oldbluefox

With Martinball we play into the opposition's hands every time. We are so slow and indecisive passing the ball around the back and looking at each other it gives the opposition time to get men back, organise themselves and wait for us to make a mistake. The problem is there is no threat from our play. We don't play into space, we play to feet so we are easy to defend against. I feel sorry for the likes of Riis and Page who move into promising positions hoping to benefit from the ball put through only to find it goes back out again and the chance is lost. Burns has taken a lot of stick but how many times was the ball pushed through inside the full back for him to run onto. I can tell you - none!! This is for Martin to sort out because it is not working and never will be. Doncaster will adopt the same tactics against us as all the other teams knowing we will not play the ball with speed and determination and they will man mark knowing it will invariably be passed to feet.

That’s what you or anyone with half a brain would do but we’re talking Thomas here who was outpaced despite having a yard start on the fella. All I can say is he must be good in training cos he’s bloody awful on the pitch.

The way he allowed the player to get ahead of him and then give up altogether was unforgivable in my book. He should have been busting a gut but opted to do nothing. No fight, no drive, no determination, just looking totally knackered, unfit and disinterested. With body language like that he should be nowhere near the team or even the bench until he changes his attitude. It is this lack of fight and determination in our team which is our undoing coupled with RM’s nicey nicey keep ball. Sadly I don’t think he’s good enough and instead of progressing he has gone backwards.

Our players not fit? How very dare you?!!! We have a world leading training centre/holiday camp complete with every luxury known to man. Players are attracted to our club to train/luxuriate in this state of the art facility. Tbh I haven’t a clue what they get up to when they are there but supreme fitness is not evident in many of our players who seem to have run out of gas after 70 minutes. When the ref overtakes your struggling frame you know there’s a problem.

Time and time again we play the ball to feet rather than pushing the ball through for him to run onto. When he first played he was more effective in getting the ball across but now the ball is played to feet it commits him to the dribble which is not particularly his strong point.

Harry Kane was crap when he played for us.

I saw enough of Ayew to know he probably wouldn't have scored. He was lazy and spent most of his time on his backside on the halfway line appealing for a foul. Bristric was where he should have been, mobile, making forward runs and being positive. I rarely saw that in Ayew no matter who the opposition was. I accept he's not the finished article but on the few occasions he has played compared to Ayew he was an upgrade and it was good to see. Too easy to be negative, give the lad a chance.

If you’re going to quote me take the whole quote. The context is important. For accuracy’s sake this is what I said After suffering Ayew for the past couple of seasons he was like a breath of fresh air.

After suffering Ayew for the past couple of seasons he was like a breath of fresh air.

I just hope the arrogant Leicester City Billy Big Bollox don’t turn up showing Barnsley what beautiful football we play cos I’ve seen that before. Need to go out as we did against Stockport in the first half moving the ball forward, take them on and shore up the defence to deal with any counter attack threat. Tippy tappy football doesn’t impress me, it just looks arrogant and should be binned.

Same with that lardarse Tielemans who was slow and lethargic and couldn’t last 90 minutes. Begs the question what was happening on the training ground?

There is an element of big bollox Leicester too good to be playing you lot in this crap league and we’re getting punished. Drop the arrogance, forget trying to look flash by playing keep ball cos we ain’t that good. Roll your sleeves up and start moving the damn thing before they’ve had a chance to get back and organised.

Yes it was and it could have been worse. It was a disgraceful performance. After the last few games I thought we had turned the corner after some promising performances but today it looked like we had reverted back to our old ways. The difference in styles was glaring. Oxford moved the ball quickly on the counter, they fought for every ball, harried and chased and we had no answer. Meanwhile we took so long to move the ball anywhere it gave them plenty of time to get back and organised into a tightly packed defence. We struggled in defence to contain them. We allowed them plenty of space. Souttar and Thomas were slow and absolutely confused, they didn't know what to do when in possession so we had the usual to you to me interpassing. If I never see them again it will be too soon. If I was RM I would show them through that match and not focus on what we did wrong but rather look at Oxford and the way they played the match for they were everything we were not. Hopefully this should be a day of reckoning and a turning point. If RM continues with his passion for slow possession based football he deserves to go since opposing teams will pack their defence whilst we dither and hit us on the break against a defence with more holes in it than a lace tablecloth. In short it was an utter disgrace.

