Bristol Post Match Waffle

[Father Ted]

The first bit you've put is utter bollocks. You're Clemence hating is starting to annoy me now, especially when what you've put is utter guff.

As for the saecond bit, well Holloways makeshift team has absolutely hammered the team top of the league but he is tactically below shit?

Am i the only one that doesnt take this chap seriously?

Take it, Clemence is rubbish, we actually had leadership today.

And hang on a second, did Holloway not come out with this square pegs round holes statement?? And tell me, would you have taken Campbell off, our only hope and brought on Hayles??

[Bryn]

Got down today. Great performance, except - who the fook coaches finishing at this club? It was so bad I was pissing myself by the end, just comical finishing from start to finish.

But as I say, good performance. Another clean sheet for Henderson, boy done alright.. Pure composure from Clapham, one incident aside. Another effort filled performance from Stearman, a few dicky passes aside. Rock solid centreback displays with N'Gotty edging it for me in terms of performance. A promising debut from Etuhu - seemed almost impossible to get the ball off. I lost count of the amount of times I thought he'd lost it and somehow it remained glued to his feet. Lightning fast too, going to make a big difference. I thought Hume had a good game, but should have buried those two first half chances. Some of the "Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuume"ing was over the top but I thought, whilst his touch let him down sometimes, he made things happen and linked up well. Oakley had the game by the scruff of the neck from start to finished, great captain's performance and worked better with Hendrie then I've seen him play with Clemence. Hendrie was also good, creative and hard working, and if I were the gaffer there'd be a spell on the bench for Clemence now. How Howard scored 19 goals for Derby is beyond me, he's a very limited footballer - but that said, I feel he did ok with what he can do and the crowd were harsh to him. A lot of our best stuff involved him but for me he could have worked harder and needs to jump more. Campbell was a pain in the Bristol arse from start to his substitution, shame the shots just wouldn't tee up for him though. As for the subs - Hayles worked hard, Fryatt did too without really looking like scoring and Mattock looked far more confident than I've seen him for a while.

I disagreed with Holloway's substitutions at the time but I feel we kept the momentum up pretty well up until a 5 minute spell between 80 and 85 minutes were they finally got hold of the ball. I don't think taking off all of our pace was that smart though.

Atmosphere was great, 2nd half especially.

Thought Bristol City were shite, it's a damning statement of our league when that shower are top.

Their left winger is a fooking midget - his top half of his body seemed fairly normal but he had such wee legs. "Our ballboy is bigger than you".

The people ringing up RL after the game were a set of fools.

Noticed the mention of the forum in the programme

Can't think of owt else to say, I'm sure something will jump out at me later though.

[davieG]

So where the then?

[The Reverend]

Take it, Clemence is rubbish, we actually had leadership today.

And hang on a second, did Holloway not come out with this square pegs round holes statement?? And tell me, would you have taken Campbell off, our only hope and brought on Hayles??

No, on current form Clemence is average. And who was the leadership from? Oakley? He was shouting less than Clemence does, and even i'll say that Clemence doesnt do enough shouting.

And yes. i'd of took DJ off before he got took off, but wouldnt of replaced him with Hayles. Armchair managers eh, dont you just love 'em?

[dandannieldanok]

No, on current form Clemence is average.

You should be knighted for your tolerance.

[The Reverend]

You should be knighted for your tolerance.

I'm not tolerant. I have a brain cell. I know that moving to a club with ridiculously high expectations, added to that by an extremely driven chairman who has done more harm than good in funding spending sprees for rubbish managers, buying rubbish players, effectively wasting a season, is not conducive to good football, as has been proven by every last one of our squad this season.

Clemence gets singled out because the majority of our fans are morons, as is proven every week on the phone-in.

[davieG]

The Times

THERE may be no more remarkable game played in the Championship this season. Had it ended 7-3 to Leicester City, it would have been an accurate reflection of both the extent to which the home team dominated and on the number of chances created. That it finished goalless was beyond belief. Perhaps Bristol City, who consolidated their lead at the top of the division, are destined to go up and Leicester to struggle to the end.

The opening 10 minutes were not so much open as reckless. Chances began to pile up from the moment Lee Hendrie’s scuffed shot was saved by City goalkeeper Adriano Basso, who was inspired, after 30 seconds.

