Nigel Pearson was blunt in his response when asked whether he needed a defensive midfielder.
The Bristol City manager, who had just watched his team fall to a 2-1 home defeat to Birmingham last month, replied: "Yeah, well we don’t really have any at the football club. We don’t have any."
The truth of the matter is, City haven't really had a genuine, orthodox defensive midfielder since Marlon Pack left for Cardiff on deadline day in 2019, with Lee Johnson reluctant to let his trusted lieutenant leave but with an offer that was simply too good for the club to refuse.
Funnily enough, one poster by the name of 'Coppello' would write on the One Team In Bristol forum at the time: "I feel we may miss Pack's physical presence in the defensive midfield role."
Almost three years down the line and it's a comment that still rings true in the Bristol City squad and a key reason as to why the club have struggled massively with the defensive side of their game this season and last.
Adam Nagy - who, in effect, replaced Pack - was tidy on the ball as a creative presence and could stick in a foot to win a tackle, but he wasn't the disciplined, midfield enforcer-type who could sit in front of the defence for 90 minutes and quell opposition attacks through the middle of the park. His natural inclination to drift forward also meant he didn't have the same positional reliability, in a defensive sense, as Pack.
The same could be said for Andy King and Matty James when they both arrived on free transfers in the summer. Two defensive-minded midfielders although neither possesses that physical presence, or intimidation factor needed to unnerve opponents. Yes, injuries have curtailed their seasons and prevented the pair from building a partnership but even Pearson himself admitted they weren't defensive midfielders.
While City's dismal defensive record this season can easily be laid to blame at the feet of the defenders and Pearson's summer recruitment, the lack of a proper defensive midfielder has proven to be a major downfall this season.
What the Robins have been missing is a nasty, horrible scrapper in the middle of the park. One of those players that would emerge on the teamsheet and make an opponent think twice about leaving a little in a tackle.
Think of the player in the mould of Roy Keane, Lee Cattermole, Scott Brown or Ben Pearson. Obviously, those quarter of players range in quality but they share similar attributes and paint a picture of the type of player lacking at Pearson's disposal.
Much has been made of the manager's intention to invest in defenders this summer - and rightly so - with City needing a new right wing-back and at least one new centre-back.
But City's middle has been far too easy to play against and despite all the energetic and technical qualities that Han-Noah Massengo and Alex Scott possess, they lack that defensive nous needed to protect the backline blurring the balance between technical ability and brute force.
The numbers don't lie and with 72 goals conceded this season in total, 49 of those have come from open play - the second-highest figure in the league - suggesting City are carved apart too easily in the middle of the park.
Defensive midfielders help form the crux in the spine of a team and a look at the top three teams in the league all have a player of that ilk to help guide them to promotion. Fulham have Harrison Reed, Bournemouth have Pearson and Jefferson Lerma and Huddersfield have Lewis O'Brien.
Pearson wants to make his side hard to beat but at the moment it's difficult to think of a midfielder, maybe in the exception of Joe Williams, that could be backed to come out on top in a 50/50 challenge.
There's plenty of work to do in the summer, the manager acknowledges that, and by the beginning of next season it's not farfetched to suggest the Robins could have at least eight new arrivals through the door following a major clear-out operation.
At the top of that priority list should be a defensive enforcer with a physical presence among their ranks. A look at a couple of the out of contract players in the Championship in the summer could suggest one or two bargains are in the offering.
Funnily enough, Pack is one of those out of contract at Cardiff and as he undoubtedly still lives close to the area, perhaps wouldn't be against a final Ashton Gate swansong in the future. Albeit with the same concerns about his pace in possession, which precipitated his departure in 2019, all the more amplified now.
Luton's Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu is another whose deal is expiring alongside Stoke's Jordan Thompson. Pearson will have his own ideas and targets in mind when it comes to the summer, but what he can't afford to do is make the same mistakes as last summer by signing ageing players susceptible to injuries.
City's financial situation doesn't help matters in the transfer window and there won't be much sofa change lying around. However, the increasingly inevitable sale of Massengo, as the midfielder's contract offer appears no closer to being signed, and the potential departures of Antoine Semenyo and Alex Scott will surely raise enough cash to reinvest in the squad.
And while improvements will be needed across the pitch, if Pearson has to make a sacrifice or two this summer, he mustn't overlook the need to find a defensive midfielder.
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