‘It wasn’t good enough’ – Pearson https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/it-wasn-t-good-enough-pearson/ please log in to view this image Bristol City manager emphasises need for new signings after criticising defence in Blues defeat Nigel Pearson was frustrated with his side's performance as City lose their third game on the bounce Nigel Pearson is counting down the days until he can make changes to his squad in the transfer market after lamenting his side's defending in a third consecutive defeat. The Robins were slow out the starting blocks, conceding after just two minutes through Taith Chong before Nico Gordon headed in from a corner in the 13th minute to double Birmingham's lead. The home faithful made their thoughts on the first half performance known after the opening 45 minutes but two changes at the break and a switch to a back three had an immediate impact as Alex Scott restored some hope. Jay Dasilva's cross from the left flashed across the box and the teenager was on hand to knock it in from close range. City lacked the cutting edge needed to find an equaliser and Pearson was critical of the similar problems that keep costing his side points. He said: "Not good enough. We have to waste substitutions for players that aren’t at it, it happened last week at Forest, we make changes and we were poor today, really poor. I don’t say that very often. "It was very poor. Poor start, poor result. We knew what to expect from them and we didn’t deal with it. Similar problems cropping up again isn’t it? "For me, it’s one of those where I’ve already said that we don’t have enough players that can put back-to-back performances in and normally with a squad you’ve got four, five or six players within your matchday team that you think you can get 7/10 with each week, we don’t have that. "We might have one or two and that’s a problem for us. In terms of how the squad develops moving forward is going to be based on getting players that are able to do that, whether they’re outstanding players or limited players, it’s how you construct squads. "You don’t concede as many goals as we do and know that you’re a decent defensive side. I’m reluctant of going down the route of looking to put together or field a team that’s got a reasonable chance of being hard to beat and lose out on creativity. I don’t think we can do it anyway." When quizzed about the slow start, he responded: "I couldn’t give you an answer why players freeze, I can’t answer for that." Pearson also made it no secret of his desire to strengthen his defence at the end of the season, particularly the wing-backs, after conceding their 65th goal of the campaign. "There needs to be changes, there’s no doubt about that," he added. "I know where we need to strengthen moving forward and one of the problems is everybody will always think that the players that aren’t playing are always the solution. "I hear a lot about George [Tanner], he’s still learning the game, it’d be a lot for him to come in and deal with that situation. "We need to strengthen, absolutely, but the problem is that we have too many players that can’t put back-to-back performances together and that’s a big problem for us. "I’ve already stated that I’ll make changes if they’re going to significantly improve what we’ve got but if we can’t do that, I won’t make changes. It’s quite simple. It’s clear that we need to but whether we’re able to is another thing." https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-manager-players-defence-6759944 Bristol City player ratings vs Birmingham: Rob Atkinson makes solid return as Sam Bell struggles Alex Scott provided a glimmer of hope after Taith Chong and Nico Gordon's early goals rocked the Robins https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sp Bristol City manager gives Sam Bell verdict after enduring tough afternoon in Birmingham defeat The forward was playing in a wing-back role and was taken off at half-time in the 2-1 loss ort/football/bristol-city-player-ratings-birmingham-6758927 https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-sam-bell-verdict-6760036 Bristol City 'quarterback' has the bit between his teeth as he wants to finish season on a roar Having claimed his place in the starting XI back from Max O'Leary, Bristol City captain Dan Bentley hopes he can help the Robins find the missing ingredient to solve their defensive issues https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-quarterback-bit-between-6756483 please log in to view this image
Bad day for Nige, this disaster is down to him as much as any of the team, at least there is no platitudes, facts are facts, we are crap.
I didn't see the Forest or Brum game. Gary Owers did and said 'we made exactly the same mistakes during both games'. I know we have a poor and limited in numbers squad but NP has to take a growing degree of responsibility. Playing a young striker at RB can't be right, and surely from my sofa, we don't currently have a Championship Right or Left Back so playing a back 4 doesn't make football sense at all. We HAD to start with a back 3 with Pring and DaSilva as WBs. Not starting Massengo leaving 2 injury prone types on their own was again, for me, sorry, but bloody stupid. I'm not calling for NP's head, yet, and will give him the summer window. After 10 games next season will be the crunch time.
Didn’t start with Pring. We improved when Pring came on and Dasilva further up field. The damage was done playing a young forward as a RB /RWB. Poor lad could be ruined by that yesterday. Brum constantly choose that side to come down. Matty James (think I can turn quicker and my backs ****ed) should not have started. Williams looked off his game could be without HNM around him doing all the running. Very poor starting line up.
