Nigel Pearson believes Andi Weimann’s time out of the starting XI will do him the power of good after conceding the volume of minutes the Austrian has played means he needed a breather.
Weimann took his place on the City bench at the Hawthorns, for the first time since February 2020, after a run of eight games without a goal or assist, an unproductive period that is in stark contrast to his sensational campaign across 2021/22.
Pearson had followed on from Lee Johnson and Dean Holden in making Weimann a near-automatic pick, aware of the 31-year-old’s abilities not just on the ball and in front of goal but his relentless work rate off of it and overall tactical discipline.
However, it’s been evident in recent weeks, most profoundly in the 2-1 defeat to Millwall last Saturday, that Weimann has been lacking the usual verve and zip to his play.
That being said, it was still a surprise to see him out of the City line-up, such has been his ubiquity on teamsheets. Something not lost on the players, as Nahki Wells joked pitchside after the 2-0 win over the Baggies how rare it was to see Weimann conducting post-match sprints with the rest of the replacements.
Pearson had previously protected the Austrian to a degree, as when asked about his decline in production and whether he needed time out of the team to recharge his batteries, the City manager insisted he was someone who needed to play himself back into form.
But having moved to the bench in the Midlands, clearly there’s been an acknowledgement that, for the betterment of him and the team, Weimann needs a spell out of the starting XI to ensure he can reach his previous levels over a sustained period for the rest of the campaign.
“It’s not about getting a reaction,” Pearson said. “It’s a recognition of how much football he’s played - he’s broken back into the international side, he’s in his 30s, he’s played an awful lot of football over the last 12, 15 months. Sometimes players just need a break from the firing line.
“It’s what the team needs and also, for Andi, I think he’ll benefit from it because he cares so much about his performance and the team’s performance. He’s always going to be someone who’s very visible out there just because of the amount of work he gets through.
“I’m delighted that he’s our player, but on Tuesday night, we felt it was the right decision to make, to give him a breather, and when he came on it was as he always is, he was lively.”
Weimann’s absence from the XI meant that City reverted to a more orthodox central midfield trio of Alex Scott, Matty James and Joe Williams. Scott appeared the slightly more advanced playmaker but, as evidenced by Williams’ goal as he broke late into the penalty area, the Robins played with almost two No8s.
Previously, with Weimann as the progressive No10, City’s other two midfielders have naturally sat a bit deeper to protect the defence and mitigate counter-attacks but this new system, theoretically, allows greater attacking impact from the likes of Scott and Williams, while also providing greater defensive security due to their positional play.
Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Reading, Pearson now has a dilemma as to continue with that trio and system, or bring Weimann back into the fold, potentially at the expense of Williams who started and has played 167 minutes against Millwall and West Brom inside five days.
“When you play three recognised midfield players in a flat three, clearly you’re going to get a bit more protection across the back,” Pearson added. “But I still think, with the players we have when we’re in form and at our best, one of our best forms of defence is to attack.
“Unfortunately what we’ve had to deal with in recent weeks is we’ve gone backwards a little bit in the sense we’ve not defended set-plays as well as we have done for a few months.
“But the players proved against West Brom how committed, and not just that, they used their own individual strengths in terms of making good decisions in attacking the ball and the second phases as well, we always got challenges. Sometimes it looks a bit ugly but that’s what you need to do.”
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