Bristol City were unlucky against Aston Villa but there are positive signs of life. The Robins didn't get any of the crucial decisions but it's been a decent start to the season How's your luck, Lee Johnson? It was missing in the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Friday night in front of the Sky TV cameras. The stats spoke of an even game at Ashton Gate: 12 shots apiece, 5 to 4 on target and 51% to 49% ball possession. Maybe visiting Villa had a couple of better chances on the night but Bristol City almost won it when Eros Pisano hit the post late on. Perhaps the home side could have had a penalty, too, with two big decisions turned down referee Geoff Eltringham: the first as Chris Samba got too close to Bobby Reid, and the second when John Terry appeared to handle Josh Brownhill's poke forward. It wasn't to be. And when City did finally take the lead Steve Bruce's men almost instantly conjured up an equaliser with a rocket shot deflecting off Marlon Pack and flying over the despairing Frank Fielding. Any of these small events could easily have gone a different direction and the Robins could have gained a vital win. It didn't, a draw was the fair result - but this game's not all about fairness - and after the game, it was left for Johnson to extol the fine margins that decide Championship games. Johnson believes the Championship is a tougher league this year, with plenty of sides spending to try and win that golden ticket for the Premier League. The head coach wishes that his team had a few more points but also recognises that there are 'so many good signs'. And there are. But there are also a few bad ones too. It's been a decent first block of fixtures. Just one defeat in seven games but at the same time just one league victory. Some of the football shown by the Robins has been top notch. Incisive and cutting through midfield with some great high pressing. Lethargic displays against Brentford and Millwall have been balanced out by outstanding displays against Barnsley and Birmingham (despite the scoreline). "We look more solid than this time last year," said Johnson and many will agree with him. The bad news takes the form of six tough league fixtures coming in September with trips to high-flying Wolves and Ipswich, while previously strong Reading and Norwich await too. Derby County, doing nicely under Gary Rowett, are heading to Ashton Gate too. It's certainly not going to get easier for the boys from BS3. Other positives that give rise to cheerful thinking: a settled and established side seems to be developing, and with a settled side you often find better results. (See Chelsea and Leicester City who both won the big one with very few changes over the last year.) It's about the team, developing relationships on the pitch and everyone helping each other and performing their role well. In that regard, City looked a tad better than Villa last night and a good spirit has permeated the Robins squad for a while now. There may be a few last moves to sign off in the transfer market - and heavens above, please sort this Aden Flint situation out once and for all - but the building blocks are there. If City can grab any kind of win in that next block of fixtures on the road, a tough, tough ask given last year's woeful away form, and couple this with their ever improving home form - just one defeat in their last 10 home games stretching back across last season - the club will be doing fine. Further plus points would include the brilliant transition of Bobby Reid to a forward position. He was once again outstanding against Aston Villa, working back so hard. Also, there's the form of Nathan Baker, who shone against his former club too. That's two better defensive performances to build upon at home. City need to keep improving on this as they always look likely to score given the talent in their ranks. http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-city-were-unlucky-against-385004
We might look cosmetically better and our performances at times might have been top class but I'm sorry, the August results which are all that matters, points wise show we are still on a downward trend ~ Summary on August performance taken from the thread ~ 1 win, 1 loss and 3 draws, points won 6, points lost 9, results show a fall in our position 01..10..09..11...13.. Sorry to say it but a downward trend based on our first 5 games is being shown, long way to go though..
it does look grim, however just 5 games played is no yardstick though, I would have expected at least 8 points by now, there is always going to be a false rise to the top /steady midfield position / drop when the number of points is just 15. 3 points can move you 6 or 7 positions !
We NEED a stable mid table finish this season. That should be the aim, it's then we can build properly and attract that little bit of a better player, as they can see we're safe in this league, which will then hopefully see us push for play offs that year. It's all baby steps at the moment. There are clubs in this league spending 80m in 2 seasons. Fans need to realise we're a very small team in this league and until we can have a good crack at the play offs, we always will be.
6 points from 5 games is slightly underwhelming - 8 points or more would have been a good return. I still think we're well placed to achieve a solid mid-table position (lots of teams with genuine playoff aspirations beneath us, albeit at such an early stage), but our margin for error is getting smaller. If we get 3 points over the next 2 games then that's probably maintaining an ok/decent return, but anything less is probably underperforming. 4 or 6 points could have us sitting nicely on the edge of the playoff spots...
Hang on for a cotton picking moment or am I in a time warp? I'm sure our leading lights on the 606 historical thread/comment front could prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that the words appearing this early in the season may very well have been used before. That's progress for you.
This division will be very tight this year, even more so than last season IMHO. There are no pushovers and we'll have to scrap for every point, but also be flexible and imaginative enough to break down the Millwalls of this league, which is something I don't think we have in our approach as yet.
Agreed - I think writing off anyone is arrogant. Millwall as an example have just as much a right to be in this Division as say Sunderland, and I for one could certainly see them beat the relegated side on current form. Also agree that we need to be adaptable to different challenges - scrounging points from games we've played badly in is a good thing in some ways, and something we didn't do often enough last year, so hopefully that's a sign of greater mental toughness/desire/whatever. Two tough tests coming up though and it'd be nice to see us show what we can do against sides most will fancy to beat us comfortably.
Yep them's the ones. Hence my comment that there are no pushovers in this league, and we need a Plan B to deal with teams like Millwall when Plan A clearly isn't going to work. Otherwise there may be plenty more home 0-0 draws.
