Just back .... match review

[headhunter]

Totally dominated the first 45 in a display that gives a degree of optimism for the future.

Well taken goal by Tammy but quite honestly we should have been out of sight by the hour mark. Taylor snatched at a chance, Tammy drew a great save from the keeper and then Brownhill placed his shot when well positioned when he should have blasted it.

Very impressed with Brownhill - loads of running and some skillful play several times.

Taylor again a disappointment. A few good touches but seems off the pace.

Player ratings

Fielding 7 - handled well but some poor distribution

Little 7 - solid enough; has upped his game of late - playing for a contract

Flint 7  - won everything in the air

Wright 7 - giostuck in ; can see why he is ahead of Magnusson

Bryan 7 - a couple of surging forward runs

Brownhill  8 - my MOM for reasons stated earlier

Smith 7 - back to his best

Pack 7 - energetic display

Paterson 6 - disappointing

Taylor 6 - struggling to come to terms with the pace of Championship football

Abraham 7 - took his goal well ; quiet in 2nd half

I think we've done enough to stay up but how Johnson strengthens in his third window will determine if 17/18 is not going to be another long struggle

 

 

[Spoons]

You will put @Oléout of a job ! 

[Kodjias Wrist]

Glad to hear Brownhill played well as I have always rated him and at a young age of just 20!

[Port Said Red]

Interesting that you consider Taylor "again a disappointment", 2 goals and 4 assists so far. Admittedly he is fluffing his lines in front of goal, but his overall contribution is good. Interestingly, my friend came to his first game on Friday since the Leeds game and thought he was one of our best players. he was surprised by his general level of play.

[phantom]

5 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Interesting that you consider Taylor "again a disappointment", 2 goals and 4 assists so far. Admittedly he is fluffing his lines in front of goal, but his overall contribution is good. Interestingly, my friend came to his first game on Friday since the Leeds game and thought he was one of our best players. he was surprised by his general level of play.

Agree with this,  his work rate and all round play is a big contribution to our improved form. How many assists in the last few games!

He was never going to be a prolific striker like Tammy but plays brilliantly alongside him

[Lanterne Rouge]

12 minutes ago, phantom said:

Agree with this,  his work rate and all round play is a big contribution to our improved form. How many assists in the last few games!

He was never going to be a prolific striker like Tammy but plays brilliantly alongside him

And creates so much space for him too. Against Wolves in particular Tammy had so much room until MT went off and Danny Batth marked him out of the game after that.

[Frenchay Red]

Also Blackburn were very poor, apart from after they scored, when they really got at us and we were desperately hanging on.

But as has been said we dominated for about an hour and should have had another goal or two. 

[Kodjias Wrist]

Look......

If everyones annoyed with Taylor we can always try out Bodin for 400k? I mean gas fans say hes better right?

[shelts]

Lads done well today I followed by twitter and family members at the game today. I see Flint was solid and a good 7, glad of that as I've given him a bit of stick this season.  

[Chairman Mao]

Taylor is like a better Agard. Less physicality but better on the ball

[Kodjias Wrist]

Just now, Chairman Mao said:

Taylor is like a better Agard. Less physicality but better on the ball

As much as I liked Agard I completely agree. Still we sold Agard for over a mill and got Taylor for 300k. Good business no?

[headhunter]

Just now, Chairman Mao said:

Taylor is like a better Agard. Less physicality but better on the ball

Exactly what the guy I went to the game with said..

 

[alexukhc]

Is every game going to be about Taylor now?

[1960maaan]

Just now, Chairman Mao said:

Taylor is like a better Agard. Less physicality but better on the ball

At the moment Agard appears the better goalscorer, that may change. Taylor works hard and does harry and chase well, he's not as quick as I thought he would be. For someone who appears to want to play on the shoulder he doesn't seem to have the speed to pull away from defenders, that said, he makes space for Tammy and is what we needed right now.
With luck he will start to believe in himself and relax, most of his game seems ok , just needs goals. I still think we need 2 strikers for next year though. 

[fulham red]

Thought Korey Smith had a good game today. At the heart of a lot of our passing moves when we did manage to string a few together. 

[Northern Red]

8 minutes ago, fulham red said:

Thought Korey Smith had a good game today. At the heart of a lot of our passing moves when we did manage to string a few together. 

I think it's no coincidence that our general improvement over the last few weeks (Brentford and Preston excepted) has come at the same time as his return to form and fitness. 

