Liam Manning admits that Bristol City will have to “suck up” their “disappointing” defeat to Portsmouth after the Robins were well beaten by John Mousinho’s side at Fratton Park.
The Reds failed to lay a glove on the Championship strugglers as goals from Colby Bishop, Josh Murphy and Callum Lang ensured that the home side claimed all three points with a comfortable 3-0 win on the South Coast.
City had their own chances to find a way back into the game, the best of which came just before half-time as both Anis Mehmeti and Max Bird came close to finding the net, they lacked that cutting edge needed to claw their way back into the game at Fratton Park.
The defeat leaves the Robins 12th in the Championship table, six points adrift of Blackburn Rovers who occupy the final play-off position and eight clear of Plymouth Argyle and the relegation zone.
Although Manning has been quick to defend his squad following narrow defeats to Watford, Burnley and Sheffield United in recent weeks, the Robins boss admitted that his team got nowhere near the standards they have set so far this season.
“[It went wrong] pretty much everywhere,” said the 39-year-old after the full-time whistle on Saturday. “We were second best to most things which hasn’t been like us. I’ll be the first to defend the lads if we don’t perform to a level, but we didn’t hit that today in most areas. In duels, second balls, quality on the ball, finishing, defending the box and so many areas.
“It’s not been like us. The lads, irrespective of results, have hit a consistent run of form so it’s really frustrating and disappointing.”
Portsmouth’s opener came with just 20 minutes on the clock as Murphy picked Jason Knight’s pocket on the edge of Bristol City’s penalty area after Max O’Leary had played the ball into the feet of the Ireland international. Murphy then picked out Bishop whose first shot was well saved by the Reds ‘keeper, but he was able to tap home at the second time of asking under little pressure.
While Manning has encouraged his side to play out from the back throughout his tenure at Ashton Gate, the 39-year-old felt his players needed to be a bit more sensible in their decision-making, especially given the windy conditions at Fratton Park.
“It’s a bit about decision-making for me,” Manning explained post-match. “In really tough conditions against a team that does really want to press, which makes it even harder, you have to be a little bit smart.
“At the same point so many of those have come off right and we’ve created off of it, progressed up the pitch or scored from it so it’s one of those where you have to adapt a little bit to the style and type of the game and we didn’t do that today.
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“I want the players to want the ball, I want them to play and I want them to be brave but to the same point, I want them to make really good decisions and when you coach the decision-making element of it which we do, sometimes they’ll get it right, sometimes they’ll get it wrong.
“The biggest thing is, you have to learn from it and you have to make sure you don’t repeat it regularly. We have to make sure that we suck up today and make sure in the future we don’t repeat that.”
City have a chance to bounce back quickly as they make the trip to the North East and the Stadium of Light on Tuesday evening to face Championship high-flyers Sunderland.
The Black Cats currently sit fourth in the table after a bright start under the management of Regis Le Bris, but they have only managed to win one of their last seven matches.