Bristol City unable to break down “English football’s best defence”

National World - LocalTV

Daniel Wales and Charles Hague-Jones discuss Bristol CIty’s loss away at Burnley.

Transcript

00:00Dan, let's look at Bristol City and the previous championship game now. Burnley, obviously

00:08away from home, a very tough fixture. Burnley have been known as a very staple side in the

00:13championship, always competing near the very top. That win for them, a 1-0 win away from

00:19home. Bristol City, if they weren't in this predicament of the playoffs and the importance

00:24of these games now, they'd probably look at this result and think, you know what, it wasn't

00:27so bad. But it does leave them just lingering still outside the playoffs. I mean, it moves

00:34Burnley within touching distance of the title race, of course, as well. So a huge win for

00:39them. In terms of Bristol City, where does this sort of game leave them? We've mentioned

00:44the running, we've mentioned the playoff race, but just touch on the game and how it's sort

00:48of all panned out and where Bristol City fans can be feeling in terms of being hopeful or,

00:54you know, it gets down to the wire a bit now, doesn't it? These results are all very

00:59key ahead of this running and their search for a playoff place.

01:03I think, as you say there, in the grand scheme of things, if they hadn't have been competing,

01:06they'd probably say, you know, not many teams go to Burnley and get anything. Burnley, as

01:12a general rule this season, don't concede goals at all. Admittedly, they don't score

01:17many either. So to be fair, 1-0 seems like a very predictable scoreline at the end of

01:23the game. But Bristol City weren't terrible in this game, which was Burnley scored a free

01:26kick, Zeehan Fleming with the goal. And I mean, it's just one of those where you're

01:33probably not expecting any more goals to come just because of the way that Burnley go about

01:37things this season. Bristol City have scored a lot lately, but they probably just didn't

01:41have enough to break down what is the Championship and English football, at least in the top

01:45divisions, at least best defence. So not too surprising. But as you say there, the result

01:51doesn't actually change a lot in the Championship playoff race. Bristol City are still on 57

01:55points. Middlesbrough have moved on to 57 points with their win, but West Brom are also

01:59on 57. So you've got three teams who are in joint sixth place, vying for those playoff

02:05spots. Coventry themselves are only on 59, so only two points ahead. So really, you look

02:10at Watford and they've got 53. So you can't count them out. But at the moment, you've

02:15got Bristol City, Middlesbrough, West Brom and Coventry all going for two spots. Four

02:19can't go into two. So two will miss out at the moment, at least, and two will be successful.

02:25I think Bristol City just need to not be too downhearted from that game, because as I say,

02:30Burnley are a side who no one is really going there and getting anything, to be honest,

02:35whether that be points or goals. So to come away with a 1-0 loss, it hasn't really damaged

02:39their goal difference too much. And, you know, they're still very much level with the teams

02:46around them. So as far as I'm concerned, it's a loss, which is always disappointing.

02:50You don't want to lose in football, but it's not one that I'm sure that they'll look back

02:57on with a lot of horror and disgust sort of thing.

03:01Yeah, before we look at the sort of playoff situation, just touch on Liam Manning's ideas

03:06in terms of going to a back three this season. I mean, it seemed to work a lot. There's been

03:11times where he was with a back four and he's gone to the back three in the last sort of

03:16couple of months, the running, and it's made them look a lot more solid, a lot more fluidity

03:21going forward. They have a fair few players who can play a multitude of different positions

03:25as well. So that sort of bodes well in terms of a back three. This is something that they're

03:31going to probably want to carry into the running and, you know, hopefully it can get them over

03:36the line in the playoff race. What do you think has been the key differences with this

03:39sort of formation adaption at Bristol City?

03:42Well, I mean, they were always good at creating chances and I don't know whether it's necessarily

03:46to do with the formation, but they've started to put more of them away now, but maybe they've

03:50just found some confidence within. But I think as well, that chance creation has continued

03:54to be really good. But they've also, at the other end of it, stopped conceding as many

03:59goals or at least late goals in the concentration levels have maintained late on in games, which

04:04was troubling them earlier on in the season. We spoke loads about how inconsistent it would

04:08be. They'd win one game, perhaps against a side they weren't perhaps maybe meant to

04:12win against, and then they go and lose what was dubbed as perhaps a more winnable game.

04:18But now they've sort of ironed that out a little bit. Obviously, I know they lost against

04:21Burnley at the weekend, but for the most part, they're winning more and losing less. And

04:26I think it's just made them more solid as a unit, but also more threatening in attack

04:29as well. And it just shows from Liam Manning's point of view, his adaptability as a manager,

04:34because yes, they were doing all right, but he realised and recognised that they could

04:37still be better. And if they're going to be better, they could get into the playoffs.

04:41They've got every chance, in my opinion, of getting into it.

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