Bristol City player ratings vs Birmingham: Knight tries as he might but Dickie red costs Robins Bristol City were beaten 2-0 by Birmingham City following goals by Koji Miyoshi and Lukas Jutkiewicz Max O'Leary - 7 Possibly his best game of the season so far… yet he conceded twice. Such is the life of a goalkeeper. Made two telling saves, first from Koji Miyoshi in the first half and then Jordan James after the break, while his sweeping up behind the defence was also impressive. George Tanner - 6 This isn’t meant in a derogatory way but it’s becoming a little bit copy and paste for Tanner each week; solid and committed at the back but still lacking that attacking penetration and link-up down the right. Perhaps summed up when he was in space in the second half, with room to move forward and cross but a heavy touch took the ball out of play. Zak Vyner - 7 Was authoritative once again, reading the play and for the most part kept the experienced Scott Hogan quiet. Stepped into midfield on occasions to make some really telling interceptions before delivering his now trademark low passes into the frontline but became increasingly outnumbered after Dickie’s dismissal. Rob Dickie - 4 His second yellow was clumsy more than anything as he was done for pace by Jordan James and stuck out a lazy leg to cynically trip him. The fact that resulted in a red card was due to his first caution which appeared to be for dissent after a foul by Joe Williams in a largely innocuous area. In short: largely unavoidable and a bit silly. Cam Pring - 6 Made one excellent cover tackle early in the first half after Ethan Laird darted forward, and defensively there was nothing wrong with his performance at all. Just that attacking thrust was missing a bit and subsequently Nigel Pearson tried something different in the second half with Roberts. Matty James - 6 Lacked the control of his excellent performance at Millwall last weekend and while the City captain didn’t do anything noticeably wrong, he just wasn’t the influential figure at the base of midfield they needed him to be. It was all a little too conservative when City needed to try and take the game to the opposition. Joe Williams - 7 Among City’s best players before he was taken off. The Scouser snapped into plenty of tackles, made some strong recoveries and did his best to get the Robins moving forward. There were some alarming gaps in the middle of the park when Birmingham counter-attacked, which could explain his withdrawal, but also difficult to pin that on him specifically. Jason Knight - 7 Always on the move and trying to play on the turn, the Irishman looks more confident with each performance. Whenever he got on the ball in an attacking sense, City looked a little less predictable. Also made one outstanding tackle to rob Krystian Bielik which would have had Mark Sykes clear if not for Lee Buchanan’s rather blatant foul. Harry Cornick - 6 Took up some good positions and got around the back of Buchanan on a few occasions but unfortunately the final ball was lacking. He also seemed a little stuck between whether to cross, dribble or attack the box on a few occasions and subsequently the momentum was lost. Sam Bell - 6 His desire to play through the middle from the start may have to wait a while as after being tasked to play that role he found himself a little crowded out by Dion Sanderson and Kevin Long. His pace did stretch the play a little but City weren’t able to make best use of it and he was more effective when he moved out to the left in place of Mehmeti. Anis Mehmeti - 6 Was frequently doubled-up whenever City got him on the ball which left the Albanian largely starved of space. There were some bright moments in the first half when he wriggled his way to the byline and nearly played Cornick in on goal but they became few and far between as the game wore on. Substitutes Mark Sykes (for Cornick, 45) - 6 Provided more of a consistent threat down the right than Cornick and fashioned some decent crossing opportunities but unfortunately couldn’t quite connect with his fellow forwards. After Dickie’s red card he was moved into a slightly more defensive role, limiting his impact. Haydon Roberts (for Pring, 45) - 6 Nice and tidy on the ball and gave City a bit more of a passing threat when he meandered into midfield to try and create some overloads. Wasn’t able to get forward though as Birmingham kept pushing the Robins back. Kal Naismith (for Williams, 58) - 6 Was a little harried in midfield at times but his distribution was mostly sound. One delightful ball over the top to Bell created City’s best chance but Wells, sadly, couldn’t take it and then Birmingham quickly claimed a second. Nahki Wells (for Mehmeti, 58) - 6 Should/could he have equalised when Bell’s cross found him in the area? The Bermudian got a clean connection but found the wrong side of the post and a striker of his experience and finesse will have been frustrated by that. Ephraim Yeboah (for Tanner, 78) - N/A Subs not used: Stefan Bajic, Andy King, Jamie Knight-Lebel, Raph Araoye https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-player-ratings-birmingham-8690912
Nigel Pearson considers transfer options as Bristol City defender faces extended spell out Bristol City are considering bringing in a loan defender as Ross McCrorie's prognosis looks a little uncertain with the club erring on the side of caution https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/nigel-pearson-considers-transfer-options-8691369
everytime we sign a number of newbies in a window we always seem to get " he' s played x minutes and now out for x month's" ..when will we ever win! and get a window where all signed just play for a couple of month's ............. our team at the moment is far from gelled or playing right [ injuries mostly cause ]
Mmmm that wasn’t the ambition 2016-2020.. Some fans were disgruntled finishing outside of playoff place.. “only the manager was the problem”.. Progress required/demanded..
We didn’t lose because of Dickie’s red card.. we were 2nd best throughout and would have lost anyway..
Yep, that’s how I remember it as well. It seems the inconsistency - some called it “streaks” hasn’t changed. It was never going to, as the Championship is always inconsistent for most teams, but that reality wasn’t applied before to LJ, so it can’t be now to NP the haters on here.
The club is now on a sound footing, surely we need to give Nige the same finacial freedoms as other current competition to move us forward.
We have given him as much, if not more than a lot of other Championship clubs ( except those with PP) over the last 2 years, so that is not a valid excuse for me. With his vast experience (another criticism thrown at a former manager for not having), he should be doing better for me. Time will tell, but still look very inconsistent and like a team who have never met each other before, which is worrying
That’s the worrying thing for me, we are not gelling yet, anticipation of moves and movement are all over the place, but it is really early days.. As I said on a different thread, it takes a dozen games to see where we are and how we look.. For me, there are no more excuses, we are supposed to have a brilliant and experienced manager.. “the key to success we are led to believe”.. let’s see what he’s made of!!
Watched NP's interview..... he is not a happy person,[maybe due to result / red card/ ] I think it is due to the whole way things have come around and he wants to build a team but has his hands tied Although injured, AS was central to his build, along with 2 or 3 others [ academy ] he had the makings of a real good core. He keeps on referring to wage bill, academy players until into the 22 y o age plus rarely are on more than a couple 000's a week. Players brought in are all like circa £8k ........ It could be fair to say the first team squad [ up to 30 players ] wage bill will be around £9m PA ! Looking at 3 players who have left = a saving of a third of that ! so ... 3 gone = 10 employed!
Makes it oh so more difficult when your best players are sold on.. Been there done that, nothing unique regarding BCFC
I was getting at quality, kalas was out all last season, Dasilva was surplus to requirements, I was never keen on him tbh, Wilson never stepped up and Massengo ran his course, the three I mentioned were all important members of the squad. Atkinson being long term injury doesn’t help either. A lot of our pre season training had both Scott and Conway as key members of our squad.
But,but, but, they were all part of the ‘65’, who we’ve been told on here many times were rubbish, yet now they’re the reason we aren’t doing well
But,but, but, simply no, apart from Kane Wilson(Which I'm sure you spotted) were all contracted players inherited from LJ which were no longer affordable, I'm not going to blame those players for current activities in any way,shape or form. I do agree I think LJ was rubbish but he has long gone and I do wish him a happy life.
