Furious Nigel Pearson delivers damning criticism of Bristol City's defending after Swansea loss Bristol City let themselves down yet again in their 3-1 defeat at Swansea City and the manager hit out at his side's 'flimsy' defending A fuming Nigel Pearson has run out of patience with certain individuals within his Bristol City squad and admitted changes must be made or his job could be on the line. Bristol City were ahead going into the second-half at Swansea City, through Andi Weimann's 15th goal of the season but were pegged back by three second-half goals to make it 10 away games on the spin without a win. With owner Stephen Lansdown in attendance at the Swansea.com Stadium, the Robins capitulated, once again showing an inability to deal with crosses, and Pearson indicated certain players lack desire. He admitted he won't defend his players anymore after watching another "flimsy" defensive performance. Failing to even sit down in his post-match press conference, he raged: "When people say ‘have you worked at that?’ I say listen, what you can’t do is you can’t give players desire. "So we might have to make changes because people like me lose my job through results. What I’m not having is, I’m not having players who cop-out. "We’ve been in a winning position, we’ve had loads of possession, nine attempts in the first half, five or six in the second as an away side. We get in front and concede three crap goals. "We might have to make changes. Maybe we’ve got players in our squad at the moment that have got until now and the end of the season to prove whether they’re good enough to be here next year whether I’m the manager or anybody else. "This football club has had too long putting up with players that are just going through the motions at times." When asked whether it was the same individuals making the same errors week-in-week-out, Pearson responded: "You watched the game. You watched the game, didn’t you? You watched it one week, watched it the next. Was it the same? "I’m not protecting players on a day like today when we should get something out of the game at least. Congratulations to them (Swansea)." Pearson was then asked whether he feared this current group of players was going to ultimately end in his sacking. He hit back: "I’m not worried about anything like that, no." It's now 58 goals conceded for Bristol City in 32 matches, only Reading and Peterborough have worse defensive records in the league. The Robins also haven't kept a clean sheet since their victory over Derby on December 4, a run that has extended to 11 Championship matches. When asked whether the goals on Sunday afternoon came down to a lack of concentration, Pearson said: "No. You can write what you want about it, I know what I think about it. If I was in there and I was a player I’d be kicking off. "It was three goals that people made mistakes when they should have done better. We're not unlucky. Defend like that, get what you deserve." https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-nigel-pearson-job-6652379
Looks like Nige has got the message.. *"So we might have to make changes because people like me lose my job through results. What I’m not having is, I’m not having players who cop-out." * "We might have to make changes. Maybe we’ve got players in our squad at the moment that have got until now and the end of the season to prove whether they’re good enough to be here next year whether I’m the manager or anybody else." * Pearson was then asked whether he feared this current group of players was going to ultimately end in his sacking. He hit back: "I’m not worried about anything like that, no."
If Nigel is so aware of what ongoing issues hurt on the field then why can't he fix it? I believe that there are some good players in the mix but for some unknown reason we are consistently unable to produce an effort that shows us progression and is it any wonder that this bad fog seems to hang over BS3 from August till May and all the weekends in between. Time has not healed any of the self-inflicted wounds from shooting ourselves in the foot and until such time as our efforts and mentality focus on the supposed targets rather than sticking our heads in the sand we will, at best, stand still in the slow lane to nowhere or drop to the land below.
I just noticed that SL was at the game and I wonder if we can put any questions as to why he was there? Let's be brutally honest here in that we have seen little or indeed any improvement in our lot under Nigel's direction and his apparent rant must be taken as his total dissatisfaction with the entire programme that he now heads from the footballing aspect. We are being taken for mugs for having to put up with apathy and performances beyond despair and trying to find the culprit for these traits has to lie firmly at someone's feet but I'm not so sure it is Nigel. These are so called professional footballers but as yet I have failed to spot that necessary ingredient in many on our high salary naughty step and many of them should be charged with taking money under false pretences.
We have a lot of young players in the team, which means we will be inconsistent, We’ve pretty much achieved our goal this season, so whilst these slips are annoying, there’s not too much damage. A reasonable run in though would give us something to build from next season. Nige should use the rest of the season to find out who’s up for the next phase. We’ve given Nige a bit of slack this season considering what he took over and he’s had little scope to bring in his own players. Next season he’ll have to do better though & I’m confident he will.
Vyner must be one of those he is taking aim at, he was at fault for the first goal and he and Kalas for the third. The second was unlucky in the way it came back after 2 good saves from Bents, although Christie must have been offside for that goal, but it cancels out the Weimann goal as he was probably offside as well.
'We get in front then concede.....' It happens so often it could even pass as a tactic. Even the games we actually WIN we are hanging on for grim death (Reading, Barnsley..) Nige MUST fix the last 15 minutes of games.
It puts tremendous pressure on the forwards knowing they need at least 2 goals every game for us to at least get a point.. It must be how the English bowlers felt with the English batting in the recent Ashes series.
In the land of NEVER, NEVER.. https://www.bristolworld.com/sport/...ottingham-forest-and-west-brom-3568057?page=4
