Could Bristol City have bounced back much better?
Tuesday night’s painful late defeat to Sheffield United could easily have been the start of a downwards spiral that the more cynical of City fans may have expected.
The Robins came to Carrow Road injury and suspension-hit whilst Norwich, whilst depleted themselves and not in the best of form, were undefeated at home in over a year.
But this is a different Reds side; one that is united and resolute in the face of adversity.
Another early goal from Robins got them going in East Anglia, Anis Mehmeti shifting his body to slot home sweetly into the bottom corner after some good play from Max Bird and Haydon Roberts to find him.
The evergreen Nahki Wells doubled the lead in the second half with a thunderous effort into the top right corner inside the box, Jason Knight playing him in for the finish.
“The behaviours were outstanding,” Robins head coach Liam Manning said after the game.
“The desire to run, to compete in duels, be brave and take the ball, I thought was really good. The collective organisation was very good as well.
“The lads, naturally, were frustrated, disappointed with the result on Tuesday but given how we performed, I thought we were excellent on Tuesday bar the last ten minutes which cost us. Then it’s a case of how do you respond today? Seeing the lads every day and the work we do, the messages with give them, we decide what we carry forward and start in a good head space. I thought we did that today.”
City have now won back-to-back away games, scoring early in both, and seeing them both out with mature displays.
The improvement against Norwich was that they managed to hold on and not concede, putting in a steadfast defensive performance amid injury.
“I thought we managed the game a lot better than we did on Tuesday,” admitted Manning.
“There’s a potential, even with the Middlesbrough game, when you’re ahead to end up in a really deep block soaking up pressure, but I thought we did a slightly better job of playing and keeping the block slightly higher but then managing the game with the ball. There were a couple of really good counterattacking moments when we were ahead that almost led to things. But, I thought we did a really good job of managing the game to see it out.
“I don’t think Max had a huge amount of work to do and that’s credit to him but that’s also credit to the guys in front in terms of the compactness, the aggression, how we controlled space. I thought we did a really good job.
“The lads defended terrifically well.”
The international break now awaits, giving the Reds two weeks to try and maintain momentum, regain fitness and improve.
Some players are expecting to return to the grass during the break, Scott Twine being one for sure, which will be vital before the next game against promotion-chasers Burnley.
“It’s great for the lads to go away but we have to be a bit careful,” the 39-year-old head coach stated.
“You look at Knighty with his output; him and Marcus were outstanding again today. When you look at the relationship between them two in the last three or four games, it’s been a huge plus. Knighty goes away, but we need to use the next two weeks to get a few back.
“We’ll hopefully have a few more faces fit and available for Burnley. We have to make sure that we rest, we recover, we continually work. We’ve got another game in two weeks that we want to do well in.”
Manning’s men now sit two points off the play-offs in 10 th place in a Championship table which is very tight after still only 15 games.
What the City squad mustn’t do is get carried away with their recent impressive performances, and make sure they remain consistent in their output.
“It’s twofold: you reflect on the performances, and you also reflect on the outcome, whether you’ve won or not. We’re in a results business. The culture that we have; I think the lads are only going to continually improve.
“We brought in a fair few new faces in the summer. We reduced the age a bit. We’ve got some young players that are only going to continually improve and grow. I’ve been really impressed with the consistency of the performances but frustrated that we haven’t got more points that I feel we’ve deserved from those performances. But that’s the nature of Championship football; the margins are that fine that you can dominate a game and still lose.
“The group are a pleasure to work with every day. They’re a big driver of what I do here and long may it continue.”