The minute you start having a go at the fans you’re finished.

I have to say, after the past few torrid years of negative football from a group of overpaid mercenaries who were more interested in lining their pockets than giving their all I am much more optimistic about the current crop wearing the shirt. Even if we do find ourselves in the 3rd tier of football and desperately short of money we do have a young group of talented lads who are keen to demonstrate their skills and have something to play for. The football over the past three games has been exciting to watch. Fair enough the defending at times has been pretty chaotic (to put it mildly!) and we have failed to push home our advantage in the goalmouth but it's still early days and this team will only get better. The club has responded by recruiting in defence and at centre forward and hopefully matters in those departments improve. Not all of the recruits will work out. It's not a perfect world but there's enough for me to feel optimistic for the future. We shall see. Hopefully this team will provide a springboard which starts our revival. It's certainly better than what we have had to endure for such a long time which was pretty depressing as a City supporter. PS Absolutely delighted we rebuffed the approaches of Manu to take Page away from us for some paltry sum. The lad ranks alongside our other gems in the line-up. Better he gets a season with us and then we re-assess next year but I realise it may be difficult to hold onto him if the big boys come knocking. That said we should expect something more realistic from them. Well done City!!

True, and we failed to breach it. Great score for them.

He's got hell of a shot on him!!! Could teach a few of our forwards a thing or two.

Part of the problem comes from these newly promoted teams full of confidence which belies how good they really are but are enjoying the first blooms of their success now playing in a (former) Premier League stadium in front of a large crowd. It is their Cup Final against the Premier League/FA Cup/Community Shield winners. This is a problem City need to overcome but playing slow negative football bores the hell out of me, looks arrogant and is simply negative. We need to demonstrate our skills by exposing the opponents weaknesses and taking the game to them. Passing the ball around the back in our own half or worse still our own penalty area will not do that.

Yesterday and Tuesday's match were a vast improvement on that we witnessed against Burton so maybe there has been a change of heart and a change in tactics. It was a big improvement after the negative tippy tappy football of the past two seasons. Now we need to work out a way through packed defences and the fact we have not signed a striker of any note is holding us back. That effort from BDCR was pathetic and not worthy of a supposed professional footballer.

Last seasons team deserved being booed off the pitch but I wonder what the effect of booing has on these young players when they are turning in such promising performances. They don’t deserve that treatment otherwise at the first opportunity they will be off and we will be worse off. By all means show displeasure at lack of effort and respect but we need to show our support for this young team thrown in at the deep end by a load of leeches who have sucked the heart out of the club and now b******d off!!

I'm not worrying at this stage, it's far too early. We have got rid of most of the deadwood which brought us to our knees. We now have a very young group of players who, by neceesity have been drafter in to take the club forward. The opening games were a disaster for us but over the course of the Carabao Cup game and yesterday's match I have seen enough to believe we are better poised to move up this league. Thankfully we appear to have moved away from tippy tappy slow, languid football and are playing with more energy and determination than I have seen for a long time. It's not perfect; we still need somebody effective in the box and somebody to dominate in defence. We all know that but as far a I am concerned we are building for the future with this current crop of young lads. Will we get promotion this season? I don't know but irrespective of where we find ourselves today I cannot see we would be facing relegation and indeed should be there or thereabouts for promotion. Perhaps some of us need to be realistic. We wanted a change in personnel, we wanted youth brought in and that is what we've got. It will take time but we will improve.

It’s the hope that kills us.

Whatever anybody might think of him we need the money and to get some of the higher earners off the books. That Gregory fella playing for Burton looked good.

To me to you to me to you (ad infinitum) tippy tappy football everywhere we go.

I have some sympathy for our forwards. Time and time again I see them making breaking runs into space only for us to play the ball sideways or even backwards!!! It must be bloody frustrating especially when you get blamed for being invisible.