Other than the fact he really does stick out like a sore thumb over the top of Bristol City’s team, Timm Klose showed everything that he’s about on his debut at Deepdale.
Making life difficult for Emil Riis Jakobsen and Cameron Archer by decanting every bit of his 33-year-old experience onto the pitch, his monopolisation of winning headers and clearing danger on land and in the air not only relieved previous pressure on Max O’Leary’s goal, it reduced the physical strain on Tomas Kalas next to him.
Taking the reoccurrence of another late goal away from it all, this was a fine demonstration of what City’s newest signing can offer to them moving forward.
With grunts of gratification for every moment the ball isn’t in his goal, Klose seems the perfect match for the type of player you’d think he is: Imposing in his physicality and height, unforgiving grimaces when opposition players make a play to attack his goal, yet still a spreading warmth and calmness that suggest he already recognises his role in this squad is more than just to defend.
His immediate call to arms within the squad speaks volumes for not only his relative prestige at this level (certainly within this squad anyway), but also the challenges that engulf the Robins financially and on the field.
Unable to afford expensive and unproven Premier League assets on loan, and rightly unwilling to burn more holes into an already struggling budget, Klose’s ambition to play Championship football again, and City’s sales pitch of an exciting project was enough to bring in a solid signing that did result in a second rigid display in a week which was let down by two more poor goals conceded.
It will sound strange yet again to speak of a generally good defensive performance that includes two completely avoidable goals against. That is the story of the season.
This still didn’t stop Klose from having a good start that will build his confidence and shed some light as to what City fans will see for the remainder of the season. It also makes it even more abundantly clear that this isn’t just a personnel issue.
Moving on to his impact in the game and straight into the side he went after quickly familiarising himself within the club’s academy setup, Klose lived up to his tag of being solid and generally unspectacular in a good way. This isn’t a bad thing, especially not when playing next to a more dynamic and expressive centre-back in Kalas.
Still, he looked comfortable in taking the ball short off O’Leary like Zak Vyner has been in his own half. The new presence of Klose didn’t reduce City’s trials of being more progressive with the ball on the ground. Starting from the back, quite often with Klose being the first outlet as the spare centre half, this didn’t mix up the new blueprint for Nigel Pearson’s team.
After a few early touches to get himself settled down on a windy day in Lancashire, Klose’s first notable impact was in the opposition box, an added benefit of his elongated frame. He is now seemingly the main target of all of Kalas’ long throws, a relationship which City fans will hope can truly blossom in both boxes.
On this occasion his flicked header was met with good control but it lacked the force and direction to score less than 10 minutes into his debut. Nevertheless, it was a threat and a positive that could still bare a lot of fruit as the understanding at both ends develops.
Going the other way, his supposed rustiness that Pearson mentioned before the game was aided by being the middle and often free defender when on the ball, allowing him time to replicate Vyner’s expansive passing range.
Coming so deep he was playing just on the edge of his own 18-yard box for the most part as sweeper, he knocked the ball confidently into the feet of Antoine Semenyo with a swift missile to the forward and set up a clean attacking move. This the best example of an otherwise effective display in possession.
This isn’t to make huge sweeping statements after just one match against a Preston team that aren’t much if any more qualified than this City team, but Klose’s confidence and calmness did seem to help Kalas in particular who advanced forward on the right-hand side in the first half.
It isn’t something that Vyner or Rob Atkinson themselves couldn’t bring in terms of individual performances and range of skills, but a defender that loves defending seems a must for Pearson’s team, and now he appears to have two that understand their assignments clearly.
Klose demonstrated his eagerness of the lesser appreciated art as he applauded the firm rugged shoulder from his new partner Kalas when the latter shrugged off Archer on the right side of the City box.
Even though it allowed the hosts a corner, Klose doesn’t give the impression away that he’s ever going to turn down a chance to get his elbows up into the opponents and head any object coming into the box.
On the first occasion it was a joint sandwich of Cam Pring and Callum O’Dowda that squeezed Andrew Hughes from the ball. Klose encouraged his teammates with several high-octane claps, more evidence that keeping the ball not only out of the net but also as far away from the goal as possible is a source of some of the ex-Norwich defenders most highly desired satisfaction.
His role in the first equalising Riis goal is one that depends on your level of expectations for a player that hasn’t played a minute of competitive football since May last year.
His decision to close down Archer’s shot was delayed, but that was how he had defended for the match, allowing those in front of him to spring the doors shut before he cleared up.
That makes his choice to step out and narrow the angle on the edge of the box a little worse considering the freedom that Riis had inside the area to mop up O’Leary’s weak parry.
Had Klose gone earlier to the initial shot or stepped off and waited for the second ball then the goal likely doesn’t come.
This is being extremely harsh on the Swiss after all, a larger inquest should go into why Archer was allowed the room to fire a shot at goal from a central area on the edge of the City box, and the questionable save, rather than Klose’s split-second decision which might not have impacted anything anyway.
The only thing learned from this goal was the Robin’s continuation of a shocking second-half record that places them third bottom of the league. Even worse when it happens that they are seventh in first halves this season.
What it also represented was more proof that even a lover of defending as overjoyed at the back as Klose can’t hold off a barrage in a low-block when defending a one-goal lead.
As for the second goal, even with five players that can play centre-back on the pitch, nobody was close enough to stop Riis from hitting his over the shoulder volley without challenge. A great strike it was, but given the difficulty of the shot, even the slightest sign of pressure would have made it almost impossible to score from.
This really isn’t something that Klose can impact, it’s part of the team issues that Pearson mentioned before the match:
“Whoever’s in the side, whether they’re big, small, aggressive or not they’ve got a job to do and it’s only a collective effort that reaps rewards in the same way that I would say how we attack is about how we play as a team, how we defend is about how we play as a team," he said.
“You don’t always point fingers just at the defenders, it is a collective mentality which bares fruit and so we’ve started to get rewards at the attacking end but we’ve conceded too many soft goals.”
That could easily have been what he said after this game rather than before it. Another indictment into the levels of concentration that City are still lacking in the biggest moments, even the addition of an extra 101 Championship appearances couldn’t stop the terminal issue facing the team.
The result would have felt like defeat come the full-time whistle but a 2-2 draw away from home isn’t necessarily the worst result for a team coming off the back of two lengthy away journey’s this week.
In that case it would be unwise to pin too much responsibility for the positives or negatives of a relatively good defensive performance to Klose’s books, though he would surely appreciate the gesture.
But he did play a clean role in an organised and largely disciplined all-round performance from City that probably deserved victory on the balance of the game, apart from two moments of unexplainable laxness from the team.
Although there were signs of inevitable tiredness in his late hack behind for a corner, the overriding feeling after this midseason debut should be positive. Structural issues that need more than a plaster on them may still exist but there is hope that Klose can at least lessen the impact of these, even if he can’t completely stop them.
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