Midfielder Joe Williams revealed what the manager said in the dressing room at Ashton Gate after the stalemate with the Hornets, with City next in action against Rotherham United on December 10. "He said that there's no excuse for us now to be inconsistent," the 25-year-old said. "That's the standard, that's the level. "The players we've got in the room we know what we've got - we know we can be a match for anyone and he just said that's the level. "When we come back for this 25-game period we have to be at that level every time now and there's no excuses. We'll go away now, have a bit of time with our families but we'll take our heart rate belts and do our running and keep on top of our fitness and come back raring to go." City's disappointing run of form has left them perilously close to the drop zone. They currently sit 18th, one point above relegation but just seven adrift of the play-offs. With the unpredictable nature of the Championship, Williams says they don't pay too much attention to the league table but revealed they need to take a look at themselves individually before they return to face Rotherham on December 10. "It's so tight isn't it?" he added. "I think three or four games ago we were top half so I think this early on we can't take too much notice of it. "I know the players we've got in there I know we're quite capable of going on a really good run. Nigel Pearson told his Bristol City players there's no excuse not to maintain the levels of performance shown in the draw against Watford when they return from the World Cup break. The Robins dominated Slaven Bilic's promotion hopefuls but left Ashton Gate with just a point after failing to take their chances in front of goal. The Hornets manager was certainly the happier of the two bosses at the full-time whistle and described City's performance as "very good." It was a positive showing to head into the four-week period but ultimately, City had little to show for their efforts. It was a similar story in the home defeat to Sheffield United with Pearson's side now on a run of two wins from 14 matches.
Hopefully having kalas and Naismith back will be a huge bonus and get any other injuries cleared up. We played some great football so far the key is getting consistent performances from the players on a weekly basis.
agree with you to an extent, but consistency begins on the training ground and when you watch some of the schoolboy errors weve seen in defence this season you begin to wonder
we have been very inconsistent agree-Nige and the players are clearly on the same page and after watching Saturday they are playing for the manager. You could see the bond when Baker came on the pitch with the players.
Recently we’ve not been good after long breaks, covid, international breaks etc, hopefully this time will be different, if not we could be in trouble.
I havent checked back yet, been busy, but I dont think there has been a table as close as this for yonks [ based on 6 points span ] 12th to 23rd all in ball park of relegation
Just done a quickish check up on last 6 of 7 seasons ... first 20 games played .......... 15/16 ... 19th to 22nd .... 4 teams 16/17 ... 16 to 22nd ..... 7 teams 17/18 ... 18 to 22nd ..... 5 teams 18/19 ... 15 to 22nd ..... 8 teams 19/20 ... 18 to 22nd ..... 5 teams 20/21 ... 17 to 22nd ..... 6 teams currently with a mix of played 19- 21 games = 12 teams [ 13 counting 23rd a further point behind, Huddersfield have a game in hand so 7 points would cover 14 teams!!!!! ]
True, it’s so tight a few wins could take us well up the league, conversely a few losses could be really costly.
