Bristol City learn result of depth test as week of what-ifs sees Robins enter break frustrated

The stand-out talking points from Bristol City’s Championship defeat to QPR at Ashton Gate ahead of the international break

Dan Carter is the Bristol City reporter at Bristol Live. He joined the title in November 2024 having previously been a football reporter at Breaking Media. Before that, he was a sports journalism student at the University of Gloucestershire where he also covered the Robins whilst on placement. In his role, he wants to keep supporters informed with the latest news in and around Ashton Gate whether that be on matchdays, during transfer windows or everything in between.

Gerhard Struber and Bristol City let a lead slip as they were beaten by QPR at Ashton Gate(Image: EFL)

As he prepared to answer the first question in his post-match press conference after Bristol City’s defeat to Queens Park Rangers, the usually lively and energetic Gerhard Struber didn’t launch into a long assessment of the 90 minutes of football he had just witnessed. Instead, the head coach let out a long, unfamiliar sigh, which almost summed up the afternoon as a whole.

It felt like a similar noise was released by almost every City supporter inside Ashton Gate as the final whistle was blown on Saturday afternoon. Not for the first time this term, let alone this week, it felt as though the Robins had left points that were there for the taking out on the turf heading into the international break.

And it all had started so well. After an end-to-end opening half an hour or so, Struber’s side took the lead when Emil Riis scored his fourth of the season. The Dane nodded home from a Neto Borges cross after the Brazilian had done well to keep an overhit Mark Sykes effort in play from beyond the back post.

The celebrations on the field were muted, but that single clinical moment was enough to give the Reds the lead at the break. Despite their advantage, though, City never looked truly comfortable in the contest, even if they had limited QPR’s scoring chances.

For the opening exchanges at least, the second half followed a similar pattern; that was until Richard Kone smacked an equaliser into the roof of the net from close range minutes after the hour mark. As they have done so often, though, the home support rallied and got behind the Robins as they pushed to once again get their noses ahead.

Just as it felt as if the screw was starting to turn, another Hoops’ counter ended in another Hoops goal, as Paul Smyth got the jump on Ross McCrorie – with the aid of a nudge in the back – to loop a header over Radek Vitek and into the back of the net. In a similar vein to Struber’s post-match sigh, it felt like in that moment, the air was let out of the City balloon.

Try as they might, the Robins couldn’t find a late leveller. They saw openings come and go – more on that later – but for the first time since November 5, 2024, they lost a Championship game from a winning position to enter the latest international break on a negative note.

I’m sure, like me, a lot of you are probably keen to file this one in the ‘I never want to think about that game again’ file. Before you do, however, here are the stand-out talking points from City’s 2-1 defeat to Queens Park Rangers…

City’s depth put to the test and result leaves questions

The last 10 days or so were always likely to be a real test of Bristol City’s squad. For the first time both this term and in Gerhard Struber’s tenure, the Robins faced the prospect of a run of three league matches in a week as they played Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday against Preston North End, Ipswich Town, and Queens Park Rangers.

Such clumps of games are commonplace in England’s second tier, and given the fact that there are nine points up for grabs in the space of just eight days, a good run of form over such periods can have a real impact on the table come the end of the season.

Professional football is arguably the most demanding it has ever been, primarily because of the pace at which it is played. That is certainly true when it comes to Struber’s team, with the Austrian’s high-pressing, and even at times chaotic style, meaning every single player in red and white on the field gets through an awful lot of work. Even for professional athletes, reaching that level three times in quick succession is a challenge.

But the City head coach’s changes over the course of the last week or so were rather limited. From Preston to Ipswich, Struber made two alterations – one of which was enforced by Jason Knight’s groin injury – and from Ipswich to QPR, he made one change – which was then reversed in the 55th minute when Ross McCrorie replaced Mark Sykes.

Ross McCrorie was a second-half substitute for Bristol City against QPR(Image: EFL)

Eight players who started at Ashton Gate on Saturday afternoon also featured in the starting line-up at Deepdale and against the Tractor Boys. Five of those players played all 270 minutes of football on offer over the course of those three matches, and that would have likely been more had Knight been available and had Rob Atkinson not been forced off in midweek.

Of course, the fact that Knight, Joe Williams, Max Bird, Cam Pring, Luke McNally, Josh Stokes, and Max O’Leary are all ruled out with injury has impacted City’s options – show me a team that wouldn’t suffer without seven key players – but it seems clear that the Robins don’t have the depth needed at this moment in time to reach their maximum level mutiple times in quick succession.

Yes, Struber could have made more changes, but such tweaks to personnel would have likely impacted the Reds’ performance level. It is clear that the head coach feels starting a jaded Emil Riis is a better option than a rested Sinclair Armstrong currently, or that giving a not-quite-fully-fit Atkinson the nod is a safer bet than throwing Haydon Roberts into the line-up.

The amount of depth in this current squad has never been a point of contention; you only have to look at the size of the squad to see it. It is the quality of that depth which is a bigger topic of debate, and Saturday’s performance will have only increased the questions amongst supporters.

At this moment in time, it doesn’t feel like Struber quite has the necessary faith in the majority of the alternative options at his disposal. Whilst substitutes are unable to make the required impact off the bench as well, it is hard to see how that changes until the aforementioned absentees return.

Robins heading into the break deflated after week of what-ifs

International breaks often serve as markers to assess just where a side is at different stages of the season. Heading into the September break last month, I wrote that Bristol City were ‘on the up’, having recovered from back-to-back Championship draws against both Charlton Athletic and Derby County with a resounding 4-2 win over Hull City at Ashton Gate.

