Lee Johnson slams 'couple of poor' Bristol City players after Birmingham City defeat Robins head coach pulls no punches after 1-3 reversal at Ashton Gate. The home form continues to confound. Ranking 16th in the league now for results on their own patch, Bristol City are second in the league when judged for results on the road. Friday night in front of the Sky Sports TV cameras was a chance for the Robins to make a statement and fly up to third in the league. They blew it. But the head coach well knows that and will dust himself off to try again soon, though some tough fixtures are on the horizon. As to the defeat to the Blues - several City players were not at the races when facing Pep Clotet's team. And Johnson was not shy in pointing that out. "I thought it was a great start from us - we came out the traps absolutely rapid and you try and assess within the game, of course you do, because you've got half time to tactically draw on the players," said Johnson following the game. "And I thought at that point a couple of individuals were really poor for us today, which was frustrating. "I thought we got stretched, which was very unlike us and is the bit I've got to look at to why. "Was it their strength in individual duels or our poor individual performances in that 20-25 minutes. "We had half a chance to make it two when Andy Weimann chested and should have volleyed it and hit the target - but that may have been harsh on him. "But our distances were too big from top to bottom: whether that was over-eager in central midfielders to go and press or Scott Hogan running in behind and stretching us, or whether that was because a couple of individuals were twos and threes in that first half out of 10..." he added. City can make amends when Derby County come to Ashton Gate next Wednesday while the club will hope that Wigan can get a point against Preston North End at the weekend to keep the Robins in the top six of the league. But a 'poor' first half from City did the damage in Friday night's game. "I thought that after 10-15 minutes we were really poor. And that's where we've lost the game," said Johnson. "We didn't defend well enough and we didn't stop enough crosses. We didn't show enough desire to win individual duels. We were busy fools - and that was the bit that was really frustrating because we haven't looked like that in a while now." Following the game, Johnson admitted that Kasey Palmer missed the match because of respiratory chest problems - not anything heart related. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/lee-johnson-slams-couple-poor-3824568
No if's, no buts, no bias, Johnson examine yourself. Your players, your selection, your team, your tactics, your substitutions.
I agree it’s on Johnson, but he was let down with poor performances from the midfield, zero creativity or ideas.
Hunt was at fault on the first goal when he should of went for the ball when their player took that heavy first touch. He was just hoofing it rather than doing what we know he can do. Bentley called for the ball before Weinmann decided to score at our end as he couldn’t hit the target at their end. That’s two incidents I suspect given time to relive the nightmare I could name a few. LJ didn’t actually name players by name and gets grief but we know and name the suspects.
I can’t see Preston losing to Wigan - but then again Wigan did overturn Leeds so who knows. I BLOODY hate depending on other teams’ results - we’ll probably be 7th tonight - could have been 3rd. Still, on the positive note I suppose it’s good to concede 3 goals in 1 game, rather than 3 in 3 games........
there was a photo posted on the beeb ………………. please log in to view this image that picture shows a lot! it is the sort of picture you see in captions compo's.. " Fammy… and that is a pretty serious looking face …. [thinking] ….. why the fih did you do that, we always seem to be at that end of the pitch, cover your face ! its to late to cover your blush's" ………. I said before you do not need all your attackers crowding the box … I bet they do not do that in training …. one or other of Fammy or Wiemann / Wells must always be closer to the halfway line when opposition takes a corner … defence / midfield in the box and maybe 1 of them forwards near the posts ……….. LEE'S ERRORS? ... or ... PLAYERS … it seems they are to ready to go into defensive when they lead, due to circumstances not able to go as much nowadays 2 or 3 a season so clips tv and commentaries are my only guides, they need self discipline? SELECTION …. I don't think there was anything wrong with the selection … a group that has got us to 6th … a bad night? was it due to knowing that 3 were almost nailed on to be subbed .. position for position! .. so a bad day at the office! TEAM … as above TACTICS …. always a difficult issue, but what went wrong was defense from the 3rd minute … ? .. stats were showing at one point before their goal city 21% and before the second 32% so what tactic was that? ...let them have the ball and tire themselves out? ….. SUBSTITUTIONS … Through out the season Lee' [ and assistants ] have been pretty savvy with subs... it was obvious barring injury that 3 players were going to get a game.. circumstances dictated the order … after about 50 / 55 mins the possession was getting around 50 - 52% to increase steadily to around 52 - 55% after first 2 subs .. when BRUM decided to go into parking the bus .. forced to? ...it went to 65% + but left open opportunities for counters. ALL IN ALL …. not a good night, hope we bounce not fall flat …..
