my sleeve during the NP tenure, I’m still trying to get over our awful away performance at Reading the season they got relegated!!!

You specifically said, "after one game."

[luke_bristol]

OTIB is often accused of being an echo-chamber, hot-bed of moaners, not representing the “real” Bristol City fans etc, so I thought I’d see what City fans on Facebook thought of last night:

“Useless pack your bags”

“Absolutely clueless”

“Yawn”

”Please leave”

“Just had the best nights sleep in ages?? Manning and his style of football - highly recommended for sleep problems”

“Give me strength”

”Not sure whats more boring, listening to him speak or watching his football.”

“Resign please”

 

 

I hope he pulls a rabbit out of the hat and we absolutely batter Cardiff on Sunday, for his sake and ours. One thing I’m certain of is that he’s not going anywhere.

 

[TV Tom]

7 minutes ago, Super said:

And people wanted that manager here. No thanks.

The trouble with any new manager is that the majority of the fan base would be against him (unless it’s Klopp!!) if Manning was sacked today who would step in where a majority of City fans would get behind, i can’t think of anyone realistically

[JP Hampton]

5 minutes ago, exAtyeoMax said:

Unfortunately these kinds of comments dismissing valid objections to Nige’s replacing undermine all the nuanced discussion re LM’s tenure and the team’s performances this season. Yes some people like to reduce everything down to a Nige Love in but that serves no purpose in going forward if one is unable to see the wider issue with this club. 

Totally agree.
  These tactics are used to shut down conversations, as if there’s no justification for any of the comments. It wouldn’t matter who was in charge before, or what the manner of their sacking was, fans would still be having valid concerns about the current manager and our current progress. 
 

 Despite what is suggested the majority of fans want the team to do well. What’s frustrating is a manager who remains inflexible and often makes summations of games, that sometimes bear no resemblance to the game fans have watched. 
 

 I believe we’re beginning to pass better (certainly in the first half), and again in the first half created more chances and look like we’re beginning to gel as a team, but the problem lies in seeing those chances come to nothing, passing becomes less effective and we end up in the second half using long balls which Wells is never going to win, given that most defenders are bigger than him and this was a problem last season, so he in effect gets no service.

 

OP QUOTE,

”I was reassured that a moreforward thinking manager made sense to keep up with thedirection football is heading. This person had also workedwith Pearson and liked him but he told me he thought Pearson had taken as far as he could and thinks City need a technicalcoach to push us on to the next level and overachieve againstteams with a higher wage bill.”.

All very interesting but hardly relevant when it’s  been regularly argued, when you’re getting no backing it stands to reason you’re not going to get any further and money has become available to LM so hardly comparable. And in all honesty, can you say we’re pushing on to the next level? Are we over achieving against teams with bigger wage bills?

“I've seen a lot of comments about people wanting 90 minutes performances but that's not realistic under any manager for Bristol City in a competitive league”.

I suggest you watch the Leeds v Norwich game the other night, if you don’t think 90 minutes performances exist. 

[Dullmoan Tone]

38 minutes ago, David Brent said:

Valid, constructive and well thought out posts dismissed once again with this tedious nonsense. 

Proving my point

[SecretSam]

I think the issue is not so much one performance - we've all seen some absolute horrors in our time - but the apparent lack of progress since his appointment, and the failure to deliver on promises of something better.

Personally, I don't want to bang on about the investment, in the grand scheme of things it wasn't actually that massive - you have to pay £2m these days for any sort of player, it seems. 

It's just that we were promised something 'better', and it simply hasn't materialised that often - there was some sign of it against Millwall (albeit with some horror show defending), and last night's first half showed promise. It's just we look so anodyne...

 

[RedHienz]

Despite what some may claim this forum tends not to represent the majority of fans. 

The last time it was truly positive was when we romped the league and cup with Cotts, even then certain posters/trolls moaned.

Take this place with a pinch of salt, it really doesn't matter.