Gareth McAuley blocked Darren Byfield’s goal-bound shot at the other end, DJ Campbell should have done better than shoot straight at Basso, Iain Hume saw his effort deflected into the side netting, and Leicester goalkeeper Paul Henderson did well to block at the feet of Michael McIndoe as play swung from end to end with speed.

With a gusting wind and poor pitch ensuring the bounce of the ball was unpredictable, the nervousness of the defenders was understandable. Gradually the game began to settle, but Leicester should have gone in ahead. Hume, with only Basso to beat from eight yards, pulled his shot wide and two minutes later he fired over. It was easy to see why the Foxes average less than a goal a game this season.

Hendrie’s appalling miss three minutes in to the second half suggested nothing would change in the second period. Still the chances came. City right-back Brian Wilson hit the bar with a 30-yard effort but back came Leicester. McAuley, Steve Howard, Hendrie again and then Joe Mattock all failed to force the ball home from inside the six-yard box, and Leicester manager Ian Holloway wanted a penalty 10 minutes from time when Barry Hayles was fouled. Mind you, Leicester would have probably missed that, too.

Leicester: Henderson 7, Stearman 6, N’Gotty 6, McAuley 6, Clapham 7, Etuhu 6 (Fryatt 58min, 6), Oakley 6, Hendrie 5, Hume 5 (Mattock 75min), Campbell 6 (Hayles 75min), Howard 4

Bristol City: Basso 8, Wilson 6, McCombe 7, Fontaine 6, McAllister 6, Carle 5 (Sproule 48min, 6), Elliott 6, Johnson 5, (Vasko 76min), McIndoe 6, Byfield 6 (Trundle 62min), Adebola 6

Star man: Adriano Basso (Bristol City)

Referee: F Graham

Attendance: 22,616

Western Daily Express

<h3 class="H3Text">CITY STAY TOP AFTER BATTLING TO A DRAW </h3>

21:41 - 08 March 2008

Bristol City survived a determined onslaught by Leicester City today but stayed three points clear at the top of the Coca Cola Championship.

The Robins' promotion aspirations were given a tough examination by Ian Holloway's relegation-threatened side, but Stoke were held 1-1 by Burnley at the Britannia Stadium, and still trail City by three points.

Adriano Basso's goal led a charmed life at times as a combination of poor finishing from the hosts, some desperate defending and moments of brilliance from Basso kept Leicester at bay.

Gary Johnson would have been quietly confident before the game of chalking off one of the six wins that he believes his side require in order to clinch automatic promotion, but in truth Leicester looked like they were the side destined for the Premier League.

The game started brightly with chances at both ends.

After a tame 18-yard volley from Lee Hendrie and a goalbound shot from inside the area by Darren Byfield that was blocked, DJ Campbell stung Basso's palms with an angled drive in the second minute after cutting inside from the left-hand side of the box.

Leicester continued their early probing and the majority of the fans inside the Walkers Stadium were celebrating a goal in the fifth minute before learning that Iain Hume's deflected volley had in fact hit the side-netting.

Byfield's reverse pass created a chance for Michael McIndoe two minutes later, but his shot from the edge of the six-yard box was well blocked by Paul Henderson.

Steve Howard could not keep his far-post header down following Jamie Clapham's left-wing cross in the 11th minute.

After a frantic start the game settled into a more pedestrian pace.

Marvin Elliott's right-foot shot from 20 yards out midway through the first half was always curling harmlessly wide.

At the other end, Howard headed over the crossbar again on the half hour.

Hume spurned a guilt-edged chance to put Leicester in front in the 37th minute when, from a central position and 12 yards out with only Basso to beat, he blazed his shot wide.

The Canadian wasted another opportunity three minutes later following a surging run down the right-hand side by Kelvin Etuhu.

The on-loan Manchester City winger squared the ball to Hume on the edge of the area and he tried to pick out the top corner but curled his shot just over the crossbar.

In added time at the end of the first half Basso produced a fantastic save to block Hume's angled shot, before Etuhu somehow poked the rebound wide from inside the six-yard box.

The start to the second half mirrored that of the first half, with openings at either end.

