Even the more ardent of data luddites will concede that one of Bristol City’s major failings was there in clear black and white numeric terms, each time the league table was looked upon: goals for - 62 (their second highest haul since returning to the Championship in 2015); goals against - 77 (their most since relegation in 2013).
In raw terms, City had the seventh-best attack in the Championship and the third-worst defence. Based on their league position of 17th, they overachieved on one and underachieved in the other. Had the latter problem been even among the mid-table range for that particular metric, the Robins would have been left with a goal difference of around +6, which would be in the top-10 conversation.
Going a little deeper into the defensive output reveals further horrors: 14.2 shots per game conceded (22nd overall), 53 goals conceded in open play (22nd) 15 goals via set-pieces (20th), seven penalties (23rd) and an overall expected goals against per game of 1.64 (22nd). Dan Bentley was also the joint-third busiest keeper in the Championship, making 126 saves - and he was out of the team for nine games at the start of this year.
