Bristol City vs Wigan

[JJH]

Proper football's back, after a dull European Championships, a Test Match series against Sri Lanka that was painfully one sided, and a pretty productive summer off the field for Bristol City.

Both our pre-season's have differed somewhat, with Wigan facing teams like United and L'pool at the DW, and us only playing one side in Malaga that are a level above us. I did read somewhere the other day that Wigan had only scored one goal in their six games, but then stuck a few past managerless Fleetwood the other night.

Wigan haven't really spent much to my surprise, given what they spent on Grigg, Wildschut & co in L1. They've recruited a couple of decent freebies in Powell and Buxton, Gilbey's potentially exciting despite them already having a plethora of midfielders to choose from, but a few questionable signings at the back in Dan Burn and Adam Bogdan.

I needn't go through our summer business as it's been well documented on here over the summer, but out of the ones that have come in I expect Magnusson, Matthews, O'Neil (if fit, if not Brownhill), and Tomlin all to slot into the starting line-up. I'd rather us go with a 4231 rather than a 433 as we played yesterday, as there was no-one advanced enough in the middle to pull the strings, which could quite easily be Tomlin's role.

What I'd go with will massively differ to what LJ actually goes with, but I'd like to see this:

O'Donnell

Matthews, Flint, Magners, Bryan;

GoN, Pack;

Freeman, Reid, Tomlin;

Kodjia.
​

I hope the ticket situation is sorted, as we could well have a full house in which would be fantastic. Looking forward to the game massively.

City 0-2 Wigan.

Grigg, Jacobs.

 

[SMH]

Nice bit of bed time reading that JJH! One little bugbear though regarding our L1 spending. All we did was reinvest the money we gained from selling players that summer. People who have a go at us for seemingly "buying the league" forget that we sold James McClean for 1.5m, James Perch for 750k and other players such as Delort, Riera, Kiernan, Waghorn, Tavernier and Carson all left for transfer fees. What we did was simply reinvest what we made in building a new team and I bet we turned a profit based on both what we paid for all our new players put together and the much lower wages all our new players will be on compared to our old ones.

Sorry for that mini rant there, it's just that we've gone through a season of jealous L1 fans sniping at us for supposedly "buying" the league and it gets very tiresome, especially as Sheff Utd had a bigger budget than ours. I'll revisit this thread with a preview from my perspective later in the week when we've got some injury news. What I will say is there is absolutely no hope in hell we'll win 2-0!

 

[epic73]

City 0-10 Wigan
Grigg x10

[/thread]

 

[JJH]

Nice bit of bed time reading that JJH! One little bugbear though regarding our L1 spending. All we did was reinvest the money we gained from selling players that summer. People who have a go at us for seemingly "buying the league" forget that we sold James McClean for 1.5m, James Perch for 750k and other players such as Delort, Riera, Kiernan, Waghorn, Tavernier and Carson all left for transfer fees. What we did was simply reinvest what we made in building a new team and I bet we turned a profit based on both what we paid for all our new players put together and the much lower wages all our new players will be on compared to our old ones.

Sorry for that mini rant there, it's just that we've gone through a season of jealous L1 fans sniping at us for supposedly "buying" the league and it gets very tiresome, especially as Sheff Utd had a bigger budget than ours. I'll revisit this thread with a preview from my perspective later in the week when we've got some injury news. What I will say is there is absolutely no hope in hell we'll win 2-0!

No worries mate, happy to be informed. Admittedly, I didn't research back that far, but we did the same when we were in L1, and the same accusations were hurled at us. We had a massive turnover of our squad, the high earners from the Championship days such as Fontaine and Pearson were all shipped out, and we got in Little, W Elliot, Freeman, Agard, Wilbraham etc for a combined £1.5m, then went onto sell Baldock for £2m.

I underestimated your squad (or your starting 11) in my table predictions, it does actually look pretty good on paper. Added to that, we rarely win on the opening day either. You coming down for it?

 

[NorthernSoul]

Our opening game of the season record is abysmal, long overdue a win. We've won just 3 opening games in the last 17 seasons.
So with that in mind would be happy with a draw.

As for team and formation, absolutely no idea. Caldwell is flexible with tactics, he'll pick a formation he feels best suited to beating the opposition and then he'll pick the players that are best suited to that formation, so regularly changes winning teams and often MOTM ends up not starting the next game but all the players buy into which is good and it worked very well last season.

Think we'll surprise a lot of teams and fans this season, we've a young squad with a lot of talented players and with a good blend of Championship/Premier League experience in the squad as well. Strength in depth as well which is key at this level. 19 players under the age of 25 bodes well for the future.

We've not spent much this Summer because we already have some very talented players and don't need to spend for the sake of spending. Like SMH has mentioned we recouped 8m last Summer and spent 5m. The Summer before about 12m in, 7m out and so on. Think 2008 was the last time we spent more than we brought in from sales, we're a self sufficient club.