 

[Jackson Lamb]

55 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

The negativity towards Manning was there after one game mainly due to a small but vocal minority unable to get over the inexplicable love-in with “Nige” !!!

Were you at that QPR away game? Mannings first game.

It was awful and we look worse now.

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 minutes ago, RedHienz said:

Despite what some may claim this forum tends not to represent the majority of fans. 

The last time it was truly positive was when we romped the league and cup with Cotts, even then certain posters/trolls moaned.

Take this place with a pinch of salt, it really doesn't matter.

 

The empty seats, the pretty flat atmosphere although the Safe Standing area did try at times, and the booing at the end is hardly a ringing endorsement, is it!

[David Brent]

9 minutes ago, Dullmoan Tone said:

Proving my point

Take some time to read the posts I referred to. You might learn a thing or two.

[David Brent]

8 minutes ago, RedHienz said:

Despite what some may claim this forum tends not to represent the majority of fans. 

The last time it was truly positive was when we romped the league and cup with Cotts, even then certain posters/trolls moaned.

Take this place with a pinch of salt, it really doesn't matter.

 

What were the boos that Liam referred to last night?

[Mikjizzle]

27 minutes ago, ralphindevon said:

It’s odd how every now and again someone comes along and posts their first post and it’s an epic essay on why we should get behind the team.

I’m not saying the poster is right or wrong but I just find it odd, why not make a few short comments over the time you’ve been lurking? If it was a one off I wouldn’t smell a rat but this happens quite often and then we never hear from them again.

 

I've not been interested in making a few short comments - been happy to read 

[1team]

Manning, Pearson, Holden, LJ, makes no difference. Any manager who serves up tedious, unadventurous, negative dross should expect to be booed. Especially if they've been heavily backed.

[ralphindevon]

6 minutes ago, Mikjizzle said:

I've not been interested in making a few short comments - been happy to read 

Fair enough, maybe it's just me that find's it odd that a few first time posters have done very similar to you. 

[David Brent]

9 minutes ago, Mikjizzle said:

I've not been interested in making a few short comments - been happy to read 

What was it, out of interest, that prompted you to post for the first time? You didn’t feel that the performance warranted a negative response?

[Oizys]

28 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

Looking at the broader picture we’ve played 8 9 games where we’ve one 2 (deservedly) lost 2 3 (very deservedly) and drawn the other 4 where I thought we were the better team in all 4 games and could and probably should of won all 4, if we had won just 2 of those drawn games we would now be sitting just 1 point outside of the play-offs, fine lines, I think I heard someone say we have now gone 9 home league games without defeat, I see the positive at the moment while others see the negative which is fair enough, we’re all entitled to our own opinion although if he keeps on making weird substitutions like he did last night i don’t know how long even my positivity will last !!!!!

Corrected that for you.

It's very misleading to ignore the Coventry cup match, but it is important and is representative of our season and the majority of Manning's first 40 odd games in charge.

Regardless of what some may have you believe there's not people who want Manning to fail because Nige was sacked. Over 40 games in now and the majority of opinions, both positive and negative, are formed on what people have witnessed in that time. You'll find that for every "hi Brian" type response there'll be an equal number of "because NP was sacked" responses. 

I don't think there's a single person who wants Manning to fail. It doesn't matter who is in charge, we all just want to see us playing decent football with a good amount of commitment and success. If that happens with Manning then great. However, the fact that a growing number - and it IS growing - don't have any faith in his ability to make us more successful is completely separate from what we want. 

I've seen zero sign that he can change or even that he feels he may need to. It's that arrogance and inflexibility that will make it all unravel in the end.

[CyderInACan]

2 hours ago, Mikjizzle said:

Not sure what the purpose of my post is other than to get it off my chest and to encourage people to consider how much we have developed this season in terms of possession, chances created and patterns of play. I think we are still trying to find a balance between attack and defence.

60/40 in our favour last night. Mainly from constantly passing backwards when we actually had better options. 

