Bin the Attitude./ The Kasey Palmer Questions Answered/ Cup Match Summary..

Bristol City verdict: Lee Johnson needs to shape up if Robins are to challenge this season
Our reporter's considered take from the 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Brentford

The victory over Luton proved a brief respite for Bristol City in this coldest of winters for the Robins promotion hopes.

A battering against Brentford felt like a display of all the team's weaknesses and fallibilities exposed in one brutal 90 minutes in a performance ridden with ill-discipline.

But despite it all, City are still only two points away from the top six and with the January transfer window now open us are in a position to strengthen. But is that the only answer to their problems?

Our Robins reporter takes a closer look at the talking points to have emerged from a heavy New Year's Day hangover ...

Johnson's anger management
Lee Johnson's anger could land him in hot water soon. The head coach has already sat in the stands at Barnsley following what he said to the fourth official against Luton Town following what he claims was a discussion over bird spotting.

Since then we've also had a yellow card handed out against Blackburn Rovers following a disagreement with the opposition bench, and now a red card.

Yesterday's dismissal may well be over-turned but is the spate of poor discipline a reflection of his team's lack of form? And further is it not an anachronistic habit at odds with the rest of the club's ethos?

Bin the attitude. That's the message from the players but it may need to apply to the top of the tree.

Williams' strange decision
Ashley Williams has been a fine signing this season. But the Bristol City defence is a pale reflection of last season's and the Robins have conceded more goals than 16 other teams in the division.

Williams' red card was wholly deserved but so out of character. It may well be that the Wales international was overly fired up following that clash with Ollie Watkins just two minutes prior to that game-changing incident.

Watkins too had plenty to say as Williams was dismissed 13 minutes into wednesday's game. And indeed the slide tackle on Watkins was so mis-timed that it seemed almost that the 35-year-old could have pulled out.

Eliasson change not necessary
We see the substitution of Niclas Eliasson in two ways. Firstly, there was the need to manage the game and consider the bigger picture. With a man less, maybe it was better to save Eliasson for the new challenges ahead.

However, Lee Johnson was roundly booed and we can understand why. Why take off your main creative force as you look to get back in the game? It was unnecessary too.

The head coach explained afterwards that he would not have gone for a 4-3-2 formation as the move was unnessarily risky against the precise Bees.But Weimann could have dropped to left wing and Marley Watkins could have been hauled off instead.

Leaky Robins
Those four goals meant that it's just one clean sheet in the past nine league games. Crucially it also meant huge damage was inflicted to City's goal difference, reducing it to -1, in what is a very close league.

City have the equal seventh best attack in the league - on goals scored now - but the joint seventh worst defence - on goals conceded. We're not sure that the loan capture of Eddie Nketiah will change that...

City must be tougher to play against or they will continue to ship goals and lose games.

Fantastic Fam
Oddly the one-man disadvantage brought out the best of Famara Diedhiou who had one of his best games up front for the home side of late.

The Senegal international player was superb at holding up the ball (winning the most attacking aerial duels in the game by far) and bringing others into play (only Josh Brownhill created more chances in the game for City than their No9), with the crowd responding to one such move and crossfield pass to Jack Hunt.

Alas, Hunt was the other side of the coin - but at least faced up to it after the game, following a great display against Luton Town.

Marley Watkins did play well too: winning the most second balls in the match and being fouled more than any Robins player, bar Korey Smith.

Get lots more news, opinion and transfer updates on our Bristol City FC page and add a bookmark to find it quickly next time.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-verdict-lee-johnson-3697626

 

Sub Headlines ~
* Johnson's anger management.
* Williams strange decision.
* Eliasson change not necessary.
* Leaky Robins.
* Fantastic Fam.

Story in itself , angry and frustrated manager, inconsistent player, wrong changes by manager, defensive weakness, Fam has a good day, our team has got problems and they stem from the top unfortunately.

The top being our player management staff, in my opinion SL is a top man and his leadership has given us financial security, our academy success, our trading future plans, our magnificent stadium, our community relationships, our only hold up is our progress on field by LJ and his management team, 4 years, countless signings and loans, total support from SL, yet we are still down to 11th in the table.

January is a must, Brentford embarassed us, we must improve with some class signings, we have all seen this habit of mid season failure several times before and the support base including me still has faith but this crap has got to stop.

