After late disappointment left Bristol City’s 3-3 draw away to Blackpool on Saturday feeling like a defeat, a result was all that mattered to Nigel Pearson when the Reds welcomed Huddersfield Town to Ashton Gate on Wednesday evening and the City manager got precisely what he wanted.
Without the massive thrills of Saturday’s seaside trip or the complete control of the wins against Luton Town and Cardiff City, the Robins put in a “workmanlike performance” to beat the Terriers 2-0.
Nahki Wells headed home in the first-half to break the deadlock against his former side before Antoine Semenyo thundered home from the edge of the box late in the second half to ensure all three points would be staying in the Southwest.
The scoreline was the complete reverse of the one at the end of last season at the John Smith’s Stadium and it perhaps reflected the contrasting off-seasons of the two clubs. The Robins have strengthened on the foundations of their positive end to the last campaign while Huddersfield have had plenty of turmoil and turnover having come minutes away from reaching the Premier League.
City climb to seventh in the Championship and make it three home wins on the spin for the first time since the 2014/15 season and we all know how that one went. We may be getting ahead of ourselves but here are the talking points from Wednesday night’s win under the Ashton Gate lights.
Taking the lead is becoming a habit
Other than in their trip to Blackpool last Saturday and the home encounter with Sunderland, Bristol City have gone ahead in every game they’ve played so far this campaign, a fact that has been pleasing for Pearson given his side struggled in front of goal last season.
It’s testament to the Robins’ impressive attacking threat that even when being far from their best in the first half against Huddersfield they found a way to take the lead as Wells rose well to head in Jay Dasilva’s perfect cross.
The opening period against the Terriers was probably the slowest start City have had so far this season, with overhit passes and passages of loose play that the BS3 faithful are becoming less and less accustomed to seeing.
Yet, Pearson’s side through a mix of patience and poor finishing from Huddersfield stayed level before converting their best chance of the half to ensure that they are yet to head into half-time this season trailing.
The second half saw Semenyo extend City’s lead, but the visitors had their own chances with Pat Jones striking the post and Dan Bentley being forced to make a couple of crucial one on one saves. Pearson said that he would have liked his side to “have seen the game out better,” but also admitted that it is a nice feeling “to be not overly satisfied having won the game.”
Dasilva at his creative best
Since Jay Dasilva has joined Bristol City his quality has been undeniable, but some fans have questioned his attacking output from full-back. Last season was one of improvement, seeing him notch a career best four assists as he fought his way back into Pearson’s side.
But the former Chelsea full-back’s performance against Huddersfield was possibly him at his attacking best. His perfectly weighted delivery picked out Wells to break the deadlock, but it could well have been Dasilva himself who opened the scoring if it hadn’t been for a smart stop from Lee Nicholls in front of the travelling fans.
What followed was a barrage of balls across the penalty areas asking to be tucked home by someone in a red shirt, had City been more clinical in front of goal Dasilva could’ve been heading home with four or five assists to his name.
Opta said that the left-back created four chances in Tuesday’s game and so far this season he’s more than doubled his average key passes per 90 minutes from the last campaign (1.9 vs 0.8).
The Robins do appear to have more creativity throughout their ranks, primarily from dead-ball specialist Kal Naismith that may allow Dasilva to push further forward in attack.
Semenyo is changing games single-handedly
Built like Diedhiou, dribbles like Eliasson, faster than Junior Bent and has a strike like an absolute rocket. It’s no wonder there’s so much talk surrounding Antoine Semenyo this summer, but if his stock was high while he was injured it’s only rising.
Three goals in three games across a week, all from the bench are stats that put him in Erling Haaland levels of ridiculous goalscoring, but his performances have been about so much more than just the goals as he is single-handedly changing games.
The Huddersfield defence were drawn to the Ghanaian forward leaving plenty of room for the likes of Wells and Weimann to run off him into space, allowing what looked a fairly static attack in the first half to offer genuine dynamism and constant threat in the second.
This is, however, a problem as his performances won’t be going unnoticed and as we head into the final day of the transfer window it feels as though if City manage to retain the striker’s services this summer, interest will only continue to mount towards the January window.
But, for now at least, Semenyo looks set to stay in BS3 with Pearson playing down the chance of the forward leaving on deadline day. “One day to go and people haven’t shown any interest,” said Pearson. “No bid (of any size would be entertained), none as far as I’m concerned.”
Pearson's bench strength
So often under Pearson, we’ve seen the City bench padded out with young players as the City boss has had to contend with injuries to an already small squad for the Championship. But Tuesday night’s game against Huddersfield Town saw probably the closest to the perfect 18 City can muster.
Every player stationed in the home dugout (bar summer signing Kane Wilson) were starters in some capacity last season and the obvious strength of the substitutes can be shown as there was no place for Andy King or Cam Pring.
With the introduction of five changes throughout the football league and Premier League, the strength in depth has never been more important and the fact Pearson has been able to make changes that will even strengthen his side during matches is a blessing.
The ability to unleash Semenyo on a fatiguing backline or introduce the energy of Han-Noah Massengo into the middle of the park is a luxury that wasn’t always afforded to the City boss last season.
However, he was keen to mention the size of his squad after Wednesday night’s win. “Well at the moment it’s alright, but we haven’t got too many injured,” said Pearson. “It would be nice to have a few more but we’re having to work with what we’ve got.”
This defence will continue to raise heart-rates
Although the Robins managed to secure their third clean sheet of the season so far, Huddersfield were not without their opportunities. Danny Schofield identified the difference between the two sides as being that Huddersfield, “didn’t take their chances.”
Defenders like Naismith, Rob Atkinson and Zak Vyner who all like to play out from the back run the risk of causing close calls and there were a couple of heart in mouth moments for the City fans, such as when it looked as though Naismith had under hit his back pass to offer the away side a great chance to score.
The former Luton man has had a couple of errors that have led to goals already this season, against Sunderland and Blackpool but that desire to beat the press and kickstart attacks is what made Naismith such a valuable asset.
There is also the Bentley factor to take into account. So far this campaign the City captain has been in inspired form and that remained the case against the Terriers, making a string of great clearances to deal with poor back passes as well as what’s becoming a trademark starfish stop to deny Duane Holmes.
This is all without club record signing Tomas Kalas who continues his recovery from injury, with no clear timescale set on his return, this back three and Timm Klose are Pearson’s primary options and are more than capable of keeping clean sheets.
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