Bristol City fans put Championship survival ahead of performances
Sean O’Driscoll likes to talk about processes rather than outcomes and, given the parlous situation he inherited when taking over as head coach in January, he is right to stress the importance of performances over results.
And there is no doubt Bristol City have made significant improvements in that respect since his arrival.
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Bristol City defender Lewin Nyatanga had an excellent game until losing out to Wolves striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake 15 minutes from the end of Saturday's Championship relegation showdown at Molineux.
Soundly beaten 4-1 when last they played Wolves at the start of December, the Robins matched the gold and black on this occasion and came close to inflicting what would have been a potentially fatal blow to the Midland club’s hopes of staying in the npower Championship.
Although the players have clearly bought into the head coach’s ethos, the mood of City’s supporters continues to be dictated by results and the entirely natural desire to stave off the threat of relegation.
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It remains to be seen whether City, with 24 points still to play for, can extricate themselves from a tricky position at the foot of the table and perform a remarkable escape.
Yet if that particular tale of the unexpected is to occur, then O’Driscoll must surely improve performances to the point where his team is able to win games on the road.
Virtually invincible at Ashton Gate since the change of manager, City have nevertheless failed to win any of their last nine away games, a record of under-achievement that, in large part, explains their inability to escape the bottom three so far.
Not only have the Robins not registered three points outside of Bristol since Sheffield Wednesday were beaten 3-2 at Hillsborough on December 8, they have scarcely mustered a goal on their travels. Of the four scored in seven games on the road since the turn of the year, three have been contributed by opposition players.
The latest of these, a quite startling own goal from the boot of Wanderers midfielder David Davis, gave travelling fans genuine hope that their team could at long last reverse that trend and exit the drop zone at the same time as plunging Wolves into crisis.
That they were unable to do so was down to those fine lines that O’Driscoll used to explain a defeat that was supremely hard to take.
From the moment hapless Wolves keeper Carl Ikeme allowed a poor back pass from Davis to squirm between his legs and over the line to gift City a lead their first-half performance warranted, there appeared to be only one winner.
Ragged in the extreme and obviously low on confidence after winning only one home game in five months, Wolves resembled a ramshackle collection of strangers for much of the game.
Frustrated by their team’s inability to pass the ball accurately and create clear-cut chances, home supporters resorted to baiting club owner Steve Morgan before giving vent to ironic cheers when substitute Bjorn Sigurdarson conjured their first on-target effort in the 65th minute.
In fact, so cowed were Wolves’ players by the pressure-cooker atmosphere inside Molineux, they appeared to be there for the taking.
Had City pressed a little higher up the pitch and tried to play off the front foot in the second half, the outcome might have been different. But they instead opted to protect what they already had and invited Wolves onto them.
So great was the gap between a midfield that dropped ever deeper and lone forward Steven Davies, that City were simply unable to establish a foothold in the opposition’s half, let alone threaten the second goal that would surely have signalled the end of the game as a meaningful contest.
To permit Wolves centre-backs Kaspars Gorkks and Roger Johnson to cut out a series of long passes at will and return the ball with interest was surely inviting calamity, and so it proved.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake had already squandered a few half-chances when he was finally afforded a clear sight of goal, turning the hitherto excellent Lewin Nyatanga to fire an unstoppable shot past keeper Tom Heaton.
Having provided an assist for the equaliser, substitute Stephen Hunt then swung over another cross moments later for Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle, who stooped to conquer from close range and turn the game on its head.
All of which presents O’Driscoll with a dilemma. As games and opportunities to escape the bottom three dwindle, so the need to gamble and take risks will increase correspondingly.
While City’s recent revival has been founded upon an organisation and discipline that has rendered them difficult to beat, there may come a time when they have to throw caution to the wind if they are to stay in the Championship.
Does O’Driscoll put at risk the defensive resilience that has under-pinned recent performances or continue to play the percentages in the hope that his team can summon further improvement quickly enough to make Championship survival possible?
With eight games still to play, that has time has not yet come. But defeat at Molineux has arguably brought it a step closer.
11 Comments
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by piledriver
Tuesday, March 19 2013, 6:58PM
“@Neesh
I understand on what you are saying, if we as a club are going to stay up we need to produce the same form we are showing at home in away games but lets look at the teams we have faced away from home in those defeats you have listed Leeds, Blackburn, Cardiff, Crystal Palace, Blackpool and Wolves all of which are big spending clubs who have either dropped from the Premiership or have Premiership promotions ambition.
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PD:I get tired of people talking up the opposition.Wolves were dreadful on Saturday and what they were a year ago is irrelevant.Before Saturday they had as many points as we did.Palace & Blackpool-Big Spending?
Blackburn are dropping like a stone and have sacked THREE managers in a season!!!
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All I am trying to get across is that the EP like some fans seem to only focus on the negative side of what is happening, yes the away form is not good but as I said a few months ago that away form was also our home form but things have changed and BS3 is feeling like it did a few years back and like a fortress again and I praise that.
