Nigel Pearson’s first year at Bristol City: flexibility and innovation and he’ll need more

Adaptation has always been a hallmark of survival, as the World Wildlife Fund explains on their website.

The windy pitches up at Failand are certainly one ecosystem that brings occasional climatic conditions to be contended with, but there are others in football management too, where the average tenure in charge remains just 423 days in charge (according to a Sky Sports study last season).

Adjust and thrive in your habitat and you succeed. But even then, even if you do, eventually every manager or head coach is doomed to depart the club at some point and by some method.

Even if you’re Alan Dicks and have taken Bristol City up for a fine four-year spell in the top tier.

As Nigel Pearson completes his first year today, the current manager has much to prove in BS, but also shows clear tangible progress on the last few years in BS3.

We covered the improving home form on Sunday, a vital commodity to make sure City supporters are onside, following a fourth home win in a row. The best run for three years.

Meanwhile, the attacking play is promising too. Only four teams have scored more goals than City this season.

That’s quite an incredible turnaround given that as Steve Lansdown explained exactly a year ago, Bristol City had at one point “gone three and a half hours without a corner”. (Who would have thought that Bristol City would be building from the front first under Nigel Pearson, rather than the defence? Not many.)

Unfortunately, only two Championship clubs have currently conceded more goals than the Robins.

Entertainment is a given this campaign then, but that’s maybe no bad thing, given the stolid football and results that marked the end of the Lee Johnson era, with the last nine games of the head coach seeing City unable to score more than one goal per match.

Of course, when Pearson arrived a year ago, City were on a run of six defeats in a row, having lost 11 of the previous 14 league games, and given their injury problems, relegation looked a distinct possibility.

In came Nige, and the Robins staved off the drop, if doing very little else in 2020/21 bar blooding many youngsters and possibly being lucky that the campaign had not lasted longer than it did. City won just one of their last 13 games, but at least survival had once again ensued.

Pearson immediately grasped the nettle in the summer, and decisions since have mostly been made for the long term.

No loan signings, while talented young players George Tanner and Rob Atkinson arrived following a cull of the senior squad last summer.

A bit of balance was given as experience was acquired with (possibly) sticking-plaster signings Danny Simpson, Andy King and Matty James arriving to show the professional standards needed on a talented group of young players.

With the return of Andi Weimann and Chris Martin from injury, and with Nathan Baker re-joining the club, Pearson made adjustments but also avoided a common pitfall for many newly installed managers: changing too much too quickly.

Even the dumping of club captain Dan Bentley to the bench for 10 games could be viewed as a necessary hardship for the longer term. Max O’Leary has had a good chance and shown he’s not too far from the desired standard, while Bentley has returned to the XI with the bit between his teeth.

Tomas Kalas likewise has had to prove himself again to make spot in the side regularly his. No-one is guaranteed a spot in this team. A gradual evolution of the culture up at the High Performance Centre at play.

Three-year build

This was always stated as a three-year build, with accompanying new contract inked last April, with a lot of work ahead, and a need for patience from supporters to get there.

Perhaps Jon Lansdown forgot that last week, as he decried, “we should be competitively better than we are at the moment”.

So just where should this squad be? That’s often dictated by finance, and City’s wage bill - while high and previously unsustainable - is middle of the road. Maybe Jon Lansdown has a point, broadly, but that would fail to take in the work being done to reduce the wage bill this season.

With the club posting that £38.4m financial loss for the 2020/21 season in December, Pearson has been limited in what he can do to build the playing squad he wishes for. Timm Klose on a free for a Tyreeq Bakinson loan the limit of January’s work, but another indication of flexible thinking, with the manager unable to spend.

But there are more positives. As Pearson pointed out last week, several players are playing better than ever and over-performing what may have been expected.

Chiefly that’s in attack, where Andi Weimann is enjoying his most productive season over, Antoine Semenyo is blossoming and Chris Martin is enjoying a fine campaign too.

