Robins close to breaking point after suffering more late agony
Talking points from Bristol City’s defeat to Coventry at the Coventry Building Society Arena, by
IT’S becoming a bit of a copy and paste statement but each game Bristol City not only find new ways to lose but pose the question of themselves - will that be the most damaging defeat of the season?
From a position of superiority, both in terms of the scoreline and players on the field, City were unable to exert sustained pressure or presence on the opposition, allowing them back into a game which they dominated despite being a man down.
Of immediate concern for Nigel Pearson, absent due to illness, is the form of his team with five defeats in their last six games between the international breaks and an alarming 14 goals conceded in that section. But there were also wider and more far-reaching issues that were also thrown up which need to be urgently addressed or the Robins’ season could get considerably worse.
CITY CLOSE TO BREAKING POINT
THERE’S a chicken and egg/cause and effect-thing going on here, but either this Robins team are inherently mentally fragile, as we’re increasingly being told they are, or the sheer volume of defeats of this manner is making them so. They are trapped in a horrible cycle.
Curtis Fleming depicted an angry dressing room in which harsh words were shared from players and staff, which is healthy. Pearson encouraged such in the wake of the recent Nottingham Forest defeat.
But that’s two deeply damaging losses alongside sobering reverses against the physicality of West Brom, Birmingham and, to a lesser extent because they were so obviously outplayed, Bournemouth.
You can talk about the mental strength the players should have, but how many more defeats of this nature can this group of players take? It’s almost barbaric what they’re doing to themselves and it’s no wonder they’re on the floor.
Of course, they are in-part responsible for that but it’s going to take a considerable reaction to turn this around, and not so much the results but just the ability to play with a sense of purpose in the final 10 minutes of a game.
City just about saw out a 2-1 win against Barnsley last weekend, admittedly with the Tykes coming within inches of equalising, and we were led to believe that could be a turning point; a significant mental hump which had been crossed.
Based on events on Saturday that’s a load of rubbish: twice the Robins led in the game, but for just five and then six minutes before the Sky Blues equalised. They also conceded three goals against 10 men, and that was in a 45-minute period where Coventry, with a man down, had 54.3 per cent of possession, out-shot City 9-5, out-passed them 230-201 and had four corners to the Robins one.
They’ll know it was another win that slipped through their fingers, to add to Blackpool, Luton and Nottingham Forest, but you only had to see how City played for the majority of this encounter to see how those results have chipped away at their confidence.
Unlike those three games where City were denied slightly against the run of play, at Coventry, it was a slow and painful death and you can say with confidence, the hosts thoroughly deserved it.
CITY HAVE MADE DEFENDING HARD WORK
THE Robins have conceded eight goals in eight days and every one
has been unavoidable, all coming through a mixture of poor position- ing, slow reactions and overall pressure on the ball, and that’s before you even cite the two Zak Vyner mistakes.
In Saturday’s video nasties, a Vyner mistake led to the penalty as he again got caught the wrong side of a striker and elected to put his arm on him to try to disrupt his run. The second was excellent play by Callum O’Hare in how he dribbled his way into space and found the smallest of gaps to arrow a shot but the Coventry midfielder was alive in the penalty area as City were flat-footed. Then the killer third was the result of a quicklytaken short free-kick which allowed Liam Kelly to exchange passes and meander through centre-field with, again, little pressure before slotting a simple pass into Godden.
Defending is about individual quality, of course it is, because there are players who are evidently better at certain aspects than the others. But it’s also greater than the individual.
It’s possessing a mentality with the collective understanding of what’s required to keep the ball out of the net, as Dan Bentley referenced on Thursday, but that requires more than just effort; it’s organisation, structure and understanding of each other’s game. Technical nuances and a wish to fulfil them.
The chemistry that City appeared to have earlier in the campaign when they were grinding out points has evaporated.
THE CONTRADICTION AT THE HEART OF THE ROBINS
PEARSON quipped in the week that the performance at Birmingham was reason to suggest the Robins aren’t a possession team because they had 59.5 per cent of the ball but lost 3-0.
He was being flippant to a point but, in this context, it’s worthy of exploration. Does it mean that he, or other staff, have thought City should play possession-based football and that was a telling strong piece of evidence to suggest otherwise, and is therefore affirmation of his wish to play direct?
But, here’s the rub, Pearson’s desired approach - and he’s always quick to remark that he doesn’t like being pigeon-holed, and that is fair enough but you only have to look at the most rudimentary of statistics to see how City are trying to play doesn’t suit a lot of this squad.
Are Han-Noah Massengo, Jay Dasilva, Alex Scott, Nahki Wells, Callum O’Dowda, Kasey Palmer, Ayman Benarous and probably even Chris Martin players who thrive in a direct system/does a direct system bring out their best attributes? Yes, people have to be adaptable but not everyone is an all-rounder, even at the elite level of that game; individuals have strengths and weaknesses. There is a considerable chunk of this squad who have either been developed in the academy, or signed as clever, technical operators and there is a clear contradiction between their profile and the proposed will of the manager.