‘We didn’t half play some good stuff at times’

When you ask City fans where they expect their team to finish this term, my guess is you’ll get a variety of answers. The most pessimistic of fans might suggest that, given the players we have lost, escaping relegation would be deemed a success. The more optimistic, however, will most likely predict a play-off spot.

As with many things related to City, I’d say I find myself somewhere in the middle. A top-half finish – but missing out on the top-six – is where I predict we will finish and events thus far have done little do persuade me otherwise.

The 4-2 midweek away loss to West Brom summed up much of what is good, and bad, about this young Lee Johnson side. Going forward we looked fantastic at times and in truth we should have been a couple of goals to the good as early as the ten minute mark.

Defensively though, City’s weak underbelly was there for all to see. Positionally our back four were at fault for a number of the West Brom goals, especially their second and third. Individual mistakes from the likes of Lloyd Kelly and Jack Hunt, among others, also contributed to what was at best an inconsistent defensive performance. West Brom’s fourth goal saw City concede once again all too soon after scoring themselves, an annoying habit City seem to be developing.

As I alluded to above, however, we didn’t half play some good stuff at times. City managed three efforts on goal within the first 90 seconds and had they converted one of these early chances we may well have been in for a quite different evening.

The match, of course, differed somewhat to the previous game this week, which saw City beat an in-form Sheffield United team by a single goal. Many would have thought the match against Chris Wilder’s side would have also been an open affair, but given Johnson’s change of formation to three at the back, the two teams spent much of the game cancelling each other out.

The fact that City won the game, however, showed a steeliness that hasn’t been seen for sometime at Ashton Gate. If City are to make the top-six they will need to recreate matches like this and win games against other promotion rivals.

City complete their gruelling three-matches-in-seven-days with a Friday night visit to the DW stadium. Wigan Athletic have also been in good form so far this season, picking up 13 points from their opening seven fixtures.

Going into that game, it is my guess that Johnson will make several changes to the team that lost at the Hawthorns mid-week. I would expect to see fresh faces in midfield, with Eliasson and maybe even Walsh starting. Diedhiou did enough to warrant a recall in my view too.

It is at the back, though, that the manager will have to make the biggest calls. I would be tempted to call-up Pisano at right-back and maybe even bring Baker back into the fold. I know many will suggest that many changes may seem a little reactionary, but I think its worth remembering how many games we’ve played this week and what quality Johnson has at his disposal.