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PD:The facts of our away form don't bear that out.Whilst I, like you, applaud our home form, SD's tactics away don't work.The last five before we P5 W2 D1 L2 so we have the same players who did that.
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Ok in a perfect world our away form would be better and we wouldn't be in the position we find ourself, teams like Barnsley and Peterborough wouldn't be hitting form, in a perfect world we would have our stadium at Ashton Vale, Nicky Maynard would of joined Leicester for the millions they offered but even in a perfect world I am sure their would still be people on here slating decisions and the EP would still look for negative stories instead of looking at the improvements that have been made over a very short time.
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PD:On Maynard, SL made a monze of that and cost us about £5m.On AV, same again with help from Sexstone who he employed.
I've followed City for over forty years so I'm not looking at a perfect world I'm looking at facts and I'll base my opinions on the facts and what I see
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We are all intitled to our opinions and that is why we have a comment box but come on lets be realistic.
you can't build a house without first building the foundations."
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PD:If you point out what's unrealistic in what I've said, I'll respond and you don't build foundations by sacking manager after manager and lurching from spend what you like and do what you want to austerity.
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by piledriver
Monday, March 18 2013, 9:42PM
“@royaljoe:
Armchair Manager?
ST Holder for over 20 years and visited 90% of the grounds in England/Wales (and some in Scotland) following City.I didn't do that in an armchair and who the hell are you to judge who's a true City Fan?
Let's stick to the facts and they are what I've set out below.Do you dispute them and what do you think will solve our appalling points take away from home?”
by Neesh
Monday, March 18 2013, 9:42PM
“@piledriver...
I understand on what you are saying, if we as a club are going to stay up we need to produce the same form we are showing at home in away games but lets look at the teams we have faced away from home in those defeats you have listed Leeds, Blackburn, Cardiff, Crystal Palace, Blackpool and Wolves all of which are big spending clubs who have either dropped from the Premiership or have Premiership promotions ambition.
All I am trying to get across is that the EP like some fans seem to only focus on the negative side of what is happening, yes the away form is not good but as I said a few months ago that away form was also our home form but things have changed and BS3 is feeling like it did a few years back and like a fortress again and I praise that.
Ok in a perfect world our away form would be better and we wouldn't be in the position we find ourself, teams like Barnsley and Peterborough wouldn't be hitting form, in a perfect world we would have our stadium at Ashton Vale, Nicky Maynard would of joined Leicester for the millions they offered but even in a perfect world I am sure their would still be people on here slating decisions and the EP would still look for negative stories instead of looking at the improvements that have been made over a very short time.
We are all intitled to our opinions and that is why we have a comment box but come on lets be realistic.
you can't build a house without first building the foundations.”
by royaljoe
Monday, March 18 2013, 7:53PM
“Re Neesh Well written message. A true City fan unlike Piledriver ex Binrelegated armchair fooball manager who can't give it a rest.”
by piledriver
Monday, March 18 2013, 7:02PM
“@royaljoe:
And?”
by piledriver
Monday, March 18 2013, 7:00PM
“@Neesh:
I prefer to look at facts so here are some real "outcomes."
Home:P6 W5 D1 L0 F13 A4 PTS 16/18-Working Brilliantly.
Away:P6 W0 D1 L5 F3 A9 PTS 1/18-Broken Hopefully Not Beyond Repair.No goals from any City Player in 540 minutes of football.
One doesn't explain, excuse or justify the other and if it's broken, fix it.
All the home spun philosphy, organisation is great but the facts are that if we don't pick up at least an average of a point a game for the next four away we'll go down even if we win all the home games!!”
by royaljoe
Monday, March 18 2013, 5:40PM
“LEE JOHNSON NEW OLDHAM MANAGER”
by THEIRONS
Monday, March 18 2013, 5:04PM
“NEESH--- I am not trying to be patronising , in my opinion a excellent comment , sums up the situation at the Gate to a tee for me.”
by Neesh
Monday, March 18 2013, 3:02PM
“Are fans being unrealistic or not... that is the question.
Only a few months ago we were shipping goals like nobodies business and since SOD has taken over we have looked more disaplined, focused and have stopped this so much so that in the last 2 months we have one of the tightest defences in the league. The man is just that a man not a magician, I don't know why people are on his case. Before he took over the majority of the City fans had already accepted the drop but he has come in and restored some pride to BS3 and given us fans something to be proud of and sing about, the results from the teams at the bottom of the championship have been insane like someone has turned the league on its head and it shows that the fight for relegation is much more than a fight for promotion with recent results.
I myself am looking forward to what SOD can do with City, he excites me with his outlook but he may of come in too late to fight the drop. All that said and done though, I will not stop cheering until it is impossible and SOD has injected hope into my blood and I thank him and his backroom staff for that.”
by DazzyBoy
Monday, March 18 2013, 1:53PM
“I hate it when we play one up front!!!! Why did they send young Wes burns out on loan to Forest Green when the only other fit strikers are Baldock and Davies, bring him back and give him a run, if only to use his pace as an impact substitute!!!”