Confusing Effort With Ability

Confusing A Win Over A Garbage Team With A Great Display

 A persepctive on a recent game by a Bristol City fan.

This post is probably four games too soon, but I've become annoyed at the forgetfulness of people over the course of the 90 minutes today. This is a great result over an equally garbage team who by their managers own admissions had nothing in the tank. The difference today was physical we had fresh legs. You know who that is down to? SL, backing our manager with loan signings while Coventry's board sells all the best players out from under them. A victory for SL if ever there was one.

Let's speak about fresh legs. Cole Skuse. He ran around a lot today, he worked super hard; he worked hard against Forest too. He is a superb athlete. He is unfortunately the worst footballing midfielder at the club. I'm really sad to see people singing his praises today. This is what's wrong with British football. 100% effort is a minimum requirement, not a praiseworthy action. The fact he's being praised for running around, is an embarrassment to the standards we set ourselves when we came up.

Neil Kilkenny is another one who's been elevated above his station today. He did what? He played decently against a team running on fumes, a poor team running on fumes. He's meant to be the creative force in our midfield and to show up half a dozen games a season isn't something to shout about. He received the ball spread it out to the wings and moved forwards to support. That's what he's meant to do, and what he's (over)paid to.

Richard Foster. Another case of what's wrong with football in these isles. I was reading with horror/fascination about his performance today. Do people not count distribution in a performance? Woeful player.

Brett Pitman gave the ultimate why I shouldn't start games in the championship audition. His passing, control and technique were all awful. His second touch was a poor pass or a tackle. Even the BBC commentator mentioned him putting in a shift. How about not giving the ball away constantly and not having to make up for your errors?

I'm super happy with the result. And at this stage of the season results are it. We got battered at Forest we won, we looked equal with an abysmal Coventry team and we won. I really care about this club, and this isn't a future I look forward to. We sign a team in the mould of players McInnes has brought in (in the summer) we're looking at a team of players who can't pass or control the ball. This group of players is dreadful.

I've been level headed throughout the McInnes reign. I'm concerned we're going to get much too self congratulatory on beating a team who lets an agent sign their players, a team who should have been liquidated by now, and a team stripped bare of any decent players over a period of years. Let's not make the mistake we made when we lost in the playoffs, let's not reward failure. Maybe it didn't come across on TV, but at Forest there was a massive gulf in the footballing intelligence of the two teams. They passed and moved, whilst we were chasing them all over the park and lumping it long. Praising the people giving the ball away, for closing them back down is backwards. Don't give the ball away. 

Maybe it will never click for some fans/managers.

This isn't about not getting behind the team, I don't want us to make the same mistakes again, and I don't want to be in this position ever again when it's avoidable. The top 5-6 in league 1 are either big clubs or have money behind them. This is the last year we can afford to be this bad. We were before but definitely now, a small fish in the big championship pond. And we need to think smarter to survive.

I know I’m going to get hit with the stop moaning, and get behind the lads cult that goes on. I'm delighted with the result. I'm concerned about the future. I'm frustrated by the celebration of mediocrity; it’s possible to separate the issues.

COYR