[italian dave]

1 hour ago, Port Said Red said:

Interesting that you consider Taylor "again a disappointment", 2 goals and 4 assists so far. Admittedly he is fluffing his lines in front of goal, but his overall contribution is good. Interestingly, my friend came to his first game on Friday since the Leeds game and thought he was one of our best players. he was surprised by his general level of play.

I thought he was on Friday too. But not today. Didn't seem on quite the same wavelength at times today, and didn't stretch the defence the way he did v qpr. Could have been cos Blackburn defended deeper. And he missed a good chance, which would probably have put the game beyond Blackburn. 

Having said that, with Paterson and Brownhill He certainly gives us more urgency and movement. We pass it around a lot better because there is movement and players making spaces to pass into, and he contributed to that. 

[BobBobSuperBob]

 

 

[Shtanley]

I like the look of Taylor, can tell he's not played at this level before but he's started well. His nice lay off to Paterson today for the goal and him coming short with Tammy alway on the last shoulder is looking like a successful combo. 

[Xiled]

Taylor and Djuric might be our first choice strike partnership next season. Hopefully with new, strong back-up now that Wilbraham has probably played in his last game for us and Engvall getting a summer transfer back to Sweden (my conjecture!)

[pillred]

3 hours ago, alexukhc said:

Is every game going to be about Taylor now?

you said it!

[Olé]

4 hours ago, Spoons said:

You will put @Oléout of a job ! 

I wouldn't mind! I got home at 11pm before I even had a chance to start, so I would have happily dispensed with it altogether tonight. 

Here it is, anyway - match subtitle "one sided against a very very poor team, but we are not nearly ruthless enough to get what we deserve".

 

Normally I try and describe away matches in the context of our season - good or bad - but there wasn’t really much to learn from today’s game other than that we’re a decent team that could do with being a lot more ruthless in our finishing. Only one side could honestly argue they deserved to win and the fact we didn’t was down solely to producing only one goal from over an hour of comfortable dominance and 3 more very clear cut chances.

But first the defining theme of the game: Blackburn. In a match they surely knew they had to compete in, they were absolutely diabolical. For an hour easily the worst team I’ve seen us play home and away this season. They stood off us and appeared to consciously abandon the central midfield to us and allow us to play in front of them, and then tried to hit us with long balls down the flanks, which they repeatedly put out for throw ins. They were dire. 

If this was Lee Johnson at Ashton Gate in such a crucial game I honestly don’t think he’d have got out of the ground alive. They were that feeble. Why a Blackburn side that I thought had been resurgent in games since Mowbray took over, could be so poor, is bizarre, it was utterly one sided until they brought on Lucas Joao and Emnes (two players anyone would pick out as danger men) so anybodies guess what they were trying to do before that.

We were given the freedom of the Blackburn midfield from the start and also did a decent job of pressing upfield across all of our front six (when we needed to, the ball was more normally returned to us by Blackburn players simply passing out of play). But for all of our possession, both teams were cagey at the back and where Blackburn were concerned that ‘bend but don’t break’ strategy at least meant the first 15 passed reasonably anonymously.

But the amount Blackburn (apparently purposefully) stood off, had to be seen to be believed. They obviously felt content to let us knock it about and thought we didn’t have a killer pass in us. 20-30 passes later Paterson lifted the ball in between their central defenders, Tammy ran on and with ball bobbling up and keeper closing, executed a brilliant Riverdance style flick, inverting his right foot as if to back heel, and hooking in with the outside of his right boot.

Blackburn continued to sit off us and respond aimlessly with long balls down the flanks and mistimed passes out of play. We continued to press right across our midfield and flanks and had more chances to go further ahead, Brownhill putting a Ronaldo style free kick right at the keeper, play opening up for Korey to test the keeper again, Pack slicing a rising shot past the post, and Tammy firing another opportunity over the bar at pace. All before halftime.

After the break we took even more control of the match and had a hat-trick of very clear cut chances to put the game out of sight. Almost immediately from the restart Pack connected with a half volley from outside the box that slammed into the turf, bounced awkwardly in front of the keeper and skidded past the post. That was just a warning, the real chances were soon to follow - and if anything City were lulled into tame finishes by how easy it all was.

First Brownhill battled his way inside their defence from the right, racing into the box before cutting it back to Matty Taylor to apply the finish from six yards. Taylor was leaning back and couldn’t get over the ball, lifting it over the bar. Little replicated that barnstorming incursion from the right minutes later, carving open their defence before having his effort blocked, but where Taylor had already failed, the second blown clear chance was soon to follow.

