Championship:Bristol City- Wolverhampton Wanderers
I voiced my concerns about City early in the season and ahead of a trip to Birmingham City wrote .........
Bristol City did not make the marquee signings they were quite looking for in the transfer window, but did add a couple of players, one of which I am singularly unimpressed with as I am not sure he is committed to Championship football, I have no desire to bad mouth a young player, so will leave it at that, but I think it was a bit of a panic signing, ahead of their home game with Leeds United I wrote .....
I saw the Robins on Saturday, in their 4-2 home defeat to Brentford, City were 2-1 up and had missed good chances to extend that lead, before the match turned on the sending off of Luke Freeman. From that moment on (35th minute), it was all Bees and the away win never looked in doubt. Brentford are very confident with their passing game and the wide open spaces of Ashton Gate (which looks bigger as there are only three sides to the stadium at present) played to their strengths, which meant that for much of the next hour + , City had to work incredibly hard and at times where chasing shadows and the quick turnaround when many players are still coming to terms with life at the higher level, is a big ask on the back of that.
They will be without Freeman tonight, he played in central midfield, right at the heart of what was a 3-5-2 and the catalyst of so much of what they did offensively, he was on Saturday (after his departure) and will be today, a very big loss, Freeman was ever present last season, contributing seven goals and 18 assists and for many, was the stand out performer in League 1. City know they are a couple of players short of being competitive in the Championship and made what looked like a bit of a panic bid yesterday of £9m for Andre Gray of the Bees, they have a wealthy owner, but in terms of FFP, this is a signing they cannot really afford (as I type it has still not been completed). Anyway, we will discuss Gray in the future, for now, suffice to say that City are still coming to grips with life at this level, need to strengthen and are without perhaps their best player today. United have won the last six h2h meetings with City ,have scored eight (two or more in each) in their last three visits to Bristol and look good for at least a point and I don't feel that the hosts would be too disappointed with that. We are at a very early stage of the season, but almost 52% of games in the Championship have ended all square, many teams look evenly matched and there is a lot of jostling for position, especially in the transfer market and for now, games in general might continue to be hard to win
.
They were 2-0 down late there but salvaged a draw and then posted a road win at Middlesbrough, but that was down to the Championship's own Mr Tinkerman in Aitor Karanka who has so far refused to learn from last season and too often is rotating just for the sake of it . City were back down to earth with a 2-1 home loss to Burnley and the match at Boro aside, City have struggled to put together more than 30 minutes in any one game and are finding the transition to Championship life tough and boss Steve Cotterill is hardly a calming influence on the sidelines in that respect, if it came down to him versus Rowett, mano e mano it is a mismatch in coaching ability. The visitors do get Luke Freeman ( see above) back today which will help, but I am keen on the hosts.
They lost that 4-2 , City did pick up a few points and played well at times in subsequent games, but again, mostly only for 30-45 minutes and if they have not noticed, games last longer than that ! This is a tough, tough league, one of the most competitive in world football and with the biggest prize in the sport up for grabs , teams feed on weakness and there are few second and no third chances in games, you just cannot afford dips in concentration. Once again City fell back into their old ways and conceded four first half (!) goals to Fulham on Saturday and now they have to face a Wolverhampton Wanderers side who played really well, especially tactically and "pressed" the life out of a decent Birmingham side at St Andrews in a midlands derby over the weekend.
Manager Kenny Jackett got his team fired up and tactics spot on and he will have done his home work for tonight and be looking to build on the real momentum his team built up with that one win. It was a very different Wolves team and performance, with hugely experienced central defender Mike Williamson joining on loan from Newcastle United ( I know about five Championship sides have looked to sign him) and he helped to restrict the Blues to a single attempt on target and veteran striker Grant Holt joining from Wigan Athletic. Holt will give them an option from the bench and is not there as many believe just so opposition fans have someone to boo and should "you fat ******" at for 90 minutes, which is ironic as they usually have a pie in both hands and have drunk 5-6 pints before the game ! Williamson is very good business indeed. City will have a decent 30 minute spell I am certain, but if the visitors ride that out, they will get good chances to win this and I feel they will take the points.
1.5 units Wolverhampton Wanderers level ball 2.13 asian line/Sportmarket.
Good Luck.
