Alright r*vers fans?

I'm most certainly not gonna gloat but had a couple of comments if you don't mind.

Firstly, fair shout for bringing over 1,000 away fans all that way on a Sunday, cracking effort.

Secondly, I thought we were a tad fortunate to go in level at half time as you looked a good side and we both missed chances in the first 45. In some ways, you reminded me of us last year with the pressing game but I reckon you need to choose when to do it at this level as doing it all the time just knackers your forwards. Lee J has drummed 'triggers' into our forwards so they press as a unit, when those triggers occur. What they are I have no idea but we don't have a constant press.

I must commend you for having a go in the second half but that was probably your undoing. We're blessed with a few rapid players and you did look a tad fatigued in the second 45 when I thought we were excellent. We will play better and lose and, I'm sure you'll play worse and win.

The poster who said it was a bit 'naive' probably had it right as you (like us a few years ago) probably steam rollered teams in L1 whereas you just cannot do that in the Championship.

I think you most certainly won't be in any trouble this season but, like us, probably won't be scaring the top boys too often. 

Until the next time, take care all.

UP THE CITY \0/

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Thanks @Way down West and good luck for the season, after tomorrow of course.

I had a feeling he wasnt entirely and universally popular. Reid was never prolific was he prior to last season, I thought Johnson was doing a poor job when you had Abraham scoring so many goals yet obviously in general you was near the bottom of the tab, the same year we obviously went down. I remember being impressed watching Bristol City in the cup against the Manchester teams though so i presumed hed turned it around somewhat. 

Looking at your signings, I thought Adelakun would be a really good signing, quick, direct winger, whereas I have never really rated Weimann so im surprised hes doing so well, suppose at Villa and Derby he was never one of the main men so maybe he will continue to thrive in a central role. Selling Bryan and Flint was always going to be a blow but I thought Da Silva, Hunt, Webster and Kalas were all pretty good Championship signings too. Bit surprised that you didnt sign a more high profile keeper, that Maenpaa hasnt played much recently so I suppose hes a bit of an unknown quantity.

I don't think either Bristol City or Rovers will be particularly fancied outside of our own clubs really but I suspect both can be comfortably mid table with a bit of luck, looking up rather than down. Theres a bunch of teams, Reading, Birmingham, Rotherham, Ipswich and Hull who on paper seem far inferior to both of our teams. 

Definitely agree on League 1, luckily we only had one season and the success was a lovely change so Rovers fans will have a fonder opinion of it I imagine but the quality was terrible.

We're building gradually r*vers. Maybe one day we'll aspire to the Prem but we know we aren't a big fish in this league. Yes, our owner, a local fella, is minted but 'sustainable growth' is our plan and £51M on the stadium is a damn good start. There are far bigger clubs in the Championship but, hopefully, we'll get there one day. The fact we're compared with the like of yourselves nowadays rather than the gas b***ards (hence why I will never type r*vers) / Rochdale shows we've improved but we know our place. 

One day, maybe.

56 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

 

@Way down West what do you make of Johnson as a manager? He certainly splits the support r*verssfan. he's very forward thinking and, at times, has us playing superb stuff but he's a cocky so and so and doesn't seem to be able to halt the bad runs we have. Due to his and his dads friendship with our owner, he's pretty much unsackable so we have Lee Johnson whether we like it or not. He embraces all the techy stuff and is a very 'modern' boss but he obviously loves the club so he has my support at the moment.

And what do you make of your summer business?  We don't pay huge wages so knew we would probably lose Reid, Flint and Bryan. Reid going across the Severn hurt but he can't hit a cows arse with a banjo at the mo so that's good. Flint was great for us but at 29 deserved a chance to earn big bucks. Bryan was going to Villa which would have hurt but the late intervention of Fulham has led to a great move plus we have a more than able deputy in Lloyd Kelly who is a very classy young player. Weimann was a bit underwhelming at the time but he looks really good as do Webster and Kalas.

Overall, not bad but we brought alot more £££ in than we spent so expectations have to reflect that IMO.

