Football Lee ‘let down’ by City’s poor display against Preston
LEE Johnson admitted there were no excuses for his side’s poor display in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Preston, and admitted he felt “let down” by the performance from his players.
Callum Robinson’s 35th-minute strike gave Preston victory and inflicted a third successive Championship defeat on the Robins.
Johnson said: “There were no positives out there today.
“I’m not going to make excuses on this one. It wasn’t good enough.
“We talked last week about stats and how certain areas of our game have been good and, personally, I feel a bit let down by that performance.
“I’ve got a lot of belief in these players and I’ll continue to have a lot of belief in these players but today too many, as individuals and a collective, didn’t get their game going.
“The frustration for me was that we didn’t even lose playing our way. Credit to Preston - they were dogged and they’ve got a midfield that’s got speed and bite and agility.
“The game got stretched, we got stretched, they stayed compact and, of course, once they scored it played into their hands. I’ll take it on the chin, I’ll apologise, because I don’t want Bristol City fans seeing a performance like that and that’s all I can do.
“It isn’t a disaster because we’re 13th in the league, but that’s the bit that hurts more than anything because the international break is coming up and if you win that today, you’re bumped up to seventh or eighth and a point off the play-offs or whatever it is. Now we’re in no-mans land.
“We’ve got to get a spirited performance next time. The next one at Leeds has to be spirited. I’m quite glad it’s away because we’ve probably got a better chance of getting something away from home, for whatever reason.”
When asked if he thought Preston had the better of the midfield exchanges, Johnson replied: “Yeah, I think they did. They’re a good side. I think their league position’s false.
“They’ve had two or three injuries to key players and their XI plus their three subs is a good side, so make no mistake, we know they’re a good side. But we are a good side.
“We had a good XI out on the pitch and I have to take responsi-
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I’ve got a lot of belief in these players and I’ll continue to have a lot of belief in these players but today too many, as individuals and a collective, didn’t get their game going
bility for the loss. We can talk about the shape. I actually thought there was some positives within that shape.
“I thought Andi Weimann and Jack Hunt linked really well in the first 30 minutes. I thought we put five or six really good balls into the box that you want to head in - ‘Come and head me in balls’, if you like. We were reactive and not proactive.”
Johnson admitted he had been angry with his team at the half-time break.
He said: “Yeah, I was angry. The first port of call is what can you do, as far as, is there a shape change you can make to stop it becoming stretched? But inevitably, it’s about individuals going out there and doing what their game is. If you’re a passer, pass and move. If you’re a striker, influence others to put the ball in the box to you or into your feet and go and make something happen. It was too much where everyone left it for everyone else.
“I haven’t got an excuse. I was upset, I felt personally hurt. I signed those players and our staff and our media come in at 7 o’clock. Phil Tart is in at 6.30am, Scott Murray 5.45am.”
“It doesn’t mean I don’t believe in them, I just felt let down that there was no spark.
“We’ll have people moaning. Now we need to bring people together. The truth is, I believe, that we’ve got good players in there. The Championship is a tough league but today it wasn’t good enough. I haven’t said that often this season but today it wasn’t.”