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Bristol City woes deepen with Gerhard Struber ‘angry’ at ‘unacceptable’ defeat to Leicester

Bristol City woes deepen with Gerhard Struber left ‘angry’ at an ‘unacceptable’ 2-0 defeat to Leicester on Tuesday night.

Goals from Ben Nelson and Abdul Fatawu saw the Foxes claim their first win under Gary Rowett to climb out of bottom three, ending a 10-game winless Championship run, including ending a four-game losing run at home, and saw Leicester keep their first league clean sheet for 31 games, stretching back to late September.

For Bristol City however, who saw Jakub Stolarczyk save Emil Riis’ spot kick, in the game, have suffered four successive defeats in all competitions, and it’s just one win in seven.

Struber said to Bristol Live: “The first half, how we jump in the game, we had a completely different expectation. We want to be really aggressive, we want to go in the lead.

“Especially in this stadium with everything that has happened in the last few months here, when you go in the lead, I think you can change the atmosphere.

“Then we go again in a direction of really cheap goals. How we concede the first goal with a free-kick, how we defend the cross-ball with the second goal, and also, how we defend the second post, I think this was really, really cheap.

“It’s a really painful realisation at the moment, with our performance, and I would say I’m not disappointed today, I’m really angry [with] how we play football today, out of our standard, out of our typical profile.

“Yes, of course, we miss top players in our last line, but I can’t be happy – it’s unacceptable – that we have a performance, in the first half like that.

“In this direction, I miss the aggression, I miss the intensity, I miss the directness, especially against an opponent like that, what we spoke about in the match plan and what we want to see today.

“In more directions, I am really angry with how we did it today.”

He said on the saved penalty: “It could change the ground here, completely. This was a big, big moment for us. We were good in the game, we had much more control and with the control, we have also chances.

“I can feel they struggle more and more, and I would say this goal could have helped us to change the result and, of course, also the belief. After that, this was really hard for many players to bounce back with the big belief to change that.”

Struber told BBC Radio Bristol:

“Frustration is the right word. I’m really angry about how we did in the first half, how cheap we had goals against us.

“How we defended the free-kick was so cheap and absolutely not the standard from a Championship team that wants more.

“In the second half we missed the big moment, the big chance to get back into the game and this was really disappointing and it makes me really angry today.

“It’s going to drive me crazy; we’ve had no penalties all season then we have a penalty and in this moment we could change the [atmosphere in] the ground and in this big moment I feel really disappointed.

“Soft is the best description of us at the moment, we are not direct enough, we are not aggressive enough we are not hungry enough to bounce back with real hard duels and aggression. I can only describe us as nice guys on the field with no last punch.”

Leicester City manager Gary Rowett told BBC Radio Leicester:

“It’s nice to feel the stadium buzzing and I’m pleased with the players’ performance. I could feel the players’ energy coming back into the dressing room afterwards.

“They worked incredibly hard and I think we’ve been unfortunate not to have had the first win yet.

“We got the set-piece for the first goal, with Ben [Nelson] getting on the end it. And he did that for me last year in a crucial game towards the end of the season [at Oxford]. I think he should do that more.

“The second goal comes from 18 passes and we move the ball well, are nice and composed and we get a nice cross. You do wonder with his wrong foot if he [Fatawu] will get the power and accuracy, but he does exactly that. He is a magical player and he showed that tonight with that finish.

“To go 2-0 up put us in a nice comfortable position and I was keen to see how we would handle that.

“To get the clean sheet is really nice. That gives us confidence and I can’t actually believe it’s been that long since we had one. We have to value clean sheets and have to value the defensive discipline. And we have done in the games since we came in.”

Here’s how fans reacted as Bristol City woes deepen with Gerhard Struber ‘angry’ at the ‘unacceptable’ defeat to Leicester…

@BCFC_Supporters: Leicester winless in over 2 months? Leicester no clean sheet in the league for over 5 months? Bristol City, come on down 👏🏻

@andymozz8:
“Thats a time when supporters can ruin this football club”
“We are not a selling club”
“Recruitment is second to none”
🤝

@gazpearceGP: We’ve gone from playoff contenders again at xmas to one of the worst teams in the league. Struber will take the blame but he’s been badly let down by the board, recruitment, and now the players. Not sure where a win comes from, January could take a long time to recover from

@JoshGrotzke: Pathetic. Another season that had so much cause for optimism but now couldn’t end any sooner, Vintage Bristol City. No doubt they’ll try and blame it all on Struber, but it’s the board and January that has caused this

@Smith90_ATS: Always had a soft spot for you guys, but Jesus wept, you were the worst side I’ve watched at the KP this season and I’ve had to watch Leicester every week 😂 Good luck for the rest of the season. See you next season 👍

@C_Farmerr: Playing a team that’s not won for 11 games, not kept a clean sheet for 30 games and we perform like that. Scandalous. Never been more excited for a season to end. Scrap the whole lot

@fulltimeopinion:
I’m of the opinion that the last 2 seasons have been the poorest standard of the championship in years
1 – that’s the reason we made the POs last year
2 – it’s worrying we seem even worse this year
2 – what the hell is coming next year
There are very few positives atm

@DoIIymarie: Anyone who is still travelling to watch our lot away from home, I applaud you. I don’t know how you are still willing to put yourself through it anymore!

@bcfc_beth: Don’t even get me started. Absolutely honking for weeks now! Fed up of it, year after year. Just don’t even feel anything when we lose anymore just more anger towards those fat cats at the top.

@ArronBesser: Struber isn’t all the blame for this got injuries galore and recruitment is awful sold our best players and replaced with average players landsown radio has made him look more of idiot end the season already can’t see where are next win will be 🙄

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