Match Thread Bristol City (A) 24th August 12:30 KO (7 Viewers)

[procdoc]

Rob Gurney is just dull.

I always remember a post match phone in from the late 90s. The caller said ‘hi Rob, how come every time I hear your voice I want to have a wank?’. Rob was so embarrassed

 

---

[Para1140]

Home.

Dovin made a few good saves, his punches are gonna land us in trouble though.
Not convinced that Binks is the calm, assured head he’s made out to be.
Rudoni, Eccles, Torp all poor. But seriously, in general, what is Torp offering to this team. Never thought I’d say it, but Palmer gives us more. Personally have seen enough of Torp.
Sakamoto looked terrified and knackered.
We knew Wright was better on the left, so I’m sort of wondering why we signed EMC just to throw him on the right where he’s no good.
Simms absolutely fuck all to feed off.
BTA is a good signing and should be starting games.

If it’s another season of turning up in the 65th minute, then it’s another season below top 6.

Agree with everything youve said except Binks

 

[Sick Boy]

Rob Gurney is just dull.

He seems to have a weird fixation on Dovin being poor as well.

 

[Houchens Head]

Sorry to come in a bit late on this, but not having listened to CWR commentary for a while, is Rob Gurney back now?

 

[shepardo01]

One thing I noticed today was that Gurney's commentary contained a lot of "fill" where he did not cover who had the ball and where it was. General chatter.....
This made it very hard for me to sync the radio Comms from my phone with the TV picture....

As I've said previously - we've had some great moments with Gurney, and I grew up with him on CWR.... But I have grown to be very fond of Clive and Oggy over recent years...

 

[Grendel]

Sorry to come in a bit late on this, but not having listened to CWR commentary for a while, is Rob Gurney back now?

Sadly yes but Eakin I assume will be main commentator once the cricket season ends

 

[SkyblueTexan]

‘decent’ doesn’t get you top two though

Torp is weird because he should have a high bar in terms of potential but doesn’t seem to be progressing at the minute, that game against Man Utd last season showed what he’s capable of but he needs to perform to that level regularly…Eccles also needs to push on, but he’s a bit further ahead in terms of appearances and yet still pretty average at the minute.

I’m not convinced either are the answer, we need Sheaf back and two very good starters in the middle, Eccles and Torp aren’t going to get us promoted in my opinion

Torp and Allen are not starters. Maybe impact subs. That’s about it. We need to find a midfield general who can attack, defend, spray passes about. Until we do, we have to somehow bridge the glaring midfield gap with the people we have. Obviously Sheaf’s absence exacerbates the problem and we haven’t figured out how to make things work in order to be more fluid from back to front. Not sure if this new guy Bassette can help in that regard. Really hoping we bring in midfield reinforcements this week.

 

[fernandopartridge]

Yeah, 2 games out of the 3 we've only had 2 efforts on target in 3 hours. Some very talented attacking players but there is a missing link atm. It will come, but midfield is a worry.

It all stems from the unwillingness of Torp and Eccles to take the ball from the centre backs to try and pass through the lines, Rudoni didn't help at all either.

 

[SBAndy]

I'm not sure at this point the defence is the problem , I'm sure we can use a variation of centre backs at our disposal and the results will be the same .. we are struggling in midfield and the back line have little protection .

I hope we do some business this week

As above the positive from today is being able to play quite poorly for large parts and still pick up points , we have several more gears

Someone said earlier that the midfield was too deep, isolating Simms. But, of course, if they were deep then they’d be helping out defensively. Just seems to be a void in the middle of the pitch regardless of attack or defence.

 

[2024/25 League 1 Champs?]

if we want to try and encourage a press and play through it we need midfielders who are confident on the ball, receive it on the turn and then progress almost instantly up the field….

both Eccles, and Torp today, were taking the ball sideways on or, even worse, facing our own goal, which isn’t going to get through the press quick enough, if at all, and the whole thing then breaks down and worse still the opposing team nick the ball and have an overload in attack

the midfield was better against Oxford last week, but I’m not sure the press was there / as good as today - it won’t take long for teams to realise however how weak our midfield is though

no point in banging the same drum over and over, but I hope to god there are a couple of midfield arrivals this week

 

[itsabuzzard]

I always remember a post match phone in from the late 90s. The caller said ‘hi Rob, how come every time I hear your voice I want to have a wank?’. Rob was so embarrassed

Was the caller Clive?

