(FM14) Drink up thee cider!!!

September 2013 - THE REVIEW

Fixtures

CITY vs Newport Co - 4th September 2013 3-0 Johnstone's Paint Trophy
CITY vs Sheff Utd - 14th September 2013 2-0
Swindon vs CITY - 17th September 2013 1-0
Shrewsbury vs CITY - 21st September 2013 2-1
Coventry vs CITY - 29th September 2013 3-1

Monthly Awards

Best Player - Sam Baldock - average rating 7.88

The Bristol City vice captain has been in scintillating form this September and was deservedly awarded the League 1 player of the month award. He has scored 5 goals in the 5 matches this month and is now top of the League 1 scoring charts with 8 goals this season. Particularly pleasing was the quality of his goals as he scored a brace and was MOTM against both Sheff Utd and Shrewsbury. His partnership with Ivan Bolado has really grown and he assisted two of the Equatoguinean's goals in his hat-trick against Newport Co.

Andrew Booy also picked up his first managerial award of his career by winning the League 1 Manager of the Month award for September.

Highly commended
Ivan Bolado - average rating 7.48
Not happy with being in Baldock's shadow Bolado has also excelled this month scoring 4 goals in 5 matches with his perfect hat-trick and MOTM performance in the Johnstone's paint trophy very pleasing. The advanced forward assisted 3 of Baldock's 5 goals so the two are really gelling up top for the Robins.
Karleigh Osborne - average rating 7.32
Has been asked to play at right-back in all 11 matches this season and after starting slowly last month has really made the position his own in September. The Bristol City back 5 was unchanged throughout the 5 games this month and Osborne was the star performer out of the five which conceded only 2 goals during this time. Osborne got one assist against rivals Swindon but his MOTM performance against a good Coventry side was the highlight of his month.

League Table

Bristol City vs Stevenage - 5th October 2013
1-1
Baldock pen 7 mins



Manager's review
City named the same starting 11 for the 3rd match in a row as Booy thought there was no need to change a winning line-up. Baldock scored his 9th goal of the campaign from the penalty spot and City looked in control for the first 30 mins.....then it all changed. Stevenage who quickly have established themselves as Booy's bogey team (after beating them 3-0 earlier in the season) dominated the midfield and MOTM Agogo (who used to play for arch rivals Bristol Rovers) looked a threat from then on in and got his 3rd goal against City this season just after half-time thanks to an error from Greg Cunningham. City then carried on to be dominated in all areas of the game and Cunningham (5.6), Bolado (6.1) and Emmanuel-Thomas (6.3) were dreadful for the Robins. A morale boosting victory in the Johnstone's paint trophy on Tuesday is needed!

Bristol City vs Exeter - 8th October 2013
3-0
Trebel
El-Abd 17 mins
Baldock 56 mins
Keane 90+3 mins



Manager's review
City made two changes to the starting 11 that drew 1-1 at the weekend in the league. Michael Keane and Yann-Erik de Lanlay were tired so in came Derrick Williams and Simon Gillett. Trebel was asked to move to the right wing in De Lanlay's absence and he put in a MOTM performance with one assist and three key passes. Baldock scored for his fourth game in a row which is the opposite of his strike partner Bolado who has not scored in 4. City were a threat again from set-pieces as defenders El-Abd and Keane got on the scoresheet from corner routines. A pleasing result against a very poor Exeter side and City are now in the Quarter Finals of the Southern section of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

Crewe vs Bristol City - 19th October 2013
1-0
Osborne
Baldock 4 mins
El Abd 43 mins



Manager's review
After the international break Andrew Booy was able to name his strongest starting 11 again so Keane and De Lanlay came back into the side for Williams and Gillett who dropped to the bench. City looked fresh and played outstanding from the off with Bolado assisting Baldock for his 11th goal of the season. The momentum in the game changed however when City captain El Abd got sent off for the 2nd time this season on 43 minutes for two yellow card offences. City then brought on Williams for Bolado and went to a 4-4-1 formation with a counter attack approach. Crewe failed to create one clear goalscoring opportunity however and the City back five were outstanding again and any of Hansen, Osborne, Cunningham and Keane could of picked up the MOTM award but it was Osborne who just edged it to pick up the honour for the 2nd time this season.

