‘Home advantage is so important’

Following our draw last weekend away to Barnsley Bristol City sit an impressive sixth on the eve of the controversial (due to the wearing or not wearing of the poppy) upcoming international break. Few would have predicted Lee Johnson’s men would be riding so high this early on but as ever the Championship is a tight league, highlighted by the fact City are one of three clubs currently on 24 points.

The month of November sees us only playing three matches, three pretty tough ones on the face of it as we face Brighton, Birmingham then Reading, in that order. Only one of these fixtures, the first, is at Ashton Gate and as Spurs fans will prey testament to this week, home advantage is so important.

City will do well to remain in the top-six come the end of the month and the three matches will certainly show us how far we have come this season.

Discussions with my friends who I religiously attend match days with tend to, inevitably given our meteoritic position, revolve around our suitability for a promotion push this year. I myself see us competing in a second bracket of clubs hoping to gain that breakthrough and to find themselves playing Premier League football next season.

The top echelon is reserved for the Newcastles, the Norwichs and the Brightons of this world. One or two clubs could potentially find themselves in the mix come the New Year, Villa perhaps, but these are the clubs I see fighting it out for the automatic promotion places.

Beyond that, and as most people know, it’s a free-for-all and I would throw ourselves in the mix with a realistic chance of the play-offs along with another seven or eight teams including both Birmingham and Reading who at the time of writing sit either side of us in the Championship table.

So, with January fast approaching and a potential promotion push in the offing, where might Johnson consider strengthening? As mentioned before in this blog, we are surely in need of another striker to assist our current crop. Ideally someone with experience at this level and who is at their peak, age-wise, not up-and-coming or in their mid- to late-thirties.

I would argue that City need to strengthen in the right back position as well. We have two (Mathews and Little), three if you include Moore who can do a job in that role but none of them are, in my humble view, are a patch on Ayling who we let go earlier this year.

To me it also seems obvious that Johnson currently doesn’t seem to know his best formation let a lone his best starting eleven. This can certainly be a positive as it leaves opponents guessing but at some stage it is likely that continuity will also be important. Perhaps we will see more of a settled side this month with the comparatively few fixtures we have in the coming weeks.

I have been in a predicting mood of late so I will stick my neck out and say we will pick up at least five points from the three fixtures.