Hi Curtis, as you look back on Tuesday, because there were so many positives, is preparing for Forest on Saturday a case of looking at that performance rather than result because there were so many plus points?
Yes I think it is. It’s the way we work and what we do but it still doesn’t get any easier does it guys. We have to take the pluses and there’s a lot of positives to come from it bit again when I spoke to you a couple of weeks ago we want the performances and the results will come. We think that’s the result that got away if we’re honest and we have to look at the little details and it was only fine details on the goals we conceded so we’ve looked at that.
Yes there are a lot of positives and in the Championship you can’t sit around too long, once the game was finished I was cranky but you get your head on and go ‘right, Forest, what’s happening’ and I was in yesterday on the day of getting ready for the battle ahead.
We’re looking forward to it. A lot of positives but it’s three points that we threw away.
Everyone in life makes mistakes, but how do you handle that as a coach?
The biggest thing for us is honesty and the guys that were involved in the goals will know that, we don’t need to go shouting and screaming. The lads, if they’ve made mistakes, are honest mistakes and things that they could have done better at and after the game a couple of them came and said it to us and we know that.
We’ve had a look at that and we’re with them and giving them the different options that can happen and when you get into there you’ve got to protect your goal. The first goal, if you’re in doubt protect your goal, it doesn’t matter where the ball is just protect your goal and we’ll see what happens and sometimes that overexuberance when the ball goes over Ayman’s head because he’s looking to close down in front of him, we’re thinking have a look behind you but at the end of the day he’s a young boy learning his trade and I thought he did well in the game.
He's playing more Championship minutes than he dreamt of and it’s a really tough learning curve. It’s a bit of both and we’re honest management and we’ve got honest players. We’ll look at it and we’ll talk, if someone needs to be talked to we’ll do that but most of the time they’ll come to us, or they’ll put their hands up and say sorry, it won’t happen again.
The worry is if it keeps happening! ‘It won’t happen again’, no problem, but if it keeps happening then we’ve got to go after them.
Every fan is delighted to see Joe Williams back and playing well, is this his short term future in being rotated and how long before you can say he can give you 10 games in a row?
I don’t think it’s too ambitious, he understands what we’re doing and the medical team have done brilliantly to calm him down and he has to be honest with us about his body and about how he’s feeling. If he gives us a thumbs up and says he doing great but his calf is tightening up.
We’re gradually building on that front. We want him to be available every game for 90 minutes and that’s what he wants. He’s chomping at the bit at the moment we’re managing him, the medical staff and himself, and we will get that aligned sooner rather than later we hope but we will be careful.
There’s nothing better than seeing him come on or starting a game because he’s an important player for us and he will be in the future. It’s not short term this, you can say it’s a sprint, marathon or whatever but he’s got a huge part to play in the future of Bristol City over the next few seasons so we’ve got to make sure he’s in the best shape he can possibly be.
A big plus over the last two games has been Sam Bell, do you have to reassess with him in terms of playing an away match because Cam Pring has had two good cameo appearances off the bench so you’ve got competition at fullback?
That’s what we want and I don’t think he’s done anything wrong, I’m glad that you’re giving him a mention, he’s had to be patient probably more than anybody. Tommy Conway has had a few minutes this season and Pringy has been in, Scotty [Alex Scott] has been playing every game and they’re all in that little group that hang around together and come training and they’re out playing their little football games too.
He's had to be patient and I’m really happy for him. I’ve got a real soft spot for Belly, he gives you 110% every time he trains, he’s amazing. He’s a great kid to work with, when the session is finished he’s the first picking the gear up.
He hasn’t changed. He plays a Championship game or he doesn’t play or doesn’t even get on the bench, he still hasn’t changed so he’s desperate to do well and I’m really happy for him but again we need to get a consistency into him and Nigel will have a chat and we’ll pick the team that goes to Forest.
It’s another tough game, it’s a winnable game for us like every Championship game, sometimes it’s fine margins but for him individually I’m really happy for him and for him waking up this morning and coming into training, he’ll be happy to say he’s made an impact.
I was desperate to get a chance, he’s come in and he’s done well. That’s great for us.
How close are George Tanner and Rob Atkinson to a return?
We’re still waiting a little bit longer with these lads. They still aren’t in training with us just yet so again we’re building them slowly but surely. We want them back fit but we want them back fit mentally and physically and ready to go because if we need them then they’ll get put in.
We have to make sure that there’s no breaking down with them and we have to understand that George has come from League Two football and Rob has come from League One football. This is a different intensity to play consistency and maybe their body when it gets a chance to do something and it’s your first game and you’re flying, the second game you feel knackered so you play three, four or five games and you’re on a high and then there’s that expectation on your body and on your mind and I think we’ve got to make sure that they’re strong and if not even stronger than they were at the start of the season.