Bristol City vs Colchester - 22nd October 2013
1-1
Baldock 49 mins



Manager's review
The only change to the City line-up was that Williams came in for the suspended El-Abd who is unavailable for next two matches. City looked dominant for the first half and should have been 2 or 3 goals up by the break. Baldock scored for the 6th game in a row just after half-time and now has 12 goals in all competitions this season. In comparison his strike partner Bolado again failed to impress and has an average rating for the last 5 games of 6.60 during which time he has only contributed 1 assist. This and the drop in form of wide-men Emmanuel-Thomas and De Lanlay has meant that City have only found the net 3 times in the last 3 league outings. Also defensively Williams and Keane had poor games at centre-back and failed to form a partnership in El Abd's absence. MOTM Ibehre caused them problems in the second half and levelled the match for Colchester on 61 minutes. On a positive note the three teams below the Robins in the table (Wolves, Preston and Bradford) all lost so City actually managed to extend their lead at the summit to 4 points.

Bristol City vs Brentford - 26th October 2013
1-0
Gillett
Bolado 20 mins
Baldock 68 mins



Manager's review
Andrew Booy made one change to the side that drew against Colchester as De Lanlay was tired (the right winger struggles to play two matches in the space of a week!) so in came Gillett who put in a MOTM performance with an assist, 12 crosses and 5 tackles getting him the highest rating on the pitch of 7.3. Ivan Bolado ended his goal drought of over 8 hours of pitch time with a superb free-kick in the first-half. The striker was asked to play as a Poacher instead of the advanced forward he has played all season and his performance improved. It was a shame that Sam Baldock missed the chance to get his 13th goal of the campaign from the penalty spot but in truth City were in control of this match throughout.

Bristol City vs Bradford - 29th October 2013
1-3
Cunningham 36 mins
El Abd 44 mins

Bristol City's run of 14 games undefeated in all competitions is over!!!



Manager's review
Fitness was an issue going into this game as City are struggling to cope with 4 matches in the space of 10 days and the Robins failed to grasp the opportunity to go 8 points clear at the top. El-Abd was back from suspension so he replaced Williams at centre-back, De Lanlay was fit so he replaced the tired Strandberg (who scored an own-goal from the bench) and also Wes Burns (who has progressed immensely in training) got his first start of the season after Ivan Bolado was in need of a rest. It was not good preparation for the important trip to Wolves in three days time as the only player to distinguish himself was Gillett who for the 2nd match in a row was the best City player on the pitch (assisted El Abd from corner). In other bad news Greg Cunningham looks to have fractured his arm and is set for a spell of around a month on the sidelines. Joe Bryan performed admirably from the bench at left-back but it remains to be seen if Andrew Booy looks to bring in a reinforcement in this department.

October 2013 - THE REVIEW

Fixtures

CITY vs Stevenage - 5th October 2013 1-1
CITY vs Exeter - 8th October 2013 3-0 Johnstone's Paint Trophy
Crewe vs CITY - 19th October 2013 1-0
CITY vs Colchester - 22nd October 2013 1-1
CITY vs Brentford - 26th October 2013 1-0
CITY vs Bradford - 29th October 2013 1-3

Best Player - Greg Cunningham - average rating 7.00

It has been quite difficult to pick a player of the month for October as no City player has really performed well and the City left-back was the only player to achieve an average rating of over 7.0 for the month. Cunningham contributed 6 key tackles this month and has now started all 17 games for the Robins this season. His loss to injury in the last game in October will hurt the team for the month of November.

Highly commended
Adrien Trebel - average rating 6.98
The young French box-to-box midfielder has performed well in October. Often asked to play on the right hand side, due to De Lanlay's inability to play two games in a week, Trebel contributed 2 assists and 4 key passes this month. He now is City's top assister this season with 6. His MOTM performance against Exeter in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy was particularly pleasing with a rating of 8.4. He picked up his 5th yellow card of the campaign against Bradford so will miss the crunch game against Wolves at the start of next month.
Simon Gillett - average rating 6.98
The Nottingham Forest loanee has lost his place in the starting 11 since his sprained ankle injury in August kept him out for 5 weeks. He only started 3 out of 6 matches this month but he gets commended due to his MOTM performance against Brentford and his strong showing in the defeat against Bradford in which he got 2 assists and 2 key passes.

Wolves vs Bristol City - 1st November 2013


1-1
Baldock
Baldock 11 mins



Manager's review
This was City's 5th match in 13 days and this severely affected the strength of the Robins starting 11. Williams, Reid, Wagstaff, Bryan, Strandberg and Bolado came in for Cunningham (injured), Trebel (suspended), De Lanlay (tired), Emmanuel-Thomas (tired), Gillett (tired) and Burns. Given these wholesale changes Booy abandoned his attacking philosophy and was delighted that the Robins could get a point at the home of pre-season League One favourites Wolves. Baldock was outstanding with his 13th goal of season and MOTM rating of 8.3. City now finally have a week off to prepare for the visit of Southend in the FA Cup 1st Round.

