Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson looks set to alter his strike force for the Severnside Derby against Cardiff City as his system demands maximum intensity from his front players and an intense seven days prior to this fixture means fatigue has inevitably come into his selection equation.
Pearson compels his forwards to lead from the top, off the ball as much as on it, setting pressing traps high up the field and then being on their heels when the Robins attack in transition to set the tone for the rest of the side. As a result, he needs to know who he selects is at their maximum in terms of fitness and energy levels before the game.
Injuries have limited flexibility elsewhere on the pitch, outside perhaps at full-back, but going into the clash in south Wales, with the exception of Tommy Conway, who won’t be back for at least two weeks due to a hamstring issue, he has a fully fit complement of forwards.
That means Nahki Wells, Sam Bell, Mark Sykes, Andi Weimann, Anis Mehmeti and Harry Cornick are competing for three positions and a trio of senior first-team players are subsequently going to be left disappointed.
Mehmeti and Cornick were cup tied for the 3-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday and the former will almost certainly come back into the side having looked dangerous in each of his four Championship appearances on the left of the attacking positions since signing from Wycombe Wanderers on deadline day.
Cornick represents an alternative through the middle, in the No9 role he’s being moulded into, but that would mean Bell and Wells - who both started on Tuesday, and the former against Hull last Saturday - would have to make way.
The right-hand side is then a straight fight between Mark Sykes and captain Andi Weimann. The Austrian played the entire of the second half in midweek, his second-highest volume of minutes since returning from a hamstring injury, but Sykes remains in possession of the shirt and continues to impress Pearson with his versatility, consistency and energy, on and off the ball.
Ultimately, the decisions in the centre and the right flank have come down to the respective players’ output in training, as Pearson had to adapt the squad’s programme in the wake of Manchester City, with Thursday largely a recovery day and the only full day being on Friday.
That meant he broke from his traditional norm of naming his starting XI, instead wanting to observe how certain individuals performed at the High Performance Centre before travelling along the M4 to their hotel just outside of Cardiff.
“It’s been recovery really and then normally I’d name the side before we go out and train but we wanted to have another look at them this morning,” Pearson said. “The players now know what the starting XI is now and I just think it’s really important that whatever the selection is, again, the bench is vital and we certainly have more attacking options than we do have defensive options.
“But it’s the forward line that has to be at its freshest because they are the trigger for the whole team. We play well when the forward line is pressing effectively and is showing the ability to, when we have the ball, to hurt our opponent, so there’s a lot of emphasis on the fitness levels and the abilities to produce those sort of high-intensity moves that we try and create.
“Those are a big factor but the good thing is we do have lots of options; the Sunderland game we made three changes at the same time and that’s the benefit of being able to utilise as many subs as you can.”
Pearson accepts his selection decision will inevitably lead to grumpy players, and his mention of some individuals being “frustrated” after not being awarded starting roles makes for an interesting guessing game ahead of the official team confirmation at 11:30am.
Weimann remains a fascinating case in this new system because he’s yet to fully convince in the right-sided berth but has been given only a handful of opportunities due to Sykes’ form. Before his injury, in the previous 3-4-1-2 formation, Weimann was a near-automatic starter.
The nature of the opposition is also significant because the 31-year-old scored a brace in last season’s 2-1 victory at Cardiff City Stadium, and another during the 3-2 triumph in January, and overall has an excellent record against the Bluebirds.
Weimann has scored four in 10 appearances over the course of his career and has lost to them just once - a 1-0 loss at an empty Ashton Gate during the Covid-impacted end to the 2019/20 campaign, which proved to be the end of Lee Johnson’s tenure. Pearson is not a manager for superstition or sentimentality, however.
That being said, Sykes is the only member of Pearson’s forward department to have played 90 minutes against Hull City and Manchester City so the Republic of Ireland international could be moved to the bench, with a move to return him to the starting XI for the trip to Huddersfield Town on Tuesday.
“We do have some frustrated players because they’re either not starting or awaiting their chance but it’s something that players have to deal with and, when they do get their chance, it’s even more important that they are able to take it,” Pearson added. “It’s hard to keep everybody happy but that’s not my job, really.
“I know they are frustrated but as a group of players they’re great. My job isn’t to be their best mate, I’m somebody who has to make decisions and sometimes they can seem unfair or difficult but that’s just the way it is.
“It’s a game in which there is always pressure on and we need to make sure our performance is right. I want us to play with the same sort of energy levels as we have done and be as aggressive as we can.”
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