 

[skybluegod]

yeah, you’d probably want a more defensive minded / stronger tackling midfielder in with him, but for instance you could play Sheaf, Rudoni and say one of EMC / BTA / KP more advanced

It's probably still even asking too much of sheaf. Not sure Rudoni has the discipline to play the 6/8 role. Albeit not sure Torp can at the moment either alongside Eccles.

 

[COVKIDSNEVERQUIT]

I always remember a post match phone in from the late 90s. The caller said ‘hi Rob, how come every time I hear your voice I want to have a wank?’. Rob was so embarrassed

Was the caller Clive?

No it's was Adam Dent.

 

[Sky Blue Goblin]

Is it too early to ask us to look towards a 4-4-2 in the next match. Gets our wingers more involved in the play and allows Simms to have a partner to knock balls onto.

 

[procdoc]

View attachment 37999
Is it too early to ask us to look towards a 4-4-2 in the next match. Gets our wingers more involved in the play and allows Simms to have a partner to knock balls onto.

We’d get mullered if we played 4-4-2

 

[quinn1971]

Wouldnt make too many changes to the system just yet, win saturday and that’s 7 points from 9, steady start to the season, sheaf coming backs huge plus Rodriguez still to come back and we’ve got a very good squad, one more midfielder would help but if not wev‘e got enough, between rudoni sheaf Eccles torp and Palmer there’s a system there somewher,just need to find it,

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

I think Torp and Eccles are too similar and can’t play together.

Eccles just isn’t as good as a lot of Cov fans think.

You have a cohort of fans who think he’s ‘useless’ and another cohort who think he’s the second coming of Christ.

My opinion is that he’s not quite good enough to run that midfield on his own. He’s a good player but he’s not someone who can run that midfield on his own like Sheaf or Hamer imo.

 

[Ashdown]

I’d give Palmer more minutes based on a few recent appearances, looks like he can put us on the front foot rather than constantly getting in trouble like Eccles and Torp.

 

[SkyblueTexan]

Wouldnt make too many changes to the system just yet, win saturday and that’s 7 points from 9, steady start to the season, sheaf coming backs huge plus Rodriguez still to come back and we’ve got a very good squad, one more midfielder would help but if not wev‘e got enough, between rudoni sheaf Eccles torp and Palmer there’s a system there somewher,just need to find it,

7 points from 9? 4 games multipled by 3 points per game = 12. Norwich are our bogey team as well.

 

[Jonny]

The argument for Palmer is that usually he loses the ball when he's trying to advance us forward, and tends to be high up the pitch when he does so, rather than in our own defensive third which we're seeing at the moment. I'd like to see Rudoni drop back as a more central CM next to whoever is current choice, with Palmer ahead of them.

 

[quinn1971]

7 points from 9? 4 games multipled by 3 points per game = 12. Norwich are our bogey team as well.

Oxford today and Saturday = 9

 

[curly_tom]

Last week’s match thread had almost every poster saying that our defence was awful and had to be added to. Today every poster is saying the midfield is awful and has to be added to. Is this all a bit knee-jerk? Maybe a couple of the midfielders had a bad game? Maybe last week the defenders had a bad game? I reckon it’ll be ok over the next few games.

 

[CovValleyBoy]

Rob Gurney is just dull.

Don't agree. Clive gets way too excited about very little, too often. RG by contrast is a measured commentator & is knowledgeable on the City past & present. He & Steve Og' complimented each other well yesterday. We are lucky to have a CWR "squad" who clearly care about the outcome & performance of Sky Blues matches.

 

[Para1140]

Careful, happy clap crew will attack you.

