Bristol will have a new manager bounce and Nigel Pearson teams are always tough to beat, reflecting his personality. However, I've been reading that they could have 11 or 12 players missing from their squad, so we have every chance of winning this. As badly as we've been playing, surely we have enough to beat what in effect is their second team?
That said, we've been so piss poor I'm even beginning to doubt that. One below par game can be written off as a bad day at the office but when it becomes three or more games, it's a lot more serious than that. Loss of form? Loss of confidence? Other teams have worked us out and stopped us playing? Whatever the reasons Cooper doesn't seem to be able to arrest the slide, yet he still spouts that we are playing reasonably well.
If he believes that, we're in trouble. BIG time!! Without rehashing everything we're doing wrong and not doing right, the end result is that the players have not been performing, look lethargic and seemingly lack confidence to play on the front foot. Well tomorrow is a great chance to put things right. If we can't beat a decimated Bristol playing a string of youngsters and second choices, the writing is on the wall vis a vis automatic promotion. More alarming is that, if we start losing games, even a play off spot might be in jeopardy given the resurgent form of teams like Cardiff and Barnsley.
Whilst Cooper has undoubtedly improved as a manager, I think he has been lucky so far and been baled out by a spot of individual brilliance on a number of occasions when our overall performance didn't warrant it. Tomorrow will tell us a lot but, if we don't get three points, a lot we don't want to know.
That said, we've been so piss poor I'm even beginning to doubt that. One below par game can be written off as a bad day at the office but when it becomes three or more games, it's a lot more serious than that. Loss of form? Loss of confidence? Other teams have worked us out and stopped us playing? Whatever the reasons Cooper doesn't seem to be able to arrest the slide, yet he still spouts that we are playing reasonably well.
If he believes that, we're in trouble. BIG time!! Without rehashing everything we're doing wrong and not doing right, the end result is that the players have not been performing, look lethargic and seemingly lack confidence to play on the front foot. Well tomorrow is a great chance to put things right. If we can't beat a decimated Bristol playing a string of youngsters and second choices, the writing is on the wall vis a vis automatic promotion. More alarming is that, if we start losing games, even a play off spot might be in jeopardy given the resurgent form of teams like Cardiff and Barnsley.
Whilst Cooper has undoubtedly improved as a manager, I think he has been lucky so far and been baled out by a spot of individual brilliance on a number of occasions when our overall performance didn't warrant it. Tomorrow will tell us a lot but, if we don't get three points, a lot we don't want to know.