‘Nowhere near our standards’ – Johnson

Goals from Chris Willock and Karlan Grant put the Terriers 2-0 ahead before Famara Diédhiou pulled one back for the Robins with two minutes remaining.

Here’s what the head coach told Robins TV:

Difficult

“It’s very difficult for me to stand here (for the interview). I think people know that I’m a very honest character, they have known me now for 10 years, both as a player and as a head coach, and that feels really bad.”

First half

“That first half was probably as bad as I’ve felt as a Bristol City manager and it doesn’t sit right in the stomach. I think the first half was absolutely nowhere near the standard that we are after. We can only apologise and hope that the players inspire and show some leadership within.

“In the second half the boys tried, we tried to make angles and we tried to move the ball. We had two or three opportunities to go and get strikes off. We had deliveries come into the box, we believe the lead up to their penalty was a foul on Nahki Wells, and we’ve managed to score a goal, albeit too little too late.”

Standards
“Yesterday’s training was absolutely outstanding and then we come into the game today and it is very hard to put your finger on why exactly we didn’t set the standard that we have done for the majority of the season. You saw in the spells when we did take over they were vulnerable and unfortunately we didn’t capitalise on any form of vulnerability and gave them strength through making error upon error on the ball.”

Substitutes

Johnson made a double half-time substitution with Ádám Nagy and Niclas Eliasson replacing Filip Benković and Markus Henriksen.

“I can only really look to each individual and try to find a positive,” Johnson continued. “For example, Ádám Nagy when he came on showed some real spirit in actually making angles and actually tried to get the team ticking, whereas in the first half, it was ever so static and they dominated us. They dominated us in midfield and they dominated us in wide areas.”

Millwall

City travel to Millwall on Saturday and the head coach said: “We will get them set up for the Millwall game but it’s a long way from that first half performance to beating a Millwall side at The Den. Something has got to happen quickly.”

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