Robins roar towards play-offs: Bristol City 1-0 Derby County

Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones review Bristol City’s latest win in the Championship.

Transcript

00:00So, Dan, looking at Bristol City, now obviously a massive win over Derby County. I mean, it

00:07just puts them, you know, we will discuss multiple times how competitive the championship

00:12is, how close the division is. But, you know, on paper, they are only three or so points

00:18from being confirmed in the places, a long way to go. But it's certainly a positive position

00:24to be in at this stage of the season. And they need to make sure that they spend the

00:28rest of this campaign really pushing on. And, you know, January is a big month in terms

00:32of transfers. Can they sort of recruit the right sort of players to get them over the

00:38line, get them into those playoff places? And if they are to be in the playoffs, do

00:42they have the sort of quality to compete? Because, you know, you look at the top of

00:46the division, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, West Brom, Sheffield United, Burnley, Leeds, these

00:50are all really, you know, certainly Premier League outfits that they can be in the next

00:55season or two. So will they have the quality to compete if they do get there? But at the

00:59moment, it's a real positive position.

01:01Well, manager Liam Manning has always been quite convinced that they have the quality

01:06to get in amongst the playoff places. And in some results, they have shown that. And

01:10they do have some good players. I mean, Ernest Messi, for example, Twain as well. They have

01:16done quite well, but it's just been a lack of consistency this season. Although, obviously,

01:21this win against Derby has really helped. It's put them within touching distance of

01:26the playoff places. But the frustration is that before that, they went away to, you know,

01:30managerless Plymouth and led that game twice. And then we're still pegged back on both occasions

01:35and drawing it away at home park. And so that's the frustration, because if you win that game,

01:39then add the Derby win, you're pretty much there, to be honest. And obviously, I know

01:43that it's one thing to get there and another thing to stay there. But it's the fact that

01:49they get so close and then they fall away a little bit and then they get close and they

01:52fall away. They don't ever quite get there. But that win against Derby has certainly helped.

01:56It's fair to say it was a good performance, perhaps could have been more against a struggling

02:01Derby side. But Luke McNally sent it off with the only goal of the game and that secured

02:07the win at Ashton Gate for them. And it's put them, as I say, they're into the mix.

02:11And in January, I think they do need a couple of signings. I'm not sure they need a lot

02:16because I think Liam Manning is right in the sense that they do have quality within

02:19their ranks, but they could perhaps do with more. You could argue an out and out striker,

02:25to be honest. They are getting goals from around the team, but I think no one consistently

02:30enough and no one scoring a huge amount on their own, which every team wants that sort

02:36of striker within their ranks. But of course, they are the hardest players to come by in

02:40terms of transfers. But I think defensively, they're doing OK, to be honest, perhaps some

02:45heat lapses at times. And I think for the most part, they just need to cut out the silly

02:48errors at the back when they're holding on to wins and they don't see games out. It's

02:53happened against Sunderland, it happened against Plymouth recently as well. And that's the

02:56real issue for them. But signs are looking good for the Robins.