Bristol City registered back-to-back defeats in the Championship for the first time since September as they were beaten 1-0 by Watford at Vicarage Road on Tuesday evening.
As was the case against Burnley last time out, the Robins kept their opponents at arm’s length for much of the contest, with Ryan Andrews’ second-half winner proving to be the Hornets’ only shot on target in the whole match.
City had plenty of opportunities of their own with Nahki Wells, Jason Knight and Luke McNally all going close while only the crossbar could deny what would have been a goal-of-the-season contender from Scott Twine late on.
The defeat at Vicarage Road leaves the Reds 11th in the Championship and five points adrift of the play-off positions at the time of writing, with their struggles in front of goal proving costly.
Here’s everything Liam Manning had to say to the written press in his post-match press conference…
Liam that’s got to feel quite similar to Saturday?
Yeah, the same emotions, frustration, and disappointment. It’s close, I think that’s the bit and we’ve got to work harder to stop being nearly. We’ve got to make sure, especially the first half when we’re that dominant and we get into such good areas and we create so many decent chances, that’s where you win games by the quality that you show in the penalty area.
Really pleased with the first half thought we were extremely dominant and then the goal, it’s a fantastic finish but how they got it there for us is too easy. We talk a lot about owning the middle of the pitch and keeping things outside and in front of us. To allow them to come inside of us that easily was slightly frustrating and after that, the game changed in terms of they drop deeper rather than press so the space on the pitch changes and it becomes a bit harder to break them down and we didn’t create as much. So it’s another really frustrating one where we’ve lost a game having conceded one shot on target.
Is it as simple as poor finishing when you get into those areas? There were a few times when there seemed to be a bit of hesitation to have a dig. What is missing when you get in those areas?
I think it’s an element of composure. I’d back Nahki all day to score that first half because he’s such a good player and I know he will in the future. Maybe a bit of hesitancy, maybe a bit of conviction. It’s not through a lack of wanting or trying, it’s the hardest part of the game right scoring goals and I think the margins are so fine at this level.
But we’re getting into good areas, we’re asking questions over and over again which for me is progress from the group so we’ve got to keep doing it and the beauty at the minute with the schedule coming up is we’ve not got time to feel sorry for ourselves with the games coming up. The only ones who are going to change it are us, people stepping up and taking responsibility in those moments and having that killer edge is what we have to work at.
Are you confident that this group of players have the conviction to take those chances when they come?
Yeah of course I do. We’ve shown we can do it already numerous times this year. The big thing is we’re creating it, we were guilty at times last year when we looked at where we defended well at times but didn’t create enough. Now we’re creating a lot more chances, we’re defending well and it’s very close. Like I said, it’s that final little bit which is the hardest bit but I do think once it clicks and once it happens, I think we’ll go on a run.
Fans won’t be thinking about it after a defeat but it was another strong defensive display to build on.
Yeah similar to the weekend. I felt we deserved something from that, Sheffield United, there are too many draws where I’ve spoken about the frustration where you’re coming away from draws saying it should have been more and again I think that shows how close it is. The bit that we have to do is step up and get it over the line. When you’re that dominant you have to make the most of the momentum you’ve got and that’s what we didn’t do.
I guess when you want to push for the top six, those are the margins that are going to make the difference across the season?
Play-offs or not I think it’s every week and it’s every game the margins. I just spoke to the lads there, teams are so well coached and so well organised, there are a lot of good high-level players and that’s what happens. You switch off for a minute and you get punished. What we have to make sure of is that when the opposition switches off or we work really hard to get into good areas that we punish them. Again, I’m confident that will change and happen.
Do you feel they were fortunate to not end the game with 10 men?
I’m getting really frustrated with it all, to be honest. I get frustrated with the game and with the level of officiating. It’s getting worse every season. We lost tonight because of us, you see the handball that’s not given at the weekend and then I see the Southampton one that’s the same, I genuinely don’t know what handball is anymore.
I’ve spoken with the fourth official tonight around the middle centre half. Sierralta fouls Nahki doesn’t get a booking and the fourth is then agreeing with me when two minutes later Twiney picks up a booking for something that’s nowhere near as bad. There’s so much inconsistency and I have to be careful what I say.
I don’t want to get you in trouble but it was the same on Saturday with the linesman bang in line with the incident, that’s got to be even more frustrating?
Yeah.
Do you think you can take from Watford today with them taking that one chance and burying it? Is that something your players can learn from?
I’d prefer not to win a game by having one chance to be honest so rather than take that lesson I’ll take the lesson of the numerous opportunities that we do create, the volume that we create, you have to take it. Listen, I think Tom [Cleverley’s] done a terrific job here in terms of the fact they’ve got some extremely talented players that he’s got well organised and working hard.
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When I look at it and I’ll always look at our lads, we have to be ahead at half-time and it’s been similar in other games when we’ve created good opportunities and not. For me, fair play they won today but I still think there’s a huge amount of growth and we have to remember it’s a young group we’ve got, especially when you’re looking at the people we’ve brought in. I’m confident that some of the tough experiences we’re sucking up at the minute, we’ll turn it.
It was probably one of Yu Hirakawa’s tougher games, he started really brightly but had to do a lot of work defensively. How did you feel he got on without the ball?
Physically it’s completely different to what he’s used to, especially the opponent that he’s up against who has outstanding physical qualities. We’ve also asked him to do a job tonight that he’s not done and when you look at it, he’s put in a real shift for the team, especially defensively.
It’s not easy what we’ve asked him to do but when we’ve got probably a natural right back or right wing-back missing we’ve had to adjust and adapt in games. I thought he did well, at the other end, particularly in the first half I thought he carried a real threat and got in the right areas, especially down the right-hand side. He’s one that’s still exciting for me, I think he’s going to have a big impact across the season.
With the Sierralta incident, the fact that he got subbed off minutes later was a bit of a giveaway I thought.
Yeah and we’ll do a report, the report will come back and the report is a waste of time, to be honest with you. It’s a waste of time, I don’t know why we bother with it.
So nothing will happen?
Nothing will happen, there’s no consequence. Ultimately, it’s just frustrating for the game and it happens. I’m sure every manager and head coach across the whole of the season will be saying similar things to me and feel aggrieved at times.
It’s just frustrating when certain things are quite clear and obvious. I said it at the weekend, I feel a little bit sorry because I genuinely don’t know and I don’t think the officials now know what handball is. We had a handball at the weekend which we got back a report saying this is why it wasn’t given and then it’s given on Sunday in the Southampton game so I don’t think they know to be honest.