Back from the game - Bristol

[seahawk10]

Great result!

[rabidbee]

oxf*rd off you oxf*rd inbred, cider-drinking, oxf*rd Southville, wurzel oxf*rd oxf*rd!

I quite enjoyed that.

[andrew1957]

An excellent comeback. I felt that in some ways the result flattered us as Bristol were so dominant until we equalised - but on the other hand they were then so woeful that we could have scored 5 or 6. I don't recall any side before taking a lead and then capitulating so quickly as soon as we scored a goal. Amazing.

To be fair to our lads they all showed they were up for the fight.

Long was fantastic yet again. Fed looked sound apart from the indecision that cost us a goal.

Legs and Karacan dominated midfield form the last hour and we looked competent at the back - with Pearce in particular a star performance. Armstrong was given a terrible runaround by Stead in the first half but came back well to dominate in the second period. I think it was probably brilliant management by Brian as I dread to think how Harte would have coped against Stead. Armstrong is much quicker but even he struggled for pace at times.

Kebe was marked out of it most of the first half but came back into it as the match went on. Hunt did ok and scored but not his best match. As for McAnuff I thought he had a relatively poor one - although he did score. Very frustrating at free kicks and corners - which he largely wasted.

Overall a toss up between Long and Leigertwood for MOTM for me.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

Apart from the first 20 minutes, a good performance.
Pearce and Mills looked solid at the back.

Karacan and Mikele looked solid in midfield.

Kebe and Long - 10/10

Decent atmosphere in the 2nd half as well. 'One Stevie Coppell'

[Archie's penalty]

That was good fun.

Kebe, Mcanuff, Long and Karacan are quality and if we can base our game around them theb I think we could easily get in the playoffs. Very good players for this level.

[tomrfcurz]

Good performance, result well deserved. Only complaint i would have is with the treatment of Jon Stead; there wasn't any; all of our back 4 seemed to struggle to hold him as he played everywhere up front, obviously not enough being given to him by his own players though. That aside i think it was more than strong today; Leigertwood played v well imo and the back 4 were solid indeed. Obviously Long needs no more really; first class performance and i'm delighted because his confidence looks so high after Derby, Hunt was a bit quiet but did nothing wrong, i don't think anyone did really and McAnuff and Kebe definitely did their jobs, constantly exploiting the Brizzle defensive errors but the final ball i feel needs to improve.

Federici - 8: I missed the goal so maybe a mistake there unfortunately but looked solid
Griffin - 8: Strong performance from the Griff, as always
Pearce: 9: Good ball, solid defending. Not much more to say
Mills - 7: Getting much better game by game but still not the Mills we've seen. Mind elsewhere?
Armstrong - 7: Not great in 1st half but progressively got better. More match practice and the old Chris is back!
McAnuff - 8: Great work first half, deserved his goal but didn't get too much from centre mid in 2nd so bit quiet
Kebe - 8: Constant running, still beating those defenders but final ball wasn't always there today, think that's fair
Karacan - 8: Solid, good passing. No more to say
Leigertwood - 8: Getting better game by game and see above
Long - 10: Great play from the lad today, huge confidence boost after Derby i think and held ball and finished well
Hunt - 7: Quiet but did nout wrong to be fair, maybe 7 is harsh

Overall performance 8/10 i think

[The Cap]

Carlos said:

Most one sided first 20 minutes I've ever seen, we looked an absolute shambles. We scored with our only 2 attacks in the first half. Great cross from Jimmy for the first and he drew the foul that led to the 2nd goal. 2nd half what a turnaround, we looked back to our best. Whatever Brian said it obviously worked because we were first to everything with Leigertwood and Karacan bossing the midfield.

After that first half performance me and bruv were wondering about the wisdom of Maccy D's ruling of the player's abstaining from the juice over Xmas. Which makes you wonder whether Maccy D was dishing out the JD's at half time. Whatever he put in their tea certainly did the biz.

[Handsome Man]

First 30 minutes was crap, but it wasn't boring, and it took just a couple of moments from Kebe to undo all of Bristol City's good work.

In the second half we just slaughtered them and the referee should have stopped it.

