philipl

Bristol City supporter friend has texted me that they have a completely makeshift defense and midfield because of injuries and hoping we have no pace in our team.

Not a legendary player in the Souness mold but looking at his Wiki entry, not too shabby either- A centre-back, Ismaël played for Strasbourg, Crystal Palace, Lens, Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and Hannover 96. As a player, he won the Coupe de France, the Coupe de la Ligue twice, the Bundesliga twice, as well as the DFB-Pokal on two occasions.

Who leaves? I fear Tyjon. One of the left backs? Any one we receive an offer for whose contract is up next Summer. Tronstad or Cantwell? Last summer left us all bemused so no great clamour for new signings especially as has been mentioned we have returnees and an unseen newbie. Pickering has played right back in the past so might be viewed as cover for RA.

Disagree that the League is very poor this year. Far more clubs are competitive this time around including unfashionable ones which probably colours perception seeing Millwall Preston Charlton and Hull where they are with Boro and Coventry topping the pile. This season's Coventry are probably the most entertaining outfit the Championship has seen since the days of Fulham. What has happened are clubs which self-destruct are being ruthlessly punished whereas there was hiding space in previous seasons. Not entirely surprising Southampton are where they are given they almost got under Derby's record low points haul last season. Last season's Championship relegated sides are hardly setting League 1 alight this time around and the promoted sides recruited well for once.

Don't know what effect he has on professional athletes but I find his interviews very listenable and relatable.

A comfortable win yesterday.

After watching highlights of our win I cast an eye over the Bristol City defeat at Stoke. Bristol certainly like to strike the ball hard from outside the box which was dumb against a keeper of Johansson quality. Their consolation was a nearly undefendable near post back flicked corner. One Stoke goal was a keeper howler but generally Bristol City defended like statues. Pace and pressure up front needed from us on Tuesday to get in amongst those Ashton Gate defenders.

Bristol City got spanked 5-1 at Stoke today. So we are likely to face a reaction. Don't give away free kicks in Scott Twine territory...

Not seen it but sounds rather comfortable. Shots and XG back up that impression.

Coventry are unbeaten this term and we bested them for 45 minutes eventually losing to two volleys which would beat any club in this division. Leicester have a midfield and front line I doubt we can keep out for 90+minutes but their midfield and defence give gifts if pressured. Go for a draw, we will lose, go there with a win as the objective and play like we did at Coventry in the first half, we might come away with a point or three.

I was actually thinking of the first half at Coventry.

Very little special about the current Leicester side. The questions are all about Rovers and VI motivating us. I have seen enough to know we can win this relatively comfortably and that we could easily get hammered. Almost certainly we will need Toth to be on the top of his game. A bad start and the Southampton feel good factor will totally evaporate.

If the 3 2 2 1 2 formation is VI preference, then he has rather been crippled by injuries. To work well it needs a speedy central defender which is Hayden Carter when available. Plus real strength in the midfield 2 where Moussa who was signed for the role and Forshaw and Garrett are long term absences giving Montgomery his chance to stake a claim. Even Cantwell suddenly got cropped when we switched to this formation. It also means we have two established usually quality left backs behind Hedges and De Neve for the left wing back spot and Aleboyosu reining alone and unchallenged at right wing back.

I saw a table which shows us top of xg. Just goes to confirm nobody has the faintest clue about xg...

The one thing I would say is a certainty is that we won't get a points deduction this season. I am not on the VI out bandwagon (yet and hopefully don't have cause to) because we would appoint total dross to replace him.