Howard's header from Hendrie's corner was scrambled off the line, before Hendrie squandered a glorious chance in the 49th minute.

Howard headed Etuhu's cross down into Hendrie's path, but the on-loan midfielder sliced his volley wide.

Bristol City almost made their hosts pay immediately after when a neat one-two between Elliott and Dele Adebola on the edge of the area resulted in the former hitting the inside of the post with an angled left-foot shot.

The Robins rattled the woodwork again midway through the second half.

Brian Wilson made a surging run from right-back before unleashing a thunderbolt of a shot that thumped against the crossbar and appeared to bounce down over the goal line.

Gareth McAuley and Howard had shots blocked on the goal line in the 73rd minute, before substitute Joe Mattock almost scored with his first touch as he slid in at the far post.

Basso did brilliantly to hold McAuley's low volley that travelled through a crowded penalty area, before the Brazilian denied Howard again late on with another superb parrying save.

[Father Ted]

I'm not tolerant. I have a brain cell. I know that moving to a club with ridiculously high expectations, added to that by an extremely driven chairman who has done more harm than good in funding spending sprees for rubbish managers, buying rubbish players, effectively wasting a season, is not conducive to good football, as has been proven by every last one of our squad this season.

Clemence gets singled out because the majority of our fans are morons, as is proven every week on the phone-in.

So you are basically calling me a moron?

I was not one of those fans who was criticising Stearman week-in week-out.

But it is obviously clear that Clemence is not up to the job of captain and as a midfielder. When he gets the ball he gives it away or runs backwards and are midfielders not meant to keep possesion and create chances but does Clemence do any of them?

[reynard]

Well it was a better performance and an entertaining game in tricky conditions. People are saying if we play like that we will stay up. Well that would mean drawing every game 0-0 which would give us 50 points which would not be enough. It is starting to look like it will take a record number of points to stay up. At the moment I think we could have to win another 5 games to be certain and I just don't see that happening.

We simply can't score. we haven't scored a goal of our own since Norwich and that is worrying. This situation is exemplified by the crowd calling for a striker who has scored only once this season. Where are the goals we need going to come from? Howard either doesn't get the service or is having to drop too deep or wide to collect the ball that a winger or Dj should be getting. DJ doesn't look like scoring at all. Fryatt the same and Hayles isn't much better. The midfield looks incapable of contributing any goals at all and our defenders (unlike the days of Elliot etc) don't look likely to get many from set pieces.

Other results were terrible for us today and unless we start taking our chances then we are going down.

[The Reverend]

So you are basically calling me a moron?

I was not one of those fans who was criticising Stearman week-in week-out.

But it is obviously clear that Clemence is not up to the job of captain and as a midfielder. When he gets the ball he gives it away or runs backwards and are midfielders not meant to keep possesion and create chances but does Clemence do any of them?

I personally was criticising Stearman (not week in week out as you say), but criticising him nonetheless, because he was consistently BAD, was costing us goals and was generally poor.

Clemence has not been BAD, he has been AVERAGE, its completely different.

I'm not biased like some people, and am not afraid to tell the truth like some people, and am not afraid to say that a player i have criticised has had a good game unlike some people, as has been apparent with my PRAISE of Stearman over the last 3 or 4 weeks.

Clemence is a water carrier. He does the dirty job, the job that an untrained eye doesnt notice, but one that is just as important as a striker scoring 20 goals a season.

He was perfectly up for it as a midfielder and captain last season for Brum, and has been for us in patches, the same as Oakley (using him as an example as he is also a midfielder and a new addition), and the reason he has only been good in patches is because of the points i raised in my last post, that you conveniently dodge and ignore.

[Tommeh]

As 0-0's go this was a stormer, much better than Preston and we looked a decent side.

Decent atmosphere too well in L1 it was.

HANDBALL!!!!

[davieG]

I personally was criticising Stearman (not week in week out as you say), but criticising him nonetheless, because he was consistently BAD, was costing us goals and was generally poor.

Clemence has not been BAD, he has been AVERAGE, its completely different.

I'm not biased like some people, and am not afraid to tell the truth like some people, and am not afraid to say that a player i have criticised has had a good game unlike some people, as has been apparent with my PRAISE of Stearman over the last 3 or 4 weeks.