[Charlie BCFC]

2 hours ago, Jackson Lamb said:

Hi Brian

 

1 hour ago, Ska Junkie said:

Liam?

These childish comments are exactly the problem that the OP is referring to. A first time poster has put up his opinion which is different to other peoples on here (which should be absolutely fine on a forum that encourages debate) yet because the only acceptable opinion on here is Pearson is the lord and saviour he gets dismissed without even trying to debate it. Strange behaviour imo

[Mikjizzle]

43 minutes ago, David Brent said:

What was it, out of interest, that prompted you to post for the first time? You didn’t feel that the performance warranted a negative response?

I felt like posting today for the reasons explained in my post 

[Jackson Lamb]

8 minutes ago, Charlie BCFC said:

 

These childish comments are exactly the problem that the OP is referring to. A first time poster has put up his opinion which is different to other peoples on here (which should be absolutely fine on a forum that encourages debate) yet because the only acceptable opinion on here is Pearson is the lord and saviour he gets dismissed without even trying to debate it. Strange behaviour imo

Sorry Steve 

[Natchfever]

2 hours ago, One Team said:

The negativity in the first few games wasn’t at Manning it was at Lansdown, and even now still is at times. 

Absolutely.

At the time Manning hadnt had a chance to show his worth.

Now he has and I consider him worthless based on what I have seen with the players at his disposal.

We are a passive fan base in the main, but fair play to those who directed displeasure towards the coach last night.

 

Edited October 3 by Natchfever

[David Brent]

9 minutes ago, Mikjizzle said:

I felt like posting today for the reasons explained in my post 

But you were happy reading before. What didn’t you like about the negativity last night?

[David Brent]

17 minutes ago, Mikjizzle said:

I felt like posting today for the reasons explained in my post 

Thanks. Happy reading. 

[HoldenBall]

Respect your opinion but this season we have won 2 games out of 8 and those two wins were against poorer championship sides and were extremely lucky, especially Oxford where we should of never had a penalty. 

We may pass the ball around the back and have 60% possession most games but can you genuinely say we look threatening and we are actually dominating games? Yesterday we had two shots on target the whole game, two. That's a shot on target each half, I'm sorry at any level that's embarrassing, especially against a team who will be struggling this season. 

We have spent big this season, this is Mannings team, his identity and his way of playing and it's just not working, results show that. His last year at the club show that. His dull, stale manner and usual wishwash PR cliched crap he comes out with before and after games is getting tiresome and I think fans are reacting to it now, we are going to hover around 11th-17th for most of the season, lose against teams better then us and might even scrape a few wins against teams at the bottom half of the championship. It's boring, it's dull, it's sanitised rubbish and it's what some at Bristol Sport want.

A "progressive young coach" who's squeaky clean who won't be rocking the boat. This is Bristol City, dull, uninspiring and completely forgettable. This is what other fans see us and I feel the exact same way they do.

[Barrs Court Red]

People playing the “your just bitter about Pearson” card at this point are just weird but anyways…
 

Ultimately Liam is probably victim to the absolute bollocks spouted by the “leaders”.  Vapid nonsense around “front foot football”, top 6 squad and improving the league position.

Sorry, but expectations were set and so far I don’t think we’ve started to meet them.  I still think there’s time to do so.  

[Mikjizzle]

2 hours ago, bexhill reds said:

And the 40+ games following that appear to have done nothing to change their view.... Football fans are fickle, play entertaining football, win games and potentially challenge then everyone will come around and agree that their current manager is the best they've ever witnessed.

Only in our case the 40+ games have done nothing other than to back up their view of the firing of the previous manager.

 

I think the football has been entertaining this season and far superior to what we saw under Pearson  (apart from a couple of random games under Pearson). I think we have improved hugely this season so far compared to last season. And I think it's reasonable that it has taken a new coach some time to implement the changes/tactics he wants. I agree that it's time for results to start following that though. 

2 hours ago, Roe said:

You don't understand why people are frustrated at sitting in the bottom half, watching dull 0-0 draws and 12 months of mediocrity after such backing?

