Nigel, can we start with some positive news for Bristol City fans: Chris Martin extending his deal at Ashton Gate. Was it an easy decision to award him a new contract?
It’s actually triggered by his appearances so I’m delighted. One of things we try and factor into people’s contracts is, especially as players become more senior, the extra year is triggered by a number of appearances. It’s pretty common in football.
I’m delighted that he’s staying because he’s somebody who’s very reliable for us. At the moment, with where we are with our squad, it’s good to have a few reliable players because that’s been one of our problems, not having enough consistency.
Chris earns his contract and that’s how it should be in football - players earn the right to extend their contract and that’s a positive thing for him and us.
He’s a striker, and of course you want goals for him, but what else does he bring to the side? How much has he helped Antoine’s progression and in the press release you mention his defensive work, maybe stuff that goes unnoticed by supporters.
Undoubtedly Antoine has progressed because, firstly, he’s playing more central. Last year we played him more as a wide striker. He’s made developments himself and he plays with players who again create opportunities for him.
Our front three: Andi, Chris and Antoine, their involvements in our goals, either scoring or creativity, are very high, all three of them. Antoine has made good progress, yes, but he’s part of an attacking trio that has worked very well together.
Is the glass half-full with Joe Williams? It was a worry when he went off. Two to three weeks, tell me a bit more about the injury, why it’s not as serious as previous ones.
It's not the tendon, so it's part of the hamstring and it is, to be fair to Joe, he pulled up pretty quickly. It's a bit of a relief that it's not going to be something that potentially finishes his season so it gives him another - it's a set-back but it's a part and parcel of his road to recovery.
Our intention is not to use him so early, but when games are going on you can't account for other players, so Alex Scott's early injury in the game meant that Joe was needed.
How do you view Joe’s road to recovery? And is he confident there’ll be a situation in the future where we’re not worrying about him getting a hamstring injury?
That won't be this season though, so I would suggest that between now and the end of the season when he's back he won't play midweek games so he'll be up for consideration from week-to-week but not in midweek squads, you've heard that from me now. Whether that transpires to be the case, but that is something that I think will minimalise the risk further.
Do you have any of your injured players back for Saturday?
We’ll have to keep an eye on Alex Scott. He’s been out on the field, we’ll see how he is. Antoine’s was just cramp so he’ll be okay.
Ayman and Max have been absent with Covid but Max is back outside today. We still follow Covid protocols here even though things have changed in the wider world.
It’s important for us to still follow protocols which minimalise the risk for the greater group, if you like. Players who test positive, we wait until they post a negative test before they’re allowed to come back in.
Max was out there today, Ayman will be potentially out on the field tomorrow. We’ll just have to see how they are and whether they’ll be a part of Saturday remains to be seen.
With every problem there’s a solution, how big a challenge is it to improve defending and set-pieces?
Unfortunately, we don't have reliable markers so, we might have to find a different solution. Players are unable to stay with the men they are designated which has been a huge problem for us so unfortunately we may have to look at a different solution and that's what we are working at, at the moment.
Does that irritate you, when you have a solution and it’s not being carried out so you have to think of a plan b or plan c?
I'm trying to find something that our players can deal with rather than... You asked about Chris Martin, Chris Martin is our most reliable defender although I'm sure the centre-backs won't particularly be pleased with me saying that but that's the reality of the situation.
We've had defenders who have been culpable at various stages during the season where they've not been able to deal with their designated man and that is… we concede far too many goals from the centre of the penalty box because we don't or have been unable to deal with our opponents so it's a frustration but all you can do is work at it and try and find a different way dealing with it.
Presumably, if you’re a defender, you want to be described as the best defender at the football club…
The defenders are frustrated, Robbie Cundy the other night lost his man and Robbie's a good defender but he's playing at a well now he hasn't played before so I think it's an illustration that the higher you go, the problems become slightly more difficult and Robbie... I'm delighted he's back and he's a very good defender in many circumstances, but the higher you go the probability of your opponents being able to convert chances in the penalty box becomes higher.
It’s like that in the Championship and it’s certainly like that in the Premier League. You might make one mistake and it might cost you dearly.
It’s about conversion rates. Going back to our own strikeforce, have done exceptionally well to convert the chances we’ve created. Our lack of creativity at the start of the season was a concern. We’ve addressed that and started scoring more goals, but unfortunately we’ve shipped far too many goals and that’s something in the short term and longer term will need addressing.
How have you assessed Andi in the last two games playing at right-wing back?
