Lee Johnson has spoken about what's been going wrong recently, and what the coaching staff are doing to try and turn things around...
CONSIDER EVERYTHING
"You can consider everything. What you've first got to do is understand the motivation of this team, and that's to try and go and press high, to win every 50-50 ball. We've been caught too stretched on too many occasions."
COMPACT
"So the first recognition point is to build from that position of strength, make sure we're compact and really diligent in our defensive duties, to then go and allow the forward players to be creative. Maybe the dial we've turned slightly too much in terms of open, expansive play. We've got to be good at that, but we've also got to make sure we produce those world-class basics."
COMMUNICATION
"There's tiny, intricate detail, communication and coaching that needs to go into that, to be able to keep our next clean sheets because I always feel like this team's got goals in it. We're giving ourselves a hard task at the moment by conceding that first goal. This is where we [coaches] do our work."
AGE
"We talk about young players, but to be fair the mistakes have been fairly equally spread with the senior players. In one of the recent games it was one of the oldest teams we've picked. So there's no way I'm deflecting onto the young players, though they of course have the most learning to do."
RUNS
"I think if you break down any manager's record there will be spells. We're just trying to stay consistent, reflect on each game. You can have tough runs in any division. I know we've got a good run in us. I see it as a two-game run because we had a big game against QPR in terms of it being a big test for us, and one that allows us to go and have what should be a really special game against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup."
PROJECT
"I can't affect what people think of me and my runs [of form], all I can say is that there is so much good stuff happening here. It's a project that's been ripped up in the summer, start again, deal with the financial implications of COVID at a club that was haemorrhaging money."
INVESTMENT
"There's been investment into all areas of the club and up until nine days ago we were buzzing. That's the magnitude of the club and you have to cope with that to be here."
FANS
"I know the fanbase will come back round when we show the things we need to show, and I believe that we will. I respect the desire for promotion this season and I'm at one with that. We'll do everything we can to try and deliver promotion. There are so many points to play for.
WINS
"We've won a lot of games this year. There's things to look at and say actually, let's just breathe, we're not that bad, we can continue to win games and we do have a window of opportunity to recruit."
PROGRESS
"Until then, we've got I think 30 points to play for and really good players. We want to advance in the cups and win league games and I don't see any reason why, if we organise ourselves to the best of our abilities, why that attacking intent can't come out at the right time as well. If we nail that balance, we'll continue to pick up some really good results."