 

Korey Smith shares personal message following recent Bristol City troubles

Bristol City midfielder and fan favourite Korey Smith has sent a message to the fans after the Robins were hammered on New Year’s Day by Brentford.
It was a result that saw Lee Johnson’s side plummet down to 11th in the table with enormous pressure beginning to grow on the manager with five losses in their six league games.
But Smith was keen to accentuate the positives after the final whistle.

Posting a photograph of himself on his Instagram story, he wrote alongside it: “Tough one but lots of football to be played.”
Bryan Mbeumo gave the visitors the lead after just six minutes on Wednesday, poking home from close range after a mix-up in the Robins backline, with Ashley Williams seeing red just moments later for the hosts.
Said Benrahma made it two with 26 minutes on the clock, finishing cooly after Ollie Watkins had seen his shot saved by Daniel Bentley in the Bristol City goal.
Johnson’s side never looked like getting back into the game and in the final ten minutes, Watkins popped up with two goals of his own to add some gloss to the display.

The verdict
Smith is of course right and there is plenty of time for Bristol City to turn things around this season.
But they remain at real risk of falling into a full blown crisis. The animosity from the fans coupled with Johnson’s stubborness is a recipe for a really toxic environment.
If there is not a significant improvement in their next few games I think they can kiss promotion goodbye.
https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/k...ssage-following-recent-bristol-city-troubles/

 

Kasey Palmer, Lee Johnson and Bristol City: The key questions answered
Our City reporter answers the big questions surrounding the attacking midfielder and his future.

Is the Kasey Palmer story from earlier today true? Where does it come from?
We understand that it is, yes. The club denies that there has been a falling out.

McAllister's view at the pre-Shrewsbury Town press conference on Friday afternoon was:

"No, there’s been no fallout. Kasey’s a big part of this squad. He’s a top player. When you get opportunities you need to take them - we can only pick 18 players for each game. He’s a big part of our group," he said.

However, we believe that the issue is bigger than McAllister is letting on, and it is telling that there have not been other denials.

The information is from a variety of sources - including players, their entourage, senior Bristol City coaching staff, senior Bristol City admin staff and others.

Has the club and specifically Lee Johnson had the opportunity to give their side?
Lee Johnson explained following the Luton Town win on Boxing Day that:

"I think Kasey’s got a challenge - his challenge is to keep the shirt and nobody dislikes Kasey Palmer, we signed him because we believe in him, we still do believe in him.

"I thought he was outstanding in the first five or six games and a little bit of that coincided with the duo of Benik Afobe and Kasey Palmer and they struck up a rapport on and off the pitch and then Benik got injured.

"Kasey had a couple of bad performances, didn’t do enough, simply or didn’t have the right balance around him and I think that it’s an important time for Kasey now mentally because he’s always had the mothership of Chelsea to call him back and my challenge to him is to not have a repeated pattern where the grass is always greener somewhere else.

"It’s now time to, exactly what we said before, dig in and make sure that he comes through because he’s a talented individual and he’s a player that we’re desperate to do well."

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Kasey Palmer of Bristol City (Image: Robbie Stephenson/JMP)
The club and Lee have been offered the chance to speak publicly on the story but have declined.

Is the relationship permanently damaged between Kasey Palmer and Lee Johnson?
Our understanding is that we don't believe it is permanently damaged. I personally believe that every relationship is recoverable. (Offer a big enough olive branch... and then whack them on the head with it...).

However, I'm hearing that a transfer is a definite possibility and likely to happen by the end of January, as it stands.

Whether the club will agree to that remains to be seen, but would it be in their interest to keep an unhappy player beyond the window? Especially someone of Palmer's talents.

How close is a transfer to happening?
Steve Cooper has now spoken with Lee Johnson. An official approach has been made from Swansea. Other clubs including Crystal Palace are interested. Another Premier League side (mid-table) and Bundesliga team are interested too.

Nothing is imminent but a move could take place before the end of the month if Bristol City agree that the best thing is to let Palmer leave.

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Kasey Palmer warms up against Millwall in a t-shirt in tribute to the Afobe family

Why might Lee Johnson possibly 'fall out' with one of his best players?
Lee Johnson will have his reasons for taking the action that he has - likely that he believes that his methods are aimed at getting the best from a player.

The head coach is determined to develop and make every player better. Are his methods working or out of date? That's for you and Steve Lansdown to decide. (And in doing that we suggest to look at the big picture too.)

How big a deal is this - it's just one player, right?
Chiefly it just affects a single player, but if other players are close friends then those players are not likely to be too impressed either.

