Bristol City coach hints Nigel Pearson is open to bringing Dan Bentley back from the cold The club captain hasn't featured since he was dropped following the 3-2 defeat with Huddersfield in December please log in to view this image Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson is not afraid to bring club captain Dan Bentley back from the cold in a bid to stop the Robins alarming rate at which they are conceding goals. City have averaged three goals against in each of their last eight league matches and have failed to keep a clean sheet since the 1-0 win over Derby on December 4. Their defensive weaknesses were on show once more at Blackpool with Pearson laying blame to costly individual errors for the 3-1 defeat at Bloomfield Road. Max O'Leary couldn't be blamed for the three strikes but question marks have been raised over how many goals City have conceded since his introduction into the side. Pearson raised eyebrows when he dropped club captain Bentley for his understudy in the 2-1 home defeat to QPR on December 30 and O'Leary has retained his place in the side ever since with the manager keen to develop playing out from the back. However, the 25-year-old has been forced to pick the ball out of his net 20 times in seven league matches and while assistant Curtis Fleming was eager to stress that defending comes down to the entire team, he hinted that a decision has to be made whether Bentley returns to the fold. Speaking ahead of Wednesday's clash with Reading, when Fleming was asked on the possibility of a Bentley recall, he said: "That will go down to Nigel. I don't think Max had much of a chance (with Blackpool's goals). "You can see what Max's strengths have been since he's come in and yes we've conceded goals but I think that's a team effort. "We spoke to the guys that every attack has to start somewhere and it starts at the back and when we defend it starts from the front. People just think it's the defence that has to defend on a Saturday and it's not. It's the 11 players and it's the 11 players that have to go and attack and play into that. "It's great to have Bents back in and it's another decision for Nigel to make. I think Max has done really well for a young guy playing regularly in the championship and I think Nige is not afraid to make any decisions so it depends on how he is feeling." Although he kept his cards relatively close to his chest on the goalkeeping situation, Fleming was a lot more assured on O'Leary's position between the sticks before the 2-2 draw with Preston. At the end of January, he openly admitted that Pearson was not considering changing the goalkeeper giving the impression that a change is being pondered. He said last month: "If the manager feels like he needs to make a change, but it's not in his mind. He's not thinking about that at the moment. "I think with Max's overall game over the last few months, he's been outstanding in training and that's not to say that Bents (Bentley) hasn't." Bentley missed out on the matchday squad against Blackpool, with teenager Harvey Wiles-Richards named on the bench, having been forced into isolation due to a positive Covid-19 test but returned to training on Monday. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-dan-bentley-pearson-6616620
Max has been at fault for quite a few goals since he came in, but nothing he could really have done about the 3 on Sat. I do think Bentley gives the back 3 more confidence than Max does.
I don’t think he has tbh, we’ve conceded loads but most are not down to his errors. That said due to the sheer number it may be the time for Bents to be reintroduced, hopefully he’ll know if he doesn’t perform well Max is snapping at his heels for a return.
makes me wonder.. CF says defending comes from back ... no, he said defending comes from attack!! so why then take off attacking players for more defensive ones? If no one up field then clearing the ball out is not going to work as all the players are in own half or goal area tripping over each others feet
