his skill set George Tanner advances Bristol City further further Although George Tanner is a right-back by trade and by reputation,is still developing, as seen by his ability to play as a center-back against Huddersfield Town for the first time in his career.
George Tanner, a defender for Bristol City, believed it prudent to eat breakfast in front of some film of the player he would probably replace, even though he woke up on Saturday morning with the terms “centre” and “back” on his mind.
Manning had to rearrange his defence in the absence of a senior center-back specialist after Rob Dickie was unable to play at Ashton Gate due to injury, and Zak Vyner was declared out of the match against Huddersfield Town only 24 hours before kickoff.
Ross McCrorie and Haydon Roberts were positioned on each side of Tanner, which is a testament to how far along the 24-year-old has come. Although Tanner was primarily bought from Carlisle United to play as a right-back, at least in the professional sense—he started out at the Manchester United academy as a winger or striker. Tanner has shown himself to be progressively skilled on the right side of a back three.
Playing in the middle, however, comes with more duties, leadership, and focus, even though it may only be a positional shift of a few yards in-field. Tanner consequently spent the time leading up to the game watching Vyner’s films to help him prepare mentally. He gave him a sense of the spaces he needed to occupy both in and out of possession as well as what to anticipate from opposing strikers.
In one instance, Tanner’s post-match evaluation of Dutchman Delano Burgzorg stated, “He’s a lot bigger than me,” indicating a totally different challenge and skill set than the players he has been up against, notably clever wingers. Burgzorg is a forward who prefers to use his strength to force his way through situations.
Additionally, he scored goals in December.
None of that came to cloud Tanner’s thinking, however, as he delivered a matured and polished display at the heart of a Robins backline that probably couldn’t have been conceived a few weeks ago. They did concede to Josh Koroma after Jack Rudoni’s shot was blocked by Cam Pring, and they did allow 13 shots – none of which were particularly threatening to Max O’Leary outside of the goal – which ultimately ended their four-match stand of successive clean sheets.
But any pre-match concern around the potential flaws in the defence in the wake of Vyner and Dickie’s injuries were largely dispelled over the 100+ minutes, with Tanner playing an influential role.
“I mean, I sort of half-expected it because Zak and Rob weren’t available so I was thinking about it overnight but it is what it is, a challenge and I enjoyed it,” Tanner said. “All I did was have a look at Zak’s clips in the morning to familiarise myself with the position and sort of went from there, really; areas he was receiving the ball and what passes he was making and, on the defensive side of it, his positioning and things like that. Little simple things but I thought it’d help me considering I’ve never done it before.
Leave a Reply