Further, this is a player worth around £5m or more and is one of the highest earners in the Bristol City squad. What is going on that this wasn't sorted during last season's loan? Palmer was one of the club's big summer signings and Lee Johnson should have been building the team around Palmer, knowing what he was getting when the deal was completed in the summer.

Has there been a drop-off in attitude from the player? We don't believe there has been.

What is Palmer's view and what has the player been doing of late to influence the situation?
Our understanding is that Palmer is very unhappy but still believes in the Bristol City project. If he's not wanted then he will move on.

He has also been putting in extra work with fitness trainer Jamie Lawrence outside of training to further improve his fitness and make sure that he is in top condition, as he did over the summer to earn a move back to Bristol City.

Further, we understand that Palmer has sought and had several one-on-one meetings with Lee Johnson to ask how he can improve, what he is doing wrong and why he is being left out of the 18-man squad of late.

Might Palmer play on Saturday and could this all be the affect of what has happened with Benik Afobe, his close friend?
I hope Kasey Palmer plays tomorrow and everything moves forward from there. No information on whether he will be involved yet.

The Afobe thing will definitely have had an effect. But there is more to this undoubtedly.

What is the City reporter's own reading of the situation?
Without doubt Palmer is desperate to get back into the side. As reported previously, the relationship with Lee Johnson is deteriorating. And let's be honest: for this to all become public shows something is amiss - do not underestimate that.

Why has this happened now and why is it happening following a loan period last season that effectively had to be a 'trial' period? There are big questions to be asked of the head coach here. If Johnson didn't want to sign Palmer in the summer then there are even bigger questions for the club to answer.

This sort of thing is not a good look. The morale of the squad could be affected and to lose a player like Palmer just months after making the deal permanent is just plain crazy and must lead to a lot of finger-wagging inside BS3.

However, saying all that: Lee Johnson is still the man to lead Bristol City and has the backing of the squad. This needs sorting quickly and internally.

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Kasey Palmer looks dejected after City's 2-1 defeat to Millwall

Johnson, by his own admission, is a little old-school in his methods and I believe that the head coach may be trying to 'toughen up' Palmer and make him mentally stronger. The danger is that things backfire.

Has Lee Johnson 'lost the dressing room'?
Absolutely not. This is one unhappy player and it is a player not in the team. Why wouldn't he be unhappy because of that?

This writer is aware that there are other unhappy players too - however mainly because they are not playing, and that is perfectly natural. The head coach said recently that he wished to trim his squad and that would help with managing the group.

That is now what needs to happen.

Why is Palmer so upset? How has Lee Johnson 'mis-treated' Kasey?
Here is one example: we understand that every player who was not in the 18-man squad for the game against Charlton Athletic on Boxing Day was told that they did not need to travel on Christmas Day.

However, Palmer was then made to travel despite not being in the 18. This was seen as specifically aimed at Palmer.

Of course, Lee Johnson may have his reasons for this, but it does not sound good.

How much of an effect has this had on the chase for Eddie Nketiah?
We know that Nketiah and Palmer have discussed Bristol City. And that Palmer was very positive about City and told Nketiah that he should come to BS3.

Th only thing was that Palmer might not be in BS3 himself by the end of the window.

We understand that Nketiah has several decent loan options. Several of our sources have told us that he is coming. One has said that Bristol City are not his first choice. But we will see in the next days.

Is this the beginning of the end for Lee Johnson at Bristol City?
After six defeats in the last nine games and five in the last six, it is time to start asking this question.

This writer is NOT saying that this is the end of Lee Johnson at Ashton Gate, just that he is a manager under pressure. But that is also true of every manager.

A bad result in the next game or two could precipitate close scrutiny - however Johnson's job is not under threat. He does remain just two points away from the play-off positions.
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kasey-palmer-lee-johnson-bristol-3702551

 

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Pundit gives scathing view of Bristol City's performance in FA Cup draw with Shrewsbury Town

He said:"They’ve been dragged here there and everywhere by the formation of Shrewsbury

"I actually don’t know how to sum their performance up.

"They look tired, short of confidence tactically and all over the place.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport...ws/pundit-gives-scathing-view-bristol-3705900

 

Lee Johnson speaks~
'I think credit to Shrewsbury. The perception of giving the ball away a lot was probably built up over a few spells. We looked like we needed a rest - mentally and physically. I’m happy I’m in the hat that’s the best that I can say.

I’m desperate for individual performances to show more belief. Clearly there are places up for grab in the game against Wigan.

I think we need a rest - and I’m going to give them four days off because we need it. We’ve got a lot of young players and we need the break.'