LJ & Promotion If Best Players Sold.

Lee Johnson discusses whether Bristol City can be promoted if they sell their best players
Head coach explains that City have had to 'find answers in mid-season'.

When Danny Cowley and his Terriers side visited BS3 back on 30 November it was possibly Bristol City's best home performance of the season.

It was certainly the Robins highest scoring performance this campaign and the only time they have managed to smash in five goals against anyone.

Bristol City now head to Huddersfield Town knowing that another win is needed to resurrect their recent form and turn around three defeats in the last four that has enabled the chasing pack to move in on City and Preston North End to move three points in front in the race for the play-off positions.

Ahead of the game, head coach Lee Johnson was asked if it will be until the club can keep players such as the recently sold Josh Brownhill - who made his debut for the Clarets at the weekend against Bournemouth - and the club can sign players too, that it will be successful.

Can City get promoted doing it by bringing one in and letting one go, ie, 'trading' their way to the top?

"Well, no doubt in an ideal world, if you held a gun to me and said to me ‘what gets you promoted?’ you keep Brownhill and sign Wells," explained Johnson in response.

"I’m not saying that was the wrong decision at all, because whether it’s financial or the fact that Brownhill’s contract situation was whatever it was, sometimes you can’t stop it," he said.

The Robins have sold Adam Webster, Lloyd Kelly and Marlon Pack as well as sent out the experienced Bailey Wright on loan in the last two transfer windows in addition to losing the Premier League-bound Brownhill.

And Johnson was pushed further on whether City can achieve their ambitions if they continue to sell their best players.

"I suppose that’s the grey area between the definition of success or not, it’s as simple as that," he said in reply.

"It happens and it’s happened so therefore what we’ve got to do is find the answers, we’re trying to find the answers mid-season, often you can find the answers in a pre-season but we’ve had to find the answers at the start of the season, mid-season and now at the end of the season where it should kick in.

"And I won’t lie, that’s the dilemma, you’re looking at the shape, the team, you’re looking at individual attributes, you pull Bobby Reid out of the team for example, it changes the press drastically because he sets the press and people adjust off the back of that press.

"I’m not talking about Bobby Reid and I’m not moaning about what’s gone on but I’m just saying on any individual unit, whether it be a work force, a press force, family force, take a key member out of that, somebody else needs to step up into that role and produce the little bit that you’ve lost.

"Obviously we’ve bought in Nahki in for his goals and I think he’s done really well in terms of his quality, his silk on the ball, he’s had good chances since he’s been here, even at Leeds he had two good chances, one that was probably better and that’s what you want from strikers, you want them to keep getting in there, keep getting the chances...

"Obviously he scored the goal against Derby and that started the swing of momentum for us," said the head coach.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport...lee-johnson-discusses-whether-bristol-3881273