I am honestly struggling to find something different to say about this team. Bristol City have played some good football this season and I have enjoyed a lot of the games but yesterday was as bad as it has been.
OK, we had a reasonable start for the first fifteen or twenty minutes, without really creating anything but from that point on, we were second best all over the pitch and we were well beaten by the end of the game. I walked away from The Hawthorns at full-time with a slight change in mindset. Whilst I do think the football I am watching has in the main improved and is more entertaining, in terms of progression, it is points on the board and league position that matter most. This was as comfortable a victory as Carlos Corberan’s side will likely have this season.
City, by Liam Manning’s own admission, didn’t know when to press and when to block and in the end just allowed West Bromwich Albion to have too much time and space to do what they wanted. We were so open at times and in truth a three or four-nil scoreline would have been far more reflective of the game.
Our inconsistencies both individually and as a collective are a real concern. We are almost at the halfway point of the season and have yet to achieve back-to-back wins. To even talk about the play-offs is, at this moment in time, a waste of breath. With our current malaise, we should be looking over our shoulder rather than looking up.
We picked up yet another injury and with Nahki Wells absent, Fally Mayulu was given an opportunity to impress. Fally is tall and has a presence about him, yet we didn’t get crosses into the box or give him any kind of service. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the comments around Fally not being capable at this level but is it fair to judge him when the service he gets is so bad?
We played centre-half Zak Vyner at right back when we had two right backs in Ross McCrorie and George Tanner on the bench after returning from injury. Yes, both McCrorie and Tanner must be managed, but surely to be on the bench they can play an hour of football? George Earthy played well against Queens Park Rangers in the number 10 position and yet was dropped to the bench with Max Bird playing in that role. Scott Twine came in on the left of the three and Anis Mehmeti moved to the right.
Bird was signed as a midfielder not as a number 10. Twine and Earthy were both signed as attacking midfielders and so one of them should play there. Manning seems to have shoehorned players into the starting lineup and not picked them in their best positions. When Twine was signed, Manning himself said that he had been played out of position on the left at Hull City and then what does he do? He plays him on the left.
We play some decent football up to and around the opposition’s final third and then seem to want to walk the ball into the net. Just get a shot away, get a cross in. It’s all just too predictable. Worryingly when walking away from the game, a game that once again we sold out the away end, some fans were saying that they wouldn’t be going to the next game as they had seen enough and that our season was over. We aren’t even at the end of December yet!
The only real positives from the afternoon were the second-half performances from Ross McCrorie and Yu Hirakawa. Ross may not technically be the best, but he showed an attitude and a desire to win his duels that put most of his teammates to shame. The apathy shown when not closing down the cross for the first goal was ridiculous and the fact one of the smallest players on the pitch is allowed to have a free run and header just outside of the six-yard box is scandalous.
The second goal was even worse. I’ve watched Mikey Johnston a few times live and on TV and I know that he is all right foot, yet we allowed him to come in on his strong side and score the second goal that put the game to bed. It was incredible and naïve beyond belief.
We face Rob Edwards’s Luton Town on Boxing Day. He’s a manager who has been under almost constant pressure since the opening game of the season, despite leading his team to an unbelievable playoff win and place in the Premier League last season. When looking at social media, clips of games and crowd reaction, he is a man who is wanted out by a large proportion of Hatters fans and yet if Luton beat us on Boxing Day, they would go above us in the league.
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I went to the Geoff Twentyman and Gary Owers event on Thursday at which former Chairman Scott Davidson and former player Rob Newman were the guests. Newman was West Ham United’s Head of Recruitment last season having joined in 2021, following 12 years as an international scouting and recruitment manager at Manchester City, playing a key role in managing a team of City’s scouts looking for the best talent available around the world. Surely with his Bristol City connection and wealth of experience, Rob is someone that we should be looking to bring to the club.
The Luton Town game feels like a must-win game for me in terms of my own belief that we are on the right path.
Our 3 Peaps In A PodCast player ratings were Max O’Leary 5.5, Zak Vyner 4.5, Luke McNally 5.5, Rob Dickie 5, Cameron Pring 6, Jason Knight 6, Max Bird 5, Marcus McGuane 5.5, Scott Twine 4.5, Anis Mehmeti 5 and Fally Mayulu 5.
For the substitutes who must play a minimum of 20 minutes (including injury time), we went Ross McCrorie 6, Yu Hirakawa 6, George Earthy 5.5 and Sam Bell 5.5. A game average player rating of 5.30. That’s an overall season-to-date average player rating of 6.20. For Liam Manning, it was 5.