Bristol City boss Liam Manning makes ‘dominated’ comment after Coventry City transfers

Bristol City’s point at home to Coventry City was a good one according to a frustrated Liam Manning.

The Robins’ head coach watched his team dominate the first half, take the lead through George Tanner’s volley and give themselves a platform to maintain their unbeaten start to the Championship season.

They ended up doing that – but only after Kasey Palmer equalised against his former club resulting in a 1-1 draw and shared spoils. Manning preferred to focus on the fact his side was up against one that has been investing pretty heavily in the last two or three transfer windows.

“It was a good but frustrating point for us. Frustrating because the performance for large periods was so good,” he said.

“The control we had in the first half was excellent. In the second there was more good stuff but at times we also gave up that control too easily.

“Ultimately, they have had one shot on target to our seven. But were up against such a strong squad in which Coventry have invested heavily, so the frustration apart, it was a good result for us.

“We have a structure to our play but also give players the freedom to get forward. The positions that Max Bird and Scott Twine take up, along with the likes of Cameron Pring, demonstrate that and George Tanner has come up with a great goal.

“If you turn the ball over too cheaply, the structure becomes irrelevant and that was the case in parts of the second half. But it excites me that we can still improve. We were playing against a really strong side and arguably dominated them.

“We want to be more clinical but we are consistently getting into the right areas and asking questions of the opposition. It’s a case of staying calm, taking the point, remaining unbeaten in the league and moving on.”