He shouldn’t have played a young striker at RWD, and Massengo should have started alongside Williams, James obviously wasn’t fit and could’ve shared the 90 mins with Williams. Dasilva RWB and Pring LWB. I accept we have a problem with RWB but using a young striker their isn’t the answer.
NP Messed up selection and tactics yesterday, he’s straight talking about the way the game panned out, I would have more respect for him if he’d just admitted he made a mistake, in the same straight talking manner.
Agree with most there RP, IMO James shouldn't have started due to lack of game time, also lost his man for their first which I'm sure dented his confidence.. Have to say DaSilva's crossing and distribution have come on really well, one of the plus points in yesterdays game for me..
Apologies if I read it wrong but you stated “We HAD to start with a back 3 with Pring and DaSilva as WBs.” which I read it as having no choice but to start the game with Pring in it. Not as it should have started.
1For His crossing may have come on, pleased it has. However for me, I'd never select DaSilva at LB, his defensive weakness outweighs any attacking prowess. If you think he'll make it at WB, fair play, I hope he does.
NP's constant whining about signings is starting to pi$$ me right off, he signed 3 defenders in the summer, yet our defence has got markedly worse this season. We have only conceded 3 fewer goals in 36 games this season than we did in the entire 46 games last season, this is our issue, not scoring goals as we all thought it would be. This is on NP and his coaching team, playing a striker at Wing Back is frankly, a fu**ing joke, what is he thinking? I don't think NP is bothered tbh and would be quite happy to get sacked and take his payout and walk.
There is something about Pearson's demeanor that is really starting to bother me and that is that he can no longer hide behind the experienced campaigner mantra which was supposed to bring us stability combined with footballing nous. I would have thought with the kind of experience he has under his belt it would allow him to view the situation and fix it, or at least improve it, but as our results show we are nowhere near approaching that level of effort, or indeed seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. From my point of view the hiring of Pearson looked to be the best thing since sliced bread at the time of his joining Bristol City but now we are searching for crumbs of anything to give us hope for improvement. The team selections have gone down the toilet and Saturday's team sheet beggared belief and on top of that most players looked absolutely lost in a fog searching for something out of their reach. We have some reasonably talented players on our books but how many years will it take for us to employ people who know how to use their talent to it's fullest? Given our eternal propensity for failure can we truly expect things to change or will we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot without ever smelling any semblance of success? Our next manager may be arriving a lot sooner that we want but I have this feeling that Nigel will get the golden handshake and head down the road scratching his head wondering if what he just endured was real. Surely he knew what was facing him and in my books he hasn't even come close to my expectations, so perhaps it's back to the drawing board to see what we can come up with next time out. Over to you Steve.
I get the impression that NP thinks we are safe and is using the remaining games to 'experiment'. It's the only logical rationale that I can think of - the other possibility is that NP is stupid (and I don't believe he is).
And the circle would start again-This football club was in decline and he needs time to sort the **** show out-judge him this time next year.Give him the two transfer windows. Expect players to go that you think are safe-Players that are not performing will be gone and sadly youngsters will be gone to fund a rebuild. This season was about staying in the championship as the last two years were worse than watching paint dry. At least the football is better on the eye-much more entertaining. This was never going to be a season to get excited about-having said that the kids have improved and players like Weimann have improved. Going to be a very very busy transfer window.The mentality within the football club has to change before we can go forward as one.
Then why not play Palmer and Wells? He wants them gone, but who will buy them if they are not being played? Surely putting them in the shop window is the ONLY way to get them gone. He could have played Palmer over James on Sat in behind the front 2, and has Chris Martin done that much more than Wells to continually start over him? If he continues playing young kids out of position and expecting to get results, then he will be out of the club before Palmer and Wells! I don't subscribe to the "this season was all about staying up" bo***ks, churned out by the LJ haters. This squad was better than that, and with some good additions (which we didn't get in my book) in the last 2 windows, should have been comfortably mid-table.
Bentley Knows something we dont-Next year Bristol City FC are going for it. please log in to view this image
I'm not 100% sure but think Palmer was or is carrying an injury.. but I think he should have had been used more this season IMO when we've looked wanting. I agree with the rest of your comments, I would add, that I think most of us expected more from NP's selections and tactics..he's as streaky as LJ IMO and not really delivered anything better.. Presuming we are safe, I will give him the first dozen games next season for a vast improvement before requesting to borrow RR's "OUT" banners!!