Really?

Not sure the backing has been all that - quite a lot of gambles in my opinion, but promising and worthwhile if some of them turn out to be great. 

1 hour ago, Sir Geoff said:

Did you watch the second half yesterday ? Our only forward balls were lumped 50 yards upfield by Vyner and Max to Wells, who had no chance of winning any of them.

I thought Sheff W were very organised last night and was just one of those games where we couldn't quite break through. Second half they did well & like I said in my post I think it's difficult to dominate for 90 minutes. 

1 hour ago, Silvio Dante said:

Indeed - he “back footed” himself straight away. I remember post that game he said that we’d been working on defence which was our strong suit. It seemed bizarre and my only explanation was that he hadn’t done his due diligence (may have mentioned that before) and he assumed that as the prior manager had been sacked, we had defensive issues, as that’s often the case in those circumstances.

 

I don't think it's unreasonable for a new manager to put his own ideas on defensive shape/structure? Or unreasonable to focus on defence first and build on that structure. 

1 hour ago, JP Hampton said:

Totally agree.
  These tactics are used to shut down conversations, as if there’s no justification for any of the comments. It wouldn’t matter who was in charge before, or what the manner of their sacking was, fans would still be having valid concerns about the current manager and our current progress. 
 

 Despite what is suggested the majority of fans want the team to do well. What’s frustrating is a manager who remains inflexible and often makes summations of games, that sometimes bear no resemblance to the game fans have watched. 
 

 I believe we’re beginning to pass better (certainly in the first half), and again in the first half created more chances and look like we’re beginning to gel as a team, but the problem lies in seeing those chances come to nothing, passing becomes less effective and we end up in the second half using long balls which Wells is never going to win, given that most defenders are bigger than him and this was a problem last season, so he in effect gets no service.

 

OP QUOTE,

”I was reassured that a moreforward thinking manager made sense to keep up with thedirection football is heading. This person had also workedwith Pearson and liked him but he told me he thought Pearson had taken as far as he could and thinks City need a technicalcoach to push us on to the next level and overachieve againstteams with a higher wage bill.”.

All very interesting but hardly relevant when it’s  been regularly argued, when you’re getting no backing it stands to reason you’re not going to get any further and money has become available to LM so hardly comparable. And in all honesty, can you say we’re pushing on to the next level? Are we over achieving against teams with bigger wage bills?

“I've seen a lot of comments about people wanting 90 minutes performances but that's not realistic under any manager for Bristol City in a competitive league”.

I suggest you watch the Leeds v Norwich game the other night, if you don’t think 90 minutes performances exist. 

Not sure which team you are referring to as I didn't watch but Norwich and Leeds have bigger resourses than us and better players. I think we have to try and make marginal gains on those types of teams through being very very good at everything else - academy, coaching, pitches, tactics etc. Teams with bigger resources and better players can probably get away with doing less in other areas and I think it's easier for them to pull off a 90 minutes performance with those players. 

1 hour ago, SecretSam said:

I think the issue is not so much one performance - we've all seen some absolute horrors in our time - but the apparent lack of progress since his appointment, and the failure to deliver on promises of something better.

Personally, I don't want to bang on about the investment, in the grand scheme of things it wasn't actually that massive - you have to pay £2m these days for any sort of player, it seems. 

It's just that we were promised something 'better', and it simply hasn't materialised that often - there was some sign of it against Millwall (albeit with some horror show defending), and last night's first half showed promise. It's just we look so anodyne...

 

Again, I think there has been big progress this season based on what I can see on the pitch. When I think back to what we looked like under Pearson we look very different now (in a good way in my opinion). I've been to a couple games this season with two different Non City fans, who very occasionally attend and both have thought we look completely different / better than they have seen before. 

 

[Mr Popodopolous]

How many points off expectations are we do people think.

4 maybe? Or is it more style, control etc- say we'd converted 2 of our draws into wins, again 4 more points at this stage?