How’s Nathan Baker, we’re not expecting him back anytime soon but is he still integrating with the players?
Yes, he is and it’s great to see him around. You were at the game that day, the injury that he had at Sheffield United was quite scary really. It brought life into perspective when we saw what happened to him, football is wonderful but I was worried for him as a man, he’s just had a baby.
He’s gradually coming back and it’s great to have him around. He’s probably fed up of changing nappies, I don’t know if he has to do that or the feeding.
He’s good and back in the building but again, we’ll be very, very cautious and patient with him.
There are 12 games to go, is one of the challenges now to stop the win-lose-win-lose run and get some consistency?
It’s a huge challenge to get back-to-back wins, especially in this league. It makes such a big difference to the table, sometimes you can win a game and lose a game and not go anywhere in the Championship sometimes but if you’ve got three wins in a week, or you lose three games in a week then you can see a big difference then. You might drop three places but it’ll be just one point or two points.
It's very important that we finish as high as we can.
We’re not resting on our loreals, there’s a determination to get better in all aspects of it, not just stopping conceding, we want to do the whole package. We want to be as fit as anybody, we want to be as consistent as anyone, we want to keep clean sheets which we haven’t. That’s another goal that we need to stick at. We need to be determined to do that and we still want to score more goals.
The next 12 games is a big challenge because we want to be building and if it’s not this 12 games then it’s next season. There’s 46 games. We’ve got 12 games now to prepare for it, then a little break and we’ll be back after pre-season.
There’s nothing better than finishing the season well. With that will be consistency in performance and consistency with results. I want back-to-back wins, I thought there was an opportunity that passed us by the other night when we came back in from a goal down and we were in the ascendency and that last 15-20 minutes we had a great chance to do that and we haven’t but that’s history. That’s gone. Let’s beat Forest and let's go onto the next game and let's go onto the next game and then see where we finish.
You’ve got young players in midfield and your attackers are thriving at the moment, if it’s not broke you don’t want to fix it but do you have to account for some fatigue and it be not possible for them to play every game?
No, but then again I think some of them are mentally strong enough to do it, some may go a little bit. They’re all classed as young players but they’re different individuals. We have to gauge what we do with them all on an individual basis. Most of the players have got some fatigue setting in but we get paid to play matches not to get treated, we don’t get paid to have a week on and a week off.
If they’re ready and sometimes one of the games Antoine [Semenyo] was a bit sore and Han-Noah [Massengo] had hurt his hip and Scotty felt his shoulder, I said welcome to the next 15 years of your life. That’s what it is. If you can go to another Championship game and play with no bang then you’re a lucky man.
This is part of your education.
Steve Cooper has had a galvanising effect on Forest since joining, what test will they give you at the City Ground?
It’s always a tough place to go and play. There’s an expectation there. They start off on a good tempo. They did some business in January as one of the clubs that have done a bit more business than others.
They’ve shown an expectation to get back into the top six so they’ll be looking forward to us coming but we’re looking forward to the game. We know it’s going to be tough. You sound like a broken record but we have a real confidence in our ability as a team and the consistency of those performances and as individuals that we’ve been working hardest on, we go into the game as you said, we’ve lost a game but we have to go into it remembering the positives from the last few games that we’ve played very well.
I think we’re probably due a win away from home as well.
On Tuesday Pearson mentioned that the young players are gaining some tough but valuable experiences, in reference to that, how is Massengo reacting after Tuesday?
He’s honest, he’s a good kid and after the game he wasn’t happy with him himself but that’s 10 seconds of a 96 minute game and he did a lot of very good stuff in the game and we have to point that out to him as well.
People as well find it easy to talk about the bad things, it’s easy to say ‘you were terrible’ but what does that mean? That you made a bad decision at a bad time or that you’ve been terrible for 96 minutes?
Han is sometimes too harsh on himself, we’ve spoken to him about his lapses in concentration sometimes in games and that’s something that we have to work on, and we are working on it and he’s working on it as hard as anybody but some little things keep cropping up. If nothing happens after he gives the ball away the other day we wouldn’t be even mentioning it, we’d be saying it was another good performance from him.
We take that on board and he’s with us, you can see that he gives everything. The fans love him, there’s a buzz around the place, he’s enjoying his time here, he’s brilliant with his community work.
We take all of that on when we’re dealing with people but there’s no doubt it’s an experience that he won’t want to go through again, you’re hoping that if anything happens with 15 minutes to go that he’s thinking ‘this is what I’m going to do,’ not, ‘this is what I did do.’
