Bristol City had the chance to not only end a three-match winless run but also deliver their supporters an early Christmas gift as they made the trip to The Hawthorns on Sunday afternoon.
While the mood in and around the red half of Bristol has been one of frustration over the last few weeks, there was genuine belief that the Robins could get one over West Brom, who were in the midst of their own dip in form.
Instead, Liam Manning’s side struggled to even lay a glove on Carlos Corberan’s side. Albion were in control for the majority of the game and Mikey Johnston’s first-half brace proved to be enough for the Baggies to secure a routine 2-0 win as City gifted the home side all three points.
Sunday wasn’t the first time that the Reds have looked completely off of the pace this season and it is unlikely to be the last. But in an odd way, it felt more worrying than the 3-0 defeats to Portsmouth, Blackburn Rovers and Derby County earlier this season.
Had the home side been more clinical in the final third, they could have easily won by four or five goals while City failed to create any real chances of note. The trip to the Black Country certainly felt like another step backwards rather than one forward.
In reality, this is the sort of game that supporters would rather forget about and pretend never happened. Unfortunately, that’s not quite how my job works so here are the main talking points from The Hawthorns…
’12th place again ole ole’
In his post-match press conference on Sunday afternoon, Manning did divide opinion by suggesting the Reds were heading in the “right direction” currently. However, the 39-year-old did admit that his side needs to start winning more games as football is a results business.
The other interesting comment made by the Bristol City head coach came just seconds later though when he said: “What you don’t want to do is drift or go too many games without [winning]. I think that’s the biggest bit in this league. If you want to push on, you have to get consecutive results and we haven’t done that yet.”
Since the November international break, the Robins have only won one game out of seven. While Manning won’t want his side to “drift” through the remainder of the campaign, they risk doing exactly that and the supporters themselves have begun to recognise that.
In the second half on Sunday, a section of fans in the away end could be heard chanting: “12th place again ole, ole.” There may be another 24 games to play this term but the feeling of supporters is that this season is already fizzling out into another midtable finish.
Manning’s side are now eight points adrift of the top six. While that gap could well be closed over the coming weeks and months, this team hasn’t yet even been able to win back-to-back games, let alone put together a run of five or six consistent results that will be required to force their way into the play-off places.
City need to start getting things right and quickly. As we near the halfway point of the season, time is running out for them to stop drifting towards another midtable finish. The manager himself knows that’s the case and the question now will be what he does to get things up and running again.
Zak’s number comes up
In a time when Bristol City have been missing both of their senior right-backs and Mark Sykes has also been on the treatment table, Zak Vyner has done an admirable job out of position. His display against Plymouth Argyle stands out in particular as the academy graduate had a major impact both in and out of possession from that flank. However, Sunday afternoon’s clash should really be his curtain call as a fullback, for now at least.
The 27-year-old was left standing in no man’s land as Johnston headed home the Baggies’ opener. He had seemingly lost his man and been caught in two minds of who to mark as the former Celtic winger nodded past Max O’Leary who could do nothing about it. For the second goal, he allowed the West Brom attacker to cut onto his right foot with no real challenge as was too far away from him as he curled into the top corner.
While Vyner wasn’t the only player at fault for both the “soft goals”, as Manning himself described them, he played a major role in the strikes. Everyone is entitled to a bad day here or there, but with both Ross McCrorie and George Tanner watching on from the bench, the time has come for a genuine fullback to start again.
The Scotsman was one of the few players to leave The Hawthorns with any credit. Although he could have done better with his left-footed shot after being introduced from the bench, he added a bit of bite and aggression to City’s play down the right wing that had been missing in the opening 45 minutes. He was signed to help take the Reds to a new level under Nigel Pearson and now that he is fit to feature, he needs to be starting regularly.
Tanner also showed earlier this term that he can be relied upon to offer a bit of stability at right-back. When both he and McCrorie are ready and waiting, there’s no real reason Vyner should be starting ahead of them. That doesn’t mean the defender should be bombed out of the team entirely, however. Over the last two and a half seasons, he has been an incredibly consistent centre-back and that’s now where he should be playing.
Fally gets his chance
No one was expecting Fally Mayulu to start against Corberan’s side on Sunday, but when rumours of an injury to Nahki Wells started to do the rounds on social media, the Frenchman was the obvious choice. Mayulu hadn’t started a game since the Reds’ defeat to Blackburn Rovers back in September and would have been keen to show just how much he had improved in the three months since his last start.
While he didn’t get on the scoresheet, the 22-year-old did well with the limited service he was provided. Some of his work out of possession in particular caught the eye as the forward produced some important defensive headers and even pulled off one or two tackles from his advanced position. Of course, as a striker, he will be judged on his work in both boxes, but Manning was happy enough with his performance.
“I thought he was aggressive, I thought he was competitive, I thought he put himself about,” explained the 39-year-old. “Naturally, you need a few games to get up to speed and it’s not an easy one to come into. He had a decent strike second half too.
“Fally will be one where he’ll need a little bit of time, but he’s heading in the right direction.”
Over the course of his 69 minutes of action, Mayulu completed as many tackles as any of his Bristol City teammates, registered two clearances and gave Alex Palmer his most difficult save of the afternoon as he tested the Albion keeper with a long-range left-footed effort.
As Manning said in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, City are not in a position to purchase strikers that are the finished article. Like Sinclair Armstrong, Mayulu is not yet a 20-goal-a-season striker and it would be unfair to judge him as one, regardless of what his manager and others involved in the transfer may or may not have said about him in the past.
It is going to take time for the Robins to see the best of him and it is also going to take time for his teammates to work out how to get the best out of him. When compared to his last start at Ewood Park, the 22-year-old looked a more well-rounded player, even if he doesn’t look like the solution to the Reds’ goal-scoring problem.
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No one should be writing Mayulu off after just two league starts. As Manning suggests, he is going to need time to reach his potential, but there is a player in there somewhere.
The ghost of West Brom past
Last March, Manning’s City side made the trip to The Hawthorns and were played off the park by a play-off-bound West Brom team that wiped the floor with them in a 2-0 win. After that game, there were many supporters whose patience had run out and were demanding a change after a flat performance. Sound familiar?
What the Robins did in their next game changed the entire mood around the club and brought the fans back onside. City beat title-bound Leicester City at Ashton Gate in front of the Sky Sports cameras to start a seven-match unbeaten run that ran from Good Friday until the final day of the Championship season, where the Reds were thrashed by Stoke City.
The advantage Manning had last term was the fact he had an international break and the best part of two weeks on the grass with his players to prepare for the visit of the Foxes. This time around, he has three days to get ready before Luton Town make the trip to the West Country on Boxing Day.
However, the 39-year-old and his team can shift the entire conversation around BS3 with a win over Rob Edwards’ side. Everyone involved in football has short memories, journalists included, and if they were to pick up three points against the Hatters, no one would be discussing the dismal performance at The Hawthorns. Once again, last year’s win over Leicester shows that to be true.
We’ve said this already this term but the busy schedule over the festive period is a blessing, especially when you’re on a bad run. City don’t have time to sit and feel sorry for themselves as they have another game to focus on almost immediately. They just have to ensure they deliver the “reaction” that their head coach has asked for.
If they slip to another defeat, the atmosphere inside the Gate on Boxing Day could be rather toxic. You only have to think back to the Robins’ 2-0 defeat to West Brom back in Boxing Day 2022 to recall just how miserable the mood around BS3 can be after a defeat in the festive period.