Give it a rest. Youve only been on here a month and all ready boring the fck out of most of us with your childish comments

 

[CovValleyBoy]

Eccles just isn’t as good as a lot of Cov fans think.

You have a cohort of fans who think he’s ‘useless’ and another cohort who think he’s the second coming of Christ.

My opinion is that he’s not quite good enough to run that midfield on his own. He’s a good player but he’s not someone who can run that midfield on his own like Sheaf or Hamer imo.

Home.

Dovin made a few good saves, his punches are gonna land us in trouble though.
Not convinced that Binks is the calm, assured head he’s made out to be.
Rudoni, Eccles, Torp all poor. But seriously, in general, what is Torp offering to this team. Never thought I’d say it, but Palmer gives us more. Personally have seen enough of Torp.
Sakamoto looked terrified and knackered.
We knew Wright was better on the left, so I’m sort of wondering why we signed EMC just to throw him on the right where he’s no good.
Simms absolutely fuck all to feed off.
BTA is a good signing and should be starting games.

If it’s another season of turning up in the 65th minute, then it’s another season below top 6.

 

[CovValleyBoy]

Thought EMC did OK down the right.
Delivered a superb cross with his left foot .."Binks to Palmer 1-1"

 

[CovValleyBoy]

Do people really care about league position 3 games in?

Oh yes.

 

[GIMOC]

View attachment 37999
Is it too early to ask us to look towards a 4-4-2 in the next match. Gets our wingers more involved in the play and allows Simms to have a partner to knock balls onto.

We can’t rely on asante for goals. he’s not a finisher. anyone who seen him shooting in the warm ups will testify

hes a nuisance to defend. Ideal to bring on from the bench

Teams thwart the width like yesterday. we have little flair down the middle

 

[CovValleyBoy]

If O'Hare put in a performance like Rudoni did today, he'd be accused of not being arsed

I thought Rudoni certainly worked hard. He was though a bit headless . There's a player in there and the intro' of Sheaf will settle us and make the midfield tick.

 

[Winny the Bish]

Listened to that new cov podcast and they had Karen Carney on who made some good points that boiled down to:

1) a point on the road is good
2) BC won the tactical game. They packed the midfield, always had spare options to pass to, and we were overrun because of it.
3) Dovin should’ve been 20 yards further out of goal when we’re in possession to become an extra player and push the rest of the team further forward.
4) Eccles was playing a pointless game. MVE is amazing, he doesn’t need Eccles to screen him all the time.

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

Doesn’t look like a smash and grav
Also 15 free kicks to 8 really wow

 

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

Listened to that new cov podcast and they had Karen Carney on who made some good points that boiled down to:

1) a point on the road is good
2) BC won the tactical game. They packed the midfield, always had spare options to pass to, and we were overrun because of it.
3) Dovin should’ve been 20 yards further out of goal when we’re in possession to become an extra player and push the rest of the team further forward.
4) Eccles was playing a pointless game. MVE is amazing, he doesn’t need Eccles to screen him all the time.

Did Karen Carney shout really loud ?

 

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

A lot of player are not yet playing to the level we expect. We can forgive the likes of Sakamoto who's been out for ages and needs time . The new players coming in need time .
On the plus side I like the look of the new keeper.
It doesn't need all 11 on the pitch to perform at the top of their game for us to transform from what looks a mid table team into play off contenders. It needs 4-5 to find their feet and get going again which will enable the rest to fit in . This league is not about winning every game but it is about going on a series of runs of form. You can win 10 and lose 10 and be in the top 6 as a result. We know this from the last two seasons.

 

[chinamans view]

The trouble now is that there are to many coaches from the dug out shouting instructions at players they dont know who to listen to ,even Robins looks confused, he tells them one thing and the coaches shout different, there was about six shouting yesterday

 

[GIMOC]

The trouble now is that there are to many coaches from the dug out shouting instructions at players they dont know who to listen to ,even Robins looks confused, he tells them one thing and the coaches shout different, there was about six shouting yesterday

when the players had a drinks break there was 6 back room staff around the players. cant be good for the team