Think both of us will be comfortably mid table this season, take out Newcastle/Norwich/Derby then I think there's much of a muchness between the rest, so a good start for any club in this division this season then who knows what can happen.

 

[SMH]

We have a very good attack on paper but our defence looks weak especially with Pearce seemingly on the way out. Jake Buxton simply needs to step up to the plate and prove that he's an improvement on Pearce. I'm worried about Bogdan based on his Liverpool form, but he was okay at Bolton and ex Bolton keepers always seem to do well for us so fingers crossed that trend continues. Add into the mix Daniels' knock meaning that 18 year old youth teamer Luke Burke could end up making his senior debut at RB and I can't see us keeping a clean sheet against that strong Bristol attack. Such a shame that the majority of our fans will be coming into the game negative and worried for the season ahead after some disappointing pre season performances and the news of Pearce and Morsy potentially leaving.

Yeah our opening day record is horrific, three in 17 and only 1 win in 6 since the turn of the decade, then again Bristol's is fairly grim as well. Offer me a draw now and I'd take it to be honest. Realistically I'll predict 3-1 Bristol City.

 

[D B Disco]

Proper football's back, after a dull European Championships, a Test Match series against Sri Lanka that was painfully one sided, and a pretty productive summer off the field for Bristol City.

Both our pre-season's have differed somewhat, with Wigan facing teams like United and L'pool at the DW, and us only playing one side in Malaga that are a level above us. I did read somewhere the other day that Wigan had only scored one goal in their six games, but then stuck a few past managerless Fleetwood the other night.

Wigan haven't really spent much to my surprise, given what they spent on Grigg, Wildschut & co in L1. They've recruited a couple of decent freebies in Powell and Buxton, Gilbey's potentially exciting despite them already having a plethora of midfielders to choose from, but a few questionable signings at the back in Dan Burn and Adam Bogdan.

I needn't go through our summer business as it's been well documented on here over the summer, but out of the ones that have come in I expect Magnusson, Matthews, O'Neil (if fit, if not Brownhill), and Tomlin all to slot into the starting line-up. I'd rather us go with a 4231 rather than a 433 as we played yesterday, as there was no-one advanced enough in the middle to pull the strings, which could quite easily be Tomlin's role.

What I'd go with will massively differ to what LJ actually goes with, but I'd like to see this:

O'Donnell

Matthews, Flint, Magners, Bryan;

GoN, Pack;

Freeman, Reid, Tomlin;

Kodjia.
​

I hope the ticket situation is sorted, as we could well have a full house in which would be fantastic. Looking forward to the game massively.

City 0-2 Wigan.

Grigg, Jacobs.

I think if we are going to play a narrow midfield, we need a more solid left back than Bryan, so would put Golbourne in there instead. Think O'Neil will be missing, so will probably see Brownhill . O'Dowda for Freeman would be my choice too.

Still hoping for a new striker to play along side Kodjia in a 4 4 2 though, but that doesn't look likely before this game.

Not sure if the 0-2 Wigan is tongue in cheek, or whether the pessimism has started early? But I'll go with 2-1 City.

 

[wiganmudhuts28]

bogdan/jussi
daniels pearce buxton warnock

morsy power

powell

jacobs yanic
grigg

i dont think bristol city would cope with that but i doubt caldwell will play that team

2-2

 

[hodge]

O'Donnell
Matthews Flint Hordur Golbourne
Pack Smith
Reid Tomlin Bryan
Kodjia
​

O'Neill struggling with his injury still? Would like to see him fully recovered rather than it become a problem. Would still like to see us bring in an out and out right winger, from everything seen and heard it sounds like O'Dowda will fare better on the left. Tomlin is his most effective in the centre, don't restrict his influence by sticking him out on the left.

2-1 City - Kodjia and Tomlin.

 

[JJH]

O'Donnell
Matthews Flint Hordur Golbourne
Pack Smith
Reid Tomlin Bryan
Kodjia
​

O'Neill struggling with his injury still? Would like to see him fully recovered rather than it become a problem. Would still like to see us bring in an out and out right winger, from everything seen and heard it sounds like O'Dowda will fare better on the left. Tomlin is his most effective in the centre, don't restrict his influence by sticking him out on the left.

2-1 City - Kodjia and Tomlin.

Smith's badly injured and suspended.

Tomlin played in the middle twice last season, he was brilliant from the left.

 

[hodge]

Smith's badly injured and suspended.

Tomlin played in the middle twice last season, he was brilliant from the left.

Okay so no Smith.... When did he get injured? If O'Neill is fit to play then fair enough, if not play Brownhill, there's no reason to risk O'Neill at this stage.