Clemence is a water carrier. He does the dirty job, the job that an untrained eye doesnt notice, but one that is just as important as a striker scoring 20 goals a season.

He was perfectly up for it as a midfielder and captain last season for Brum, and has been for us in patches, the same as Oakley (using him as an example as he is also a midfielder and a new addition), and the reason he has only been good in patches is because of the points i raised in my last post, that you conveniently dodge and ignore.

This all getting bit pedantic so I'll join in,

Your average can easily equate to someone else's bad, the words themselves are subjective as are the particular performances it all depends on your basic criteria.

When making these judgements I think it's fair to take into account someone's pedigree and historical performances from that perspective I would say that Clemence has produced many below average performances and some have been piss poor with little endeavour, poor vision, shocking passing and a virtual total indifference to what was happening to the team he is captain of.

[The Reverend]

This all getting bit pedantic so I'll join in,

Your average can easily equate to someone else's bad, the words themselves are subjective as are the particular performances it all depends on your basic criteria.

When making these judgements I think it's fair to take into account someone's pedigree and historical performances from that perspective I would say that Clemence has produced many below average performances and some have been piss poor with little endeavour, poor vision, shocking passing and a virtual total indifference to what was happening to the team he is captain of.

Its not pedantic, im just giving my viewpoint, as is he. I just want to now why people have these biases. I'll use Oakley as an example. In another thread, Anonymous has stated that Oakley is one of his current favourite players. Now what has he done to warrant this, He's done feck all in his time here, same as Clemence, now Oakley has pedigree, so whats the difference? Someone explain?

[davieG]

Its not pedantic, im just giving my viewpoint, as is he. I just want to now why people have these biases. I'll use Oakley as an example. In another thread, Anonymous has stated that Oakley is one of his current favourite players. Now what has he done to warrant this, He's done feck all in his time here, same as Clemence, now Oakley has pedigree, so whats the difference? Someone explain?

People have different opinions and those opinionsare based on wildly varying criteria - one mans idol is another mans idiot I really can't see the point inquestioning how people describe players when they are just using general unquantifiable terms like rubbish, crap, average, excellent, brilliant etc. I think it's different when you get down to their different attribures like passing etc.

But hey I only joined in for a bit of fun.

[Frenzied]

Excellent performance today - can't remember many 0-0s like that where we've been so dominant and had so many chances. The ref was terrible though - we should have had four penalties (three for handball and one for the foul on Hayles when he was clean through).

Not one poor performance today and if we play like that for the rest of the season we'll be fine.

And to add, Oakley was superb today - a real captain's performance.

[bristol_city_lad]

hi, i am a bristol city fan (as you can see) i've only signed up to the foum to say congratulations on an outstanding performance today, the wind made for a difficult game for both teams. leicester certainly have great potential. a great club too, except the minority that don't know that there's a big body of water between bristol and wales. nice ground, expensive pies, nice atmosphere....best of luck for the rest of the season.

scr

[MikeyT]

hi, i am a bristol city fan (as you can see) i've only signed up to the foum to say congratulations on an outstanding performance today, the wind made for a difficult game for both teams. leicester certainly have great potential. a great club too, except the minority that don't know that there's a big body of water between bristol and wales. nice ground, expensive pies, nice atmosphere....best of luck for the rest of the season.

scr

[DanTheFoxBhoy]

Those stats are fantastic... just disappointing to see us 21st and with two very hard games coming up. It would be shite indeed to have to wait until the end of the season to ensure our survival.

However, I have trust in the boys. Let's face it - at the moment we're better placed to beat good teams away than we are to get past shite teams at home

[bristol_city_lad]

you don't deserve to be bottom half, but the table, after so many games doesnt lie...we have definately played better games, we havent played 4-4-2 in a while, many factors culmulated in a wierd point gained today. in all fairness we were saved by outstanding defending, whereas the post and bar saved your skins today.

and bloody hell bruno n'gotty is huge!