Andi does what Andi needs to do for the team and that’s fantastic for us. He’s our top scorer, managed to pop up with our winner at the weekend and had a great chance at the back post pin the first half on Tuesday night.
His performances, wherever you play him, I can almost guarantee you that he’ll be one of our best performers on any given day just because of his output in terms of work rate and desire to do a job for the team, whatever that job is.
West Brom have found a bit of form under Steve Bruce, what test will they bring?
They'll be a big test for us from set-plays, absolutely. They battered us at their place physically, we weren't able to match them. We lost Nathan Baker relatively early in the game with a bad concussion. We had players out of form who had a tough day.
Strangely enough, when they opened the scoring we scored immediately and felt very aggrieved that was disallowed. It was a mixture of us not being good enough on the day and (we) didn’t get the breaks as well; we need to perform better than we did at their place, absolutely.
When you’re facing a team who are good at set-pieces, you hope the players can take on that challenge…
There are two things, don't give them away which we were sloppy at the other night. And when you defend them you have to do it with a real commitment.
Whichever system we adopt against them, you can only be successful if everyone is switch on and concentrated and be prepared to be physically resilient.
Going back to Chris Martin, he’s played the second-most minutes this season behind Weimann; as a senior player, how much is that testament to him and the way he looks after himself?
He works very hard. For him, the last time I came across him at Derby. In terms of where he’s at now, physically, he’s a much better athlete. He’s very self-aware of what he needs to do. And, look, he knows what he is - he knows what he’s good at and isn’t.
He runs the channels like a player who is a different build to him. He does a very good for us.
I’ve been pleased with his contribution, in terms of his goal return - he’s on nine. But last week we went through a process of looking at all the goals we’ve conceded and scored. And Chris is central to lots of what we do here, in a creative sense.
Sometimes it’s worth reminding yourself of what a player’s value is to the team. Regardless how other people see players, what’s important for us as staff to do is recognise who are the reliable performers, who need to be rested from time to time.
We’ve spoken about this before, we have a number of players in their first Championship season so maybe my expectations of players sometimes has a slightly different view to how other people might see it. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t cause frustration but we need players with know how to be in and amongst our young players to allow the young players to be able to play.
You talk about reliable players, I wanted to get a word on Jay Dasilva because he seems to be playing consistently well no matter what position he’s in…
Jay has been asked to play positions natural to him - either full-back or wing-back - we have considered him as somebody in midfield, because he’s a good footballer and manages the ball well.
In terms of where he’s played recently, either at right wing-back, left wing-back, right-back, left-back - he’s tactically astute and in good form. I’m pleased for him because he had a difficult time before Christmas, struggling to get into the squad, and he’s worked hard to get back in and since he’s got back in, his level of performance has remained consistently good.
It pleases me when players are able to respond to the challenge, and he’s done that.
Is there an update on Tomas Kalas because he’s not been called up to the Czech Republic squad?
He needs time to recover basically. It's an overuse injury essentially. When you're dealing with international players who have played continually for two or three years without a significant break, psychologically it can be a big hurdle to get over but when you're a physical player like Tomas, the wear and tear side of it certainly comes into play. And to be fair he's played through quite a lot of pain and discomfort for a while, and it was the same last season. He’s not somebody who moans too much.
Every player gets to a saturation point, and it's good to give him the opportunity to recover. We're not exactly overflowing with options but I still think with him his overall well-being and his full level as well he deserves the chance to fully recover from this situation.
The international break has come at a good time for him?
Who knows? I hope so, it would be good to have him available again. Players are either available or not. Hopefully, he'll be ready to return after the international break but if he needs another week or so then he needs another week or so. I won't rush something that needs time to heal.
Is there an update on Callum O’Dowda?
He’ll be back in the timeframe I said he would be. Six to eight weeks. I don’t know how many weeks now. There’s no secrets, I’m not trying to be evasive. He’s making good progress and working hard and hopefully we’ll see him before too long. Let’s wiat and see.
After the Barnsley game, you spoke about how the team gave the ball away too often. You said it came down to concentration but is there more to it, is there a lack of confidence?
If it is, it is. Is that a question, statement? If there is a lack of confidence, they have to find a way to play through it. They’re going to be playing. I can’t rest everybody because they’re having a bit of a fragile time.
Players, in their careers, will look back at the times they’ve struggled and actually go, ‘yeah, that was an important time for me because I learned how to deal with it’.
