Thoughts v Bristol City

I looked at the scoreboard at 30 minutes and thought, despite the score line, that we looked very good.

At 60 minutes I was thinking it was the best we’d looked for many months and at 2-1 we looked a very confident and accomplished side in possession.

We kept with the full backs pushed up which kept things open at the back which could have seen a sting in the tail…the alternative however would have seen us sit back and invite them and some of the crowd on to us.
 
Neil Dawson said:
Bit different against a Kilmarnock milkman than Championship defenders and keepers to be fair.
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The standard is lower but watch some of his highlights, he scored some very good goals. He even scored some goals in Europe. He also scored the goal that got Scotland into the Euros, vs Serbia. I’m assuming their keeper isn’t a milkman? He’s definitely got it in him, he needs to believe he can score when he shoots and strike with conviction.
 
Very enjoyable performance that. It was crucial that we scored when we did because it was starting to get a bit restless and edgy in the crowd. Great to see them kick on in the second half and not regress like they have so many times this season.

Cook was excellent and it's great to have smithy back. A massive player for the run-in.
 
Neil Dawson said:
Bit different against a Kilmarnock milkman than Championship defenders and keepers to be fair.
Click to expand...

Fair point, can’t deny it, but some of his strikes were of high quality. More worrying for me is that often he doesn’t force a save as misses the target when in a great position.
 
Cook was a fair shout for MOM, but for me Solanke was immense today. He controlled everything, including some balls that were really fired at him, and just brought the whole attack to life.

Other things that stood out:
- until about 70 minutes, when we started to ease off, we looked a very very capable team, with no weaknesses
- Smithy looked so solid
- Christie's shooting is . . . remarkable !!!!
- another fine save by Travers to keep it at 2-1

Only (minor) weak points:
- we started to ease off on 70 minutes. Sir Ricky eased the nerves a bit, but still we were letting City back into it
- Zemura is maybe the weakest link - gave the ball away a number of times going forward, allowing City to attack from a turnover
- we were crossing the ball a lot more than usually, with no great end result
- we did well when we went through the middle through Solanke and Billing, but there were long spells where this didn't happen
 
Doesn’t solve the problem though. Our wide forwards will need to score as opposition gets tougher.

Also think you are living in the past a bit. We have signed loads of strikers/front men with decent goals records/striking ability since Maxim.
 
I think something that has significantly affected things of late is that Lewis Cook has suddenly seen a likelyhood of himself back in the PL.. and thats helped take the fear from his game...which had probably developed from his two injury periods...and he is now functioning well on All his attributes...maybe Captain in the PL.
 
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