Poor old Weimann - he works his proverbials off for us and then this happens. I hope it doesn’t ruin his confidence. He needs a rest to recover himself both mentally and physically methinks. If he continues to play - and miss chances - and God forbid, cause problems for our defence, then our partisan crowd will turn on him - which would be a shame because I love his work rate and commitment. I wouldn’t want him to turn into a scapegoat.
I think there were many out there who need to hang their respective heads and because of a poor performance I think some changes are needed for our next home tilt. Massengo seems to run himself in circles and invariably vanishes up his own backside and when you add the fact that on many occasions we had 3 or 4 players all trying to hem in some defenders leaving vast tracts of land in the midfield and therefore we were very susceptible to the quick break, specifically down the right flank. We seriously looked like a bunch of players that met in the pub and decided to have a kick-about down at the local park and had very little in the way of team unity or desire and if you could just see the tension out there it is no wonder why we performed so badly. To top it all off Lee is looking to blame some players (and I think he has a right to feel that way) which I don't think is a very professional way to discuss the team's performance because that should only be done in the dressing room or the training ground and not in the public eye. His tactics is a quick fired way to tick off the players and as the old adage says "lose the dressing room", which is not what we want on any occasion for any reason. On a more positive note there is still hope because I'm watching the Reading vs Hull encounter and yesterday's match was world class compared to the dross at the Madjeski just up the road.
I agree, Wells should allow Weman a rest to recoup , there’s no point having cover now for each position if we then don’t use it .
Some players are bound to have off days but we have got a comprehensive team of people that should be capable of a positive team selection or substitutions. ~ Player Management Team ~ Head Coach: Lee Johnson Assistant Head Coach: Dean Holden Assistant Head Coach: Jamie McAllister Goalkeeping Coach: Pat Mountain Head of Performance: Andy Rolls Head Physiotherapist: Andrew Proctor First Team Physiotherapist: Gill Holt Team Doctor: Jonathan Williams Head of Fitness & Conditioning: Patrick Orme Head of Performance Analysis: Sam Stanton Kit Manager: Scott Murray Head of Communications: Dave Barton Supporter Liaison Officer: Jerry Tocknell Disabled Supporter Liaison Officer: Gareth Torpy Club Chaplain: Derek Cleave We've never had so much player talent available or a management team so large to back us up, something, somewhere is not proving successful and we are running out of time.
I am starting to believe that Lee thinks he is untouchable and you would think that with the vast amount of coaching staff available to him our results should be better. The question must be what is going off kilter and how do we fix it immediately because unless we address whatever issues are besetting us I can't see us rising higher in the table during the next 3-4 weeks. Has Sam Stanton got the wrong app on his phone or does someone not listen to the rest of the staff? Heady times ahead???
I think a bit of respect is due for Birmingham too - they beat us on the back of beating Forest on their own patch last week - a Forest team which beat Leeds today. We were NOT beaten by a **** side - we were beaten by a side that has found a bit of form and played well for the last 2 games. We need to concentrate on NOT imploding and bounce back against Derby - who actually won today against a good Swansea side. There are NO easy games in this league and we are bound to lose occasionally.
Its embarrassing the meltdown just because we've lost a game (after 4 wins on the bounce). Listening to our so called fans you would think we were struggling in a relegation battle rather than being 2 wins away from being in an automatic promotion position. I'm ashamed to be associated with this fan base
Derby will will win Wednesday if he plays that same eleven. We all went to the game with great expectations and came away with egg on our face. That football was **** and I make no apologies for saying that. Sideways and backwards -no penetration pathetic football end off.
We were poor , Birmingham were better and deserved to win, i think again we lost it in midfield, to lightweight, after 4 wins keeping the same eleven was the right thing to do but it didn’t work. However the substitutions were difficult to understand, a bad day at the office , put it behind us and move on.
I understand where you are coming from, I’ve been supporting City almost 50 years and apart from a few years in the top flight the last few years have been our most successful, however as a result of our recent success our target is now top 6, that’s why expectations, especially amongst younger fans are so high , in itself it isn’t a bad thing to have high ambitions but your right we have to be a bit more patient when thinks don’t go as planned.
should we lose another 4 on the trot I would expect us to win the next 4 I don't think it has a lot to do with how many back room staff we have as they are all involved in different aspects, in any case there is only 6 involved [ of 15 ]with the team directly to perform on match day [ 7 with goal keeper coach ]. 15 games to go win 6 draw 4 lose 5 = 72 pts that's my happy point ecstatic would be 78 pts go all out as was done Friday win 8 lose 7 would be 74 points more than happy ….
Would not surprise me one little bit if we lost 4 in a row after our 4 straight wins. This is exactly what LJ does. Pressure on him will be pretty intense if it happens yet again though.
Typical and predictable City result and performance when they had the momentum behind them and the top 3 in their sights.
