Bristol City match thread

[Jools 584]

[quote user="Kanadyan Kanary"]Team seem to be playing well. I would like more width on the right side as Watkins keeps coming inside and is the least effective Norwich player on the pitch, in my view. [/quote]Wildschut coming on [Y]

[Alex Moss 2,165]

Wildschut on and the supporters seem to have responded to that - hopefully this will give the players an adrenaline rush 👍

[The Bristol Nest 513]

Tight game. I really hope they don''t do a smash and grab.

[The Bristol Nest 513]

This is made for Wes. Wake up Crowd! BBC Bristol keep mentioning the atmosphere.

[Kanadyan Kanary 121]

I don''t know what the stats are but I can''t recall their keeper having to make a save in this half. Just not enough shots at goal for me.

[Spillay 179]

[quote user="Kanadyan Kanary"]I don''t know what the stats are but I can''t recall their keeper having to make a save in this half. Just not enough shots at goal for me.[/quote]

Agreed but Bristol havent really created that much either, can only remember Gunn making one decent save all match.. pretty poor game all round.

[kick it off 1,948]

Opportunity missed. Win would have put us a point outside playoffs. The fact we are even mentioning playoffs shows dramatic nature of our turn around tho. Only 3 points behind the scum now.

[Baldyboy 0]

That was woeful! Their keeper didn’t even make a save! We have become more boring to watch than we were under Hughton!

[AJ 1,218]

A decent draw, I suppose, but feel a bit numb upfront as we don''t look like we''re going to score when we attack. Missing Oliveira and possibly missed Maddison today too.

Murphy needs a bit of work on his end-product/decision making, he''s doing very well but not quite there yet

[ROBFLECK 132]

I thought it was a very average game, nothing to get excited about...

[Kanadyan Kanary 121]

Disappointing result. Just didn''t do anything in the attacking third. Not surprising that Jerome hasn''t scored in the league since April. It was not a good performance from him and that''s being generous. Murphy had a bad day, Watkins anonymous, Hoolahan and Wildschut struggled to make an impression. Trybull Reed and the back four were solid leaving Gunn relatively untroubled.

[OldRobert 38]

Disappointing, don''t think the Watkins, Jerome combination worked at all.  Imo subs were quite late again.  Farke could do better, especially at home.

[AJ 1,218]

On the plus side, we look very solid at the back - how classy is Klose looking on the ball? A man in good form!

[Crafty Canary 495]

That''s 8 points from the last four games averaging two points per game which is play off standard. Four clean sheets in those four league games is certainly play off form.

On the reverse side is that three of those games were at home and we have only scored two goals which is relegation form.

Outcome is that we have achieved the 12 points I had predicted from our opening ten games with ''Borough away to play on Tuesday and we are mid-table which is where I expect us to finish.

We badly need Oliveira back as Jerome is looking a bit of a busted flush now in goal scoring terms.

[birchfest 397]

It''s funny how our expectations have changed after Millwall and villa away where there simply were no positives.

I''d have loved us to have won, and by the sounds of it we could have done with a bit better finishing and imagination up front. What shouldn''t be ignored though is another solid defensive performance against the top scorers innte league. I''m actually starting to feel like if we score we have a chance of winning rather than the '' this is Norwich we will definetly need 2'' I''ve had for a few seasons now! Onwards and upwards

[lake district canary 4,531]

[quote user="AJ"]

Murphy needs a bit of work on his end-product/decision making, he''s doing very well but not quite there yet[/quote]Up front today we were pretty poor today, with very little joined up play and I don''t think Murphy is doing very well - undoubted pace, but you need more than pace.  The pacy run he did in the first half and then delaying the pass - and

then making it a hospital ball to Vrancic(?) was verging on schoolboy

football.  Too many mistakes, poor decision making and too often giving the ball away.  You need an element of selfishness sometimes, but too often the pass is seen as the last resort (as it is with Wildschut too).  You need wide players who are just as content to supply a pass as to run in on goal - for one thing mixing it up keeps defenders guessing - but the one dimensional play of doing the same thing is soon sussed out at this level.

[king canary 7,580]

Weird game. Missed a few good chances and defended well but still being a bit tentative going forward.

Vrancic drifts in and out of games too much and today left Jerome isolated. Yet give him a bit of space and his passing can be deadly.

Nothing really came off for Josh but you can see teams are scared of his pace.

Trybull broke play up well but far too often turned and went backwards on the ball when a bit more positivity could have started attacks.

Klose dominated in defence but his passing was poor- a few aimless punts that the big lads in the Bristol backline ate up.

Wildschut is a baffling player. I''m not sure I''ve ever seen a winger who absolutely cannot cross to save his life.

Liked Steipperman today- positive and played in 3 different positions. Just a shame he couldn''t finish.

Biggest plus was that we looked comfortable in defence. Just need to find the balance between this and our attacking needs.