How do you make sure that the players don’t dwell on it?
We have a huge part to play in it. His teammates have a huge part to play in it as well because they’ve run around, some of the lads have done 11km in the game and they’re knackered, looking across the dressing room and Han’s thinking ‘sorry if I did this or I did that’ so it’s also how they react and how we react as coaches.
We have a real appreciation for the honesty and that’s that sometimes there are mistakes made but they’re honest mistakes and what I mean by that is that they’re mistakes when we’re thinking to do something positive for the team and not thinking about themselves and that’s very important.
On the other hand, he’s probably looking for a reaction and the first time you see him after the game he’s looking to see how we look and if it’s like we might want to strangle him or chase him around but we know what he is and we know that he’ll be hurting as much as anyone and it’s up to us to be there to support him.
There’s times in games when people haven’t seen a lot of the unheralded stuff that he does. For us it’s about backing him, we put these young lads in, not because they’re nice kids, I say this for every young kid, if the manager is picking you, there’s loads of nice kids on the street, go to Dublin there’s loads of them, you’re there because of your ability and that’s a huge thing.
Now they’re on the call face, someone can put Sky on and say what’s he doing there, they can go on Twitter and say what’s he doing there, it does happen in a lot of games so they’re learning as well as it goes, we just hope to have that finished package.
Scott needs no introduction anymore but how hard is it going to be to keep a hold of him this summer?
I’m hoping it’s not! Where is he going to go and play consistently well? At the moment he’s still a young guy learning his trade so if a big club come in and pay millions and millions of pounds for him he’s not going to play because of the nature of the business. I’m not saying there’s a lack of ability, but he’s going into a different environment and there’s more expectations and at the moment, Antoine and all our young players, I’m really looking forward to working with them next season.
They’ve got a long time left in their careers so they don’t have to be rushing it, they’re still learning the game as you know and see every week, it’s not just me talking from the coaching aspects, you can see everything every week but it’s great that he’s grasped his chance unbelievably and the best thing is that he’ll play anywhere.
He literally goes and says okay, we aren’t saying he’s the best in that position but he’s saying yes gaffer, thanks for putting the belief in me, I’ll play here today. Luckily for him he’s an intelligent, good footballer and a good boy.
With the development and a contract until 2025 there’s no rush, but you can play hardball with it like that can’t you?
Yeah but it’s something that we don’t have to think about. At the moment he’s our player and the reality of the football world is that if somebody comes in and says here’s £100 million, we’d all go ‘aaaaalright then, we might have to take that’, if someone comes in and says we’ll give you £400,000 then you say ‘are you winding me up’ so nothing is going to happen here.
We’re literally not thinking about them going, we haven’t had it in the back of our mind and that’s an honest fact, we don’t sit in there shaking, thinking that someone’s going to come in and take them. We really believe that they’re going to be here.
The way the club has forming, the plan and the pathway that the club are planning, the young players are involved in that so you can’t do it without the young players. We’re not even thinking about them going anywhere, we’re really looking forward to the last 12 games and I’m looking forward to seeing how good they are next season because there’s a different expectation on them next season.
You mentioned George Tanner’s recovery, is there a time frame in mind?
No, for us at the moment there isn’t. We still want to make sure that he knows himself and that he knows his body and that he’s right and ready. If you haven’t played for a while and you come into a Formula One race, you can’t go from a jog and then go to the Olympics, there’s a gradually build.
We want him back and he’s training harder than he’s probably ever trained, he was at an academy where he trained hard and then at Carlisle where he also probably trained hard, now here we’re saying, you thought you were fit but we’re going to get you where we think you can go and at the moment we’re working really hard on that and as soon as he’s ready we’ll put him back in.
Is there a desire to extend Timm Klose’s contract or is it a case of waiting and seeing?
Everyone is happy. This morning I don’t think he’s sat thinking about when we’ll come or what we’ll do, at the moment we’re concentrating on the games.
When he came I thought it was a really mature decision from him to come and train with us for a few weeks and he showed a real belief. He didn’t expect to hit the ground running as much or as quickly as he has, Nigel had a chat and said it doesn’t matter what age you are but you have to give him that gee-up and that confidence boost that even though he’s 33 and it’s the Championship, somewhere you haven’t played for a while but you’ll be okay, you’ll be fine. Get your head on and we’ll build.
I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him just yet and he’s 33. I said to him this morning that he looks 42 but he’s 33.
He’s a great guy around the place and he’s enjoyed his time here and we’ve enjoyed having him here. What happens after that will happen naturally.
