MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (h)

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Shocking defending. I’d like to see Holmes in there if we’re going to play 3 at the back.

Thanks to the radio slagging off Martin, he’s now gone and put one in. Little did they remember that he was actually ill for the that time…poor punditry by Mick in particular

I'd forgotten that. It came out after he left IIRC.

What's the story here? Must have passed me by

[Elm Park Kid]

Am I the only one who's completely unsurprised that we've started the season like this? Given the turmoil at the club and inability to make signings this was always the likely outcome. Some people on here talk as though there's some combination of tactics or strategy that will compensate for the reality that our squad has been gutted and we're playing with a completely make-shift back four. And as someone above said, it was always a bit of a gamble whether even our best defender (Morrison) was going to be able to maintain his form for another season.

Lets look to the positives. As long as they are goals in the squad then we can win matches. Hopefully Pauno can spend the next few games working out who his best defenders are and then give them a good enough run out to get used to each other. It's hardly a unique situation for us to have crap defence is it. As long as we're not in too much trouble by December i'm confident we can battle our way out of it. And who knows - maybe we can finally build a team with a bit of stability and heart to it.

Or maybe the usual suspects will start crying because we have a bad couple of months, the owners will panic and fire Pauno, and we'll just restart the same cycle that we've been on for the last 6 years. . . . ...

[donh99]

Shame I can’t get to page two on the team board from my phone… sort it out Graham, anyone else have this issue that the page numbers don’t work when using their phone? Anyway if some can get to page two perhaps they could bump the pauno out thread thanks

It's happens to me and is very annoying but the best thing to do is click 'first unread post' at the bottom of the page and it'll take you to the next page. HTH

If you are using Chrome go to options and click on Desktop Site and the page will refresh and the page numbers will work.

[Notts Royal]

Shocking defending. I’d like to see Holmes in there if we’re going to play 3 at the back.

Thanks to the radio slagging off Martin, he’s now gone and put one in. Little did they remember that he was actually ill for the that time…poor punditry by Mick in particular

I'd forgotten that. It came out after he left IIRC.

What's the story here? Must have passed me by

Adie said our defence wouldn’t be getting sleepless nights knowing Martin was up front for them. Which is a valid point seeing as he’s average and past it.
Gooding said he was useless for us 3 years ago so he’s not going to be much good now. But forgot 2 potential factors in that…1 being the players around him were total dross, and the other that he had some illness (stomach wasn’t it?)

[morganb]

That new lad from Watford came on at played at the tempo we should be playing.

Sure we can beat that out of him soon

[Hendo]

I'd forgotten that. It came out after he left IIRC.

What's the story here? Must have passed me by

Adie said our defence wouldn’t be getting sleepless nights knowing Martin was up front for them. Which is a valid point seeing as he’s average and past it.
Gooding said he was useless for us 3 years ago so he’s not going to be much good now. But forgot 2 potential factors in that…1 being the players around him were total dross, and the other that he had some illness (stomach wasn’t it?)

Yeah I think it was Crohn’s or IBS or something.

[windermereROYAL]

I'd forgotten that. It came out after he left IIRC.

What's the story here? Must have passed me by

Adie said our defence wouldn’t be getting sleepless nights knowing Martin was up front for them. Which is a valid point seeing as he’s average and past it.
Gooding said he was useless for us 3 years ago so he’s not going to be much good now. But forgot 2 potential factors in that…1 being the players around him were total dross, and the other that he had some illness (stomach wasn’t it?)

In a nutshell why i don`t listen to that shitty half baked excuse for a radio station.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Your favoured coverage being?

Oh...there aint one.

Just relax, chill....take it for what it is...tongue-in-cheek a lot of the time

[Jagermesiter1871]

Am I the only one who's completely unsurprised that we've started the season like this? Given the turmoil at the club and inability to make signings this was always the likely outcome. Some people on here talk as though there's some combination of tactics or strategy that will compensate for the reality that our squad has been gutted and we're playing with a completely make-shift back four. And as someone above said, it was always a bit of a gamble whether even our best defender (Morrison) was going to be able to maintain his form for another season.

