Zola wants to see more goal threat
GIANFRANCO Zola insists he saw “some encouraging things” from his side during Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat at Derby.
However, the manager admitted he needs to see more of a goal threat as Blues failed to trouble Rams’ goalkeeper Scott Carson at all.
“I think we were good, especially defensively. We were solid – we stood up to Derby and we didn’t have particular problems, to be honest. They didn’t look like they were going to score,” said Zola.
“(Having) said that, we need to improve a lot when we go forward because we look good defensively but going forward we don’t pose as much threat as I am expecting.
“Lukas (Jutkiewicz) works a lot for the team. We need to get better support around him. We were supposed to do that.
“But I think the players helped defensively, Greg and Jacques, so sometimes they were far away from Lukas. We will work on that.
“There were some good moves. I need to see more of that. These things don’t come in one day. I saw some encouraging things going on.
“I was disappointed with the final third. It is the missing thing.
“We got the players in good positions. That is the moment when we need to take a little bit more initiative and go towards the goal.”
Zola believes Michael Morrison was unlucky to be penalised in the build-up to Darren Bent’s decisive spot-kick.
Referee Graham Scott awarded a penalty against Blues’ captain for tangling with Richard Keogh at a corner.
“I thought the penalty was a little bit too soft,” said Zola. “I would like to see that in both boxes. We were watching it and we didn’t see anything.”