[FilboFox]

hi, i am a bristol city fan (as you can see) i've only signed up to the foum to say congratulations on an outstanding performance today, the wind made for a difficult game for both teams. leicester certainly have great potential. a great club too, except the minority that don't know that there's a big body of water between bristol and wales. nice ground, expensive pies, nice atmosphere....best of luck for the rest of the season.

scr

Thanks very much... always nice to see opposition fans posting decent comments.

Good luck with the promotion push!

[FilboFox]

Got down today. Great performance, except - who the fook coaches finishing at this club? It was so bad I was pissing myself by the end, just comical finishing from start to finish.

But as I say, good performance. Another clean sheet for Henderson, boy done alright.. Pure composure from Clapham, one incident aside. Another effort filled performance from Stearman, a few dicky passes aside. Rock solid centreback displays with N'Gotty edging it for me in terms of performance. A promising debut from Etuhu - seemed almost impossible to get the ball off. I lost count of the amount of times I thought he'd lost it and somehow it remained glued to his feet. Lightning fast too, going to make a big difference. I thought Hume had a good game, but should have buried those two first half chances. Some of the "Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuume"ing was over the top but I thought, whilst his touch let him down sometimes, he made things happen and linked up well. Oakley had the game by the scruff of the neck from start to finished, great captain's performance and worked better with Hendrie then I've seen him play with Clemence. Hendrie was also good, creative and hard working, and if I were the gaffer there'd be a spell on the bench for Clemence now. How Howard scored 19 goals for Derby is beyond me, he's a very limited footballer - but that said, I feel he did ok with what he can do and the crowd were harsh to him. A lot of our best stuff involved him but for me he could have worked harder and needs to jump more. Campbell was a pain in the Bristol arse from start to his substitution, shame the shots just wouldn't tee up for him though. As for the subs - Hayles worked hard, Fryatt did too without really looking like scoring and Mattock looked far more confident than I've seen him for a while.

I disagreed with Holloway's substitutions at the time but I feel we kept the momentum up pretty well up until a 5 minute spell between 80 and 85 minutes were they finally got hold of the ball. I don't think taking off all of our pace was that smart though.

Atmosphere was great, 2nd half especially.

Thought Bristol City were shite, it's a damning statement of our league when that shower are top.

Their left winger is a fooking midget - his top half of his body seemed fairly normal but he had such wee legs. "Our ballboy is bigger than you".

The people ringing up RL after the game were a set of fools.

Noticed the mention of the forum in the programme

Can't think of owt else to say, I'm sure something will jump out at me later though.

I agree with most of that although the Huuuuuuuuuume'ing was merely for the fans amusement more than because of what Hume actually did. Anyway, it helps his confidence and that is always got to be a positive.

I just wanted to add on the note that Bristol City were poor, which they were, that it just highlights the weakness of the league. Many of you think that because of the fact that anyone can beat anyone, the league is strong and competitive but it only shows the severe inconsistency of the teams with the best players. Watford, West Brom, Charlton are just a few of the teams that should have run away with it this year but haven't due to their poor performances at times, and even us, yes Leicester, have the players but just haven't played well enough with them. It then leads to teams like Stoke and Bristol City, who lets face it are not the best in this division, topping the table and going up. Once up, their crapness will truly come to light and they end up going straight back down a-la-Derby opening the gap between Premiership and Championship quality even more as the best players from this division at clubs like West Brom, Charlton, Watford, will be looking for a quick escape to an established Premiership team leaving nothing but the dross who can't hack it at the top level to play here. It all is rather depressing as it should be that the gap should be closing but come on... Derby have clearly shown that despite the MILLIONS that you get from the play-off success, not even that amount of money can stop the inevitable drop back down again. Hopefully we are building a team that has the ability to make a promotion push next year and stay in the Premiership but the way things are is pretty dire as all of the teams who come down to this quagmire lose their best players to the poaching Premiership clubs and end up not being able to get back quick enough.

Who here can seriously say that they think that either Stoke or Bristol City if they went up this year could stay up? Neither have huge amounts of cash to buy new players with and neither have a good enough squad to even remotely think about challenging even the likes of Bolton, Newcastle or Reading who are all fighting for survival down at the foot of the table in the Premiership this year...

I'm sure some, if not all of you will think I'm wrong but I just thought I'd rant and get it off my chest as its always good to do!