Only the top three in the league have scored more than City this season, how close do you feel to getting that balance right now between defence and attack?
It’s like everything, it’s what we’re striving for. It’s an unbelievable thing if you can get it. I’ve been in a few promotion teams that played and when we played I remember thinking we’re not going to concede, whatever happened, it might hit my ear and hit the post, it just wouldn’t go in, it was a belief and it grew.
At the start of the season a lot of people were thinking that some of the stats from last season had a couple of games with no corners, a few games with no shots on target and people were getting worried. Now, if you’re coming to a Bristol City game it’s exciting, up until 90 minutes but after that it’s something that we are working on, hence why we brought Timm in.
We needed somebody with more stability to come in but we’ve still conceded a few goals but we’re working on relationships, unit work, we’re working on everything if I’m honest with you. It shows that we have a goal in us but we know more than anybody that we need to keep the door shut and sometimes it’s the fine margins and the last-ditch or minute decisions in games that we have to work on.
I’m the same as you guys, there’s nothing worse than dropping those points or coming away after the game thinking what I could have done better and you don’t sleep after the game on Tuesday to be back in the office at eight in the morning thinking what can I do and what can we do. We have to keep striving and believing.
People were saying that we wouldn’t win at home and then we win four consecutive at home, we were winning away then so we’re looking for it and we’re striving every day and working hard for it. It’ll come, don’t worry, it will come and we really believe that.
It was Brian Tinnion’s birthday yesterday and he’s played a part in the pathway between the first team and the academy, what is the process in regards to finding the academy players that do make that move up, is he suggesting the players to you?
It’s a bit of everything and I think it has to be. Sometimes at clubs there seems to be a wall down the middle between academy and first team and they’re afraid to open the door or come across or do anything, this is an open training ground and there is always ongoing chats about who we think has played well, we’ll then speak to Brian about the mentality. Do they deserve to come up? They might have played well in the game but do they deserve to come up and get a chance to train with the first team.
On the other hand the young players know that there’s a pathway, there’s a pathway that if they do work that bit harder and do well with the 23s and are good around the building, the manager here now will give you a chance. I’m not saying that it wasn’t there before, I don’t know, I just feel that now with me walking in this building, if I was a young player, I don’t know what happened last season or the season before but what I would say is I would think ‘I’ve got half a chance here’. If I was a young player I’d come to Bristol City because it doesn’t matter if there’s 400 games of 40 under 23 games, there’s a chance.
There’s a lot of interaction between the academy and the first team and we’re all striving for the same thing. We want the best player coming through the academy to play for the first team. We’ve shown that there’s a pathway for them and Tinns has shown that he’s got kids there that are ready to step up and there’s still a few more.
We’ve seen Dylan Kadji train with us this morning, Josh Owers has been waiting and he’s been chomping, these guys will get and opportunity and for us there’s no better for the club or for the fanbase to see one of their own walking out at three o’clock on a Saturday so we’ll strive for that.
It doesn’t look like the club is in a relegation battle now and the club in the past has blooded in those youngsters, is there a chance for Josh or Duncan [Idehen] to be in and around the team for the last 12 games?
You feel pressure even with the final 12 games in the Championship, wherever you are in the league.
There’ll be no taking the foot off the pedal. If they’re needed and they keep training as well as they are then they will get an opportunity, there’s no doubt about that but the opportunity won’t be because they’re nice lads, I keep saying that. It won’t be because we’re taking the foot off the pedal and think that we should blood them.
They’re playing with us and they’re doing well and if the opportunity arises like it did for Belly and it was the right time to play him and he gets his opportunity, and that’s what it will be.
It’s great that we have them knocking at the door. They’re training with us all the time, they’re getting known as individuals and the technical ability as positives and things that we have to work on.
It’s great to have them around but they won’t be getting a first team appearance just because we think it should be. They’ll get the chance when it comes, we want to finish the season as high and as strong as we can.
The deficiencies that you’ve mentioned, we need to work on that and Monday to Friday is brilliant but Saturday is where you prove it.
Is Kasey Palmer injured at the moment, he hasn’t been in the first team picture for a while now?
He had a problem with his knee and he sent for a scan and there was something there but nothing major so we were really nursing him back. We don’t want him coming back and breaking down. At the moment the team are flying so we’re telling him to make sure that when he does come back he’s ready to go.
He’s been in and we’re talking to him. It’s something that’s quite hard for injured boys because they get forgotten about a little bit but we don’t do it here. It’s an open building at the High Performance Centre and his knee is improving, it’s not majorly bad but we’re not rushing him.
When he’s ready he’ll be back in the fold.
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