[CityCiderEd]

2 hours ago, DantheCityman said:

It was as dull a game as i have ever seen us play last night. With the upcoming fixtures we have we will need to perform considerably better to get any points and not be hovering around the relegation places by mid November. 

I know everything is subjective in what people see in a game, but if you're seeing that as one of the dullest you've ever seen then I wonder how long you've been going to watch. 

The 1st half was decent and the 2nd half was poor but I've seen far worse for a whole 90 minutes over the last few seasons.....

 

[Sir Geoff]

1 hour ago, Steve Watts said:

Corrected that for you.

It's very misleading to ignore the Coventry cup match, but it is important and is representative of our season and the majority of Manning's first 40 odd games in charge.

Regardless of what some may have you believe there's not people who want Manning to fail because Nige was sacked. Over 40 games in now and the majority of opinions, both positive and negative, are formed on what people have witnessed in that time. You'll find that for every "hi Brian" type response there'll be an equal number of "because NP was sacked" responses. 

I don't think there's a single person who wants Manning to fail. It doesn't matter who is in charge, we all just want to see us playing decent football with a good amount of commitment and success. If that happens with Manning then great. However, the fact that a growing number - and it IS growing - don't have any faith in his ability to make us more successful is completely separate from what we want. 

I've seen zero sign that he can change or even that he feels he may need to. It's that arrogance and inflexibility that will make it all unravel in the end.

I would also look at the pre season friendly against Willem 2 (now in 11th place in Eredivise) Another goaless afternoon.

[Sir Geoff]

16 minutes ago, Mikjizzle said:

I think the football has been entertaining this season and far superior to what we saw under Pearson  (apart from a couple of random games under Pearson). I think we have improved hugely this season so far compared to last season. And I think it's reasonable that it has taken a new coach some time to implement the changes/tactics he wants. I agree that it's time for results to start following that though. 

Not sure the backing has been all that - quite a lot of gambles in my opinion, but promising and worthwhile if some of them turn out to be great. 

I thought Sheff W were very organised last night and was just one of those games where we couldn't quite break through. Second half they did well & like I said in my post I think it's difficult to dominate for 90 minutes. 

I don't think it's unreasonable for a new manager to put his own ideas on defensive shape/structure? Or unreasonable to focus on defence first and build on that structure. 

Not sure which team you are referring to as I didn't watch but Norwich and Leeds have bigger resourses than us and better players. I think we have to try and make marginal gains on those types of teams through being very very good at everything else - academy, coaching, pitches, tactics etc. Teams with bigger resources and better players can probably get away with doing less in other areas and I think it's easier for them to pull off a 90 minutes performance with those players. 

Again, I think there has been big progress this season based on what I can see on the pitch. When I think back to what we looked like under Pearson we look very different now (in a good way in my opinion). I've been to a couple games this season with two different Non City fans, who very occasionally attend and both have thought we look completely different / better than they have seen before. 

 

Wow, just so much to unpack there. And you say you have been hovering on here for a few years without posting. Making up for lost time now defending the indefensible.

[TV Tom]

1 hour ago, Jackson Lamb said:

Were you at that QPR away game? Mannings first game.

It was awful and we look worse now.

Pretty harsh to judge someone on their first game particularly when the last bloke had two and a half years and we were still rubbish

[RedRock]

I really liked Pearson as a manager - strong, forceful and his own man. Communicated well, had taken over a sinking ship and saved us from our usual relegation scenario when the Club **** things up. Just what we needed.

I do, though, understand the reasoning behind his departure. 

Pearson’s legacy was to build a solid platform on which a new manager could build. The Club had real potential to push forward. Are Manning and Tinnion realising that potential or are we in danger of destroying the solid foundations that were laid?

I did see some green shoots appearing earlier in the Season. However, they’ve withered somewhat and we seem to be the typical City oversized squad, full of very average players, with our marque signings adding little, if anything to what we had, and those for the future being just that or in the case of academy products, just ignored. Add a manager and Director of Football, Chairman that have difficulty communicating with the fans and, oddly, no CEO, then we potential have a toxic mix. Those reasons I suspect, in part,  are responsible for last night’s frustrations. 

