Bristol City are on the lookout for a missing ingredient as Kal Naismith sends a strong promotion message.
Bristol City fell short against Leeds United despite a valiant effort, but that is just not good enough for the guy who helped keep them in the game at Elland Road.
Kal Naismith was barely an hour removed from deafening 34,000 Leeds United supporters, but the Bristol City defender was in no position to brag, scathing in his appraisal of scoring what proved to be an equalizer for all of eight minutes.
“For me, it’s irrelevant,” the defender stated. “The moment I did score and then got to celebrate with the players and fans was good, but ultimately it meant nothing.”
Naismith’s glancing header deep in first-half injury time meant the Robins returned under the tunnel at a stunned Elland Road with parity restored following a 45-minute period in which they were fortunate to have just conceded once.
However, their resistance was in vain as Leeds’ Joel Piroe scored early in the second period, and despite their best efforts, the Robins were unable to breach Illan Meslier’s goal for the second time.
Daniel Farke spoke favourably of City’s performance and approach, and home fans on social media have written about how they’ve been the best side to play at Elland Road this season, but for Naismith, those platitudes were almost irritating. When interviewed pitchside, he was noticeably uncomfortable receiving any plaudits for his and the team’s performance, expressing a broader discontent that continues to hold City back and keeps them from breaking into the top six.
Yes, they were competitive to a point – no away team has had as much possession as City did on Saturday, for example – and, no doubt, a sense of pride can be taken from that given the wealth of resources and quality in Leeds’ squad after being relegated from the Premier League – their goal scorers alone cost around a combined £30m – but this squad clearly should want more than that. Much, much more.
“We did do well, but I don’t want to do well, honestly, I don’t want to just do well against these teams, I want to go beat them,” he stated. “Like, with all due respect to Leeds, they’re a huge club, a huge team, and no disrespect intended, but they’re not the Leeds that were in the Premier League four years ago, they’re not.”
“They’ve got incredible players, but that’s no disrespect to them, but we should, I mean, if we’re our best version ourselves, we give them a good go and they struggle against us, but we’re not.”
Allow you to re-enter the game at 1-1 and put your foot on the throttle to beat them 2-1, or draw one each and walk away to keep the momentum rolling. They weren’t fantastic, but did we accomplish enough to earn the game? No.”
Naismith’s self-criticism and introspection are delivered with understanding of what it takes to reach the play-offs against all odds, having previously been a member of the Luton Town club that finished sixth in 2021/22 before moving to Ashton Gate.
To the chagrin of some fans, the Hatters have become the go-to club for City officials, but the reasoning is sound up to a point, given the fairly basic logic – well, if they can do it with what they have, why can’t we?
Without diving into the specialized, subtle, and critical work done behind the scenes at Kenilworth Road over numerous seasons, City – parachute payouts or not – have the potential to finish higher than in that lower mid-table position.
this has become the situation since Lee Johnson’s death. At least, that’s what Naismith believes.
Pearson has steadily moved up the table, and he, too, wants to see more development this season. Naismith believes that most of the elements are present, with the exception of a few minor residual issues that need to be addressed, albeit without being able to pinpoint them.
“There’s capability in there,” he continued. “I believe we’re adequate. There is no doubt about our work ethic, passion, and drive as a team to win games, but we need to improve in other areas. We need to be more resilient under duress. It’s a football game, 11v11, and there’s always someone within three or four yards of you.
“The good players take it under pressure, roll it, and pass it to a teammate.” Their teammate desires it under duress. Do we want it sufficiently when we’re under pressure?
“There are so many questions. I’m not sure, but we need to sit down, debrief, and watch games. We can pause scenarios and say, “Look, could you have moved there?” Could you have given him a better angle, Kal? Could you have done it better, Kal? Then you view it as a group and see it more clearly. It’s quite difficult to see on the pitch.”
City enters the second international break in 14th place, not quite good enough to trouble the elite but not bad enough to be concerned about relegation. Much may change, of course, with 35 games left to play and 105 points to play for, and the Robins should aim for something more inspirational and aspirational than a solid Championship existence.
Naismith believes that City have made progress this season compared to previous, but that it is insufficient. The frustrating loss at Leeds is a prime example of this.
“I see improvement but it was nowhere near good enough in my eyes,” he remarked. “How did we fare in the league? 14th… Is it good enough to go up to 12th place? Is it good enough to move up to tenth? No, I don’t think so, and I don’t think it should be our goal.
“Let’s improve… what exactly are we improving?” Let’s come in 11th place. No. Look at the clubs that are making the playoffs, and let’s do the same. And we do strive for it as a club; we sit down, and the management and coaches instill that in us. But it’s the simple things that will bring us there.”
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