At that stage, Gerhard Struber’s side had played four matches, winning two, drawing two, scoring nine goals (the second best in the division), conceding on just four occasions, and claiming eight points, a tally which had them sitting sixth in the table.

In the block of games since the end of the September international break, however, City have played five matches, won once, drawn twice, lost twice, scored six goals, conceded eight goals, claimed just five points, and at the time of writing, find themselves ninth in the division.

Understandably, that dip in results – and I must be clear here, I do mean results rather than performances – has meant supporters and likely players alike are heading into this month’s international fixtures feeling a little deflated.

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On the whole, performances over the course of the last month have been positive. The showing at Hillsborough was a clinic of professional, attacking football, and the Reds were arguably the team more deserving of the points in their draws with both Preston and Ipswich – which couldn’t be said after the stalemates with Derby and Charlton.

However, football is a results business and you cannot afford not to claim maximum points when you are the better team in a game, especially if you’re going to allow your standards to drop as the Robins have against both Oxford United and now QPR.

Struber knows this block should have been more fruitful in terms of points; he will have thought that before a ball had been kicked after last month’s break, and he definitely recognises it as he prepares for a week without Championship football.

“When I see the performances, and I see the outcomes, the outcome is too less,” the head coach told Bristol Live post-match. “In the end, we need results.

“We need results so that we are in the areas that we want in the table. To be only with the performances on a nice level makes in the end not a professional team successful.”

If City went into September’s international fixtures as a team ‘on the up’, it would be over the top to suggest they are heading into October’s interval as a side on the way down. I think it would be fair to say, however, that the air of optimism that filled the air of south Bristol a month ago has now been replaced by a feeling of frustration; a frustration fueled by the fact that things could and perhaps should – there’s that phrase again – be better. Saturday’s defeat was the final result in a week of what-ifs.

Lady Luck leaves Bristol City in the lurch

Whilst we’re on the topic of looking back to Bristol City’s first block of four games, something Gerhard Struber said in the wake of that run feels perhaps more relevant now, after the defeat to Queens Park Rangers, than it did at the time it was first broadcast.

Ahead of the Reds’ clash with Oxford United when his side were still unbeaten in the league, the City boss said, “In the end, we are in the football world and you need a little bit of luck and we’ve had the one or the other good moment for us.”

Now, no football team can rely solely on luck to be successful, but getting the rub of the green, particularly in important moments, can sometimes be the difference between winning, losing, or drawing matches. Over the course of the last week, it feels as though the bit of good fortune Struber mentioned a little over a fortnight ago has been nowhere to be seen, particularly where the officials have been involved.

I won’t focus too much on the penalty decision that went against the Robins against Ipswich in midweek, but that was the sort of call that, on another day, the referee would give the other way, given the minimal contact between Ross McCrorie and Chuba Akpom. It would be an exaggeration to claim it cost City two points, but it certainly didn’t help their efforts.

On Saturday afternoon, however, the referee did have a major role to play in the outcome at Ashton Gate, as at both ends of the pitch, he sided against the Reds in two crucial moments. The first saw Paul Smyth’s goal given despite what both Struber and McCrorie felt was a clear push in the defender’s back moments before the header, while the second saw penalty appeals waved away after Neto Borges was left in a heap on the floor after winning a header inside the Hoops’ penalty area.

The purpose of this piece is not for me to debate whether or not the referee got these decisions wrong. The point I am trying to make is that while Struber’s side slipped below their standard against QPR, had they had a little bit of Lady Luck on their side, they would have likely claimed at least a point from Saturday’s game, at which point, we would probably be praising them for finding a way to take something from a game when they weren’t at their best.

You may not like the fact that I have once again delved into the world of ifs, buts and maybes, but it feels like a worthwhile discussion point after a day in which the decision of the man in the middle had a major holding on the outcome – Struber’s thoughts, not mine.

Everyone in football suggests that these things even themselves out over the course of the season. Let’s hope that little bit of good fortune has returned when the campaign gets back underway against Norwich City later this month.

All to play for in the Championship

Now, if you’re a regular reader of my verdicts, you will know that more often than not, I do aim to end these pieces on an optimistic note. If I’m honest, that becomes harder after a defeat such as Saturday’s, but I will try nevertheless.

You don’t need me to tell you the Championship is a mad division. As Bristol City supporters, you will have all watched the Robins in England’s second tier for long enough to know that attempting to predict what will happen between now and the first week of May is a fool’s game.

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That is arguably as true as it has ever been this season, and it only takes one glance at the table to recognise that. Despite the feeling of doom and gloom around Ashton Gate as the full-time whistle was blown on Saturday afternoon, and the fact City are without a win in four matches, Gerhard Struber’s side still find themselves in the top half of the division, just two points away from the play-off places and only six adrift of league leaders Coventry City.

At the time of writing, only nine points separate 18th-placed Wrexham and the Sky Blues; a swing achievable in just three matches. Just as nothing was won when the Reds found themselves top of the Championship after their opening day win over Sheffield United, nothing has been lost because they have dropped out of the play-off places in October.

Whether or not the metaphorical ‘Struber bubble’ has burst cannot be measured by what has happened over the course of the last month. It will be decided by how City respond after the international break, and then after the November international break, and then over Christmas, and then after the turn of the year, and so on and so forth.

It is fine for supporters, the head coach, players, and journalists to feel a little bit deflated, but there are still an awful lot of points to play for. The early evidence would also suggest that every game will present an opportunity to claim maximum points, with no stand-out team in the league, and as both Struber and Emil Riis have said in recent weeks, when the Robins play to their best, they tend to do enough to win.

After the break, it is down to the Reds to return to the standard and this time, claim the points their performances deserve.

OPINION

Bristol City learn result of depth test as week of what-ifs sees Robins enter break frustrated

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