It was Brownhill, a comfortable man of the match, who picked up possession in front of his own defence, turning forward and charging upfield before playing in Paterson from the right and continuing his run. This split the defence, Paterson threaded the ball back across goal with Brownhill closing dead centre to finish. Brownhill didn’t connect, but Tammy was also clean through at the far post, but perhaps not expecting to get the chance, finished weakly.

Next up Abraham turned provider inside the box, squaring to Brownhill who had just the keeper to beat at close range. A goal for the young midfielder was entirely deserved for his all action end-to-end performance, but for the third time in little over 20 minutes, City would show their lack of ruthlessness and finish far too casually, Brownhill getting no power into a shot, connecting so tamely that the ball rolled back-pass-like, straight to the keeper.

By now Paterson looked very tired out on the left and City, so comfortable passing with the ball, and so little threatened by Blackburn, began to look almost casual in their failed pursuit of a decisive second. On came Marvin Emnes for Blackburn and you could almost sense the plot twist unfolding. Suddenly Blackburn had players making runs and creating space and almost immediately a deep cross found their striker rising at the far post to head in.

Almost out of nothing Blackburn were back in it, their fans woke up, and they were already pushing for a second when O’Dowda joined in place of Paterson - probably 10 minutes too late. When Cotterill had to replace an injured Mark Little soon after, we really fell to pieces, losing all recent shape, as Korey Smith dropped to full back and Marlon Pack, now without his central midfield security blanket, quickly reverted to his panicked retreat in possession. 

Before the end Wilbraham joined to add an outlet to stem the sudden reverse tide, but he too was called into action dropping back to close opponents, and would injure himself doing so, rendering him virtually unusable for the final minutes of a prolonged injury time. Blackburn, amazingly, had chances to win it, but it would have been scarcely earned and City were more than worth their point which edges them closer to a now deserved Championship safety.

Finally a word for the ref, a very familiar Premiership one who started competently enough, but in the second half was so dreadfully inconsistent between what constituted a foul on our players (never given, even if kicked three of four times in one run) and what constituted one on theirs, in particular making some really awful advantage decisions (play on, and then have another go), as well as several drop balls to restart when possession was fairly clear. 

Fielding 6 Started badly on the kicking front (out of play 2-3 times in a row), otherwise didn’t have much to do and largely a spectator
Little 7 Excellent yet again going forward, got himself in trouble for the equaliser but generally again a very strong performance
Bryan 7 Found it very easy to push on against this Blackburn side and gave Paterson license to overlap, but as Paterson tired, became increasingly restricted to holding a deeper position
Flint 7 Very solid but looked nervous once they were back in it and made one or two miscues
Wright 8 First to every ball and when he needed to, a safe pair of hands getting it away quickly downfield
Smith 7 Sat in front of our defence and effectively made it a no-go zone for Blackburn, which restricted them to pumping it down the flanks. Makes our central midfield so much stronger and unfortunate that he had to switch to right back as we started to struggle.
Pack 7 Another very solid performance where he had most of central midfield to himself, was pulling the strings at times, but it remains a concern that when Korey drops back, he starts to look less assured and get more bullied into turning back 
Brownhill 9 A clear man of the match, never stopped going and contributed at both ends of the pitch, deserved a goal, Blackburn just couldn’t live with his pace and determination 
Paterson 7 Lots of important play to cut them open, but did suffer from tiring in the final half hour, which coincided with Blackburn starting to come back at us more
Taylor 6 Always a nuisance especially dropping with his back to goal, but missed (snatched at) one clear cut chance at close range and started to drift out of the game
Abraham 8 Looked sharp, problematic, and full of sensational touches, had the better of the defenders most of the time he got the ball

Subs:
O’Dowda 6 Was the right sub for a tiring Paterson, caused a few problems (and after giving one ball away, ran 20 yards to win it back), but unlucky to be introduced just as the game swung Blackburn’s way, and his energy to get back, rather than run at them, was called upon
Cotterill 5 A shadow of the player who started so brightly for us when he joined. Tough coming on with a team starting to retreat and a change to our setup on the right, but looked lightweight and half-hearted and checked out of at least one challenge - perhaps he’s lost a little drive while on the bench, but not currently doing enough to secure a long term deal
Wilbraham 5 Came on to get stuck in, got stuck in and injured himself, couldn’t do much more after that

 

[The Gasbuster]

Agree with Brownhill for MoM.

This lad has got some engine !

[Major Isewater]

9 hours ago, alexukhc said:

Is every game going to be about Taylor now?

When you spend 300,000 quid on a player it is normal that we have high expectations of him .

