Fear for Bristol City..

Andy Stockhausen: I saw something at Nottingham Forest that made me fear for Bristol City
By a_stockhausen

Another Saturday, another game. But which Bristol City will turn up at Burnley in the FA Cup tomorrow?

Will it be the fluent, confident and expressive team that overwhelmed the likes of Aston Villa and Fulham in August and September, or will it be the barely recognisable line-up that struggled to perform under extreme pressure at Nottingham Forest last weekend?

Throughout City's poor recent run of form, I have believed firmly that salvation was at hand, because City had a clear identity and a way of playing that suited the players at head coach Lee Johnson's disposal.

With the notable exception of a 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield in early December, City adhered to the principles of pass and move advocated by Johnson and his staff. The players believed in what they were doing and understood what was being asked of them.

The defeats may have been piling up, but there was a discernible game plan and the Robins were still competitive, losing games by the odd goal and fine margins.

But I saw something at Nottingham Forest last weekend that made me fear for City and their Championship status for the first time this season. There was a clear change in approach tactically, one that manifested itself in long balls played high and early into the opposition penalty area in the hope that the strikers would benefit from a lucky break.

In a desperate contest in which neither side proved capable of producing free-flowing football, fear served to stifle creativity as players low on confidence sought refuge in more industrial methods. The City side I watched on the banks of the Trent bore little resemblance to the one I had so enjoyed viewing during the first half of the campaign.

In his desperation to turn the tide and find a winning formula, the head coach has necessarily moved away from the team balance and tactics that served him so well in August, September and October. There is nothing the assiduously thorough Johnson has not tried when it comes to personnel and team shape.

To my way of thinking, the City side that took to the field last weekend was suffering some kind of identity crisis. How else are we to explain a style of football that was clearly alien to some of the players?

Not only was a route one approach difficult to watch, it also failed to yield the victory that City's players and head coach crave right now.

I appreciate this may be easier said than done, but should Johnson and his staff not just have the courage of their convictions and order a return to the strategies and philosophies that were so evident earlier in the campaign?

Clearly, they have reached a crossroads and must decide between the tenets of pass and move that necessarily underpin any attempt to play through the opposition, or a more agricultural approach, one that involves moving the ball quickly from back to front and deploying a target man to serve as an attacking focal point.

I suspect the head coach will opt for a balance between the two in an attempt to satisfy the twin requirements of being solid in defence at the same time as being creative on the counter attack and posing a threat in the final third.

Recourse to the FA Cup is no bad thing for Johnson and his players right now. It allows them breathing space away from the cloying pressures of the Championship, offering them an opportunity to work on things and regain a degree of confidence and composure ahead of more important fixtures against Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United next week.

I for one, will be interested to see which names are on the team sheet when 2pm comes around. Gary O'Neil, Adam Matthews, Mark Little and Korey Smith are inconvenienced by injury and the time has come for others to stand up and be counted.

Will the real Bristol City please stand up.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/andy-s...bristol-city/story-30091338-detail/story.html