Johnson wanted more from City at Wycombe Head coach pleased to see his team through, but not with the performance. Johnson delighted to see City into round two but wanted more from his players Head coach declared goalkeeper Richard O'Donnell his side's man of the match City's starting line-up included seven players who did not start against Wigan in the league Lee Johnson declared himself delighted to see City into round two of the EFL Cup, but wanted to see a lot more from his players in victory at Wycombe Wanderers. Tammy Abraham struck the only goal of the game in the 27th minute at Adams Park thanks to a fine first touch followed by a low shot that crept inside the post. But City would have to weather a storm in Buckinghamshire and owed a debt of gratitude to goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell for some fine second-half saves. “I’m delighted about getting in the hat for the next round, I’m delighted about Richard O’Donnell’s performance because I thought he was man of the match by a country mile, I’m delighted we’ve come out with a clean sheet and I’m delighted we’ve got no injuries, but that’s about it,” was Johnson’s frank assessment, speaking to Bristol City Player HD. “Everything else was disappointing. I put a strong side out that should have done more and in the end we were hanging on. “There was tactical naivety – I had to change the formation five times, which is not ideal, but it teaches me a little bit about a couple of the players who need an experienced head in with them and need to be controlled from within the game. “I was very frustrated with a few of them and I didn’t want to be like that. “I wanted to enjoy our pace and movement that was on the pitch, but we didn’t do enough today. A few out there who had their chance needed to do more. “Their line was one of the highest lines I’ve ever seen in my life. A simple up-set-through gets you in, but we only did that twice in the whole game. “When I calm down and see that we’re in the hat whilst resting some key players for Saturday, I’ll be happy.” http://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/johnson-wanted-more-from-city-at-wycombe-3237017.aspx
LJ does seem to talk a lot of sense - it's a fair assessment and gives a metaphorical kick up the backside to those players brought in that didn't perform as they can. It's still early days, particularly in a squad with a lot of new players, and still winning even when playing poorly is a great quality to have - Man Utd won a lot of titles under Fergie doing that. Onwards and upwards!
SO FAR we have scraped 2 wins ! not the stuff of champions but certainly better than a draw or 2 losses ..clean sheet GOOD, ..well Wycombe 13th last season with less than a goal a game we should have won by at least 2 goals even 3 .... LOTS OF WORK STILL TO DO .... Saturday NEED TO WIN, but win tidily..
Don't care if we win 30 sloppy games this season. Winning ugly isn't for the purists, but if it gets us 3 points I shan't complain
Disagree, no one has a divine right to win, let alone win big, certainly not this time of the season. If teams had a divine right based on talent and club stature Leicester wouldn't have even made the top 8 last year. We can't sit around saying how amazing and wonderful it is when minnow clubs beat the big boys to the punch at winning titles then kick up a stink because our boys had to put a shift in at both ends of the pitch to eek a win in a tournament no one cares about. Happy with the win and building momentum to be honest, screw what LJ says...
I'd settle for another 1-0. On another note, O'Donnell won LJ's man-of-the-match, but can someone tell me what connection custodians have with custard ?
2nd half on Saturday, I thought we were all right and deserved our win, which was all the more satisfying as it came against a team hell bent on time wasting until they went behind themselves. We could have won by a greater margin with better finishing etc but we got the job done. In the cup, a win is a win no matter what the result and style. Considering our abysmal record in this competition, any win is gratefully received.
I was agreeing with you all the way up to the second half of that last sentence. I don't think LJ's criticism was down to the aesthetics of the performance, it was that we were under the cosh more often than we should have been and he felt that the players didn't follow the game plan as he would've liked. In football, the result is king, but I think it's healthy to want to improve in all aspects - good performances increase the likelihood of winning more often.
I agree to some extent, but if you admit you change your formation 5 times in one game that shows that you yourself are not following a game plan. Change once, twice maybe, to accommodate substitutes, but 5 times?? No wonder we didn't steam roll over them. It's the start of the season, a win is a win in any form however it comes. Well done for the players getting over the line in their second competitive game in approx 60 hours, whilst trying to a.) gain full match fitness and b.) learn each teammates style, timing, rhythm and follow formation change after formation change. Villa just lost to Luton, now that is something for a manager to get frustrated about. We seem to have done well to fend off Wycombe in comparison.
