Nigel Pearson may not have exuded satisfaction as he conducted his post-match media duties at Ashton Gate, but even at his most miserly, the Bristol City manager knew inside that Wednesday’s win over Preston North End was an achievement beyond just the three points.
The Robins had gone into the fixture with confidence a little broken, egos a little battered and the squad very much humbled by the fate they endured at Birmingham City: think you’re a play-off contender? Well, welcome to St Andrew’s.
As Rob Atkinson noted, the Championship likes nothing more than to kick you when you’re up, constantly reminding everyone without the luxury of parachute payments to mitigate such a relentless schedule against teams all with similar budgets, of the parity that exists in the competition.
Beating a resolute and robust Preston side therefore, in those circumstances, was a strong display of character and also organisation. It showed, as much as it irked him, that the manager can get a reaction out of his squad and that they’re willing to respond to the one-way conversations that took place over 48 hours at the Robins High Performance Centre.
It also vindicated Pearson’s decision to make as far-reaching changes as was possible in the moment. Yes, he could have gone a little further and perhaps swapped out the wing-backs but four changes was a strong message to send, especially with the banner decision to drop captain Dan Bentley who, up to Birmingham, had largely been pretty solid.
Max O’Leary made an excellent save to deny Emil Riis and was otherwise solid, well protected by a defence that limited the visitors to just six crosses all game, as per WhoScored.com. City, on average, have been conceding 16 per match over the campaign.
Timm Klose, Joe Williams and Antoine Semenyo all made definitive contributions and although conversations around the Robins depth remain subjective, or at least the depth of quality and reliability, even amidst rising injuries, Pearson does have options.
But moving away from what we kind of already know, there was significance in the identity and the manner of the goals in which decided the contest that, as much as he totally utterly refused to show, must have pleased the manager.
Just last week, when asked a question surrounding how teams are altering their tactics when they play City to sit into a lower block, increasingly rendering their forward players’ counter-attacking redundant, Pearson touched on this early-season gripe which was, tellingly, a departure from the previous thrust of his answer.
“You can’t expect your strikers to go through a whole season converting every chance that they get, or near enough” he said, in the build-up to Birmingham. “That’s why it’s important that we get goals from throughout the side and we still don’t score enough goals from midfield, we don’t score enough goals from set plays.
“We had nine corners (against Coventry) and I think we only got the first contact three times. So with some of the players that we’ve got I would expect that to be better.”
It was, coincidentally enough, a call from the manager around this time last season but in slightly different circumstances. In that instance he was demanding goals from elsewhere on the field in response to City being a low-scoring team - over their first 14 games they found the target just 15 times.
That was also said against the backdrop of the club’s inability to add a striker, as desired by the manager in June, and - which feels strange to say now - with Andi Weimann, Chris Martin and Nahki Wells, plus Semenyo recovering from injury, the Robins looked light in attack.
The situation has changed dramatically - 22 goals in 14 now - but the problem remains. Outside of his strikers, just one man has found the target: Robert Phillip Atkinson.
We’re ever so slightly contradicting our fundamental point here but, on Wednesday, Atkinson did pretty much everything what had been asked by his manager just a few days prior: two goals, one directly from a set-play, the other via the third or fourth phase after one had broken down and on each occasion getting that first contact (although Zak Vyner may dispute the veracity of that as he lobbies for an assist around Atkinson’s first).
The strikers may have misfired, which sounds harsh because Semenyo and Conway mostly had good games, but City were still able to win. It sounds dangerously simplistic but there are going to be more games, against the likes of Birmingham and Preston who are tight, organised, stoic and physical sides, where you cannot expect to unleash the full capabilities of your free-flowing counter-attacks.
Teams are increasingly getting wise to stopping the Robins threat in the final third, and Plans B, C and D are required. What that then does, is give the opposition another area to focus on, potentially once again freeing up Semenyo, Weimann, Conway, Wells and Martin to do their damage, as was the case in the first six weeks of the season.
