Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Sport
Richard Forrester

Bristol City verdict: Another late goal leaves question marks over game management

Another game and another last-gasp goal conceded.

A great team move, an individual error, weak mentality of just sheer bad luck - call it what you like but the Robins trudged off the field with one point when they should have taken all three.

A dismal opening 25 minutes suddenly sparked into life when Andi Weimann's cross found substitute Nahki Wells who made no mistake from close range to give City lift-off.

The goal seemed to settle the hosts down and they looked comfortable until Dan Bentley flattened Kyle Bartley leaving the referee with little choice but to point to the spot.

As the clock ticked into the final 10 minutes with the score level, cometh of the hour, cometh the man as Weimann emphatically finished off Rob Atkinson's excellent leap to score his 18th goal of the season.

In typical City fashion, there was more late drama when Adam Reach scored his first goal for West Brom when he finished off a tidy move to leave manager Nigel Pearson hitting out at the same players making the same individual mistakes.

Here's the talking points as the Robins dramatically improved from their showing at Barnsley but will ultimately feel deflated the leave Ashton Gate with a point.

Nahki Wells back in business

No doubting that Antoine Semenyo's injury will be a bitter blow for the club and player - particularly after his call-up to the Ghanian national side.

Manager Pearson couldn't provide any further detail on his injury after the full-time whistle except that the striker had jarred his knee after coming off in just the fifth minute.

He was spotted with an ice pack on his right knee, hobbling out of the stadium with Pearson saying: "Obviously, he’s upset at the moment because he’s been called up for the Ghana squad and he’s jarred his knee so we’ll have to see how he is. I can’t give you any more than that at the moment."

However, it meant opportunity knocked for Wells having not made a league start since the 3-0 defeat against Birmingham at St Andrews on November 2.

Before today, the most amount of league minutes he had played in a contest between that time came on Tuesday when he was introduced with 35 minutes left to play in the 2-0 loss at Barnsley.

So it is perhaps no wonder that with just five league starts to his name, he had only scored two goals this season with little opportunity to show what he's made of.

Nahki Wells took his opportunity (Rogan/JMP)

That all changed yesterday afternoon following his introduction. He went out with a point to prove and just 24 minutes after coming in he was celebrating with his team-mates in the corner when he finished off Weimann's cross.

For some players who haven't played a lot of football in recent times, they can be excused for lacking sharpness or being rusty but that wasn't the case for Wells.

His movement was impressive, he closed down his opponents at every opportunity and even defended well inside his own half when City were dealing with pressure in the second period.

It's no secret Wells could have left the club in January and was open to leaving to secure first-team football but the loan switch was to Cardiff was unsurprisingly blocked with Pearson not willing to let him leave to a Championship rival - although that could have been a different story if it was a permanent offer.

He has hinted of his disappointment in not getting a move but stated how he would continue working hard to get his opportunity and that's exactly what he has done. Even a couple of weeks ago Wells was handed the opportunity to play with the Under-23s which he gladly accepted and followed up his performance with a goal.

What happens in the summer regarding his future, especially with a year left on his contract, remains to be seen but Wells has proven he should continue having a big part to play from now until the end of the campaign.

The late goals - game management?

It does get the feeling that if we're not talking about conceding set-pieces, the topic of conversation moves swiftly to the goals conceded in injury time.

Yesterday was goal number 11 conceded in the 90th minute or beyond and as City fan Rob points out on Twitter, that's 11 points thrown away just at home by allowing their opponents to score at the death.

City have also now conceded 20% of their total goals between the 81st and 90th minute - a total of 14 out of 69.

That's by far the highest figure compared to other minutes during a game with 16% of goals conceded (11) between the 41st and 50th minute.

In a slightly more surprising comparison, just six goals have been conceded between the minutes of 71 and 80 - which must pose a question as to why City are so vulnerable towards the latter stages of matches.

Whether it comes down to a mentality issue, a lack of confidence, a lack of leadership or poor game management, something must change going forward.

Pearson criticised the same players making the same individual mistakes for the equaliser and he may have a point considering City had a throw deep inside their own half just moments before the equaliser went in.