I liked Ligertwood and Pearce has played well so often this season. Long was at his very best today: I don't know how you defend against him when he is in that kind of mood.

[BenReadingFC]

"He left you coz you're shit,
He left you coz you're shit,
And now you're gonna believe us,
And now you're gonna believe us,
And now you're gonna believe usssssssssssssss
He left you coz you're shit"

[Avon Royal]

oxf*rd off you oxf*rd inbred, cider-drinking, oxf*rd Southville, wurzel oxf*rd oxf*rd!

I quite enjoyed that.

+1

Work is going to be sweet!

[Snowball]

7.0 Federici. Solid. Don't understand the so-called "indecision" alleged. He managed to get the lob NOT to go in. Let down by his defence
7.0 Armstrong. Outplayed by a good combo down their right, but gradually got to grips with help from Elwood
8.0 Griffin. Mr Dependable again, and worked well with Karacan/Kebe/Hunt down the right
8.5 Pearce. Sound, still improving, composed, one brilliant tackle, one great pass/assist
7.5 Mills. Good solid game. One VG tackle
9.0 Elwood. A real find. Great hustler, great tackles, mostly simple passes. Thinker. One half-decent shot. Could get us promoted.
8.5 Karacan Very good game. Seems better for Elwood having his back. Found plenty of space second half
7.8 Kebe Seemed almost invisible for 20 minutes but got better and very, VERY good in second half
8.0 McAnuff Good all-round game, always a threat,almost cut out 3-4 chances, got the goal.
7.2 Hunt. Never looked seriously dangerous but worked hard. Did what strikers do, SCORED!
9.0 Long. Had he not missed the one chance might have been knocking on the door of ten. Always a threat.

7.8 HRK. Maybe not on long enough but showed some power and skill

9.0 McDermott. The manager madea solid choice in dropping Harte so Armstrong could deal with the Bristol RW threat. In the first 20 minutes it looked like his decision was a mistake, and for sure we missed Harte's free-kicks, but how can you argue with a 4-1 win?

[SLAMMED]

9.0 Elwood.

Who?

[Snowball]

9.0 Elwood.

Who?

Elwood.


Not Federici, Armstrong, Griffin, Mills, Pearce, Karacan, McAnuff, Kebe, Long or Hunt. The other one.

[SLAMMED]

Pretty sure there's no-one on our player list with that name...

[BenReadingFC]

Dry White Toast

[jgriowa]

Dry White Toast

Four whole chickens and a coke

[gazzer, loyal royal]

2 frustrating things for me yesterday- our wingers had no end product i don't think there was one decent cross into the box, and why we never tested a forward playing at right back is beyond me.
the second one- Long one his majority of headers up there on his own and not one person was gambling off him. If we are to play that formation people need to gamble

I wrote this after the QPR game. Long had no different a game to what he did at QPR yesterday, just he had Hunt running off him etc. He closed the ball down excellently as per usual. Hopefully we'll sign Leigertwood permanently. I was very impressed with him yesterday. Broke the play up well, gave it simple, just what we've been lacking

Long MOTM yesterday, closely followed by Pearce and Leigertwood

[Royalwaster]

9.0 Elwood.

Who?

Think of the player in the team who's name starts with 'L' (El) and ends with 'wood'. Not that hard is it?

[Readingfanman]

L'Wood was really not worth anything more than a 7.0, his first touch in the first half was terrible and he could not make even the simplest of passes. The second half he was a lot better, but playing him alongside Karacan who played way too deep meant that the attack from midfield sometimes left a bit to be desired.

[Big Foot]

Their right back Ribeiro had a great first half, brought it forward well and kept Jobi quiet. Then, second half he was a completely different player - Boxing Day LOLZ for knocking it out of James' hands when they both went for a cross just before Long's 4th.

Yeah he played really well in the first half but had an absolute shocker in the second. Nudged it round James, had to clear it off his own line and then got them in trouble for Long to score. James went mental at him. Also slipped over on his arse down by the corner flag which summed it all up really.

Yes, proper lolz there. Add to that the 2 bookmarks playing for Brizzle taking each other out in the first half and it was reasonably comedic