Johnson - Why My Line Up v's Hull

Lee Johnson: Why I chose the Bristol City line-up I did to face Hull City in the EFL Cup

Bristol City boss Lee Johnson believes a young group of players did themselves proud despite being knocked out of the EFL Cup by Premier League side Hull City at Ashton Gate.

Johnson took the opportunity of a break from Championship action to hand some of his squad players an opportunity to shine in a match in which victory would have seen City book a place in the quarter-finals of the League Cup for the first time since 1989.

Two momentary lapses of concentration that offered Hull City defenders Harry Maguire and Michael Dawson goals from two separate Ryan Mason corner kicks either side of half-time saw City end the night on the wrong-end of a 2-1 defeat, but Johnson said: "I was really proud of the performance.

We performed really strongly with a young group against a side that has been promoted. If you took the set-pieces out of the situation against a very big and physically domineering side, I thought we out played a really good team.


"We showed character and spirit to try and mount a comeback when we went behind and we had them completely on the back foot for the last five or ten minutes.

"I'm disappointed we didn't win the game, but the fact we played so well with such a young group shows the club in a good light moving forward.

On conceding two goals from set-piece situations, Johnson added: "The goals came at bad times, but in comparison to Hull we are a small team.

"We have players who have their physical maturation to come, but they have showed they have footballing ability.

"The physicality will come with time and and playing in games like that will be invaluable in terms of gaining the experience that will help their development."

City did launch a spirited attempt to fight back and were denied on several occasions before substitute Lee Tomlin finally found a way through in stoppage time.

"When Callum goes through in the second-half you expect him to tuck that one away," Johnson said. "The goalkeeper then makes a good save to deny Tomlin from the sort of opportunity you'd expect him to score from.

"I am frustrated at losing but looking at the bigger picture I am really pleased. It was always going to be a difficult game. You can't turn up and expect that you are going to trounce a Premier League side. I thought we matched them but we simply conceded bad goals at bad times."

Johnson had made nine changes to his starting line-up to include a home debut for Swedish striker Gustav Engvall.

Goalkeeper Richard O'Donnell was also handed a return to the side along with promising young defender Taylor Moore, and Johnson added: "We have to find games to give them the sort of experience that will help them develop.

"I'm sure people will ask why I didn't start with Abraham and Tomlin, but we are looking at the bigger picture.

"The only way we will develop our young players is to stretch and to test them in competitive games like this. If you take the set-pieces out of the equation I believe we were the better side for most of the game."

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/lee-jo...-the-efl-cup/story-29841748-detail/story.html

 

We pay him to manage, we are 6th in the league and still progressing, until, when and if we get a series of disasters the man deserves our support and he should be steadfast in his beliefs and opinions, keep it going Lee, it's working.

What a difference a year makes.