Think you may be stretching the truth describing this as a "great league!" Each to their own but we have spent far too many seasons in the pub league downstairs and the Championship is 'great' in comparison to that cesspit of a division.

 

1 hour ago, blueboy3333 said:

You seem to have come good again the last couple of games after a slowish (?) start to the season and a bit of a poor end to last season. Is that fair? Certainly is blueboy. It looked like the players were struggling with what Lee J was asking for in the first couple of games but they're getting there now. We were good against Swansea, who looked a poor side on the day, so we'll see if that and the QPR (awful team) results were a false dawn or not. We should have won at Bolton (missed numerous chances) yet our performance against 'Boro was dreadful. 

Are you confident of the play-offs this season? In all honesty, no, we'll see where we end up. We have a terrible habit of superb winning streaks followed by long runs of defeats. Personally, I'll be happy with the top 10 as this is a great league.

Your 2-1 prediction was what I was going for too. I feel we may suffer our first defeat of the season tomorrow.  One thing I would saythough is that we don't know when we're beaten and have a team spirit not seen at Ewood for a long time. A draw wouldn't surprise either. I'd be very surprised, and delighted,  if we won. This will be a tough test for us. It will be tough for sure, as it will be for us. I'm expecting a good game to be fair as your team spirit sounds similar to ours. 

4 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Who is your keeper? 

Do you also play 4-4-2 all the time?

Nicki Maenpaa, a Finnish international, signed from Brighton. He's looked decent thus far. Normally, your own Frankie Fielding would be playing but he's injured.

We line up as 4-4-2 but it's very fluid, sometimes 3-5-1-1, sometimes 4-4-1-1 etc etc, it's certainly not a Mike Bassett 4-4- ****ing 2!! 

20 minutes ago, only2garners said:

You're right - Leeds is a big city and there is a huge catchment for United as there is a lack of other nearby competition. But only by using the artificial administrative boundaries can you argue that Leeds is 1.5 times the size of either Manchester or Liverpool. no one could seriously suggest that Manchester, Salford, Trafford and Stockport are not part of one conurbation. Likewise Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley and Wirral.

Anyway, all this has nowt to do with tomorrow's game. Bristol's population is c450K!

A slight correction, the 'city of Bristol' has a population of 450K but it's a relatively small area. The urban area is more like 900K - 1M. It's bigger than most people realise. An example, I live on the eastern tip of the city and it's 13 miles to the furthest point.

On tomorrow, we're getting our confidence back on the back of 2 decent results and we have our main man Famara Diedhou back for the first time this season after a ludicrous 6 game suspension. I can see a tight affair but would hope, at home, we have enough to claim a narrow win, Kalas on loan from Chelsea has given us a more solid defence which Swansea couldn't penetrate.

Keep an eye out for Lloyd Kelly at left back. He's an England U20 international and the main reason we were content to sell Joe Bryan. While we've got him, we'll enjoy watching him but he's destined for bigger things. In front of him Niclas Eliasson is an absolute flying machine so he's another one to look out for. Andi Weimann has 5 in 5 but s more than just a goal scorer. He must be a total pain to play against as he never stops running and harries defenders for the entire game.

Have a great trip.

2-1 City, 20, 880.

MAENPAA

HUNT KALAS WEBSTER  KELLY

O'DOWDA / WATKINS  PACK  BROWNHILL ELIASSON

WEIMANN  TAYLOR / DIEDHOU

Hi ladies and gents, another Bristol City fan here.

Firstly, well done on your start to the season.

Secondly, the reason why this has been moved to the Sunday is, in part due to the rugby on Friday against Bath where a 24000 crowd is expected but we could easily hold the game on the Saturday as we've done before. In addition there is an annual music festival on the downs in Bristol on Saturday (about 1 1/2 miles from Ashton Gate) with Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher's high flying birds among others playing. It's a 27,000 sell out. The police won't have both events on the same day, even though they won't admit it but, in my opinion, that's why we've been moved to the Sunday. Apologies for the inconvenience. I work for a company based near you, in Irlam, so I know what a dreadful journey it is. 

Have a safe journey down if you're travelling. 

Last year: