Chris Hogg highlighted Bristol City’s defence after another clean sheet in goalless draw with Leeds United
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After the Robins maintained their second clean sheet in a week with a goalless draw against Leeds United, deputy head coach Chris Hogg lauded Bristol City’s defensive progress.
Willy Gnonto and Daniel James were among the players Daniel Farke’s team failed to score on Saturday due to saves from Max O’Leary and a goal line clearing from centre back Zak Vyner.
City had a poor defensive start to the season, allowing three or more goals against Millwall, Derby County, and Blackburn Rovers in three of their first five games.
The Reds have now prevented their opponents from scoring in three of their previous five games, although it took them until their eighth Championship meeting to record their maiden clean sheet.
After the Leeds match, Hogg disclosed, “We talked a little bit about it at the beginning of the season about trying to tighten up and be a little bit harder to beat.”
“I believe if you look at the past week actually, the two clean sheets out of three games, clearly against Middlesbrough, and today, it’s great development. At the beginning of the season, we gave up too many goals at points.
However, the group possesses that quality. They want to succeed, and they’re a great team to work with. Two, for the football team, but one for the manager. They truly care, therefore I believe they demonstrated that once more. I’m happy with that component of the performance, which was the drive to try and get another clean sheet.
Although the absence of goals at one end of the field has been advantageous, it was less pleasant when there was no net-rippling at the other end.
Despite their successful goal-scoring efforts earlier in the week and a minor structural change against Leeds, the Reds will need to find more ways to penetrate the more formidable Championship defences. They struggled to make an impact against former Premier League players Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk, who are paired with the league’s fourth-best defence.
Hogg said, “To try to shut certain spaces out of possession, we changed shape in terms of our out of possession block today.”
However, the strategy was really similar to how we play anyhow—we just roll it normally from a back four—given our in-possession structure.
In order to try to get spaces on the inside, we had some ideas about trying to move over and around them early, but their counterpress was superior. Therefore, at times, it was rather difficult for us to manage those regains in confined spaces. We performed well a few times and were able to move forward, but Leeds deserves a lot of praise since they had the drive and mindset to shut us down during those trying times.
Set pieces might have been a key path to goal for Liam Manning’s team on Saturday, since City’s opponents had the most of the possession (68%) in BS3.
The Robins demonstrated their ability to be creative with their set piece routines by swiftly taking advantage of a corner for Nahki Wells’ first goal against Stoke City last Tuesday, which helped them start their comeback from a two-goal deficit. However, the delivery against Leeds fell short.
Hogg remarked, “Corners first half, probably the delivery was a little bit off.”
“We had moments where we generated a few corners in the first half, and you’re thinking, if we could just get something from those set piece moments, it would be nice,” the player said. “The movement was a little bit off.”
Despite the various distinct emotions that permeated this game, positivity was the predominant sentiment.
The team as a whole—fans, players, and staff—was united, and it showed in the strong performance.
“I think today is more than our performance with the ball, but it really comes down to us trusting ourselves and trying to be consistent with the fundamental actions,” Hogg said.
“The main overwhelming sensation I have is the camaraderie and energy that we shown as a group today. of the club banding together, helping the family and the boys, and then giving it their all to try to achieve a result, which I felt they did incredibly well.
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