Tuesday 12 March 2019

'To say Webster's been a success would be a massive understatement': Bristol City vs Ipswich Town match preview from The Exiled Robin

The games fall thick and fast for Ipswich Town this week: following a fantastic draw at West Brom on Saturday, today they're on their travels again to Bristol City.

So, continuing my series of interviews with opposition fans, I've spoken to Bristol City fan Paul who runs the excellent Exiled Robin blog:



To start, tell us about your blog:

I always wanted to be a sports journalist, but ultimately pursued other paths at university. 

So, I started writing a number of years ago when Twitter was first starting to be used by football fans as a means to connect with each other and to share content. 

I saw what others were doing, including the likes of Ian King, The Two Unfortunates, and David Bevan, The 72, and decided I could do that for Bristol City. No one else was, so it seemed to make sense.

And how long have you been supporting Bristol City?

All my life! I was born when we were in the old First Division, but by the time I got to my first game we'd been relegated three seasons in a row and were bottom of Division 4 and had been close to folding. The only way was up, I guess! 

I started going regularly when I was 9 or 10 and held a season-ticket for many years. In recent years, with a young family and now living on the other side of Cardiff, I tend to 'only get to around 13-15 home games a season.

Now the kids are 9 and 6, they're both properly getting into it, so perhaps a family season ticket is on the cards soon.

As an outsider, it seems to me that Bristol have had an excellent season. How are you feeling about it? 

Yes, it's been better than most expected.

Having lost our three best players in the summer (Joe Bryan, Aden Flint and 20+ goal man Bobby Reid), I think most would have been happy with a steady, mid-table campaign, and that's very much where we were heading at the end of November when we played you at home.

A handful of our fans have even remarked after that game - which was no footballing classic - that they thought we'd both end up going down!

But that was the start of an incredible run which included 9 straight wins and left us where we are now, battling with Frank Lampard's Derby, Pulis' dinosaurs and a string of others for the last of the play-off spots.

More recently, February wasn't very kind to you, with a couple of defeats including a close game with our rivals Norwich...

No, and March hasn't started that well either, so the slide we encountered last year from January is threatening to derail us again. 

The game against Norwich was so good, it was almost enjoyable despite the defeat. We played really well for 50-55 minutes, but they slowly started to take control and - although you won't want to hear this - they've got some cracking footballers going forward who taught us a bit of a lesson in the second half.

You do feel with them thought that they score so many late goals, they can carry on forever, but I suspect if they don't make it to the top 2 it'll be because a team has shut them out a little, they're not great at the back. 

In a bit of a shock transfer for us, our defender Adam Webster made the move to you guys in the summer, leaving our defence somewhat desperate. How has he done for you?

Well, it seems Webster was Lee Johnson's only target when it became clear Flint was heading to Middlesbrough, and he clearly lined up a deal early on. 

To say he's been a success would be a massive understatement, he's been our best player and his ability on the ball has allowed us to change shape and style. The way he steps into midfield has allowed us to play a 4-1-4-1 formation, with five relatively forward-thinking players, as Webster becomes an extra midfielder.

His partnership with Tomas Kalas has been the cornerstone of our success and as a pair, they're as impressive a centre-back partnership as any of us have seen at Ashton Gate. 

I have not a single doubt that Webby will play in the Premier League before too long, and many believe he'll earn international honours.

What are your thoughts on Ipswich Town's season?

Well, from the outside looking in, it looks a shambles. 

I know a couple of Ipswich fans, so get a bit of context, but appointing a new manager to revolutionise what had been a steady decline under Mick McCarthy and then sack him less than three months into te season seems barmy. 

But I guess there must have been valid reasons of what was - or wasn't - happening behind-the-scenes and you'd hope there was more rationale than just poor results with a new coach and team.

Saying that the appointment of Paul Lambert seems inspired. Highly risky, for obvious reasons, and you're still bottom of the league - but I get the impression he's walked in and 'got' the club from the off and is earning credit from fans accordingly. 

As a team that has made the step up from League One, what is your advice for us next season? Do you think we'll be able to come straight back up?

It's often not that easy. Last time we went down, we shed a lot of high-earners in the summer and struggled to adapt for one year, despite the brilliance of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

Then the following summer, we picked up seven of the other League One club's best players (from the likes of Cheltenham, Stevenage, and Swindon) and gelled them with a handful of young players who hadn't quite made it in the Championship into a record-breaking squad. 

You can't get back up easily with Championship old-stagers in my opinion, there are too many fresh, hungry young footballers down there keen to make an impact on the 'names'.

 Finally, can I have a score prediction, please?

It's more hope than expectation given our last two home performances, but I'll go with a 2:0 win with a goal in each half.


You can follow Paul on Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you so much for taking part, Paul!


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