Over to you, midfielders
The key now is to maintain it. Atkinson has, as no doubt will be the chat within the squad, laid down the gauntlet for his teammates to step up.
And certainly Vyner should have at least one goal to his name this season with his header against QPR which was saved by Seny Dieng but really should have found the back of the net.
It was frustrating at the time but at least showed the defender can find space and with the delivery of Kal Naismith, Scott and Matty James, more opportunities should follow. City have all the tools to be a very good attacking set-piece side with those elements and Tomas Kalas also to come back into the mix, adding an extra target.
If anything, the main area of concern, if that’s the right word, is in midfield. On the same day Pearson discussed the lack of goals from other areas, Alex Scott was also asked about the need for greater production.
“It’s something I really want to work on and I have worked on my finishing in training,” Scott said. “But it will come, it’s important not to get too down on it. Euelly, Flem, they’re massive on that, it will be a matter of time, but it’s also on me to make sure I get myself into the box, That’s something the midfielders or I didn’t do enough of last season.”
Jay Dasilva leads the midfielder/wing-back department this season with nine shots, Scott has attempted just eight, the same number as Han-Noah Massengo, Joe Williams has mustered seven, Mark Sykes six, Matty James only two and Andy King the one. Atkinson, as it goes, has 12. A figure only bettered by City's four main strikers so far this campaign with Wells top of the pile on 28.
Focusing on Scott, which is a touch unfair given he is only 19 but, with respect, looks the most capable among that group of finding the target on a semi-regular basis, last season he was averaging 0,8 shots per 90 minutes, this season, when playing in a position where theoretically he should get more opportunities to shoot, it’s down to 0.7. No, it’s not a massive decline but a decline all the same, where really you’d expect an upturn.
Which lends us to the possible argument that City’s playing style isn’t quite conducive to getting their midfielders into strong shooting positions. The Robins are a low-ish volume shooting team with 11.1 per game, 15th in the league, but the vast majority are taken up by their forward players - as it should be, of course.
It’s slightly simplistic but when you’re playing downhill, direct, counter-attacking football, looking to feed the forwards who then interchange passes and, bam, a shot goes in, the midfielders are there to facilitate and be the start or the middle part of the move.
Likewise, on set-pieces, if Scott or James aren’t taking them then they’re lingering on the edge of the penalty area for second balls or, as sometimes is the case with Williams, he swaps out with a centre-back in a defensive role at a free-kick.
It’s worth highlighting as well that City largely lean towards high–percentage shots. They rank 20th for attempts outside the area with 3.4 but are third for shots within six yards with 1.3 and 14th for inside the penalty box with 6.4. That’s not presenting their deeper midfielders, i.e everyone not called Andreas Weimann - if we even consider him a midfielder, that is - with many opportunities to have a pop at goal.
The proof is, of course, in the 22-goal pudding that things are very much working, at present. Or, at least, they were because as Atkinson's intervention showed, the Robins have to find new ways of scoring goals that aren't being telegraphed by the opposition in their pre-match analysis packages.
As Scott alluded to, he and his colleagues need to find their inner Frank Lampard, or Jude Bellingham in his case, and make those anticipatory runs late into the box to profit from the pace of Semenyo, Conway and Wells and their ability to get to the byline.
Pearson has spoken of the gaps between his two strikers needing to be close, to enable them to play as a pair with Weimann then allowed to roam free. But perhaps the distance between his midfielders and front players also need to be that little more reduced to enable them to get into better scoring positions, albeit without losing sight of their defensive duties and the space behind them.
It’ll take planning but also execution and instinct, and a certain amount of boldness from within the individuals concerned, precisely what was demonstrated by Atkinson as he first remained inside the penalty area to head his opening goal against Preston, and then hurled himself onto the ball to connect with Scott’s corner to secure the victory.
SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
READ NEXT