He also may have a very valid point about Jake Livermore being in offside position when he played the flick into Adam Reach's path before the goal.

But with four minutes of added time played, Pearson could have killed time and taken the opportunity to take the sting out of the game by making one or even two substitutions to disrupt the flow of the game.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that using a substitute effectively can help kill momentum. It's infuriating when the opposition make a late substitution and the player slowly trudges off the pitch, milking the applause from the supporters.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but arguably it was the one thing Pearson could have changed yesterday.

Weimann's form and future

Two City goals and two involvements from Weimann after increasing his season goalscoring tally to 18 - by far his career-best.

City pulled off a masterstroke by tying him down to a new contract in the summer to ward off the interest of Stoke considering his previous injury record.

His nine assists may also go under the radar considering his terrific goalscoring numbers and he now sits third in the most Championship goal involvements this season behind Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dominic Solanke. Ben Brereton-Diaz is also up there with his 20 goals so he's not in bad company.

Weimann was back in the middle today playing behind the two strikers in which Pearson said came down to playing in front of the home supporters and wanting to show attacking intent.

His work-rate doesn't need repeating - he's played 90 minutes in his last nine matches and the ground he covers during a game is remarkable. Unfortunately, there are no stats in the Championship to back it up with evidence.

Andreas Weimann scored his 18th of the season (Rogan/JMP)

However, much has been made surrounding the futures of Antoine Semenyo and Han-Noah Massengo this summer and if Weimann isn't careful there could be other clubs snooping around him.

Mitrovic and Solanke are likely to be playing Premier League football next season while Premier League clubs are also sniffing around Brereton-Diaz, with his contract coming to an end.

City have the security of tying Weimann down until the summer of 2024 and at the age of 30, one would assume potential clubs would have to cough up a large figure for the club to even consider cashing in.

With seven games left to play, he is destined to hit the 20 goal milestone. Last season, four Championship players reached that in Ivan Toney, Adam Armstrong, Teemu Pukki and Kieffer Moore.

The top three are now playing in the top league while Moore earned himself a move to promotion-chasing Bournemouth in January.

In the season prior, three players in Mitrovic, Ollie Watkins and Lewis Grabban scored 20 league goals or more with ex-Brentford man Watkins now playing in the Premier League.

Again it's worth repeating how City would not entertain losing such a key player for such a nominal fee but it's not so farfetched to suggest that Weimann could be the subject of transfer interest in the summer because his form is impossible to ignore.

The back three

For the third game in a row, it was the same defensive trio in Robbie Cundy, Timm Klose and Rob Atkinson.

Excellent against Blackburn, poor at Barnsley and effective yesterday, they will feel very aggrieved to have conceded two goals despite a solid defensive performance.

Dan Bentley will hold his hands up for the first while it just an impressive well-worked goal to score the second - but apart from that, the defence were certainly coming out on top from the first whistle.

West Brom had to wait until around the 68th minute to register their first shot on target, coming in the form of their penalty. Cundy started the game nervously but grew into the contest while Atkinson and Klose were highly impressive.

They were dominant in the air and looked a lot more assured in defending set-pieces, a tactical tweak that Pearson had obviously been working on in the build-up to the contest - although he wasn't eager to share what they had done differently in his post-match press conference, claiming it wasn't his job.

Having a settled defence is hugely important when it comes to organisation and learning each other's roles and there were plenty of signs yesterday that the trio can form a solid partnership between now and the end of the season.

Tomas Kalas may be back after the international break and his return will leave Pearson facing a dilemma whether to bring him back in for Cundy presumably on the right side or leave the Czech international out to fight for his place when the opportunity arises.

Kalas' contract expires in the summer of 2023 and as one of the highest earners at the club, his future beyond the summer may be called into question.

If that is the case, and only Pearson will know whether he will be a firm part of his plans, then he may be tempted to stick with the three he has at his disposal for the final seven matches to prove themselves.

Either way, when Kalas is fit enough to see match action once again depending on whether he is thrown back into the starting XI could be telling to his future or the player who comes out to replace him.

SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.