Lets look to the positives. As long as they are goals in the squad then we can win matches. Hopefully Pauno can spend the next few games working out who his best defenders are and then give them a good enough run out to get used to each other. It's hardly a unique situation for us to have crap defence is it. As long as we're not in too much trouble by December i'm confident we can battle our way out of it. And who knows - maybe we can finally build a team with a bit of stability and heart to it.

Or maybe the usual suspects will start crying because we have a bad couple of months, the owners will panic and fire Pauno, and we'll just restart the same cycle that we've been on for the last 6 years. . . . ...

Was the squad gutted? We've lost 1 guaranteed starter (Richards) and 1 player who was becoming a mainstay (Olise). But other than that....are you talking about Aluko?

[Notts Royal]

What's the story here? Must have passed me by

Adie said our defence wouldn’t be getting sleepless nights knowing Martin was up front for them. Which is a valid point seeing as he’s average and past it.
Gooding said he was useless for us 3 years ago so he’s not going to be much good now. But forgot 2 potential factors in that…1 being the players around him were total dross, and the other that he had some illness (stomach wasn’t it?)

In a nutshell why i don`t listen to that shitty half baked excuse for a radio station.

I couldn’t avoid it as it was on the RoyalsTV thing. I like Adie & Mick although not convinced Mick has much of an eye for the modern game. Zonal marking does work for other teams, the execution from us is just shodding. They also moaned about the passing around the back, which does work for some teams.

Tim is utterly clueless though

[PremAddict]

Don’t know where to start with that

Yiadom (defensively at least), Moore, Morrison, Rino and McIntyre were so so bad. So bad. Bristol were utter toss and yet looked like scoring every single time they crossed the half way line. What the hell was going on?

Bristow did less than nothing and clearly isn’t ready

TDB was good, Swift had a relatively poor game - Azeez good for an hour. Clarke can be proud of his little cameo.

But bloody hell you can’t defend like that. It was like we were shell shocked by how pathetic our defending was until about 70m

There was some good stuff at times and realistically Ejaria, Joao and TDB coming into that side if we can get them fit is exciting

But utterly inexcusable for the experienced back line

Absoluely this, i couln`t believe what I was seeing, we can just be thankul we weren`t playing a half decent side rather than one that haven`t won in 13 games, an it showed, they were awful, but still good enough to beat us.
The first two goal were simple in the extreme, long throw/kick into the box, flick on and a free unmarked effort inside the six yard box, whoever the defensive coach is now should be out the door, appalling!!!

Commentary was having big issues with the zone defending instead of man-to-man. Wasn't watching the first 45 so can't comment but maybe that was the major issue - don't pay attention to defensive formation too much - have we been playing zone the first two games?

[CountryRoyal]

It's starting to annoy me how passionate Liam Moore is. It makes me feel bad thinking he's utter shite and were we not so short players, should find a new club.

[Snowflake Royal]

Ever since Laurent and Rino were encouraged to push forward more mid way through last season we've been a mess.

The defensive coach should be shot.

Moore is a disgrace when you look at performance vs wage.

7 goals conceded in 3 games. Simply not good enough. The manager merrigoround is going to be firing up again with the clown of an owner we have.

[Hound]

Ever since Laurent and Rino were encouraged to push forward more mid way through last season we've been a mess.

The defensive coach should be shot.

Moore is a disgrace when you look at performance vs wage.

7 goals conceded in 3 games. Simply not good enough. The manager merrigoround is going to be firing up again with the clown of an owner we have.

Agree regarding Laurent and Rino. And Moore.

Could quickly become quite ugly for him if any more performances like that. I’d happily never see one of those cross field balls that drift out of touch/ straight to oppo full back again

[Sutekh]

That was a hard watch, yes, we are short of depth and missing a few of our best players, but the slow, ponderous playing out from the back and continual passing backwards and sideway's is so so boring!! No wonder we can only get 12,000 fans at home.
I'm sorry but this has to be on the manager and coaching staff!! everything on social media has been the loss of Joao and how poorly Puscas is as a lone striker...so what formation do we play, yep one up top again!!!!