Bristol City complete Catala signing

Andrew Booy has swooped into the free transfer market to sign 28 year old Spanish left-back Jose Catala. Booy needed to act as first-team left-back Greg Cunningham has a fractured arm picked up in the league match against Bradford and 2nd choice left-back Joe Bryan has a groin strain picked up in a U21 reserve fixture. This meant that the Robins have no players in the squad that can naturally play on the left of the back four. Catala has experience in the Spanish top flight playing for Villarreal and was part of the squad that finished 4th in the 2010-2011 season and got to the Semi-Final of the UEFA Europa Cup.





Catala will go straight into the Bristol City team due to Cunningham and Bryan's injuries and Booy hopes that Catala can get match fit quickly as he has not played a match since last season and then should retain his place for the remainder of this season at least. Cunningham and Bryan will provide cover at LB/LM when they recover from injury. Liam Kelly has been dropped from the 1st team squad as his injury as prevented him from progressing like the rest of the Bristol City squad.

Bristol City vs Southend - 9th November 2013
3-2
Bolado
Bolado 8, 53, 66 mins
Trebel 24 mins



Manager's review
This was the first time the City squad had a weeks break before a game since the 19th October so Andrew Booy had the luxury of naming his strongest possible starting 11 which meant a debut for Jose Catala at left-back. A terrible start for City in the first 12 minutes saw them concede two sloppy goals (one was a mistake from new boy Catala) luckily Bolado scored a wonderful chip from a Trebel assist in between Southend's two goals. Then Trebel managed to receive two yellow cards within first 24 minutes meaning City looked like going out of the cup. Booy then made the bold decision to sub Catala off for Gillett on 30 mins and play a 3-4-2 formation and in the 2nd half Bolado got two more goals (assisted by wingers Emmanuel-Thomas and De Lanlay) to win the tie. MOTM Bolado got his 2nd hat-trick in cup competitions this season and now has scored only 5 of his 11 goals in the league. The task for Andrew Booy is to get the Equatoguinean scoring more consistently week in week out. Even with Southend's one man advantage City still managed to get 60% possession and had 25 shots to Southend's 5 in the match, one of the most pleasing performances of the season.

Nice signing, and a good win to match!

Bristol City vs Coventry - 12th November 2013
1-2
Strandberg 27 mins
Keane 38 mins



Manager's review
The only change to the fantastic FA cup win against Southend was that the suspended Trebel was replaced by Simon Gillett who was one of only two City players who did himself justice in this match. Gillett got another assist from a corner routine after Michael Keane cancelled out Coventry's early goal to make the scores level at half-time. City were unable then to break Coventry down in the 2nd half and a perhaps naive Andrew Booy went all out for the winning goal when perhaps the Robins should have settled for a penalty shoot-out. As it transpired Coventry got the winner in the 89th minute ending Booy's first (and hopefully last) chance of lifting the lower league Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

Gillingham vs Bristol City - 17th November 2013
3-1
Fontaine
Fontaine 12 mins
De Lanlay 41 mins
Emmanuel-Thomas 76 mins



Manager's review
Andrew Booy picked the best side available to him on the day after his 29th birthday but many players were unavailable for various reasons:
El Abd, Williams, and Bolado were on international duty (Bolado had played 90 mins the day prior scoring two goals for Equatorial Guinea)
Strandberg and Cunningham were injured.
The main player to benefit from these absentees was Liam Fontaine who took his chance at CB scoring a goal and getting MOTM for a 8.2 rated performance. Booy was also pleased that his first-choice wingers Emmanuel-Thomas and De Lanlay also got on the scoresheet as they had not scored since the 5th and 4th games of the season respectively. Overall a pleasing performance to give to the gaffer on his Birthday weekend!!

Crawley vs Bristol City - 23rd November 2013
1-1
Catala
Trebel 20 mins
Bolado



Manager's review
The only changes to the starting 11 from the win at Gillingham were Bolado for Burns who had a poor game last time out and Strandberg for De Lanlay who was tired from a 45 minute run out in midweek for Norway U21's. Trebel got his first goal for Bristol City since joining from Nantes in the summer and it was also a good day for Jose Catala who has quickly settled at his new club and put in a MOTM performance at left-back. Overall the game was a pretty drab affair but luckily for Booy and City their two closet rivals Wolves and Preston both failed to win in easy home fixtures. Ivan Bolado twisted his knee in the 2nd half and should be on the sidelines for around a two week period which means youngster Wes Burns needs to start living up to his potential starting with the important top of the table clash against Preston at Ashton Gate in 3 days time.