'Where Are the Goals Coming From?'

'Where are the goals coming from?' The worrying aspects from Bristol City's defeat to Leeds United
The Robins lost 2-0 at Elland Road against Leeds United

After the Preston defeat (enough has been said about that) and the International break, I wondered which Bristol City team would turn up away at Leeds United.

A trip to Elland Road is difficult at the best of times, our record there is not great, to put it mildly and Leeds are near the top of the league and playing well under their new Manager Marcelo Bielsa. I was intrigued to see what sort of football Leeds would play under Bielsa who has a reputation as the Godfather of all coaches who love to play football the beautiful way, getting it down and passing.

Lee Johnson sprang a couple of surprises in his starting line-up. Jamie Paterson was given the number 10 role in behind Andreas Weimann and there was also the first start for summer signing Hans Adelakun, the winger who was injured in pre-season after his signing from Scunthorpe.

Callum O’Dowda was due to start but was ruled out through sickness which saw Adelakun get earn his first start. Matty Taylor was also out injured and will miss a couple of weeks. After his impressive showings for England under 21’s Lloyd Kelly was given a start over Jay Dasilva who was dropped to the bench along with Nathan Baker, Famara Diédhiou and Liam Walsh.

Bielsa had to give a debut to Will Huffer, a 20-year-old goalkeeper following injuries to Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Jamal Blackman. Unfortunately for the Robins, Huffer had a fairly comfortable afternoon with only one shot on target. It was perhaps a surprise that the more physical presence of Famara Diédhiou was not given the nod to try and fluster the debutant.

Leeds looked bright in the early exchanges and City took a while to settle but after the first ten minutes or so we started to get a foothold in the game and it was then a fairly even affair.

I’ve been critical of Jamie Paterson of late in terms of his performance but this is largely based on knowing what the lad is capable of. To be fair Jamie was our brightest player on the day and created a number of decent openings which we just couldn’t take advantage of.

The wingers Adelakun and Eliasson worked hard but don’t receive the balls in the rights area and so are having to come back and get the ball before attacking. Defensively we looked sound up until the pivotal decision that in the end had a massive influence on the game.

Lee Johnson has coached his team to play out from the back but on a number of occasions Maenpaa played it into his defenders who were immediately put under pressure by Leeds and they either lost possession or gave it into Marlon Pack or Josh Brownhill who were rushed into a pass or forced to go long.

I like to see us play out this way but when you face a side like Leeds who press the ball high you are just putting yourself under pressure.

Too many times our first touch was not good enough and rather than being on the front foot we were forced to defend. One such instance saw Josh caught in possession and his instant reaction was to pull his man back. That led to a booking and then on 55 minutes, a mistimed lunge in the centre circle saw him receive a second yellow and subsequent red.

The atmosphere in the stands changed completely, we had been in the game up until that point with neither team actually causing too many problems for their opponents.

Bristol City fans knew we would be up against it. Johnson opted to withdraw Adelakun and Eliasson and bring on Liam Walsh and Famara Diédhiou. I was surprised that both wingers were withdrawn as in the end it meant Weimann or Paterson moving out to provide the width, not their natural game.

The second goal was conceded by losing possession and Famara Diédhiou not anticipating the ball breaking following a Walsh tackle. Leeds picked up the ball and were able to create an opportunity for Hernandez to score a header. Jack Hunt and Adam Webster both being caught out.

In the post-match press conference, Lee Johnson said that he was pleased (aside from the defeat) as we had got our identity and performance back.

LJ thought we were the better side for the majority of the game and in the second half up until the sending off we looked like the side that would go onto win it, his only criticism is that we did not get enough shots on target.

Unsurprisingly Marcelo Bielsa didn’t see it that way and I would tend to agree with him rather than Lee.

Okay, this was a better overall performance than the Preston defeat (sorry I did mention it again) and against arguably better opposition but we could have been playing until now and we still wouldn’t have scored.

We lack any kind of presence in the final third and at the moment carry no real goal threat. This has to be addressed. That is four defeats in a row, and next up is an away game on Wednesday night to bottom of the table Ipswich.

What does Lee do? I have been critical of his constant tinkering but also understand it with so many players off form.

You would expect Liam Walsh to come in for the banned Brownhill, although I don’t think Johnson sees Liam in a two. This is a massive game and we need a performance but moreover a win.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-city-news-leeds-reaction-2257464

 

Form: Last 6 matches (HOME AND AWAY)
GP W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Norwich City 6 6 0 0 17 6 +11 18
2 QP Rangers 6 4 1 1 11 5 +6 13
3 Derby County 6 4 1 1 12 8 +4 13
4 Aston Villa 6 4 0 2 11 5 +6 12
5 Preston 6 3 3 0 12 7 +5 12
6 Middlesbrough 6 3 3 0 7 3 +4 12
7 Nottm Forest 6 3 2 1 8 3 +5 11
8 Leeds Utd 6 3 1 2 9 8 +1 10
9 Birmingham City 6 3 1 2 12 12 0 10
10 Swansea City 6 3 0 3 8 8 0 9
11 Rotherham 6 1 5 0 7 6 +1 8
12 Reading 6 2 2 2 9 9 0 8
13 Hull City 6 2 2 2 6 7 -1 8
14 Blackburn 6 2 2 2 7 10 -3 8
15 Stoke City 6 1 4 1 4 4 0 7
16 Millwall 6 2 1 3 10 11 -1 7
17 West Bromwich 6 2 1 3 8 9 -1 7
18 Sheffield Utd 6 1 3 2 8 8 0 6
19 Bristol City 6 2 0 4 4 7 -3 6
20 Wigan Athletic 6 1 1 4 5 10 -5 4
21 Brentford 6 1 0 5 8 11 -3 3
22 Bolton 6 0 2 4 2 9 -7 2
23 Ipswich Town 6 0 2 4 4 12 -8 2
24 Sheffield Wed 6 0 1 5 3 14 -11 1


Form: Last 10 matches (HOME AND AWAY)
GP W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Norwich City 10 8 1 1 20 8 +12 25
2 Nottm Forest 10 5 4 1 15 7 +8 19
3 Derby County 10 5 3 2 17 12 +5 18
4 Sheffield Utd 10 5 3 2 17 12 +5 18
5 Birmingham City 10 5 3 2 20 17 +3 18
6 West Bromwich 10 5 2 3 19 14 +5 17
7 Middlesbrough 10 4 5 1 10 6 +4 17
8 QP Rangers 10 5 2 3 13 10 +3 17
9 Preston 10 4 4 2 23 16 +7 16
10 Leeds Utd 10 4 3 3 13 12 +1 15
11 Blackburn 10 4 3 3 13 16 -3 15
12 Aston Villa 10 4 2 4 17 13 +4 14
13 Swansea City 10 4 2 4 13 11 +2 14
14 Stoke City 10 3 5 2 11 9 +2 14
15 Reading 10 3 3 4 15 16 -1 12
16 Millwall 10 3 2 5 16 19 -3 11
17 Rotherham 10 1 7 2 10 12 -2 10
18 Hull City 10 2 3 5 7 13 -6 9
19 Sheffield Wed 10 2 3 5 10 19 -9 9
20 Bristol City 10 2 2 6 6 11 -5 8
21 Wigan Athletic 10 2 2 6 6 15 -9 8
22 Ipswich Town 10 1 4 5 9 18 -9 7
23 Brentford 10 1 3 6 13 18 -5 6
24 Bolton 10 1 3 6 3 12 -9 6