After the deflating nature of Bristol City’s defeat to Burnley following the November international break, Liam Manning, his team and the supporters would have been thrilled to have the opportunity to bounce back against Watford only three days later.
Once again, the Robins showed plenty of promise, attacking with genuine intent and keeping their opponents at arm’s length for almost the entirety of the game, only to fail to take any of their own chances and concede an excellent goal against the run of play.
Ryan Andrews’ second-half strike was enough to secure a 1-0 win for the Hornets at Vicarage Road on Tuesday night. While City came close to levelling things up, particularly when Scott Twine rattled the crossbar from long range, the Reds never looked like beating Daniel Bachmann between the posts.
As they did against Burnley, the officials came into focus as Franciso Sierralta avoided a second yellow card as one of the most obvious handballs of the season, behind Yu Hirakawa’s at Preston, went unpunished as did a heavy challenge on Nahki Wells. Although a red card would have helped the Robins’ cause, they were their own worst enemy.
Although it isn’t natural to focus on the positives after a defeat, so much of City’s display at Vicarage Road was good and that perhaps is what made the loss to the Hornets even more frustrating.
There’s plenty to delve into after Tuesday night’s game at Vicarage Road. Here are the stand-out talking points…
Reds draw another blank as pressure mounts on forwards
How Bristol City didn’t score once against either Watford or Burnley is beyond us, beyond most fans and will almost certainly be beyond Manning himself.
As they did against the Clarets at the weekend, the Robins dominated possession for much of the game and got into some truly dangerous areas of the pitch, without seeming to be able to carve out that one scoring chance needed to unlock the Hornets’ backline. It’s not for the want of trying, but the Reds have looked truly toothless when baring down on goal since the international break.
While fans will be quick to point the finger at Sinclair Armstrong and Fally Mayulu for failing to deliver in City colours so far, perhaps the best chance of the game fell to Nahki Wells early through the first half.
The Bermudian international was slipped behind the home side’s defence by Anis Mehmeti and with acres and plenty of time to pick his spot, he seemed to delay before chipping right into the arm of Bachmann, much to the surprise of his manager.
“I back Nahki all day to score that in the first half, because he’s such a good player and I know he will in the future,” Manning admitted in his post-match press conference. “Maybe a bit of hesitancy, maybe a bit of conviction. It’s not through a lack of trying, it’s the hardest part of the game scoring goals when the margins are so fine at this level.
“But we’re getting into good areas, we’re asking questions which for me is progress from the group.”
More worrying from a City perspective was the fact that the Reds’ best chance of the game only possessed an xG of 0.09 and their 14 shots in the game collectively produced 0.52 xG.
While there will be some who suggest this metric isn’t useful, the Robins’ record shows that City aren’t producing genuine high-quality chances when they get into the final third. Whether that is the strikers’ fault, or those creating opportunities around them such as Mehmeti, Yu Hirakawa and Max Bird, the collective has to find a way of converting this possession and pressure into genuine scoring chances if they want to improve their goal record.
Questionable substitutions
While Hirakawa is a fan favourite at Ashton Gate, few could argue with Manning’s decision to replace the Japanese winger early in the second half at Vicarage Road as he had quickly faded following a bright spark.
What did raise eyebrows however was the City boss’ call to throw Haydon Roberts into the fold at right wing-back. Although the former Brighton man is a versatile player, he is incredibly left-footed and didn’t look comfortable in his new role repeatedly giving up possession and often being caught on the wrong side of the ball when the home side attacked.
Although Manning’s options are limited with George Tanner, Ross McCrorie and Mark Sykes all stuck on the treatment table, switching Mehmeti to the right flank or introducing George Earthy would have seemed the more obvious options at his disposal.
Similarly, the decision to introduce Mayulu when both Mehmeti and Hirakawa, who are more natural crossers of the ball, had been withdrawn meant that the young French forward appeared isolated at the top end of the pitch and was unable to even register a touch in the Hornets’ penalty area.
While the decision to replace Max Bird with Earthy late was more understandable, the former Derby man had been the Robins’ most creative player in the second half and in the brief time he was on the pitch, West Ham loanee Earthy wasn’t able to replicate his impact.
For the first time in his tenure at Ashton Gate, Manning genuinely has 18 first-team players to pick from. That is a blessing, particularly with the busy schedule ahead. However, the changes made on Tuesday, bar the introduction of Twine, didn’t have the desired effect.
A case for the defence
It will have gone under the radar after another close-run defeat, but City kept one of the Championship’s form sides quiet for roughly 95 minutes at Vicarage Road on Tuesday evening.
Tom Cleverley’s side scored their winning goal with what was their only shot on target in the 96 minutes of action. Despite that lack of goalmouth action, Watford’s attacking players ensured that Rob Dickie, Luke McNally, Zak Vyner and Cam Pring had a difficult night in Hertfordshire.
Dickie, who was locked in a battle with Vakoun Bayo for much of the game, contested an immense 12 duels in the clash, winning 100 per cent of his battles on the ground and all but two in the air. The Hornets forward was a constant pest and although the City vice-captain was caught under the ball a couple of times, he dealt with the tricky forward comfortably and stopped him from getting a foothold in the game.
Of course, the introduction of Marcus McGuane in central midfield has aided the backline. The ex-Oxford United man has added a bit of defensive stability in the middle of the park that cannot be undervalued and ensured that the defence has a helping hand from those ahead of them.
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This defensive strength has been what has kept the Reds in games throughout Manning’s tenure and it is providing the foundation from which wins can be built when issues are solved at the other end of the pitch.
Perfect opportunity to bounce back
While City’s problem over the last few weeks has been scoring goals, Plymouth Argyle’s biggest issue so far this season has been just how leaky their defence has been, particularly when playing away from Home Park.
Wayne Rooney’s side were also in action on Tuesday evening as they made the trip to face Norwich City at Carrow Road. Unlike the Reds, who picked up a commanding 2-0 win over the Canaries before the international break, Argyle were thumped 6-1 by Johannes Hoff Thorup’s side, conceding 3.23 xG in the process.
The Greens are yet to win away from Home Park this term, losing seven of their opening nine away games. In those matches, they have conceded a whopping 23 goals, or 2.56 goals per game, and only managed to score three. Although City haven’t exactly been free-flowing at Ashton Gate so far this term, they should be viewing this as an opportunity to make a statement and bounce back.
Rooney’s side are there for the taking. Yes, Manning would of course say there is no such thing as easy games in the Championship and past experiences have shown that to be correct, but there are games where supporters’ expectations will be higher.
Losing to promotion-chasing clubs like Burnley or Watford by the odd goal here will be excused if performances are impressive, but anything less than a statement win over Plymouth on Saturday will see questions asked of whether or not this team is capable of mounting a serious challenge.
City have been guilty in recent history of letting these sorts of games pass them by. Manning and his side have to find a way to ensure that doesn’t happen again or supporters’ frustrations will only continue to grow.