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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
Sport
Richard Forrester

Bristol City verdict: Opposition tactics begs a question, confidence in King and a word on Vyner

It wasn't a game that will live long in the memory but it was an important point to end the run of defeats.

Coventry are no pushovers and their league position at the foot of the Championship is certainly a false one. Seven out of their nine games this season have been away from home due to their ongoing stadium issues while they headed into yesterday's match on the back of a victory against Middlesbrough.

It's easy to look at the table and pinpoint this fixture as one that should be won but this had makings of being a difficult test against a well-organised and drilled side. A point is probably a fair reflection and it's rare to witness City involved in a 0-0 draw - the first in over a year.

The Robins did have their chances to snatch three points with Antoine Semenyo having the best of the bunch in the first half when his strike cannoned off the legs of keeper Ben Wilson. Coventry also threatened and believe they should have had a penalty for a supposed handball from a corner.

Apart from that, there was little to write home about in terms of goalmouth action but the biggest concern will be the injury to Kal Naismith five minutes before half-time. The centre-back hobbled off with a calf injury adding to City's growing injury list.

Here's the talking points from a frustrating night at Ashton Gate.

Trust in King

It was a performance to suggest King is ageing like a fine wine. There's not many players who can wear the No10 shirt and look confident in the heart of a defensive three.

It wasn't where he started the game of course. Handed his first league start of the season due to the absence of Alex Scott and Matty James, King was deployed to sit in front of the defence tasked with keeping Kasey Palmer quiet who was out to prove a point.

He did a terrific job in breaking up play, keeping it simple with his passes and covering the central defenders when the likes of Rob Atkinson and Naismith pushed forward. After 40 minutes, his role changed when Naismith came off injured.

Pearson opted to leave George Tanner and Cam Pring on the bench and instead went for Joe Williams in midfield, pushing King back into the middle of the back three. It promised to be a difficult second half, especially against the pace of Gyokeres.

Andy King was terrific against Coventry (Andy Watts/JMP)

But King stood up to the challenge and more. His know-how and experience allowed him to be in the right positions because he knew he wouldn't win the battle for pace should Coventry play that ball over the top.

Pearson highlighted the importance of his organisation skills after the game in proving crucial to the clean sheet when he said: "Andy King is very capable of playing there and he’s a good organiser too, a calm head which we need a good communicator.

"Our other options on the bench were George Tanner and Cam Pring who are both young players, neither of them are what I would call an organiser, so it was pretty obvious choice to put Kingy back there.”

In essence, King's performance was a further indication that he can be trusted when called upon and that could prove vital over the next couple of weeks. As we await news on Naismith's calf issue, City may only have two fit central defenders for the trip to Birmingham on Saturday and King may find himself slotting in at the back again.

Missing Alex Scott's quality

There was a comment made from a City fan on social media that said the club can stick another couple of million onto Scott's price-tag after that performance and it's quite difficult to argue against it.

The teenager was forced to sit out the game with a one-match suspension which meant Han-Noah Massengo was afforded his opportunity to stake a claim. There was a lot to like about the Frenchman's performance including his energy, tenacity and ability to bring the ball forward.

Although he was being afforded plenty of time with the ball at his feet. Coventry had a game plan to allow City's midfield with the time and space while they dropped deep, closing the gaps behind.

It worked as they narrowed the pitch meaning City were forced to continue playing balls out to the flanks with Jay Dasilva featuring heavily on that left side. Credit to Massengo, he didn't shy from playing the ball forward when he needed to but while his quality is evident, he can often be equally frustrating with his passing.

Han-Noah Massengo carries the ball forward (Andy Watts/JMP)

Sometimes he dwells on it for a second too long when he could have released it into the feet of the forwards and often his final pass, that defence-splitting ball, narrowly misses its target. Although that's easy to say when you're sitting watching the game from above.

City missed Scott's quality in the middle last night. It was a game that was going to be divided by either a moment of magic or a big mistake at the back.

If there's one man who could have provided that piece of brilliance it would have been Scott. City lacked that creativity both with their passes forward and deliveries into the box which provides further evidence of his importance in the team.

Opponents' tactics...

That does bring us to a point about the way Coventry set up and a bigger debate about whether sides are finding a solution to City's attacking play.

Pearson's side had over 40 crosses in total with the large majority coming down Dasilva's side but none of them really seemed to threaten the Coventry goal. Tommy Conway had a glancing header on target towards the end while Wells was unlucky with an overhead kick.

Looking at that stat, it made me think of the comments made by QPR manager Michael Beale after the defeat on Saturday. He said: "I thought they played down the sides of us but never played in front of us which was part of the game plan."

Now take a look at the heatmap against Coventry below and you can clearly see the emphasis on playing to the ball out wide instead of going through the middle. In fact, Wells and Semenyo had 80 touches between them but the majority of those came from wide positions.

Bristol City's heat map (left) vs Coventry (right) (@whoscored)

With Coventry dropping deep when City had possession, it meant Wells and Semenyo were limited in their space to run in behind and prevented the hosts from playing to their strengths by hitting them on the counterattack. Andi Weimann grew into the game in the second half but really found it difficult to engineer opportunities for the frontmen.

Pearson rightly praised their defending at the full-time whistle but it was made easy for them with the lack of qualities in the deliveries. Mark Sykes was also guilty of failing to trouble with any teasing crosses into the box.

Mark Robins said after the game: "I think we dealt with a lot of their threat early on. We had to defend lots of crosses, too many but we defended them really well."

That then sparks an argument to bring in Kane Wilson - a player who is renowned for his quality from wide positions having picked up 13 assists for Forest Green Rovers last season. Birmingham manager John Eustace was at Ashton Gate last night and so it will be interesting to see whether he adopts a similar tactic for Saturday.

A word on Vyner...

It was arguably Zak Vyner's most accomplished performance of the season for City and perhaps for a long, long time. You can see the confidence is back in his game and he's enjoying his football again with the pressures of last season weighing him down.

He didn't put a foot wrong last night, stood his ground against Coventry's front pairing and played a massive part in the clean sheet. His tackle to deny Godden in the second half after Gyokeres' cross was as good as a goal and you just had to see the reaction from Bentley to appreciate the importance of it.

The one thing missing from his game last season was his consistency but he's starting to find that again and that comes with the enjoyment of playing. He's been offered a clean slate in the backline, which even he knows was unlikely heading into the summer, and he's making the most of his opportunity.

City's defensive away record is nothing to shout from the rooftops about but that's four clean sheets on home soil now this season - a record that's a big improvement on last season.

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