Conditions didn’t help, but not an excuse because I don’t think it would’ve made any difference. They have to be a lot more on the front foot at home, and as you say quicker at getting the ball forward, they are too slow and ponderous.
I'm sorry you cannot possibly know that, for a start I cannot believe that the instruction at half time would be to sit back and surrender so much space in midfield.
This game for me followed a pattern of earlier home games this season. In the first half we created some very dangerous situations, but then the usual loss of invention, reluctance to shoot or over complication let us down. We even created 2 very good chances with one of them Wells, Weimann and Scott could have scored and none of them got a proper shot away and then DaSilva took too long over his chance and hit the first defender. All of this time although they enjoyed a lot of possession, we pretty much kept Forest at arms length in around the edge of our box. After the DaSilva miss they indeed hit the post and created several really good chances and looked dangerous. Our goal was a classic case of hitting the ball early and actually having somebody following up for the parry from their keeper (something that has been lacking). At the start of the 2nd half we sat back and surrendered to much space in midfield a got lucky that they never had their shooting boots on, the middle period of the half we again got into some promising positions and again let down by poor delivery, lack of invention and over complication. Wells should have won the game with his chance. And then we sat back again, Baker had no need to slide in like he did for their penalty it was reckless and totally unnecessary sadly that is an imperfection in his game and their winner was an utter joke of schoolboy defending by pretty much the whole team. Kalas and Weimann were once more guilty of casual short misplaced passes that always put us in danger, in Weimann’s case it was a stereotypical performance, some very good stuff like a low cross he provided for one of the first half chances and some good defending, but interspaced with incredibly poor decision making, passing all typified by his 2nd half break where he had Scott free on the right and DaSilva free on the left but he continued with his head down never looking up once and eventually dispossessed, once more highlighting he is not and never will be a midfielder. James is tenacious but lacks pace and does not look fully fit to me. He desperately needs the energy of Scott and Massengo in a midfield 3 IMHO. As for substitutes they were the difference last night, Forest’s subs contributed to winning them the game last night and Massengo apart the other 2 as usual contributed zero. Looking at the starting 11 and the bench, I would be happy to see 5 players moved on and Weimann more of a bench impact player, something that we totally lack.
A sensible and excellent post.NP has had it with some of those last night-you could tell that in his interview below.
I am not trying to disguise the overall performance which again was nowhere near good enough. But again we had chances to change the complexion of the game and in turn the overall result and we failed to do so and that in turn led to our usual last few minutes of indecision and nervousness.
Nigel Pearson: I shoulder criticism for Bristol City's poor home form Nigel Pearson says he has to take responsibility for Bristol City's poor home form after their late loss to Nottingham Forest at Ashton Gate. Forest scored two goals in the space of 50 seconds in stoppage time to win 2-1. City have not won at home since 26 January - a run of 17 games during which they have lost 12 times and have let in four stoppage-time goals this season, costing them three wins. "I have to shoulder the criticism at the moment," Pearson said. "It's my team, I pick it, I make the decisions in terms of who goes on, who goes off, what I really want is the players to be able to do is go out there and perform as well as they can. "Regardless of what anybody feels tonight I know they're an honest group, but we've got work to do clearly," he told BBC Radio Bristol. City dropped to 13th in the Championship - a position down mainly to the four wins from six away games they have played this season. "Tonight even I can't hide from the fact that clearly the players found it difficult to deal with conceding that first goal and unfortunately we conceded another one," added Pearson, who took over at Ashton Gate in February after succeeding Dean Holden. "It's a tough one to take, but we will all have to face up to how we approach the next game. "We've got to try and make coming to watch us for our fans a pleasurable experience instead of feeling nervous. "I understand why that is, it's really very difficult at the moment, but we have to work hard to find our way out of it. "My job is to find the solutions and at the moment I'm not doing that and that's a tough one. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58979653
If anyone can dig out how many attended last nights game I would be greatful, unless I'm going around the twist I can't find it anywhere.
its really weird this season, usually gate is up 15 mins into second half most other clubs are even in div 2 I have had a look around and found nowt
While that is undoubtedly true, I would say most teams that lose a game could say that though to be fair. Those chances you mention come after Forest could/should have been 2 up if you apply the same rationale. The point is, we need to be on the front foot more at home and dictate the tempo of games.
I agree about getting the ball forward quicker, however the trick is getting it to stick. Thought their front men did it better. In fact they had far better quality all over the pitch. To think any manager could do any better with our squad is totally deluded. We somehow have to get through till January and bring in better players. I hope Steve Lansdown bails us out again. Supcon72 What about the 2 gilt edged chances we missed in the first half along with the goal we scored. A bit unfair to say we could/should have been 2 down.
That RB Spence and forward Johnson are fast ain’t they. I knew as soon as the crowd sang “what the **** is that” to Lyle Taylor he would score. Bit like the song “you’re ****ing **** when an attacker misses. You know fate comes back and bites hard.
And yet the evidence in a post late last week shows that we did for the last 2 seasons, we were better off points-wise, and with largely the same players, In fact the only exceptions are NPs signings.