Author

James Crawley writes

Posted Saturday, September 22nd 2018 @CrawleyJames92

Johnson demands City bounce back

Saturday, September 22nd 2018

Lee Johnson says his players must assess themselves after a "disappointing" display at the DW Stadium.

City slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Wigan in front of the Sky cameras on Friday night (September 21st), with Nick Powell's header enough to separate the sides.

It was end-to-end in the early exchanges and City threatened a late equaliser but couldn't force that all-important goal.

And head coach Johnson said his players must "find a way to bounce back" with their next match at home to Aston Villa next Friday (September 28th, 7.45pm).

"I'm more than frustrated, angry is a good word," Johnson told bcfc.co.uk. "I’m so disappointed with my team today, we didn’t show anywhere near the character which we usually do.

"It’s hard to defend ourselves after that performance, we need to have a look at ourselves. We need to find a way to bounce back, in a style and structure.

"Wigan worked hard today but I don’t think we got in behind them anywhere near enough. There was a distinct plan to get in behind them and we turned down opportunities to do that."

On top of that, Johnson apologised to the fans who cheered on the Robins in the cold north west. A total of 511 City fans made the 354-mile round trip.

"It was just frustrating. I didn’t expect that tonight and I apologise" Johnson said.

"I know the fans had a big trip, a long trip and they tried to rally us, but it was difficult because there wasn’t a lot to rally behind.

"It’s back to the drawing board. We’re not a bad side, you don’t become a bad side over one performance but individual players have to bring out their best more, we changed it around and they have to come in and do the business. They get paid to perform, which is spread across four levels: it’s physically, mentally, tactically and technically. If they are honest with themselves and marked themselves in each field, as a individual or a team, we didn’t do enough and that’s the frustrating thing.

"But fair play and credit to Wigan, they did a job on us although it wasn’t a game of quality and that’s what frustrates me."