It’s amazing just how much can change in 45 minutes of football. The first half of Bristol City’s win over Plymouth Argyle on Saturday will have felt all too familiar for supporters but it’s safe to say the second half more than made up for it.
The Robins avoided a run of three consecutive defeats as four second-half goals gave them a 4-0 win over Wayne Rooney’s Pilgrims on Saturday afternoon at Ashton Gate and a first home win since September.
Rightly, the mood around BS3 at the final whistle was one of relief as much as it was elation. Having gone 237 minutes without a goal in the Championship, Scott Twine broke the Reds’ drought as he inadvertently turned home Anis Mehmeti’s goalbound effort. The Albanian international more than made up for that with a brace of his own before Sinclair Armstrong rounded off the win with a composed right-footed effort.
While it would have been a bit of an overstatement to label this one a must-win, City needed three points to show that they were heading in the right direction under Liam Manning. Yesterday’s performance wasn’t just a win, it was a statement that will have grabbed the attention of other clubs in the division.
Of course, the high of the three points will only last if it is followed up well against Portsmouth at Fratton Park next weekend, but for now, the Reds can enjoy what has recently become an all-too-rare home win.
As always, we will try and offer a balanced view on matters at Ashton Gate and with that in mind, here are some of the stand-out talking points…
What was anyone worried about?
There will have been plenty of supporters, and journalists for that matter, who will have suggested in recent weeks that this City team didn’t have enough goals in it to make a genuine push for the play-off places this term.
While the quality of the opposition has to be taken into account, after all, this is a team that has managed to concede 27 goals in just 10 away games this season, Bristol City demonstrated the “ruthless edge” that Jason Knight challenged them to find following the defeat to Watford.
The Robins had 25 attempts on Daniel Grimshaw’s goal, 12 of which hit the target. Yes, had they been a bit more clinical they could have won by six or seven goals, but they still managed to overperform their xG of 3.19 which shows they are more than capable of taking chances if and when they are presented to them.
Mehmeti in particular scored twice from two shots which only possessed a combined xG of 0.3. Granted, he also failed to score six other efforts that were worth an xG of 0.32, but nobody is expecting this young group of players to be perfect in everything and anything they do. That’s where Manning’s coaching and guidance become even more important and the City boss was keen to calm the players down ahead of the second half.
“I think sometimes they’ll feed off me a little bit so if I come in and I lose my head and I’m over the top with that, you potentially avert them and stop them doing the things that were actually really good in the first half,” explained the 39-year-old in his post-match press conference.
“My message at half time was, you know, you probably have got a little bit more time in the box than you think so breathe a little, take a little bit more time, look to pick somebody out, be a little bit more composed on the final one and to be fair, I thought they carried a threat throughout the second half as well. So credit to the lads.”
The Reds four goals on Saturday take them to 24 for the season which is more than second-placed Burnley, promotion-chasing Blackburn Rovers and only one fewer than Sheffield United. Consistency is what is missing, but the foundation is there to build from.
An important home win
It wasn’t too long ago that some were suggesting that Ashton Gate was becoming a fortress as the Robins went unbeaten in their first six home league games of the season, taking valuable points off of Millwall and Leeds United in the process.
That fortress was then breached by both Sheffield United and Burnley who both left the west country with all three points under their belt. Although City impressed in both of those matches, some were concerned by the fact the Reds went through the whole of October without a win at home and could well have done the same in November if they’d lost to Argyle.
It may not be important to the players or even Manning and his coaching staff, but getting that monkey off of their back and doing so in a commanding fashion can only be a good thing. This game had the potential to be a real banana skin given Plymouth’s miserable away record and the Reds not only dealt with that challenge, they brushed it off with ease.
Of course, it will only truly matter if it is the start of a run at home. The Reds’ next three home games before the turn of the year see them welcome QPR, Luton Town and Portsmouth to Ashton Gate and while there are no easy games in the Championship, Manning and his side have every right to target another nine points from those matches.
If you win all your home games, you’ll always be in with a shot of finishing inside the top six.
Zak of all trades
Zak Vyner has established himself as one of the first names on the teamsheet both under Manning and Nigel Pearson over the last few years, but his performance against Rooney’s side on Saturday showed a dimension of his game that we haven’t seen all too often.
The 27-year-old started and played the full 90 minutes at right-back just behind Yu Hirakawa, who was once again lively down the wing. Vyner was as solid as ever without the ball, but it was in possession in particular that he shone.
Over the course of the game, he completed 71 passes several of which saw him interchange excellently with Hirakawa to carve open the Pilrgims’ backline and he also was willing to try his luck with a couple of reasonable efforts from the edge of the penalty area.
His crossing wasn’t perfect and he definitely didn’t look particularly confident when baring down on goal, but with Ross McCrorie, George Tanner and Mark Sykes all on the sidelines, he more than did a job for the team when they needed him to step up and fill the void, much to his manager’s satisfaction.
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“He’s an excellent footballer to be fair. I think he’s hit a really consistent level which he’s got to sustain,” Manning admitted after the full-time whistle. “I think he’s another one that despite the number of games he played and the age he’s at, he’s improving,
“He’s got better and he has to sustain that. I think you saw his technical and his physical qualities today. He’s such an athlete for quite a big guy, but, he got in some really good areas, got forward well obviously and had a couple of decent shots. So it’s now about sustaining that level.”
Of course, in an ideal world City wouldn’t need to be playing one of their starting centre-backs out of position to cover the injuries in the squad, but Vyner deserves all the credit that will come his way even if he wasn’t the star man on Saturday afternoon.
Let’s not get carried away
We’ve mentioned it above but Argyle have become the Championship’s whipping boys on the road this season so it would be naive of City to assume they will be able to put teams like that to the sword each and every weekend.
Rooney’s side completely capitulated after they conceded the first goal and while the Robins produced some great finishes, they were able to cut through the Pilgrims’ defence with ease every time they ventured forward in the second half.
You can only beat what’s in front of you, but there won’t be many teams in the Championship that are as easy to break down as Rooney’s Greens and there won’t be many sides as ineffective going forward either. On top of that, you have to wonder if the win has come at the right time for the Robins given their fixture schedule.
Had they put in that sort of display against Burnley in their first game after the break they would have been able to carry the momentum into Tuesday night’s clash at Vicarage Road and then into Saturday’s meeting with Plymouth, but now, the Reds have to wait a full week before they’re back in action against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Although the break in fixtures will give Manning and his side the chance to have a much-needed rest, the Reds boss is already planning his training sessions and focusing on the task at hand.
“I think the big bit is opportunity, whatever it is,” remarked the City boss. “We’ll be in, working Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and we’ll have a solid week.
“It will be about just being consistent, not getting carried away after winning the game, the same as when we weren’t on the floor when we lost against Watford. Of course, it hurts on the night but you have to suck up the emotion, the same as tonight. We’ll enjoy it but then tomorrow we’ll be back at it, ready to go and you know, try and replicate that next weekend.”