For me the manager has so far learnt diddly swat from last season with no Plan B!!!! We got found out last year and everyone knows how to play against us, and rightly so, we never change, teams put the high press on us and we're fooked.

That new lad from Watford came on at played at the tempo we should be playing. Its not all doom and gloom, but the management have some serious calls to make.

a. Find a new formation that suits the players on hand.
b. Scrap the zonal marking in defence.
c. Play at a higher tempo.
d. Don't be afraid to drop senior pro's who are out of form (Moore, Morrision)
e. Go long when high pressed.
f. Go to Plan B if Plan A isn't working (There's no shame in this)
g. Get Azeez on a new contract quickly before it's to late......
h. Get a new left back, quickly.

Agree, I’m still not convinced by the management. It’s the management and his staff that are the key components of any side. VP is in danger of doing a Stam ie. a good first season but unable to kick on because teams realised how to play against Reading and the management was not flexible enough to adjust their gameplay.

Now some of the issue is the ludicrous FFP restrictions and no-one having a clue what the club can and can’t do which has led to an already paper thin squad being depleted further plus having a load of injuries added on top of it all already so I’m not wanting a change in that department yet but all the same there should be some tactical alteration or plan B to get the best out of the available players.

Finally, players having an en masse disaster of a game defensively really doesn’t help and can’t be laid at the manager’s door specifically, I hope that behind closed doors the manager recognises the “bad day at the office” and has the right words with the team as any more performances like that will start to be laid at the manager’s door.

[quickwingerswife]

Laurent is a lability. He gives so many free kicks away in our defensive half. Opposition angling all the time for one of his schoolboy tackles. Wave a leg, shut your eyes.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

If i was club captain, the highest earner and a CB, i would be totally ashamed of the manner of all 3 goals conceded. Since he got his bumper deal he has become no more than a 6 out of 10 defender.
That back 4 was a sinking ship from the first long throw.
Positives to take away, Azeez and the loanee looked very good. Puscas looked slightly better. We had some sort of plan B.....cant get much worse than last night.
After listening to 20 minutes of Citys commentary - Mick and Tim are far superior

Negatives - i think they have all been covered.

[windermereROYAL]

Laurent is a lability. He gives so many free kicks away in our defensive half. Opposition angling all the time for one of his schoolboy tackles. Wave a leg, shut your eyes.

Go back to sleep.

[URZZZZ]

Ever since Laurent and Rino were encouraged to push forward more mid way through last season we've been a mess.

The defensive coach should be shot.

Moore is a disgrace when you look at performance vs wage.

7 goals conceded in 3 games. Simply not good enough. The manager merrigoround is going to be firing up again with the clown of an owner we have.

Agree regarding Laurent and Rino. And Moore.

Could quickly become quite ugly for him if any more performances like that. I’d happily never see one of those cross field balls that drift out of touch/ straight to oppo full back again

As opposed to watching Moore, Morrison and Rafael slowly knocking it around to each other?

Doesn’t seem like the CB’s are capable of anything else than the two scenarios above

[Zip]

Ever since Laurent and Rino were encouraged to push forward more mid way through last season we've been a mess.

The defensive coach should be shot.

Moore is a disgrace when you look at performance vs wage.

7 goals conceded in 3 games. Simply not good enough. The manager merrigoround is going to be firing up again with the clown of an owner we have.

Agree regarding Laurent and Rino. And Moore.

Could quickly become quite ugly for him if any more performances like that. I’d happily never see one of those cross field balls that drift out of touch/ straight to oppo full back again

As opposed to watching Moore, Morrison and Rafael slowly knocking it around to each other?

Doesn’t seem like the CB’s are capable of anything else than the two scenarios above

Which is why Swift needed to drop deeper more often to pick the ball up from them and look to make a positive forward pass.

Moore defensively was appalling. Either he or Morrison need to be dropped. Simply unacceptable defending last night.