It’s quite amazing how quickly emotions in football change. In the time since the last international break for the World Cup, Bristol City have gone on a 12-game unbeaten run and faced the Premier League champions, all to head into the March international break with similar-ish level of deflation to those felt in November.
Now that is a far too shallow and simplistic way of looking at the Robins’ fortunes as they were fielding a side decimated by injuries in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Swansea City, but it’s safe to say the break has been welcomed by everyone in BS3.
The performances in last week’s defeats to the Swans and at Luton Town on Wednesday had the feel of a side stretched to breaking point and no supporter can have any complaints with either result. But after the two week “mental break” as it was dubbed by Nigel Pearson after Sunday’s defeat, the Robins’ have eight games to finish the campaign as positively as possible with the help of some returning faces from the treatment room.
Before all that however, here are the moments missed as Liam Cullen and Olivier Ntcham's goals were the difference in South Wales.
Class of 2019/20 reunited
Although his introduction just after the hour mark was greeted by a smattering of boos from the away end, Jamie Paterson was certainly a fan favourite during his five-year spell at Ashton Gate.
The attacking midfielder looked like he was destined for the Swansea exit-door back in January, but March has seen him become reintegrated into the first-team squad with Martin saying, “he has trained really well, and his energy has been brilliant. He’s back in the squad so it’s up to him to get out on the pitch.”
While both sides completed their pre-match warm-ups, he and Jay Dasilva shared a couple of glances and some slightly cheeky smiles as the City left back headed down the tunnel. As the first 45 minutes unfolded Paterson spent most of his time ‘warming-up’ in a three-way catch-up towards the corner flag with former teammates Andi Weimann and Nahki Wells.
Weimann and Paterson shared the City pitch for three seasons and were the two attacking midfielders that were key to Dean Holden’s early-season successes and it’s safe to say Pato was just as popular inside the dressing room as he was with the fans.
The other member of that City side to feature was Liam Walsh, who with his 72 minutes on Sunday surpassed the amount of time he clocked up in his final season in BS3. Hopefully he’s managed to get over the injury issues that have hampered his career in recent years.
Attacking output without Naismith
It seems slightly backwards to talk about a decreased attacking output when a central defender/defensive midfielder has been out of the side, but such is the impact of Naismith’s range of passing from the back that since his absence at the start of February it appears the Robins have struggled to score.
In the batch of eight games when the former Luton man returned to action after the World Cup break, City managed to score 12 goals (admittedly skewed by the four against Birmingham City).
But since he’s been out of the team following a calf injury against Preston North End in early February, City have only managed to score six goals in nine matches and drawn blanks on four occasions.
In his absence, Cam Pring has been deployed in the left centre-back role and Andy King has been the deeper member of the midfield. Although King completed 88 per cent of his passes on Sunday, only one of them was deemed an attempted ‘long-ball’ and it didn’t reach its intended target.
Whether he’s in the backline or a deeper midfield role, Naismith is so essential to the way in which City want to play. If you remove goalkeeper Max O'Leary from the equation, Naismith leads the City squad for accurate long balls per 90 minutes with 6.9. The next highest player is Zak Vyner on 4.3 and below him, among regular starters, is Joe Williams on 3.6 and Matty James with 2.6, with the former out for the season and the latter having missed the last three matches due to injury.
As indicated by Pearson, hopefully the break will allow Naismith to be ready to return to action on April 1 and with another City pre-season already on the horizon, he may be able to push the fitness issues aside next campaign.
Cornick dividing fans
It’s safe to say that Harry Cornick is probably just as frustrated as some City fans with his start to life in red and white, with the forward yet to get off the mark in his first 10 matches since making the switch from Luton Town.
What was slightly surprising however, was hearing were a small portion of those who made the trip over the bridge on Sunday cheer when the stadium announcer read out the forward’s name as the man making way for Anis Mehmeti.
It must be stressed it wasn’t a huge chorus of boos, but was still evident, and social media has been awash with criticism of Cornick who is clearly still just adapting to his new club. It’s also key to note as previously mentioned, none of City’s striking options have been particularly free scoring in recent weeks, or playing to a level befitting of their respective qualities.
The Robins’ fans were often similarly critical of Chris Martin earlier this campaign, but until the midfield and wingers start creating genuine chances for the forward line the comparisons with the likes of Lois Diony seem incredibly unfair.
Wurzels welcome didn’t quite have the same effect
When City visited South Wales in January for their FA Cup replay, there was plenty of airtime for the Wurzels courtesy of DJ Scott Murray as the away side headed into the changing room and judging by the result on that night it seemed a lucky charm.
Due to the closeness of the press room at the Swansea.com Stadium and the away dressing room, the West Country legends' music could be heard echoing around and City once again posted a video of the team arriving with ‘Blackbird’ playing.
Sadly, it didn’t quite have the same impact as it did back in January. Despite fielding what was a first-choice side in that FA Cup fixture, the Robins only started six of the 11 players that featured in that original fixture as a result of injuries and departures.
Legends, home and away
The Former Players Association have ensured that every week at Ashton Gate there’s some sort of representation, Sunday saw a special away day for a number of ex-City stars of years gone by.
Pitch side before the match, Pearson joined Gerry Sweeney, Trevor Tainton, Tom Ritchie and Paul Cheesley who had made the trip over the Severn to watch the Robins.
But there was representation from the Swans in Alan Curtis, as well as a man with a foot in both camps (more so the Welsh side) in Lee Trundle. The forward spent three seasons in red and white where he scored some special goals, none more memorable than the left footed screamer against Crystal Palace in the play-off semi-final.
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