 

[SedRA]

5 hours ago, Olé said:

I wouldn't mind! I got home at 11pm before I even had a chance to start, so I would have happily dispensed with it altogether tonight. 

Here it is, anyway - match subtitle "one sided against a very very poor team, but we are not nearly ruthless enough to get what we deserve".

 

Normally I try and describe away matches in the context of our season - good or bad - but there wasn’t really much to learn from today’s game other than that we’re a decent team that could do with being a lot more ruthless in our finishing. Only one side could honestly argue they deserved to win and the fact we didn’t was down solely to producing only one goal from over an hour of comfortable dominance and 3 more very clear cut chances.

But first the defining theme of the game: Blackburn. In a match they surely knew they had to compete in, they were absolutely diabolical. For an hour easily the worst team I’ve seen us play home and away this season. They stood off us and appeared to consciously abandon the central midfield to us and allow us to play in front of them, and then tried to hit us with long balls down the flanks, which they repeatedly put out for throw ins. They were dire. 

If this was Lee Johnson at Ashton Gate in such a crucial game I honestly don’t think he’d have got out of the ground alive. They were that feeble. Why a Blackburn side that I thought had been resurgent in games since Mowbray took over, could be so poor, is bizarre, it was utterly one sided until they brought on Lucas Joao and Emnes (two players anyone would pick out as danger men) so anybodies guess what they were trying to do before that.

We were given the freedom of the Blackburn midfield from the start and also did a decent job of pressing upfield across all of our front six (when we needed to, the ball was more normally returned to us by Blackburn players simply passing out of play). But for all of our possession, both teams were cagey at the back and where Blackburn were concerned that ‘bend but don’t break’ strategy at least meant the first 15 passed reasonably anonymously.

But the amount Blackburn (apparently purposefully) stood off, had to be seen to be believed. They obviously felt content to let us knock it about and thought we didn’t have a killer pass in us. 20-30 passes later Paterson lifted the ball in between their central defenders, Tammy ran on and with ball bobbling up and keeper closing, executed a brilliant Riverdance style flick, inverting his right foot as if to back heel, and hooking in with the outside of his right boot.

Blackburn continued to sit off us and respond aimlessly with long balls down the flanks and mistimed passes out of play. We continued to press right across our midfield and flanks and had more chances to go further ahead, Brownhill putting a Ronaldo style free kick right at the keeper, play opening up for Korey to test the keeper again, Pack slicing a rising shot past the post, and Tammy firing another opportunity over the bar at pace. All before halftime.

After the break we took even more control of the match and had a hat-trick of very clear cut chances to put the game out of sight. Almost immediately from the restart Pack connected with a half volley from outside the box that slammed into the turf, bounced awkwardly in front of the keeper and skidded past the post. That was just a warning, the real chances were soon to follow - and if anything City were lulled into tame finishes by how easy it all was.

First Brownhill battled his way inside their defence from the right, racing into the box before cutting it back to Matty Taylor to apply the finish from six yards. Taylor was leaning back and couldn’t get over the ball, lifting it over the bar. Little replicated that barnstorming incursion from the right minutes later, carving open their defence before having his effort blocked, but where Taylor had already failed, the second blown clear chance was soon to follow.

It was Brownhill, a comfortable man of the match, who picked up possession in front of his own defence, turning forward and charging upfield before playing in Paterson from the right and continuing his run. This split the defence, Paterson threaded the ball back across goal with Brownhill closing dead centre to finish. Brownhill didn’t connect, but Tammy was also clean through at the far post, but perhaps not expecting to get the chance, finished weakly.

Next up Abraham turned provider inside the box, squaring to Brownhill who had just the keeper to beat at close range. A goal for the young midfielder was entirely deserved for his all action end-to-end performance, but for the third time in little over 20 minutes, City would show their lack of ruthlessness and finish far too casually, Brownhill getting no power into a shot, connecting so tamely that the ball rolled back-pass-like, straight to the keeper.

By now Paterson looked very tired out on the left and City, so comfortable passing with the ball, and so little threatened by Blackburn, began to look almost casual in their failed pursuit of a decisive second. On came Marvin Emnes for Blackburn and you could almost sense the plot twist unfolding. Suddenly Blackburn had players making runs and creating space and almost immediately a deep cross found their striker rising at the far post to head in.

Almost out of nothing Blackburn were back in it, their fans woke up, and they were already pushing for a second when O’Dowda joined in place of Paterson - probably 10 minutes too late. When Cotterill had to replace an injured Mark Little soon after, we really fell to pieces, losing all recent shape, as Korey Smith dropped to full back and Marlon Pack, now without his central midfield security blanket, quickly reverted to his panicked retreat in possession. 