Look at the improvement of the young players too - Alex Scott’s emergence, Cam Pring becoming a regular and Han-Noah Massengo progressing - and it’s clear to see that much of the squad is flourishing. Pearson has not been shy of turning to the academy time and again for playing resources, just as the City board would like him too.

Flexibility and evolution

Pearson’s work in BS3 has also included tactical flexibility. Ideally the manager has said he would prefer to use a 4-3-3 or his often-used 4-2-3-1 derivative. But he has switched to a three at the back system recognising that it suits the playing squad more.

Then there was clear innovation shown at the weekend: Joe Williams as a ‘front sweeper’, utility forward Sam Bell fielded as a wing-back reminiscent of his father on the left side, and also the adaptation of Alex Scott to a central position. Jay Dasilva on the right anyone?

Not everything has been successful but the squad has nicely ticked over with everyone getting the chance to shine. Whether they’ve taken it is another story.

With Sam Bell, Ayman Benarous and Tommy Conway waiting in the wings, the Lansdown family may have just the man to get results and also develop young players too, in the way that Kasper Schmeichel did at the King Power Stadium.

But is that the extent of the club’s ambition? And will that satisfy Nige?

The manager last week questioned the club’s identity, making sure that he was not talking about the team’s. Is it to be developing academy talent and adding to it to slowly push for promotion, a la Coventry City and Preston in recent years?

Or do the Lansdowns genuinely expect more from a club currently lowering the wage bill and scrambling to stay on that Profitability and Sustainability tight rope?

Pearson may need more of that innovative thinking and ability to adapt going forward for the progression that the owners really desire, as money appears in short supply and next summer there is already talk of selling off one of the young assets to help make ends meet.

As CEO Richard Gould said recently, Bristol City “won’t be shopping in Chelsea” too much more.

Last week was frankly a stormy few days at Ashton Gate in every way with unexpected disagreements at the top of the club.

“Like I say, he’s the chairman, an owner so he can say what he thinks, but I don’t agree with him,” said a candid Pearson, who it was obvious wanted to make a statement in Thursday’s pre-Middlesbrough press conference.

Jon, who has recently started a new creative visual content agency called Reach Fever Pitch that was used for the Huboo announcements last week, may have been talking about the longer term and in general terms, but it also drew a response.

Bristol World understands that the Lansdowns were unhappy at the comments and specifically at the timing, given that the Ashton Gate Eight celebrations began the next day.

Pearson also called the club’s previous transfer strategy ‘bonkers’ and he is in most senses not wrong.

However, this is the mad world of football and high wage bills are like nuclear weapons: if one club has them, then everyone has to have them - to try and lure the best playing talent and hit the Premier League jackpot. Few sides spend within their means.

The threat of a points deduction looms on the horizon, but in general Pearson has handled a difficult inheritance well.

Future survival

When you’re on song as a manager, winning and winning, you can demand and say what you like to a degree.

But Pearson’s record is not spotless, and defensive problems remain a frustration. A lack of victories since arriving in BS3 - just 13 in 49 games over 12 months - does not look too good.

There is certainly room for improvement: no clean sheets since 4 December, no back-to-back wins so far this season, and an inability to win by more than one.

The late goals have been a frustrating habit too, while the jury is out still on several summer 2021 signings, while high earners Kasey Palmer and Nahki Wells appear to be treading water.

So the work goes on, with much still to do, as stated by Pearson himself, and hopefully a further future climb upwards. And with last week’s interaction between chairman and manager hopefully consigned to the waste bin and put down merely as contrasting opinions, or more likely a mis-communication.

Any further strident views may require flexibility, but all parties have shown an appetite for that up to now bar this once.

On with the show. Pearson has done enough to deserve extra time and there are enough signs of life in this current Robins vintage.

The former Leicester City manager has regularly talked about a collective work ethic, building a team that scraps for results, and is horrible to play against. A side that runs into the ground with a heart that matches the passion from the stands at Ashton Gate: survival of the fittest.