S25/26 | The Official Match Thread | Bristol City 3 Swansea City 0 | Att: 23,842 (2,483 Away) | 22/11/25 | The EFL Championship | Ashton Gate

[WPS]

The new manager needs to find his best starting 11 and stick with it .
We chop and change every game . Professional football players are capable of playing three games a week. With five possible substitute in a game there is plenty of scope to use the squad to shared the load .

 

[Dillwyn the Dog]

Casey should be our RB

There are a few things (no doubt this site can add to the list) that are perceived wisdom, but really have me scratching my head
* All Brazilians are good at football
* Cullen is an intelligent world class footballer
* The top 6 in the championship are streets ahead of the bottom 6
* It is impossible to go a whole season without scoring a set piece goal
I think Matos has a great opportunity here - because in between crucial moments in the 2 penalty areas - we were every bit as good as Brizzle. I see a lot of decent players in our squad, and the margins in championship games are very fine.
Whether Matos has what it takes to get a tune out of this team is unknown - but he can start with a tactical approach that is fast aggressive and takes the ball to the opposition, and some set piece innovation.
If it was me (and it isn't) I would play Idah behind Vipotnik and give game time to Widel and Innoussa on the wings. Eom and Ronald (especially) have no end product - and Cullen is slow, weak and offering nothing. What we do about Josh Key is another question - he is a liability - Sam Parker anyone??

Widdell needs to play through the middle. He would have caused Brizzles centre backs problems by being much more direct.

 

[Dillwyn the Dog]

I am very keen to not see Ronald or Eom wear the shirt again. Most clubs get a bounce when a manager is sacked and we had the opposite. That was woeful today. For the first time after following the club for decades I’m starting to understand what some fans of other clubs mean when they talk about players not playing for the shirt but themselves only. Crap

Eom and Ronald get the ball and their first instinct is to either crab across the pitch and lose the ball or just pass it backwards. Ronald had a better showing second half even beating his man once or twice but he deserves the bullet for not doing something he can do but only when he wants to do it.

 

[Dillwyn the Dog]

Galbraith did nothing today. Pretty but nothing. Franco’s first two contributions were turning a throw in that was ours into theirs by inexplicably trying to control a ball on the touchline, and then fouling someone.

Stamenic was, probably understandably, poor today.

I’m going to wash my mouth out and have a lie down but I’m beginning to think we should try Fulton at defensive midfield. Neither Stamenic nor Galbraith are working there and I don’t think Franco has the discipline.

Sheehan stumbled on the correct formula when Stamenic was played as the 8 and Galbraith rhe 6. But of course he threw that out for some inexplicable reason. You need power at 8 and Ethan doesn’t have that.