“That’s just where we are,” has been the common cry of despair from Nigel Pearson for most of the season as Bristol City falter through their Championship season.
It’s been an accurate account for the most part, this really is where City are and it’s often been a hard pill to swallow.
Against bronze medallists Huddersfield they finished with a performance that really is where they are. Too far off the top to think about looking up the definition of promotion, play-offs, or title, but spirited and with enough promise to offer a genuine cause for optimism when the next season swings around rapidly.
City have quality but not in abundance, they have the ability to frustrate and offer a serious threat, but not consistently enough in tandem with a sufficiently working backline.
They’re further along the path to the Premier League than they were this time a year ago, but they aren’t close enough to think that the three-year progression is about to have its final chapter written in glory. That’s just where they are.
The full array of City’s season was on show in west Yorkshire, other than a last-minute goal against, but their youth, spirit, and ultimate failure against one of the best that the league has to offer really does sum up the position the club is in.
Whereas Huddersfield have some Premier League experience and a better foundation to build from, as City probed but struggled to break down a stubborn defence, they were up against a team simply further along the line.
Players like Rob Atkinson, Alex Scott and George Tanner, none of which had played Championship football before the season, were all up against players with genuine top division pedigree. If valiantly falling to a 2-0 loss away from home on the final day of the season doesn’t spell out a gap that is evidently there, and should be there, then nothing will.
On a day of rejoicing for the 2021/22 season to be over the hills, these are the moments missed from the John Smith’s Stadium.
Who goes there?
If everything was in order at home last week because of Andi Weimann’s goals, bouncing fans and Joe Williams’ intensity, then something was missing at the John Smith’s Stadium.
The Liverpudlian wasn’t in the side and missed out on first-team action yet again due to injury, this time to his Achilles. Although Pearson was quick to say that it was more precautionary than serious, it had that ominous and all-too familiar feeling of being starved of watching more Williams.
After being praised for an incredible performance against Hull last week and the overall idea that you don’t change a winning team, certainly not one that hammered in five goals. Yet, here they were, forced into another change.
Williams would have been frustrated, as he always is, but seemed quite relaxed pitchside before the match. After travelling with a bumper squad on the final day of the season, Williams was off the bus like the rest of his team. When he was seen in a white tracksuit top holding his phone in the dugout, his absence from the squad was clear.
Chilling with his legs crossed on the comfy navy seats, Williams watched on as his teammates warmed up. There were a few sights to see in the drills as well, Cam Pring was back in playing action, but only as an outside squad member whereas Tanner made the bench for the first time since December 30.
Pring’s sighting does settle some talk of his future after a relatively prolonged absence from selection, he hasn’t played since February 4. Both Williams, Pring and Will Buse who also joined the squad for the goalkeepers’ warm-up were other additions around the ground. The latter was also involved last weekend at Hull.
Outside of that, and perhaps more intriguing to follow was actually who wasn’t in west-Yorkshire. As bench commoners Tommy Conway and Sam Bell, alongside relative newbie Duncan Idehen, were all taking their normal positions in the squad, there was no sight, once again, of the exiled Callum O’Dowda or Zak Vyner figures.
As their Robins careers seemingly come to an end, not to mention that of Kasey Palmer who has been completely forgotten, it’s only fair that the next wave of City players come through and grow their matchday experience.
Frustrated Pearson before the goal
As far as end of season feelings go, Pearson’s one will have been a mixture of relief and frustration. Glad to see the back of it but frustrated that for all the signs of positivity, City’s tangible evidence of improvement is minimal, even if that isn’t the bigger story.
Often cutting an angry figure on the sideline, Pearson’s mellowed ways have been visible during the more successful past six weeks of results. His calmer demeanour has seen the manager’s xTAT (expected technical area time) decrease as he chooses to watch on from the comfort of a dugout chair instead.
This was very much the story of a bland City first-half. Asked to control possession by their hosts and break down a rigid defence, the visitors struggled to get attacking intensity or pressure building.
The first period itself was split into two, a boring and forgettable 25 minutes where City hit a brick wall in the final third, and a second portion where they were cut open and were lucky to still be in the game.
Pearson’s body language didn’t need much explaining. Minutes before the opening goal he made the telling move to rise and parole his area in demand of more, of everything.
No longer issuing instructions to his defenders to bring the ball out wide and with purpose, he was scowling at the drop off from the controlled start.
As Harry Toffolo put Huddersfield ahead, Pearson’s crossed arms got a notch tighter as they started to bind his body in exasperation.
City’s man in charge could feel the turn of the tide coming but it didn’t stop the almost inevitable from happening anyway. One went in and so did the second, by this time Pearson was seething in disbelief at his team’s brief collapse.
He didn’t have to be a reader of tarot cards to know when the game would hinge and swing in the wrong direction, he felt it before his team could recognise it and his actions made it all too clear that he knew it was inevitable.