That’s not to say we don’t help them, of course we do. Again, I’ve said it lots of times about not spoon-feeding people, you find out whether players are ultimately good enough or not.
Sometimes it’s to do with technical issues, but not really, the ones who go on and make it at whatever level are able to deal with the demands of the game at the level they play at.
I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of players over the years who are pretty good players and then fall off the face of the earth because they don’t deal with it.
We had a tough end to last year, and the players who are still here now remind themselves of that and that’s why they don’t want to go through that again.
We all have challenges in our own field of work, what do you do? Turn our back on it or fight through it? You have to find a way through it and we have a better chance of doing it collectively, that’s why it’s important that the players continue to accept the challenge. They’ll find the solutions at some point.
This is why it’s interesting for some of our young players who are not the most experienced but we look to them for a performance when other players aren’t able to deliver and that shows you something about their ability, because ability is technical but it’s greater than that.
How important is it then to play these last eight games without a fear factor?
Some people are motivated by the fear of failure. You may be that yourself, you may know people. The fear of failure is a motivator. Fear as an inhibitor is a nightmare, we don’t want that.
You have to understand that working with a team, there will be differences, players are different; some can deal with a really heavy challenge and some struggle with it.
What’s important is we at least twy to set us up as a team which allows people to be themselves within it. That sounds a bit flowery but whatever system we decide to play, we need the team to perform because we’re not good enough to just wing it, with players going off at a tangent, we need everybody to be on the same page.
On the back of Chris Martin news, is there any update on the players’ contracts who are out of contract this summer or beyond?
Not really. Do you have any news for me? Well, you might… You speculate on stuff… [chuckles] There’s nothing of note you need to be updated on at the moment. The players out of contract will hear it from me first, not somewhere else. When there is any news, we’ll give it to you.
If you’re alluding to players there might be a bit of speculation over, there’s nothing to update you on.
I wanted to ask about if Pat Mountain is still goalkeeper and set-piece coach? I was under the impression he was combining that with set-piece coach…
He's a goalkeeping coach. I'm not aware of anything else... I'll have to ask him when I come out - what’s your job title?
Are there plans to get a specialist set-piece coach in?
No, the idea is to either get the players we have here to either execute them better or we might need to change players.
I know where you're going with it, or at least I think I do. People always want someone to point the finger at and you're not going to get that from me where I will start singling people out.
I'm the manager here and I take full responsibility for everything so if you want to ask me a blunt question, ask me a blunt question but the bottom line is this: whatever we do on a matchday, “we”, when's things aren't going well I'm happy to shoulder the responsibility and the players and staff - I'm responsible for that. Let’s just be clear of that.
If things don't go well on a matchday, that’s my responsibility. How I deal with that internally is a different thing. It’s certainly not going down the route of trying to apportion blame.
Andi Weimann at right wing-back; is it a long-term solution?
For someone who doesn't like playing three at the back? I like to have a few adaptable players in the squad, somewhere we can play different formations. I've never really enjoyed playing five at the back too much. I've played in that position myself as a player, in a three and a four at the back - it's about playing a system that suits the players that we currently have. The way we play at the moment suits the players that we've got.
In terms of how we recruit players who are defensive wide players, you can get out and out wing-backs but I think we need to have some established knowledgeable defenders whether they're wide players, wide defenders, or not.
When people ask me about that, it's nice to have full-backs who can play wing-backs, nice to have wingers who can play at wing-back, nice to have full-backs who can play as wingers but the position remains wide, doesn’t it, and that's the key to that.
George Tanner is a player given time is a player that will be able to play full-back or wing-back. That's the key to it. But I’ve never been one for just saying, ‘this is how I want to play’ and then play players in a position they’re not particularly good at. We’ve had to experiment this year, and sometimes it’s worked and sometimes it’s failed, but that’s more about the balance of the squad.
Moving forward, it would be nice to have full-backs who can defend and stop crosses, wing-backs who can defend and stop crosses but can also give us something going forward too.
I know he started on Tuesday, but was there a reason why Han-Noah Massengo was pulled out of the side in the previous two games?
Because other players were playing better. They were ahead of him. That’s quite straightforward.
Han-Noah had an opportunity the other night and will probably again on the weekend, it’s up to him to take it.
When you’ve got more players than the actual places for them in the team it becomes who are the best players for the job. Simple as that. I don’t try and put it in any other way. The players need to understand there has to be a competitive edge.
There’s only two places and four players, I’ll play the best players or the players for the job that the team needs.
SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
