The nature of the two goals conceded against Luton Town irked Nigel Pearson to such an extent that he didn’t want to highlight any of Bristol City’s positives in midweek.
One that shone brightly, even amid the frustration of the Robins not being able to secure back-to-back wins this season at the ninth time of asking, was the return of Joe Williams to Championship action.
The midfielder emerged as a 76th minute substitute and instantly added a presence for the Robins, combining energy with control and cleverness on the ball that not only made City look more dynamic but also with a greater sense of security.
In his 14 official minutes, plus seven of injury time, Williams enjoyed 19 touches and was successful with 11 of his 13 passes, adding two tackles, an interception and a shot - albeit a weak one - on target.
Extrapolate that over 90 minutes and they would be very pleasing numbers, indeed, but therein lies the eternal issue surrounding the 25-year-old in a City shirt.
In his 11 appearances for the club he’s only completed a full match once, and has remained trapped in a cycle of injury-recovery-one or two appearances-injury; it’s an immense source of frustration to him, more than anyone, but also the club in a wider sense because a fit Joe Williams makes City a better team.
The good news is, having overcome his latest hamstring problem, dating back to November 24 against Stoke City, Williams didn’t experience any after-effects of his cameo at Kenilworth Road and has trained Thursday and Friday in preparation of the trip to Preston North End.
“He’s been fine,” assistant manager Curtis Fleming said. “We’ve had to probably hold him back a little bit more than we have. You know how infectious he is, he trains one day and he says he’s 100 per cent, he says, ‘I'm ready now, I’m ready now’ and you’re like, ‘calm down, son, calm down, it’s gradual’.
“There were no bad effects, he’s trained hard again and he’s available for selection and he’s got real good qualities so it’s great to have him around but we have to be careful and protect him.”
With Andy King and Matty James expected to be unavailable at Deepdale, there is a need for Williams presence in the middle of the park. As good as Han-Noah Massengo and Alex Scott were against Luton, the natural ebb and flows of consistency that come with fielding young players can be mitigated by a more experienced individual.
If it can’t be King or James then Williams is the ideal candidate, plus it then frees Scott to play a little further up the pitch or return to right wing-back.
However, breaking the aforementioned cycle is not easy; how does Pearson know exactly when Williams is ready to start or if it might be worth keeping him on the bench for a couple more games?
City’s medical and sports science department is such that there are metrics to assess if he’s ready, in a theoretical sense, based on his day-to-day work at the Robins High Performance Centre, but that still remains a departure from the cut and thrust of a Championship game, especially in such an intense area of the pitch as central midfield.
As Fleming revealed judgement and assessment of Williams physical output has been over-analysed to an extent, to ensure he has the best chance of reaching the desired numbers in a game.
“The numbers are very, very good. You have to look at a consistent level of how many metres you need to cover in a Championship game if you play in midfield for us,” Fleming added.
“You have got to do high-intensity, acceleration and decelerations, these are all different aspects that we’ll make sure he’s covered (in training). Say we say you do 200 accels and decels, we may do 300 or 400 to overcook it and make sure.
“But it’s like doing pre-season, you run up a hill in Austria and you run down it, and you keep running up it and you’re the fittest you’ve ever been and then you play against a sixth division team on the Saturday and you’re breathing after 20 minutes and you can’t walk.
“It’s literally like that, the game is so different. You can run, you can play an under-23s game but you can’t replicate coming on in the last 20 minutes against Luton where in midfield you’re working off seconds (balls) and you’ve got to go and try and win it.
“We hit everything we can with them, and then we just gauge how they’re feeling. Joe comes back, he says he’s great all the time even when you know he’s not so you have to calm him down.
“But then you have other players who will make sure they’re 100 per cent and they know their body very well.
“Joe is very good for us, he’s great around the dressing room but he needs games, he needs a consistent run - for himself, more than anything, to prove that he can play.
“He was playing 36-39 games a season for Wigan and that’s where he wants to get back to. That will come, and we will work on that.”
Pearson has previously noted that Williams, like Massengo, is a high-impact player - everything is played at significant speed and ferocity, all the time, every time, and that ultimately will lead to physical complications, or at least the threat of it.
That is part of what makes him the player he is, but has also contributed to the stop-start nature of his City career so far; a blessing and a curse.
Based on Fleming's comments City have been even more vigilant this time than they were in August, October and November as both player, club and management learn more about the problem and how best to find a solution.
However, the definitive answer to what is now an 18-month old question eternally remains in a place of uncertainty and while risk can be managed, it forever remains in the background.
In that regard, the turnaround from Tuesday to Saturday may mean Williams is held back for one more game - three of his five injuries have occurred in the second match of when he's played back-to-back fixtures - but, then again, City may need him and it does present an opportunity to reaching some kind of resolution.
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