Before the end Wilbraham joined to add an outlet to stem the sudden reverse tide, but he too was called into action dropping back to close opponents, and would injure himself doing so, rendering him virtually unusable for the final minutes of a prolonged injury time. Blackburn, amazingly, had chances to win it, but it would have been scarcely earned and City were more than worth their point which edges them closer to a now deserved Championship safety.

Finally a word for the ref, a very familiar Premiership one who started competently enough, but in the second half was so dreadfully inconsistent between what constituted a foul on our players (never given, even if kicked three of four times in one run) and what constituted one on theirs, in particular making some really awful advantage decisions (play on, and then have another go), as well as several drop balls to restart when possession was fairly clear. 

Fielding 6 Started badly on the kicking front (out of play 2-3 times in a row), otherwise didn’t have much to do and largely a spectator
Little 7 Excellent yet again going forward, got himself in trouble for the equaliser but generally again a very strong performance
Bryan 7 Found it very easy to push on against this Blackburn side and gave Paterson license to overlap, but as Paterson tired, became increasingly restricted to holding a deeper position
Flint 7 Very solid but looked nervous once they were back in it and made one or two miscues
Wright 8 First to every ball and when he needed to, a safe pair of hands getting it away quickly downfield
Smith 7 Sat in front of our defence and effectively made it a no-go zone for Blackburn, which restricted them to pumping it down the flanks. Makes our central midfield so much stronger and unfortunate that he had to switch to right back as we started to struggle.
Pack 7 Another very solid performance where he had most of central midfield to himself, was pulling the strings at times, but it remains a concern that when Korey drops back, he starts to look less assured and get more bullied into turning back 
Brownhill 9 A clear man of the match, never stopped going and contributed at both ends of the pitch, deserved a goal, Blackburn just couldn’t live with his pace and determination 
Paterson 7 Lots of important play to cut them open, but did suffer from tiring in the final half hour, which coincided with Blackburn starting to come back at us more
Taylor 6 Always a nuisance especially dropping with his back to goal, but missed (snatched at) one clear cut chance at close range and started to drift out of the game
Abraham 8 Looked sharp, problematic, and full of sensational touches, had the better of the defenders most of the time he got the ball

Subs:
O’Dowda 6 Was the right sub for a tiring Paterson, caused a few problems (and after giving one ball away, ran 20 yards to win it back), but unlucky to be introduced just as the game swung Blackburn’s way, and his energy to get back, rather than run at them, was called upon
Cotterill 5 A shadow of the player who started so brightly for us when he joined. Tough coming on with a team starting to retreat and a change to our setup on the right, but looked lightweight and half-hearted and checked out of at least one challenge - perhaps he’s lost a little drive while on the bench, but not currently doing enough to secure a long term deal
Wilbraham 5 Came on to get stuck in, got stuck in and injured himself, couldn’t do much more after that

 

@Olé you put that new Bristol Post reporter to shame. You should always put your reports in their own thread so they don't get missed. 

[LondonBristolian]

7 hours ago, Xiled said:

Taylor and Djuric might be our first choice strike partnership next season. Hopefully with new, strong back-up now that Wilbraham has probably played in his last game for us and Engvall getting a summer transfer back to Sweden (my conjecture!)

I think both Djuric and Taylor add to the squad but I do worry that neither of them have yet shown they can be prolific at this level. Admittedly this could be because, with Abraham in the team, their role is as secondary strikers helping him find space and they might step up more once he moves on. However I still feel we need a new first team striker to play alongside either of them next season.

[Top Robin]

7 hours ago, Xiled said:

Taylor and Djuric might be our first choice strike partnership next season. Hopefully with new, strong back-up now that Wilbraham has probably played in his last game for us and Engvall getting a summer transfer back to Sweden (my conjecture!)

Don't discount Shawn McCoulsky.......may be fast tracked

[Red-Robbo]

Glad to hear Brownhill was MOTM.  He was the weakest link in the games against Wolves and QPR and if Johnson was competent he would have subbed him,  but when Josh gets his attacking game going he can be a right handful. 

[LeeCity]

Weakest link ?

 

Either you're saying this to show your dislike of LJ or you didnt go to those games. (Or you don't know what you're talking about)

[Jerseybean]

Condensed version: City did more than enough to win, but we're not clinical/ruthless enough, Blackburn were dire. Brownhill outstanding in an overall decent team performance.