Tomlin played in the middle more than twice, he played there most the times I watched and occasionally was on the left, having said that even when he played on the left he had a tendency to drift centrally.

 

[JJH]

Okay so no Smith.... When did he get injured? If O'Neill is fit to play then fair enough, if not play Brownhill, there's no reason to risk O'Neill at this stage.

Tomlin played in the middle more than twice, he played there most the times I watched and occasionally was on the left, having said that even when he played on the left he had a tendency to drift centrally.

End of last season he had ankle surgery, only started light training again today, hasn't featured at all in pre-season.

 

[BCFC David]

So glad the footballs back. Looking forward to start Friday night.

Not sure on GON fitness so would start with Brownhill if not fit.
Odowda on the left infront off Bryan and Reid or Freeman on the right with Tomlin in the middle supporting Kodjia.

 

[JoshBCFC]

It's the first season in a while I've come into and thought "we might not actually be in the relegation battle this year". To be honest I don't know too much about Wigan, but judging on the posts here I seem to get the impression they have a weak defense but other than that pretty solid, and in a good position to stay up this year.

3-1 to us.

Oh, and as an added note: Any Wigan fans travelling to the Gate for the game: the M5 southbound will be a massive car-park so allow lots of extra time for your journey or go by train.

 

[WTTJ]

It's the first season in a while I've come into and thought "we might not actually be in the relegation battle this year". To be honest I don't know too much about Wigan, but judging on the posts here I seem to get the impression they have a weak defense but other than that pretty solid, and in a good position to stay up this year.

3-1 to us.

Oh, and as an added note: Any Wigan fans travelling to the Gate for the game: the M5 southbound will be a massive car-park so allow lots of extra time for your journey or go by train.

Surely 14-15 you didn't think we'd be in a relegation scrap?

 

[Luke_ciderhead]

Maybe he means at this level.. This is certainly the most positive I've felt about a championship season since *shudders* Coppell.

It wouldn't surprise me if we lost on Saturday though. Hype + positivity + big crowd = letdown. It's just how we roll.

 

[JoshBCFC]

Surely 14-15 you didn't think we'd be in a relegation scrap?

Yeah, I meant at this level. Didn't make that clear, sorry.

 

[City169]

Latest on Smith and O'Neil (I know Smith is suspended for this anyway) is that Smith is expected to be back in about 3 weeks. O'Neil is doubtful for Saturday, but LJ is hopeful.

 

[Indian Dan]

Just a quick message of good luck to City. Got a full house tomorrow I hear.

Enjoy the day.

 

[Luke_ciderhead]

Thanks Indian Dan. It wont really be a full house, but close to the capacity we are currently allowed... should be about 17,500 there.

 

[Indian Dan]

Thought you were up to 28,000. Perhaps that's later.

 

[Luke_ciderhead]

Nah, 27k is the capacity overall including the upper tier but we don't have a safety certificate for it yet. And being honest there's no way we'll fill that anytime soon unless we draw Man Utd etc in the FA cup or we somehow run away with the league (both highly unlikely).

 

[City169]

http://mobile.bcfc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/your-guide-to-the-new-gate-3226482.aspx

A pre match Fans Village with live band and the olympics being shown on the big screen, more info in the link

 

[SMH]

Will hopefully have time to grab a quick one in that fanpark, looks a nice little setup. Got 1200 heading down so should be a rum away end and a good atmosphere.

I completely forgot Bristol have Rich O'Donnell in net, here's hoping we take advantage and get balls in the box at every opportunity. It goes against how we play but he can't organise his defence and flaps at set pieces so we need to take advantage or every corner and free kick we get.

Got a few injury worries, we could actually go into the game with no fit striker but there's a chance Caldwell could be playing mind games regarding Grigg's injury. Anyway assuming Grigg is fit, Powell/Davies are injured and Warnock/Daniels are fit here's the team I think Caldwell will put out.

Bogdan

Warnock
Buxton
Morgan
Daniels

Power
Perkins
Gilbey

Jacobs
Yanic

Grigg

I'm sticking with a 3-1 Bristol City prediction.

 

[TTOCS]

Win today, win next week, top of the table after 2 games. Mid table after 5.

 

[JoshBCFC]

Win today, win next week, top of the table after 2 games. Mid table after 5.

Relegated by 46

 

[Ciderhead]

Haven't been this optimistic going into opening day since Millwall at home under Coppell.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[.V.]

I cracked and looked for a ticket for today's game yesterday. Unfortunately, due to a medical problem, I needed a seat at the end of a row and couldn't find one. Hopefully shouldn't be an issue in two weeks.

COYR!!!!

 

[.V.]

We sound a bit toothless in the final third, fair comment?

 

[JonBCFC]

Yep. O dowda our best player so far, very full of running and direct, loves to cut in.. Think a draw would be fair atm, hoping for a better 2nd half.