We’re being slightly flippant here, but if only the first-team had the same level of consistency as the Under-23s who recovered from a goal down against Colchester United to register their fourth straight win and move into second in the Professional Development League 2 South.
City did not start particularly well at Ashton Gate, with some early nerves at the back as they were guilty of poor execution in possession and several times they committed unforced errors, surrendering the ball to the visitors and just inviting pressure onto themselves.
But once Colchester took the lead, that seemed to shock the Robins into life and Seb Palmer-Houlden’s double, either side of half-time, put them into the lead before Omar Taylor Clarke added a third towards the closing stages with a brilliant counter-attacking goal. Here are the talking points from BS3…
Palmer-Houlden is a proper striker
You’re always going to grab the attention after scoring two goals to effectively decide the contest but Seb Palmer-Houlden’s performance and overall playing style is worthy of greater exploration.
Both his goals were fine striker’s finishes of a different nature; the first as he pulled to the far post to connect with Callum Wood’s cross and although benefitting from a slight deflection it got City back into the game.
Key was his movement, as Wood broke forward down the left flank, Palmer-Houlden looked for the space at the far post and the right angle to enable him to get a shot away. That was also a few minutes after Dylan Kadji had broken into the penalty area and cut the ball back to him, as he drifted off his marker, only to then be denied by a fine defensive block.
The same theory can also be applied to his second, just in a different area of the field as Olly Thomas broke through the middle and Palmer-Houlden just made the move to his right shoulder, offering plenty of pitch for the pass to be played in while never losing sight of the requisite angle to get a shot away. His finish then crisply dispatched into the bottom corner with minimum fuss.
Palmer-Houlden’s penalty box attributes are high, in the way he can find vulnerable areas in between defenders and can fashion shooting opportunities for himself, even with the ball at feet or through anticipation.
But he’s also strong in the air and has some of the widest pair of shoulders you’re likely to see on a young man. When he fills his body out through natural growth or work in the gym he should possess serious upper-body strength.
His willingness to engage in the rough stuff evidenced by ending the game wearing No19 as he had to trade in his No10 shirt due to a cut on his arm after a tussle with a defender.
…but a word on Thomas
Prince Henry’s hat-trick against Millwall and Palmer-Houlden’s brace at Ashton gate emphasises the striking quality in this team, although the former had a bit of an off-day against Colchester, perhaps guilty of overplaying and/or not picking the right pass at the right time.
However, there is a third wheel to this attack who very much grew into this game. Starting the game as the slightly more deeper member of the front three, Olly Thomas looked a bit stuck between positions at times. Not quite advanced enough to be a striker, while City’s direct passing down the channel was, consciously or subconsciously, bypassing him.
But in the second half, as he moved five yards further up the pitch, eventually finishing it alongside Palmer-Houlden as Callum Hutton replaced Henry, he looked far more comfortable and effective.
When City broke, it was often Thomas making the runs into space and his first touch in being able to cushion long balls forward was deeply impressive; possessing soft feet and a way of bringing it into his stride and keeping the momentum forward.
As City’s two goals in the second half showed, he has a real creative side as although it looks a simple pass to Palmer-Houlden for the second, ultimately he picked the right option when other players could either have tried to get that bit closer to goal before passing or elected to shoot themselves.
His unselfishness continued with another slide pass into Omar Taylor Clarke for the third, after the defensive midfielder had made an impressive lung-busting run forward, to seal the victory.
He and Palmer-Houlden were often interchanging positions, with one deeper and the other playing on the shoulder and the way he roamed around the pitch made him a hard man to mark.
Kadji has *it*
We’ll stick an immediate caveat to this that Dylan Kadji’s second half was nowhere near as strong as his first, and his impact did visibly fade as the game wore on, which may or may not be an issue but in those first 45-60 minutes, everything he did was impressive and accomplished.
From breaking up play with those long limbs, his strong commitment in the air or just breaking lines with that big purposeful stride and deceptively quick feet, there is a serious midfielder in there if all the parts can be brought together and it can be maintained over 90 minutes.
We’re in danger of getting ahead of ourselves because he remains an Under-23 player of interest to Nigel Pearson, having travelled with the first team, but no more than that at this stage as he still has a number of years of development to go.
But his composure in possession and the way he moves across the field, coupled with a fine defensive awareness, marks him out as the perfect defensive midfielder, providing he can match that skillset with the requisite physical engine.
It’s interesting to see him operate alongside Josh Owers who is the traditional box-to-box worker bee, thundering into tackles and using the ball sensibly but making breaks forward when the space and situation permits. This isn’t a criticism at all, because Owers looks a very fine talent indeed, but there’s nothing flashy about the 19-year-old.
Kadji, on the other hand, isn’t as efficient or consistent on the ball but when he does something, it really does stand out.
It will be interesting to know City’s plan for the 19-year-old, who signed professional terms in November, as surely an EFL or at least National League loan beckons for next season, providing the right club can be found.
The men on the sidelines
With Alex Ball promoted into Nigel Pearson’s first-team coaching set-up and now very much a fixture on matchdays, there’s been no public declaration as to who has replaced him as Under-23 coach.
We’ll be honest, when the U23s have been in action at the Robins High Performance Centre it’s been difficult to establish from over the other side of the touchline exactly who’s in charge but it was a little clearer at Ashton Gate on Tuesday, while interesting to see the dynamic and demeanour of each coach.
Ali Hines was the man who spent the entire game inside the technical area, guiding and encouraging the team, while making his appearance felt - particularly at set-pieces - was academy coach Neil Swift.
Hines has previously served as academy goalkeeping coach and has been an influential figure for Max O’Leary and now Swindon Town and Ghana goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott in their progression having first worked with them in their early teens.
Now holding the title of Professional Development Coach, Hines was a vocal presence on the touchline, directing traffic in terms of his encouragement for movement and was particularly fond of the instruction to “play forward”, whenever City dallied in possession a bit too much, especially in the first-half.
He was regularly imploring left-back Callum Wood to get forward and gamble on deep crosses and crossfield balls and there were plenty of shouts of “played, Kadji” whenever the midfielder breezed through the centre of the park.
Alongside him was Swift who seemed to take control to a certain extent on both defensive and offensive set-pieces, "movement, Duncan" was a cry to centre-back Idehen when he was a little too static.
We may be wrong but there seemed to be a number system deployed whenever the Robins were attacking a free-kick or corner, with Swift calling from his playbook and the movement in the box then presumably following a set pattern.
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