So much for a Christmas cracker.
In the season of festive cheer, Bristol City left the pitch to a smattering of boos and grumbles as they fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Stoke City.
It was an all-too-familiar tale once again as the Robins took the lead through Nahki Wells, only to concede two soft goals and throw away more points from a winning position. How many times have we said that over the last 18 months or so?
After the optimism of the victory away at Rotherham last weekend, yesterday proved a golden opportunity to secure back-to-back victories for the first time since the beginning of October against a side who have had their own frustrations this season.
There was a lack of quality on display for large periods, except for City's goal when Cam Pring showed his athleticism to beat his man and produce a cross in which Wells was on hand to knock in from close range. Then came the suckerpunch on half-time when Andy King failed to deal with a long ball, gift-wrapped to Liam Delap who drilled in the equaliser.
As the temperature dropped matched by the level of performance, Jacob Brown fired in Stoke's winner when both King and Matty James failed to deal with a cross from the right. The result leaves City three points above the drop zone and here's the verdict from a disappointing afternoon.
The tactical battle
You have to give some credit to Alex Neil. That's two trips to Ashton Gate for him this season and two victories to boot.
He could obviously take knowledge from Sunderland's 3-2 victory at the beginning of the campaign and utilise it to prevent the hosts from doing damage going forward. The most notable aspect in being matching City like-for-like in their formation.
Stoke had played four at the back on several consecutive occasions heading into the game but they decided to play a defensive three and a central midfield three to prevent Matty James, Joe Williams and Alex Scott from having an influence on the game.
The gamble paid off as it prevented Kal Naismith from playing those progressive passes through the defence and into the feet of the midfielders. That was particularly evident with Will Smallbone marshalling James' every move throughout the contest with Lewis Baker also sitting deep and keeping Scott under his watchful eye.
Smallbone's marking of James meant City were forced to play that direct ball over the top and down the channels. Tommy Conway and Nahki Wells were full of running and once again, their commitment can't be questioned but Conway, in particular, struggled to impose himself on the contest.
Stoke's two front players in Liam Delap and Tyrese Campbell were also eager to split in order to put Naismith under pressure and limit his time on the ball.
It led to a scrappy contest and Pearson gave credit to the way Neil set up his side at the full-time whistle. He said: "There were not the options (in midfield) to play as we would usually play, we’ve got to give them some credit for that.
"It was a tight game, and the key moments were poor mistakes by us that, credit to them. I’d never begrudge teams’ results when they beat us but, we didn’t make them work hard enough for it and that’s something I’ve said too many times."
The defensive situation
Where to start with this? No great surprise when the team was announced to see Zak Vyner replace George Tanner with Andy King back in the middle of the three and Kal Naismith to his left.
What did put a cat among the pigeons was the absence of Rob Atkinson who, along with Timm Klose, failed to make the matchday squad.
There's no point beating around the bush with Stoke's two goals. The first came down to King who wasn't strong enough up against Campbell. His body position wasn't correct and the ball bounces off his back and falls to the feet of Delap who does the rest.
It's easy to say in hindsight but you'd think a commanding central defender - in the ilk of Atkinson - would have had the strength to deal with it and head it clear. Particularly with the goal coming at such a crucial time in the match, just before half-time when Stoke had barely posed any sort of threat.
The second goal doesn't get any easier to watch either. Campbell gets the better of Naismith to fire in a cross which leads to some confusion between both James and King.
King's touch on the ball just falls into the path of Brown who smashes it into the corner. It's so frustrating because it was a game, where at worst, City should have at least come away with a point.
The fact of the matter is we're once again talking about the same problems - the same soft goals. After the Sheffield United defeat, Pearson warned that until they improve the defence, his side will continue to concede poor goals and today was further evidence of that.
In King's defence - he has been excellent in the previous two matches and deserved to keep his spot at the back. It was only last week when I wrote that he can still be trusted to be called upon when needed.
However, playing a player out of position, no matter his levels of discipline, experience and professionalism, is bound to be caught out eventually. Just like he was at Birmingham in the 3-0 defeat, King had a difficult afternoon and it only typifies the defensive situation City find themselves in at the moment.
It's also a damning indictment of where the manager sees Atkinson - a £1.6million signing who on the whole, has been relatively impressive for large periods this season. Whether there's anything sinister in his exclusion remains to be seen but it will certainly be interesting to see if he features at all against West Brom.
Weimann's role
Given the doubts about his fitness coming into the game following a twisted ankle, it was a relief to see him in the starting XI when the team was announced. And again, no great surprise that he was out at wing-back following his cameos there in previous weeks.
This isn't a criticism of the Austrian at all, he had a decent performance and as always, never stopped running until the final whistle. He was also desperately unlucky not to have scored when he hit the post following some brilliant build-up play in the first half.
But it does seem as though he is being shoe-horned into the side at the moment. Away from home particularly, you can see why Pearson would opt for the midfield trio of Williams, Scott and James.
It's a more defence-minded approach but it obviously limits the threat of Weimann in an attacking position where he can heavily influence and cause problems in the backline. There is a degree of sympathy knowing that it was a position Pearson was eager to address in the summer and the serious injury to Kane Wilson has really hampered that.
After 75 minutes, Pearson changed the approach by bringing on Mark Sykes for Williams which allowed Weimann to move into the No10 role. It was a positive move that came too late in the game because Sykes provided to be a handful out on that flank.
Again, this comes down to that midfield battle that Pearson eluded to as being key during his Thursday press conference but Neil knew how City would shape up with those three and was able to nullify the threat.
The halfway point
So we're halfway through the season and City sit three points above the drop zone in 18th. If we're completely honest, for all the good work going into changing the culture and atmosphere on the pitch, progress on it is very slow, if at all.
At this stage last season, 23 games into the campaign, the Robins were on the exact same number of points and were sitting five adrift above the dropzone. In comparison, they won seven games at this stage last season, the same as this time around, scored five goals more this season but have also conceded three more.
The inconsistencies have remained and that's a concern. While there was no money to spend in the summer, there was never going to be a radical change to results and performances but you do have to question whether progress is at an acceptable rate.
What's also slightly daunting is City's next three games are going to be very difficult to pick up points. They take on a West Brom side on boxing day who, under new manager Carlos Corberan, have won their last five in a row.
Then they head to Millwall who have the third-best home record in the division before another trip to Coventry which is no easy task. It's all hypothetical at the moment but there does seem every chance that by 5pm on New Year's day, City's position in the league could be even more precarious than it is now.
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