Nigel Pearson stresses need for identity as he defends Bristol City’s current league performance

Nigel Pearson says Bristol City need to forge an identity as he claimed his team is not under-performing in the Championship this season.

His comments come after club chairman Jon Lansdown claimed yesterday that he expected the side to be performing better in the league this season.

City are currently 17th in the league with 37 points on the board so far with 14 games remaining and have been unable to go on a consistent run to propel them higher in the standings.

Off-the-field the club finds itself in a precarious position with record losses of almost £40m, whilst also having a number of high-earners on their books.

This season has seen the emergence of young stars such as Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo and Cameron Pring who have come into their own with consistent performances.

In previous seasons, the club has sold some of its star performers to keep the club in a healthy financial position whilst also reinvesting into the squad to remain competitive.

With COVID-19 affecting the transfer market though, City have been unable to do that and now Pearson believes that the club should develop more of an identity.

“I think the club is still struggling to find the identity that it really wants,” said Pearson.

“In my eyes, it’s always about producing a team that works hard and people hate playing against but we have talent as well.

“That is what I really want but we are a long way away from that at the moment.”

“I heard a comment, I think John said it in the media that we were underperforming, he’s the chairman and he’s allowed to have that point of view,” admitted Pearson.

“I don’t agree with him personally, quite frankly. We haven’t won the number of games that we should have done, we haven’t got the number of points we should have had but we’re not underperforming.

He added: “In fact, a lot of our players have overperformed.

“As far as I’m concerned, progression and progress, I would love it to be about results, people in my job ultimately lose their jobs because they don’t get enough wins.

“This job is a bit more complex and so I think we’ve made some good progress in some areas and we’re unfortunately back-peddling in other areas.”

It has been a year since Pearson’s predecessor Dean Holden was given his marching orders by the club. Come next Tuesday, the 58-year-old will have been in the role for a year, the first of three contracted to the club.

One thing that has irked the coach is that his side haven’t been to his desire of a tough side to beat. Since taking over they have been unable to win back-to-back games, which has come as a frustration to many.

This season they have found themselves dropping points from a winning position whilst also conceding late goals.

Despite that, Pearson has seen some positives in his current side and praises the personnel now at the club.

‘I didn’t expect it to be chaotic as it is or has been,” he revealed.

“There’s a lot to do. It would be nice to have more wins and certainly be more difficult to beat. It irritates me so much.

“Instead of losing games we scrap a draw out but we’ve been unable to do that because we don’t have that balance right in the squad or key players haven’t been available.”

“The group of people that I’ve got here now compared to what it was a year ago, a big difference in a positive way.”