A manager always knows his team well and Pearson was all too aware of the characteristics his side possesses at this moment, aware of what was about to unfold before the second went in.
Dizzy Nahki Wells
What must have been going through Nahki Wells’ mind? Back at his old club but without the chance to give them any sort of a scare to make a statement of see if they miss him. He’s been less than peripheral this season and coming back to Huddersfield would only have made him a little bit envious.
He was greeted with respect though, cheered by the home crowd when going to warm up in the first half and then even more unexpectedly he was ambushed by the Terriers’ stadium announcer. With enthusiasm to rival Ian Downs, Wells found himself the centre of a brief moment of attention at half time.
Whilst quickly trying to keep his head down and get on with possibly a final footballing Saturday in Robins colours, he was dragged into the limelight during a comedic stint of dizzy penalties. Making the standard excuse of a few kick-ups and the odd game off one-touch with the rest of his benched teammates, Wells was called out and asked if he wanted a go.
“Nahki, Nahki,” came the optimistic shouts, “do you want to take a penalty, Nahki?” In that moment, 2-0 down to a team he has made over 150 appearances for, there is likely nothing less that the Bermudan wanted to do than spin around in circles, fall over and get laughed at.
It was worth the effort, the other two penalty attempts were so bad that Wells would have fancied his chances. Just 17 goals short of a century in the Championship, if Wells wants to reach that landmark, it looks increasingly like it will have to be away from Ashton Gate, even if we don’t know how he would do when trying to score in a dizzy daze.
Massengo 'mare
From one possibly outgoing City player to another. It seems like it’s been said too often recently, but if this was the last of Han-Noah Massengo in a City shirt, and indeed in the Championship, it wasn’t his finest performance.
Not greeted by the same loud cheers as usual by the travelling fans, it feels like his time is up. His last touch, or scraped stud at that, wasn’t a reflection of his best work.
As City lost the ball on the attack the Huddersfield clearance bounced into the midfield where Massengo stretched out to gather possession but it slipped under his boot and set up the Terriers on the break.
Without holding back, Pearson flung his arms up in despair, shouted to the grey sky above that mirrored his mood, and turned to frantically call Tanner back from his light jog.
Before Alex Scott had been booked, the substitution had been made and Massengo was hauled off the pitch. Considering the young midfielder was receiving the biggest talking to at half-time and was lectured in positioning and tactics during the break by Pat Mountain, there’s a good chance that Massengo was on his last warning by this point.
It only took a misstep to end his game, and it might not take much more to end his City career. Although the manager was there to console him after his departure, it was a one-way street of conversation as the Frenchman hurried to his position on the bench as quickly as possible.
This decision to be withdrawn so early, for his usual energetic standards, shows that both camps are in different places and Pearson’s current temper doesn’t have much room for manoeuvre.
It wasn’t made any easier to stomach at the full-time whistle as Massengo had to listen to and say goodbye to his loving fans for a second time in a week. As the players went over to thank the travelling supporters he was seen in tears.
There wasn’t a goodbye wave to round off and all but confirm his departure, but the sight of Dan Bentley consoling him with a warmly embraced arm thrown over his shoulders and turning back towards the fans made it a badly kept secret as the emotions were high.
Semenyo’s new skill
If there was a moment that maybe captured City’s season in one play then came in the final 10 minutes. As the Robins continued to surge forward despite the unimpeachable scoreline and their best efforts, a throw in in front of the away fans was all they could force. That wasn’t the best bit though, City are better than just a throw.
The encapsulation came when Antoine Semenyo wandered over, not to drop short for a pass or for an attack, but to take a leaf out of Tomas Kalas’ book and coil up for a long throw.
Maybe this moment also grasps everything that has made the forward such an asset since his comeback from injury, it’s a determination to make something of nothing, to do something new and keep running even when the tide is against his side.
The throw, as it happens, wasn’t too bad and led to Klose turning and shooting on the half volley with an effort that went close enough to get a decent audible gasp in the final minutes. That’s not the metaphor here though, it’s deeper than that.
Whereas Kalas’ early season mortar attacks were one of the highlights of drab matches at Ashton Gate, Semenyo’s one off decision off inspiration might be a glimpse to the forward-thinking future.
City will go into next term in a better position than they entered this campaign with a season of tough-loved Championship experience in their bodies. Their young stars in attack are brave enough to not only attempt a jinx past promotion chasing defender but to risk a random long throw in creativity and innovative nature.
It’s not much, it’s ultimately just a throw, but try to look beyond that and be positive where pros can be hard to find in a haystack of mangled strangeness that this season has been, and Semenyo launching a ball into the box with his hands is the future. More metaphorically than figuratively, but the Ghanaian forward with the ball is Pearson’s best bet at progression.
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