Sorry Supcon.........Ask yourself.......why pass to a player under pressure. I agree Williams could have been stronger but ffs where's Vyner/Manning's ambition playing a nothing ball.
O'leary was at fault. Its not even one of his clearances to possibility of winning the ball back. It was a pass centrally direct to an opponent. The pass he played has no place at Filwood fields let alone Ashton Gate. Highlights: Blackburn Rovers v Bristol City (youtube.com) Why on earth would Williams think O'leary is going to chuck that at him? Williams never received the ball. It has to go long.
I get what you're saying; however, if a CM cannot receive a pass from his CB when he's facing the ball and be aware of his surroundings, or have the strength to hold them off, or lay the ball off, then it's on the CM for me. It was nowhere near a hospital pass for me. As you say, Manning wants them to play this way, so I assume they practice like this, so Williams should be used to receiving a pass under pressure
It’s one thing doing it in training, quite another in a match. We are trying to do things that don’t come natural to the players. That’s down to Manning.
In terms of style of play, formation and tactics, 100% that's on Manning. However, in this particular instance as I said, if Williams cannot receive the ball as he did from Vyner and hold onto it better, or lay it off, that shows poor player technical skills and awareness, things that should be expected of an experienced CM in the second tier of English football, at least in my book.
I agree, I think it was as much his fault as Max, he knows we play that style, he went to sleep, but It wasn’t in isolation, we kept doing it and it was a matter of time before someone made a mistake. The players are being asked to play in a way that they aren’t used to and which they aren’t comfortable with. Anyone watching could see we were struggling, and Blackburn were picking us off, so we should have adapted. That’s down Manning, as you say.