The pain we all knew we had to endure during the Pearson period to get us on an even keel, appears wasted and we seem to have reverted back to type. Not sure many of us can do another ‘cycle’ frankly. 

Anyhows, sticking to my 10 game assessment period before venturing firm views. An entertaining 6-0 bashing of Cardiff would undoubtedly help the pro-Manning/Tinnion cause. 

[Kingswood Robin]

4 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Wow, just so much to unpack there. And you say you have been hovering on here for a few years without posting. Making up for lost time now defending the indefensible.

Incredible isn't it. So much to say yet only speaks up now. 

How did they keep it all in?

[Street red]

2 hours ago, Sir Geoff said:

Did you watch the second half yesterday ? Our only forward balls were lumped 50 yards upfield by Vyner and Max to Wells, who had no chance of winning any of them.

Long high balls out to YU the blokes 2ft tall  

[Ska Junkie]

1 hour ago, Charlie BCFC said:

 

These childish comments are exactly the problem that the OP is referring to. A first time poster has put up his opinion which is different to other peoples on here (which should be absolutely fine on a forum that encourages debate) yet because the only acceptable opinion on here is Pearson is the lord and saviour he gets dismissed without even trying to debate it. Strange behaviour imo

Sense of humour bypass? No issue with the OP and his opinion tbh.

I never saw any mention of Pearson and had no intention or thought to mentioning him.

Edited October 3 by Ska Junkie

[TV Tom]

1 hour ago, Charlie BCFC said:

 

These childish comments are exactly the problem that the OP is referring to. A first time poster has put up his opinion which is different to other peoples on here (which should be absolutely fine on a forum that encourages debate) yet because the only acceptable opinion on here is Pearson is the lord and saviour he gets dismissed without even trying to debate it. Strange behaviour imo

You're right, we have some right numpties on here

[Mikjizzle]

2 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Wow, just so much to unpack there. And you say you have been hovering on here for a few years without posting. Making up for lost time now defending the indefensible.

very likely I will go back to just reading to be fair, otherwise I will never get any work done

[mozo]

37 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

How many points off expectations are we do people think.

4 maybe? Or is it more style, control etc- say we'd converted 2 of our draws into wins, again 4 more points at this stage?

I can't stop thinking back to the Hull game. We dominated and were a few minutes away from winning when Williams goes mad. 

If that hadn't happened, I'd be relatively happy with 12 points, only 3 points adrift of top 6. 

I don't think anyone anticipated us losing 3-0 twice though and that, understandably, was difficult for fans to accept. 

[bexhill reds]

30 minutes ago, Mikjizzle said:

I think the football has been entertaining this season and far superior to what we saw under Pearson

But that's only a third of the requirements I mentioned, tippy tappy football is lovely but you need to create chances with it, only 2 attempts on goal in 90 mins?? That's not going to win you many games especially considering the profiligate nature of our attacking players.

Pearson set us up to play on the counter which is a wholly different style to Manning's total football, and he did so as he indicated he did not have the players to do keep possession long enough, the only change now is that we keep possession longer at times but do eff all with it.

Manning seems incapable of adapting to styles that might suit our players and the teams we are playing against. Last night we took so long to move the ball forward at times it allowed Wed to get their team back into their tight defensive shape and to be able to restrict our threats, Yu was mostly doubled up on, Armstrong muscled out by Barnard. There was no attempt to change that. That inability to change is either that he's not a good match day manager as he can't see the issues, or he's too arrogant about his style that he refuses to adapt.

[Kingswood Robin]

7 minutes ago, Mikjizzle said:

very likely I will go back to just reading to be fair, otherwise I will never get any work done

Why? You clearly have a lot to contribute. If you disappear as quickly as you appeared, people may well think you're part of a certain organisation.