[Rocky Dennis]

Great Performance, our lack of goals will probably be what puts us down though.

Ollie has clearly lost it IMO, we all have opinions and many on here dont rate Hume or Campbell but taking them off for Fryatt and Hayles was the worst tactical move i think Ollies ever made!!

Campbell particularly caused them all sorts of problems with his pace, Fryatt and Hayles errm didnt!!

Reminds me of Graham Taylor subbing Lineker for Alan Smith

[CupidStunt]

Its starting to hit home after this weeks results that we might actually go down,thats 2 games we should have,and could have won,but only took 1 point from what should have been 6,and thats our suppposdily good home form.

We have scored jointly the least amount of goals in the league,which doesnt take a scientist to work out what might behold us

Thankfully our defensive record is the best in the league,which might be our saving grace.

Hopefully we can make southampton lead the race with the most goals scored against (currently joint first with colchester)

Luckily we have 3 home games to come against the lower sides,and its vital we dont lose against them.

I'd happily take 2 draws,or a sneaky win against one of the forthcoming away fixtures...or even a single point for that matter

Come on you Blues Boys.....FFS

[MPH]

Its starting to hit home after this weeks results that we might actually go down,thats 2 games we should have,and could have won,but only took 1 point from what should have been 6,and thats our suppposdily good home form.

We have scored jointly the least amount of goals in the league,which doesnt take a scientist to work out what might behold us

Thankfully our defensive record is the best in the league,which might be our saving grace.

Hopefully we can make southampton lead the race with the most goals scored against (currently joint first with colchester)

Luckily we have 3 home games to come against the lower sides,and its vital we dont lose against them.

I'd happily take 2 draws,or a sneaky win against one of the forthcoming away fixtures...or even a single point for that matter

Come on you Blues Boys.....FFS

IF we do go down ( and i still think we wont..)

At least we will go down fighting.

The players at last appear to have some fire in their belly and i think the signing of Etuhu seems to be a very good peice in the jigsaw. Other than getting someone in like Eastwood on loan i dont know what else can be done for the squad.

We cant ask for any more commitment from the lads and i can forsee us playing half as well in one of the remaining games and scoring a couple of goals... Football really is that daft.

I am confident we will stay up if we keep playing like that. Cliche i know...

[accessory]

I agree with most of that although the Huuuuuuuuuume'ing was merely for the fans amusement more than because of what Hume actually did. Anyway, it helps his confidence and that is always got to be a positive.

I just wanted to add on the note that Bristol City were poor, which they were, that it just highlights the weakness of the league. Many of you think that because of the fact that anyone can beat anyone, the league is strong and competitive but it only shows the severe inconsistency of the teams with the best players. Watford, West Brom, Charlton are just a few of the teams that should have run away with it this year but haven't due to their poor performances at times, and even us, yes Leicester, have the players but just haven't played well enough with them. It then leads to teams like Stoke and Bristol City, who lets face it are not the best in this division, topping the table and going up. Once up, their crapness will truly come to light and they end up going straight back down a-la-Derby opening the gap between Premiership and Championship quality even more as the best players from this division at clubs like West Brom, Charlton, Watford, will be looking for a quick escape to an established Premiership team leaving nothing but the dross who can't hack it at the top level to play here. It all is rather depressing as it should be that the gap should be closing but come on... Derby have clearly shown that despite the MILLIONS that you get from the play-off success, not even that amount of money can stop the inevitable drop back down again. Hopefully we are building a team that has the ability to make a promotion push next year and stay in the Premiership but the way things are is pretty dire as all of the teams who come down to this quagmire lose their best players to the poaching Premiership clubs and end up not being able to get back quick enough.

Who here can seriously say that they think that either Stoke or Bristol City if they went up this year could stay up? Neither have huge amounts of cash to buy new players with and neither have a good enough squad to even remotely think about challenging even the likes of Bolton, Newcastle or Reading who are all fighting for survival down at the foot of the table in the Premiership this year...

I'm sure some, if not all of you will think I'm wrong but I just thought I'd rant and get it off my chest as its always good to do!

Agree with you entirely.

The Bristol defence yesterday was the worst I've seen for a long time. Shame we couldn't take advantage..