Is Gary Bowyer the dullest manager we've had?

Sincerely couldn’t stop laughing at that 3rd paragraph, very good

unfortunately, however, I cannot agree with your final point. If memory serves me correctly, this time 12 months ago we had won 4 out of 5 in a division above and it looked like we were flying out of the relegation zone. If you’d have said 11 months ago, well I might’ve agreed then

 

If you get so offended by my posts, you know where the mute button is. I'm sure we've had this discussion before

 

How is it inaccurate? Why do penalties not count? We were awarded pens because our men were bundled over. Had they not been fouled they’d have had strong shooting opportunities. You can’t just remove those shooting chances and moves completely from the game.

xG is the future of football. Its up to individuals if they wanna embrace the modern game or get left behind.

 

I am not offended just curious.

 

On the contrary, it gives you a quick idea of how good the chances were WITHOUT being there. Teams creating scoring chances will score highly.

I was there today and I saw Dylan Connolly torture Mansfield with his pace. Anyone saying we created nothing must have just stood in the urinals for 90 minutes.

If Mansfield can’t deal with him and chop him down before he takes a shot, tough tits. We deserved both pens (and a third).

As has been said before, xG is a great long term predictor of a teams success. Hence why the shrewdest minds in the betting industry adopted it for their betting syndicates. If fans want to snub the concept its fine, they’ll get left behind.

 

I'm not saying they shouldn't count but I'm saying that having a figure of 1.8 after what I witnessed today was totally misleading and was based solely off two penalties. If this is how the data has been skewed in other game weeks then it's probably why we're 4th in the xG table when it really isn't a fair and accurate reflection of the game.

And for what it's worth, I liked the xG concept and read a bit about it last season but this season it seems to be telling a completely different tale to what most of us are witnessing on the pitch.

 

Well penalties have an xG of 0.7 ish each so we only created 0.4 worth of a goal away from the two penalty chances. I don’t think that’s an unfair assessment of the game.

We hit the front so early in the game the onus was on them to take it to us. I thought we were really quite comfortable at 1-0 though. We didn’t create masses of lively chances as we have in other homes but neither did they today.

 

Get left behind lol. Its an opinion on 90 minutes of football. Does your xG show a third penalty? No. Guess why? Because it wasn't one. Your opinion says it was, just like my opinion after watching todays 90 minutes is there was knack all between two piss poor teams bar two badly timed tackles. Because thats what separated two woeful footballing sides. take a look at your xG 'stats' and show me how many genuine saves either keeper made from open play. Yup, none. What could have come from just before the challenge for the penalty is pure conjecture. As Paudie Oconnor showed at Carlisle, being 6 yards out with the keeper to beat means nothing.

 

RE xG I’ve dug up some of Mark O’Haire’s (footy analyst) old Tweets from July. He’s looked at xG from open play, xG overall and shots in the box totals last season and look how well they correlate with the final league standings....here’s the PL and Champ stats (others are likely to be on Twitter somewhere if you trawl back)

Basically, if you fare well on these measures in any league you have a good chance of achieving success. City are bang up there this year in League 2.......Mark issues regular updates on this year’s stats via his Twitter account.

 

See post above.

It is a view of such (based on stats) yes, but xG isn’t a subjective opinion. Takes out all the emotion and rose tinted bollocks fans provide.

You are wrong when you say it means nothing. What xG gives you is a probability of Paudie scoring that sitter at Carlisle. It doesn’t mean he will score it. It instead gives you a score between 0 (unlikely) to 1 (almost certain) of how likely he was to put that chance away based on thousands of similar chances created in a catalogue of past matches.

The same baffling criticisms levelled at Bowyer were levelled at most City managers, including the legendary Parkinson, whose own style and approach wasn’t too dissimilar to Bowyer’s. The common denominator is clueless fans (“he makes poor subs” is the gem often rolled out).

Look at Sunderland. Were in playoffs. Fans were not happy at style. Drove Ross out. Now in free fall.

Bowyer’s critics should be careful what they wish for......

 

So are your opinions

 

Your comment is disingenuous. You know perfectly well why many people are unhappy. Because watching us at the moment is like watching paint dry. It's dull, negative and just not fun, even when we win.
Watching sport is supposed to be entertainment. It's an optional leisure activity, not something you have to do, like going to work. Of course there is a balance between getting results and entertaining. Many people feel that the balance has gone too far one way in recent weeks. We won 2-0 yesterday but VP was like a morgue. I can't remember the Kop being so quiet in a winning game. We're all bored rigid.
You may be happy to watch us play an eight man defence and launch missiles at two isolated forwards for most of the games, but others want to see a bit more creativity, which should be perfectly possible with the players we have, even allowing for sickness and injuries.

 

Sorry, but that's lazy analysis. Parky was pragmatic, but I don't ever recall him playing 5-3-2 in which the CMs and both fullbacks sat in their own half for most of the game. Most of the time he played 4-4-2 with one out and out winger and licence for Mezza to get up and down the pitch. He always had at least one wide player - Reid, Morais etc - who could receive the ball on halfway and carry it forward to relieve pressure. At the moment we have no one doing that, because Connolly is upfront and central, Ismail isn't getting picked and Pritchard is injured again.

 

But if we do what would change re Bowyer and his style of play ? Would be the same I guess just in another league

 

Interesting debate. Statistically, the xG might be strong. And I accept - to a degree - its ability to predict success. But equally, the frustration and discontent at the playing style and lack of entertainment inside the ground, is becoming palpable. People aren't making this shit up - it's awful to watch, for the most part. Regardless of xG. And at this level more so than any other, defensive mistakes contribute more to chances created than exciting football. At higher levels, to have a higher xG, you need to have attacking quality.

If what we're doing gets us up this season, so be it. But this style isnt a recipe for long term success.

 

Its not analysis. I loved Parky. Just saying even some of our own fans criticised him. How, given his success, I don’t know. He played to his strengths IMO

 

bigger budget in league one and ability to attract the better quality of player. Got to remember the turnover in the summer and it was all a bit late with the Doyle scenario.
Another summer with the same man in charge of recruitment would be good. Or the first time in nearly 3 seasons?

 

In years of being a member of Claret & Banter / Bantam Talk I cant remember reading so much shite in one thread. Yes the football is hard work to watch sometimes but we’re 4th in the division, picking up points and still have the aftermath of Rahic to contend with.

Anybody who thinks that Bowyer is the worst manager we’ve ever had has only supported City for the last 9 months, or is just thick.

Unfortunately in today’s world of social media and the millennial generations expectation that everything should be perfect with no effort means it’s a thankless task. I just ask these kids to watch some old video footage of the days of Docherty, Jefferies, Todd and Taylor, because they really were shite.

 

Hopefully it will change if we go up, cos i'm gonna be honest i don't have the stomach to watch another season of league 2 football. Thats not aimed at Bowyer per se, its the division wide standard. It sucks every ounce of enthusiasm out of you, i've been to most games this season home and away and i've come away from most of them feeling numb and indifferent to what i've seen. The basic skillset of most teams is embarrassing, struggling to string a few passes together. I've come to reluctantly accept it this season if it gets us up, if we fail at the final hurdle i'll more than likely give it a miss.