Bristol City head into international break on back of performance of the season at Norwich City

Three points away at Norwich City! Where are you? Where are you? Let's be 'avin you!

Saturday’s victory at Carrow Road was Bristol City’s first in the league since goals from Cole Skuse and Bradley Orr secured a win for Gary Johnson’s team fifteen years ago on February 7 2009.

It is just over a calendar year since the Canaries last lost a home league game, a run stretching back 21 games. That’s impressive as it is and this was the upmost of professional performances from Liam Manning‘s side, a performance full of maturity and discipline and we more than deserved the 0-2 victory and should in fact have made it more comfortable in terms of the scoreline.

Following his sending off on Tuesday night Rob Dickie was missing through suspension and Liam Manning opted to recall the fit again Luke McNally and start Haydon Roberts. Anis Mehmeti was preferred to Yu Hirakawa in the second number 10. Academy players Elijah Morrison and Josh Campbell-Slowey were joined by Billy Phillips.

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This was a complete performance with every City player making a positive contribution. Max O’Leary will have been disappointed on Tuesday night at the manner of the Sheffield United equaliser but today put in a solid performance. Max had a relatively quiet afternoon thanks to the defensive back line in front of him, whether that was a five or a three.

George Earthy was excellent playing in the right wing-back role, affording Norwich City star man Borja Sainz very little. Zak Vyner, who was making his 200th Bristol City appearance, was imperious and alongside him, Luke McNally had, for me, his best game in a Bristol City shirt. Cameron Pring is getting back to his best and the side looked well balanced with the excellent Haydon Roberts on the left hand side.

The midfield partnership of Jason Knight and Marcus McGuane is really starting to take shape, both becoming more familiar with each other’s game and attributes. I was again impressed with McGuane, his reading of the game, his willingness to receive the ball from the defence and his ability to carry the ball forward were all on display. Captain Knight again led by example, driving the team forward and it was Knight's run and pass that helped seal the win when Nahki Wells smashed in the second goal.

Max Bird was excellent throughout and was involved in a lot of the good things that we did. On numerous occasions, Bird received the ball on the quarter turn opening up the play. The ball out wide to Haydon Roberts that led to the first goal was superb. Max is really growing into the number 10 position and Scott Twine will have to match the energy and quality of Max to get the shirt back.

The man of the match was a close choice for me with Anis Mehmeti just shading it. I wouldn’t have argued if Knight, McGuane, Wells, Vyner or McNally had received the award. Anis was rewarded for his performance with a goal following a well taken run and finish that set the tone and the control for the game. As well as Vyner's 200th game, Wells was making his 500th league appearance.

Nahki once again worked tirelessly and afforded the Norwich City defenders no time. The striker is out of contract at the end of the season and there is nothing emotional or sentimental about me stating that contract discussions should be taking place. Nahki is arguably playing the best football of his Bristol City career and is more than justifying a further year’s extension on his current terms.

Wells’ experience and, as Manning has said so many times, his influence and professionalism in and around the training ground and dressing room cannot be understated.

The press from the Robins and the way they hunted the ball was hugely impressive. Dave Fevs (Fevs Football Analytics) posted an update on X stating that we made 11 high recoveries during the game (recoveries in Norwich’s third) which is our highest of the season. We allowed the Canaries defenders to have the ball and forced them into going long or making mistakes.

We defended from the front and when needed the defenders were on hand to keep the ball out of the net. One tackle from Cameron Pring late on was worth the admission alone.

Yu Hirakawa replaced Earthy and showed all his class in retaining possession of the ball and helping the side see the game out. We also got to see Fally Mayulu and I thought he showed up well.

Our away form is excellent. That is 0-2, 1-3 and 0-2 away victories against Middlesbrough, Preston North End and Norwich City respectively in the last three away games. Honestly how many Bristol City fans would’ve expected us to pick up nine points from those games?

The away following was once again superb, the trip to East Anglia is not an easy one and will have taken most fans anything between four and six hours each way. When you see a performance which is so committed, so professional, with every player putting in a shift and you come away with three points, the miles don’t seem to matter.

The international break is possibly coming at the wrong time in terms of our current form however it will allow Liam Manning and his medical team time to get players back into the group.

We have played 15 games in the league this season. At the time of writing this column, we sit 10th in the league on 22 points. Winning five games, drawing seven and losing three. We haven’t had back-to-back wins and we are only two points off of fifth place and three points off of fourth.

It is still early in the season but at the start of the campaign I said that I would be happy being in and around 10th place and in touching distance of the play-off positions and that is where we are.

Our 3 Peaps In A PodCast players rating were Max O’Leary 7, George Earthy 7.5, Zac Vyner 8, Luke McNally 8, Cameron Pring 8, Haydon Roberts 7.5, Jason Knight 8.5, Marcus McGuane 8.5, Max Bird 8, Anis Mehmeti 8.5 *MotM and Nahki Wells 8.5. For the substitutes who must play a minimum of 20 minutes (including injury time) we went Yu Hirakawa 7.5.

A game average player rating of 7.96, the highest of the season by some margin. That’s an overall season to date average player rating of 6.34. For Liam Manning it was 8.5, this was the performance and result of the season for me.

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