A Gulf in Class.

Bristol City fan view: Defeats to West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United show gulf in class to top two
Our man in the stands has his say on Saturday's disappointment

By Matthew Withers
I am so disappointed as I write this week’s column; for the second week running, we were outclassed by the opposition and the gulf in class between us and the top two in the league is huge.

West Brom were the better team throughout pretty much the entire 90 minutes and, even when down to ten men, they managed to score a third goal and see the final 15 minutes out without too many concerns.

I know that some City fans felt these two games were write-offs before a ball was kicked but if we want to be in the promotion play-offs or better at the end of the season, we have to perform better than we have in the last two games.

I honestly felt that we could get something out of the game against the league leaders and with other results again going for us in the Friday night game and early Saturday kick off we had another opportunity to get into the top six.

Lee Johnson made five changes to his starting line-up with Filip Benković, Jack Hunt, Callum O’Dowda, Ádam Nagy and Famara Dièdhiou coming in at the expense of Tomas Kalas, Nathan Baker, Han-Noah Massengo, Andi Weimann and Jamie Paterson.

Last weekend’s starting line-up was affected by illness and injury and so changes were expected but I’m not sure that I would have made the five that LJ did.

I have said in this column that for me this season our best central defensive partnership as a two has been Ashley Williams and Nathan Baker and I was surprised that Bakes was left out of the starting 11. I was also surprised that the gaffer opted to play two wide men in the out-of-form Nic Eliasson and Callum O’Dowda and only leave two in central midfield with Ádam Nagy and Markus Henriksen.

City started off okay and had some decent possession and a couple of free kicks in areas that could have caused West Brom problems but we failed to find the right delivery. We were so sloppy in possession of the ball and it really is an area of concern.

We continually give the ball away and against the best sides in the division you get punished. The first two goals were case in point. Markus Henriksen received a throw in from Callum O’Dowda but dwelt on it too long was tackled and West Brom broke and the ball ended up at former City loanee Callum Robinson who beat Dan Bentley rather fortuitously at the second attempt. Bents made a great first save but the ball rebounded onto Robinso'ns head and he guided it into the net.

The second goal was just as poor from City’s perspective; Famara, who had been excellent when defending the City box again, was first to react to a ball and brought the ball out of the area but took on one opponent too many and lost the ball. To be fair yet again the wide players ran straight lines and gave little option to Fam but he should still have done better. That mistake was compounded by a poor save from Bentley; the ball bouncing off him and into the onrushing Robson-Kanu.

Two nil down and both were gifts.

As the clock ticked to 60 minutes or, as I like to call it, Lee Johnson substitution time, I was surprised Ádam Nagy wasn’t the first player withdrawn. Ádam by all accounts is playing with an ankle injury and at the moment is a shadow of the player we saw in his first couple of games.

I would have made the change at half-time and brought on Tommy Rowe. Instead LJ replaced Callum O’Dowda and Nic Eliasson with Jamie Paterson and Andi Weimann.

Nagy was taken off with just over 20 minutes of the game left and replaced with Kasey Palmer. Once again Kasey is brought on with City behind and needing to create and invariably he tries too hard. We did create one opportunity, a great cross from Jay Dasilva which Nahki Wells should have finished but he didn’t get the right connection and put the ball wide.

West Brom were reduced to 10 men when Roman Sawyers overreacted to a Jamie Paterson challenge, grabbing the City man by the throat and he was quite rightly shown a straight red. Unbelievably City wasted this lifeline by gifting a third goal away.

A long clearance up field was not dealt with by Ashley Williams and his shocking header back to Bentley was easily intercepted by Robson-Kanu who smashed in an excellent shot to seal the game. In truth the game was sealed long before that.

Our home performances are a real concern and perhaps it’s a good thing that four out of our next six games are away from home. Three of those however are against teams in and around us in Millwall, Blackburn Rovers and Nottingham Forest and there is the small matter of a home game against Fulham also in there.

There will be changes on Tuesday night I’m sure. I would be bringing in Baker, Rowe, Paterson and Palmer to start but let’s see what Lee does.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-city-fan-view-defeats-3878608

 

I don't know what to read into this, team selection, selecting a player with a known injury, tactics and team formation setup, timings of and substitutions, weak defence, I think I'll go and lay down, dream of LJ and take an overdose.

 

Don't get ruffled RR, there is no doubting you are a loyal City fan, just remember you were there before Johnson ever breezed in and you will be there when he is sacked, just keep rockin' along and suit yourself mate, we are a broad church.