Biggest plus

[westcoastcanary 173]

[quote user="king canary"] ......... Nothing really came off for Josh but you can see teams are scared of his pace .......[/quote] Trouble at the moment is that pace is all he is showing. We would benefit from a bit more guile on that side, someone to link up better with Stieppermann; by the same token Josh''s pace would scare opponents more if he was played centrally. Having a more effective left side combination would also help Klose by obviating the need for those long inaccurate passes forward. A fit Jarvis would do the job, but in his absence options are limited. 

[Taylor324 36]

Over all a good team performance but felt both Cam and Josh both off the pace and Marley didn''t see enough of the ball

No surprises we weren''t firing on all cylinders at the top end of the pitch today but things are shaping up - so reasons to be positive and Tom looks a class act

[Hairy Canary 668]

Felt there were some real signs of improvement there today. The defence looks so much better it''s not true. You can''t do anything at any level without getting the defensive side of things sorted so that is a major plus.

Obviously we need to improve on the creative side but we still had by far the better of the chances although there weren''t many of them. We miss Nelson and Pritchard a lot and they could make an enormous difference when they get back.

[Darth Canary1 91]

I''m generally upbeat, it is a good point and the defensive improvement is immense. We do need to be a bit more adventurous at home though I feel

[hogesar 9,618]

I like Josh but people were saying pre season we kept hold of the better twin. I doubted it at the time and i still do.

Anyway, the balance of the side is significantly better despite what Greg Downs says. As the confidence grows we will start to play a bit more, plus having Pritchard and Oliveira back will naturally allow us to create a bit more.

Two hard away tests coming up now.

[Capt. Pants 4,202]

We had the best of the chances in the first half, but created little in the second. Our most offensive players Jerome, Watkins and Murphy were poor and rightly Watkins and Murphy were exited and Jerome would have been too had we a striker on the bench. Defensively we were solid particularly Zimmerman who was immense. Trybull was excellent, but Reed looked lightweight against a physical Bristol City side. Overall it was a very tight hard fought game in which a draw was the fair result. January we need to get a striker in as this is the area letting us down at the moment.

[king canary 7,580]

@Westcoast

I''d take Josh Murphy 10 times out of 10 over Jarvis. So very average.

I don''t agree his pace would be more effective centrally either- he''s had a few full backs on toast this season.

[king canary 7,580]

@Capt Pants

I think it was pretty clear as the second half went on that Josh and Jerome looked tired. Think we had a bit of a lack of depth exposed today.

I''m really not sure about Watkins so far though- can''t really see what he offers. He''s not that fast, can''t really beat players, not that strong and not got a great range of passing. He works hard but I''m not sure there is much more to him at the moment.

[lake district canary 4,531]

Murphy and Watkins are good when the game is stretched - Watkins was excellent imo last week when he came on at Sheff Utd - powerful running and causing problems.   Murphy would be better later in a game too imo, brought on as a substitute to run at tired defenders.  Oliveira and Pritchard are the trump cards - and so is Maddison, who has been excellent when I''ve seen him play. Today Bristol city looked too well organised to for them to cause many problems - but they could have both done better imo.

[city4eva 207]

Main reason Murphy looks so tired as the game goes on is that he spends a lot of time covering for the out of position stiepermann.

[lake district canary 4,531]

[quote user="city4eva"]Main reason Murphy looks so tired as the game goes on is that he spends a lot of time covering for the out of position stiepermann.[/quote]

He''s looked a little tired all season if you ask me and his reactions at scoring on Tuesday suggest a player who still only thinks he''s being at his best when he is scoring a goal - and that is not his only job. If another player comes forwards - and Stiepermann is an effective player - then he has no business looking tired, unless he isn''t fit or strong enough to cover back.  We need alternatives to him, because we are losing too many good chances and possession because of the way he is playing at the moment.    He sounds intelligent enough when he is being interviewed, but I wonder if his football brain is up to speed with what is required - sometimes a run and an early cross is better than trying to run through a packed defence every time.  Like every young player has to learn - the most important part of what you do on the pitch is whatever the match situation demands, not what you want as an individual.   He wants to score, but that for a wide player should not be his priority - stretching the defence and delivering a key pass or cross is more important. Snodgrass never learned that and scored a few, but the teamwork suffered as a result. Wildschut is similar, although his directness is refreshing....sometimes it is anyway, because again, he only has one idea in his head - to try and score himself.  A bit like Redmond was - Murphy is very promising, but not yet delivering enough.

[Baldyboy 0]

Wow! We’ve reached a new low when people think a 0-0 at home to Bristol City is a good result! Unbelievable, enjoy the mediocrity that awaits whilst a more defensive manager than Hughton is in charge!

[Hairy Canary 668]

Bit harsh baldy. A few weeks ago we got thumped 4 by a team that played in league one last season. We''re improving. Eight points in the last four games proves that.